And here's chapter sixteen, following the events of last chapter almost immediately, but as usual, I will first respond to the reviews:

LabRatsWhore: Thanks for reviewing! And you'll read now what happened to Kaz.

daphrose: This soon enough? I normally update after four or five days. And I like including lots of heroes, even those which were only mentioned, like Silver Shield, because they should have their moment to shine, too. And people tend to be surprised I write and speak English very well. And thanks for the review!

Enjoy!

-Writer207

"Kaz? Kaz, wake up!"

"Oliver, why are you even bothering? You know what he did!"

"I know, but I wanna hear him say it himself."

Those were the words he heard when he woke up. Kaz didn't come to his senses immediately, but he tried to react immediately, which almost immediately happened. Here's the strange thing about it: he thought he'd wake up in Mighty Max with Oliver next to him after being immobilized by the evil villainess known as Skylar Storm. When he opened his eyes, Oliver was looking at him, worried about the well-being of his best friend. Skylar stood a bit farther away, arms crossed and a stern expression on her face.

"Oliver?" Oliver sighed in relief when he heard his best friend say his name. It was comforting to know he wasn't really hurt, only stunned by Skylar after being busted.

"Kaz, are you okay? What happened in there?" Oliver immediately asked, earning a glare from Skylar. Kaz simply shrugged, feeling the sudden urge to tell his friend the truth.

"Well, I was in there and… wait, what did she tell you?" Oliver sighed.

"Skylar said that you were trying to delete the evidence in that room and that she busted you. Too bad you destroyed all evidence before she was there. You lured Philip away and did what you wanted to do." Kaz' mouth fell open. She wasn't kidding when she said she was going to lie about the facts on the flash drive. And then, suddenly, he started to talk.

"Oliver, I wasn't trying to destroy the evidence, I was downloading the footage of us at the moment you 'busted' me to proof my innocence and to be able to proof to you I had not stolen the Dagger of Truth; oh, and at school I pretended to have been evil." Kaz frowned. He had been ready to tell him the truth, but that last part came out without knowing why he would say that. Oliver frowned as well.

"You pretended? And if it wasn't you who put the Dagger in your backpack, who was?" Kaz pointed at Skylar.

"It was her! She put the Dagger in my backpack when I wasn't looking, she turned NeoCortex evil and framed you just like me framed a few days back. I even saw her talking to the Annihilator and they were talking about time travel and I didn't understand one word of their conversation." Skylar shook her head and walked closer to the indecisive young doctor and she gently grabbed his shoulder.

"He's lying! I would never talk to the Annihilator about that. I never turned the heroes evil. Come on, Oliver. It's me, Skylar Storm! Would I ever lie to you?" Oliver looked from Skylar to Kaz, and then back to Skylar.

"Can you give me a few moments alone with Kaz? I... I wanna talk to him in private." Skylar Storm left the room, and Kaz sat on the hospital bed. Only now he realized they brought him into a private room for him to recover from the temporary stun. And when Skylar left the room, Kaz started to talk again.

"Oliver, you have to believe me! I'm not doing anything, I'm a victim of circumstance! Also, not all evidence is destroyed, there's a second flash drive in my pants." Kaz sighed after he said that. "Why am I saying this? I wanted to tell you there was a second flash drive but not that it is in my pants. Why do I keep saying that?"

"Great," Oliver reacted, "and gross! And I believe you." He nodded.

"Why do you believe me like that?" Kaz wanted to know.

"There was a syringe with anti-lying serum lying around and I decided to inject in you. You'll tell the truth for a couple of minutes before it'll wear off." Kaz looked at his friend, deciding not to say anything about it. The wrong words and his true opinion might be spoken and he didn't want to risk his friendship with Oliver to be broken again by some silly words spoken under the influence of a serum. Instead, he took the flash drive out of his pants and handed it to Oliver, telling him he should watch it and that he's glad to have put it onto two flash drives (Skylar only destroyed one of them).

"Thanks. I'll watch it at home." Oliver quickly put it away, just in case Skylar would storm in and saw it. "And now's my time to tell something. Yesterday, my dad made a plan to use the Dagger!"

"Your dad? Doesn't he hate comic books?"

"He read them but thinks he's too old for them now."

"That's stupid. Your dad's stupid." Kaz sighed, "Sorry for saying that, it's the truth serum which is making me tell you I don't really like your dad. Dang it!" Kaz rubbed his eyes. "So, what's your dad's plan? I bet it doesn't make sense at all."

"Actually, it does. He suggested contacting Optimo through the records the hospital keeps from its patients. But there isn't a file about Optimo in here because he barely comes here thanks to the Healer."

