Chapter Two: Brace Yourself

"Turn around
Every now and then
I get a little bit helpless and
I'm like a child lying in your arms."

-Total Eclipse of a Heart, Bonnie Tyler

"Stronghold!" Coach Boomer called out once he was done glancing at his clipboard, scanning the crowd with narrowed eyes.

Will glanced at Tenni as she glanced at him.

"Which one?" Layla asked for the both of them.

"What?" The coach looked at her bewildered and incredulous before looking down at his clipboard again. "There are two?"

"Yeah." Tenni and Will answered in unison, smiling as they did it.

"Um... well, the first one. Tennille Stronghold."

Her lips twitched from the oncoming frown that threatened to tug the upturned corners down. She would've corrected him if she didn't already know the effort would be wasted on Coach Boomer. He didn't strike her as the type who took other people's name preferences seriously. Tenni moved quickly, taking the steps two at a time until she was on the testing platform. She waited expectantly for Boomer to drop the car like he had with the others.

"Well, what's your power?"

"Aquakinesis," she answered impatiently.

"Car," the man said simply in response, hitting the button on the remote.

Arms shot up into the air and torrents of water were gushing out of her palms, hitting the car and keeping it suspended in the air where its descent was halted.

"Good?"

"Impressive." There was something unsettling about the way his eyebrow arched. It caused her control to waver the slightest, making the car wobble precariously on the waves of water buoying it up. The moment passed and he was pulling the car back. "Hero. Now get off the stage."

More than happy to oblige, she dismissed the water and practically skipped back down to where Will and Layla were. Will was looking nervous and a little green around the gills.

"You did great," Layla gushed.

"Yeah! That was awesome!" Zach cheered, "It was like, whoosh! And the car stopped!"

Tenni blinked, temporarily stunned by his enthusiastic praise, before returning her attention to Will.

"You're up." She touched his arm gently. "Good luck."

"Yeah. I'll need it."

He trudged up the platform, as if he was walking out to the chopping block. When Boomer asked him to say what his power was, Will moved over to his side and whispered something into the coach's ear.

"What do you mean, you don't know what your power is?" Boomer demanded.

Tenni winced. Will shifted nervously, stuttering out the beginnings of an explanation.

"Oh," Boomer said, giving an exasperated smile, "I get it. You're messing with the coach. Just like your old man." His smile got wider and he lifted the remote. "Car."

"Wait, no!" Tenni cried, Layla gasping in terror beside her.

The car fell so fast, it barely gave Will any time to hit the deck so it didn't just flatten him. Hearing him yell from underneath the car sent a wave of relief crashing over Tenni. He hadn't been killed. In fact, he was on his feet chewing out Boomer for that stunt. That was good. Her moment of relief turned into horror again when the floor beneath Will turned out to be a floor panel that, when Boomer hit another button, threw Will into a wall.

"Will!" she cried, running to his side immediately.

"Hey," he murmured feebly, looking dazedly up at her.

"Kid, come on. Quit messing with me. What's you're power?"

"He told you he didn't have one!" Tenni snapped at the man, "He told you and you didn't listen!"

"Huh." The coach shrugged, and wrote something down. "Well then, Will Stronghold, SIDEKICK!"

The force of his unnecessary bellow knocked both her and Will back. Indignant, Tenni was already on her feet and ready to shout when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"What?" She glared at the owner of the hand.

"We should get him to the nurse's office Ten," Zach told her, squatting to heft Will onto his feet.

With the way Will was so unsteady on his feet, her anger at Boomer quickly evaporated and was replaced concern. She didn't even get upset with Zach for butchering her name. All she could really do was move to the other side of Will and help carry him from under his other shoulder. Layla followed along, cycling between worried hovering and expressing the rage and fury Tenni was now too emotionally exhausted to express herself.

"Is he okay?"

"He is fine," Will answered for himself, groaning immediately after, "Getting thrown into walls sucks."

"I feel you bro," Zach commiserated, "Got tossed around a bit myself."

