Chapter Seventeen: Fire

Na-Na: God! It was great writing the last chapter. It gave me a chance to get into the heads of so many characters outside of Tenni. That was a lot of fun. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed writing Mr. Boy's and Coach Boomers the most. Their thoughts and feelings intrigued me. While my love for Warren seems to eclipse all others, I have developed a strange love for the side characters. Unfortunately, I spent so much time jumping POVs that I barely got anything with Warren in (though, that may have been a good thing… I'm really bad at writing from the POVs of teenage boys…). I did manage some Warren here for the first time, for real.

By the way, I was watching Sky High really hard during the last chapter, when I saw some things I didn't catch the first time. It was so cool! Did any of you guys notice that the guy standing next to Steve during the award ceremony was actually Mr. Grayson/Stitches? He's standing there looking like Gwen's "dad" one minute, then the next, he's Stitches! It was pretty trippy. There's also Layla and Zach's last names. Initially, I made them up. When I went and checked them, I found for Layla, Kolden was really Williams and for Zach, Litman was really Braun. Anyway, Sky High does not belong to me, but Tenni does. Now go my pretties, and enjoy the story.

"You guys are a part of this too?" Will asked, gripping Layla's hand as he stared down the two new comers, "Why am I not surprised?" He looked at them for a second, before noticing something. "Where's Lash? Where Speedy usually is, Stretchy is sure to go. Did he get lost on the way giving some kid a swirly?"

"Actually, I was just running a little late."

From down the hall, Lash came sauntering over, hands in his pocket, an unreadable expression on his face.

"Ah, the party's complete," Will uttered with disdain.

"Hold your horses, Stronghold," the tall boy said, "I need to talk to you, mano-e-mano for a second."

Will regarded him suspiciously. From his left, both Penny and Speed gave Lash questioning looks.

"Don't," Layla whispered to him fearfully, her hand gripping his tighter. He looked at her for a second, before looking at Lash again.

"Fine," he said, looking at Layla one more time, reassuringly, "It's fine." With that, he released his hold on her hand and stepped forward, stopping right at the spot between the two groups. Following suit, Lash stepped forward as well, stopping right in front of him.

"She's got your sister…" Lash said to him, quiet and abruptly.

"Where?" Will demanded, glaring up at him. Lash brought a finger up to his mouth, as a sign for him to shut up, nodding in the direction of Speed and Penny. He reluctantly did so.

"Out in the front of the school," Lash continued, "Along with everyone else whose been turned into babies." Will nodded.

"Why are you telling me this?" Will asked, looking at Lash, feeling torn over whether or not he should just go or stay and figure out what Lash's motives were.

"I don't want her gettin' hurt," Lash answered looking somewhat sad, "Even though she probably hates me, she's the only real friend I've got left."

For a moment, Will sympathized with Lash. He too knew what it felt like to have friends who hated your guts. Shoving it down, he nodded to Lash.

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me," Lash said, annoyed, "Just get going." Nodding once more, he went back to his friends.

"What did he say, Will?" Ethan asked.

"He told me where Royal Pain is," Will answered, hoping that didn't give away too much, "I'm going."

"Do you think it's a trap?" Magenta wondered aloud.

"I don't think so," Will said, chancing a glance back at Lash.

"Go take care of Gwen," Warren said, pulling off his jacket in preparation for the battle in store, "We'll take care of these clowns." Will looked at Layla one more time.

"Go!" she said to him. With that, he took off, crashing through the wall to the left.

Magenta and Zach immediately started to climb into the vent, knowing they wouldn't be much help in this battle. Warren's hands were ablaze instantly. Speed cackled before dashing past the pyrokinetic, the force of his momentum spinning Warren. The minute he regained his balance, he took off after the bully. It wasn't long after that that Penny divided herself into her many clones, her eyes set on Layla. Layla made a run for it, heading for the cafeteria with the clones right on her heels.

Now the hall was empty, with the exception of Lash and Ethan. The bespectacled boy gulped nervously as Lash stared him down. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation. Lash had given up the whereabouts of Royal Pain to Will. Did that mean he was helping them? For all they knew, Lash had just sent Will into a trap. The only thing he was sure of was that if Lash really was on the villain's side, he had a snowball's chance in hell of defeating the stretchy bully.

He saw a hand coming for him and knew that it was time to pray for a miracle.

Cafeteria

"Come on sidekick! Aren't you gonna fight back?" Penny taunted, sneering down at Layla.

"I don't believe in using my powers for violence," Layla responded timidly as she continued to back up.

"I don't believe you have any powers!"

