Another Chapter. YAY!

Muahaha... just wait... they're gonna be so adorably whomped you won't be able to hold yourselves back (i'm kidding)

Reiko's POV

I did not expect my injuries to be bad. My people had a way with avoiding harm, and healing quickly. But it had caused much pain to many others. Even though it was a genetic phenomenon, I felt so guilty. I was also sure it had been my being there that had brought all this upon us.

Mr. Hawkins led us to where Virgil was. I was unsure what I would see when I got there, but I didn't want to see what it was. Virgil's eyes were open and followed every move we made. I heard Richie's breath hitch at the sight of his best friend's bruises and cuts.

"I am sorry, Virgil. If we watched a little better, you wouldn't been hurt." I said.

"No, it's not your fault. You're both alright, and that's great. I'll heal real fast. You'll see. It looks worse than it is, really." Virgil said, smiling.

I smiled slowly, trying to blink back tears. I felt so horrible for all this. He was in the hospital, and would stay there for a little while. I had been released since my injuries hadn't been life threatening. One nurse thought I should have stayed, but I was sure that I would be fine in a day or so.

Slade. It had to be him that had brought this to us. He was still looking for me. He probably had sent that thing after me, to make sure that I knew, to keep me scared. It wasn't going to work. I would not let him do this to me. My life would not be led in the shadows. I would do what I could to pay him back.

Soon they ushered us out of the room. Chichi-san was there now, and Richie helped me into the car with the translator. I watched him from the car window as the translator helped Chichi-san into the passenger side, and got into the drivers seat. His dark eyes were watching me as well. I couldn't read the emotion within them, and only hoped that he was not angry with me.

I waved to him, a small gesture, as the car started. He waved back with a small smile as the vehicle drove away. I felt rather lonely without my two extraordinary friends with me. I felt like I couldn't speak with my father about what had happened or my feelings on the matter.

Everything seemed to be happening at once. I had been in the hospital twice since moving here, and we had only been there for a few months. It felt wrong. And I knew that someone was behind this. Someone seemed to want something from me.

"Genki desuka?" Chichi-san asked.

"Genki desu, Chichi-san." I replied, apparently not convincingly enough.

"I know you are in pain from this ordeal, but I can tell that there is more to your silence than that." He said in Japanese.

"I feel that I could have done more, made sure that Virgil hadn't gotten so badly hurt." I replied

"The important thing is that you all are alive. Virgil will heal well, and you will see that he does not blame you." Father said.

I nodded, and looked out the car window, ending the conversation. I didn't want to say more. We didn't know this interpreter very well, although it was a friend of Mr. Hawkins. I watched the stars, being absorbed into the feeling I always got when star gazing. I felt even more disconnected from the people I knew here, even people like Virgil and Richie.

Virgil was Static, and questions would come up. I know that was the foremost on the minds of my two friends, and was definitely on my mind. I had an idea of what I could do to help, but I would need Richie's help to accomplish it.

There was school the next day, although only half a day as soon as they found out that the part of the school that had collapsed was still a weak structure, and was unsafe.

I met Richie there; he looked a lot better than he had the day before while we were in the hospital. I was walking around in crutches. On the premise that he was helping me carry my things home, since I couldn't do it well enough on my own, we walked home.

"I've got an idea that could help us both." I said softly.

"What are you talking about?" He asked.

"Virgil. He's going to be in the hospital a few days." I said.

"Yeah, I know. I feel really bad about that. But what has that got to do with anything?" He asked.

"We both know Richie. I'll let you know when I get home." I said.

"What about your dad? Is he going to be there?" Richie asked.

"No, he's with the translator, they're trying to get my father a job, and help him learn English." I said.

Soon enough we had gotten to my home. And I began to explain to him about kujiri kuri. It took a while, I wasn't all that used to English inside my home. I spoke it very little there, and constantly broke into Japanese.

"I am so sorry. I'm normally better with English." I said.

"It's alright. So, you're saying it's like a Jedi mind trick then right?" Richie asked.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." I said with a slight smile. "I will need his costume however. I cannot make a strong enough illusion if I must conceal my entire self. You must also show me his fighting technique."

"Well, we'll work with the latter first. Backpack has some of our fights recorded. I'll have to go to the hideout for his spare costume though. His dad will be suspicious if I come over to grab something out of his bag." Richie said.

I nodded, and he brought out what he called Backpack. It was a robot of sorts, and startled me at how alive it seemed. We decided to go to my room, because I did not wish my father to walk in on such a thing, since it was best to keep their identities secret. He also had it set up just in case something came up with bang babies, he would be able to go out and fight.

"I think one fight without him would be alright. And I could probably leave you with a shock vox, since we're not sure if Slade is finished with you." He said.

He began to work on something small as we watched the fights. I concentrated hard on the way Virgil moved as Static, the kinds of things he did with lightning. It was amazing the control he had over his power. I wished that I had such control. I would ask him to help me. I didn't know if he would, but he was the only one that could without being hurt by me.

I was surprised when Richie grabbed my hand, what seemed like moments later.

"Hey, you ok Reiko?" He asked.

"I am fine. If I had control like Virgil, I could take these charms off." I said.

"Maybe. We'll see. You know, I'd still like to analyze some of those if I could. You never know, we could use them to help Virgil as well." Richie said.

"You can take one of my older ones." I said, getting up and dropping his hand.

