Disclaimer: I don't own Sky High.
Summary: The simplest of events can change a person deeply. Other not-so-simple events can change a person irrevocably; even if they become someone they had never imagined. These are the events that lead to the creation of Poison and Fire, and their reign of Chaos.
The Heavens and Earth rose out of Chaos.
John Milton - A Paradise Lost
Read on, oh faithful ones.
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Chapter Twelve
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Warren couldn't stop glaring. Zach and Ethan were talking to him, trying to goad him into a conversation about Save the Citizen that afternoon (Zach was bragging that he'd blind them and Ethan would melt so Layla's vines couldn't wrap around him). He ignored them easily enough, his gaze focused on Layla across the cafeteria. She was laughing at something one of the guys was saying to her, and Warren came close to melting his fork.
"She's laughing with them, but she's thinking about you, you know," a voice muttered, a tray dropping beside him.
Donny sat next to Warren, ignoring the suspicious and surprised looks all three gave him.
"Yes, I can read your mind; no, I'm not going to pick a number; and, yes, I am telling the truth," he said, pointing his fork at Ethan, Zach and Warren respectively. "Layla's very good at threatening someone, you know," he remarked casually, glancing over at the redhead across the cafeteria. "The only reason I'm here is because she's threatened to turn me into a big ball of bat shit crazy emotions if I don't tell you the following things," Donny said, waving over at Layla with a sarcastic expression.
"What things?" Ethan asked curiously.
"First, hot head, stop staring at her and eat something. Secondly, she means it, or she won't tell you anything else," Donny said, looking at Warren's full tray for a moment.
Warren didn't do anything for a long moment, but finally, he looked away from Layla, stabbing at his pasta aggressively, shoving a few spirals into his mouth.
"Chew, and don't choke... Oh, god. I'm not his fucking wet nurse," Donny hissed.
"Hey, don't talk about Layla's thoughts like that," Zach said, glaring at him since Warren seemed preoccupied with his mouthful.
He nodded his agreement quickly, his empty fist flaming.
"Just a touch temperamental there, aren't you?" Donny muttered. "Anyway, third and final thing. She says that she's worked out how to play the numbers. I'm not getting anything more specific than that, she's making sure I don't. You're supposed to know what she means, so don't give me that look."
Warren swallowed his food, glancing over to Layla briefly. He finally realised just who she was sitting with, and purposely kept his thoughts vague when Donny looked at him intently.
"I'll tell her you were a good messenger boy, Donny. Don't worry, I'm sure she'll let you get in a punch or two during Save the Citizen."
Donny blanched slightly at the thought of going against them again. "I'm not doing this again, got it? I don't care what threats either of you make," he muttered, leaving the table without waiting for an answer.
"So, uh, what's going on, dude?" Zach asked quietly, looking over his shoulder to see Layla.
"Can't tell you," Warren said, shaking his head.
"Why not?" Ethan asked, frowning at him.
"Because I can't talk with my mouth full," he replied with a slow grin, taking a mouthful and chewing.
Silence washed over the cafeteria, people turning their heads to look at the newest gossip fodder. Warren could really care less about gossip, but the last time they'd all gone this silent, it had been revealed that Will had cheated on Layla. Looking over in the same direction, he was more than shocked to see Will and Magenta making out at their table. Disgusted at the fact their tongues were down each other's throats while other people were attempting to eat, Warren looked away immediately.
Across from him, Zach started to glow. Having no desire to be blinded when he still had half a plate of pasta to get through, Warren kicked his shin hard.
"Ow, dude! What the hell was that for?" Zach cried out.
At his sudden noise, the cafeteria seemed to return to normal, chatter and whispers flooding the room once more. Ignoring Zach's question, Warren looked over to where Layla was sitting. She was slightly pale, but seemed all right otherwise. Smiling at something someone said, Layla tore her attention away from the spectacle that Will and Magenta had become, and forced herself to rejoin the conversation.
"So, are you going to tell us what Donny meant about Layla's comment?" Ethan asked, looking at him.
"Don't count on it," Warren replied, taking another mouthful with a grin.