Penny advanced on her. Her head swung around the cafeteria for a way out. Unfortunately, the clones had formed a wall cutting her off from all of the exits. Turning swiftly, she ran towards the end of the room, where there was a large window with plants growing on the other side. Already a plan was forming in the red heads mind on what to do with the cheerleader. She could hear the sound of Penny's chant behind her, and the scuff of the girls sneakers, telling her that she was gaining on her.

Bathroom

Ethan was hiding out, after just narrowly avoiding being pummeled into a locker. In his melted form, he was tucked away safely in the garbage can of the last stall. Sure, the toilet would've been a safer bet, but after being on the receiving end of so many swirlies, he never wanted to get that close and personal with a toilet ever again, if he could help it.

He heard the door to the bathroom open with a crash and cringed. Lash didn't seem very happy by the sound of it. Not that he could be blamed. Those lockers were tough, Ethan knew better than anyone after being slammed into them so many times. His brief flash of pity instantly turned into amusement at the villainous hero's expense before settling back into a bubbling feeling of nervousness in his gut…well, technically, he didn't have a gut at this point but…

Outside, he could hear Lash working his way through each stall looking for him, the door of each stall he passed being slammed loudly into a wall.

"You can't hide forever sidekick!"

Suddenly, an idea began to form in his head. Maybe he'd just found his miracle. Waiting silently for Lash to come crashing into his own stall, Ethan could barely contain his excitement at the thought of treating Lash to his taste of his own medicine.

In Front of the School

"I take you back, my dear Commander, to your senior year at Sky High, a time before anyone knew what a Technopath was." Gwen, or Sue, said as she descended the steps of Sky High with a baby cradled in her arms.

"So a brilliant, but misunderstood girl named Sue Tenny, was written off as a science geek and stuck in Sidekick class." Her voice was bitter as she said this, remembering those loathsome days. She paused for a second, before starting again.

"So she hatched a plan," Sue said brightly to the child in her arms.

"So daring, so visionary! —To start her very own Super Villain academy, and raise a generation of heroes from scratch as villains. But first, she had to destroy the very institution that dared to spurn her genius!" A snarl appeared on her face as her voice had risen her in fanatic passion, "And now, so many years later, that plan is complete." She stopped once again, giving a dramatic sigh, her features taking on a slight sad look.

"My only regret: This may be the finest supervillain speech ever given," she looked down at the form of her once powerful rival, now staring up at her with innocent, blue eyes, "and you don't even know what I'm saying," Sue cooed to him.

"But I do."

Both Stitches and Royal Pain turned to see who it was who'd said that. Approaching the stairs was Will Stronghold, a serious look upon his face.

"Look," Will said, "I'm sorry that my parents destroyed your mom. Now put my dad down." His eyes flashed dangerously. Sue ignored it.

"No one could defeat Royal Pain," she started, as if lecturing the boy. Passing the Commander off to Stitches, while never letting her own eyes stray away from the last Stronghold, she continued, "When the Pacifier exploded, I wasn't destroyed. I was merely turned into a baby. Stitches took me away and raised me as his daughter—"

"Daddy's little girl!" Stitches interjected gleefully from her side, cutting her off mid-sentence. Her jaw clenched.

"I told you never to call me that!" Sue roared at him. The sidekick shrunk away from her.

"Lunatic!" she said, calming herself once more. Looking up at Will, she could see the shocked look upon his face. Smirking up at him, she continued, "That's right. Royal Pain wasn't my mother. Royal Pain is me!"

"Oh my God," said Will, horrified, "I made out with an old lady…" Royal Pain's eyes were filled with fury for a moment before she smirked once again.

"Well, I'm sure this old lady has a couple more tricks up her sleeve than some silly little boy does. I think I'll let you in on one of them."

Before Will could react, one of her arms came up and she reached out with another to hit a button on her wristband. For one tense minute, Will braced himself for an attack of some sort to come at him. It never came though. He stood there, his arms held out in front of him in protection, his eyes shut tight, waiting for something to happen. When he realized nothing was happened, at least he thought that, he opened his eyes.

And saw standing at the right side of Royal Pain was Tenni.

He'd never once seen his sister look as beautiful as she did tonight. What marred that beauty was the vacant look she wore as she stared back at them. No emotion, no feeling. Her face was deathly pale, her eyes flat and without the usual kind glow they normally contained. There was just nothing.

"What the hell have you done to her Gwen!?"

"Not much really," she replied, reaching out to stroke the girl's cheek with one gloved hand, "Yet." A twisted smile formed on her face as she heard Will growl.

"Don't touch her!" She ignored him, paying all her attention to the girl.

