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.

Authors Note: Another thank you to Wildfirefriendship. Oh, and I took your advice about putting the flashback section in part five in italics.

Part 6

When Virgil first saw him he thought he was dead. His stomach turned to ice, and the world seemed to shrink until all that existed was the pale, unmoving form of his friend lying in the dark. Ritchie's skin was cold to the touch, and he didn't move even when Virgil grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him into a sitting position.

"Ritchie," he called. "Ritchie man, wake up."

Virgil shook him and lightly smacked his face.

"Rich, come on don't scare me like this."

In the blue silver light given off by his board it looked as thought his friend wasn't even breathing. His hands slid clumsily along the neck looking for a pulse, and the ice in his stomach melted away sending arctic water into his knees when he felt the steady, if slow, beat under his fingers.

"This is not cool," he said under his breath.

The teal and orange hoodie was covered in grime with black stains that could have been oil found all over the sleeves and back. The jeans were even worse, especially around the knees, and there was a nice yellow and blue bruise blossoming across his jaw. Ritchie's shoes were gone, and his glasses were also missing. Without them his face looked cleaner, somehow smoother and uncluttered.

"You're dad's going to kill you for losing those," Virgil mumbled softly.

He felt Ritchie's arms and fingers, relieved when he found everything in its proper position, and still holding him up with one arm leaned in to get a closer look at the bruise. Because of the bad light, Virgil had to lean in until the two of them were almost nose to nose, and he was not prepared when Ritchie's eyes shot open.

"Jeeze!" he cried jerking back, his hands losing their grip on Ritchie who collapsed back onto the table with out a sound.

His heart thumping painfully against his ribs, Virgil yanked Ritchie back up.

"Sorry, man, sorry."

The half lidded eyes didn't open again, and Ritchie's head had flopped forward, chin pressed against his chest.

"You are not allowed to give me heart attack and then fall asleep," Virgil hissed. "Wake up Ritchie!"

Nothing.

Virgil pried one of Ritchie's eye lids open. The pupil was huge, a circle of black that blocked out the blue he should have been seeing like a dark storm cloud covering a clear summer day. There were only two things that he could think of off the top of his head that would have caused this.  Virgil ran his hand though his friend's hair, ghosting over the temples with his fingers looking for a lump that may be the source of a concussion.  He didn't find anything. The only other possibility happened to be drugs, and he sniffed the air and his friends clothing tentatively. He didn't smell weed.

 This is stupid, he thought. Ritchie doesn't do drugs.

He knew that, but couldn't stop himself from further investigation. Pulling Ritchie against his chest so that he wouldn't fall backward again, he rolled up the sleeves of the teal hoodie. The left arm was clean, but the right arm had a puncture wound next to the vein. It was bruised and painful looking.

"Oh Jesus, Ritchie."

Carefully laying the blond haired boy back onto the table, Virgil unfolded his board and dropped it to the ground. He slid one arm under Ritchie's knees, the other under his back managing to lift him off of the table and onto the grass.

He had to get Ritchie out of here, but the board was small and Ritchie was heavy. He had done the traditional swoop and rescue more times then he could remember, but he had never been carrying those people far and knew that he couldn't carried Ritchie as far as he would need to go.

That and if he finds out that I carried him out of here like some damsel in a harlequin romance novel he'll kill me.

He chuckled hollowly at the thought, the humor feeling sick and out of place.

Stealing another look at his board he felt an idea form. Wrapping his arms around Ritchie's torso, Virgil pulled him against his chest and scooted back until he was resting on the edge of his board. His own legs would dangle off of each side and he would have to hold on tight to make sure Ritchie didn't slide off, but it would work. The only problem now was where to go.

Tugged the electricity out of his body and sending it into the board, he gently floated them out of the park keeping Ritchie in a tight bear hug.  He stopped once they'd gotten high enough see over the tree tops, and the city was once again visible.

His house was definitely out. Not only did it currently hold his sleeping father and sister, but it was too far from the park for Virgil to try and make the trip in this awkward position. Ritchie's place would have been good, but it was even farther than Virgil's, and if he was honest with himself Virgil was also frightened of being alone with Ritchie.  He'd seen people high, knew what it looked like, but after that his knowledge ended. He wanted someone who knew about this kind of thing, who would know what he was supposed to do.

The city was quiet and dark, in the distance he thought he could hear police sirens, but tonight he ignored them.  A few blocks over he could see a row of apartment buildings, and the one closest to him looked familiar. The complex was dark, but a light could be seen shining out of the windows of whoever lived on the top floor. He tightened his grip on Ritchie and began to fly towards it. Adam might not be thrilled to see them, but whether he liked it or not he was about to become useful.

The night was unusually warm for October, but no matter what time of year it was riding the board was always a chilly trip. Virgil wrapped his long coat around his friend hoping to get some heat into the pale, freezing body, but was distressed when Ritchie still showed no signs of life.

