Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High or its characters, settings etc, all of which belong to Disney.

Chapter 6: Past, Present and Future

"Later, kids. See you around, Sparky."

Warren walked off, smirking slightly at the ensuing conversation behind him. He was just outside the door when Stronghold Senior caught up with him.

"Warren, don't take it too hard that Incendiary escaped," he said, "You know, even fully qualified heroes haven't been able to capture him and he's been on the Most Wanted List since he became the Battle godfather's right hand man."

"Yeah," replied Warren, not really comforted.

Steve paused and cleared his throat before cautiously asking the question he was a little concerned about, "You don't know what that was actually all about, do you?"

"More of the Battle family's search for fire elemental breeding stock," Warren's tone was harsh, "But don't worry, they already decided they were only window shopping before you guys showed up, so she should be safe from their … little experiments."

This took Steve a bit by surprise. It seemed that Warren knew more about what his father had done than he realized. All that the official records and the Hero History textbooks said was that Barron Battle, a.k.a. Combustion, was a super villain and a traitor. However, Steve and Josie didn't report one particular aspect that was revealed the night they took Battle into custody…

Warren had just got his powers and Barron had been so eager to pass the information on to his super villain superiors that he'd been careless. Finally, the Commander and Jetstream had the evidence they had been searching for – there was a mole among the superhero ranks, but it was the last person they had ever suspected.

It was the last person Zoë Peace had ever suspected either.

"Tell them it's not true," she cried as the heroes put him in power-neutralizing restraints, "Barron?"

He looked at her, finally dropping the façade he'd kept up for so long.

In his hard eyes, she saw the truth and broke down. "No. No!"

His expression softened briefly. "I'm sorry, Zoë," he said quietly, "You are a wonderful woman, but I was not permitted to love you."

"So." She swallowed hard and made an effort to compose herself. "All these years of the Oscar winning performance as the charming reformed villain who'd renounced his evil upbringing – what was the purpose of all that?"

"Isn't that obvious?" Steve said, "He's been passing them information. That's what a mole does."

Barron scoffed, "You're so small-minded, Stronghold. This is far bigger than just that."

"Oh really?" Steve challenged, "And what do super villains rate as bigger than treason these days?"

"A brilliant genetic experiment."

A beat of silence followed that simple statement.

Then the pyro-psionic hero narrowed her eyes. "Our son is your experiment?" Steve and Josie shared a glance, but neither was sure what was going on. Zoë took several deep breaths, murmuring to herself, "I can't believe I was so blind. It should have been so obvious."

"Zoë?" asked Josie gently.

She turned to the heroes and explained, "The real reason why he married me was to combine my type of fire power with his, to try to produce a child that was … " she fixed Barron with an accusing stare, "… a fire elemental!"

There was another tense pause as Zoë just looked intently at the former love of her life, who gave a slow condescending nod to show her conclusion was correct.

Josie caught on. "But everybody knows powers aren't automatically inherited."

"Yes, that's why I called it an 'experiment', you silly girl," sneered Battle sarcastically, "An effort to overcome the odds."

"Try overcoming these odds, you bastard," Zoë spoke with cold fury, "Your experiment is over. You will never see Warren again. And we will bring down your whole damn family, one by one if necessary. We will make sure that the Battle family will never create a fire elemental for their own evil purposes."

Barron Battle turned to Steve. "You'll pay for this, Stronghold!"

Warren had been taken to another superhero's house to prevent him from witnessing that scene. He had been nine years old, and to him Barron had been a great dad. But maybe if the heroes hadn't tried to spare him the pain of finding out what he actually meant to his father, he wouldn't have spent so long blaming the Commander for breaking up his happy family.

That arrest had stuck in Steve's mind ever since. For a while he'd even been afraid that Warren might be befriending his son for similar reasons to Barron being friends – and often rivals – with Steve at school, particularly considering Warren no longer had his mother's positive influence. Both Josie and Will (although his son didn't know the whole story, of course) prevailed on him to at least give the young pyro a chance.

Which he did, if rather reluctantly at first. And today's face-off had just been the final proof of Warren's loyalties.

There was only one thing he could think of to say. He placed a hand on Warren's shoulder.

"Your mother would be proud of you."

"Come on, Stronghold. It can't take you that long to decide whether you have a card to play."

Will looked up from his cards quickly. His mind was miles away from the Uno game the two of them were playing in his living room. Warren regarded him with mild impatience from the opposite couch as he looked back at his cards, actually seeing them this time.

"So," he played a blue 9, "That was quite a bust yesterday. Even if Incendiary escaped."

Warren followed with a red 9. "They were a bunch of stupid thugs. The real danger is still out there."

"My dad said they were quite important agents." Will put down a red 6.

