AN: Hey so I've been a shitty author lately…I am so sorry for leaving you guys hanging for so long but a lot has happened over the past several months. I am still reeling from the death of my best friend and I haven't picked up my notebook since the accident. I am going to try hard to be diligent with this fanfiction, I swear. Thank you to all of you that have favorited and alerted this story. It makes me feel better about it. Hope you are all doing well. R&R.
Chapter 4: Is It Over Now, Hey. Hey Is It Over Now?
I felt myself being pressed to the wall of the vent by Lash's gentle hand on my hip. Going past me was Mr. Slim Shady, glowing bright green and illuminating the whole air duct. Layla giggled.
"Way-to-glow Zach," Ethan cheered. Magenta, who was directly in front of Layla, began singing, "then all the reindeer loved him..." as Glo-worm took the lead. Lash removed his hand and we continued crawling in the new light. We reached the end of the crawl space and the line came to a halt.
"There's another grate up here," Zach called back. We all sighed in defeat. Our glowing friend began to knock on the grate. I got very frustrated, very quickly and was about to tell Zach exactly what I thought of his knocking plan but, just before I snapped, the grate was being ripped from the wall.
"Sup kid," Glo-worm said breathlessly to whoever had freed us. He climbed out, and Layla followed, being pulled out by someone dressed in red white and blue. Zach pulled Magenta out and Mr. Star-spangled offered his hand to me. When I took it, he lifted me out effortlessly and set me gently on the school's linoleum floor. I turned and reached for Lash, helping him out and pulling him tightly to me. He wrapped his arms around me and rested his chin on the top of my head.
"Stronghold," he acknowledged the patriotic boy, nodding towards him. I released Lash and stared at the boy he'd addressed. This was the famous Will Stronghold? I'd expected someone…bigger. Once everyone was out of the vent, Layla was pulled into Will's arms and he began apologizing for God knows what. Deciding it was a good time to give the two some privacy, I turned to the others.
"So…can someone please explain to me why everyone is turning into babies?" I asked. Warren offered a short synopsis on the Pacifier and it's functions. We turned back to Will and Layla, just as they were parting from an obvious kiss. Behind them, Speed and a black girl, who I assumed to be Penny, stood with their arms crossed.
"Aww how sweet," Penny cooed before scowling and hissing, "I hate sweet." Warren lit his arms and I tried as well, stress and fear getting the best of me. I touched Warren's arm and pulled some of his flames into my hand carefully. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Magenta, Zach, and Ethan crawling back into the vent from which we had just escaped, and I noticed Lash watching me closely, worry blanketing his features. I was holding a fireball from Warren's arm and as Layla ran down the hall to lure Penny away, I clapped my hands together, letting the flames spread across both arms. Will ran towards the gym to take care of Gwen as Warren threw fireball after fireball at Speed, who dodged each one. I got a brilliant idea and as Warren threw his fire, I hurled one toward the spot that I assumed Speed would end up when he dodged Warren's attack. He hadn't been paying much attention to me and my fireball hit him square in the chest. As soon as he'd recovered, he began to – for lack of better words – speed past us through the halls, punching me in the face each time he passed. As he approached me for the fourth hit, Ethan melted into a puddle that spread across the floor. Speed slipped through the puddle and he skidded past me at a much slower pace than he'd been going before and I reeled back and punched him in the mouth as hard as I could, leaving a scorch mark across his cheeks. He crashed through a wall with such force that he became trapped and Warren threw one last fireball at Speed's ass, effectively singeing his pants. Layla rushed towards us then, frantically.
"Pain disabled the school's gravitational device. We only have ten minutes before the school falls out of the sky!" A loud shout came from the gym and Lash and I ran to it.
"Find a way to fix the gravity thingy!" I yelled over my shoulder. Crashes sounded from inside the gym as we hesitated at the door. Lash pulled me into his arms for just a moment – a moment that felt more like a goodbye than anything else. We mustered up enough courage and burst through the doors and into the gym. I heard frantic clicking of heels behind us and I watched as Will stood over Royal Pain, arm drawn back and ready to punch her. The gym doors opened again.
"Will!" Layla screamed. Will looked up and smiled a lovesick smile at her. Pain pressed a button in the armored plating on her forearm and, with all her strength, punched Will in the chest, sending him flying back through the air and out the window, off the edge of the school.
"No!" Layla screamed again, sorrow dripping from that one word. Lash huffed. Beside him, Warren growled. How long has he been standing there? Pain stood and pointed the Pacifier at Lash, making my heart stop short.
"There goes your last chance of stopping me," she hissed, "Lash, you traitor." Her voice dropped into a low, deadly whisper. I grabbed Lash's hand and tucked myself close to his body. An ice-cold feeling coursed through my entire body.
"That's just too sweet," Pain cackled, "Prepare to be pacified!" Time moved in slow motion. Pain pulled the trigger and the coldness collected in my arms and hands. I breathed out slow. Just before the ray hit Lash and I, we were encased in a blue orb. When the ray from the Pacifier hit the orb, it fizzled out. I let the orb disappear and Layla smirked at Pain.
"You were saying?" Layla mocked. Behind Pain, much to my surprise was Will, flying through the gym's now shattered window. He raced toward her, grabbed her by the collar, flew straight up toward the ceiling, and threw her to the gym floor. He dropped back down to the hard wood flooring. He pulled back his fist once again, but this time was able to punch Pain, breaking off her mask, under which she had passed out. We breathed a collective sigh of relief, but the breath caught in our throats as the school lurched and began to free-fall. We all fell to the floor. Lash stretched out his arm and caught me around my waist, pulling me to his chest. The sick feeling that had buried itself in my stomach when the school first started falling had left me. I was filled with a sense of calm. I held Lash close to my body and buried my face in his neck, closed my eyes. After what seemed like hours, the falling slowed then stopped and the process reversed itself, the huge mass of land floating back into the sky. Lash stood and lifted me up with him to stand with the others.
After all of the babies had been depacified, the dj started the music up again. Principal Powers had me, Lash, Ethan, Magenta, Zach, Warren, Layla, and Will standing against the lockers outside of the gym. She addressed the "hero support" first.
"You four showed an exuberant amount of courage this evening. I would be honored to remove your hero support status and place you in hero classes." The group exchanged quick glances.
"With all due respect ma'am," Ethan said, "I think we'd all like to stay in hero support." Powers nodded and excused us. We all turned and began to walk toward the gym's doors, and back to the party that was now in full swing.
"Mrs. Peters, Mr. Livingston. May I have a quick word?" Powers said softly. We stopped and turned back to her.
"Lash," Powers began, "I underestimated you. For that, I truly apologize. I thank you for bringing to light Gwen's plan and playing a large role in putting a stop to it." Lash nodded in response and Powers turned to me. "Kasio," she extended her hand and I took it, allowing her to clasp my one hand between her two, "your mother was a very dear friend of mine. I see the powers you posses. Long ago I promised your mother that when you developed your powers, I would help. I would be honored if you would allow me to keep my promise and assist you in learning how to control your abilities. Here. At Sky High." I smiled.
AN: Alrighty there is one more, very short chapter left in this fic (I will post either tonight or tomorrow). I have already begun the sequel. I feel like following the movie's plot takes away a lot of room for creativity and I decided I will be continuing this so look out for that. Thank you to all of you that have favorited, alerted, commented, and PMed me. It really means a lot to me. See you soon.