Disclaimer: I don't own Sky High, or any of its canon characters.

Chapter Twelve- Heroes vs. Villains? (Pt.1)

I tried to tell Warren about Paul's plan but I don't think I made much sense. Warren however, got the gist of it.

"I'll be over there in ten minutes."

As soon as I hung up, I hastily put on my sneakers and went outside to wait for him. Standing on the front porch, a million horrible scenarios flashed in my head- what Paul would do if we were too late….

The street was dark; one of the lamplights directly in front on my house had gone out. It had just rained; the streets were slick and wet. For some reason it gave me the creeps, standing alone out there in the dark. Where was Warren?

In the dark some distance away, was a small flash of fire. Warren suddenly appeared out of nothingness it seemed, a little flame dancing eerily in his hand. He was warmly dressed, a black coat with a matching snowcap. Not that he needed it, I thought, shivering.

"Too dark here," he muttered, his eyes never leaving mine.

"Sorry about that. The light never works…" I faltered, as Warren gave me a look. I was stalling, and he knew it.

"What's he done?" he asked me quietly.

"He said…he's going to kill your dad," I said softly.

Warren didn't move or say anything, but I could almost feel his rage…and rising panic.

"Damn your cousin," he whispered furiously at last. "He's done some insane things in the past, but this-"

"Warren, he's not himself-"

"Would you stop making excuses for him?!" he snapped at me so harshly, I fell silent. My shoulders sagged; he was right. What was the point?

"Where is he now?" he asked me urgently.

"I- I don't know for sure. But I can guess."

"We have to follow him. We have to stop him."

"How?" I had no clue where exactly the prison was, far less how to get there.

Warren nodded over his shoulder. A black and somewhat beat-up looking car was parked at the end of my street. He had driven here.

"I'll take us there," he said somberly.

xxxx

It was roughly an hour's drive to Maxville's Correctional Facility but Warren was going to cut that time in half, he informed me, as he pressed down harder on the gas pedal.

We didn't speak for a few minutes, staring at the orange pools of light that danced over our heads.

After awhile, I finally broke the silence. "What are we going to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"When we get there. What are we going to do about them….about Paul?"

Warren kept his eyes on the road, the buildings going by in a blur. "What would you do, in my place? You know what? Forget that. What do you think we should do?"

I didn't reply right away. I thought about how much my cousin had changed and how far he was willing to go to achieve his ends. I felt the tears coming on but I blinked them away furiously. I whispered in a firm voice, "Whatever we have to."

Even as I spoke these words, I felt terrified. "But even so, we have to try our best not to hurt anyone. I don't know about the others, but Paul isn't in his right mind right now- he can't be. Even when we were kids, he'd do things that he didn't mean-"

"Like this?" Warren suddenly yelled. "Like trying to kill my dad?" He threw me a frustrated glance.

I didn't have an answer for that. All I could manage was, "At least…let me try to talk to him first."

Warren didn't answer. He continued to stare straight ahead in silence.

I looked out of the window hopelessly. I noticed then that the buildings- the shops, local houses- became fewer and farther between. Then they stopped altogether. Instead I saw trees, tall dark trees lining both sides of the road, all melting into a dark blur. There was not much else to see.

"Where exactly is this place?"

"Don't you know?" Warren asked sarcastically. "I'd have thought your father would have told you exactly where all the bad guys go."

"Don't be like that," I said irritably. "Just tell me."

Warren glanced dully at me. "It's a few miles south, just outside of Maxville. In the middle of nowhere."

Through the haze of my terror, a question came to me- Did he come to this place often? I very nearly asked it, but changed my mind at the last minute. Now wasn't a good time. We spent the next fifteen minutes in silence.

"Are we close?"

"Closer than you think."

I followed his gaze. A huge gray building loomed ahead. It looked like a typical prison- impossibly high walls, crowned with barbed wire, huge lights glaring into every corner. But I knew looks could be deceiving- this place was anything but typical.

"We're here," Warren said softly.

xxxxxxxx

We parked the car a good distance away from Maxville's Correctional Facility for Super Villains and made our way towards the building.