For the next fifteen minutes of lunch, he made sure to keep his mouth full of food or water in order to avoid their questions. The bell rang, forcing Zach and Ethan to leave the cafeteria to get to their next class on time. Zach kept his gaze firmly ahead and didn't look back, not even when Magenta called out to him. Staying at the table a moment longer, Warren made sure that Layla was all right with her new friends, one of whom was the Carbon Copy kid.
...
"All right, Williams and Peace, heroes or villains?" Boomer asked, his pen poised above his clipboard.
"Villains," Layla said, trying not to make her grin seem too evil.
"Good, something different," Boomer muttered, nodding in appreciation. "All right, who are you going up against this time?"
"Zach and Ethan," Warren said, pointing them out.
There was a small amount of cheering from the stands as Ethan and Zach stood up. Grinning, Zach raised his hands, indicating for more noise as they made their way to the arena. Ethan gave his phone to the sidekick girl who could turn into a ball, previously having arranged for her to record the fight between them.
"Hurry it up, sidekicks!" Boomer called.
They hurried down to the arena, clipping on their protective gear. Zach frowned, muttering as he tried to tighten the straps in vain. Ethan quickly helped him before Boomer could sonic them.
"You know the rules; both teams have a minute to discuss your strategies. When the buzzer sounds, you start," Boomer said, adjusting his cap.
Two sidekicks against two heroes. This fight was going to be over in seconds, he thought to himself, shaking his head.
"Zach's been bragging how he's going to blind us with his power, and Ethan's going to melt so you can't capture him," Warren said to Layla, glancing over at their opponents briefly.
"How water-like do you think Ethan is when melted?" she asked with a grin.
"Not sure, but I can find out," he replied, grinning too. "You can handle the glow stick?"
"Should be able to," Layla said, sounding uncertain.
Neither one knew exactly how Zach's powers had changed, and he was an unknown threat. It was possible that he could blind both Warren and Layla before they could do a thing against them.
"I'll deal with Ethan quickly, so if you can't deal with him, then we can work on Zach together," Warren said.
Layla nodded in response just as the buzzer rang. Ethan immediately melted, making his way to the citizen in the middle of the gym. Avoiding Zach, Warren made his way to the citizen as well.
Staying where he was, Zach clapped his hands with a grin, spreading his arms on either side of his body, an imitation of his stance in Power Placement. This time, the glow that came from his body was actually noticeable, and began to brighten. Layla threw out a burst of power that had a tree growing in front of him, the low hanging leaves blocking Zach entirely. Between the gaps of the leaves, she could see a bright flash of light. Slowly, the light faded, and Layla let the tree return to the floor boards. Zach was standing there, the glow gone completely and the students around them watching intently. Then he grinned at her, making Layla realise she'd made the mistake of underestimating him. Before she could make anything grow in front of him or even raise her arm to shield her eyes, Zach lit up in a burst of bright light similar to a camera flash, blinding her momentarily. She pressed the heels of her palms to her eyes to help her vision return to normal.
Warren, who had created a ring of fire around Ethan's melted form, saw the flash from the corner of his eye, and turned his attention to where Layla was standing with her eyes covered. Ethan hurried to reform in the circle of flames, jumping through them to land on Warren's back. He melted a bit, making sure he stuck to Warren so he couldn't be dislodged easily.
"What the hell?" Warren muttered, trying to hit him off.
"Go, Zach!" Ethan called.
Zach grinned, running over to the citizen. He had no way of getting the citizen off the rope while it was still so high up, and glanced over his shoulder anxiously to see if Layla was still incapacitated by his light. She was still standing there, her hands pressed to her eyes.
Ethan held on as tight as he could, even as he felt Warren's body heating up beneath him. While he wasn't pure water molecules when melted, Ethan was still susceptible to extreme heat. The same applied when he was half-melted the way he was at the moment, and his hands and body began to burn.
"Zach, attack!" he called out, dropping off Warren's back when the older boy went up in flames.
Hearing his friend's cry, Zach turned, his body starting to glow immediately. He didn't have a chance to flash brightly, as a vine encircled his ankle, pulling him to the ground sharply. Behind him, Layla was still standing with her hands covering her eyes, a vine travelling down her body. While she was still trying to get her vision back, she'd made a vine grow, sending it along the arena floor to find Zach. It didn't have eyes, of course, but this particular plant had feeler-like hairs, allowing it to recognise the difference between a lamp post and a human. The vine sprouted large leaves, covering Zach from head to toe before he could brighten and blind Warren.
