Disclaimer: I don't own Sky High.

Read on, oh faithful ones...

...

Chapter Twenty-Four

...

On seeing the caller ID, Josie was more than surprised at who it was, but she had enough sense to leave the room before answering her phone. "Hello, Layla."

"Hello, Mrs. Stronghold," Layla said pleasantly. "I was wondering if I could make a time to talk with yourself and the Commander at your earliest convenience."

Josie was fairly sure that her jaw was hanging open at Layla's blunt request, and she had to wonder exactly what the girl wanted with their super alter-egos.

"It's in regards to the recent tragedy that occurred," Layla said, as if anticipating her question. "I don't know if your son has told you, but I'm working for the Mayor, and I've recently been promoted to PA. I've discussed a strategy with the media in order to keep them away from super-induced fights, and I need to discuss the terms with Jetstream and the Commander."

Finally, Josie's brain started working again, and she thought of her schedule for the next few days. A house showing on Thursday afternoon, a contract signing on Friday afternoon, Will needed help with his science project and that would probably take most of the day if Steve got involved as he inevitably would...

Wait, Layla had said 'your son' instead of 'Will'. Just what had happened with them?! Will had simply said that they'd broken up, but if it was as mutual as he implied, then why would Layla go out of her way to not even say his name?!

"Steve's out of town at the moment," Josie said carefully - the Mayor had suggested the Commander lay low for a while, which had resulted in Steve sulking in the Secret Sanctum for the past three days instead - "So if you don't mind, you'll just be meeting with me. We will talk about this," Josie added in her best Mum voice, making it very clear that she wasn't talking about Layla's proposition.

"Oh," Layla said, sounding hesitant. "You may not like what I have to say."

"Nonsense; you are a sweet girl, and I'm sure there's a perfectly rational reason as to why you and Will broke up."

There was a moment of silence, and Josie felt her rational resolve failing; their breakup definitely wasn't as mutual as Will had implied.

"Perhaps it would be best to discuss this face-to-face," Layla said finally. "When would you be able to meet with me?"

"This Saturday morning, if you're available," she replied.

Will could do his Mad Science assignment with Steve, and it would be on their heads if he failed. There was a tight feeling in her chest at that thought. Well, she'd be able to fix up the assignment when she returned from talking with Layla, Josie reasoned to herself.

They arranged to meet at a local café for brunch, and Josie disconnected from the call, trying to dispel the feeling of unease she felt about exactly what she would hear come Saturday morning.

...

Layla sat at the cafe, waiting for Josie patiently, despite the fact that she was half an hour late. Sipping at her herbal tea, she watched the shoppers passing by, laden with bags or pushing shopping trolleys with faulty wheels.

"Oh, Layla, I'm so sorry I'm late. I got caught up with the boys, and well, you know what they're like," Josie said as she sat down across from Layla.

"I completely understand, Mrs. Stronghold. Would you like tea or coffee?" Layla asked, indicating to the menu.

Fanning herself with the menu for a moment, Josie tried to calm herself. She was surprised to realise that she felt nervous about this meeting. It was ridiculous to feel that way, of course. Even if she hadn't seen Layla since her mother's funeral, or that she'd been running so very late and Layla was being so pleasant to her...

Josie had tested Will the night before, and at the mere mention of Layla's name he had gone very quiet and answered things in vague monosyllables. Then he had mentioned something about needing help with his homework, and Josie had slipped into her overprotective and perfectionist 'Mum mode', helping Will with his Algebra homework for three hours straight. It was only when she'd gone to bed, her mind swimming with x's and y's, that Josie realised that Will had completely avoided the question. She'd spent the next few hours thinking, remembering how he'd done similar things over the course of his childhood. Especially if it had been to do with his power, Will would change the topic or ask for help, and the question would be lost until they remembered it the next time. Josie realised that it was his way of avoiding confrontation. She had tossed and turned, eventually falling into a restless sleep, plagued with thoughts of things her son might have done to ruin his ten-year friendship with Layla.

"I think I'll have a strong coffee," Josie said, standing and leaving to the counter before Layla could reply.

