I'm a man of my word, I said I would update this story, and I did. As for why it took so long, I got sidetracked with other stuff. This chapter introduces another one of Static's rogues. I made references to him in earlier chapters, but now he finally makes his appearance.

Chapter 5

Brooklyn, NY: The night of the Big Bang

Inside a small room of a recording studio, Adam Evans is at work producing a brand new song. Right now he is listening to a single he helped record with Sevyn Streeter called, "Before I do." Adam was able to find some success collaborating with various well known artists, and most of the songs he helped produce would make it on the top ten of the billboard charts. Of course, there were times where his work would be rejected, but that's the nature of show business. After spending hours listening to the new song, Adam decides to call it a night and begins to close up shop.

As he locks the doors, a voice calls out to him, "Look at my bro, hard at work."

Adam turns around and sees that it's none other than his brother, Ivan.

"Let me guess, you and Bruno still trying to bring old school back."

Adam glares at his brother, "Man what do you want?"

"Just passing by, I saw you coming out and I wanted to say hi."

"Well, you got what you came for, now leave. Don't you have a 7-Eleven to go jack?"

"Funny, you won't be laughing when I become the next "Big Man of Crime"."

"Uh-huh sure, you keep dreaming about getting your ass whooped by Spider-Man and being thrown in Rikers…again, and I'll keep making a name for myself the legit way."

As Adam walks away, Ivan says, "Yeah, you got it all don't you bro? Getting to hang out with all the big musical artists, a nice apartment, a fine ass girlfriend. I've seen you with her by the way. When you gonna introduce me to her?"

Adam turns around and grabs his brother by the vest, "I'm not letting you anywhere near her."

Ivan backs away and raises his hands up in defense, "Relax homes, I was just asking. Anyway, I gotta bounce, have some important business that needs to be taken care of. See ya around bro."

With that, Ivan walks away with a smug smirk on his face.

Adam continues to glare at his gangbanging brother and he too walks away.

As he is heading towards a nearby subway station to Manhattan, the music producer hears what sounds like an explosion. He looks over to where the explosion could possibly come from and he sees a cloud of smoke emerging from where the Roxxon Research Facility is located.

"The hell?"

But before Adam could question the situation even further, he begins to cough excessively. The music producer then begins to feel strange, he was starting to feel dizzy, his lungs are beginning to feel like they're on fire. And finally…for some odd reason…he begins to faint.

ESU Science Lab, Manhattan NY (Two weeks later)

"So you and Lana are finally an item huh? Bout time," Peter says with a smirk on his face as he's feeding the eels in the tank.

Virgil, who was arranging test tubes, just chuckles nervously and rubs the back of his neck, "Yeah, well, I kinda had a thing for her for quite a while now, she just so happened to have made the first move."

"Well one of you had to. I swear all that sexual tension between you two, you can cut with even a butter knife. Anyway, now I know you won't be dateless once the fall formal rolls around, that or I would've tried to hook you up with MJ."

"Nah, she's fine and all, but something tells me she's not one for commitment."

"Yeah, you're probably right. She was my date at last year's fall formal, but after that we agreed to just stay friends."

"Well, I know you and Kara are gonna have a good time. You think this is her first ever school dance?"

"That's a good question." Peter looks over at his girlfriend, "Hey Kara, did you ever have high school dances…where you're from?" He had to say that last part very carefully since Curt and Martha are in the room.

Kara, who is nonchalantly sweeping the floor wasn't paying attention. She looks like she's in another world.

"Kara?" Peter asks as he walks over to his girlfriend.

As he touches her on the shoulder, the young Kryptonian gets startled and turns around to face her boyfriend, breaking the broom in half in the process.

"Whoa, Kara, easy," Peter says in a shocked, but reassuring tone. "You were spacing out…for the fifth time this week."

Kara looks down at the broken broom. She then gives Curt and Martha an apologetic look.

"It's okay Kara," Curt says in a reassuring tone.

