Meanwhile, on the outside of the Juvenile Detention Center, Static was busy dueling with Ebon.

"Guess your buddies got scared away," Ebon sneered as he continued to dodge Static's lightning bolts. "Not surprising. Foley's always seemed like a coward."

Static gritted his teeth. "You can think what you want, but Gear's not Foley."

"Until I see you two chumps in the same place he is, I'm gonna have to assume they're one and the same," Ebon sneered. Static must've really taken him for a fool to keep lying to his face the way he was. "Meaning you're Virgil Hawkins."

The superhero sighed in exasperation. "Look, why are you so convinced that I'm Virgil Hawkins?" he demanded. "Why can't it be just coincidence that you met Gear after you saw me with Foley?"

"So you admit that you know Foley?" Ebon pried as he dodged another lightning bolt.

"No! Yes…kind of…?" Static struggled to form a plausible response. "I mean, yes, I know of him. He was asking me a question, and that was it. He does not work with me, he has never worked with me in any way, whatsoever."

"We'll see about that when I pay him a visit."

Static felt the electricity crackle in his hands. "I don't even know why I'm trying to explain myself to you, of all people. In that dimly lit brain of yours, I'm surprised you came up with that theory yourself."

Normally, when being insulted, Ebon would have lost his temper on the spot. However, he knew that Static's, or should he say, Virgil's witty exterior was merely a facade that he hid behind. Like the coward he was.

"Joke all you want, Hero. But I ain't playing around no more."

Suddenly, Static found himself surrounded by darkness. He couldn't see Ebon, but he knew he was there.

"You wouldn't want me to pay your family a visit, would you?"

Static's stomach immediately dropped, realizing that his worst fears were inching closer to reality than he could have ever imagined. He shuddered, thinking of his pops and sister being tormented by the infamous gang leader.

"Did I hit a nerve?" Ebon taunted, noticing the hero's lack of response. "Maybe that's what it takes to get you to start listening."

Static shut his eyes in frustration. Intellectually, he knew Ebon didn't even know who Virgil's family was in the first place. Plus, he knew that Ebon was merely trying to play with his emotions in order to get him to hang up his cape. No matter how much fear he was attempting to instill in his heart, Static knew that he needed to get a grip.

"I don't have family in Dakota. And even if I did, we don't act kindly towards solicitors," he retorted.

"Come up with that yourself?" Ebon sneered.

Static suddenly felt the ground underneath him begin to sink, only to discover that it was him who was sinking. Like quicksand, he felt himself being pulled into the cement.

His mind flashed back to when he and Gear had been pulled into the ground by one of Ebon's vortices, and were unpleasantly greeted by the fiery pit of the power plant looming dangerously underneath them.

Instinctively gripping the ground, Static gritted his teeth. He needed to buy more time. Ebon would continue to torment him until he gave in.

With the adrenaline pumping wildly through him, he took a deep breath before saying words he never thought he'd say.

"Hey Ebon! I'll make you a deal. I'll stop doing hero stuff, just please don't come looking for me or my friends. Same goes for Gear as well."

Suddenly, he felt himself no longer sinking.

Glancing up, he saw the whites of Ebon's cold eyes staring down at him.

"And how do I know you're not playin' me just so you can escape?"

Fortunately, Static was prepared for that question. "I'll meet you by the docks tomorrow at sundown, so I can show you who I really am."

The gang leader narrowed his eyes, understandably skeptical at the hero's sudden change of heart. "How about you just show me now?"

"Because I'll bring Gear with me, and I'll show you who we both are. Try anything before then, though, and the deal's off."

Ebon was silent for a moment, obviously contemplating his proposal. Then, as soon as it had come, the cloud of darkness evaporated, and Static was left face-to-face with the bang-baby's human form once more.

"You better keep your promise, Hero. Or else."

And with that, Ebon sank into the ground and vanished, leaving the hero completely alone.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Static glanced around and saw that neither She-Bang or Gear were in the vicinity.

They must've escaped with Zoey already, he surmised.

Just to be certain, the hero pulled his Shock-Vox out of his pocket and spoke into the small, rectangular device.

"Hey Gear."

A few seconds passed before he heard a familiar, chipper voice on the other end.

"Go for Gear."

"Is Zoey with you?"

"Uh, yeah, she's with me. She-Bang is too."

