This one is a crossover with Sky High and of course Newsies. This one is also a 1980s AU. I don't own the Disney movie Sky High or any characters that are in it. Sky High is a great movie but, like most of the stuff I write, you don't have to have seen it in order to understand this oneshot. This one is going to be super long. OCs are in which means a special thank you to BeckyMerari1808 who has Katie, Runner_Weirdo who has Falcon, and 23gatkins who has Pups!!!! Thanks for letting me use your ladies in this story. Since these ladies are in, if you're new to my whole OC writing thing, this also means that Elley (Nycnewsgirl, you can start cheering now if you're not already), and Flavi, who are both my OCs, are in this one too!! Also, props to FabulousDalek, for giving me ideas on what powers to give certain characters. For those of you that don't know, Sky High is high school kids with super powers and Sky High is this special high school that they attend so, everyone has a power. You'll just have to wait and see who winds up with what power in this story. Enjoy, everybody and prepare for some interesting antics.... :) I apologize for the title. I really don't know how to title this one but, the title seems appropriate enough for this story. Also please excuse any stretches that there may be in the prison sentence and the prison for Jack's dad, I didn't research it thoroughly partially because this AU is very fictional. All of my regular readers know that this is going to be quite the saga.
Jack Kelly sighs as the door to the juvenile detention center closes behind him. He leans his head up against the closed door. Why did the school force him to show up today? It wasn't really necessary. He's fine. Jack doesn't plan on committing anymore minor crimes in his lifetime. Unlike a lot of people, Jack has a power that is fairly useless in a high school that promotes heroism. He has the power of escape artistry. If someone chains him, Jack can simply slip the chains off of his wrists. He's excellent at escaping from things but he can never get into a fight head on. Hand to hand combat isn't something that's entirely lost on Jack. He can certainly handle himself in a fight but, he has no formal training.
Jack has no way to tell anyone the truth. All he has is this superpower that screams trouble and criminal activity. There's no way to tell anyone that he really didn't mean any harm. Nobody got hurt. All he did was steal some food for the starving kids in a prison and he escaped the prison. They should really know better than to leave an escape artist powered kid alone in his cell. They'd probably catch him again and all Jack would do is escape again. The cops could never hold him anywhere for long. He tugs on the end of his blue T-shirt with short sleeves and adjusts his jean vest. His sneakers are dirty from use overtime and his jeans are fraying. Medda has been begging him to get a job at the local diner but Jack feels that maybe that isn't the best idea for him. It isn't exactly common knowledge, but Jack Kelly lives in a rough part of town. With the power that he has, he doesn't really have a reason to be afraid of anything. He can literally escape from any kind of captivity that he's put in.
But more of this talk about rehabilitation to become a hero? Jack can't take it anymore. He can't use his powers to be a hero. He never will use his powers to become a hero like the school wants him to be. Jack would always be trafficking food and other items necessary for someone to survive and either selling them to people who would pay for them or handing them out to people who needed them and couldn't pay. Spot Conlon somehow leads a similar double life...except he's less about helping people and more about capitalizing on more lucrative things. Things that Jack did not really ever want to help out with because they were really illegal. Some of the things he had done were...easier to excuse. The things Spot Conlon did...not so much and he had ridiculous powers too. Power that could be used to protect the world from all kinds of things. Powers that Jack wishes he could have to protect his brothers from the cruelty of the world. Powers that no boy would ever look at his younger sister Elley the wrong way again if they knew that he had them.
Of course he didn't have those powers. At least he had powers, Crutchie didn't have any...yet. Medda figured that would only be a matter of time. She knew Crutchie's parents and knew that they were heroes that remained more in the shadows than some of the more popular superheroes but, she knew that they did a lot of good things as heroes. Medda is still confident that Crutchie will some day have powers and be able to do a lot of great things. Jack sighs as he sees his friend Davey pull up in the Jacob's family rocket car. He hurries over and slumps into the passenger seat.
"I can't keep doing this, Dave," Jack says the minute the car door closes behind him. Davey just lets the car idle in the parking lot.
"What do you mean?" his friend replies, fiddling with the keys in the ignition nervously. Davey knew where this was going and he hates having this discussion as often as he does with Jack. It makes him sad because Davey has powers that could be used for a lot of different things. Davey can read people and their thoughts. He could be used in all kinds of fields with this talent. Davey is also a decent fighter even though he hates the violence of fighting. Unfortunately, he keeps coming closer and closer to shoving that dumb Oscar Delancey into a trash can for being a royal pain to all of the other boys in his friend groups. Jack normally does the heavy lifting when it comes to that but, Jack's pre-occupied with other things right now.
"This whole...using your powers to become a hero. It's not that I don't want to be hero. I'm seen as a villain because I help the people who can't help themselves and everyone thinks that because I can't do that legally, I'm not a hero," Jack explains, "The school wants me to be some hero that can throw cars around and wear a fancy costume that advertises to the world that I'm a hero. But, I don't have those kinds of powers and I don't really want to wear that kind of costume. I wouldn't mind throwing around some cars to defend people some day but, no one would trust me even if I had the powers because they all think that I'm not a hero just because I help people out illegally."
"Well, a hero to them is someone who does things by legal means," Davey reasons, trying not to irritate his friend.
