Title:  The Best Laid Plans

Author: Silverkitsune

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Static Shock is the property of the WB and all other associated networks and creators. The characters of Tracy, Derrick, and Carlos however do belong to me.

Part 2

Virgil was in Hell. That was the only explanation. There was no other place in the world that would force him to stay awake when he was this tired besides Hell.  Funny that Hell happened to look an awful lot like his first period history classroom. Someone had a sick sense of humor.

"Good morning Virgil."

Daisy's voice penetrated through the fog of weariness that surrounded his brain, and he grunted in response.

"Aren't we chipper this morning?" she said with a laugh.

"Did you just use the word 'chipper'?" Virgil mumbled back not raising his head up from where it lay on his desk.

Daisy punched his shoulder lightly and slid into the empty seat next to him.

"Don't tell me you didn't get any sleep," she said. "Did you stay up all night playing video games again? I thought you learned your lesson after the Final Fantasy X disaster."

Cracking one eye open, he raised his eyebrows at her and smiled.

"Hey that game deserved my insomnia. How could you have possibly expected me to sleep when SIN was destroying the world?"

"Virgil, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Shaking his head in mock disgust, he let his eyes close again.

He did wish that this exhaustion had come from pulling an all-nighter in front of his Playstation. That at least would have been relaxing, and come to think of it, his characters in Kingdom Hearts really did need to be leveled up, but what he had done instead was patrol. All night. Alone. To be fair Ritchie had tagged along for the first few hours, but when it became clear that nothing was going to be happening that night, his friend had pleaded fatigue and turned in early. Virgil would have done the same, would have loved to give up on crime fighting for the night and collapse into bed, except that for the anxious feeling that had set up shop in his bones. Like an annoying little itch that only got worse the more he scratched it.   It had made him so sure that something was going to happen that night, and as a result had kept him up flying around the city of Dakota in search of trouble.

Much to his disappointment, and annoyance the trouble that he had been waiting for turned out to be nothing more than someone's failed attempt at breaking into the cash machine on Peperdine Ave. By the time he'd gotten there the police had taken over, and the perpetrator was long gone. Virgil had finally given up after that and headed home, crawling into bed just as the sun was coming up, and only managing to grab an hour of sleep before Sharon had come pounding on his door shrieking that she was going to kill him if he was late. He sort of wished she had.

"So where's Ritchie?" Daisy asked glancing over to the empty desk to Virgil's left. "He's usually here by now."

Virgil shrugged in response. He bet Ritchie had managed to get out of first period by pretending he'd been up late finishing up a paper for school, and beseeching his dad to call him in so he could get an extra hour of sleep. It was something Virgil's father would never had done, no matter how much he might have begged, and he was tired enough to feel a twinge of bitterness at the thought. Who was the hard working super hero around here anyway? If he was awake enough by fifth period he'd give Ritchie a hard time about it during lunch.

First period turned into second, second to third. History then Biology, English with Daisy and then finally only one last period before blessed, blessed lunch.  By the time the fifth period bell had rung, Virgil felt as though five years had passed instead of just five hours.  Too tired to even look at food, he nestled his head into his arms and tried to nap. It would be a short lived nap, at any moment he expected to be dragged back into the land of the living by Ritchie's standard greeting of, "Hey V, what's up?" but even five minutes of quiet would be worth it and with a sigh he closed his eyes.

It was the bells warning that fifth period was coming to a close that woke him up. Blinking owlishly, he looked around at the groups of students who were gathering together books and backpacks before scrambling off to their next classes, and feeling a bit disoriented gave his head a shake. There was no sign of a blond haired, glasses wearing teenager.

That jerk.

Virgil thought with no real anger.

He took the whole freaking day off.

The house had never looked so beautiful, the rooms had never seemed so welcoming, and the couch had never felt softer. 

"Attention ladies and gentlemen," he murmured softly to himself. "This is your captain speaking, our one way flight from Hell to Heaven is now coming to an end. Please fasten your seat belts, put the tray tables in their up-right positions, and remember to thank your local super hero."

Grinning like the Cheshire Cat, Virgil stretched his arms high above his head, and with a yawn burrowed deeper into the cushions.

He would sleep for a year, he decided. No, two years, three if he felt like it, and nothing short of a nuclear holocaust was going to get him to move from this couch any time soon.

"Hey Virgil phone for you!!"

Screw Heaven, screw Hell there was no God.

"Awww man," he groaned burying his head into the cushions.

"Virgil come on, pick up the phone!!"

"All right all right," he grumbled extracting himself from the warm cushions and reaching for the phone.

"I GOT IT!" he yelled back up the stairs as he cradled the phone against his shoulder.

"Hello."

"Hello Virgil."

The voice at the end of the line was deep, a bit scratchy and happened to belong to Ritchie's father. The feeling of annoyance Virgil had felt on getting his nap interrupted was quickly replaced by discomfort. As much as Ritchie's dad had gone through a change of heart over the last year or so, being around a man who had hated him at first simply because of the color of his skin always made him a little uncomfortable.

"Um, hi Mr. Foley."

"Virgil is Ritchie there?"

His eyebrows rose in surprise, and Virgil adjusted the phone as he raised himself into a sitting position.

"I know you two got together last night," Mr. Foley continued. "But I didn't hear him come in and I didn't see him before I went to work today. I'm leaving for a business trip tonight, and I wanted to make sure he was in one piece before I left."

"No," Virgil said his voice uneasy. "No, he's not here."

"Hmm, all right. Well he's probably around. If he happens to stop by tell him I want him to come home, I'd really like to see him before I leave."

"No problem Mr. Foley," Virgil said.

"Bye then."

"Bye."

Slowly replacing the phone into its cradle, Virgil let out a long breath. Ritchie wasn't home, didn't sound like he'd gotten there last night at all, and he hadn't been at school either.

Sleep now forgotten, Virgil leapt up from the couch and thundered up the stairs. Ignoring the yelp Sharon let out when he almost barreled into her, he made a bee line for his room closing the door with a bang before digging out his Static Shock costume from hiding. Sleep could come later. Right now he had a best friend to find.