To Victoria Masters: Thankx alot for your review. Haha...I like the 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned':)
Hi guys. Another chap for ya. Enjoy:)
Disclaimer: Just to be safe, so no body can sue me or anything, I saddly do not own the name of "Abandoned Gas Station of Solitude." Maybe someday though.
Late the next morning, Virgil woke in his bed with a slight pain in his back from carrying his unconscious friend half way across town the night before. "I've gotta start working out more." He groaned as he got out of bed. It was Saturday. Virgil's personal favorite day of the week.
"Baby brother! Your breakfast is ready!" Virgil winced at the thought of his sister's cooking as he got dressed.
Slowly, he made his way down the staircase and into the kitchen of his family's home. "Morning Sharon." he yawned when he saw his sister eating breakfast at kitchen table.
"You look tired." Sharon said, looking up from her plate.
"Yeah...had a rough day yesterday. Hmm...egg surprise, huh?" Virgil snickered as he saw his plate of runny looking eggs.
Sharon usually would make some witty reply to Virgil's taunts about her cooking, but lately, she had been more preoccupied with worry over her brother's constantly tired expression. "What do you do all the time Virgil? You're always tired lately."
"Umm..." Virgil fumbled around in his thoughts; trying to come up with an excuse that didn't involve his secret identity. "School's just been real hectic lately, that's all."
"Oh, okay. What are you planning on doing today?"
"I'm gonna hang with Richie for a while and then we're gonna go see a movie tonight." this really was what Virgil was planning on doing; he just left out the part about going to talk to Rie after breakfast since he didn't want Sharon to know anything about his friends or life as Static.
"Okay. Just make sure you keep your phone on this time." Sharon said, more like ordered, as she stood and put her empty plate in the dishwasher.
"Yes maim." Virgil replied sarcastically. "Oww!" he yelled seconds later after a slap upside his head from his older sister. "What?"
"Stop mocking me." Sharon said sternly before leaving the kitchen.
"Stupid. Who invented older sisters anyway?" Virgil muttered under his breath.
After he finished his breakfast and cleaned up his dishes, Virgil said goodbye to his dad and left. As he walked closer to Rioko's home, Virgil started getting nervous as to what he would say to her. Ahh...what are you doing Virg? You know she's gonna hate you for what you did last night. Virgil held a small argument within himself. Maybe she'll understand. Ahh, who am I kidin'? She's gonna hate me. Upon drawing this conclusion, he hung his head and sighed as he stared at the cracked sidewalk underneath him.
Nearly ten minutes later, his friend's apartment building came in sight. "Here we go..." Virgil sighed and began walking up the old, broken stairs to her apartment. Knock, Knock. Virgil must have knocked four times before he realized she wasn't going to answer. "Come on Rie...please open the door." he begged quietly.
He was just about to give up when he finally heard the door unlock. The door creaked open; much like the first time he visited that old place. "What do you want?" he heard a soft, yet angry voice ask. Virgil looked up from the floor and placed the familiar voice with its owner.
"Hi Rie. Can we talk?" Virgil already knew what her answer would be by just looking at her weary and wrathful expression. She didn't want to talk. Or did she?
"Come in." much to Virgil's surprise, Rie moved aside and let him in.
After walking in and hearing Rie shut the door behind him, Virgil turned so that he was looking his friend in her eyes; which were still a calm green. "Rie, I..."
Rioko cut him off by raising her hand slightly before he could finish. "Virg...thank you." she said in a soft, somewhat raspy voice.
"Wha? You're thanking me?" Virgil was literally stunned. He thought she was going to lash out in a fit of anger. But no, she stayed completely calm.
"Look Virgil, if you hadn't been there...I...I would have killed him. I didn't want to...it's just...every time I see him, everything inside me is consumed by this uncontrollable rage. I couldn't help it." finally, Rie began to break down. Virgil had never seen Rie cry before, but he was almost glad when he saw tears begin to fall from her sad eyes. "I couldn't help it...I'm so sorry," Rie said quietly as Virgil pulled her into a comforting embrace.
"It's okay. You have every right to be angry with him."
"Not like this...I can't control it anymore V, I just can't." Virgil pulled away from her and gently wiped a tear from her cheek.
"Come here, sit down." he lead her to the couch near them and sat Rie down next to him. "What can't you control?"
Rioko did the best she could to recompose herself as she spoke. "The last couple weeks, I've been having a lot of trouble controlling my anger. Every time I get mad, I lose control. It's the same thing that happened last night."
"But I thought...from the way you talked about Hotstreak before, you never seemed really angry at him. Was all that just from what happened at the fire?"
