A/N: Sorry about the wait, Thanksgiving wasn't as productive as I'd hoped. Thank you to all reviewers! And, I promise that if you send a signed review, I will respond. Just as an incentive. ;-) Enjoy!

Zach walked over to Will's locker. "Dude, I've got a great plan! We'll create a robot and set it loose in the city and we can pretend to try and fight it and fail and then Warren can save the day!"

Will looked at his friend in disbelief for a moment. "You want us to crate a rampaging monster?" he asked.

"Ah," Zach shrugged.

"And then we're supposed to loose it on the city? Where it can harm innocent citizens?"

Zach smiled a little, "Okay, so maybe it's not such a great plan," he said.

"Maybe not," Will agreed dryly.

"But I don't see anyone else coming up with ideas, either."

"I know," Will sighed.

"Okay," Zach began. "Robots are out, so what if-" Zach was suddenly shoved aside.

"What're you doing here, side-kick?" Nickolas Larson interrupted. "Stop blocking my locker," the junior commanded. "Unless you like it so much that you want to get to know it better?" he leered. Nick was a brawny teleporter, which came in handy for putting others in lockers. Now that Lash and Speed were gone, Nick felt that he had been licensed to take their place.

"No, that's all right," Zach replied, backing up. "You just go ahead."

"Really?" A mischievous glint ruined the innocent look Nick was going for as he deliberately misunderstood the freshman's statement. "Thanks, side-kick!" He grabbed the front of Zach's shirt and began to drag him toward the locker.

"Hey! Cut it out," Will said, putting a hand on Larson's arm.

"Buzz off, Stronghold!" Nick tried to bat him away.

"Leave my friend alone!"

"Yeah, leave me alone!" Zach agreed, struggling and twisting in a futile attempt to get out of the bully's grip.

"What's going on?" Warren asked as he walked up to the locker next to Will's.

"Who's gonna make me?" Larson was ignoring Warren's arrival.

"I am." Will glared as he took a better grip on Nick's wrist and squeezed ever-so-slightly.

"Hey, Warren!" Zach said. "Larson here wants to put me in his locker. Will's trying to stop him." Zach kicked at the upperclassmen holding him, but Nick just shook him furiously.

"Shut up, side-kick!" Nick spat.

"Hey, knock it off, Larson," Warren commanded.

"What's it to you, Peace?"

"Leave him alone," Warren ordered coolly.

"Or what?"

"Or I'll make you," Warren took a menacing step forward and ignited his arms.

Grudgingly and slowly Larson let go of Zach's shirt. He grumbled to himself as he opened his locker and exchanged his books. "Don't know why you care, Peace. He's just a side-kick."

Warren rolled his eyes. "Maybe I just don't like you," he suggested off-handedly earning another glare from the bully. "Come on, let's go," Warren closed his locker and nodded to his friends.

"That was awesome," Zach said as they walked away. "Thanks, Warren!"

Warren shook his head. "Larson's too stupid to be more than annoying. Besides, Stronghold's the one who kept him from shoving you in his locker."

"Yeah, well, stupid or not, he's more than just annoying to us side-kicks," Zach muttered as he dropped back a little. Warren shot him a thoughtful look but remained silent as they entered the cafeteria.

Although they occasionally got together at someone else's house, the consensus seemed to be that Will's house was the best. With The Plan in motion, however, they went to the Stronghold residence every time Warren agreed to come. Ethan wondered privately if that wouldn't give them away, sooner or later, but he saw why the others suggested it. Warren certainly gave no sign that he noticed or minded. He did sigh, however, as he walked up to the door and knocked.

It was a Saturday, the first in a while he'd had off, and by rights he should have been able to avoid seeing anyone but his mother as he slept all day. Ethan had asked him to come and explain something, though, and Magenta had promised to pay him back if he came. Warren wasn't really that concerned about the money, but it seemed to be important to her, so he had agreed.

Warren didn't actually begin to regret not sleeping all afternoon until Mr. Stronghold answered the door and stopped smiling the second he saw who it was. "Is Will around?" Warren asked politely.

"I think he's in the den," Stronghold replied without opening the door any wider than it already was.

Warren tried not to scowl. He did not feel like fighting the Commander, and he had not doubt it would be the Commander he was up against if anything happened. Other kids might get the benefit of the doubt, but not him. He took a deep breath, "May I come in?" He didn't quite succeed in the polite, non-committal tone he was shooting for.

Fortunately, at that moment Mrs. Stronghold appeared. "Who's at the door, Steve?" she asked walking over to see for herself. "Hello, Warren!" Her pleased expression nearly made up for her husband's cold reception. Nearly, but not quite. "Come on in. Steve, get out of the way so Warren can come in."

Steve moved aside with a face that said he'd rather spend the rest of his life eating Brussels sprouts and lima beans.

"I think Will is in the den," Josie said as she led the way down the hall, just ahead of Warren. "Why don't you go on in?"

