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. The drug Lethe is also my own creation.

Authors Note- Wildfirefriendship, I have run out of words in English to thank you with, so let's break out the big book of foreign languages. Gracias, merci, danke, toda, go raibh maith agat, arigato, gratia, khawp khun and xie xie.

Rowdy Gabriev- You actually reviewed for every chapter! There are special layers in heaven for people like you. Muchos gracias!

And a huge thank you to MidnightLoner. Yeah, I imagine Virgil will be glossing over that part of the night if Ritchie ever asks for details.

Part 7

Virgil's first question had been, "What can I do?" and when the reply had been "nothing" he'd almost blown something up.

"There's nothing you can do," Adam had said. He'd retrieved a blanket from one of the other rooms and was fanning it out over Ritchie. "He's breathing fine, his pulse is a little slow but it's strong, he's not puking his guts out, and there were no other track marks on his body. Now you've just got to wait for him to come down."

Feeling restless and upset Virgil had stalked angrily around Adam's apartment, making an impatient 'hmm' every time he'd passed the couch and saw no change. Finally, Adam had grabbed him by the shoulders and, none to gently, pushed him into the kitchen.

"OK, you're driving me crazy. Go pace in there."

Hating him self for not going back into the living room, but hating looking at his unmoving friend knowing he could do nothing even more, Virgil had stayed in the kitchen. Exhausted he's slid to the floor, back against Adam's counter top, and slipped in and out of a light doze for the rest of the night.  It had passed by uneventfully.

It was almost dawn now, and the sun dripped in through Adam's windows bathing the room in a warm rosy glow. Still sprawled out on the floor Virgil rolled his neck, cracking it, and massaged the sore muscle with the back of his hand. The sound of light footsteps coming across the tile floor caught his attention, and he looked up to see Adam peering over the counter. Walking around to the other side, Adam slid down and sat cross-legged next to Virgil.

"I do have chairs," he said.

Virgil shrugged. He made no move to get up. "I saw them."

Working some of the soreness out of his own neck, Adam settled back against the counter.

"He's still the same," Adam said. "But it shouldn't be too much longer."

"Great."

They sat in a silence that Virgil was glad for. He hated talking to Adam because there was never anything to say to him, and even now he did his best to ignore the other boy's presents.

"So, do you know where the scar on his thy came from?" Adam asked breaking the silence just as Virgil was about to slip into a light cat nap. Head still back against the counter, Virgil closed his eyes.

"Basketball game," he explained. "Ritchie slipped when he was trying to catch a pass and there was glass on the court. Cut his thy right open and it bled so much that he had to be taken to the hospital to get stitches. Why do you want to know?"

Virgil, his eyes still closed, didn't notice the odd look that passed over Adam's face at the mention of the game.

"Just trying to make conversation," Adam said. "Was this a recent thing?"

"Kinda. Almost a year I think."

"Really," Adam murmured more to himself then to Virgil. "You know, you seem to know a lot about Ritchie."

Virgil cracked an eye open.

"I've known him for a long time."

Adam didn't say anything to that. He seemed to be thinking.

Don't hurt your self, Virgil thought with a smirk.

"My girlfriend Sharon," Adam began hesitantly. "Has this little brother."

His muscles tensing up Virgil fought to keep his face neutral.

"Yeah, I've met him."

"Right, right," Adam responded. "This kid is really annoying. He's got a huge head, thinks he's all that, but like you said you've met him so you know what I mean."

Frowning, the teenager sat up now wide awake, and more then a little insulted.

"Well where you saw annoying and big headed I saw charming and a snazzy dresser, but please go on."

Adam waved off Virgil's annoyance and continued.

"This kid, Virgil, at first I couldn't stand him. Everyone knew I'd been a criminal, but most people were willing to give me a chance to show that I'd changed. Virgil was not one of those people. This kid didn't like me, didn't trust me, and hated that Sharon wanted to be with me. I've never seen anyone get as tense as Virgil did whenever I got near his family or friends. I got so sick of it that I was close to dragging the kid into a back alley and smacking some sense into him."

"What stopped you from doing that?" Virgil asked interested in spite of himself.

Adam snorted. "Sharon. That girl would have killed me if I'd touched her brother."

The other boy grinned at the thought of Adam cowering under Sharon's sharp tongue and swift right hook.

"So what changed? Something did change right, that's the point of this story?"