Martha walks over and takes the broken broom from the blonde's hands, "We have plenty more brooms where that came from. Why don't you take a break for a bit sweetie? You must have a lot going on."

"Man, I hope Kara's okay," Virgil thought as he walks through the hall towards the building's exit. "This wasn't the first time she spaced out (A/N). Peter told me about how Darkseid kidnapped and brainwashed her that one time. Maybe it's still haunting her even now. Well, she's with Pete now, I'm sure he'll find a way to help her."

Suddenly, Virgil's phone begins to vibrate. He pulls it out of his pocket and sees that it's a message from Lana.

Lana: Hey baby, I got off work early. You still at ESU?

Virgil couldn't help but grin at the text. They just admitted their feelings for each other, an already Lana is whipping out the pet names. He begins to text back.

Yeah, I'm about to leave now. Where U at?

After hitting send on his phone, Virgil reaches the exit and opens the door, only to find a certain brunette girl waiting for him. Lana wears a simple pink hairband over her head, a pink T-shirt that says in black letters, "Don't hate me cuz I'm beautiful", black denim shorts and pink converses.

Virgil's new girlfriend looks up from her phone and smiles, "Hey."

Virgil smiles back, "Sup."

Moments later, the two of them are now in a private corner of the campus making out.

Lana was the first to break the kiss and she says, "You know, if you keep this up, I may actually forget the real reason why I came here."

Virgil raises an eyebrow and says, "What, it wasn't just because you missed this handsome face?"

"Mmm, okay, that may be part of it, but the other reason…" She then reaches inside her backpack and pulls out a piece of paper. But it wasn't just any piece of paper, it was yesterday's Calculus test. The top part of the paper had "B+" written in red marker.

Virgil sees this and begins to grab Lana by the waist, lifts her up in the air and spin her around.

The brunette girl squeals and laughs at the sudden action.

When Virgil puts her down, he says, "Look at you, guess you don't have to worry about failing now."

Lana looks to side a brushes a lock of hair behind her ear, "Well I do have the best tutor."

"Girl, give yourself SOME credit. You're not as dumb as you think you are."

Lana just smiles warmly.

Then Virgil asks, "Say, you know about the fall formal coming up?"

"Gee, I had no idea, what with the school being bombarded with flyers advertising it."

"Cute, anyway, I was wondering if…well…if you want to go with me. I mean, we still have to go on a real date, figured this would be the perfect time to do it."

Lana blinks at Virgil's offer. She's never been to a school dance before, and the fact that her new boyfriend had just asked to take her to one gave her butterflies in her stomach.

After a few seconds Virgil turns his head and says, "If you don't want to go, that's cool. We can always do something else."

Then the electric hero feels someone grab his hand. He turns around and sees his girlfriend with a bright smile on her face.

"Of course I'll go to the dance with you Virgil."

Virgil's smile returns, "Cool."

Lana nods, then her smile becomes more flirtatious, "Now, where were we?"

Virgil chuckles and the two continue to make out.

Inside an apartment in Upper Manhattan…

Adam is sitting on the couch in his living room, typing in his laptop yet another song. These last couple of weeks have been…strange to say the least. That explosion he witnessed last night is still on his mind. He remembers passing out and waking up in the hospital the next day. After reuniting with his girlfriend, Sharon Hawkins, the music producer was given the go-ahead to leave the hospital, since there wasn't anything wrong with him…at least that's what he thought. Adam closes his laptop and…here's the strange part…his arm begins to stretch at an incredible length and he places the object down on a table, five feet from where he was sitting. Adam remembers the first time he discovered his newfound ability to stretch his body. One minute he was waking up from a good night's sleep, his lovely girlfriend sleeping next to him, and as soon as he gets up and walks towards the bathroom, he notices his left arm was still underneath a sleeping Sharon, and was stretched out like a rubberband. His eyes widened at this, and he did everything in his power to not freak out, wake his girlfriend and then have her freak out.

