Yahoo! I finally got a job and had my first shift today, and boy do my feet hurt. But that just gave me time to lounge around and write this chapter for you all!


What in the hell did I kiss her for? Warren ran the question over again in his head for the millionth time since Saturday. She's just so cute an innocent sometimes… Warren mentally slapped himself… again. Get a grip man! He ran a hand through his hair and glanced to his left where she was sitting next to him, working carefully to assemble whatever it was that Mr. Medulla had assigned them. A piece of shimmering hair fell across her eyes and he had to resist the urge to tuck it back behind her ear. He folded his arms across his chest and looked out the window to distract himself.

It made him smile to see her happy as she became part of the group. There was always a smile on her face now it seemed. But even though she had been given an open invitation to sit at lunch with Will and co. she always opted to sit and have a silent lunch with Warren. Sometimes she would ask a question about her work, which he never knew the answers to, and other times she would comment about other things, but she never mentioned the kiss. She never asked about it, for which he was infinitely glad since he didn't know why he had done it himself.

She was just so… different from the rest of the group. He still felt that connection that they had made that night in the paper lantern. Though she seemed to be a lot happier than before, he still caught her pulling towards the back of the group sometimes, or looking into the distance with a sad face.

Was it against the rules to have two loners in the same group of friends? He didn't remember seeing a rule against it in the manual, but then again, he had only skimmed through it himself.

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"Hey! Coach Boomer, over here!" Fatima said loudly, getting the gym teacher's attention during a Save the Citizen day. "Will has just been dying to play today," she said with an evil grin on her face.

"What are you doing?" Will demanded.

"Having a little fun," came her reply.

"How am I supposed to stand a chance without my powers?" he said incredulously.

"Stronghold! Suit up!" Boomer yelled at the teen.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll manage somehow," she said and patted him on the back. "Hurry now, you don't want to be late." Will reluctantly made his way down the bleachers to gear up for what he was expecting to be the worst Save the Citizen match of his life.

Warren grinned as he watched Stronghold stomping down towards the Save the Citizen ring. Why hadn't he thought of that himself? he wondered as he leaned against the back wall with his arms crossed in his typical don't-mess-with-me pose. His eyes flitted over to Fatima who was a couple of rows down. She and Layla were talking with each other and giggling. She stopped and glanced back to where he was for a second. She grinned at the look of approval on his face and turned back to Layla. Warren ran a hand through his hair and tried to work things out in his head again. Maybe she hadn't even given it a second thought… she hadn't wanted her first kiss to be with a girl, and he had just helped her so that she could play. Could that really be all there was to it? He supposed that if she didn't want to say anything about it, then she wasn't thinking about it, so he should do the same and quit driving himself crazy trying to analyze it.

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God, I'm going crazy trying to figure out that kiss! Fatima thought to herself as she made her way through the halls. He hasn't mentioned it once, not once! Did it not mean anything? Was he just trying to get me to play with the rest of them? But why would he want to play so badly? Maybe he had a crush on one of the other girls, she thought. Ok, I'm really over-analyzing this, she thought as she pushed open the doors to the library. Besides, I've already got enough on my mind right now…

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Warren had expected to feel the slight jostle that he felt every day when Fatima sat down in front of him at his lunch table. He looked up from his book and checked a clock on the wall. Lunch was halfway over and there was no sign of her. He was just about to start wondering where she could be when the lunchroom doors burst open and in came a frazzled, but excited-looking Fatima. She ran directly over to him and started pulling him out of his seat and back towards the doors.

"Come on! Come ON!" she said excitedly, not caring that everyone in the lunchroom was now staring at them. It wasn't until they were in the hall that he pulled back. She turned towards him with a confused look.

"What's this about Fatima? Why are you acting so weird?" he asked. She gripped his shoulders and shook him a little.

"I found them Warren. I found them. There isn't a second to waste, you've got to see!" she said and before he knew it, she was pulling him into the library and back to the archives room. She sat down at a computer and started typing.