"It's a wonder she turned out the way she did," Sue mused to herself, "I remember reading about what happened to Dark Water and Illusor, her parents. It was sad to hear such tragic news about such an upstanding villain's end. I always wondered about the child. I knew that she had become a ward of the government after they were announced dead. I'd been interested in taking her under my wing, and teaching her to be a true villain. It's a shame, really. Coming from such powerful beings, she would have made a wonderful Dark Princess. She still will be." She glanced up at Will, reveling in his growing anger.

"She'd never be evil!" Will screamed. He was angry at her for even suggesting such a thing about Tenni. His sister would never be evil. She hated villains with a passion.

"So naïve, Mr. Stronghold. So naïve. Anyone can be made a villain, with proper motivation." She reached over and pulled Tenni's hair back, revealing to him a metallic band around her head.

"What…"

"This, is why in time, she'll be a villain. It may not look like much, but it feeds off of her negative emotions and memories, practically every bit of villainous potential. Then, it enhances it. Sharpening it, making it stronger and more focused in her mind. It's only the prototype, though. When it's perfected, every student will be equipped with one, to properly foster evil within the next generation of villains."

"So you're just…" Will looked at her, his shock as evident as his rage, "You're just using her as a guinea pig?"

"Well, I needed someone to try it on. Besides, I like her this way, the pretty little thing she is." Will fought the urge to retch as he saw her press a tender, kiss to Tenni's forehead. "She'll be more useful to me now than if she were a baby."

Watching his nemesis/ex-girlfriend touch his sister like that wasn't doing any favors for his stomach. He was sure if Gwen had gone any farther he would have lost what little he had eaten for dinner that the bus ride hadn't already jerked tested. He needed to distract her from loading the babies and Tenni. Get her away so that he could safely fight her. It suddenly came to him when he recalled a certain lecture Mr. Boy had given them in class.

Sometimes, your hero will need some time rest during battle. While I hope none of you will ever land in this position, there are several things you can do. The safest would be to help you're hero retreat to a safer, hidden location for the time being. Another, more dangerous way (only to yourself) is by distracting the villain. The most effective way to accomplish this is to taunt them. Strike at their egos, use their insecurities to your advantage. Humiliate them till all they can focus on is you, and not your hero.

Well, he wasn't exactly a sidekick anymore, but considering the situation, he figured it would have to do.

"You're sick, you old, decrepit hag!" Will yelled at her, hoping it would work.

Obviously, from the snarl on her face, his idea had pulled through. Her mask concealed her face as she launched herself at him, slamming into him with incredible force. Wincing, Will knew he was in for a world of hurt tomorrow morning, and braced himself for the oncoming impact from crashing through the school. This time, he wasn't disappointed. They crashed through several more walls, before they finally came to a stop.

The Hall

Warren was beyond pissed off. He hadn't even wanted to come to this stupid dance it the first place. Dances were pointless. To make matters worse, that bastard had been at the dance as well. If it weren't for the fact that he probably would've been restrained and tossed into the detention hall, he would have jumped the man, win or lose.

Now he was stuck having to play sidekick to Stronghold Jr. while the idiot went to save the day and the girl. An irrational flash of irritation blazed as he realized for a second that he wanted to be the hero for once. Why? He wondered. He'd never felt the need to prove himself the hero, at least, not since he was a child. Back then, he wanted nothing more than to be accepted. Nothing more than to be more than just that villain's son. After long, he realized that they were never going to accept him as he was. So why try to change their minds when they were all to brain dead to see who he really was?

He knew though. He knew deep down inside why, and he knew that it wasn't for them.

It was for her.

The only person who wasn't like them. The only one who didn't look at him and think he was the son of the evil Baron Battle, who would soon fill his father's shoes as the next super villain. All she saw was a teenage boy liked to read, and didn't have any friends. At first, it was confusing to actually meet someone who saw him so clearly. The fact that she was the daughter of the Commander only added to his confusion. Wasn't she supposed to hate him? His mother had always tried to convince him that he'd meet that special person who'd accept him for who he was for simply being himself. In his confusion, he'd yelled at her and treated her bacly.

Strangely enough, he'd immediately felt bad about it. He actually cared about her opinion of him. He didn't want her to hate him, to be afraid of him. He wanted to be around her more often. Hell, he'd wanted to be her friend. And so, they became friends...After a lot of other things.

It wasn't long that his feelings for her became something else. That day…That day when rumors started circulating that she'd been dating that one prick, it had been pretty crazy. After being wrangled into this crazy plan by the redheaded witch and surrounded by the ex-Stronghold groupies, he was informed that she was now in a relationship herself. He'd put all of his restraint into not killing the girl who jabbered on about it, but that didn't stop him from dragging her off and interrogating her.