"I know, Dave. I know," Jack grumbles. Davey starts the car and drives Jack towards the tiny abandoned apartment that he calls home with Crutchie and a few other guys. His sister lives in an abandoned one right next door with the other girls who need a place to stay. "I'm just different, ya know?"
"I know," Davey says with a smile, "I still have a feeling you might save the world someday."
"Well, thanks for the confidence and you're crazy," Jack replies as Davey pulls up to the apartment, "Thanks for the lift!"
"See you tomorrow," Davey calls out as he begins to drive towards a nicer part of town where he lives with his family. Jack pulls his key out of his pocket and walks towards the dilapidated building. He unlocks the door to see Crutchie treating some cuts on another boy.
On Racetrack Higgins.
"What happened, Racer?" Jack asks, rushing over to the other boy. Race winces as Crutchie applies some medication to clean the cuts out.
"Crutchie..."Race cries out as the medication stings. Mush, Romeo, and Jojo enter the room to see what is going. Romeo starts staring into Race's eyes, using his charmspeak powers to sweet talk Race out of doing so much shouting and fighting Crutchie.
"Racer...the less you fight, the less it hurts," Romeo tries, but Race has too much experience in fighting Romeo's charmspeak for it to actually work on him anymore.
"Romeo, if you try to sweet talk me one more time, I'll..." Race starts to threaten but, Crutchie steps in the way.
"Okay! Race, you're all patched up!! Look at how great that is!!" Crutchie says and Race leaps off the counter and towards Romeo with almost catlike grace. Race quickly shapeshifts into a cat when neither Crutchie or Jack is looking and bites Romeo's leg.
"Ahhhhhh!" Romeo cries out and he keeps screaming when he sees that the creature is Race clinging desperately to his leg with his cat teeth. Race eventually lets go of Romeo's leg and says in a teeny tiny cat voice,
"That should teach ya not to sweet talk me anymore!" Everyone else in the room turns and looks directly at the floor.
"He's eating my leg! Jack! Crutchie! Do something!!!" Romeo cries out as Race goes to clamp on his leg again.
"Raaaccceeee," Jack draws out from the other room as he attempts to put something together for dinner, "Stop eating Romeo's leg." For Jack, this happens on a daily basis. Race rarely bites on Jack's leg. It's usually Romeo's. Sometimes Race decides to jump on Albert's back just to say hello. There was a reason why Jack had Albert living in a different space than Race. Albert was just on the other side of their apartment that the girls were not on, so he really wasn't that far away but, it was better than having the two of them live together in the space. Except for the fact that Race would invite Albert over and 95% of the time Albert would wind up spending the night. Albert was over most nights so, he really lived more with Jack and the boys in his apartment than the other boys. A knock sounds on the front door to the apartment and Mush practically bounds over to it to open it.
"Ten bucks says it's your sister," Race says popping up next to Jack in his human form. He nudges Jack with his shoulder nearly causing Jack to spill whatever he was making.
"What makes you say that?" Jack asks.
"First of all, look at how happy Mush is," Race starts as Mush fiddles with the door locks.
"Hey! Elley and I are great friends!! Why wouldn't I be happy to see her?" Mush calls as he still struggles with the locks on the front door. Crutchie walks over, flips one of the locks up and pulls the door open. Mush sighs as Crutchie walks away, leaving a very confused Elley standing at their doorstep.
"Ummm, hey," she says casually walking in and closing the door behind her.
"Hi! It feels like it's been forever since I've seen you!" Mush says quickly and Elley raises an eyebrow.
"You saw me earlier today, Mush. I had some hero stuff to take care of today after school, that's why we couldn't sit together on the bus on the way home," Elley responds as she kicks off her sneakers and walks into the kitchen. Mush quickly jumps over the small pile of shoes that really isn't that small and lands next to her. Elley raises her eyebrow again.
"I'm just training with my powers. I've only had them for a year," Mush explains.
"Whatever. You have absolute agility if I read the medical report right...I don't think you need to worry much about practicing with your powers," Elley explains as she walks into the kitchen to say hi to her brother.
"Elley, why did you read my medical report? That borders on creepy," Mush asks. Elley shrugs.
"Got to stay informed somehow," Elley replies as she hugs her brother, gently lopping her arms over his shoulders.
"Hey, Ells," Jack greets as he barely looks up from what he is doing.
"How was your session?" Elley asks without even saying hello.
"A good sister would always say hello," Race quips from the other side of Jack. Elley reaches over and punches his shoulder.
"How would you know? You don't even have a sister," Elley replies and then turns back to Jack, "So, how was it?"
"It was the same thing. They want me to become a legitimate hero but I just can't right now," Jack says. Elley screws up her mouth to one corner in thought and Mush walks over. He slings an arm around her shoulders and Elley leans into his touch. She feels safe with him and even safer since he currently isn't dating anybody.
"I'm sorry, Jack. I get what you're saying. Everyone thinks that you use your powers in a bad way just because you went to jail once," Elley says softly, "I honestly don't know what to do."
"Escape artistry is only a good power to have if you get caught a lot and it's not like I've never thrown a punch before but I'm not a huge fan of getting into fights," Jack responds, "Davey always says that fights create more problems than they solve."
"He's not wrong, but that's why you have guys like Mush to beat people up since he's so agile and all that," Elley says and Mush shakes his head in disbelief.
