"I'm your friend."
Hi, everyone! I'm back! (I mean, obviously… y'know, that whole "I'm back" was unnecessary. Obviously I'm back or I wouldn't be writing this. Anyway…) Thanks for being so understanding about my break. (Special shoutout to ereader12 for… well, being you. :) ) And thanks to everyone who submitted prompts, I'm still open for more! Like I said before, this story is pretty new, and I don't plan on ending it soon.
This story is "Who are you?" "I'm your friend", the prompt submitted by Stardust16. This is very slightly an EF crossover, with mentions of the events that occurred in my other fic, Lightning. However, it can be read without those.
Anyway, enjoy, everyone!
"You should've stayed asleep!" Leo yelled as he dodged yet another blast of energy.
"They killed my father!" his opponent snarled, shifting between various non-corporeal forms. "I'm going to avenge him!"
"I mean, did he even remember your name?" Leo asked pragmatically. "You're one of thirteen, or so I've heard."
"Shut up!" the shapeshifter yelled, firing a blast of electricity from ghostly hands.
Leo dodged again. "You could at least show your face, fight me honorably!"
"What do I care about honor?" the voice replied, but solidified anyway. The cloud twisted into the shape of a teenage girl with dark hair and dark eyes, civilian clothes. Her shirt had an eye on it, a freaky detail that creeped Leo out. "Hey," she said, sticking out a hand. "Who are you?"
"I'm not your friend," Leo replied, gesturing for her to lower her hand. She did so.
"Fair enough," the girl smiled coldly. "I'm Reese."
"Oh, so you're that one," he realized as they circled each other. Seeing her barely patient look of confusion, he elaborated, "You dated and then betrayed my brother?"
"You mean Chase?" she raised an eyebrow. When he nodded, she frowned. "I'm not sure I see the family resemblance, but…"
Leo frowned. "Okay, that was rude." His right hand shot forward, electricity arcing from his fingertips. Reese raised her arms, but not nearly fast enough. The lightning hit her head on, sending her flying into the back wall of the alley. After that, she was still.
"Serves you right, that that would happen to you twice," he muttered. Leaning against the wall next to him, Leo tapped his earpiece. "Hey, I got the rogue shapeshifter. That's eight out of thirteen down so far. Could use a speedster." Picking up a limp Reese, he waited for a pickup.
"Who was the rogue you ran into? Did they say their name?" Bree asked as they walked into the penthouse.
Leo was fully aware that if he told her, then she would tell Chase. And, to be completely honest, he didn't want his brother to know anything else about Reese's actions and future. Reese didn't get to break him further like that. "No," he said. "Knocked him out in about a minute."
"Probably was one of the brothers we didn't have the pleasure of meeting," Bree nodded, lip curling as she led him through the empty frames that used to have giant windows—they'd shattered sometime during the final battle.
"You know, you really did a number on this city, Bree," Leo informed his sister as they stood on the edge of the charred balcony, staring out at the skyline.
"Yeah, I'm aware," she replied, rolling her eyes good-naturedly. "But in my defense… it was mostly Skylar."
"Hey!" the other girl objected from somewhere inside.
Leo laughed slightly. "Well, Bree's not wrong," he called back. Surveying the blackened stone under his feet he dramatically widened his eyes at his sister. "I mean… she did do this. And the whole city looked slightly barbecued." He waved his hands. "I'm not even going to ask how."
"Probably for the best," Bree laughed as she led him back inside the penthouse. Skylar had vanished—probably gone down to mission command. "It's difficult to describe, and I was watching it. But anyway, the boys should be back soon, they went to round up the shapeshifters. Thanks for bringing some help, by the way."
Leo waved it off. "No problem. You call saying you need help, of course I'll come." Pausing for a moment, he tapped the earpiece he was wearing and said, "Alright, I want everyone back in the tower in fifteen minutes, alright? There's only one last section of the city, I want speedsters only on that." After hearing a few affirmative responses, he tapped the earpiece again, turning it off and slipping it into his pocket. He plopped down on the couch—the inside of the tower was fortunately undamaged. "Adam and the others should be back soon."
Bree grinned at him, sitting next to him. "I missed having you around," she said, slightly abruptly. "It was weird going from all three of you to just Chase. And Kaz, Oliver, and Skylar, of course, but… it's not the same."
He raised his eyebrows slightly, but smiled back. "I get it. Adam's great, but he's not a very good conversationalist, if you know what I mean."
"No kidding," Bree chuckled. "But hey, it's only fair. I lived with him for fifteen years before you came along. It's your turn."
"I do hope you aren't planning on leaving for another fourteen years, then," Leo replied, half-joking and half-serious.
Her smile diminished slightly. "Never."
He gently knocked his shoulder into hers. "I'm only joking."
"I know," she said. "I just… don't want to think about it. After this, you're leaving, and Chase and I, we'll… stay here, I guess."
Leo frowned. "But I thought Kaz, Oliver, and Skylar were only here to find the guys who attacked their hospital."
