Jake was lounging on his family's couch afterschool. Judith would tell him to apologize to his sister. Was Jake going to do that? No, he figured his sister might need a bit of an extra push to realize they actually had to be careful.
So instead, Jake had invited Hartley over afterschool. Amy needed someone to keep her head on straight, if it wasn't going to be Jake, then it was going to be their friendly neighbour.
Amy was likely up in her room, with no idea that she was about to make a friend. And if Amy didn't want Hartley, Jake would gladly take her.
When the doorbell rang, Jake heard his sister shuffle down the stairs. She scowled at Jake when she saw him, "Are we expecting someone?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. I invited Hartley over so you can make a friend."
"I don't need friends. I want my old life back, plotting revenge against everyone's favorite superhero, Starling." She sneered.
Jake pointedly ignored her, and opened the door. "Hey Hartley, welcome." Jake stepped aside and let her in.
"Thanks." She smiled, "Hey, Amy."
Amy ignored her.
"Why don't I make you two some snacks, and you can watch a movie or something?" Jake made his way to the kitchen, when he passed by Amy he leant down and whispered, "This will be good for you, just try, please."
"Fine." Amy muttered, "But I want a favour."
Jake nodded, "That can be arranged."
"Good."
Jake disappeared though the kitchen. He threw some chips in a bowl and grabbed two juice boxes.
He returned to the living room to find Hartley and Amy watching the superhero reality show. He placed the chips and juice on the table in front of them. "I'm going out, enjoy yourselves." He made his way to the front door.
"Thanks Jake!" Hartley exclaimed.
"Where are you going?" Amy asked.
"Job hunting." Lie.
Amy groaned, turning back to the show. Her face twisted in disgust, Jake wasn't sure if it was directed at him or the show. Jake supposed it didn't matter.
Jake's hand froze on the doorknob when he heard Starling's name on TV.
Hartley gasped, "There's Starling, she's my favourite."
Amy rose from the couch, glaring at the screen.
"Isn't she amazing?" Hartley asked. "Not even Havoc's sonic scream could take her down." She turned to Amy, "Starling totally kicked her butt."
Amy was clearly unhappy, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure she didn't."
"I'm pretty sure she did."
"I'm pretty sure she didn't."
"I'm pretty sure-"
"I'm pretty sure you should quit now before this gets ugly."
"Amy." Jake said from the doorway, "Why don't you go get a drink?"
Amy glared at him, "I thought you were leaving."
Jake shrugged, "Enough people have died in this house." He turned and left the house, closing the door behind him.
"What did he just say...?" Hartley asked.
Jake felt a grin make its way onto his face. The information was courtesy of Celia, given when she lost a game of blackjack to him. He was technically underage and couldn't gamble for money, secrets on the other hand...
Jake wasn't even sure how he had won, but he knew better than to question it.
He quickly made his way to a place he could teleport from safely (he climbed into his room through the window and teleported from there).
He felt the rush he always felt when he used his power. He flashed into his safehouse.
He looked around, nothing seemed out of place. Which was very good. He had yet to get rid of all of Chaos' things, and really couldn't have any villains finding this place.
He burnt any pages on hero data he'd collected over the years, he had most of it memorized anyway.
He cleaned out anything else that could point to Chaos. This was Ghost's safehouse now, villains had no place here.
Jake sunk down on his couch when he was finished. He sat there for a few minutes. He felt a pang of sadness ripple through him. Chaos was gone. Now there was only Jake and Ghost. He had kept one of Chaos' suits, but that was hidden away, far from his safehouse.
Jake leapt to his feet and made his way to his training mats. He could use a distraction. He reigned in his super strength before relentlessly attacking one of his training dummies.
He threw punches and kicks as hard as he could without super strength. He mentally thanked Starling for telling him to get a padded metal dummy, not a wooden one.
He continued to let out his aggressions on the dummy, his family was grating on his every last nerve. He couldn't really blame them though, change is hard.
"If you keep going like that, you'll break it." A voice Jake had dearly missed said over to his left. Jake stopped attacking the dummy.
"Judith." Jake breathed.
"Hey Jake." Judith smiled. "How've you been?"
Jake shrugged, "Better now that you're here."
"Missed me?"
"So much." Jake took her in, she was dressed up. She was wearing makeup and a nice blue dress.
Judith rolled her eyes, "It hasn't even been two weeks."
Jake hummed, "Felt longer."
Judith laughed, "It did."
"I saw you on TV today." Jake said.
"On the reality show?"
Jake nodded. "Havoc wasn't happy."
"I would've paid to see her expression."
"You'll likely see her again soon, she's quite set on revenge."
"I'm sure she is." Judith sat down on the couch. "Now, why don't you go get cleaned up so we can go out to dinner?"
"Yes ma'am." Jake gave a mock salute and ran to go wash up.
-+-
Jake returned in record time. His hair was styled nicely, his suit was blue, to match Judith's dress.
Jake held his hand out to Judith, "Let us be on our way then m'lady."
Judith rolled her eyes fondly, and took his hand.
They walked to their favourite fancy Italian restaurant hand in hand.
Judith had booked a reservation for them, as the place got quite busy.