"That's not good. No, it's a good idea, but it's not good we can't contact Optimo." Kaz said, and he sighed. This was actually a good plan. Yet, it couldn't progress if they didn't have Optimo's phone number or address. There goes the brilliant plan from Oliver's not-so brilliant father. He even spoke the truth in thoughts. "What do we do now?"

"We find someone who knows Optimo and sometimes teams up with him. This hero probably has a way to contact him." Oliver said, "Too bad we don't know someone like that."

"I do," Kaz said.

"How can you know that? Optimo is one of the most secret superheroes in the business. Even his teammates don't know who he is!" Kaz simply shrugged.

"One time, when the Dark Warrior was here, I followed him around and heard that he was talking to Optimo. I did that when I told you I had to go to the bathroom a few weeks ago because I really wanted to hear him talk to his mother, but it was Optimo." Oliver gaped at Kaz, who sighed "When did you say this'll wear off?" He then asked, hoping it would wear off soon. Yet Oliver didn't hear that last question as the final parts of the plan started to come together.

"That's it! The Dark Warrior is coming over tomorrow for a routine treatment. Then we can confront him with this and he can help us."

"Yeah, and how do you know he's not evil? In case you forgot, Skylar is evil! If you can't trust her, who can you trust?" But like always, Oliver was one step ahead.

"The thing she used to make the heroes evil is a contamination device. It contaminates (that means 'poisons', sort of) powers, and the Dark Warrior doesn't have any. I am very certain this'll work." Kaz nodded.

"We're like the perfect team to do this stuff! Now I realize how lucky they are they hired us!" Oliver nodded, and the two of them left the room, pretending Kaz had been under influence of someone and said stuff he didn't want to say until Oliver so-called hit him in the head. It was hard for Kaz not to shake his head and tell her Oliver was lying, but as he promised, the effect wore of and he nodded to support Oliver when he was sure it wore off. Skylar had just left without further notice, thanking Oliver for bringing Kaz back and expressing her apologies towards him and she admitted she should've known better.

But the boys knew it was all an act. And sooner or later, they would confront her about it. They would try to cure them.

After a long day of hard work, Kaz and Oliver discussed their plans in secret, lying to Horace it was about some school speaking assignment they had to prepare together. Skylar greeted him like always and she then returned to her room. And all those time, Horace kept walking around, using his medical knowledge to help those who needed it. He mostly worried about those brought in the lobby, healing at least three heroes and saving one life each day. And he did all of that without any of them knowing he, Caducio, was worried about his nephew Alan.

Nobody noticed his concern. He was a professional doctor, lived longer than most mortals around him and he always needed to place his job before his family. It hurt him much that he normally couldn't spend much time with his nephew, and he was sorry he had to cancel their lessons together.

He shouldn't have told him to stay away from the Normo school. He now realized this. Alan needed the education Horace couldn't offer, and he needed someone to be friends with so he wouldn't be locked up in the hospital at all times. He should have someone to befriend, to hang out with… he should have given Alan the chance to become a normal teenage – well, as normal as Alan could be, at least.

He couldn't help but think it was his fault Alan was gone.

He was too distracted to continue working and before finishing his duties, he went to the lobby; it was evening, so everyone was either in the cafeteria or at home eating dinner. Nobody would bother him in this position, looking like he was reading an important file. He stared at the words, but he didn't actually read them. His mind kept wandering off to Alan.

Alan…

He barely noticed Kaz and Oliver walked past him to go back home themselves. He promised Optimo to look after him. If he didn't even know where the teen was, how could he protect him? Everything he did was to protect his nephew, even if he didn't have much time left for him. He hoped the staff would help him, but it appeared they'd rather stay as far away from him as possible. Man, he should've been a better uncle for the poor teenager, wherever he was now.

"Alan?" Horace looked up. Why did Kaz say Alan's name? The chief of staff put the document on the desk and walked to the entrance dedicated to him. Oliver and Kaz didn't walk into the janitor's closet and were blocking the way, looking at something – someone? – at their feet. Horace pushed the boys gently out of the way and kneeled down when he saw Alan was lying on the ground.

He quickly lifted his nephew and placed him on the nearest gurney. He immediately noticed he wasn't at all wounded, but he just was either sleeping or unconscious. He thought the latter was more probable. That was all. No fever, no broken bones or bruises, nothing.

"Do you need help?" Oliver asked, but Horace shook his head.

"Thanks, but no thanks. You can go home and enjoy your family. I'll take care of him." The boys didn't need to wait longer, and they left to go home. Horace stroked Alan hair once, and sighed.

I hope you're okay, my boy.