"I'm super agile as in I'm really flexible and can do backflips off of tall buildings and not die. I don't have super strength or anything. I am naturally stronger than the average human being but, it doesn't mean I'm the strongest person in the whole school," Mush explains, "I'm strong but, someone who actually has super strength would be stronger."
"True," Elley says, "but, you could do some damage if you needed to."
"Yeah, I suppose," Mush says with a shrug, "It's not like I try to but yeah. I could if I had to."
"Why are we still talking about this?" Crutchie asks as he sits down in a chair across from Jojo.
"Jack can't do anything but escape from prisons," Race says matter of factly.
"I help people!! Why doesn't anyone get that part of my abilities? They enable me to help people just not in a big flashy way!" Jack exclaims loudly, "I busted six kids out of jail who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. They weren't the criminals!"
"How would you know that? You don't have any proof, do you?" Elley asks with a hint of coldness in her voice. Jack groans in frustration.
"I have these kids' word and I know these kids really well. They wouldn't do anything like that," he moans as he puts his head in his hands. Elley looks at her brother for a second and then she nods her head in agreement.
"I can tell you think that," she says, patting her brother on the shoulder before sitting down next to him. Mush looks at his friend and loves how sympathetic she is to her brother. It makes her look more beautiful than he's ever seen her before. She may be sassy and kind of noisy at times but, Mush knows that deep down there's a sweet girl that he loves and then her voice interrupts his thoughts.
"Huh?" he asks, not quite hearing what she said. Elley stands up and crosses her arms.
"Is there something you need to tell me?" she asks, not letting Mush look away.
"Ummm," Mush says running a hand through his hair distractedly. Sometimes he wishes he didn't have a mind reader for a friend. Especially when that mind reader is a girl.
"Don't lie to me, Mush. I'll know if you're lying. Please stop hating that you have a mind reader as one of your best friends," Elley says sensibly. Mush looks away in frustration.
"Ells," he mutters and Elley looks at him expecting some kind of an answer, "It's nothing. Don't worry about it." Elley worries her bottom lip as she looks over at Mush and then turns back to talking to Jack. Mush straightens his jean jacket that he wears absolutely everywhere and walks off into his room to find something to do. Suddenly, the phone rings. All of the boys stare it for a second as it interrupts their...solitude. Crutchie finally walks over and picks it up.
"Hello? Oh of course. He's right here," Crutchie says kindly and then gestures to Jack, "It's for you." Jack groans quietly and Elley pats his shoulder before he gets up from his place and walks over to the phone.
"Hello?" he asks quietly and the voice of one of the secretaries at the high school speaks back at him,
"Mr. Kelly, Principal Snyder would like to see you here."
"Now?" Jack asks confused by why the odd principal would want to see him in the evening. He had already been to his "Path to Being A Hero" session for the day and he really didn't care to talk more about being a hero. Jack was someone who never anticipated being a hero.
"Yeah, there's some other activities going on at the school tonight but, he wanted to talk to you," The secretary says, or at least one of her. She can duplicate herself as many times as she wishes. Jack resists the urge to sigh. Principal Snyder is one of the people who really does not want to see right now.
He's worse than Superintendent Pulitzer and that's saying something. Jack didn't particularly get along with Superintendent Pulitzer that much either. Nevertheless, Jack answers,
"Alright, I'll be there shortly."
"Thank you," the secretary replies and Jack immediately calls Davey. Ten minutes later, the oldest Jacobs brother is at the apartment complex. Jack hurries out the door, leaving his sister and his friends behind.
Once they are at the school, Jack weaves through the empty halls to Principal Snyder's office. On his way there, he notices Katherine Pulitzer, the daughter of the superintendent himself, walking through the halls.
"Well hello there," Jack says, lightening up a little bit to see her.
"Keep your distance, Kelly," she says, "I don't have time for what you think is flirting and what I think is a waste of time." Katherine runs a hair through her teased bangs that match the current popular style. Her blouse and vest fit her in all of the appropriate places causing Jack's eyes to wander. Katherine rolls her eyes and walks away.
"I'll see ya tomorrow?" he asks and Katherine shrugs.
"You'll see me," she responds, turning a corner quickly to get out of Jack's sight. Jack groans quietly as he approaches Snyder's door. Turned down by a girl he's had a crush for as long as he can remember and now he has to talk to his least favorite administrator. Could this day get any worse? Jack raises his fist and knocks on the door.
"Come in," A voice calls out from the inside. Jack enters the office space and closes the door behind him. "Ahhh, Kelly. It's a pleasure to see you," Principal Snyder says when he sees the teenager.
"Can't say the same about you," Jack replies softly, sitting down in a seat across from the Principal. Snyder pulls the newspaper that he was looking at away from his face to look at Jack.
"I understand that you live in apartments...with your friends...unsupervised and not with the foster care system," he says, watching Jack's reaction closely. Jack fidgets nervously with his hands under the table, a practice he rarely resorts to carrying out.
"What do you mean? Where did you get that information?" Jack asks nervously.
"I think you know very well what I mean, Mr. Kelly," Snyder says, "I have some sources from the days where I used to work at the juvenile detention center which I hear you frequent and frequently escape."
"Yeah? What about that?" Jack asks again, trying to stay on the Principal's good side and at the same time, reveal no information that would hurt his friends.