"What changed," Adam answered. "Was that one day I got this idea.  I thought that if I actually tried to understand what made this kid tick, I could figure out a way to get him to accept me. Imagine my shock when I realized that Virgil and I were pretty similar." He ignored Virgil's open mouth and stuttering protests. "He didn't like me because he was protective of the people he cared about. In his eyes I was a threat and he wanted me taken out of the picture, not invited to dinner. And you know what?  If I'd been in his shoes I have felt the same way. We're both just protective about the people we care about." He stopped looking for the right words before continuing. "Lately, I've been starting to think that me and this kid also share a few unique qualities. Things that make us feel like it's our responsibility to do the lion's share of protecting. I've been thinking that we both care about a lot of the same people, and we might be able to do a better job at keeping them all safe if he trusted me for five seconds and worked with me instead of always pushing me away." Adam's serious brown eyes bore into Virgil's. "You get what I'm saying here Static?"

Virgil's mind whirled, his palm suddenly sweaty. The room felt smaller then it had a few seconds ago, and he could feel hundreds of screaming emotions scrambling around inside his head all calling out and trying to be heard. Oh yeah, he heard him all right, and he found himself agreeing with the guy. He didn't know if he was ready for this just yet, but he was too tired to play mind games with a man who had named himself after a hair accessory. With nervous hands he slid his fingers underneath the mask. This was either going to go very well, or blow up in his face.

Here's hoping for going very well, Virgil thought humorlessly. Fingers still resting underneath the cloth, he hesitated for a moment longer before pulling the mask off.  Holding it in his hands, he felt naked and unsure. Taking a deep breath he turned to face Adam.

"It was getting really hot underneath that thing," he said.

Adam's look of complete shock was one that Virgil filed away in his memory, reminding himself to pull the image back up whenever he needed a good laugh. Slowly the other Bang Baby reached over. Taking the mask from Virgil he inspected it in the sun's new light, holding it up, and even rubbing the cloth underneath his fingers. Then he began to chuckle. He fought it back at first, but this only helped the action mutate into a deep, loud, belly laugh that soon had Adam in tears.

"You're really ruining this moment for me," Virgil said dryly.

"Oh, oh man," Adam sputtered out. "You don't understand. Oh, hell I'm crying here."

"I get it," Virgil said. "Finding out that annoying Virgil is really super cool Static has caused your brain to melt. I always suspected something like this would happen."

This only made Adam laugh harder his hands clutching his sides.

Virgil buried his head in his knees.

"Blew up in my face. How nice."

Calming down a little Adam whipped his eyes with the back of his sleeve.

"I thought you might have been Static, in fact after what you just said I was damn sure, but I didn't expect you to just pull the damn mask off. I thought it was going to take me a few months to wear you down. Worm it out of you."

Glaring at him, Virgil snatched the mask out of the other boy's hands.

"It's been a long night, and what did I say that made you so sure?"

Adam smacked his own thy, the same spot where Ritchie's scar was.

"Sharon and I were the ones who took you to the emergency room. The kid got blood all over me. Remember?"

Virgil's face got warm. "Oh yeah." He shoved the mask into the pocket of his coat. The past two days had been one nerve wrecking experience after another, and he just wanted it all to end. "You can't tell Sharon, and you can't my tell Dad."

"Fine with me," Adam said. He jerked his head in the direction of the living room. "Am I to assume sleeping beauty in there knows?"

"Yep."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Adam asked. "Though it does explain why you two are joined at the hip."

"We are not-"

"I used to think the two of you just desperately needed girlfriends."

"Hey!"

Laughing again, Adam gave Virgil's shoulder a punch. "Don't get your lightning in a twist. I'm kidding."

Virgil shrugged him off. "I very much want this conversation to end."

He got his wish. From the other room there was a loud thud followed by a cry.

Virgil scrambled to his feet almost tripping over his coat before stumbling into the other room. The faster of the two of them, Adam reached the couch only moments before Virgil stopping so suddenly that the other boy nearly collided into him.

Ritchie was awake. He'd taken a tumbled off the couch, the blanket tangled in his legs. Pushing himself into a kneeling position the blond teenager swayed his body shaking. Adam quickly knelt down and put his hands on Ritchie's shoulders to keep him up-right.

"Yo Ritchie," he said. "Calm down, you're ok. It's Adam. Look at me Ritchie."

The shaking teenager raised his head. Squinting he peered at Adam with glassy eyes.

"A-adam?" Ritchie stammered in confusion.  "Hey. Dude, I think I'm gunna-"

Adam's hand shot past Virgil. Snapping back like a whip it tossed a waste basket under Ritchie just in time for the boy to be sick. When he'd finished Adam accepted the cup of water Virgil had gone back for.