"I can't believe that man!" Layla exclaimed, back to being angry, "No, wait, I can't believe this school! How could they think that implementing a system where dropping cars on unsuspecting incoming students is a good idea? Will could've been seriously hurt! More so than he already is!" Her eyes went wide. "Are you sure you're okay Will? Did you hit your head? You might have a concussion!"

"I can't really remember if I hit my head."

"What hurts?" Tenni asked quietly.

"My entire backside," Will responded with a grimace, "It's pretty sore."

Layla was still ranting in the background, about memory loss resulting from a head wound, and the school being liable in the case of injuring students with their awful testing methods. It didn't take them too much longer before they made it to the nurse's office. Thank God Layla had remembered where it was from Gwen's tour, because there was no way Tenni, let alone Will or Zach, had remembered where it was. By the end of the session, the girl was sure she wanted to strangle the old woman. On a good day, Tenni would probably find her off beat humor and jokes about their dad to be funny, but today? It was really inappropriate and it was terrible seeing Will still being dragged through the dirt even if power placement was already over. The information about Ron obviously did little to comfort Will about his no powers problem. She'd caught Layla's eyes as the nurse chatted, Layla worrying her bottom lip as Tenni's own hands tightened into fists.

All four of them left her office in varying emotional states. Zach was over his serious streak, already joking and playing around again. Layla was making an effort to join in, talking about how lovely the campus was despite the faculty. Neither Tenni nor Will contributed. This was typical of Tenni, she generally didn't have much she wanted to say, and the situation at hand wasn't demanding her to say anything so she didn't. Then there was Will. All of them knew he really wasn't in the mood. Tenni just took his hand in her own as they went to find wherever the freshman class had gone so they could finish up their first, disastrous day in peace.

Once school was over for the day, and they'd gone through a much less traumatic return ride back to Maxville, the Stronghold siblings, with Layla in tow, wandered down to the park a block and a half down from their houses. None of them were in a hurry to be home. Zach had declined coming with them, and Tenni could admit she wouldn't have minded having him tag along as much as she usually did. He had proved to be good at easing the tension when both she and Will were unequipped and unwilling to. The three of them walked aimlessly around the park, stopping every now and then to climb a play structure they pretty much dwarfed now or to sit at the swings and push out every now and then. It was already dark by the time they started heading back to their houses.

Layla waved goodbye, letting them know she'd be free to hangout on the roof after dinner as she went.

Will and Tenni stopped together on the front step, each taking a deep breath.

"So..." Will let out a gusty sigh, "I don't know how to break it to them."

"It'll be alright."

"Maybe you can tell them you got into hero first so they can have some good news to soften them up."

"Sure." Tenni glanced at him. "Whatever happens, I'm here for you. Layla too." She paused. "And that big lug as well."

"I still don't understand what you're problem with Zach is," Will said, trying to stifle a chuckle.

"Let's go."

She tugged him in after her.

Will had gone to his room to sit on the roof and wait for Layla. Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, he hadn't told mom and dad at dinner. Even now, he couldn't fess up to not having powers, unable to handle the disappointment. And now, he couldn't admit to being a sidekick. He'd just let Tenni tell them about her own placement and carefully dodged speaking by offering to bus the table and wash the dishes. When she'd come into the kitchen to help him dry and put them away, he'd begged her to keep it secret.

Another secret she had to keep.

It wasn't all right, but she had to admit, but she could get over it. She went to her own room, closing the door behind her and kicking off her shoes before throwing herself onto her bed. The minute she hit it, she went boneless with relief. Home. Bed. Awkward dinner over with. Comforting Will was Layla's job for now. School and its complications were tomorrow's problem.

Here and now, she could think in peace.

There was little excitement during the rest of that short first week. They were all getting into the swing of superhero high school. Tenni had a load of extra stress though. Unlike the others, she was the only one on the hero track. That meant she was on her own in most of her classes, without anyone she knew or was comfortable with in any of her classes. There was lunch. She would've said PE, but they kept Hero and Sidekick groups separate unless there was a Save the Citizen match at the end of class. And Tenni already despised having to watch those matches. She didn't know what was worse about it. Watching Lash and Speed crush their opposition or sitting with the crowd and hearing them cheer the two on.