"Virg...I may have left a few things out about my past."
Virgil sighed. In his mind, he had thought that was probably the case, but he really hoped it wasn't. "Like what?"
"After Francis left that night in Gotham, life got really hard. Since I was still a kid, I couldn't get a job, and I didn't want to go to some orphanage, so I lived on the streets. I took shelter wherever I could and resorted to stealing to survive. I lived like that for six years until I was old enough to make my way alone to Dakota without causing any suspicions. I was even part of a gang for a while. Point is Virg, Francis ruined my life. And even though I still do love him deep down, that doesn't change what he made my life become."
Virgil sat next to her, just listening; not sure what to say. Rie continued, "It's weird. Ever since the big bang, everything inside me is twisted. I don't even know what I'm doing anymore...or why I even want to find Francis in the first place. Part of me never wants to see his cocky face again, another wants to kill him, and even another just wants him to be there for me again."
"Rie..." Virgil began, "You've had a hard life...Harder then any I could ever imagine. But I do know that you're a really good person despite that. Maybe all you need is a little more time adjusting to being a bang baby and knowing your bro is in the same city." he paused as Rie looked at him with a confused expression. "What I mean is, maybe you should take a break for a little while. Give yourself some time to clear your head. I don't want you to end up doing anything you'll regret again."
Rioko sighed deeply, "Yeah...maybe you're right. You know what the worst part is though?"
"What?"
"He didn't even recognize me." even though she wanted to hold it back, another tear fell from Rie's eyes as she spoke.
As hard as Virgil tried, he couldn't find any words to say that would help. All he could do was wrap his arm around her shoulder and try to be the best comfort he could. "Hey," Virgil began to speak after a few minutes. "Rich and I are gonna go hang out at the gas station for a while, why don't you come along? Get your mind off it for a while...we'll even go get some burgers...my treat."
Rie thought for a minute before answering, "Yeah, sure. That sounds good." she smiled a bit and continued, "Virg, thanks."
Virgil smiled to see his friend looking happy again. "No prob Rie. Its what I'm here for." Rie then stood from the couch leaving Virgil sitting alone as she told him she was going to go change.
As Rioko changed in her room, Virgil decided to get a little nosey and look around a bit. As he already knew, there wasn't much to the small apartment. One bedroom, one bath, a small kitchen and living room, and one closet near the door. There was one thing that grabbed Virgil's attention though. He walked over to a small shelf nailed to the wall. On it was an old photograph that looked like it had been in a fire; as its edges were slightly burned and the color was distorted in some areas. He carefully lifted up the frame and examined the photo. It was of a family; Rioko's, by the looks of it. There was a tall, red-haired man on one side, smiling genuinely up at the little black-haired girl on his shoulders. And next to them was a beautiful young woman, laughing happily with a small red and blonde-haired boy that looked to be a few years older then the little girl.
While Virgil stared deeply at the photo, Rie emerged from her bedroom. "It was taken the day my parents were killed. I like to keep it as a memory of the time when I had a family."
Virgil looked up at his friend as she walked up next to him. "If you don't mind me asking, how did they die?"
Rie knew that he would ask that one day, but it didn't make it any easier to tell him. "We were at a park having a picnic. Francis was playing tag with me while my ma and dad got the food ready," even though she smiled as she spoke, Virgil could easily see that it was still hard for her to talk about her long-lost family. "Francis chased me off behind some bushes and we started playing hide-and-seek. Everything was great until the sound of gunshots filled the air. Francis and I both ran out of the bushes to where our parents were. Francis reached them before me, so he grabbed me before I could see what had happened. To this day, I still don't know who killed them or why."
"I'm so sorry." Virgil said, immediately regretting ever letting is curiosity take the best of him. Rie just nodded and smiled slightly as Virgil tried to change the subject. "Was this in a fire?"
"You could say that. My uncle tried to burn it once when he was dunk. Francis was able to save it for me before it was completely destroyed."
Virgil watched as Rie sighed deeply when she took the picture from him and brushed her finger over the younger version of her brother. "It'll work out..." he said, as if reading Rie's thoughts before she even had a chance to speak.
"Yeah..." she spoke quietly after placing the picture back in its place on the shelf. After a brief moment of silence, Rie quickly cleared her throat and spoke, "So, should we get going?"
"Yeah sure, let's go." At that, Virgil lead the way as the two left the apartment and headed across town to an old abandoned gas station Virgil and Richey had declared as their "Abandoned Gas Station of Solitude," or headquarters for Static and official place of hang-out.
