Disclaimer: I don't own Sky High.

Read on, oh faithful ones...

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Ethan liked to read books with different book jackets on them. Someone might think he was reading about Calculus or Geometry really intensely, but instead he'd be reading 'how to maim, torture, or kill a person in 500 ways using only kitchen utensils' and they'd be none the wiser. Ethan tended to rest against Zach while reading, and though some of the pictures turned his stomach, Zach couldn't help but read along as well. So, really, it wasn't his fault that he knew 30 ways to kill a person with a spoon (53 if it was a spork).

It's these sort of things that Zach thought about on his way to save Ethan. His boyfriend was definitely no damsel in distress (in fact, the damsels that Zach did know certainly weren't capable of being distressed either, not unless they wanted to be, but that's another story), but in this case it seemed that Ethan had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sure, he'd just gone grocery shopping at the same time Airborne and Shifter were in the store, but it was enough.

Zach remembered the CCTV footage; Airborne and Shifter had requested Ethan's help with their multitude of shopping bags, and then stuffed him in the trunk of the car alongside their groceries. Somehow, no one had witnessed a thing, and no one knew where they'd gone. He hoped that Ethan had eaten all of their food in retaliation.

People like Airborne and Shifter, who were inherently good and thought everyone else in the world had a glimmer of good in them too, were naive idiots. They were probably talking to Ethan, trying to make him see the error of his ways, to make him join their side, but Zach knew Ethan better than that. He would never leave him, never leave the life they'd built together, and nothing those two goody-two-shoes could say or do would change his mind.

Glancing to the GPS on the seat beside him, Zach realised he was coming up on Airborne and Shifter's hideout. He was in the middle of Maxville's suburbia, and it seemed that stupidity ran in the family, because Airborne had his Secret Sanctum underneath his house, just like his parents had. That was how they had died, despite moving house after Layla and Warren became Poison and Fire. Moving house was a smart move, but building another Secret Sanctum underneath their new house was stupid. Layla still had her job at the council and could access those kind of records, but it was Warren's job at AAA Contractors that had confirmed where the Stronghold's were holed up, and they'd been dead before their sanctum had finished being built.

Zach looked out to the street around him. It was quiet, the sun setting and most people already inside for the night. An older woman across the road was looking out of her front window to his car. Zach gave her a broad smile, then placed his hat on his head and got out of the car a moment later. He locked the car before heading up to Airborne and Shifter's home, glancing back over his shoulder briefly. The woman was no longer at her window, and with a smirk, Zach turned back to the door and knocked on it sharply. He heard voices a second later, Airborne and Shifter having a whispered argument that wasn't quite whispered, and Zach breathed in deeply to stop from laughing. This was going to be so easy.

"Who is it?" Shifter called a second later, her voice close to the door and probably looking out of the peephole.

Zach held up his badge to the small peephole. "Excuse me, ma'am, we've had a report of a noise disturbance from this residence. Can I come in, please?"

There was another not-whispered argument, and Zach heard Airborne flying off, presumably to deal with Ethan. A minute or two later, the door opened and Magenta looked out warily.

"Sorry, officer. We were playing a movie, it must have been too loud," Magenta lied quickly, then she frowned at him, taking a moment to recognise him after not seeing him for almost five years.

He was older now, not quite as bright, especially not in his police uniform, and Zach was glad that she didn't recognise him straight away; it might have complicated things. However, by the time Magenta did recognise him, Zach had already made his way inside, closed the door behind him, and started glowing a specific sequence to knock Magenta out. She didn't even get time to call out to Will to warn him, slumping to the ground with a loud thud.

Will returned a few seconds later, frowning when he saw Magenta out cold on the floor. He didn't even bother trying to hide his power, flying towards Zach with his fist pulled back for what would be a knockout blow. Zach glowed again, the sequence changed and faster, and Will seized in mid-air for a second before he fell to the ground, his body spasming. Zach took a moment to regret that Will hadn't fallen right on top of Magenta, then stepped over their bodies to head in the direction Will had come from.

He'd left the sanctum open. Zach was so surprised and stunned at Will's stupidity that he had to stand there staring for a moment before he could get over it. The number one rule for secret sanctum's were to keep them closed - hadn't Will learnt that after the events in his freshman year at Sky High?!

Sliding down the pole into the secret sanctum was easy, and considering there was a jar filled with liquid sitting right there on the table, it didn't take long for Zach to find Ethan. He unscrewed the lid and tipped Ethan out onto the ground carefully, watching as he reformed slowly. He must have been kept in that jar since they'd taken him because the process took Ethan almost three full minutes, and he looked exhausted when he was in human form again, sliding down to sit on a chair.

"What the hell took you so long?" Ethan demanded, glaring up at him.

"Good to see you too, Eth," Zach said, crouching down to check Ethan over for any injuries.

"I've been stuck in that jar for two whole days, Zach. I should've been out in two hours."

"You would've been out in two fucking minutes if you'd let me put a tracking device in you like I asked months ago!" Zach snapped.

"You shouldn't need a tracking device to find me, damn it! You didn't this time," Ethan pointed out.

"That's because Airborne and Shifter are incompetent and are still listed in the damn phone book! If you're taken again by someone who is actually competent, I might... I might lose you, Eth, and I can't let that happen," Zach said, looking down and trying to stop his body from shaking and his tears from falling.

"Hey, hey," Ethan murmured, tone softer now as he cupped Zach's face and tilted it up so he would look at him again. "I'm all right. They're incompetent, like you said, and I'm fine. You found me, and when I'm better again, I'll get the Professor to put in a tracking device, okay? You can too; I can't lose you either," he added, wiping at Zach's tears with his thumbs.

Zach bit his lip, focusing on the pain, and nodded. He pulled Ethan into a hug, then kissed him so hard their lips would be swollen and red for hours to come. Ethan looked perkier when Zach finally released him, and took Zach's hand in his own to hold.

"I hope you're feeling well enough for revenge; I bought a new cutlery set," Zach said with a grin.

Ethan laughed and let Zach lead the way back upstairs to where Airborne and Shifter were still unconscious. The two heroes were about to become very well acquainted with the way real villains worked.

...

The end.

Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it!