"Your friends all believe that they are destined to become heroes, correct? Except for you?" Snyder asks. Jack sits up a little bit straighter in his chair. "Even your sister is considering being some form of a hero, perhaps a companion to the Myers boy who she keeps company with."
"Well, Crutchie, um, I mean, Charlie doesn't have any powers yet, but I'm sure he will eventually and once he does, then he'll probably become a hero too," Jack replies, "Why?"
"What if they're not going to be heroes?" Snyder asks, "What if all they're going to do is destroy the city?"
"Get out of town," Jack mutters, "That's the whole purpose of them being heroes. They protect the citizens and fight for a common goal. Heroes are the reason there's no evil in the city."
"Right? But how do you know that they are the heroes? Aren't they the ones who get all the attention? They don't really save the city," Snyder says, "Think of other possibilities. People like you are the true heroes."
"Very funny. Tell that to the people who throw me in jail and wish they could keep me there," Jack replies with a half laugh of disbelief, playing with his fingers under the desk.
"Mr. Kelly, I'm being completely serious here. Think of all of the possibilities. If you convince your friends that you're the true hero and you convince them to hide their powers for good," Snyder begins.
"Wait, why can't we all do this together?" Jack asks, interrupting the principal.
"The heroes are the reason the city will ultimately fall. All they do is destroy things and they take down villains that really just help the city," Snyder says.
"Are you sure?" Jack asks skeptically.
"Yes, besides, wasn't your father so close to becoming a hero? Then he made one mistake and the 'heroes' captured and threw him away so you and your younger sister could never see him again," Snyder reasons, "Wouldn't you like to be able to see him become a hero? Work alongside him as a father and son duo?"
"He was just trying to help people," Jack reminisces sadly, tracing a pattern with his index finger over his worn jeans, "They took him and threw him in prison forever and all he was trying to do was help people."
"Oh, are you so sure about forever?" Snyder asks with a smirk on his face.
"What do you mean?" Jack asks again nervously.
"Mr. Kelly, you have powers of escape artistry, do you not?" Snyder asks. Jack nods his head, clearly confused by where Principal Snyder was going with this. "Break your father out of prison!" Snyder exclaims.
"Break him out of prison? Wouldn't you be against that? You used to be the ward of a juvie center," Jack reasons.
"Yes, but this is different. Your father was thrown in there for reasons that he shouldn't have been. It's up to you to get him out and see that justice is served to those who did this to him," Snyder says. Jack nods his head.
"Alright, fair enough. I see what you're saying. I'll do it if it means I get to see my father again," he agrees.
"In exchange, I'll keep your living situation a secret for the time being. Is that fair? You need to break him out tonight. It's now or never," Snyder urges. Jack nods his head. Snyder holds his hand out and the two shake on the agreement. Jack stands up to leave the office, reaching for the doorknob only to have the principal call out after him, "Mr. Kelly, please do not tell anyone of this meeting or what was discussed in it."
"Not even my sister?" Jack asks, "She should know..."
"No, she can't. She'll find out when you bring him home for the first time," Snyder says. Jack nods his head slowly before opening the door to the hallway.
"Thanks...for the help," Jack says hesitantly. Deep down, Jack has a feeling that this is all too good to be true. Something doesn't fit into the rest of the puzzle. Snyder was still doing his job by encouraging Jack to do this but, breaking his dad out of jail was illegal. Jack wanders back through the halls of the high school in the clouds and finds Davey reading a novel in his rocket car. He knocks on the window to get Davey's attention. Davey jumps and sits up straight. He relaxes when he sees that it's only Jack standing outside of the window. Davey unlocks the car and Jack opens the door.
"Ready to go?" Davey asks.
"Yep. Let's get away from here. I've already been here more than I'd like to be," Jack says quickly, climbing into the passenger seat. The ride back down to New York City, since Sky High is up in the clouds, is quiet and an uncomfortable silence rests over the two boys. Davey eventually pulls up to the apartment complex where the boys live.
"See you later?" Davey asks. Jack nods his head.
"Of course. Stay safe, Jacobs. Tell Sarah and Les I said 'hi'," he replies, climbing out of the car.
"I will. Stay out of trouble, Kelly," Davey calls back from the open window of the car.
"Me? Get into trouble? Never?" Jack exclaims, disbelief radiating off his person as he walks toward the fire escape to the apartment. Night is beginning to fall over Manhattan but, Jack wants to draw the sunset on the rooftop instead of going inside and facing his friends and sister. Davey rolls his eyes in response to Jack's questioning. Jack grins a charming smile over in Davey's direction before pulling the ladder down from the fire escape. He gets ready to climb up when suddenly, the fire escape ladder is yanked out of its metal hinge mechanism by Jack's pulling.
Jack lands on his back and the ladder lands on top of him.
Well that was new.
Thankfully, Davey is down the street and probably wouldn't have been able to see what had happened to Jack. Jack checks himself for broken bones and doesn't find anything, not even a scratch.
That was new too. He would scratch himself with his drawing pencils by accident sometimes. And more often than not, climbing the fire escape, he would whack his forearm on one of the rungs of the ladder to warrant a tiny bruise. Now? There is nothing there. Absolutely nothing.
Did he just gain another power? Jack looks at the broken ladder unsure of how to handle this situation. Medda was going to have to pay the landlord a large sum to keep him off of the boys' backs for awhile. If he managed to pull it out and Jack's sure that the ladder wasn't loose, the landlord may not be the most attentive to what his apartment complex needed but Jack thinks he would notice something like a loose fire escape ladder, then he has abnormal strength?
