While the superheroes were secretly conversing outside, Zoey Parker stared up at the old gas station clock, tapping her foot impatiently.

Static—or should she say, Virgil—had been out there with Richie and Shenice for at least 3 whole minutes. What could they have been talking about that was so important that they didn't want her to hear?

Zoey rolled her eyes. She supposed she could have been a bit more understanding of the situation. She couldn't imagine what she would do if she was a superhero and one of her friends found out unexpectedly that she was parading around, pretending to be someone else.

At the same time, however, Virgil and Richie had been her friends for almost nine months now, and she had shared things with them that were somewhat personal. More importantly, there was an established mutual trust amongst the group—or so she had thought. What other things had they been hiding from her? It was kind of hypocritical of them to worry about being able to trust her when they had been the ones living a double life behind her, Frieda and Daisy's backs.

For a moment, she contemplated getting up and leaving. This clearly wasn't her circus, and if Virgil and Richie didn't trust her enough to impart some insight into what was going on, then so be it.

But Ebon was still out there. And, like Frieda would, her curious side wanted an explanation.

As if on cue, her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the gas station door opening, followed by footsteps.

She glanced back to see Static walk in, followed by Richie and Shenice.

"Alright, Zoey," Static's voice rang throughout the otherwise quiet gas station. "We need to get you home now."

Zoey's eyes shifted between the superheroes for a moment before she slowly began to rise from her seat, as if she were about to follow his instructions. However, at the very last second, she plopped back down on the stool.

"No."

Richie glanced nervously at Static, who was better about showing face than he was. It was kind of nerve-wracking to watch them squabble, considering how well they all usually got along.

Static's gaze remained focused on her. "Why not?"

Zoey folded her arms. "I'm not leaving 'til I get an explanation."

This time, Static glanced back at Richie and Shenice, who were also at a loss of words. He didn't think this day would ever come, but he knew their friend well enough that she had a stubborn streak (as all the other females in his life seemed to have). And he had a feeling she wasn't going to leave until she got what she wanted.

Static cleared his throat. "So…a little birdie told me that you know who we really are."

Despite the heaviness in the air, a small smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth. "If by birdie, you mean Richie, then yes."

The hero rolled his eyes. "Fine, Richie told you. Then you already know who I am, yes?"

Zoey nodded.

"So you can probably guess what I'm about to say."

Zoey nodded once more. "Don't tell anyone."

"Bingo," Static said, tapping his nose with his index finger. "It's very important that you don't tell anybody. Including Frieda and Daisy."

"Especially Frieda and Daisy," Richie muttered behind him.

Zoey glanced between her two best guy friends and scoffed. "Okay, so let me get this straight. You guys want me to keep your biggest secret in the history of secrets from our best friends, just because?"

"Affirmative," Richie answered, giving her a resolute nod.

"No, not 'just because,'" Static said, tossing a glare in his partner's direction. "You seem to be forgetting what happened in the past twelve hours."

"I think she remembers," Shenice interjected, placing her hands on her hips. "It's what you guys didn't remember—to keep your identities a secret."

"Hey, how was I supposed to know my new friend in town was a crazed fangirl?"

"Hey, I am not a crazy fangirl!"

Richie face-palmed, sensing the conversation was heading in an unproductive direction.

"Alright, enough you guys!" he exclaimed.

Everyone immediately paused. Richie rarely yelled, so when he raised his voice, it was extremely attention-grabbing.

Richie cleared his throat. "Look, we can't change what happened, so let's stop arguing and work together to find a solution."

Static nodded. "You're right."

It was then that the superhero took a reluctant step forward and reached for the mask on his face.

"Zoey, I know you already know who I am, but…" He slowly peeled the mask over his head, revealing a familiar teenaged boy underneath. "...it's me, Virgil."

Even though she knew who he was, it was weird to see one of her best friends from school in his superhero garb. Something about Virgil and the famous hero didn't really go together, which is probably why it took her this long for it to click.

"There, are you happy?"