After days of trying to figure out how he got these powers, it wasn't until he read an article in the newspaper about something called "The Big Bang" that the music producer realized it was, in fact, the explosion he witnessed the other night that changed him somehow, and apparently he was not alone, that explosion changed a lot of people. With a clear idea on what's happened to him, Adam now has no idea what to do with these new changes in his life. He then decided to just ignore the fact that he's basically Elongated Man 2.0 and go on with his normal life, making music. He didn't even tell anyone about what he can do, not even Sharon. It's not like he was dying or anything, so to him it's not really that important.

Suddenly, the door begins to open and Sharon walks in with her backpack in hand, obviously done with her classes for the day. Adam sees his girlfriend and just smiles.

He has been with her for two years, and it seems like it was just yesterday when they first met. The music producer was at the Coffee Bean working on a new song when he saw Sharon sitting across from him, reading a textbook. Moments later, Adam looks up again and sees that the young woman was already leaving the café, then something unexpected happens. A random male rushes towards Sharon and grabs her purse as soon as he passes her. Adam saw the whole thing and runs outside to catch the thief. He was able to catch up to the purse snatcher and immediately tackles him. The music producer grabs the thief by the back of his Knicks jersey and threatens him to give back the purse. The thief complies and runs away with fear in his eyes. Upon getting her purse back, Sharon thanks Adam. This lead to some introductions and talking a bit about themselves. Sharon sadly had to cut the conversation short since she had to attend class, to which Adam offered her a chance to finish their conversation over pizza, to which the young woman agrees.

The two started to hang out more and more, and what started as a simple friendship turned into something more serious. They have been inseparable ever since. Since ESU can be pretty ridiculous when it comes to housing costs, Adam offered Sharon to live with him at his apartment. It took some convincing…especially from her father…but she accepted the offer. Since Sharon had a part-time job at a diner just a block from where they live, she had no problem helping Adam pay the rent. Seeing his girlfriend walk through the door, the music producer couldn't help but feel at peace. It's like whatever demons he had to deal with in his life, whether it's big wigs rejecting his music or dealing with his brother and his criminal activities, all it takes is a bright smile from one Sharon Hawkins and all of his worries disappear instantly.

"Hey babe," Adam greets. "How was your day?"

"Eh, same old same old," Sharon shrugs. She approaches her boyfriend and gives him a peck on the lips. "I see you're feeling better."

"Ever since I left the hospital, it's been a rough week. But yeah, I'm doing fine now. Sorry I couldn't make it to the family dinner. I know how much that means to you."

"Don't worry about it boo, you had just got out of the hospital at that point and I wasn't gonna force you to go if you weren't at 100%."

"So, how did it go? You know, spending time with your pops and all."

"Same as always, Dad going on about how these metahumans are threatening the neighborhood and that Static showing up isn't helping matters. Oh, but I finally got to meet Virgil's new lady friend."

This intrigued the music producer, "Oh?"

"Yeah, some white girl who got into some trouble with the law."

"And your dad's cool with your brother hanging out with her…The part about her being in trouble with the law I mean?"

"I wouldn't worry too much about that. I got the chance to talk to her, and from the looks of it, it REALLY seems like she wants to turn over a new leaf. My dad is even helping her with community service."

"Man, if only more people were more like her, actually going out of their way to do something better with their lives. My brother could learn a thing or two from her."

Sharon approaches Adam from behind the couch and she begins to rub his shoulders, "He chose his path, you chose yours. I gotta get started on my homework. Maybe when I'm done, we can, I don't know, do something to make you forget ALL about your brother."

Adam looks over his shoulder at his girlfriend with wide eyes, getting an idea on what exactly she's alluding to, "Like?"

"That's for me to know and for you to find out," Sharon says as she taps her boyfriend in the nose. She then leaves for her personal study room.