Super strength? Did it work in his legs too? There is only one way to find out. Jack takes a running start and jumps up to the fire escape. Sure enough, he flies higher up than he has previously when he would jump from the ground to the ladder. Jack lands sturdily on his feet on the first landing of the fire escape. Amazed by his newfound strength, Jack keeps climbing up until he reaches the rooftop, careful not to grip anything to hard. He reaches the rooftop and looks at himself. Jack stretches out his palms in front of him and smiles as he runs over to his art supplies hidden under boxes full of things left behind by residents past. Jack carefully lifts the boxes, trying not to trigger his new powers as he searches for his art supplies. He finds them and pulls them into his lap. Turning to face the sunset, Jack takes one of the pencils out of the old pouch and begins to draw.
"So, I take it was a rough meeting then?" A voice calls out from the other side of the rooftop. Jack jumps and Elley's laugh rings through the air, "Don't be scared. It's just me, Superman."
"Superman?" Jack asks, "Who are you calling..?"
"Somebody gained another power on their way up the fire escape. Aaaaaannnnnnddddddd, somebody's also dreading telling the landlord about the broken fire escape ladder," Elley says, reading her brother's thoughts.
"Elley! Stop reading my thoughts!" Jack whines, "Why do you even feel the need to reach in and..?"
"Because I'm your sister," Elley replies, "I also am a mind reader so, I'm responsible for reading your thoughts. Really, Jack? I'm starting to sound like Katherine. Now you're upset because she rejected you. Jack, come on! She has rejected you MANY times. Telekinetics and escape artists and now apparently Superman people do not get along together. Mind readers get along with everybody."
"So, you can get closer to her then for me?" Jack asks and Elley groans.
"That's beside the point, Jack," she replies, keeping herself from reading his mind, "Something else is bothering you but, it's clear you want your privacy so, I'll go back to hanging out with Mush. He wanted to go skateboarding by the Brooklyn Bridge."
"Don't stay out too late," Jack calls out to his younger sister as she leaves without response which surprises him. Jack gazes out at the sunset and goes back to his drawing. This time though, he draws Katherine in the picture, looking out over the sunset. She looks more beautiful in person than she does in his mind's eye but he still loves the drawing all the same. Signing the bottom right corner of the drawing, he hurries back down to the apartment. Running into the room he shares with Crutchie, Jack stashes the picture in the drawer in the old side table that he has. Jack goes to pull open the drawer and the handle crushes into a little mold of a fist as he grabs it. Crutchie standing in the doorway stares at Jack and the handle.
"That's why Elley's been calling you Superman then," he says with a chuckle, "Congratulations, Jack!" Jack smiles over at Crutchie.
"Thanks, kid. Now all we have to do is get your powers to show up, don't we?" Jack says. Crutchie starts to smile a little brighter at the mention of his non-existent of yet powers,
"Actually. There's something I need to tell you.."Crutchie starts. Jack stands up straighter and looks his friend in the eye. Suddenly, Race comes running in with Albert and Romeo right on his tail.
"My Lucky Charms! Give them back!! It's not a healthy dinner unless Lucky Charms are all I eat!" Albert shouts.
"Whoa whoa whoa, boys," Jack says, "What's going on here, Racer?"
"He stole my Lucky Charms," Albert groans, "I was going to share them with Romeo but Race didn't ask and just stole them. Said he wanted to see my inner leprechaun come out or something." Jack calmly takes the Lucky Charms from Race's hand and places them in Albert's.
"Race, there's cat treats in the cupboard if you feel the need to eat them," Jack calls out as the three boys leave the room. Noticing how dark it is outside, Jack grabs his skateboard and his backpack leaned up against the corner in his room. He starts to leave until Crutchie calls after him,
"Wait, Jack!"
"Crutch, can we talk later? Snyder asked me to do something and it needs to happen tonight. He was insistent about that," Jack pleads. He notices the sad look on his friend's face and regrets not listening to what his friend has to say for a minute. He has to free his father though and Jack is not giving up on a chance to do that.
"Okay, I guess it can wait. It's kind of a big deal so, I need to tell you eventually," Crutchie says. Jack nods his head.
"I know and I'll be back to here it before you know it," he says. Crutchie smiles softly.
"Good luck and you don't stay out too late either," he calls out as Jack ties the laces on his sneakers and heads out the door.
About an hour or so later, Jack arrives at the city jail where he knows his father is serving his time. Seeing the guards, Jack skates up to the gate and raises a hand to the lock. Immediately, the door swings open. How his father didn't have the power of escape artistry was beyond Jack. Jack slips his skateboard into his backpack before pulling it onto his shoulders. He walks into the prison area where two guards stand watching and making sure that no prisoners are escaping while a third sits a desk.
"Hello, how may I help you?" she asks kindly and Jack thinks for a second.
"I'm Jack Kelly, the son of Raymond Kelly. I need to speak with him about something of highest importance. The principal of my school needs me to talk to him," Jack reasons.
"Mr. Kelly has been on good behavior lately so, we'll allow it for a short time," she says. Jack sits on one side holding a telephone while his father sits on the other looking at him.