"Thanks, Mrs. Stronghold," Warren nodded as he entered. A chorus of greetings sounded as he came in the door. He didn't close the door behind him, although he was tempted to shut it right in Stronghold senior's face. His mother, contrary to what many believed, had raised him to be courteous. He could hear her now: 'Warren, I know I raised you to have at least three manners, now get in there and use all of them!' The thought brought a small smile to his face. "Hey, guys," he replied quietly as he moved to sit on the couch behind Will. Why sit on the floor when you didn't need to?

"You kids need anything?" Steve asked.

"No, we're fine, Dad," Will responded.

"Let me know if you change your minds." The teens nodded but Steve didn't walk away. Instead he folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the door jamb. An uncomfortable silence descended on the group and Will and Layla exchanged significant glances. After a minute or two, the significant glances degenerated into making kissy eyes at each other.

Warren caught sight of them and role his own eyes. "So, Popsicle, you said you had a question for me?"

"Uh, yes," Ethan responded. "I was going over the chapter on metabolism and the book mentions that human metabolism rates are the same, even for supers. That doesn't make sense. What about the super-fast? Or the super-strong? Or what about the bird-like flyers? And all the other animal-like supers, what about them?"

"Hang on; you guys are talking about metabolism already?" Warren asked. "We didn't cover that until almost the end of the year."

"Well, I was reading ahead a little," Ethan admitted with a flush.

"Oh," Warren nodded understandingly. "Well," he paused, "can I see your book for a minute?"

Ethan nodded and passed the tome. Warren looked at the page Ethan had marked. He frowned and flipped back and forth a few pages, then flipped to the front and looked at the publication information.

"This book is out of date," he said at last. "The rates aren't the same, but they didn't know that for certain until a couple of years ago. This book was published fifteen years ago." Warren looked up at Ethan. "I'll lend you my old book if you want, it's more recent."

"How did you manage to keep your book?" Ethan asked in surprise.

"They told me I might as well. I charred part of the intro and half of the index."

"You burned your book?" Magenta asked with a quirked eyebrow and a smirk of amusement.

"It was an accident," Warren shrugged.

"Why, if the heroes have newer books, are we in hero support still being issued out of date text books?" Layla asked angrily.

"They had to use surplus texts this year. Most of the science books got…toasted." Warren explained.

"Toasted?" Will asked with a small grin.

"Also an accident," Warren replied.

Steve snorted softly, drawing Warren's attention.

"How?" Layla asked in consternation.

Warren shrugged. "I don't like spiders," he muttered as if it explained everything.

Layla just blinked at him before she continued. "I still don't think it's fair that hero support has to make do with substandard equipment! It should be equal! It's just not fair!"

"Life isn't fair, Hippie. You do the best you can with what you have."

"Still," Layla muttered, becoming aware that the rest of the group was staring at her.

"Hey, at least it'll make the tests easier," Zach said brightly.

"How?" Ethan asked.

"Well, if we get the wrong answer we just blame the book. Medulla can't blame us for reading the book, right?" Clearly he had forgotten that there was an adult standing nearby.

Maj rolled her eyes and shoved him.

"What?" Zach protested.

"That was dorky," Magenta informed him.

"No way man! How was it dorky?" Zach asked, sparking an intense debate carried out mostly in eye rolls and shoves.

Ethan rolled his eyes and looked over at Warren. "You wouldn't mind lending me your book?" he asked with a hint of eagerness.

Warren shrugged. "I'm not using it."

"Wow, thank you so much!"

"I'll bring it Monday."

Josie appeared in the doorway bearing a tray. "Kids, I have chips and lemonade, do you want any?"

"Yeah, that'd be great, Mrs. S!" Zach exclaimed, breaking off his discussion with Magenta.

"Here you are," she said as she walked in and placed the tray on the coffee table. She began passing out glasses but Warren stopped her when she got to him.

"No thanks, Mrs. Stronghold. I should go home," he said quietly.

"You couldn't stay just a little longer?" Josie asked.

Warren shook his head and stood. Will's dad was driving him nuts standing there just staring at him. Usually he could deal with it, but today it was just pushing his buttons.

"Hang on," Magenta said standing up as well. She dug in her pocket and pulled out a crumpled five dollar bill. "Thanks again," she said as she offered it to him.

Warren nodded and took the money, turning to see Steve's eyebrows raised so far they looked like they would crawl off his face at any moment. Warren didn't blame them. He wouldn't want to be attached to Steve Stronghold's face, either. The youth walked toward the door, intent on leaving. "Thanks again for having me, Will, Mrs. Stronghold," he said over his shoulder. There was a moment when he thought that Steve wasn't going to move aside, but after a pointed glare the acknowledged hero did.

"Come back again soon, Warren," Josie said as she watched him walk away.

He turned and gave her a small smile before disappearing into the hall. On the floor, Layla suddenly sat up straight and nudged Will's knee with her own. He looked over at her curiously. She flicked her eyes up at his mother for a moment then glanced back at him enquiringly. Will raised his own brow and lifted a shoulder slightly. It was worth thinking about, anyway. They really didn't seem to be getting anywhere on their own.