"Yeah. What's your point?"
"They just found them," Leo pointed out. "They can go home."
"Oh," Bree blinked. "Oh!"
"What, you assumed they were going to stick around for another three years or something before heading home?" [1] Leo teased her.
Bree smiled, slightly sheepish. "Maybe." She shook her head. "I'm part of their world now, though. I mean, Skylar gave me something I can't just give back, and I…" She held out her hands, letting her proton rings hover around them. "I don't know what to do with them."
Leo stared at the rings in fascination. He'd already learned about Bree's superpowers, but he hadn't seen them in action yet except for the flashlight hands when they were searching for survivors earlier. "From what I've heard, you're… barely competent." He seesawed his hand, making an exaggeratedly doubtful face.
"Shut up!" she protested good-naturedly, pushing him slightly as he burst into laughter. Once he'd calmed down, she let a thoughtful silence sit between them for a moment before speaking again. "Seriously, though. I'm not sure what I can do now. Chase can go back with you, reintegrate into the Academy, start mentoring again. I can't."
"Wait, Big D didn't tell you yet?" Leo asked, surprised.
"What? No."
"He's splitting up the students," Leo explained. "Sending them to the bases he has all over the world. At least half are gone already, which is why the team I came here with is smaller than normal. There's no more mentoring, for the most part. And Big D won't say yet, but I hacked into his files and saw that he narrowed the list of locations for me, Adam, Logan, and Taylor to London, New York, Chicago, or Shanghai."
"Bigger cities, then," Bree noted.
Leo nodded. "Yeah. I think he's hoping we'll form some new super awesome team." He smiled at Bree. "We've always got room for more."
She shook her head at her brother in wonder. "Who are you, Leo Dooley?" It was a simple question that both knew meant so much more than that.
Leo considered the question for a moment before choosing an answer. "I'm your friend."
At that exact moment, a speedster streaked into the room, out of breath and wide-eyed. "Leo!"
Leo was on his feet in an instant. "What happened?"
The soldier started pacing, obviously distressed, running a hand through already messy hair. "We were finishing checking the city, like you said, and we didn't find anyone. But then, as we were coming back, just downstairs, actually, there was some sort of cave-in in the subway. And we checked, and mostly everyone's okay, but there's a kid down there! None of us there have super strength, so he's stuck!"
Bree was on her feet at this point, too. "Oh, no… with our luck, I know who it is." She grabbed her brother's arm and rushed them both downstairs. Skidding to a stop where a bunch of people were clustered around the edge of the massive sinkhole, she turned to Leo. "Adam's not back yet, can you get this? I'll speed you down, you dig him out, I'll get us out."
He nodded resolutely. "Sounds like a plan."
"I knew it," Bree hissed as they found the small alcove where the victim had been fortunate enough to fall in, protecting him from the brunt of the destruction. There was a slight gap between the rocks, leaving them with enough room to see the person trapped.
"What?"
"It's AJ," Bree replied. "He lives downstairs. He figured out our secret and in exchange for his silence, we had to let him on the team. Figures he gets himself into trouble specifically during the fight we try to steer him clear of."
"He wanted to fight the shapeshifters, then?" Leo asked sympathetically.
"'Course he did. But he's ten!"
"Oh. Ouch." Surveying the boy through the small crack, Leo couldn't help but wonder about what might have happened if he had met his siblings at AJ's age. He was crazy enough at age fourteen, forget ten. And there was no way his parents would have let him fight Krane that young. He probably would've been sent off to boarding school or something (no, not really, his mom was too nice. But that didn't mean he couldn't imagine it).
"Leo." Bree's voice brought him back to the present.
"Sorry, sorry," he apologized quickly, trying to focus on the rocks again.
"It's fine, but AJ's unconscious in there and probably needs medical attention, so…"
"Yeah. Right. Sorry." Placing his left hand on the side of the largest uppermost stone, he found enough leverage with his right to heave it clean off. A few pebbles skidded into the alcove, but not enough to cause further injury to the kid. Chucking the stone off to the side, he managed to free the kid from the little hole he'd curled into.
Sliding his eyelids open and checking his pupils, he ran a quick diagnostic passed Bree ("Concussion, broken ankle, possibly a few ribs,") and stood up so she could speed them out. Before she could, though, AJ's eyes slid open of their own accord just slightly.
"Who are you?" he asked, eyes focused blearily on Leo.
Leo met Bree's eyes for a brief moment before looking down at AJ. "I'm your friend."
[1] Yeah, I went there. XD
Leaving this one a little open ended. So, I fit in a fight with Reese (who I thought deserved to show a little more fighting stuff, considering she was cheated out of a proper character arc), my favorite sibling pairing (Breo, duh), and AJ and Leo meeting (not gonna lie, I've wondered what would happen if they did meet for a while. They're really similar in circumstances but also pretty different in terms of relationships with others. So it was mostly just a thought)!
Anyway, prompts are always welcome! Thanks to Stardust16 for this one. I'll try to be back soon enough.