Layla hid her smile, sipping at her tea again. Mrs. Stronghold only drank strong coffee when she was worried about Will. When she was worried about Mr. Stronghold, then it would be a hazelnut infused coffee; if she was calm then it would be a cappuccino. Layla was almost positive that Mrs. Stronghold's ability to fly arose from her over-consumption of caffeine.

"What would you like to talk about first?" Layla asked pleasantly when she had returned with her very strong coffee.

Again, Josie was surprised at Layla's bluntness. She supposed it was good though; who really wanted to do all of that back and forth when things just needed to be said?

"Tell me what happened between you and Will."

Layla sighed and looked down at her teacup. "That's just the thing, Mrs. Stronghold. Nothing happened between us. It happened between Will and Magenta."

For a moment, Josie simply stared, trying to wrap her mind around Layla's words. The expression that crossed her face the moment she realised that her son had cheated was priceless, and Layla could have sworn that Mrs. Stronghold actually flew up out of her seat slightly.

"You mean to say that he was unfaithful to you?" Josie asked.

Layla was somewhat surprised at the hostility in Mrs. Stronghold's voice, and she wondered just what had happened in her life to make this conversation hit a nerve. As she was thinking about it, Layla vaguely remembered a villain called Lustful who had almost defeated the Commander.

Maybe there was more to that fight than had been reported?

Realising that Mrs. Stronghold was still waiting for an answer, Layla nodded.

"Are you all right?" Josie asked, reaching out to hold her hand.

Layla moved her hands to her lap, and gave a watery smile. "Some days, I think I am. Others are harder to deal with. Especially since I have to see him in class every day."

"In class? So... You're on the Hero track now?" she commented in surprise, too preoccupied to really notice that Layla had pulled away from her on purpose.

Layla smiled a bit brighter, trying not to seem as though she was the ex-girlfriend to be pitied, but rather the strong ex-girlfriend who was finally doing something right for herself.

"Yes. I was transferred over a month or two ago. It's one of the reasons I was able to get this job working for the Mayor," Layla added, bringing the conversation back to their main reason for meeting.

"Congratulations on the new job then," Josie said, smiling brightly. "Now, why don't you tell me why you organised this meeting?"

Smiling and nodding, Layla detailed the same plan that she'd given to the journalists a few days before. Instead of offering the journalists' agreement terms, however, Layla stipulated that the journalists had agreed to stay back in a three-block radius so long as they had fifteen minutes of Jetstream and the Commander's time after a fight for pictures, questions, and the like.

"Fifteen minutes? That's quite a lot of time, especially considering how many villains we defeat every year," Josie murmured, a bit put off by the whole thing. She wasn't entirely sure about the cameras either, but that was something she could discuss with the Mayor later.

"If you have another proposition, I can take it back to the journalists?" Layla offered, bringing out a small notepad and pen.

"Three blocks and ten minutes. Five for each of us," Josie said.

"All right. I'll see if I can get them to agree to it. They weren't very happy about the three blocks in the first place," she murmured.

"Well... Maybe try twelve minutes then. It might make up for the distance."

"Are you sure? I don't want to inconvenience you, or the Commander," Layla added as an afterthought.

"An extra minute from each of us isn't too long," Josie said, waving off her concern.

"Thank you so much for meeting me about this, Mrs. Stronghold. I really appreciate it."

"You're most welcome. If there's anything else I can do for you, please don't hesitate to call me," Josie replied, smiling broadly.

There was a 'Best Ex-Boyfriend's Mother' look on her face that made Layla want to cringe, and her voice was more 'Mrs. Stronghold, Real Estate Agent' rather than 'fellow human being'.

"I'm sorry to leave so soon, but I have to catch a bus to my Great Aunt's home, and I don't want to miss it," Layla said, reaching for her bag.

"Oh, that's fine. I'll just finish up here and be on my way," Josie said with another cringe-worthy smile.

"Thank you again. Goodbye, Mrs. Stronghold," Layla called, hurrying out of the small café.

...

Warren waited for Layla to arrive impatiently. She had promised to meet him after her meeting with Mrs. Stronghold, and she was almost fifteen minutes late. When Layla did arrive five minutes later, Warren didn't recognise her at first, and wondered why this woman was walking towards him like she knew him.