"Jack," Raymond says softly, staring into the eyes of his oldest child. The two have not seen each other in over ten years and Jack can't help but stare at his father.
"Dad," he says softly. The guard watches them from a short distance away.
"I'm sorry. I've been a terrible father. You've probably been roughing it on the streets, haven't you?" his father asks and Jack shrugs.
"We do okay," he says quietly, "I'm busting you out of here."
"Jack, I stole to..."his father starts.
"To help people and that's why I've done what I have," Jack says.
"Right, but this is where I belong. I broke the law and I have to face the consequences," Raymond reasons.
"Yes, but Dad, what if people like us could be seen as heroes? What if we didn't have to sit in prison cells or escape them?" Jack asks, "What if we could show people that all we want to do is help?" Raymond thinks for a moment on his son's words.
"I could see that," he says after a moment of pondering. Jack quickly raises his hand and the door unlocks and Raymond hurries over to it. The guard starts to shout but, Jack goes over and punches him square in the face knocking him unconscious without skipping a beat. Raymond runs out as fast as he can. Jack hurries back through the prison, punching guards and knocking them unconscious as he needs to. Raymond stretches out his limbs with his super flexibility to knock out any guards heading their way. Jack uses his powers to unlock and open doors. Finally, they make it to the outside where Jack pulls out his skateboard in thought, thinking of their next move. Raymond and Jack hurry down the street to the nearest subway station. Using some spare money that Jack keeps around for safekeeping, the two buy Raymond a subway pass as well. They find a payphone and quickly call Davey telling him that they need to get to the school right away. Davey meets them back at the apartment complex, his eyebrows furrowed at the man standing next to Jack in the prison outfit.
"Jack?" he asks, "What exactly is the purpose of this?" Jack shoves his Dad into the back of the car.
"Just go, Davey. Snyder needs us," Jack cries out. Davey drives them to Sky High where father and son hurry to Snyder's office. Sure enough, Snyder is there waiting for them.
"Hello, Mr. Kelly and Mr. Kelly," he says as they enter the office, "Good to see you pulled through, Jack." Jack nods his head and Snyder nods Jack to the door. "You may leave now. I have nothing else for you to do right now. Your father will stay at my house for now."
"Goodnight, Dad. See you tomorrow, Snyder," Jack calls out as he leaves.
"That's Principal Snyder to you, Mr. Kelly," Snyder calls after Jack but the call falls on deaf ears. Jack runs out of the high school and back to Davey's car.
"Okay, we're leaving for real this time," Jack says as soon as he reaches the car. Davey cocks an eyebrow.
"That guy was your father, wasn't he? You broke your father out of jail," he says plainly.
"You cannot tell anybody!" Jack cries out as Davey starts the car and begins the journey back down to the city.
"I won't. Not right now, but you can't hide him or what you just did from your sister forever or anyone else for that matter," Davey replies, "Someone is going to catch you eventually for what you just did."
"I'll always get away," Jack remarks, "They may catch me but, I will always get away."
"I'm not talking about you getting caught by the authorities," Davey says, "I'm talking about the boys. Your real family. They're going to get hurt by this and then what are you going to do?" Jack groans angrily.
"I don't know. I just want all of us to be the heroes that I know we've wanted to be. Snyder thinks we can do that," Jack says sadly, "We're all considered to be sidekicks."
"I think you have a better chance at going on a date with Katherine Pulitzer than you do at winning the title of hero at this point," Davey reasons as they approach the apartment complex again that night, "I'll see you tomorrow. Not like I have English homework to get done or anything."
"Sorry," Jack apologizes, "I'll see you tomorrow bright and early."
Jack stays up really late getting his homework done. In fact, Crutchie is already asleep on his mattress in the room that they share by the time Jack gets home for the night so, he knows that the discussion Crutchie wanted to have isn't happening right now. Maybe it will happen later.
The next thing Jack knows, Crutchie is shaking him awake and telling him to get ready for the day. Jack goes around the rest of the house, knocking on doors and yelling at the other boys to get out of bed. Race turns into his cat self and sleepily swats at Jack. Jack swats back at him on his way out of the room. Sitting down to breakfast, Jack starts to eat whatever fruit Medda managed to drop by for the week. Crutchie sits down across from him at the table.
"What is it you wanted to tell me so bad before I left last night?" Jack asks him.
"It's not important right now....you'll find out eventually," Crutchie says quietly. Jack finishes his breakfast and hurries to get ready for the rest of the day. Once everyone is ready, the group hurries over to the bus stop. A bright yellow bus pulls up and Kloppman, the bus driver, opens the door.
"Mornin' Kloppman!" sounds as the boys enter the bus and find their seats. Katherine Pulitzer sits at the very front of the bus, a book in her hand and her hair looking as beautiful as it always does. Jack shoots Crutchie a wink before sliding into the empty seat next to Katherine. The rest of Jack's gang fill the rest of the bus. Elley and Mush sit just across the way, Elley's Walkman sitting in between them as Elley place the headphones on each of their shoulders so they can hear the music. Jack turns to Katherine who shoots him a look over the top of her book.
"Can I help you?" she asks. Jack smirks and takes advantage of this golden opportunity.
"Yes, you can go to the diner with me after school," he answers. Katherine sets down her book and glares at him.