After watching his girlfriend leave the room, Adam decides to watch some TV. With a simple press of the remote he turns it on and what he saw, and heard, outraged him. On the TV was a live performance on some Hip Hop show by a famous rapper who goes by the name "Ice Pack". The song that is being performed, the music producer recognizes it immediately. It was a song HE wrote. He pitched this song to a record label roughly a month ago, only to be rejected, yet here it is making airwaves on TV and possibly on the radio, and Adam isn't getting a single dime for it. He looks on in anger as Ice Pack is being interviewed about his new album. Adam grinds his teeth in anger. How dare he use a song that he wrote without his permission AND take full credit for it to boot. Adam knew that he needed to find this plagiarizer, and have a few words with him. Sure enough, Ice Pack reveals that he will be signing autographs at a local mall in Brooklyn. To which the music producer says, "You can bet your ass I'll be there. Thinking you can take all the credit for MY song? You messed with the wrong guy."

At a local mall in Brooklyn (The next day)

"I cannot believe you brought me here," Virgil says as he looks on at Ice Pack signing autographs.

"You don't like Ice Pack?" asks Lana.

"Honestly, aside from that one song he performed last night, I think most of his music is whack. I'm more of a Kendrick Lamar and Childish Gambino type of guy."

Lana rolls her eyes, "Whatever, I think his music is great."

"Hey, you do you girl, I just don't think he's that great is all."

"Well if you're not to fan, why did you come?"

Virgil now smiles, "Because rule number one when it comes to relationships: If your girl wants to go someplace, doesn't matter if you don't want to go, you take her. It just shows how much you want to see her happy."

The brunette girl's eyes widened for a moment, then she smiles and gives her boyfriend a peck on the cheek, "Well that's very sweet of you."

The electric meta rolls his eyes but keeps smiling, "Yeah, yeah." Virgil then looks to the side and sees a familiar face storming over to Ice Pack's direction, "Hey, I know him."

Lana then looks to where Virgil is looking, "Who is he?"

"That's my sister's boyfriend."

"The music producer? Well from the looks of it, he doesn't look like he's in the mood to say hi to you."

"You're right, he looks straight up pissed. I wonder what's up?"

As soon as Adam cuts thorough the line and finally approaches Ice Pack, Virgil was about to get his answer.

The rapper looks up at Adam, lowers his shades and raises his left eyebrow, "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, actually," Adam replies. "I've got a bone to pick with you."

"Look man, if you're not here for an autograph, I'm gonna have to ask you to bounce. You're holding up the line."

"Your new single, "Cruisin' All Night", that was MY song. I wrote it."

Ice Pack give a confused look, "The hell are you talking about?"

"Don't bullshit me man, I pitched that song to your record label months ago and they rejected it, and then I see you performing that exact same song on BET last night. So do you want to explain to me what's up with that, and why I'm not getting a goddamn dime out of it?"

"Security get this fool out of here."

Three big men in suits appear and grab Adam by both of his arms.

As they drag the music producer away, he yells, "This ain't over, you just made a big mistake."

Adam and Sharon are now sitting together on the couch discussing what just happened today. The ESU student found out about the Ice Pack debacle through her brother, and she was outraged.

"Unbelievable, that was a song YOU wrote, and he's just gonna go on and take all the credit?"

The music producer sighs, "Yeah, he even acted like he had no idea what I was talking about either."

"That's some bull. You should sue his ass."

"I can, but somebody had to have given him that song, and I want to know who."

Sharon then grabs Adam's hand and leans into his shoulder earning a smile from her boyfriend. She then gets up from the couch, "I gotta get ready for work. You think you'll be okay by yourself?"

"Yeah, you don't have to worry about me."

Sharon then gives Adam a goodbye kiss, grabs her things and then walks out the door.

Once she was gone, Adam's face gets serious again. He then stretches his arm out and grabs his laptop. He opens it up, goes to an arts and crafts website and begins to order some type of purple rubbery material.

"Alright Ice Pack, I guess I'm gonna have to make you talk."

(A/N) Virgil is of course referring to the last chapter, but if you really want to know what's wrong with Kara, read chapters 14-18 of Hope and Responsibility.

That's right folks, you are witnessing the birth of the Rubberband Man. Be here next chapter when Static has to defend Ice Pack from this new Bang Baby.

Be sure to leave a comment with your thoughts on the story so far. Until next time...