"How can we be sure they're there?" I asked quietly.

"We'll find out," Warren said shortly.

"But how? And how do we get in if they are?"

"I don't know, Arrian," Warren said impatiently. "But if they got in, then so can we."

We were almost there. But we didn't go out into the open. Instead, we stayed discreetly among the trees about three hundred yards away.

"Warren," I whispered, "I don't know how we can- wait a sec. What's wrong with the guards?"

Warren squinted at the gate. The guards were patrolling, walking back and forth in front of it. But their movements were mechanical, stiff, like…"

"Zombies?" I murmured, horrified.

"Jana. She killed them," Warren realized. "And now she's pulling their strings. Giving the impression that nothing's wrong, or close enough."

"Does that mean we can get through? Will they be able to see us?"

"I don't think so. But Jana might. Some necromancers can see through the eyes of the dead."

I felt impatient and time was running out. "There has to be some way we can get in."

"I think at this point we can rule out the front entrance. But we can still try to keep as low key as possible. Follow me and keep close."

Warren moved along through the trees along the borders of the premises and I followed him. We walked and walked until we came to what looked like the back of the facility. There were more guards here, but it seemed as if Jana had gotten to them too- They stood at attention, staring blankly into nothingness.

Unlike the front of the prison there were no high walls. But there was a tall chain link fence, also topped with barbed wire.

Warren quickly shot out of the trees; I was close behind, my heart pounding mercilessly. We ran straight for the fence, some yards away from the back gate, but Warren was ready. A large fireball appeared in his hand. He chucked it at the fence, near the ground.

I tensed at the loud noise the impact made, glancing at the guards who were some distance away. They didn't so much as flinch.

"Arrian, come on!" Warren hissed at me, already halfway through the large gaping hole in the fence.

Once we were both through the opening we raced straight on towards the building, finally diving beneath a truck that was parked close by.

"What now?" I whispered heavily.

"We find them," he whispered back.

"Warren, this place is huge. We'll most likely get caught before we find any of them."

"No we won't," he said softly staring ahead and the expression on his face made me sure that he already had a plan.

"What are you thinking?"

"Cell block 493 is in the East Wing. It's not far. I know how to get there."

I blinked at him. "How do you-"

"Just stay close and don't make any noise. We'll have to be extra careful- there'll probably be some people that haven't met up with Reaper Girl."

The corridors were brightly lit, too much so. At any second I expected to encounter a guard, to be caught in a place we were not meant to be.

But we saw no one and for some reason, this frightened me even more.

"How much further?" I murmured, in a voice lower than a whisper.

"Not much," Warren answered back just as quietly, as we turned a corner. "Only we have to-"

He stopped talking and halted to a standstill.

"What-" I began.

"Shhh," he said softly.

I looked over his shoulder. Near the end of the hall, a door stood open. I didn't know much about Maxville's Correctional Facility, but one thing I was certain of- doors didn't just hang open unattended in a place like this.

"Quiet," Warren mouthed the word to me as he went forward silently.

We walked forward warily, but quickly enough. The room beyond was the first one we saw that was poorly lit. Inside, there were computers, closed circuit televisions and other machines I couldn't identify. On the televisions we could see the many corridors and rooms in the prison. Guards were patrolling some of these, but it was easy to identify who were alive and who weren't. Warren ran his hands across the top of one of the computers, looking thoughtful.

"Someone's supposed to be in here," I said. "Monitoring these things. Where are they?"

"They're taking a nap," a voice said out of the darkness and Warren and I whirled round.

Lisa Kline stood before us, her face oddly serene, but her eyes were shining with anger and hatred.

"Lisa," Warren growled, "Whatever your part in this, it ends right now."

"Listen," I said urgently, as she visibly tensed, "You don't have to do this. Regardless of Paul's threats, we can help. We won't let him hurt you."

Lisa broke into a huge manic grin, then laughed. "Wow, Anna. You really do eat up that angst-ridden teen act, don't you?"

I didn't catch on to her meaning at first. But then it hit me. "What you said about Paul threatening you-"

"Paul threaten me? Hardly. Seriously, Anna- are you really as stupid as all that? Who do you think set this all up?"