"First of all, that was a lame attempt at asking me out on a date. Second of all, you know I don't frequent the side of town that the diner is in. You might as well have asked me to go on a date with you to the cafeteria at school," she says. Jack suppresses a groan and tugs on his jean jacket. Kloppman starts to pull up to the school.
"How could someone so beautiful say no to such a great place like the diner?" Jack asks Katherine, who is trying to read her book again.
"Because that someone so beautiful isn't in to flirty sidekicks," she says and then she raises the book up in between her and Jack.
"Get your eyes out of your books and on something more appealing," Jack whines. Katherine lowers her book and laughs.
"The clouds are beautiful and so's the sun," she answers with a chuckle. Jack shoots her a lock and sticks out his lower lip.
"But..."Jack starts to continue his whining. Katherine interrupts him,
"Oh. You were talking about you? Oh. Well, my book's plenty interesting. Thank you though." She stands up and hurries off the book as soon as Kloppman stops the bus. Jack lays his hand on the railing and it bends under his strength.
"Try again later, Jacky Boy," Race says as he passes Jack on his way out of the bus. Jack opens the doors to the school with his powers and lets everyone pass through before closing it behind the group again. Finding his way to his locker. Jack uses his powers to pick the lock and open the door. Grabbing his book for first period and stashing his skateboard in his locker, Jack hurries to his first period class. Just like every other day, Jack sits in class, bored out of his mind. Katherine sits next to him in his fifth period just before lunch. He doodles on a loose leaf sheet of paper and slides it to her. Katherine looks at it and rolls her eyes, half tempted to throw in on the floor but, she doesn't want to make a scene or get in trouble.
Lunchtime is where things get interesting. Oscar and Morris Delancey start to pick on Crutchie as he stands in line to get his food.
"You know, it doesn't help either one of you to pick on someone like me. It makes the both of you look like wimps," he says, trying to dissuade them from sending him across the lunchroom. Oscar stretches and traps Crutchie into a corner. Jack sets his backpack down at the table that the boys always sit at and casually walks over.
"What's the problem here?" he asks, crossing his arms. Crutchie brightens up a little at Jack's appearance.
"Beat it, Kelly. It doesn't concern you," Oscar snarls, turning back to harassing Crutchie. Jack grabs him by the collar and throws him across the room, sending him flying into a trash can. Trash spills out and covers him. Morris starts to charge at Jack with his superspeed but Jack reaches up and grabs him out of his speed. He turns him towards the wall and Morris has no time to stop before smashing hard right into the wall. Jack rolls his eyes and looks to Crutchie.
"You alright?" he asks his friend. Crutchie nods his head before joining the rest of the boys at the table.
"When did you get super strength?" Mush asks as soon as he sits down.
"Last night," Jack says, "Broke the fire escape ladder and that's the first time they appeared." Mush's eyes widen a little bit but the conversation stops as a battered Oscar Delancey approaches Jack. Jack notices Mush's arm protectively slide over his sister's shoulders. Race does something similar to Flavi.
"Wiesel's gonna make sure you pay for that," he snarls before walking away to go see what had happened to his brother. Mush squeezes Elley's shoulders one more time before letting her go. The boys eat their lunch quickly before the bell rings signaling them back to class. Chatter of the Hero Festival arriving in New York that evening fills the halls as the group walks through.
"Supposedly Principal Snyder is going to make a special kind of appearance with new heroes or something," one girl was saying to Katherine. Katherine's eyes flick to Jack's briefly before ditching her friend and pulling him off to the side.
"Something's wrong. Dad says you were here twice last night," she says to him.
"Your Daddy saw me here twice last night?"Jack asks, "Certainly didn't see him." Katherine frowns and crosses her arms.
"You wouldn't have, but you were with Snyder and another man. Something is going on here. My dad doesn't know who the man that was with you," she replies. Jack sets his jaw grimly, trying to think of what to do.
"I really need to get to class," Jack says, pushing his way past Katherine. Suddenly, he feels himself being pulled back by Katherine's telekinesis powers. He represses the urge to sigh.
"You're not going anywhere until we talk," she says, "I think you've been tricked." Jack starts to think through everything. His father really was a criminal for stealing the food that he had to feed poor kids. He had helped rob places just to make a quick buck for his family and to keep worse people from hurting his kids. Maybe his father isn't the hero Jack believes him to be.
"I think I have too. I've made a mess of things. I broke my dad out of jail and brought him to Snyder last night. Snyder claims he's going to make us all heroes and get rid of the idea that only people in flashy costumes can be heroes," Jack explains, "He's right, but he's not the one to do it. There's something else missing here."
"Do you want to come with me to the festival and figure this out?" Katherine asks him. Jack looks up at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Miss Katherine, are you asking me out on a date?" he asks. Katherine rolls her eyes at him.
"Come on, you flirt of a boy. We're already late to class as it is," she says. Jack holds up a finger and rises to his feet.
"I know somewhere we can go to make a plan," he says, grabbing Katherine's hand and pulling her towards Miss Medda's choir classroom. He knocks on the classroom, knowing that Medda just happens not to have a class this period. She opens the door and smiles.
"Come on in. Judging by the looks on both of your faces, something big has happened," she says, inviting the two teens into her classroom.
"Something big is going to happen. Tonight, at the Heroes Festival," Katherine says, "We just need to..." She turns to Jack, "read his mind."