"Sorry I took so long; I had to get changed. How do I look?"

"Unrecognisable," Warren said truthfully.

Layla's hair was pulled back tightly, two chopsticks sticking out of the neat bun. Her clothes had a distinct Asian cut to them, and the makeup she was wearing lent to a more Oriental than Western style. If she were alive, her own mother would have had a difficult time recognising her.

"Good, that's the idea," Layla replied with a quick smile.

With that exchange done, they both walked into Stronghold Realty to talk to Mr. Stronghold.

...

"Tell me again how you sold the two acre block?" Josie asked that night after dinner.

Will was upstairs in his room lifting weights. (She'd come home, glared at him and taken away all of his television and Xbox privileges until further notice. Despite not getting a reason for his grounding, Will had seen the look on her face and decided not to argue it.)

"Well, it was very easy, really. She wanted something big enough to build some sort of forest on. A nature trail or something. It was difficult to understand some parts with her accent," Steve added, frowning. "I kept trying to talk her into seeing that large five acre block down near Westville, but she'd already seen this other one and had her heart set on it. I couldn't persuade her otherwise."

"Why didn't you call me?" Josie asked, thinking of the money that he had cost them.

"Well, she was very adamant to buy something then and there. I couldn't even answer my own phone without her making a fuss," Steve said, shrugging. "But the good news is," he added, continuing before Josie could interrupt, "The land sold for $910,000."

Josie almost fell off her chair. "You sold a two acre block for nearly one million dollars?!"

The Realtor's Sales Award trip to Hawaii was so close that she could almost taste the ocean salt in the air.

"Yes I did," Steve said proudly. "I even brought the contract home to prove it," he added, heading over to where his briefcase was sitting by the front door.

Josie forced herself to lower back down into her seat. She would have to start packing, and organise someone to look after Will (even though he'd probably protest and say he didn't need a babysitter, after that party last year, she didn't quite trust him not to ruin her perfect house).

Steve presented the contract with a flourish and Josie took it with trembling hands. She read over the contract twice, and her delight faded very quickly. Her feet firmly on the ground, Josie stood up and looked at her husband angrily.

"Are you trying to send us bankrupt, Steve?!" she demanded.

"Of course not. What's wrong?" he asked, taking the contract back and pushing his glasses off his head. He really couldn't see a damn thing with those things on.

"You sold the two acre property for $91,000. You left off a zero. You just sold the land for $109,000 less than what it's worth!"

Josie stalked off, muttering about brain and brawn, and with a scream of frustration, she flew straight out of the door. Steve didn't dare try to go after her. He'd done that once (it had involved two surveillance teams, a rather expensive GPS device, breaking into international cameras, and a Black Ops team) and after the consequences of everything that had happened that time around, Steve would rather have faced Royal Pain all over again.

Throwing the contract on the table, Steve called out to Will that his mother was gone, and that they should shoot some pool. Will was in the Secret Sanctum in a matter of seconds. Even without the power of flight, Steve was only a few seconds behind him.

...

"The Commander and Jetstream have come back with a counter offer," Layla informed the gathered media representatives. "If you stay back three blocks, then you'll be given twelve minutes to interview, take photos, etc. That's an even six minutes for each of them."

There was a long moment of silence, and then a few of the journalists began to murmur something to the ones beside them, and the room filled with a buzz of noise. Layla waited patiently, trying to figure out if the noise was good or bad for her. Ms. Peace had volunteered to wait outside the room this time, not trusting herself to be in the same room as the reporters again.

"Twelve minutes for each of us?" one reporter asked.

"Not all of you. One representative for each paper, magazine, news station, etc. Otherwise the Commander and Jetstream would be spending all of their time answering your questions instead of defeating villains," Layla said with a grin, and received a few chuckles in response.

There were a few more minutes of whispering and talking amongst themselves. Layla forced herself to focus so she wouldn't let the plants in the room burst into bloom. It would reveal her as a super, and she didn't want this group knowing that information. They'd probably work out that she had some way of contacting the Commander and Jetstream that had nothing to do with the Mayor, and she'd never be left alone.

"Channel Five agrees," Brian Anderson stated finally.

"So do The Morning Sun," a journalist said.