Once they were seated comfortably, Jake let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. "You're beautiful." He said, staring at her.
Judith blushed, "Take a picture, it will last longer."
"I might have to." He whispered.
Judith hummed, "You seem sad."
Jake let his eyes fall from Judith, focusing on the table in front of him instead. "I'm worried about my family. If they continue as they have been, we'll be found very soon. I'm not ready for that, I'm not sure I ever will be."
Judith placed her hand on top of Jake's, comforting him. "You'll be ready, we'll be ready." She assured. Jake's eyes flicked up to her again.
"I just cleared up my drawing board. We could map out their movements together?" Jake said.
Judith nodded, "I have basic outlines already drawn up, I'll bring copies over tomorrow."
"It's a date then." Jake grinned.
"Fool, we're already on a date."
"Another one then."
"Two dates in a row? My, you seem to be getting comfortable."
"Is that bad?" Jake tilted his head slightly.
Judith shook her head, "Not at all."
Jake grinned. Jake picked up the menu for the first time that night, Judith following suit.
"Do you think Ghost still needs some time off?" She asked.
"No."
"Good, I want him to make an appearance at ColossaCon. I believe it's time for him to interact with his fans."
Jake took his eyes off the menu and met Judith's eyes, "You're sure?" He asked, Jake wasn't sure if making his official public debut now was best.
Judith nodded, "I know it may not seem like the best time, but it would also be an opportunity for you to meet a few other heroes. You need allies. Among the public and heroes alike."
Jake knew what she said was right, but that didn't stop the nagging feeling in his head from making itself known. "And Havoc?" He asked.
"What about her?"
"Once she finds out you'll be at the Con, she'll try to get revenge."
"I'm sure you can foil any of her plans." Judith stated.
"You wouldn't be wrong."
Judith smiled, "We'll sort out the details later. Let's just enjoy ourselves."
Jake nodded in agreement. "Food first, business later."
"Cheers to that."
-+-
Jake dropped Starling off at her place after their date. He had a feeling his family had done something stupid and was desperate to get home.
He changed out of his suit and teleported to his room in Valley View.
He walked downstairs and was met with an odd sight. There were two Hartley's in his living room. One behind Celia, and one in front.
"Grandma!" The Hartley standing in front of Celia shouted. His family standing right behind her.
"Hartley?" Celia looked between the two Hartley's.
"No, um..." Eva objected, "Flickering lights must have messed with your eyes. That's..." She used her power to turn off the lights for a moment. "...Colby."
Colby was indeed standing where the second Hartley had just moments ago. Jake figured Colby must have gotten his power.
"Sup, Celia." Colby greeted.
Hartley walked up to her grandma, "Grandma! You will never believe what just..." she suddenly went silent, and cast a glance at Jake's family behind her. "You know what? Never mind. I missed you." Hartley wrapped her arms around her grandma.
Jake's heart was pounding wildly in his chest, Hartley knew. He took a sharp inhale, his family would be the death of him.
Celia looked at Hartley in confusion, "Missed me? You've been here the whole time."
Hartley pulled away from her grandma and turned back to Jake's family, "I have?"
Celia chuckled, "Here she goes again, pretending she bumped her head so she doesn't have to go to the dentist."
"Well, speaking of which, you should go." Jake's mother waved their guests towards the door.
"What about the flickering lights?" Celia asked. Jake supposed that was the reason she had her tool belt with her.
"I've grown used to it." Eva answered, "Kind of like a disco." she laughed.
Just as Hartley was about to leave the house, Amy stopped her, "Hey! Wait. You didn't tell her what happened."
"And risk her knowing the truth? I couldn't do that to my friend. Look, you may be villains, but everyone deserves a chance to be better. Your secret's safe with me." Hartley grinned, "See ya!"
"Bye Hartley!" Jake said.
"Oh! Bye Jake!" Hartley closed the door.
"Jake?!" Amy exclaimed, "When did you get here?!"
"A few minutes ago." Jake answered.
"You told her our secret?!" Vic demanded.
Amy huffed, "I wouldn't have had to if you had just given me the right device or gone yourself."
"So it's my fault?" Vic scoffed.
"Yes!"
"Hey now," Jake stepped between the two, "Who's at fault is irrelevant, the important thing is that someone outside our family knows."
"Jake's right, we should terminate her." Eva chimed in.
"That is not what I meant." Jake objected. "But clearly I can't leave the house without something going wrong."
"She's not a threat as long as she doesn't say anything." Amy added.
"How can we trust her?" Colby asked.
"If she tells one person we're villains, the authorities will come and lock us up. Unless Onyx finds us first." Eva stated.
"Then we move!" Vic declared.
"Oh! I say we move to the beach," Colby said, "so I can scare some surfers by shape shifting into a shark or a man eating crab." Colby laughed, "Either way, I'm snacking on someone."
"We can't leave." Jake said. Mentally he was racking his brain to come up with a reason. "It'll be suspicious if we leave now." Nailed it. " We've gone to school for less than a month. It's not typical to put your kids in school for a few weeks then leave."
His parents traded eye contact again, "That does make sense." Vic nodded, "It'll be easier to watch Hartley's every move if we stay anyway."
Thoughts?