"Okay, so they were senior stupid thugs. Takes more than busting a few of them to take down the whole family business," answered Warren, playing a red Draw 2. Will drew two cards and mock-glared at his friend who didn't look the slightest bit apologetic. Warren continued, "Good thing they decided they didn't want Kate or she'd have to go into hiding or something."

"Well, I wouldn't mind, you know, protecting her if she needs it." Will's tone was deliberately casual as he played one of the cards he'd drawn.

"I'm sure you wouldn't," remarked Warren dryly, eyeing his own cards.

There was a pause while Will thought for a bit and Warren reluctantly drew a card, having nothing in his hand to play.

Will asked lightly, "So, do you think she'd go out with me?"

For a moment Warren was tempted to tell him that Kate was in love with Zach, or maybe even Warren himself, but the memory of the last time Will hit him suddenly came to mind and he decided that he wasn't really in the mood to go flying. He was about to tell him the truth when Will, having misinterpreted his hesitation, spoke up.

"Wait a minute, you like her. You do, don't you? Well, don't worry, I won't – "

"Relax, Flyboy," his friend interrupted, "Just 'cos she's the only pyro I've met who isn't either related to me or a jerk, it doesn't mean I automatically have some sort of cosmic connection with her."

Will, however, was not really listening and obviously quite positive he was on the right track. "But you guys can communicate through her flame thingies, I'd say that's quite a connection."

"Unless I suddenly develop pyro-construction," and Warren's tone indicated just how likely he thought that was, "the conversations will tend to be a bit one-sided. But in answer to your question, yeah I'm pretty sure she'll go out with you."

Will played a card and gave his friend a quick glance. "How do you know?"

"Dude, half the female population of Sky High is into you. I'd say that gives you roughly a 50 percent chance."

"Even odds, huh? Not too bad."

Just then Warren noticed that, like him, Will had only two cards left. "About the same as your chances of winning this game." He put down his second to last card. "Uno."

"Don't get too full of yourself just 'cos you won the last three rounds," advised Will and smugly played a Draw 2, leaving him with only one card in his hand. "Uno," he added quickly.

Warren took two cards and looked at them with his eyebrows slightly raised.

"Now who's taking forever to decide if he has a card to play?" Will challenged.

"I don't," Warren said after a moment's deliberation, and drew another card.

"Ha!" Will triumphantly played his last card and grinned. "So, what was that you were saying about my chances of winning?"

Warren looked amused. "Well, Stronghold, seems the odds are also in your favor for getting Kate to go with you to that Spring Formal thing."

And he re-shuffled the cards, carefully hiding the one he had intentionally not played.

It was a Draw 4 wild card.

After all, he'd just won three games in a row. He could afford to be generous.

Layla really wasn't sure why the sight bothered her. She honestly believed she was over Will, so she had no business being upset that he and Kate were dancing together and looking very happy about it. There was a possibility she was feeling like a bit of a wallflower, standing next to the punch table by herself, but then again, that was mostly her own fault.

Warren had suggested boycotting the Spring Formal, but she'd wanted to go, for some reason she couldn't quite remember now. She'd even managed to convince him to come along and keep her company.

She looked at Will and Kate again, and frowned, trying to work out what was bugging her.

"I thought you were 'totally over him'?" teased a deep voice from behind her.

"I am," she replied, not turning around to look at him.

Warren stood next to her with his hands in his pockets. "Right, like you told me you like her."

"I do," she answered, still not looking at him at they stood side by side. "I've been friends with her for the past two years."

"Hmm. Good thing you decided that you like her before Stronghold started showing romantic interest."

"For your information, I do like her and I am over him. I really don't know why this bothers me so much."

Warren studied her for a while, and then said gently, "I don't suppose you feel a little let down that he's over you?"

Layla sighed. That was exactly her problem. And he'd worked it out so easily. "I guess part of me would be kind of flattered if he was pining away for me or something," she admitted and finally turned to look at him. "Pathetic, aren't I?"

"Not unless you start threatening to string her up in vines."

She smiled slightly, relieved that he didn't seem to consider her as childish as she knew she was being. She turned to watch Will and Kate dancing, and replied, "Been there, done that. How about something more original, like a pit of man-eating carnivorous plants?"

Warren raised his eyebrows. "I thought you didn't believe in using your powers for violence."

"I don't." She gave him a mischievous look and continued airily, "But there's no such thing as a man-eating plant, so it was an empty threat anyway."

"And therefore you didn't compromise your beliefs, right?"

Layla smiled up at him, a much more genuine smile this time. It was time for a new topic of conversation. "I suppose it would be asking too much to expect you to dance with me?" she asked sweetly.

"Don't push your luck, Hippie," Warren gave her a mock scowl, but nonetheless led her onto the dance floor.

Really, the things he put up with…

A/N: Don't worry, it isn't over … it's only just getting started! I have split the story into two parts because there is a time jump of a few years between this chapter and the next. So, stay tuned for the second part, Phoenix Rising, coming in about two weeks.