I handed him a piece of jewelry I used to wear as a child. It was less decorative than what I wore now. Just a simple band with pieces that hung down in front of my ears. It was too small to wear now. Though what I wore now was pretty and elegantly done, most of it would be hidden by my hair, because it made me look too much like I was wearing a crown or something.

"You know, I don't think Virgil would mind if I took you to our hideout." Richie said after a moment of silence.

He grabbed my hand and darted out of my room, Backpack running after us and latching onto his back, appearing to be nothing more than a chrome backpack in a matter of seconds. He was on his skateboard in a moment, and I stood there staring at him incredulously.

"Come on. It'll be alright. I'm really good at it." He said, offering me his hand

I took it and he helped me onto his skateboard. I grabbed onto his waist tightly, only loosening my grip when he said he couldn't breath. We were off, his skateboard under its own method of propulsion I guessed.

Richie's POV

After Reiko had loosened her grip around my waist a little bit, I felt rather comfortable. It was strange to have a passenger on my skateboard, but it was alright, I had fixed it up to balance itself if the weight shifted enough to take a dive. It was nice though. I felt her head buried between my shoulder blades as she hugged me close.

"It's alright Reiko, your not going to fall." I said, although I didn't want her to let go.

I felt her shake her head, and she gripped me tighter. Soon enough we were at the gas station though. We came to a stop and she didn't let go. I turned around as best I could, and grabbed her arms. She put her head on my shoulder, and I wondered what was wrong. She looked up at me, and I saw her crying.

"I'm sorry Reiko, if I'd have realized, we would have just walked." I said, mentally hitting myself for wanting to show her my tech.

"No, it not that Richie." She said softly. "I come here, you and Virgil, both treat me like friend, but I treat you worse. I am reason you both get hurt."

"No. We do stuff like this all the time." I said, directing her into the gas station, and Backpack cleared a place for her to sit. "We're used to it."

"But I am the reason that the school was attacked." She said.

"What are you talking about?" I asked her, searching for Virgil's spare costume.

"Slade. He sent that thing there. For me. He knows what I am." Reiko sobbed.

"What are you then?" I asked her.

"Chichi-san, Gii-san, both say we are of a tribe, a clan of people from Japan. Elemental tribes. Not many gifted with power, but those that were, were special. My mother was a fire clan. She could use fire. Father has no power, but Gii-san and Baa-san both have power. They were water and air. When I was born, I had neither. I was lightning. Freak of nature. I don't belong anywhere." She said, the tears spilling down her cheeks.

I didn't know what to do. I knew what she felt like, not belonging anywhere, not even amidst family. I sat next to her, handing her a tissue. She wiped her tears away, looking embarrassed.

"You belong, Reiko. Virgil and I felt the same way, and we became friends. He doesn't feel he belongs because his mom died, and he thought she was the only one that understood him. He met her once… went back in time to try to save her. It was heart breaking for him. My mom hides from my dad. My dad's a racist. I don't feel like I belong there either, but I found where I could be. You will too." I said.

She smiled at me, and I felt better. She closed her eyes for a moment. It was as if she had never been crying, the puffy redness was gone. She opened her eyes, looking skyward. Then her eyes settled on me again, and I felt a bit uncomfortable.

She brushed loose hair back into her ponytail, little charms on her headpiece jingling when she touched them. I could see the power running through them. I picked up the costume, and handed it to her, and instead of looking back into her dark eyes and getting lost in them, I decided to do something else, like scan the jewelry she had handed me.

I didn't know what was wrong with me. She was a beautiful girl. Japanese, elegant and graceful. I had only known her for a few days. Of course I had known of her before that, but I had only gotten to really know her now. Why was I all befuddled when I saw her? And why did I want to sit and pull her into my arms to comfort her.

She was pulling the costume's gloves on when I finally got things situated to start my analyzing. I must have lost track of time, because I felt her tap me on the shoulder what seemed like seconds later.

"I did not think jewelry was so interesting. I have called your name for five minutes Richie." She said.

"I'm sorry Virgil. There are some really strange metals in the jewelry. Something's not adding up either. It's going to take a lot longer to analyze all this." I said.

That's when I did a double take. It was Virgil! What the hell? I thought I had heard Reiko's voice though. The hood was up on the costume, and Virgil hardly ever wore his costume like that. I pulled the hood down to see Reiko scowling at me from under the mask.

"That was creepy." I said.

"It was working even on you. That is good. You are close to Virgil, and would be hardest to trick." She said.

"He never puts the hood up." I commented.

"I noticed, but I wanted to be sure that I had his face and voice." She said.

"You'll need to work on the voice."

"We have time to practice. We should do so with powers as well." She said.

"Come on, I've got the perfect place to practice. Here, use this. It's one of his older flying discs, but you should be able to operate it, if you have even a fraction of his power." I said.

She scowled again, and put her hand out. The disc flew into the wall, not used to the pure lightning she threw at it. I laughed until she turned to me, looking upset.

"It's ok Reiko. You used a little too much juice. He works with electricity like you, but yours is based on the lightning side of electricity. That's like 1.21 jigawatts of electricity." I said.

She gave me this look that seemed like she might have laughed or scowled. I sighed and tried to pull it out of the wall. It took her help to get it out, and then she touched it softly, it charged up like Virgil always did it, and she stood on it. I donned my Gear costume, and she put the hood up, and it was like I was seeing a ghost. Well, as close to one as I could, seeing as Virgil was still alive.

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