'Right,' Barron whispered to his crew.

They were all standing in a pod hovering at the back of Sky High, cloaked by a device invented by the same man who had thought up the ray they were about to use. Each of his crew, all ten of them, plus he and Benjamin, held a gun with the ability to emit the ray. He wasn't going to make the same mistake Royal Pain had made and only bring one gun. He hadn't enough time.

'This is it. In a minute we are going to burst through the window of the main hall and as soon as you get in there start shooting. And feel free to use your powers but remember,' he paused for effect, 'no one dies. We are going to need everyone if we're to fight off any rescue teams. Now Benjamin has some words on tactical.'

Crystal's father came to the front, dressed in black and white; a change from his usual blue and white outfit. He'd also changed his name. He was no longer Ice T but Black Ice; a meaner, more powerful version of his former self.

'Thorn, you take three men to the left. Kass, you take three men to the right. Barron and I will take two straight for the middle. Now, chances are, we're going to sustain some pretty heavy fire. There's over a thousand heroes here tonight including some of the most powerful in the world so use the shields provided and of course, Barron and I will be doing everything possible to make your jobs easier. Are we ready?'

Meanwhile in the hall, Warren, Crystal and the rest of the ushers were wandering around making sure everyone had drinks and making polite conversation if they were intercepted but still they hadn't found Principal Powers or anyone to help Crystal. They'd given up asking the guests themselves. They were just thought to be rude and greedy kids.

They ground to a natural halt once they'd walked round the hall fruitlessly for the fifth time and slumped against a wall.

'This is stupid,' Warren muttered. 'No one's going to help us, or rather you Crystal if you're wandering around with me. Don't think I can't tell what they're thinking. I've seen it often enough.'

'Maybe they're just having a bad day,' suggested Crystal desperately. She didn't want Warren to feel bad on her account.

'All thousand of them? Yeah right,' he spat back at her bitterly.

'Listen, I was just trying to be nice. You know if wouldn't harm you -.'

'Crystal, just leave it, yeh?' said Dara, quickly interrupting. She knew Crystal meant well but sometimes she just got a bit carried away with it.

'Hey, look! Principal Powers is about to speak. Maybe we can get her afterwards!' said Ethan excitedly.

'Ladies and gentlemen,' she started, 'it is a pleasure and an honour to see so many famous -.'

She was cut off by the window behind her crashing inwards and twelve men leaping into her main hall, shooting blue rays at everyone in the crowd.

'That's not…' said Will in disbelief.

'That is,' said Warren with a mixture of anger and disappointment in his voice when he saw his father.

'Crystal, is that…?' asked Dara tentatively.

'It's not… it can't be… oh God it is,' she said when she saw her father marching in side by side with Barron Battle.

'I guess we're in the same boat now Crystal,' said Warren dryly before realising that hiding was probably a good idea and dragging the group out of the hall and hiding in Medulla's lab.

'Oh shit, oh God, oh God what do we do?' panicked Crystal.

'Ok, you, Layla and Ethan stay here. Will, Dara and I will go on recon. and see what we can find out.'

'What? No you can't do that!' she said angrily.

'I can and I will. You are injured, Layla won't use her powers for violence and besides there's not a lot of plant life in the main hall and Ethan, sorry man, but you're not going to be much good if we get caught. Now just stay here and don't make any sound,' he replied in a brusque tone.

So stealthily, Will, Dara and Warren crept back round to the main hall where an almighty battle was raging. Warren saw that the villains who had arrived with his father were shooting beams at the heroes who were retaliating but, incredibly, some of the heroes were attacking the other heroes!

The three children stared at each other as they witnessed this spectacle but only Warren knew the reason for this apparent betrayal of loyalties. They were just about to leave when they saw the Commander, Jetstream and Principal Powers all get zapped extremely close to them. And then they heard their principal say,

'I've got to tell Barron and Benjamin that their children and your son are here. He'll be so pleased!'

With that she whisked off to him in a flash of white light and seconds later she was by his side whispering, no doubt, this information into his ear. Warren saw a sadistic smile settle on his father's face and he nodded.

Quickly, they ran back to the others and recounted what they'd seen.

'Why did they do that?' asked Will in bewilderment.

'My dad is a war lord,' said Warren resignedly. 'He can induce war, control existing fights and bring them to such a scale that he almost destroyed the world once.'

Everyone was silent and looked at him open-mouthed.

'But what are we going to do?' worried Dara. 'We're only kids.'

'I called your mom while you were gone Warren. I thought she might be able to calm the situation down, or at least get us out of here. But apparently our fathers have either hidden the school or moved it because no one can find it yet so no rescue missions can be launched either! We're stuck!'

And with that, small sobs escaped her and Dara too. The two huddled together and Layla went to comfort them.

'Ok, so your dad knows we're in the building,' Will said to Warren.

'And he's going to come looking for us and find us. The school is big but we can't out run him forever. And I'm sure that someone in there has heat vision and could find us, even if we hid in the walls.'

'And I'd fly us out but not knowing where we even are, I wouldn't want to risk it. We could be over the Atlantic Ocean and I'd have to fly miles to get us back to land.'

'So what do we do?' asked Ethan.

'We wait, I guess. And if they find us, we fight,' Warren said simply. 'I'm not going down easy so you better all be behind this.'

They all nodded and huddled together in a corner of the lab praying that someone would locate the school before Barron and Benjamin found them.