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: I apologize for the large gap in time between chapters, but school devoured my life for a few months. Now that summer is here I plan on having a lot more time to write which means updates will (hopefully) be a lot closer together. I'd also like to thank everyone who has reviewed. It means a lot to me, and I'm so glad that so many of you are enjoying this story.

Part 10

"How old are you," Superman asked once the door to the stairwell had banged shut.

"15," Virgil replied.

The older superhero looked surprised at that answer.

"The new ones just keep getting younger," he said to himself shaking his head. "How did you get those powers?"

"There was a chemical spill in my hometown," Virgil answered trying to keep the impatience out of his voice. There was a small part of his brain, the part awake enough to fully understand exactly who he was talking to, that was horrified at the very idea of sounding impatient with the superhero of all superheroes. If this conversation had taken place at any other point in his teenage life he would have been too star struck to speak, let alone adopt a tone. Fortunately, the rest of his brain was doing a great job of shutting that part up. "Not very original, I know."

The older superhero nodded. Turing away from Virgil he wandered over to the edge of the roof and took a seat. "Come over here, you look exhausted. Sit down before you fall down."

Virgil obediently followed, closing the distance between them in three quick strides. He flopped onto the ledge with a grunt of relief, his aching legs thanking him nicely for the break. Virgil stole a quick glance at the Man of Steel. There was a look stretched across his features that reminded Virgil of how his Pops looked just before launching into a lecture on responsibility, school work or why he had to eat all of Sharon's cooking.

"I want you to tell me everything," Superman finally said.

Virgil began to talk.

Around 4:17, when Ritchie's temperature hit 104 degrees, Adam dropped him into a bathtub filled with luke warm water. He kept him there until his temperature went down to a number that didn't require the assistance of the paramedics. After drying him off and putting him back on the couch, Adam laid a cold compress across Ritchie's forehead. The blanket was bunched into a ball and left on the floor.

At 5:00 Ritchie woke up, and Adam forced half a glass of water down his throat. At 5:33 he woke up again, and threw up everything Adam had previously gotten him to swallow.

"T-t-t-his r-really s-sucks," Ritchie had gasped in-between heaves. Adam hadn't said anything, but silently agreed. At 6:18 Ritchie fell back into an uneasy sleep, and at 6:45 Adam ordered a pizza.

"Yes, I know what anchovies are," he growled into the phone. "Look, what I want on my pizza is none of your damn business!"

It showed up at 7:28.

He was counting out the pizza boy's tip when he smelled the cigarette. Flashing a strained smile at the tired looking teenager standing impatiently outside his door, Adam pushed a crumpled five dollar bill into his outstretched hand and took the pizza inside. He only closed the door half-way. Tossing his wallet on top of the coffee table, he slid the still hot pizza box next to it, and went back to the half open door. Standing behind the door, Adam stretched his head through the narrow opening. The hall was empty, but he could still smell the burning tobacco. Always hated that smell, he thought his arms and upper torso stretching out to join his head.

Adam's apartment was at the very end of the hall. Turning right led to a wall and a window, turning left led to the elevator. To the right of the elevator was another wall, but the entrance to the stairs, a door hidden from Adam's view, was to the left. Hugging the wall and moving slowly, Adam slid towards the smell keeping his lower body rooted in the apartment. When he'd reached its end, he stretched his neck upwards, stopping when his head brushed the ceiling. Noiselessly, Adam peered around the corner, looked down and found his future cancer patient. Leaning against the stairwell door, flicking ash onto the hallway's dark blue carpet was Carlos.

I do not need this right now, Adam thought with annoyance.

Carlos took a final drag off of his cigarette then ground the butt of it against the wall. Adam felt a flash of annoyance at the sight of the dark gray smudge. This was his apartment building. He had worked hard to afford living in this building. As far as he was concerned that was his wall, and he wasn't about to stand by and let Carlos leave his own personal calling card on his wall.

Adam's arms darted around the corner grabbing Carlos by the shoulders. Releasing the tension that ran through out his body, Adam flew backwards, through the hall and into the apartment dragging the other boy with him. The force of the snap back made him fly over his stationary lower body. But he was used to this occurrence by now, and his legs quickly followed the rest of his sailing torso. The end of it all saw Carlos pinned against the far wall, dark green sneakers dangling a few inches off of the ground.

"You know," Adam said calmly. "They just painted those walls."

The surprise that covered Carlos' face was quickly pushed away and replaced with a familiar look of vague indifference.

"Anything that white deserves to be messed-up a little," he responded.

"No, no you've just got to learn to be more accepting," Adam said.

Carlos smirked. His eyes slid past Adam landing on the couch where Ritchie still slept fitfully. He took in the sight of the sick teenager with mild interest.

"You have a dying gringo on your couch."

"So good to know that your eyes are still working," Adam snapped. "Now let's see if your voice is still good. Tell me what you're doing in my building."

"I was smoking-…"

A hard shake from Adam cut Carlos off. "Carlos, man, I'm very busy right now. I don't have time for your bullshit. What are you doing here?"

Carlos stared back at him with a blank expression and empty eyes. He glanced past Adam, once again looking at the couch.

"Hey, you're gringo is awake," he said nodding in Ritchie's direction.

The moment it took Adam to turn his head was all the time Carlos needed. Kicking his legs up, he slammed his feet directly into Adam solar plexus. Unprepared for the attack, Adam doubled over with a grunt, losing his grip on Carlos who pulled away and made a run for the door.