So that's how he spent the rest of that week. Getting randomly pounced on by Hippie girl and watching her as she spent time with the prick. Jealousy unlike anything he'd ever experienced seemed to well up within him. She seemed so at peace when she talked to the guy. Many times he felt as if his rage would boil over whenever he saw her being held by him, whenever he so much as touched her. No one besides himself could touch her.

Those possessive thoughts were what finally convinced him. What he wanted from this-this girl, from Tennille Stronghold, was more than just simple friendship. Who ever was up there must hate him, because the first time he ever cared about someone outside of his mother, he couldn't have her. She was a Stronghold, she had a boyfriend. He tried to confront her about it, get the truth out of her about her relationship with Lash. Warren had almost backed out, but when he saw her look at him, with her eyes so lost and sad, he knew he had to talk to her. Somehow though, she slipped through his fingers. Just by a bit. In his frustration, he hunted down Lash instead.

Flashback

"Fuck!" Lash breathed out, pain blossoming all along his back from where it impacted against the wall. He glared up at the person who thrown him into it, "What the hell is wrong with you Peace?!"

"Tell me about Stronghold."

"Which one?" Lash snapped angrily. He barely dodged the foot that had been aimed at his crotch.

"The girl."

"Why? Why are you interested in her Peace? I thought you only had that enemy thing going with Will."

"Just tell me what I want to know." An audible sizzle was sounding from his hands. Lash glanced warily at them before looking back up at him defiantly.

"I'm not going to tell you anything about her. She doesn't need someone like you coming along and bothering her."

"Someone like me?" Warren almost laughed. "Look at yourself. If she should be worried about anyone, it's you." He saw an indignant fire light up in the other boys eyes.

"I would never put her in any kind of danger."

"If I ever hear even a ghost of a rumor of you hurting her," Warren said low, and icily, "I will find you, and all they'll ever find is your charred, unrecognizable remains." To emphasize his point, his hands went ablaze. He watched the light of the flames dance along in Lash's eyes, a tinge of fear mingled with it. With a last glance at him, he turned away and headed for the bus home.

Flashback End

Then, hours later, he saw her again. They'd talked, and yelled and misunderstood, and then finally, at the end of it all, they were friends. It still felt as if things had been left unsaid, on both sides. While it was easy to be blunt with people like Stronghold Jr. and his Hippie, it wasn't the same with her. Everything he wanted to say was always held back, for fear that the wrong word might scare her off. Sometimes, it irritated him just how self-conscious he was when he with her.

Though it couldn't be anymore irritating than having to deal with Speed.

It should be illegal, how fast he was going. Every time he tried to land a hit on the villain, he dodged it with ease. Warren was more than a little wary of his opponent, recalling how their last encounter had gone. Grudgingly, he'd had to accept the fact that if it hadn't been for Stronghold, he'd probably be dead. On the other hand, it was also correct to say that it was the punk fault for getting him into that mess in the first place. He could recall her wishing him luck before the match, and then rushing to him later, her face twisted with worry. At the time, he'd expected her to rush to her brother instead. He hadn't know if he should've been flattered by her concern then.

Right at this moment, he would have loved a little support. Speed was toying with him and he knew Warren knew it. He also knew how much it was infuriating the pyrokinetic. It was only a matter of time before he'd step it up and Warren would be in deep shit.

His prayer seemed to be answered when Speed went dashing to his right down the hall, just as Ethan stepped out of the bathroom farther down. Just as a collision between the two boys seemed inevitable, Ethan melted into an orange puddle of goop. The minute Speed hit him, it was like in those old movies with car chases. The oil slick was released and the car in pursuit went skidding and sliding out of control. Speed went skidding, giving Warren the opportunity he'd been waiting for. He lobbed a fireball at Speed, nailing him right in the rear. The boy went flying and crashed into the wall.

"Good one Sidekick," Warren said, as the bespectacled boy re-solidified. Feeling in a good mood, he even high-fived him.

Suddenly, Layla came tearing down the hall, and their moment of relief was ended.

"Guys, we have a serious problem on our hands."

Warren ran a hand through his hair while letting about a long suffering sigh. He knew he should've never accepted.

Na-Na: So, the first time really inside Warren's head. We also got to see a bit of Ethan and Lash as well. I hope you all thought it was good and that I stayed in character for the most part. Sadly enough, I have lost my Sky High DVD, so I'm either going to have to buy a new one or try and wing it. I don't think I would hurt to try though. Considering the way the story's going, it's likely the rest of it will not be exactly word for word.

Well, till next time!

Next Chapter: Umm...

Post Date: Soon is Likely