For several moments, no one said anything as Lisa's words sunk in.

Finally, I managed to whisper, "Oh my god."

I couldn't believe it. Neither could Warren it seemed; he kept shaking his head slowly, staring at Lisa with sheer incredulity. "You're the one who instigated all of this?!"

"Did you really think he could come up with this on his own?" she snapped. "Oh he had the drive, believe me. But in the end, he needed a little persuasion to go the extra mile. Also someone who could plan worth a damn helped."

"Listen to me," I said. "I know what Barron Battle did to your mom. And I know that you feel you have to avenge her. But do you really think this is what she'd have wanted?"

"I know this is what she'd have wanted!" Lisa said furiously, raising her hands. "And I'll kill you before I let you ruin everything!"

Seeing Lisa's sudden reaction, we both powered up immediately, but it was too late. Warren was suddenly thrown back, slamming hard into the wall. I made to shield her incoming attack but I was a second slower. The next thing I knew, I was pitched across the room, crashing into several machines.

Bright lights exploded in my head, glaring behind my eyes painfully. I shook my head, groaning as I made to get up.

"Those remedial classes sure paid off, didn't they?" Lisa said, laughing as she walked toward me.

"No!" I cried out, as I felt myself being lifted off the ground. Suddenly I dropped to the floor.

Looking up, I saw Warren trying to restrain her. It didn't last long. Lisa sent him flying, suddenly stopping him in midair.

Before she could turn her attention to me again I raised my open palms to her, shooting forth a jet of light. She was knocked off her feet, but even then she tried to use her telekinetic power against us. I felt a wave of energy begin to push me back, but I was ready this time- I deflected it with my own light-force.

Warren fell to the floor. He shot to his feet and lunged toward her. With a sweep of her arm, he flew back, crashing over a table and fell out of sight.

"Warren-!" Suddenly I couldn't talk. I felt something clench around my throat. She was cutting off my air supply. I raised my right arm, trying to stop her. But her hold on me tightened violently. I clutched at my neck. Gasping and choking, I fell to the floor. The dancing lights behind my eyes flashed brighter than ever. But not for long. A growing darkness slowly overwhelmed the world around me. I was falling down, down into the dark….

"You should have stayed at home Anna," Lisa's voice came out through the gathering blackness. "Now what am I going to tell Paul, hmm? I guess I'll just say that you had a little… accident. After all, he'd never believe that poor, sweet, innocent Lisa would actually kill anyone."

"Don't worry, you won't," said another voice.

Suddenly I could breathe again. I rolled onto my back ad gasped for air, though it was pure agony to do so. Slowly I sat up, struggling to stay conscious. Looking up, I saw Warren kneeling over Lisa with a large fireball in his hand dangerously close to her face. His eyes were blazing, his teeth clenched- he could barely contain his anger. Slowly, he raised his arm- Lisa's eyes widened in alarm.

"Warren, no!" I choked out, coughing with the effort. "She's not worth it."

"Like hell she isn't!"

"Listen to her Warren," Lisa said breathlessly. "You're not a villain." Her lips curled into a slight grin. "You wouldn't really hurt me, would you?"

Warren glared at her, yet uncertainty flickered across his features for a split second. Then he seemed to come to a decision.

"Think again," he said shortly. The fireball disappeared. He punched her in the face. She fell back, out cold.

Warren came over and helped me to my feet. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, don't worry about it," I said hoarsely.

I came over, staggering a little. Lisa's face looked oddly serene. A nasty looking purple bruise was already forming under her right eye.

Warren stood up and went over to the remaining closed circuit televisions. He looked them over as if he was searching for something. Suddenly, he pointed to one of them.

"There," he said. "That's where we have to go. That's where my dad is."

I looked at the small screen. It showed a narrow corridor. At the end of it stood a tall door. It looked harmless, completely untouched.

"They're already there," he said softly.

I glanced at him curiously. "How can you tell?"

"There aren't any guards. There are always guards."

"Well… let's go," I said. My voice sounded strange to my own ears. I wanted to get there immediately, to stop Paul and Jana…assuming we weren't too late.