Maxville, East Coast
July 8
"I don't want to leave you here Will," Layla's tears threatened to fall from her eyes when she looked at her husband Will, who held their sleeping 2-year-old son Cameron in his arms.
Will kissed his son on the temple before he handed him to Layla, "It isn't safe here Layla, you must. It's only temporary, until things get better."
Layla held their son close while she walked alongside Will inside the Maxville Hero Centre. The place was in chaos as supers and their families flooded the transportation floor. The teleporters were all in use as superhero families rushed to get away from the country. Will, Layla, and Cameron walked past the transportation area and up towards the floor where Will and Layla's offices were.
"Will! Layla!" Jetstream exclaimed before she rushed towards her family alongside The Commander. She hugged her son, daughter-in-law, and grandson tightly.
The Stronghold family had been through a lot in the past few months. It started with the dwindled public support for supers due to the Anti-Vigilante Law and it culminated when The Commander and The Enforcer, Will's alter ego, were imprisoned a week ago. They were broken out of prison by Flare, who was one of their closest friends. Flare had help from his superhero team called The Elements, and after a few days of reconnaissance and a well-planned prison break, they managed to free a few innocent supers.
"Warren and the others are coming soon, they just had to help the I.T. department with the Centre's cloaking device," The Commander informed them before he took his grandson and held him close.
The whole Centre was going to be closed by the end of the day and cloaked by a shielding system. Nevertheless, because its location was known by the government, they knew it was only a matter of time before the safety of the supers were compromised. The newly formed government Task Force was now distributed across Maxville and were quickly rounding up suspected meta-humans in the city.
The Stronghold family turned when they heard footsteps and voices by the entrance. They saw four supers walk towards them. They were Flare, Maelstrom, Metalson, and Vraine - Fire, Water, Earth, and the hero who could control all elements. Their team The Elements was one of the most powerful superhero teams that existed, despite their very low numbers. They worked in alliance with other organizations around the globe and due to the crisis in the U.S., they chose to concentrate their efforts in helping the resistance.
The four greeted the family with comforting hugs. They soon prepared items that they would be taking with them after the Centre's closing.
"We've managed to relocate Sky High over the Atlantic, close to the Elements Headquarters," Flare notified the Strongholds, referring to their former school and his team's headquarters, also a floating fortress in the sky. "There are some supers staying in Sky High. It still has a functioning communication system that can be used to help those in the mainland. Ethan and Gabriela are leading the information team at the Elements headquarters nearby. Steve, Josie, contact them if you need to. We've also added more teleporters there if they're needed."
"How about the hero centre in Niagara Falls?" asked Layla; she was to stay in the region above the State of New York along with her parents.
"They've been set up in the same configuration as Sky High," answered Vraine as she hugged Cameron goodbye and gave him back to Layla. "Jetstream and The Commander will be rotating there and Sky High to lead the resistance. And you Layla will help run the resistance liaison at the hero centre, I know you will be restless if you don't work."
"Too right you are," Layla smiled a bit and placed a hand on Will's arm when he started to protest with a look. "My parents are in the safe house already, they'll be able to take care of Cam when we're not there."
The Commander looked at his watch, "We better head out, the Centre will be closing soon."
His wife nodded and the group walked towards the teleporter beside the common room. Layla picked up a few belongings from her office and joined the others. The rest of their things had already been transported to their new home days before.
"Will, are you sure you want to stay here? Who knows what will happen in the next few days?" Jetstream asked worriedly while she hugged him tightly.
Will took her hands and squeezed them reassuringly, "I'll be fine Mom, I just need to make sure the Centre is safe before everyone leaves. Most important is that I make sure the troopers are treating the residents well," Will gave her small smile which he hoped would calm her nerves. "The resistance headquarters is well protected, I'll be just fine."
Soon The Commander and Jetstream said their parting words to the five people who were to stay behind. They stepped onto the platform and vanished in a flash of blue light and appeared miles away atop a floating school in the sky.
It was Layla and Cameron's turn to leave. Will hugged his family tightly and kissed Layla deeply before he let them go.
Layla turned to the other heroes, "I'll be waiting to hear from all of you. Mandy, when you see Zach and Magenta in L.A., tell them to contact me straightaway," Maelstrom nodded as she hugged her goodbye. "Vee, Tom, I promise I'll set you up a nice engagement party after all of this," the couple laughed at that because they literally got engaged the day the President enacted the Anti-Vigilante Law a month ago.