Basically, she was feeling kind of lonely and sorry for herself. She was starting to get depressed listening to Will and the others plan for a study group tonight over lunch. It wasn't like she didn't want them over, they were her friends too. What it was, was that... she just didn't have the same luxury. No one was her friend in her hero's class. The only person who was even friendly to her was the TA for her Mad Science class, Gwen Grayson. Gwen was friendly with everyone though, so Tenni didn't bother considering her. Even though she liked her solitude, she wanted to share it with someone. Someone of her own.

Her burger and salad were quickly dispatched, since she wasn't as distracted from eating by talking like the others were. She sat quietly listening to them talk some more about some assignment or other, awkwardly waiting to see if they would directly address her, or if she should add anything. When the same conversation stretched on for another three minutes without any sign of changing or welcome of topic change, she breathed a very small sigh through her nose and got up to leave.

"You're going?" Will suddenly asked, as if just remembering she'd been there the entire time.

"Yeah," she replied slowly, annoyed she'd been caught when she'd tried to leave without any notice, "Just to the library. There was something I wanted to check out."

"Oh. Okay." He smiled. "The others are coming by after school today."

"I know."

"Oh. So, um. Okay."

"See you on the bus," Tenni said, waving behind her to him.

He knew the dismissal for what it was and let her go without anymore fuss.

Even though she had been planning to go to the library, she hadn't really felt the overpowering urge to go now. She just needed a plausible excuse to get away for a bit. Will worried like a mother hen over her whenever she took off on her own. He was paranoid about her getting caught in the hall by bullies. Which was ironic considering the only people who got harassed by Lash and Speed on a regular basis were Will and the others when she wasn't around. Truthfully, she knew the real reason why he was anxious. And it wasn't Lash or Speed catching her alone, because she could and would handle them.

Warren Peace.

Will was smart to worry. Warren Peace didn't need to put voice to the fact he hated their guts. Despite the fact it would've been smart of her to fear him or at least not think about him at all, that dark boy always on the periphery of her thoughts, if not right at the eye of the storm. It was disturbing how quickly she'd become fixated on him, not just out of fear but fascination. How desperately she wished he would acknowledge her with something other than scorn. Which with every day of glaring from a distance was looking more and more unlikely. He obviously blamed the Commander for what happened to his family. And even if it wasn't fair that she and Will had to pay for it, she couldn't make Warren not hate them. Or, it was more like she wouldn't make Warren stop hating her. The truth was that Tenni wasn't Steve Stonghold's daughter by blood. But Tenni would sooner confess undying love to Coach Boomer than ever tell the truth and or admit Steve wasn't her dad. She couldn't do that to herself or him over just some boy.

Huffing, she shook her head the slightest and kept walking. It was unimportant right now. The longer she let herself dwell over her secret and Warren, the more she was going to upset herself. And being upset wasn't a good idea. The air around her had already dropped a couple degrees in temperature.

Just as she turned the corner to the hall that the library was in, she walked right into a big, black colored barrier. Tenni, small as she was, practically bounced right off of whatever it was. Stumbling back several steps, it took her a moment to make sure she was stable on her feet again. Once she'd managed that, she looked up to see what it was she'd managed to walk into. Her stomach started rolling uncomfortably around in her gut at the sight of Warren Peace, glaring down at her. She looked down, and saw some books at their feet. Those were probably Warren's books. She watched him enough to know he liked to read a lot. It was probably the only thing she observed him doing other than glaring at her and Will.

"I-I'm sorry!" she squeaked, instantly stooping down and gathering what he'd dropped into her arms.

There was a textbook. Studying? She added possible good student or hard worker to the mental list of Warren factoids she'd been compiling. There were some others. She would've spent more time looking over the titles if something else didn't catch her eye first. Thinner and lighter, paper but not a book. A comic book she finally concluded. As she reached to pick it up, it was suddenly snatched up in a larger hand. Blinking, Tenni watched as Warren quickly grabbed what she hadn't already picked up. He stood abruptly, and she followed him up. They stood there, not really looking at each other but in each other's general space. Swallowing, she steeled herself and handed the books she was holding back to him. Glancing nervously at his face, she offered him an awkward smile.

"Here."