There was a loud crunching sound behind Warren, and he turned to see the citizen being devoured by the metal teeth, her cries for help stopping as her voice box was destroyed. Ignoring the loud cheers that erupted, Warren headed to where Layla was standing, slowly lowering her hands from her eyes and blinking slowly.
"You all right, hippie?" he asked, ready to burn a hole in Zach if she was harmed in any way.
"A bit better now. It took too long to get over that flash of light," Layla replied with a frown. "I think he's given me a headache."
"Make way, make way," Nurse Spex muttered, trying to get through the crowd.
She was holding two small jars, more resting in her pockets. Half were to treat burns while the other half were filled with an antiseptic to treat any scrapes the opposing team might get from Layla's sharp plants. Ethan had suffered burns to his chest, arms and hands, while Zach had a circle of welts around his ankles. Her eyes widened comically as she held the small jars, trying to read the tiny labels. Nurse Spex handed them a jar each, instructing them to put the salves on straight away and then rest on the bleachers for the rest of the lesson. When she turned to return to the teacher's area, Zach and Ethan swapped jars.
"Who do you want to go against now?" Warren asked, glancing at the crowd around them.
"Craig, the Carbon Copy kid, and you can choose someone else," Layla said quietly.
"Why him?" Warren muttered.
"Because I made a deal with him; if I can defeat him at Save the Citizen, he'll play the fortune numbers in lotto for us."
He didn't seem appeased at her answer, but nodded reluctantly. Layla really thought those numbers were special, and after the numerous fortunes they'd received with those same numbers, Warren was beginning to agree.
"Come on, you two. Who are you choosing now?" Boomer called.
"We choose Craig," Layla called, indicating to him.
"And that kid next to him," Warren added, indicating the dark skinned boy with bad hair.
"He's got super acid spit," Layla muttered quietly, trying to think of something that could work against him.
"Heroes or villains?" Boomer asked, attaching the new citizen to the rope.
"Heroes," Warren answered.
In a matter of moments, the citizen was hanging precariously above the metal teeth, and Craig stood on the opposite side of the arena with his friend, Adam.
"Okay, your minute starts... Now!"
"Should I take acid kid or carbon copy?"
"I doubt your fire will be able to eradicate the acid. I've got some thick plants that might be able to handle it," Layla muttered, glancing over at the pair.
"All right... This Craig character, can he mimic powers or just make himself look like other people?"
"From what I heard at lunch, he can gains the person's powers as well, but not for long."
"Right. We'll need something to recognise each other," he murmured, glancing at her briefly.
Nodding in return, she turned around, Warren following her action a moment later. "It'll hurt, but I can stab your wrist, and you can burn mine," Layla said, putting her hand out.
"See, now I was thinking we could just use a strip of material."
"You want me to rip my shirt up over Save the Citizen? I don't think so."
"Fine then, give me your hand," he sighed, a flame appearing on his open palm.
Layla took his hand, and the flame slowly travelled up their hands until it was completely wrapped around her wrist. She bit her tongue, squeezing her eyes shut as the flame began to burn, a perfect line wrapping around her wrist. In return, Layla made a vine appear, gently coiled in her palm. As with the flame, it crept it's way up until it was wrapped around Warren's wrist. All at once, the sharp thorns stabbed into his skin, a perfect circle of holes. Warren clenched his jaw tightly so he wouldn't cry out in pain.
The buzzer sounded, and they let go of each other's hand, the flame disappearing and the vine fading, the thorns dropping onto the floor boards harmlessly, sinking into the wood grain.
"Ready?" she asked, grinning slightly.
"Didn't you know? I was born ready," he replied with a grin of his own.