Adam spun around throwing out his left arm. The lanky boy ducked, changing directions and dodging across the room. Adam sprang after him, stretching his body out into a large square sheet and threw himself over Carlos in an attempt to trap him. Carlos twisted sprinting back towards the door as Adam dropped down. He almost had him, would have had him, if Carlos had not dropped and slid out the still open door like a baseball player. Molding back into his original shape Adam scrambled to his feet, sprinting to the door. The hallway was empty.

"Damn it," he spat. "I forgot how fast you are." Disgusted, he turned back into the apartment, slamming the door behind him.

"Sounds like you cracked the door frame," a tired voice commented.

Startled, Adam looked up to see an exhausted Virgil climbing in through the window. "But then again you've never been that great at keeping your head."

"Kid, you have the worst timing in-…" Adam's sentence died at the sight of the figure that climbed in after Virgil. Well, he supposed "climbed" was the wrong word to use. "Floated" was a much better fit.

"Adam, meet Superman," Virgil said grinning at the meta-human's dumbstruck expression. "Superman, meet Adam."

"Hello," the superhero greeted having successfully made it through the window.

"I don't believe it," Adam said making his way across the room.

"That's the problem with you Adam," Virgil scoffed. "No faith." His grin faded at the sight of Ritchie. "How is he?" he asked walking over to his friend, the sarcasm gone from his voice.

"Getting worse," Adam said joining him. "We've been doing the same dance all day. The fever spikes up and I bring it back down, except it's getting harder and harder to bring it back down."

Virgil nodded, moving to the side to let Superman get closer.

"Is it safe for me to move him?" Superman questioned.

"Don't see how he could get any worse no matter what you did," Adam responded. "Go for it."

The older superhero nodded. Bending down he slid an arm underneath Ritchie's knees and another under his back, lifting him effortlessly off of the couch.

"I'll come back for you two," he said to Virgil. "I don't want to go too fast so it might be a few minutes. Just sit tight." There was a quick rush of wind and then he was gone.

"You are going to explain how you managed to pull this off," Adam commanded still staring at the spot Superman had vacated.

"Love to," Virgil said rubbing his eyes with the back oh his hand. "But it's kind of a long story, and the big S will be back soon. You are coming along when he gets back, right?"

Raising an eyebrow, Adam shot Virgil a hard look. "You're not leaving me behind at this stage in the game." He paused. "Um, just exactly how fast do you think he's going to go?"

The answer was faster than Adam could have ever imagined. The trip was a whirl of colors that bled together into such an unrecognizable picture that Adam wondered how Superman could possibly see where they were going. A deafening wind bore down on him, hitting every inch of his body with a pressure so intense it almost hurt. When they finally stopped Adam decided with very firm resolve that he was driving back to Dakota.

"That was sort of cool," Virgil mumbled.

"No it wasn't," Adam said bending over and fighting the urge to vomit. He had never been so grateful that his own power kept him safely on the ground. Pulling himself back together, he straightened up and took a look around.

He didn't know where they were, but it looked like no hospital Adam had ever been in, and he'd been in quite a few. The room was big enough to have held Dakota Union High's gym. The ceiling was high, the room wide and clean with a cement floor and white painted walls. There was a vending machine, fridge and coffee pot stowed away in the furthest corner of the room with a large square table and five chairs resting in the middle of it. The walls to his left and right were both made of glass, and through them Adam could see the beginnings of two large green houses. Straight ahead was a set of double doors.

Superman had laid Ritchie out on a long gurney, and an aged Hispanic woman in a long white lab coat was bent over him. There were deep lines around the woman's mouth, and crow's feet around the eyes that were focused on Ritchie. Standing across from her was a much younger Indian man who couldn't have been out of his late 20's.

"Ankit," the woman said shining a small pen light into Ritchie's eyes. "Go get Dr. Kumar. Then find Jenny and send her up here."

"Right Dr. Cruz," the young man said taking off down the hall at a jog.

"You," she said pointing one wrinkled hand at Virgil. "Is he allergic to anything?"

"No," Virgil answered.

"When did you find him?"

"Early this morning, but he's been missing since Friday."

Clicking the light off, the old woman slid the stethoscope that hung around her neck under Ritchie's hoodie, pausing to listen to the boy's rapid heartbeat.

"Any idea when the drug was administered?"

Virgil shook his head. "No, not really."

Quick footsteps brought a thin young woman with short curly red hair to the doctor's side.

"Jenny," Dr. Cruz said removing the earpieces and allowing the bell to rest against her chest once again. "Help me wheel him in."

Adam watched as the two women maneuvered the gurney across the room, disappearing behind the double doors. Virgil made a move to follow, but Adam put a hand on his shoulder.

"I think we're going to have to hang out here," Adam said gently.

A middle aged Indian woman, her dark black hair drawn into a neat pony tail that bounced in time with her quick pace marched briskly past them. Ankit trailed behind her. She slipped through the doors after Dr. Cruz and Jenny without acknowledging the three superheroes, but Ankit paused just before entering.

"Dr. Kumar says you three should wait over there," he said motioning to the table. "She also says to tell you 'hello' Superman. She apologizes for not being able to greet you properly."

"Of course," Superman said sincerely.

The younger man disappeared behind the doors.

"Come on Virgil," Adam said steering the younger boy towards the corner. "Let's go get you some coffee."