He stared down at her, confused and incredulous. And then he took them, not very gently, and brushed past her in the opposite direction. She waited ten seconds before allowing herself to look back. Warren was already out of sight. Tenni was unsure what she was looking back for. Turning back around, she continued on to the library, carefully making a wide turn at the corner so she avoided bumping into anyone else.

Better not tell Will about this, she thought idly to herself, He wouldn't understand it. Not that I understand whatever it is either.

The bus ride home was full of screams of glee and excitement. Since the first nerve-wracking ride, the students had developed an acquired taste for the death defying bus flight, treating it much like a roller coaster ride. Tenni, who had never known what roller coasters were like before coming to live in Maxville, and liked them even less after Will had tried to introduce her to them, spent each ride in tense yet dignified silence. Not that she ever deprived Magenta of the privilege to scream her heart out. The shifting goth girl had become her unexpected but not unwelcome bus partner. She was quiet and didn't feel the unnecessary need to point out the obvious unless she was being witty or sarcastic. And Tenni appreciated that sarcasm and the way Magenta knew when she didn't want to talk to her. It made sitting through Zach's obnoxious chatter and Ethan always being intimidated around her more bearable.

And sitting next to one another meant that neither of them had to sit next to Leering Larry, the perpetually sleazy geek who liked to eyeball them whenever Layla was out of line of sight.

The bus finally touched down at the Maxville city limits, and the bus began the more uneventful part of its drive to Will, Tenni and Layla's part of town. All of the teens piled out of the bus, ambling down the streets towards home. It wasn't long before they arrived and were all in the Stronghold household, gathered in the living room with their books. Tenni, though she felt out of place since she wasn't really studying what they were studying, didn't want to be alone in her room, so she had joined them in the living room as well. She sat on the floor against the couch Will and Layla were occupying, leaning lightly against Will's leg with her legs pulled to her chest. Perched precariously on top of her knees was the joint laptop she and Will had been given at the end of middle school to share for high school use. Usually she used it for what it was meant for, but her homework had been done for a while now and she was bored. And technically, what she was doing could be considered research.

Technically.

She was scouring the web for comic books. Ones that started with F. That had been all she'd been able to see of the title on Warren's comic. It was tough wading through the many possible titles. There were just so many comics out there. Classic superhero comics got mixed with every two-bit superhero out there who got their own series. And then there were other genres besides superheroes. Some of them were so out there it made Tenni cringe and scramble to click out of it as fast as the browser allowed. She hoped that Will and Layla were so preoccupied with their studying, they weren't sparing any time to glance over her shoulder and look at the screen. The girl had gotten so engrossed in her online search, she almost missed the lapse in study-oriented discussion and a new voice joining those in the living room. Looking up, she blinked owlishly at the sight of her dad, not getting why he was standing there.

Wasn't he supposed to be out for the whole day fighting crime with mom?

Her brain, numbed by the dredge of online comic book hunting, went through an abrupt restart as she began processing what dad being home meant. Will had spent days painstakingly planning this study group around the expectation that mom and dad wouldn't be home. More specifically, that dad wouldn't be home. Even after power placement, Will was still putting on the song and dance for dad that he was a hero with super strength. He always did his homework for his sidekick courses in the safety of his room or hers and never took up mom's offers for help on any tough questions. And a study group could only be had at Casa Stronghold if there were no adults around to eavesdrop on what was being reviewed.

But dad was home, still decked out in the Commander suit.

Panic crashed into her. She didn't need to look at Will to know he was experiencing it ten fold. Will had gotten up to greet Steve, to head him off from his friends, but it was no use. Their dad was a people person, smiling, shaking hands, and practically demanding introductions with his eyes. From there, it was like being witness to a train wreck. Ethan, then Zach (who dad had met before but had never known had powers), and then Magenta. There was confusion in Steve's expression, but he kept smiling, and being polite. Eventually, he offered to make some tuna salad sandwiches and excused himself.

"Hey Tenni," Will said quietly, "Let me up will you?"

"Uh..." she glanced at him. He looked nervous, "Sure."

He avoided her eyes.