Together, they ran forward, Layla's vines spiralling out towards Adam, and Warren shooting a ball of fire at Craig. Both missed their targets, but it made their opponents move. Adam was attempting to spit acid at the citizen, trying to make it fall. Craig was powering up, turning into a version of Larry's rock form. Warren's second fireball hit him, and he howled in pain as the fire scorched him. It seemed that Larry could still feel pain, which Layla thought he should have known, considering the injuries Larry had received from Will. Conjuring a large leaf, she held it in front of Adam, but a moment later, his acidic spit corroded the leaf entirely. Trying to remember everything about corrosive acids she'd learnt in Mad Science, Layla started creating an entire forest designed to distract Adam. At first, the trees were quickly eaten away by the acid, but as the minutes passed, the acid took longer and longer to work.
"Quick, I've got him trapped. This way!" Warren said from between the trees.
Glancing down briefly, Layla saw that his wrists were free of any wounds. In moments, the fake Warren was bound to a tree. Smoke began to rise from behind the bindings, and with the close proximity of the trees, a fire soon began to rage. Craig quickly changed into a copy of Ethan, melting and moving away as fast as his liquified form allowed. Looking at the clock, Layla hurried to shoot out a vine, criss-crossing them over the metal teeth so the citizen wouldn't be injured. Out the corner of her eye, she saw a copy of herself running into the burning trees, calling for Warren to help her.
"Don't listen to him!" Layla called out. "It's Craig pretending to me!"
"That's what Craig would say! Please, help!" her voice called out.
From the edge of the forest, the smoke and fire lessened, disappearing completely as Warren stepped out from the tree line, black smudges on his face.
"How'd you know it wasn't me?" she asked as he threw a fireball at the rope holding the citizen.
The citizen continued to cry out for help, even as it dropped towards the vines. It bounced off the vines harmlessly, and Warren caught the mannequin before it smacked into his face.
"If it really was you, then I'd expect you to escape that on your own. You were surrounded by trees, after all, and you know how to deal with a simple fire."
"We should probably put that out before ..."
Above them, the fire alarm started ringing, the sprinkler system starting and drenching the already-screaming students with water.
"Before that?" Warren asked with a grin.
Ignoring the alarm, they turned to the flaming forest, working to remove the trees and fire quickly. In moments, the fire alarm stopped sounding, the fire and smoke completely gone. Behind them the buzzer sounded, and Warren threw the citizen to the ground.
Craig was lying in the middle of what had been the forest, while Adam had been stuck further back, unable to corrode the trees and get out of the haze of smoke. Neither one was burned too badly, only suffering a few singed hairs and smoke inhalation. Nurse Spex took them to her office to give them oxygen. Moments after Boomer had declared Layla and Warren as the winners the final bell rang, indicating that school was over for the day.
Grinning at Layla, Warren's expression faded when he realised just how good she looked when drenched. One drop flowed down her neck, towards her very wet and clinging shirt and shorts. Dear god, her gym shirt really was see-through, even more so when wet. Despite the protective gear she was wearing, he could still see enough to make him move in front of her so no one else would notice. His fists started to flame when he saw goosebumps trailing across her skin. Layla thanked him quietly, hurrying to the girl's change rooms.
The doors opened, and Warren turned to watch as everyone filed out of the gymnasium, shaking drops of water off their clothes and bodies. He saw a few people talking to Ethan excitedly. The small boy seemed surprised, but beside him, Zach was nodding at whatever they were saying. One game of Save the Citizen and they're already trying to get groupies. Shaking his head, Warren went to change clothes, and returned to the arena to wait for Layla.
"Ready to go, Warren?" Layla asked, pulling her wet hair back into a ponytail as she came out of the change rooms. She winced slightly as the burn around her wrist made the action painful.
"Let me see that," he muttered, taking her wrist carefully. His own wrist was hurting as well, the thorn-made holes turning into a welt of circles and drying blood.
"It's fine. Really," she insisted, moving her wrist out of his grasp. "Let me see yours."
Warren shook his head. "If you refuse to let me heal you, then I'm not letting you heal me."
"Stubborn," Layla muttered. "It's not a bad burn, and I've got salve at home."
"You really your Great Aunt to see you with a burn mark around your wrist?" Warren countered as they left the gym and made their way to the bus.
"Do you want your mother to see you with vine marks around yours?" she retorted.
"Fine by me, hippie... Hey, when do you start your job anyway?" he asked with a brief frown.