The journalists and reporters began to agree to the terms one by one until only three people were left who still hadn't answered.

"Do you have your decision yet? It has to be all of you, or none of you," Layla prompted.

Two quickly agreed, but the third seemed to be scrutinising the people around her and waited a moment longer. Her phone buzzed on the table in front of her, and after checking the received text message, she looked up to give her answer.

"Labyrinth agrees, only once the terms are met on your side. I'm not going to stand three blocks away when I don't have cameras in place that I can access," she stated.

"Neither am I," Brian Anderson agreed, everyone else echoing their sentiment.

"Very well. It looks like I'll have to get the Mayor to sign a few documents a little quicker then," Layla said with a grin. "I'll contact you all when I have the paperwork ready. I'd like you all to sign a waiver stating that you've agreed to these terms and that anything you do outside of these rules are at your own fault."

"Understandable," the reporter from Labyrinth said, the rest agreeing with her again.

With the meeting over, the gathered people started to leave. Layla saw that the woman from Labyrinth was hanging back and waited patiently, wondering what she had to say out of the earshot of the others. Labyrinth was a tabloid magazine and rarely had any news stories that were believable, but despite that, the business had flourished for the past 15 years since it started. In the super world, everyone knew that Labyrinth was merely a cover for supers, allowing them to travel to the furthest parts of the globe without too much fuss. Of course, those supers employed by Labyrinth still had to write something for the magazine, which is why their articles were never taken seriously.

"Hi Layla, I'm Honey. My employer would like to speak with you," she said when they were alone.

Not even a second later, her phone began to ring loudly. Honey handed it to her and stepped out of the meeting room.

"Hello?" Layla said into the phone.

"Good afternoon, Layla. This is Sarah, the owner of Labyrinth. Honey's told me about the deal you've made with the media, and I'm interested to know more about it before anything is signed on behalf of my company. Are you able to meet with me in person?"

"Yes, of course. I'm free this Saturday morning if that's convenient?"

"Perfect. If you could come to Labyrinth at 10am, I'll have security let you into the building."

"All right, see you then."

Hanging up from the call, Layla didn't even have time to open the door before Honey stepped inside and gave her a smile. Layla handed her phone back, thanking her.

"No problem. Everything went well then?"

"I have a meeting with Sarah on Saturday," Layla replied with a nod.

"Good to know. I look forward to seeing you again when you have those cameras installed," Honey replied, leaving a moment later.

Layla stood there for a few seconds, wondering what Saturday would bring.

"All ready to go Layla?" Ms. Peace asked, looking into the room.

"Yes, I'm ready," she replied quickly, grabbing her bag and following Nina out.

...

Zach grinned brightly as he leant over the table to kiss Ethan.

"You've got to stop doing that. We'll never get anything finished," Ethan muttered when they pulled away a few minutes later.

"When you stop looking so damned kissable, then I'll stop," Zach said with a grin.

Shaking his head, Ethan returned his attention to his workbook. "If your hero's significant other is captured by the villain in return for ransom, you advise him: a) to pay the ransom, b) to find and defeat the villain, possibly risking his significant other in the process, or c) you don't advise him because the hero's already left to save his significant other without your help," Ethan read aloud.

"I told you those books were just as bad about heroes as ours are about sidekicks," Warren muttered, coming into the room with Layla beside him.

"I'd choose c)," Zach said, ignoring his comment.

"Well, it's true, isn't it? If Layla was captured by a villain, you'd go to rescue her, wouldn't you?" Ethan asked Warren, turning his attention to them.

Warren held back a laugh; if anything, he'd expect that Layla was the villain capturing heroes' significant others.

"Of course I would. But I'd take my sidekick with me. And a container of kerosene to light the bastard up for taking Layla away," Warren growled possessively.

"Aw, you say the sweetest things," Layla said, kissing him.

"Good afternoon, kids. How are you?" Anita Damsale asked, smiling at them as she brought in a platter of fruit.

"Good, thank you, Mrs. Damsale. Thank you for letting us come over at such short notice," Layla said with a smile.

"Your parents and guardians all agreed to you staying over on a school night, so it's no problem at all. I'll let you know when dinner's ready. Have fun studying," Anita said, leaving them to it.

