Disclaimer: all the characters belonging to Sky High and Xmen are not mine. I am only borrowing them.

Author's note: Just wanted to say thank you to all those who are reading this story.

Warning: Violence

Chapter 19

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Will hardly noticed the small crowd that had surrounded him and Layla.

A hand offered tissue to wipe his bloody nose, which he took gratefully. Another warm hand touched his shoulder. "You okay?" someone said.

Will shook his head. Everything was receding. The only thing he saw was Layla. Pale. Clammy. Unconscious in his arms.

Instinctively, he hugged her closer to him. She felt deathly cold. Or was it his imagination?

"Layla," he begged softly. "Wake up…"

Layla did not respond. Her body was still completely limp. A heavy weight.

Corrosive guilt flooded him. The Homecoming Dance felt light years away now. The blaring music... the swell of people in the midst of celebration… the speckles of light sweeping across the dance floor... they were all replaced by his own voice ringing hauntingly in his head. Surreal and echoing.

"I love you…I'll protect you. I promise," he had said.

Now she lay limp in his arms. Unconscious. He could not even see her chest rise or feel her pulse beneath his fingertips...

Was she dead? Did he fail to protect her?

Suddenly, the world was tipping beneath his feet. All he could see was red. All he could hear was his heart pounding irregularly in his ears. It was oozing red blood…

"Kid!" someone was shaking him, snapping him out of his reverie.

He shook his head - trying to clear it. But in his heart, he was begging for her to live. Screaming for her to stay. To not go into the next world before him…

Then finally, miraculously, a word rolled out of her lips. Soft. Almost silent. His name.

Layla was alive.

"Thank god," Will whispered and buried his head on her chest.

Slowly, Layla was rousing.

His name slipped from her lips again. And Will tried to speak words of comfort as she lay in his arms. Protected in his embrace.

Suddenly, her eyes snapped open. "Will!" she shouted as she bolted up.

"I'm here!" Will said beside her. "I'm. Right. Here."

As she turned her head and her eyes locked on his, they were blank for what seemed like centuries. Then, as though a cloud lifted, her eyes recognized his form.

"What... happened?" Layla said with confusion her eyes. Then she shuddered in his arms.

"Don't worry about it now." Will tried to reassure her. "You're safe. It's what matters."

And her hand slowly came to stroke his face. The fingertips were soft. They were no longer cold, but warm. It was strangely soothing… beneath their touch, his body was disappearing. His mind was floating…

"Layla," he grabbed her wrist, stopping her. "Please."

He had to get out of there. Fast. Before danger arrives at the Homecoming's door step like Pyro warned…

"Something… troublesome happened?" Layla said softly.

Will shook his head.

Suddenly, Layla's fingertips dug into the soft flesh of his forearm. Will winced.

"Don't lie to me," her voice had a desperate edge to it. "I can see it in your eyes."

Will's heart sank. He didn't want her to know. He wanted to go alone. Without her.

"Something… must have happened," Layla said. Then as though a light went on inside her head, she said, "Was I… attacked?"

Will turned away. He didn't answer.

"And you want to… stop this person? From attacking someone else?"

Will froze. Layla had just read his mind… and at the worse time too.

When he didn't speak, Layla was all the more determined. "Whatever you're going to do…I'm coming with you."

"NO!" Will shouted. The shout had rose up of him before he could suppress it.

"Why not?"

Will shook her. Hard. "It's too dangerous!"

But Layla's response was firm. "Whether I go or not…is not for you to decide."

Will looked into her eyes. Layla's eyes were glittering with determination and courage. She had clearly made up her mind. And no amount of persuasion would change it now. She was already urging for him to not waste time and take action.

Will sighed heavily with resignation. "Then let us go… to save Sky High."

---

Meanwhile, Warren was on his home's front steps after the short shift at the Paper Lantern. He could hardly stop the half-grin that seemed permanently pasted on his face during the walk home. He was so looking forward to the Dance – and Jubilee being his partner – that in his haste, he had stabbed the key clumsily in the key hole.

Finally, he twisted the doorknob and swung the door open. It moaned plaintively. Eerie half-darkness greeted him. The moonlight casting an alien glow from behind a white billowing curtain.

Warren frowned. Weird.

He walked inside and went straight for the light switch.

But he never got there.

Pst!

Warren turned his head but it was too late.

A blooming flower of pain began to spread on the back of his shoulder. He swore as he realized a needle was poking out of it.

As his right arm reached to pull it out, he felt numbness and paralysis begin to spread all over his body - and he could not help but fall on his knees.

An evil chuckle shattered the silence.

Dimly, Warren realized he had heard the voice before.

Female. Vicious. Confident… and somewhat power-hungry.

Persuasion.

"Everything is going to be just fine," said Persuasion cheerfully, appearing from the shadows behind him, holding a stun gun. "Afternoon tea - remember?"

Warren did all that he could to glare at her.

She cracked up in laughter again. "It wasn't the original plan… but this… is even better."

"You sadist," whispered a weakened Warren, struggling to stand up but found himself collapsing facedown on the floor. "What are you going to do to me?"

"Ha," smirked Persuasion. "What do you think?"

But there was seriousness to her voice as she grabbed his collar and placed her face inches from his. "You… remind me of a person…"

Then she was laughing again. "I'm going to bring you back to my boss."

Inside him, Warren's anger raged helplessly. Yet he was unable to even summon fire to his arms.

He heart turned as he realized his enemies were loving this moment of domination. A powerful mutant disabled, vulnerable and helpless at their feet.

Electrix's face lit up with pure delight as he planted a kick firmly in Warren's stomach, causing the fiery pyrokinetic to double over.

In his haze of pain, Warren did not realize Persuasion had eyed his necklace hungrily.

"You won't need that now," said Persuasion.

She pulled and snapped the chain. Warren moaned. Persuasion ignored it and put it proudly on herself, fingering the angel pendant.

"I have an idea," Electrix suddenly said.

On the carpet, grimacing in pain, Warren dimly realized Electrix was dragging something out of the shadows.

More awful laughter.

"This might be interesting," agreed Persuasion.

Warren commanded his eyes to open. Everything looked blurry but he could still make out a shape near him.

The shape of a – human!

His mother!

"Mom…" he cried out. Though his body was aching, he forced himself to begin crawling to her.

"Look at him," mocked Electrix.

Cackling laughter. Warren gritted his teeth.

Finally, he was able to grab her hand. It was cold like snow. "Mom!" his voice stronger now. He was urging her to wake up.

No response. Could she be… dead?

"No," choked Warren softly to himself. He didn't want to believe it. Hugging her body with his own, the pyrokinetic clung onto his mother's body, beginning to sob, not wanting to let go.

As though she snapped out of a trance, Persuasion voice seemed sad… and sickened. "Enough of this already!"

Then Warren turned with deadly rage in his eyes. A growl was rising in his throat.

Bang! With a powerful sweeping kick, Electrix's foot had smacked into the side of Warren's head.

Warren's head snapped back. His eyes turned glassy to stare at Persuasion. A tear had escaped from an eye and glistened in the half-darkness as it streaked down his cheek.

With a thud, his body landed beside his mother's.

"Aw!" Electrix cried. "You ruined the fun."

"Electrix!" said Persuasion seriously. "Let's get him away. We don't have much time."