"Next Monday. Apparently, the Mayor has a big professional development thing this week and everyone's attending, so I can't be left alone, or trained while they're not there," Layla muttered.
"Fair enough. Who knows, you could steal everyone's staplers, or draw moustaches on all of the Mayor's posters and photographs," Warren said, his serious tone contradicted by the grin on his lips.
"Of course, that's the epitome of being evil," she replied, rolling her eyes.
"It would be, according to the Mayor," he said, still grinning. He let her get on the bus first, and they made their way to the usual seat at the back.
"If I was going to be that, I'd at least make it for something more worthy than a few handlebar moustaches drawn on the Mayor's photos," Layla muttered.
"Oh, yeah? What did you have in mind then?" he asked, no hint of a grin this time.
They were both aware of how they were treading a very thin and careful line between light-hearted fun and deadly serious. The kind of serious that could get them a cell between Royal Pain and his father, or killed.
Layla glanced at Warren as they sat down, keeping her expression neutral as the bus began its journey.
"Nothing less than world domination, of course. Then you can draw on all of the ex-Mayor's photographs and posters without retribution."
World domination? That was asking for a lot... But there was a feeling growing in Warren that if anyone could achieve that goal, it would be Layla.
"Town by town, I hope? I'm sure there are a lot of Mayors out there with cheesy photographs that need to be graffitied."
"Of course, is there any other way? We'll need to purchase a lot of permanent markers. Maybe Ethan and Zach know where to buy some."
Oh, god, they were actually going to discuss this? And really, she wanted to recruit Ethan and Zach first? Warren wondered if it was a good or bad thing that he could see why she'd want to. The former was nothing short of brilliant, despite his less than heroic power, and the latter's power was beginning to grow into something that might become deadly one day.
The bus launched off the side of the school, dropping for a terrifying moment to the screams of the students around them. Warren immediately turned to Layla, his lips at her ear to continue their conversation in private. She copied the motion, waiting for him to talk. He took a moment before he did, squashing the feeling of being nothing more than his father's son. He knew that he wasn't; his father would have never had a partner, would never had discussed a thing, would never had done a thing that involved a plan other than 'destroy everything in sight'. Warren was not his father, no matter what this conversation implied.
"Donny would be able to read them to find out where to get permanent markers, or Craig could turn into them to know what they're thinking," he suggested, since they'd both proven that they were open to blackmail and bribery.
"I don't think Craig's power works like that, but it's a good idea," Layla agreed with a nod. "What do you think of Adam and Larry?"
"Adam might know where to buy some. But Larry seems as though he'd take one whiff and pass out."
"True; he is prone to injury, despite his power," Layla said in disappointment. "What about Ritchie?"
"Not sure about him yet. There can't be that many permanent markers around, can there?"
"It's highly possible. I've heard that a lot of permanent markers just took to hiding after Homecoming last year," she replied.
"Who'd you hear that from? I didn't think many markers advertised that sort of thing," Warren muttered.
"Gossip, of course. I know of one or two who might be swayed from a plain marker to permanent," Layla said.
With that, she turned to face the front once more. He quickly followed suit, and moments later, the bus landed bumpily on the closed freeway, both gripping the bar in front of them tightly.
"Are you working tonight?" Layla asked pleasantly, smiling briefly.
"Not tonight; the restaurant's closed on Monday's," Warren replied, trying to gather his composure to shed the evil feeling they'd created with their conversation.
"Would you like to come over to study? I've almost finished my essay, but I wanted to ask you to read it over, in case it's really bad and I fail. My Great Aunt's still in hospital, and I could really use the company," she added.
He nodded, grateful for the offer. Maybe he'd have enough time to make his emotions a bit more pleasant, more vanilla-hero, before having to go home to his mother. She'd pick him apart if she knew what he was feeling right now.
Beside him, Layla simply smiled gently, as if she knew what he was thinking, as if they hadn't just had a whole conversation about recruiting people to help dominate the world in the guise of buying permanent markers. She took his hand in her own, still keeping her gaze forward, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Well, Warren thought to himself, that was definitely one way to calm and change his emotions. Not that he'd want his mother knowing these emotions and thoughts either, his fingers threading between Layla's.
...
End of the twelfth chapter.
Thank you for reading; I hope you liked it!