Meanwhile, Zoey was sifting through her memory, recalling all the encounters she had had with the heroes, only to settle on the day she had shown them her drawing of Static and Gear at the comic book store.

"So you guys already knew that I had drawn a picture of you?" she blurted out. "You already knew I was into art."

Virgil nodded. "We told you to show it to us because we couldn't believe you wouldn't share something that amazing with…"

"Us," Richie finished.

Zoey blinked, struggling to process the information. "So you knew this whole time that I liked you?"

Virgil raised an eyebrow. "If that's what you wanna call it, then yes."

Zoey immediately felt her cheeks redden in embarrassment. All this time, she had held a torch for the heroes, only to find out that it had actually been her friends in costume. She had been crushing on her friends.

"Aw, look, she's shy," Shenice giggled.

Zoey shot her a small glare before clearing her throat. "Just for the record, I was not crushing on you guys. Now that I know you guys are one and the same, all previous feelings are gone. Do you understand?"

"Crystal," Virgil replied, a small smile playing off the corner of his lips. Richie, however, remained silent.

"Good. 'Cause the last thing I'd wanna do is boost your egos even more."

"Amen to that," Shenice agreed, nodding. "They stop one or two robberies and think they're the cat's pajamas."

"Uh, excuse me," Virgil interjected, turning to their heroic female companion, "Who took the extra time to get here because they were too busy primping?"

Shenice frowned. "Hey, wanting to look good is not the same as needing your ego boosted every five seconds."

"Oh, boy, here we go again…" Richie muttered.

As Virgil and Shenice continued to argue, Zoey looked over at him.

"Does this happen a lot?"

"More than you think," he answered, rolling his eyes. Growing tired of the bickering, he waved his hand in front of Virgil's face to get his attention.

"So, Virgil, what are we gonna do about Ebon?"

Virgil froze, remembering that not all of their worries had been resolved just yet.

"I thought you had a plan."

Richie stuck his hands on his hips. "Oh, so just because I'm the genius, you think I can figure out everything?"

Virgil, Shenice and Zoey stared at him blankly.

"Fine," he grumbled. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "Oh, I can make a projector that produces three-dimensional images of us."

Virgil frowned. "Nah, Ebon's gotten too slick. We already fooled him once with those cameras you messed with."

"What about a robot?" Richie suggested. "We could build a robot that looks just like you and implant a voice modulator inside of it, so that—"

"Richie, we need it tomorrow," Virgil interrupted him. "I don't think we have time to build an entire robot."

"Hm, you're probably right," Richie replied, glancing down at the floor.

He stroked his chin thoughtfully, trying to come up with some sort of solution to their predicament.

"Hey, what about Mirage?" he finally said, snapping his fingers. "She could create the civilian versions of us while we confront Ebon."

Virgil paused, taking a moment to consider the idea. "I don't know, Richie, it's been two whole years since I last saw her. I don't even know where she is."

Richie grinned. Obviously, he had been expecting that response. "No problem, I can track her. It would take me just a few minutes to run her name through CPS's database."

Zoey and Shenice wrinkled their noses in confusion.

"Who's Mirage?" Shenice asked.

"Oh, she's this bang-baby that can create illusions of people," Virgil answered. "Initially, her brother took advantage of her and used her powers to steal things, but I convinced her to not go down that path."

"Oh, how noble of you."

Meanwhile, as Virgil was explaining this to Zoey and Shenice, Richie had already taken a seat at his computer and was frantically typing words into the computer.

"Well, it's more noble than anything you've done."

"Hey, how do you know—"

"Hey guys, I found her!" Richie announced.

The banter between the two teens immediately ceased as the three of them rushed to the nerdy blond's side to see what he had pulled up about their former acquaintance.

Zoey studied the web page. It appeared to be a profile of a twelve-year-old girl.

"Miranda Smith. Now under the care of Tyanna Langford." He flashed his partner a grin. "Told you it was easy."

Zoey rolled her eyes, fighting to hide her amusement. She knew Richie was a bit cocky, but didn't know just how cocky he could be when he was still dressed as Gear.