Warren closed the door behind her as Layla went to sit down.

"Thank you for letting us come over at such short notice," Zach mocked, picking up a strawberry and pretending it was Layla. "Oh, you're so wonderful, Mrs. Damsale. Can I kiss your butt any more, Mrs. Damsale?"

"That's my mum you're talking about, Zach," Ethan said, glowering at him.

"I know that. I'm mocking Layla, not your mum," Zach replied, grinning at Layla.

She stole the strawberry out of his grasp and ate it before he could protest.

"So why'd you call a meeting anyway? I was planning on having an intense make-out session with my boyfriend, y'know," Zach stated.

Ethan reddened at the term, but grinned a little foolishly too. Then his grinned slipped as he realised what Zach had said. "What do you mean, she called a meeting?"

"You really think I'd give up a night of work just to study? I have priorities, Popsicle, and the main one is money," Warren said, sitting beside Layla.

Ethan was stunned for a moment, looking between them all. They all seemed to know something that he didn't and he loathed not knowing something. He hated not knowing what was going on around him, and while he didn't have the best social skills in the world, Ethan was proud of the fact that he knew answers to questions that others might ask. Maybe it had something to do with his power and maybe it didn't, but Ethan soaked up knowledge like others soaked up sunlight.

"Would someone tell me what's going on here?"

"Do you still have the book for Save the Citizen?" Layla asked.

"Wh-what? Yes, of course I do," Ethan said, wondering why she was asking that instead of answering his question.

"Zach, why don't you go upstairs with Ethan to get the book? We'll explain everything when you're back," Layla said.

"Right," Zach said with a nod, taking Ethan's hand and all but pulling him out of the room.

"You're sure they're ready, hippie?" Warren asked when the door closed behind them.

"Zach definitely is," Layla said, the vine beneath her skin rippling with a brush of power.

She'd walked into the room and had clutched Warren's hand tightly at the feeling. Zach was beyond ready, and there was even a brush of the same feeling coming from Ethan. He was in love with Zach and would do anything for him, even turn evil. It wouldn't take much longer for him to become truly permanent.

"Are you all right, Eth?" Zach asked, worried when he still hadn't said anything.

Ethan shook his head. "I don't know, Zach. Do you really know what you're getting into, what we might be getting into?"

"Hey, I wouldn't get into something if I didn't know what I was getting into," Zach said, grinning.

"This is a really fine line we're treading, Zach. You know that super villains have a lower life expectancy than heroes, right? Not to mention their success rate's far below par."

"But that's other villains. We're not other villains, are we?"

"I don't even know if we are villains yet!" Ethan exclaimed. "I don't want to be like Speed and Lash, and I really don't want to end up in gaol. My mum would kill me," he groaned, sitting on the bed and sighing.

"You wouldn't be like Speed and Lash; I wouldn't let you. Besides, they were bullies and there's a huge difference between being a bully and being evil," Zach said.

Grinning at the expression on Ethan's face, Zach leant over and kissed him again, his lips curving into a grin as Ethan wrapped his arms around him.

"You really have to stop looking so damn kissable," he murmured against Ethan's lips.

Ethan pulled away from him and sighed heavily. "All right, fine. If you think I'll be such a great villain, convince me why."

"What?" Zach asked in confusion.

"Tell me why I should be a villain." He grinned slightly, seeing the look of concentration on Zach's face.

"Uhh... You hate mess and disorganisation," he replied, looking at the pristine state of Ethan's room.

"Right, so what? How's that an argument for me to be evil?"

"Because heroes are messy! You've seen Will's room, it's an absolute sty."

"Your room's not any better," Ethan pointed out.

"Well, I'm still not a fully-fledged villain," Zach said, shrugging.

"You know that's the most ridiculous argument for being a villain I've ever heard?"

"Heard that many arguments for being a villain, have you?"

"Well, no, not really."

"Then you don't know what a good argument to be a villain is. Come on, let's just go downstairs already. I'm sure Layla and Warren will be able to explain it all better than I can. I still don't have the full privileges, y'know."

"Are you really sure you want to do this, Zach?"

"Definitely, one-hundred and ten percent, man. But I won't do anything if you're not with me. It'd really suck being the third wheel around those two," he joked, grinning.