Static smiled. At least everyone was okay. "Good."

"How about you?"

The hero glanced around again. "A little shaky, but I'm good."

"Did you fight off Ebon?"

Static rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Well…sorta."

"Sorta? What does that mean?"

"Listen, I gotta tell you something. Where you at right now?"

"At the gas station."

The hero's eyes widened a little, knowing that Zoey was in their supposed 'secret' base—though he supposed they had bigger problems to deal with now than their friend from school simply being in their space. It's not like she knew who they were or anything.

"Copy. I'll meet you there in a few."

"Roger that."

Sighing, Static put his Shock Vox back into his pocket and pulled out his disk.

Gear is not gonna be happy when he finds out what I told Ebon.

Meanwhile, back at the gas station, Gear, She-Bang and Zoey sat around Gear's workstation, recovering from the events that had transpired within the past couple hours. It was almost dinner time, and no doubt everyone's parents were wondering where their respective child was.

Gear held an ice pack to the side of his head where it had collided with the wall following Talon's surprise attack. One thing was for sure: that girl did not play nice.

Since they had returned, the gas station had been filled with an awkward silence. Zoey glanced around, taking in her surroundings. Needless to say, she was in complete awe. Not only was she inside the famous heroes' headquarters, but the heroes themselves were her two best guy friends from school. It was truly mind boggling.

She-Bang observed the young civilian girl sitting on the stool adjacent to her. Unlike Frieda and Daisy, the heroine wasn't familiar with this friend of Virgil and Richie, considering she hadn't attended Dakota Union High for almost a year now.

Curiosity getting the best of her, She-Bang cleared her throat.

"So I'm guessing you've never been inside a superhero's headquarters before, huh?" she asked, noticing the wondrous expression on the young woman's face.

Breaking free from her thoughts, Zoey glanced back at the heroine and smiled sheepishly.

"No, I haven't. Is it obvious?"

She-Bang playfully rolled her eyes. "Would you believe me if I said no?" she replied, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

Zoey grinned. "Probably not."

"Good. 'Cause honestly, you have amazement written all over your face right now."

"Well, it's not like you get to be in a superhero's hideout every day," Zoey retorted. "Heck, I didn't even know Virgil and Rich—I mean, Static and Gear existed until I came to Dakota."

Her cheeks reddened slightly, well-aware of her slip-up.

While Gear's ears had perked up upon hearing his civilian name, She-Bang chuckled.

"It's okay, girl. I know who they are, too."

Zoey's eyes widened. "You do?"

"Yeah, She-Bang went to school with us not too long ago, right She-Bang?" Gear piped up.

She-Bang smiled. "It's Shenice," she answered. "And yeah, I moved to Dakota last year because my parents and I were in hiding for…reasons I don't really wanna get into right now."

The heroine's face faltered slightly as the words left her mouth, indicating that something not-so-good must have happened to her family, but Zoey didn't want to press. She was grateful she was even being told half of what was going on in her friends' second life.

Fortunately, Shenice's face quickly brightened back to its usual cheeriness as she smirked at Zoey.

"So, technically I was the new girl before you."

Zoey knew it was likely meant as a joke, but something about her statement struck a nerve. It was probably because she was tired after her traumatic experience with Ebon, but she felt unexplainably threatened by the other girl's presence.

Gear sensed the air shift between the two girls and took the opportunity to intervene.

"Either way, thanks for helping us out today, Shenice," he said. "I don't think we would've gotten out of there without you."

Shenice waved his comment aside. "No thanks needed, Richie. I'm always there for you guys."

Again, Zoey felt a pang of—what was it? Jealousy? Again? She couldn't possibly have been feeling jealous of some girl she hardly knew.

She didn't have time to ponder it too long, however. No sooner had the thought crossed her mind when she heard the sound of a door opening, followed by footsteps. Zoey's back was turned so she couldn't actually see who was there, but she deduced it could only be one other person.

"Whew, I made it," a male voice said. "The way things were lookin', I was starting to wonder if I'd ever see you guys again."

Zoey turned around to see it was none other than Static—or rather, Virgil—approaching them. He didn't appear to have any injuries, which was a relief.

"Glad to see you're in one piece, man," Gear replied, nodding in approval. "What happened to Ebon?"

Static rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, the memory of what he had just done replaying over in his mind. "It's a long story."