"Okay, then, well, where does she live?" Virgil asked. "And don't say Nebraska."

"1204 West Highland Street," Richie replied. "It's on the very edge of Dakota, in the suburbs."

"Dude, that's like two hours away from here!" Virgil exclaimed.

"More like 58 minutes and 39 seconds if we fly," Richie answered.

Virgil frowned, shaking his head. "That's still 48 minutes too long, Rich. I gotta be home for dinner!"

"Well, how about tonight?" Richie suggested. "When the 'rents are asleep?"

After a moment of consideration, Virgil sighed. "Fine. I was hoping to actually get some sleep tonight, but I suppose our identities are more important."

"That's the spirit," Richie remarked, causing him to roll his eyes.

Shenice grinned. "That's the nice thing about having parents who know your secret identity—I don't have to go sneaking around my parents."

Virgil shot her a glare. "Well, that's good for you, but me and Richie's situation is a bit more complicated than yours."

"More complicated? Try being a test-tube baby and having to go into the Witness Protection Program after being hunted down by lab agents?"

Zoey's eyes widened. "You're in the Witness Protection Program?"

Shenice nodded. "Yep, the whole reason my parents moved to Dakota in the first place was to hide from the lab agents, but somehow they found me."

"And me and Richie had to come rescue you," Virgil remarked. "You're welcome."

Shenice stuck her hands on her hips. "Hey, I can handle myself, thank you very much. Need I remind you who saved you from those giant blow-up balloons on that insanely windy night?"

"No, because you keep reminding us 24/7. And it was the wind that was the problem, not the balloons."

"Mhm, yeah," Shenice said, folding her arms skeptically. "Well, let me just say you're lucky I showed up when I did."

As Virgil silently stewed, she then turned to Zoey. "How did you meet Virgil and Richie?" she asked curiously.

"I met them on my first day," she said. "Apparently I looked lost, so they came over to help me."

Shenice smiled. "Aw, that's sweet! Leave it to the guys to help a damsel in distress."

Zoey scoffed. "Well, I wouldn't exactly say that I was-"

"True gentlemen. At least Richie, anyways."

"Hey, I was the one who said we should go help her," Virgil interjected.

"And then, after that, I met Frieda in my business class," Zoey continued. "And she told me that they were friends."

"Ah, yes, Frieda," Shenice said, recalling the memory of her former friend. "To be honest, I don't miss her too much. That girl thinks she's in charge of everything."

"Yeah, imagine that," Virgil muttered, rolling his eyes. "So, anyways," he said, clearing his throat, "about the mission…"

"I think we should leave around 12," Richie said. "By then, both your dad and my parents will be fast asleep, we get to Mirage's place by 1, talk the plan out with her, say, for about 30 minutes, and, assuming there aren't any delays, we should be back home around 2:30. How does that sound?"

Virgil yawned. "Sounds good to me."

"I want to come, too," Zoey declared.

Virgil and Richie exchanged uncertain glances. True, Zoey knew their identities now, but they weren't sure how much they wanted to incorporate her into their second lives.

"Look, Zoey, we know you're trying to help—" Richie began.

"I don't think so," Virgil finished.

Zoey almost looked hurt. "Why not?"

Virgil narrowed his eyes at her. "Again, do I need to remind you what has happened in the past twelve hours?"

Knowing that this was probably a losing battle, she looked down at the floor. "Fine," she grumbled.

"We can't risk you getting entangled in our problems," Richie explained. "If, for some reason, we had to fight another meta-human on the way there, you'd be left unattended, which isn't safe, especially at night."

Virgil nodded in agreement, secretly impressed by Richie's handling of the situation. "Exactly."

Zoey sighed. They were probably right. However, she couldn't help but feel a tinge of regret that she couldn't be involved in their adventure, simply because she wasn't a bang-baby.

"So, what now?"

"Time to get you home," Virgil said. "In fact, all of us need to get home before our parents call the FBI."