Ethan grinned slightly, pushing his glasses up his nose. "That's good enough for me. For now. Come on, I've got the book now, so let's go see what Layla and Warren have to say about all this."

Zach nodded and followed him downstairs to the lounge room. Layla and Warren were waiting for them patiently, a large stack of files sitting on the coffee table.

"What are those?" Ethan asked warily.

"Remember that day a few weeks ago where I fought Will in the cafeteria?" Warren prompted, getting a nod in return. "Well, it was all just a distraction so Layla could steal the student files from Principal Powers' office."

"I knew you let him hit you!" Zach crowed.

Warren smirked. "I told him last year that I could take a hit. He should have realised something was wrong then," he said, shrugging.

"Are you all right, Ethan?" Layla asked, moving to him in concern.

Ethan didn't look away from the large piles of student files sitting on the table, his eyes widened. "Is that every student's file?"

"I've had a brief look at them, but it only seems to be current students at Sky High. I haven't seen any files for Lash, Speed, Penny, or Gwen at least," Layla said with a slight shrug.

"What do you want me for? I'm a sidekick, and not even a very good one, honestly," Ethan whispered, still staring at the files.

"You are amazing, Ethan, you just don't believe in yourself yet. But I believe in you," Layla said, her hand resting on his shoulder gently. "You were fantastic when you organised everything for Save the Citizen, and I wanted you to do something similar for me now. I won't force you to do anything. In fact, if you say no, then I'll forget about it completely so long as you do the same, and I won't ever ask you again. But right now, all I want you to do is organise the information in these files so that I can use them. I need to return the files as soon as possible, and I just don't have your excellent ability to sort through all of these and gain anything useful from them."

"That's all? You just want me to organise the information?" Ethan asked, finally looking to her.

Layla nodded sincerely. "That's all for now. It doesn't sound so evil, does it?" she added with a smile.

"Well, they're not your files," he pointed out.

"I know that; that's why I want to return them. I don't want to be labelled as a thief."

Ethan licked his lips briefly. He wanted to know what was inside of the files, he needed to know, to gain all of that knowledge, and as the want and need grew, in that moment Ethan wanted nothing more than to accept Layla's request.

"All right, I'll do it."

"You are amazing; thank you so much, Ethan. Can I help in any way?" Layla asked, looking from him to the files.

"I'll need help getting them up to my room without Mum noticing," Ethan said.

"Right, we're on it. Zach, go distract the Damsales. I'll take this upstairs," Warren instructed.

Zach grinned brightly, gave a mocking salute, and headed out to where Anita and her husband were watching TV in the kitchen.

Warren grabbed the files in an armful, shoving them into the bag that Layla had brought them over in. When Layla was sure that the two adults were engrossed in conversation with Zach, she opened the door and Warren hurried out. Ethan went after him quickly, helping him to unload the bag and put the files away in a box under his bed.

"You've got until Friday morning to get these done, Popsicle," Warren muttered as the last file was taken out of the bag.

"That's only three days away! Why Friday?" Ethan asked, frowning.

"Because that's when the broken walls into Principal Powers' office are getting repaired again," he replied.

"Then maybe everyone should come study up here so I can get started," he muttered, looking at the box.

"I can organise that," Layla said from the doorway, grinning.

She left without another word, and Ethan opened the red book, taking out the first file in the box.

"Excuse me, Anita? I'm really sorry about Zach distracting you; he's just procrastinating because we have midterms coming up soon and he's nervous. Is it okay if we study up in Ethan's room? There'll be less of a chance of Zach escaping and procrastinating again," Layla said with a grin.

"Oh, if you think it will help, go right ahead. But keep the window open; I doubt there'll be much oxygen up there with all four of you in there at once," Anita said, smiling.

"Of course. Thank you. Come on, Zach. You're not escaping again."

"Yes, ma'am," Zach said sombrely, leaving the kitchen before Layla could drag him out.

"I'll call you for dinner," Anita called after them.

"Thank you," Layla and Zach chorused, heading upstairs to help Ethan and Warren.

...

End of the twenty-fourth chapter.

Thank you for reading. I hope you liked it!