Gear narrowed his eyes. He knew his best friend well enough to know that something was up. "How long?"

Static glanced nervously over at She-Bang at Zoey, then back at his partner. With the two girls in their presence, he didn't think they should be talking so freely about their predicament.

"Hey, Gear, can I talk with you in private for a sec?"

Gear furrowed his brows in confusion, but slowly rose from his seat at the workstation and followed the electric superhero outside.

Zoey watched the two heroes as they disappeared from sight. It was obvious to anyone that she was the reason they did not want to converse around her, which didn't really sit right with her. They were friends, after all. It wasn't like she was going to tell anyone their secret identities. Who would she tell, anyways? The only other friends she had were Daisy and Frieda, and she knew better than to tell Frieda anything super private, especially a story as big as that.

She-Bang observed the two heroes leave, and decided that she couldn't handle not knowing what they were talking about. Her curiosity getting the best of her, she also rose from her seat and glanced over at Zoey.

"I'll be right back."

Meanwhile, Static and Gear stood outside the door of the Abandoned Gas Station of Solitude.

"Listen, should we really be talking about this kind of stuff with her around?" Static whispered to his partner.

Gear furrowed his brows in confusion. "Just to be clear, which her are we referring to? She-Bang?"

"Yea—no! I meant Zoey."

Still, Gear was unsure what his partner was getting at. "What about Zoey?"

Groaning, Static facepalmed himself in exasperation. For someone as smart as he was, the techie could be a little dense sometimes.

"How about the fact that she doesn't know our secret identities."

Now it was Gear's turn to act sheepish. "Well, that's not exactly true anymore."

Forgetting about Ebon for a moment, Static's eyes practically bulged out of their sockets. "What?!"

Gear rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Yeah, somehow she figured it out. With Ebon's help, I guess."

Static's face hardened at the mention of the gang leader. "So you're saying that Zoey knows we are Virgil and Richie?"

"Well, the fact that she keeps calling me Richie instead of Gear kinda gives it away," the blond retorted sarcastically.

"And she knows that I'm Shenice," a female voice piped up from behind him, causing him to jump.

Not so much surprised as he was annoyed, Static rubbed his temples in frustration. He knew it had been a bad idea to let Little-Miss-Nosy join in on the action.

"Listen, you are not a part of this conversation, m'kay?"

She-Bang stuck her hands on her hips. "Hey, I saved your sorry butts and your friend from Ebon. Would a 'thanks' kill you?"

"Yes," Static replied. "And first of all, you did not save us from Ebon. Just because you helped a little doesn't mean you can take all the credit for everything."

The heroine narrowed her eyes. "A little? Hey, if it weren't for me, Gear would be dead right now."

Static glanced over at his partner, who nodded in agreement. "It's true. Talon body slammed me into a wall so hard I got knocked out. If she hadn't been there, Zoey and I would've been toast."

The electric superhero was silent for a moment. His gaze shifted suspiciously between his two companions before he finally let out a sigh of defeat. "Okay, well, just because you saved us one time doesn't make you Superhero of the Year, okay?"

She-Bang grinned. She knew that was Virgil's way of saying thanks.

"Anyways, back to the matter at hand…" Static began. "So Zoey knows we're Virgil and Richie, correct?"

Gear nodded. "Correct."

Static rolled his eyes. "And how do you feel about that?"

The techie shrugged. "I've kinda accepted it by now. At least it wasn't Frieda who found out."

"So what if I told you that I may have told Ebon that we were gonna reveal our secret identities to him tomorrow night at the docks.

Gear's eyes widened. "You didn't."

Static's sheepish smile grew wider. "I did."

"Why would you do that?"

"Look, it was either buying us more time or being transported to my demise, alright?" Static retorted. "I had to think of something."

"And you said I couldn't keep a secret," She-Bang muttered, folding her arms in disapproval.

"Hey, I didn't actually tell him," Static replied, glaring at the heroine. "If you had been in my position, you would've done the same."

"So what should we do now?" Gear asked, redirecting the topic of conversation to the real problem at hand.

Static looked down at the ground. There were a lot of thoughts—more negative than positive—going through his head right now. But, as he had learned from his time as a superhero, it was better to take things one step at a time.

"First order of business should be getting Zoey home," he declared. "Then we can worry about Ebon."