"At first I was looking out there for them, but no luck at all. Turns out I was looking in the wrong place. As soon as I got in here I was able to find out all sorts of stuff about them!" she said, practically bubbling over. Warren spun her chair around so she was facing him and gripped her shoulders. She looked up at him with wide eyes.

"Fatima, what are you talking about?" he said firmly. "Who did you find?" He expression softened and her voice was almost a whisper.

"My parents," she said. "My real parents." She turned and clicked the mouse and brought up an old newspaper. He looked at the screen and almost gasped. The headline said, 'HERO IS GIVEN CITY KEY AFTER SAVING DOZENS IN DOWNTOWN FIRE.' The article was from a paper that was printed in a town called Trent, and the woman in the picture was accepting a golden key from a rather round-looking mayor. Warren simply stared. The woman could not have been older than 20, and she looked almost exactly like Fatima. She was even wearing the same outfit, although she had on a matching jacket and cape. Everything was so similar, except for the hair, and upon closer inspection, the eyes. Her hair was short, black, and full of curls, and her eyes were a fiery red. He looked back and forth from the picture to the girl sitting in front of him.

"That's my mom," she said with a smile that he had never seen before. "Her name was Soline Evans, but her hero name was Inferno." She turned to Warren with a grin. "She was a pyro just like you. Look, you can see my dad, right over there." She pointed to a young man standing next to the mayor's side with a few other councilmen. He was tall and thin, and though he looked to be in his early 20's, his hair was as white as snow and fell into his eyes in a disshelved manner.

"This is when they first met," she said and began pulling up other articles. "They got married a few years later and teamed up on a top secret science study. They were both killed in an explosion in the lab one day, while mom was pregnant with me," her voice trailed off and Warren looked over the article.

…sources say that the mysterious lab explosion that killed 6 scientists has been deemed an accident. Though the police chief viewed the incident as suspicious at first, he now insists that the explosion was a result of a simple gas leak that had gone unchecked. Among those killed was Soline Moore, a woman who was almost nine months pregnant with a baby girl. An emergency cesarean was performed to save the child, and she is now at Central Regional Hospital in the NICU in stable condition. As soon as she is released she will be placed in foster care until a relative can be found. Moore's husband, Jack Moore, was also killed in the tragic explosion. He was one of the leading scientific minds of the… Warren stopped reading and looked to Fatima. Her face was unreadable. He didn't know weather to hug her or be happy for her. She turned to face him.

"Fatima?" he ventured.

"I'm ok," she said, then to his surprise, she laughed a little. "I finally know who they are! I can't believe I finally found them!" she squealed and tackle-hugged Warren, knocking them both to the floor. She realized perfectly well that she was lying on top of him, but she was just too happy to bother being embarrassed.

"You two! What do you think you're doing?" a shrill voice said and they looked up to see Ms. Readman, the school librarian, standing in the doorway tapping her foot impatiently.

Ok, now she could be embarrassed.

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The archive room remained quiet for some time after the two teens left, escorted by the librarian. Then, out of the shadows stepped a figure shrouded in darkness itself it seemed. Golden eyes shone out from under a dark hood that hid features. A mechanical arm reached out and brushed against the computer monitor that had been left on.

"So, been looking up the family have we?" a masculine voice said as the figure looked at the article about Fatima's parents. "Could you be looking for the other?" The arm waved over the computer, which let out a few sparks and shut down, making unhealthy whirring noises. "That, I cannot allow." And with that, the figure stepped back into the shadows and faded away.

Bwa-ha-ha! Bet you didn't expect to see a baddie in this story did ya? Kee hee, anyways. I don't know when I'll have the next chapter, because honestly I can't think of any other funny things to do with the week that Will can't use his powers. That was the only one I had, and I'd feel bad just leaving it as that. So, if anyone has an ideas, they would be welcome!