"Wash your mouth out," he ordered pushing the cup to Ritchie's lips.

Virgil bent down on the other side of Ritchie, frightened at the violent change in his friend's condition. Before Ritchie had been cold to the touch and unnaturally still, now though his skin was hot and flushed, and shudders ran through his frame.

"Ritchie," Virgil said trying to get closer.

"Virgil?"

"Yeah man it's me."

The other boy looked to his right and squinted in a vain attempt to see.

"I need my glasses," he mumbled.

"Help me get him back onto the couch," Adam said.

Sliding an arm underneath Ritchie's shoulders, the two meta-humans deposited the weak teenager onto the sofa. When they'd settled him back down, Adam laid a hand on his forehead and peered into his eyes.

"His pupils are back to normal," he remarked. "But he's on fire."

"I feel sick," Ritchie mumbled. He turned his head to look at Virgil. "I-I threw up man."

"I noticed," Virgil said with a worried smile. He gave Adam a sharp look. "Tell me this is normal."

"It is, sort of. Hold on."

Adam disappeared into the kitchen. When he came back he was holding a wet wash cloth that he tossed to Virgil. "Try to cool the boy down."

Catching it, Virgil wiped it across his friends face. Memories of his mother doing the same thing to him once when he was small flashed into his mind then quickly disappeared.

"What does 'sort of' mean?" he asked.

"When you come down from smack the throwing-up is normal enough, most people even get a heroin hangover where you're weak, shaky, and probably have a headache for a day. It's not anything to worry about though. I've seen people feel worse from drinking too much tequila." He bent over Ritchie again, laying a hand on the hot dry skin to feel his pulse. "But he shouldn't be this hot. Usually you're skins hot and dry during the high, not afterward."

"Meaning what?" Virgil asked impatiently.

"Don't know. Give it some time, we'll see how he feels in a little bit."

-

Ritchie's return to the land of the conscious did not last long. Tired and feverish, he soon slipping into an uneasy sleep, and Virgil felt no better about the situation then he had when he'd first brought him to Adam. The shaking was much less violent, but the fever burned through him, and his breathing was harsh. Soon Ritchie was mumbling in his sleep, having small broken conversations with people only he could see.

Virgil and Adam waited, watching the sun fully rise until the entire apartment was bright and the noise of those on their way to work could be heard from the street below. Virgil thought he had been remarkably patient through this entire ordeal, but when the honking of horns and purring of car engines had died down signaling the end of rush hour he decided that enough was enough.

"I think we've waited long enough," Virgil said. "And the look on your face tells me that this ain't normal. Is he having a bad reaction to this stuff or what?"

The other meta-human was calmer then Virgil, and had spent the time leaning against the far window watching Ritchie and thinking.

"I don't think so. Unless it was laced with something nasty he shouldn't be reacting like this."

Some of the blood drained out of Virgil's face.

"We have to take him to the hospital."

Adam shook his head. "I would say yes if I still thought this was heroin, but he's got a lot of mixed up symptoms. He's cold for hours, then hot. He's barely breathing then fighting for air. None of them are symptoms that I can link with any of the drugs I know of, unless of course he's a long time user." He caught Virgil's steal gaze. "Which we both agreed he's not."

"If you don't even know what it is then that's just one more reason to take him to a doctor," Virgil argued.

"He doesn't look like he's in any immediate danger," Adam responded. "If we wait it out then he could pull out of it by himself and be just fine."

"But you don't know that," Virgil said sharply. "Man, why are you fighting me on this?"

"Is Ritchie's dad an understanding guy?" Adam asked suddenly.

Virgil looked surprised at the sudden turn the conversation had taken.

"What? I don't know. Not really I guess, don't change the subject."

"Virgil we take this kid to the hospital they will call his folks, and they will tell them that their son was using drugs. You think his dad's going to believe he didn't do this to himself? You think other people are going to believe that? How about your family? Will they treat him any differently? Trust him? This could destroy a few of the relationships that he might have."

"We trusted you," Virgil snapped. "Besides, what's a bad reputation going to matter if he's dead?"

"You're right," Adam said trying to keep his temper in check.  "This could be bad, but so far all it looks like is a really bad flu. On the other hand, I do want to know more about what this could be." While he'd spoken, Adam had pulled on his jacket struggling to get his arms through the sleeves before snatching up his keys from the table. He was heading for the door. "Give me an hour. I'm going to go talk to someone who might know what's going on."

Virgil jumped to his feet trailing after Adam. "Who are you going to see?"

"An old girlfriend."