D/C: I own Erika, Zach's dad and Lash's dad. Everything else belongs to Disney.

A/N: Reviews are appreciated.

Chapter 5
The Encounter and The Punishment

I stood at the end of my driveway, why was Lash here? That was a dumb question; it was obvious why he was there. "My Dad won't be home for 2 hours." I said, walking up my driveway. I wasn't going to be intimidated by him. It was my house.

"Well, I'll just wait for him then."

"Have fun waiting outside." I opened my door, walked in, shut it and locked it. Leaving Lash sitting on the porch. I was walking up the stairs when I heard the door open, I thought to myself, 'Oh crap! Mom is home.' I bolted up to my room and acted as if I was doing homework before anyone called me downstairs.

My mom called my name, "Zach! Why did you leave your friend outside?"

I walked to the top of the stairs, "Lash isn't my friend. Lash is far from being my friend."

Lash was holding back a laugh. The hallway was kind of dark for 3:30 in the afternoon. And I had been trying to control myself from randomly starting to glow. I looked at my arm, it wasn't working. "Damn it." I cursed under my breath.

My mother looked at me, "Why don't you two go in Zach's room?" She suggested, obviously having no idea that Lash hated me. She didn't have any powers, she was just… normal. But that was all right, I just hated when she was stupid. Like now.

My eyes were wide, I didn't want Lash in my room… No. That wasn't going to happen. I ran to my room, but as soon as my mom had left, or I assumed she had left, Lash grabbed my shoulder and brought himself up to me. "You wouldn't disobey your own mother would you?"

"Yes. I would. Thanks for asking." I walked into my room, and Lash followed. I wanted to do something, something that Lash couldn't know about. I just laid down on my bed and worked on my homework.

Lash was busy snooping around my room, probably looking for something to use against me. Luckily, anything he could use against me was well hidden. That loose floorboard had done me some great help. The tree outside my window started to grow at an unexpected rate. "Layla!" I said, opening my window for her. I leaned out and whispered to her, "Lash is here, ignore him."

Layla nodded as I helped her into my room. She saw Lash and said nothing. I looked at her, "Well, what's up?"

"Nothing. Just came to see how you were doing."

"I'm fine. Kind of pissed off." I said, glaring at Lash's back as I said the last sentence.

Layla smiled, "I'd be mad too. I feel so bad for you." She smirked and added the last bit, which I had mentioned sometime before. "I'd hate having a potential super villain in my house."

I snickered as Lash turned around, "Note. I got out of jail. Penny and Gwen didn't."

"You're still a villain."

"At least I'd be a threat to society. At least I don't make trees grow." Lash snapped.

"She's the one that caught Penny." I snapped back, I knew something was going to start.

Lash glared at Layla, "You were?" He asked, a hint of anger in his voice.

"Yes I was. Who knew my powers were that strong?"

I smirked, "Don't you have places to be? Besides here annoying me."

"No. I have to talk to certain people. And he's not home yet."

"Oh, you're going to tell him that I beat you at Save the Citizen? Because I technically didn't do anything in the hall. You shoved me in a locker and I got out. Plain and simple. I didn't hurt you one bit. Although I truly wanted to."

"Of course if I do tell him that you did hurt me in the hallway, he'd believe me."

"Yes. He would. But at least I'd have the satisfaction of knowing you are a liar. And deserve to be out of my sight. And out of my room."

Layla stood beside me. My mom's plant that was right outside my room began to grow into my room, wrapping itself around Lash's ankles. I knew it was Layla doing this. And Lash had no way out. Until Layla let back.

I glared at Lash, "Will you leave me alone now?"

Lash glared at Layla and I, "I can't believe that a sidekick has this kind of power." He spat the word sidekick.

I glared at Lash. And Layla released him from the plant's grip. He went to lunge at her but I grabbed him and tossed him down the stairs, shutting and locking my door.

An hour later, Layla had left, and Lash was still in my living room. Then I heard my front door open. My father was home, I went over to my door, and unlocked it, then going back to my bed and working on my Hero Training assignment. An essay on the greatest hero I knew. Most people were doing their heroic parent. Me? I had no idea.

I heard Lash talking, then my dad. I couldn't understand what they were saying, but I could assure myself that it wasn't good.

I began writing, I decided I might as well write about my dad, I had no other ideas.

Then, the dreading came to me. I heard 2 pairs of footsteps storming up the stairs. One was louder than the other, one was my dad, the other was Lash. It seemed that Lash witnessed me getting in trouble more than my mother.

The door opened and I kept writing, as if I had never noticed their arrival. I wasn't the kind of kid who sucked up to parents. Especially when my arch enemy (as everyone was calling Lash) was right there with him.

My father stayed in the doorway, he cleared his throat. "Yes?" I asked as I continued writing my essay.

"Zach. Lash here says he's been nothing but nice to you." I bit my lip, holding back my laughter as my father continued, "And all you do is treat him badly. Have you ever heard of karma?"

I paused in my writing, "Yes. I have heard of karma. And this is a case of it. What goes around comes around. Lash treated me like crap when I was Hero Support. Now I'm a Hero and he still treats me like crap. I'm simply following the 'guidelines' of karma." I looked back down at my writing, I continued writing.

My father should have just taken Lash as his own son, since he would never believe me. "Zach. You need to stop lying to me. I've spoken to Lash and he says that he only treated you wrongly while you were Hero Support. Never when you were a hero."

"That argument seems pretty one-sided." I muttered under my breath.

Lash was standing by my window, probably watching out for Layla.

"Lash, why don't you refresh Zach's memory on the event this afternoon."

"Yes Mr. Braun." Lash said, and gave a totally reverse version of what had happened. "I was sitting in science, making a lightning ray with Speed. When Zach came in and told Mr. Medulla that Principal Powers wanted to see me. So I left the room, assuming that it wasn't truly Principal Powers that wanted to see me, but Zach and Will." He held back a smirk. "I asked what he wanted, and then Will asked me what I thought they wanted. I assumed that he wanted to beat me up so I said that. I threatened him to hit me, and he did. Then he shoved me into a locker, and I kept my finger down on the lock. Pulling myself out, and then I ran back to class."

So that was why he was here. He had changed the story to make me seem like the bad guy.

My father, the fool that he is, believed Lash, unfortunately for me. "Zachary. You are grounded."

My mouth fell open. I was being punished for Lash's actions. What was next? Would he torment me more by having Lash come here every day to torment me?

"And Zach. Since your mother is going out of town this week, Lash shall be making sure you aren't causing trouble. And remember. I'll hear everything." They both turned and left my room.

My mouth was still hanging open. "This can't be happening…" I said to myself.

((I dunno. I love Zach but I thought it would be fun to torment him. And his dad (in this story) is that type of person. To think his son isn't a good kid. But yeah. Review. Don't flame! Without a good reason…))