"I'm gonna just... There's something I want to find out. I'm gonna go talk to dad."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Tenni asked, knowing exactly what he meant, "I'm kinda hungry. I might take dad up on one of those sandwiches."

"No thanks." He dropped a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it in thanks before standing. "I'll bring one back for you."

An awkward silence fell over the living room as he departed. It didn't take knowing Will like she and Layla did for the others to figure out something big was going on. All of them were proved right when the voices from the kitchen started getting louder, dad's growing angrier as he continued. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Layla move as if to get up. Tenni reached out and put a hand on her knee. It was enough to halt any further attempts. Will needed to do this. This wasn't the best time or place for it, but he'd finally worked up the courage to tell dad the truth. They needed to let it play out.

Eventually, it was over.

Will quietly walked back in, taking a shaky breath as he lowered himself back onto the couch next to Layla, carefully avoiding stepping on Tenni. He set the plate with the sandwich down on the table and slid it a couple of inches over so it sat just in front of her face on the wooden surface.

"Thank you," she said quietly, and out of sight, she reached and squeezed his ankle.

"You're welcome," he told her back, he looked to Layla and the others, "So where were we?"

Studying resumed at a stilted pace. Will tried to go on as if nothing happened. The others tried to respect his silent request as well. Tenni however, had nothing but the sandwich to distract her from thinking about it. Once the sandwich was gone, she excused herself to go put her plate in the sink. It really shouldn't have come as a surprise to her that her dad was still in the kitchen where Will had obviously left him after their talk. He was faced away from her. His shoulders were hunched and his palms were flat against the counter as he leaned into it. There were makings for sandwiches out on the kitchen island top, but they looked abandoned halfway through spreading the mayo on the bread slices. She went in cautiously. For the years she'd lived as a part of the family, Steve was always a happy, controlled man, but that hadn't been happiness or control she'd been hearing earlier.

Caution, as it turned out, wasn't necessary. She'd set the plate in the sink and run some water to rinse it and he hadn't reacted. He continued to stand there, stuck in whatever was going on in his head. For a moment, she entertained the thought that she could probably break a jackhammer trying to snap him out of it, and he wouldn't feel it or even notice.

"Dad?" She had to repeat herself several times, each time louder.

He was slow to stir, but she knew he heard her from the slightest twitch of his shoulders. His head turned and he looked at her with his very blue eyes.

"Did you know? About Will?"

"Having no powers?" He nodded still turned away from her. "Yeah."

"How could he let your mother and I think...?"

"How couldn't he?" He finally looked at her and the lack of understanding she found in his eyes urged her to go on. "He's the son of the Commander and Jetstream."

"So?"

"Don't you think that your guy's reputations put a lot of pressure on him to be a hero?"

"Your mother and I never pressure him!" he yelled.

Tenni shrunk a bit at the volume, but held her ground.

"I didn't say you did," she almost stuttered out, "But your reputations do. You guys are the biggest superhero team in the world. People expect Will as your son to be something spectacular too. The super society certainly expects Will to live up to it. Will expects Will to live up to it. But he can't."

"He could still develop powers."

The denial wafting off of him into the room was so palpable, she could barely stand to look at him. This was her dad. He just wanted Will to be great. But this wasn't just about dad. This was about Will. It was always about Will. For that moment, she struggled with her feelings, with her desire to not upset him and her desire to protect Will. And then she opened her mouth.

"You can believe that." It came out mocking, almost bitter. "Right now though, he doesn't. It's more than likely he neverwill. Will may spend the rest of his life as a powerless sidekick. You need to be ready to accept and live with that dad, because if you don't, you're just another person who makes Will get down on himself with your disappointment. And if you do that to him, I won't forgive you."

Immediately, her bravery left her. He was speechless, with anger or hurt, she couldn't tell, there were just so many emotions in his expressive eyes. She'd spoken her piece. There wasn't any need to stick around in case Steve did get upset with her. Tenni would just go to bed now and... let it sink in. Overnight. And maybe skip breakfast to head straight to the bus tomorrow morning to avoid any awkward run ins or confrontations. And go straight to her room after school. Rinse and repeat for about a week. Or until she could get out of the house and find a place of her own. Maybe he'd have forgotten about it by then. Just as she began her retreat from the kitchen, the sound a soft yet stern clearing of a throat stopped her. She peeked behind her and saw Jetstream, Josie, mom, standing there.