He went slow, drifting along the air currents that slid by in the night, frustrated at the need for patients when all he wanted to do was break the sound barrier.

"Almost there Ritchie," he found himself murmuring. "I'm going to get you warmed up and make sure you're all right." He paused. "Then I'm going to take care of who ever messed you up, and when that's all over I'm going to kill you for scaring the hell out of me."

He floated up past windows with drawn curtains and dark rooms where shadows lay sprawled across living room floors like ill mannered cats. Gritting his teeth in frustration he was on the edge of screaming when they finally reached the window of the top floor. Inside Adam, also known as Rubber Band Man a former criminal gone good guy who also happened to be dating Virgil's sister Sharon, lay sprawled out on his couch snoring loudly. His lamps and T.V were both still on.

"Figures," Virgil said in an exasperated voice. 

He pounded hard on the window.  Adam rolled over at the noise, but didn't wake up.

Virgil clenched his jaw and pulled a small ball of the electricity into his fingers. He gave it a flick and the ball shot under the glass and into the room, giving Adam a nasty shock.

The taller young man shot up.

"THE HELL!" he screeched.

Virgil responded by giving the glass another hard knock.

Rubbing sleep from his eyes Adam prowled over to the window, throwing it open with a look of annoyance resting on his face. When he saw Ritchie the annoyance melted off, replaced by surprise.

"What happened?" he asked.

Virgil didn't answer. Instead he carefully pushed his friend towards Adam.

"Take him inside, he's freezing."

Grabbing onto Ritchie's shirt sleeves Adam pulled the unconscious boy into the apartment, grunting under the weight. He carried the teenager over to the couch, and after lying him down he turned back to Static.

The board had pitched backwards with the sudden loss of Ritchie's weight, and Virgil had to throw his body forward scrambling in through the window and tumbling onto the floor to keep from plummeting to the pavement. Shaking his head in annoyance, he retrieved his board closing it with a sharp snap before joining Adam.

"What happened?" Adam asked again.

"I don't really know," Virgil confessed. "I found him in the park.  I think he's been drugged. Check out his right arm."

Adam leaned forward and pulled the sleeve up past the elbow, examining the puncture mark.

"I didn't think this kid would be into that kind of thing," he said his voice layered in disappointment.

"He's not," Virgil snapped. "I know him. He would never have gone near shit like that- hey! What are you doing?!"

Adam had rolled Ritchie's sleeve back down, and was now unfastening the other boy's belt buckle.

"You think you know him," Adam said. "That's great, but I don't want anyone ODing in my living room."

Virgil's hand shot out and grabbed Adam's arm.

"You saw his arms, there weren't any track marks."

Adam rolled his eyes and unclenched Virgil's hand from around his arm. His brown eyes bored into Virgil's and he suddenly looked very tired and very old.

"There are more places in the body that people use to shoot up besides their arms."

"But-"

"You got proof that he didn't do this to himself?"

"Look at his face," Virgil exclaimed. "Who hit him? Look at his wrists, it those aren't rope burns then he's caught one funky rash.

Where are his glasses? Where are his shoes? Why's he been missing for an entire day and night?"

Adam paused at that.

"How'd you know he was missing for so long?"

"Little bird told me," Virgil said.

Eyebrows raised Adam crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"This little bird happen to be named Virgil Hawkins?"


"I'm not a liberty to disclose my sources."

Uncrossing one arm Adam showed off his own powers, stretching the appendage until it had disappeared inside of the kitchen. When it reappeared he held the phone in his hand.

"I'm thinking I should call Sharon."


"What!" Virgil yelped. "Why?"


"If that kid was worried enough to ask you to find his best friend then I'll bet you 10 bucks that he's still out looking for him. If he gets himself killed Sharon's going to be upset."


Virgil sighed, and not for the first time wondered if it would just be easier to tell Adam he was Static. He already knew Adam was Rubber Band Man, and in a way it would only be fair. Reaching over, he laid a hand on the phone.

"Don't call her. Virgil was the one who told me about Ritchie, but I made him go home."

Adam looked at him in disbelief.

"Virgil Hawkins trusted you to find Ritchie?  The same kid who still doesn't trust me after a year and a half of dating his sister, trusted you after five minutes?" "

"What can I say? You obviously just don't have that static charm."

The older boy snorted but returned the phone to the kitchen. Virgil was glad to be moving the conversation away from the subject of himself.

"I'm still going to check Ritchie over," Adam said giving him a hard look. "If he's going to stay the night I want to know if I'm dealing with a user."

Virgil gritted his teeth, but didn't move to stop him as the jeans were pulled down, and the boxers pulled up.

A long pink scar over the left thigh was the only marking on Ritchie's body, and Adam nodded in approval some of the tension draining out of his eyes.

"Well," he said. "I guess you really do know him."