"Warren, when you go home to DC, tell Mia thanks for arranging my post in Niagara," Layla finished with Warren, referring to one of her closest friends Mia, who was Warren's wife.
"Will do, take care of yourself Layla, I'll see you soon hopefully," Warren hugged her, then gave his godson Cameron a quick kiss on the head. They all stepped back when Layla and Cam teleported away.
The five heroes looked at each other and then started to walk back towards the elevator. The evacuation was finished and as they descended, they looked out the glass elevator walls to see the empty and unlit floors. They stopped at the lobby, where Maelstrom and the Enforcer quickly entered the security codes for the building.
It was time for all of them to go their separate ways.
"I'll head out to meet the guys underground," Will started as he changed back to his civilian attire. "A couple of Max Team agents are bringing in surveillance tech and weapons in a few hours. I'll let you all know how it goes later."
Vraine and Metalson nodded, "Our sources have mentioned that President Johnson is getting ready for something big, the number of troopers has been doubled and they're definitely training," Vraine informed the group. "I have a feeling that it's going to be an attack against all of us, he needs us neutralized if he's to have complete control. If he equips his army with neutralizing weapons, we move to plan B."
Plan B was to utilize all of their assets to hijack the government's information systems and continue their attempt to dethrone the President. They also needed to find more allies to back the resistance. The heroes nodded at Vraine, knowing well that if they were met with neutralizing weapons, they would have to rely mostly on their espionage skills and technology in order to form their next moves.
Vraine and Metalson were going to Arizona, where a secret government facility in the Grand Canyon was found by trusted sources. They were to meet with a small resistance alliance formed by the disbanded IAS and a local Arizona superhero agency.
Maelstrom was headed to Los Angeles, where she was to meet high level information experts. These experts included their close friends Zach and Magenta, who had been part of the resistance as information team leaders since the Anti-Vigilante Law was passed. They were in charge of infiltrating the government's intelligence system and dispatching remaining supers to problem areas.
"We better go," Metalson said before the team hugged each other goodbye. He took hold of his fiancé Vraine's hand and the two were teleported away to Arizona. Maelstrom next touched a button on a portable teleporter strapped on her wrist and then disappeared.
Flare turned to his best friend, "Take care of yourself Will, and let me know quickly if it gets worse here. Mia and I are not that far away."
Will nodded, "You too, take care of Mia and be safe, you'll be in the middle of chaos down in the Capital."
Warren was headed to Washington DC where his wife Mia worked as a liaison between the superhero community and a newly formed resistance organization compiled of former politicians, United Nations agents, and multinational business owners.
"We'll do our best," Flare replied. "Goodbye Will, good luck."
Will waved shortly and watched his friend enter the coordinates on his portable teleporter. He soon vanished from sight. Will then walked out of the doors and heard a swooshing sound behind him as the doors to Maxville Hero Centre were secured shut.
It was time to meet with his fellow vigilantes and protect his city from the government threat that loomed around them.
Character List:
Warren Peace/Flare
(OC) Amelia (Mia) Landall-Peace/ Lady Force
Will Stronghold/ The Enforcer
Layla Williams-Stronghold/Ivy
Magenta Tyler-Brawn/ Shifter
Zach Brawn/ Highlight
Ethan Reynolds/ Meltdown
(OC) Gabriela Foster-Reynolds/ The Code
(OC) Veronica Simpson/ Vraine
(OC) Tom Brandon/ Metalson
(OC) Mandy Soleil/ Maelstrom
Author's Note:
Hello there! This story is part of the story-verse that I started with the story "The Mixed Tape". That story was mainly about Warren and Mia, and how their relationship began. There's no need to read that one in order to understand this story but hey, it would be totally awesome if you take a look at that one too. There are a couple of other stories in this story-verse and you can find those in my profile.
As you've gathered from the prologue and summary, this story is going to be an adventure/romance/friendship fic. It will be different from many stories on the Sky High archives since I wanted to write a story that diverges from the high school setting. I've already written the high school-centred story with "The Mixed Tape", so I wanted to move beyond that and write about what the Sky High friends might be up to when they're much older. As such, because they are older (they're all in their late 20s and older), I've introduced quite a bit of original characters because I wanted to show how they have matured and how they work professionally with other superheroes.
So I hope you enjoyed the introduction to this story, and stay tuned for the next chapter! To those of you who have read "The Mixed Tape", you'll get a sort-of sequel in the next chapter since it will focus mainly on Warren and Mia.
Reviews are always welcome!