Revenant

Part four

Virgil sat in the graveyard crosslegged and floating in the air meditating. 'Honey, is everything ok' A voice echoed in his mind, he soon found himself sat on his favourite cloud up in heaven with his mother, Jean.

"Mom I really miss being with Pops, Richie and even Sharon... I really miss being Static and fighting crime along side Gear, Rubberband Man and Shebang... even the occasional member of the Justice League but..." Virgil stopped, his voice caught in his throat as he looked at his mother.

Jean Hawkins was just how he remembered her but now she was a beautiful angel as well as his mother, "But you have missed me..." Jean said finishing his sentence. She looked at her son, who was dressed in a white t-shirt and light brown trousers and his wings were a light shade of purple. Tears formed in his brown eyes, smiling, Jean reached over and pulled him close to her in a tight embrace. "We are very proud of you, no matter what"

A car door slammed and knocked Virgil out of his meditation, he was thrown to the floor because he was more focused on meditating than anything else, he didn't have to worry about being seen as he was in ghost form. Getting up and dusted his clothes off, he checked to see if he was in ghost form fully and that his wings were not there. Virgil then looked around to find the cause of his disturbance.

The cause was his father, making the daily trip to the graves and statues. Sighing inwardly, he watched as Robert walked up the path, stopping at both statues before climbing the hill towards the graves.

A few minutes ago...

Robert had just left the community center after spending all morning there talking to various townspeople. He drove towards the graveyard but his direct route had to be diverted because of a metahuman breakout.

'Hope Richie and Adam are ok...' Robert thought as he turned his car radio up a little. "Puff and Carmandillo have broke out of the metahuman jail only to disappear without a trace..." The radio announcer reported.

Robert chewed his bottom lip with worry, this was worrying because ever since Virgil's death. Richie had become a second son to him... he always has been but he was now more than ever. He was deep in thought so much that he didn't realise that he had arrived at the graveyard.

Shutting the engine off and gently collected the flowers the townspeople gave him for the graves. He gently rose out of the car and made sure it was locked and secure before heading down the path that took him towards the graves.

Passing the large memorial statues, one of the people lost in the gang riots and the other of Dakota's own hero. Robert stopped and put a red rose on the bottom of the Dakota riots tribute statue and a white rose in front of the other statue that symbolised how much the city missed Static.

Walking up the hill to the graves, Robert shifted his hold on the flowers so that they were not damaged.

Virgil watched as Robert tidied up and replaced the flowers in front of the two gravemarkers. It took all his strength and will to stop himself from trying to give his father a big hug, and thank him for all the tender loving care he gave Virgil over the years and continued to do so... even now...

Richie sat at the gas station, half in his costume with his jacket over it. He was sat typing up all the data he had recieved from Backpack when he scanned the cells that held Puff and Carmandillo.

Adam had gone to a nearby store for the weekly shop for the headquaters, a while ago. The small fridge did not empty out as fast as it use to but it kept things more important than drinks most of the time, like Richie's chemical experiments. The first aid kit, which had grown over the past two years, needed toping up regulary.

Sighing to himself, Richie took off his glasses and put them on the desk before stretching and rubbing the tiredness from his eyes. "I should really try to learn to get more sleep!" Richie muttered to himself and put his glasses back on. "Nightmares?" Adam asked, coming back into the headquaters, carrying bags in both of his hands. Richie turned around to face the music writer turned superhero and yawned. "Yeah... was thinking of getting some therapy to deal with them..." Richie said, getting off his chair, stripping his jacket off and then changed into his street clothes. "Oh... well if you think that it is the best thing... Where are you going?" Adam asked as he unloaded the shopping onto the table. "Just going for some air to clear my head a little, I got my shock box just incase" Richie said, putting his jacket back on and changed his skates over. "Ok... but keep in touch! I will have to go to the recording studio this afternoon though" Adam said, stretching one arm across the room from where he was standing for the first aid kit. "Ok, I got some experiements to run when I get back anyway" Richie said, skating to the door and did his jacket up. "Ok, I will see you this evening at Sharon's" Adam said as Richie left.

Richie rode away from the abandoned industrial area, at first there were some calculations going through his head but then they were replaced my memories of the past. He did not realise that he was now in the city center, he was too focused on his thoughts and memories...

Backflash

Richie and Virgil sat on the couch patching each other's wounds which they had substained in the latest battle, this time it was the metamen.

"Ouch, I should learn to dodge quicker!" Virgil winced as Richie finished wrapping bandages around Virgil's rib cage, they had both took their tops off due to the fact that they had found out that Onyx and Carmandillo were both a dangerous combination. "Yeah, well you were stuck between Puff, Onyx and a brick wall, is that ok?" Richie asked, checking his knot. "Yeah, that's fine bro!" Virgil said and gently put his shirt back on.

Virgil then carefully rose off the couch and flexed his arms a bit, wincing when they ached. "Bruised, luckly" Virgil said, sitting back down on the couch, "How come you get worse for ware instead of me? I'm the sidekick" Richie said, checking his own cuts and bruises. "I don't known... maybe because I have been around longer and they blame me for their jail sentences, which is sort of true!" Virgil said, getting over to the couch and walked over to their small fridge. Richie yelped as he applied his own bandages to a cut on his arm. "Maybe... but still, it doesn't seem right does it?" Richie said, through clenched teeth. Virgil fished out two cans of cola, wincing a lttle at the movement requirred and then laughed. "Makes you wish you were Wolverine, don't it?" Virgil said, then heard his beeper go off in his rucksack as he walked back over to the couch. Richie laughed, "Yeah... he has the most wierdest timings doesn't he?" Richie said, carefully putting his normal t-shirt on so it would not knock his bandages. Using his powers, Virgil sent a can over to Richie and then checked to see what his father wanted.

"He can wait, want to go back to my place to hang?" Virgil asked, throwing the beeper back into his rucksack and started his drink. "Sure!" Richie said taking his can from Virgil's power grasp.

End Backflash

Richie muttered calculations under his breath as he pulled out a test tube tray out of the fridge and moved over to the large table. Quickly checking them under a microscope and against his calculations he walked over to a nearby cabnet for some additional ingrediants.

"Always a work-o-holic, ain't you bro?" A voice echoed through the quiet gas station, Richie turned around and searched frantically for the source of the voice. "Can't be him..." Richie muttered and carried the chemicals over to the table and set them down. "But it is Richie..." The voice spoke again, but from behind him. Turning around, Richie came face to face with his best friend and partner, Virgil. "V..." Richie said, surprised and fainted.

Virgil rolled his eyes and sat on the ground. "That went well!" He muttered and waited for Richie to wake.

To be continued

R & R please!