"Steve, before you say something you might regret to our daughter, I suggest you take what she said seriously," she said firmly, "I've been here long enough to know what's going on, and Tenni's right. Will is still our son, even if he's a sidekick with no powers. We'll love him as a sidekick the same as if he were a hero." He opened his mouth to speak, but she held a hand up. "We still have guests who may or may not be eavesdropping on this conversation. I suggest we wait to have this conversation at a better time. Alright you two?"

Nearly crying in relief that her mom had shown up to diffuse the situation and give her an out, she nodded gratefully and shot off. Passing through the living room, she saw that the others seemed like they'd been engrossed in studying (or at least very good at pretending they'd been engrossed). She nabbed the laptop and told them goodnight, receiving a chorus of them as she left. It was only once she was up the staircase and in her own room with the door shut that she allowed herself to breathe a little easier.

Another crazy day, finally over with.

It was still dark when she felt herself starting to stir. Tired, she tried to figure out why exactly she was waking up in the middle of the night. The answer came when she noticed her door was open and someone was coming in. Stiffening, her mind went from zero to sixty miles per hour as she mentally tried to figure out who would come to her room at this time of night. She entertained the worst-case scenario that it was dad, wanting to come give her a piece of her mind after she'd practically yelled at him earlier that evening. But no. Dad didn't do stuff like that. With guilt, she recognized the fact that dad would probably be apologizing profusely to her tomorrow morning for upsetting her. And there really was only one person who'd be coming to her in the night.

"Will?" she mumbled out groggily.

"Sorry," she heard him whisper back as he stopped at the side of her bed.

"It's okay."

"Did I wake you up?" Before she even think to respond, he was already talking again. "Never mind. Of course I woke you up. Who stays up this late on a school night anyway? Sorry."

"Already told you it was okay." She rolled on her side so she could face him better. "What is it Will?"

"I can't sleep. It's just... today..."

"You told dad the truth and he flipped." He winced. "Yeah. We all heard. I'm proud of you though, you know?"

"At least someone isn't disappointed in me today."

"They'll get over it. They love you. Love means you get over stuff like that, right?" She yawned and shifted back a bit on her bed. "You want to sleep here tonight?"

"I don't- you don't have to-"

"I don't mind. You're the one who decided when he turned thirteen that sleeping in the same bed with girl was weird."

It didn't take being able to see in the dark for her to know Will was blushing. She could hear him sputtering in embarrassment. To save him from floundering any longer, her fingers circled his wrist and tugged a little. There wasn't any real force behind her tug, but Will moved with it anyway, pushing back the covers a bit to let himself in next to her. Soon, they were lying on their sides, facing one another. There was only one pillow, and Tenni wasn't giving it up and Will wasn't going without, so their foreheads were touching and their faces were so close they could feel each puff of breath the other exhaled on their cheeks. It wasn't an unfamiliar or uncomfortable arrangement. This was family, maybe not fully by blood, but what blood there was enough. As her breathing slowed and evened out, her lips sluggishly whisper-mouthed something to Will, even though she didn't really know what she was saying to him but saying it anyway. He smiled back at her and put a finger to her lips to shush her.

"Go back to sleep already."

"'Kay."

"Night."

"Mmm."

And with that, she drifted off.

Chapter Two: Brace Yourself - End

Nana: FINALLY. I can post this sucker. Something weird happened with the formatting every time I tried to put it through Doc Manager. It was a major pain in the ass. Hurt my feelings that it wouldn't let me post it! Anywhoo, somewhat serious and business-y. I'm looking for a beta for this story. Someone whose fairly familiar with Past Upon Lies and Illusions since this is the rewrite of that. I just need someone to talk to about the direction this story is going in, in comparison to the original. What becomes divergent, what stays the same. Are changes for the better of the story? Stuff like that. That's all. Thank you, and I hope you all are having wonderful winter hols!

Next Installment:

Chapter Three: Boiling Point