"Elley...Elley could read his mind," Jack says, "I'll send Mush in there with her just in case. Can you come to where we live after school? Our apartments? We really need to make a plan once we figure out what's going on there." Katherine and Jack stay for the rest of the class period, trying to think of what could be happening and what they could do to stop it.
"I'll try to see who of the heroes are actually going to be at the Festival tonight. My guess is if Snyder's trying to get rid of heroes, he's going to try to take them out somehow. Even the teens," she reasons.
"You're not safe," Jack says worriedly looking at her. Katherine can see the seriousness in his eyes. There's none of the goofy flirty boy from earlier.
"It's a Heroes festival. It will throw him off guard that you're there. All of your friends are sidekicks, me and my friends would be the only ones who aren't," Katherine reasons sadly. Jack reaches over and takes her hand reassuringly.
"It's going to be okay. I'll protect you from whatever he has planned even if it turns out to be nothing," he says, rubbing his thumb gently over Katherine's knuckles. Their heads slowly start to move closer until Miss Medda interrupts,
"Excuse me. My classroom is not the breeding place for makeout sessions or first kisses." Jack and Katherine both chuckle and pull away quickly. Both teen's hands retreat into their laps.
"Sorry, Miss Medda," Jack apologizes over his shoulder.
The rest of the day seems to drag on. Jack finds his sister after school.
"Ells, can I ask you to go read someone's mind?" he asks quickly. Elley looks at him and thinks for a second.
"We're going to need to create a scene. I won't even need to talk to him," Elley says before calling across the hallway to Romeo, "Hey, Romeo! Can you help me out with something with that charmspeak of yours?" Mush starts to his vocalize his lack of involvement,
"Do you just want me to...?" Elley throws his arm around her shoulders.
"You're going to be there right by my side. Complain that I'm harassing you if Romeo can't charm this person into talking about the Heroes Festival like Jack wants him to," she explains, tossing a look at her brother.
"When are you going to stop reading my mind?" he asks her.
"Never. You also have a lot of explaining to do when this is all over. There's a lot you're not telling me in person," she replies, "Or be better at hiding your thoughts. Not really sure how you do that though." Jack rolls his eyes.
"Just come find me when you know what's happening," he responds before leaving the matter in his sister's hands. Romeo approaches Elley and Mush.
"You ready?"she asks, looking at her two friends, "Romeo, you need to use your charmspeak to get Principal Snyder to talk about the Heroes Festival. Mush, you're there for muscle, moral support, and buying me more time to read Snyder's mind if Romeo can't butter him up so that he'll talk about it."
"Sounds good! Let's go," Romeo says as he practically skips to the Principals' office. He knocks on the door and Principal Snyder opens it.
"Hello. May I help you?" Snyder asks with a stoic expression on his face. Elley and Mush stand not far behind. Elley starts to read Snyder's mind and a troubling thought hits her first.
The girl's father....she'll see him and my whole plan will be ruined. Everything I worked so hard to do for tonight....if she sees him, I'll lose my chance at ruling the city.
Elley has seen all that she needs to see.
"I need to go, but I'll let the two of you talk," she says, hurrying away to find her brother. Jack is standing by his locker, talking to Katherine when Elley slams him up against his locker.
"Ells?" Mush asks, looking for his best friend.
"Elley!" Jack exclaims at his sister's anger.
"Why didn't you tell me?" she asks angrily, "Why didn't you tell me Snyder has Dad? How does he have Dad? Why is Dad with him? How did Dad break out jail? His crimes were minor but he committed enough that he's not getting out anytime soon." Jack tries to ignore his sister and her questions.
"Elley, I was tricked..."Jack starts but Elley shakes her head.
"I don't understand why you would hide something that big from me. What did Snyder think he was going to do? Fix our family? All he's going to do is destroy it. Especially with his plans to take over the city. Now, if you'll excuse me, my work here is done. I gave you your info. He didn't want me to find out that Dad was here but I did. Dad knows about this plan, Jack. You're the one who broke him out, aren't you?" Elley snaps.
"Yes, but Snyder told me that he could make Dad a hero and that I could be a hero too. I have been in jail because I was trying to help people and not taking the most legal way to do it," Jack explains, "Now that I've thought about it though, it's just the opposite. Dad's a real criminal and I'm just...a frequent visitor of a juvie center who has good intentions. I don't know how to fix this. I was tricked into thinking we could fix things and that the people who actually do save the city in fancy costumes can't. I don't have to wear a fancy costume to do that though." Elley quickly pulls her brother in for a hug.
"You were planning on stopping them anyways, weren't you?" she whispers as tears gently start to flow down her cheeks. Jack nods his head as he rest his chin on top of her head.
"I wasn't going to let them get away with this. Dad stole for his own personal gain, not that my stealing is right either but juvie centers can be oppressive to kids who have special powers. They sometimes are 'forgotten' about," he says, "I was just trying to help them not be forgotten about. There's a difference." Elley nods her head.
"Are you honestly ever going to serve a day in prison though? You always keep escaping," she reasons. Jack chuckles,
"We'll see. Sounds like we have a city to save first."
Back at the apartment complex, Katherine, Jack and the rest of Jack's gang work through a plan. Jack decides to go as Katherine's date...even though Katherine claims they're not really dating. Katherine had informed her two friends Bill and Darcy earlier that day of the plan and they had agreed to helping if they could even though both Jack and Katherine suspect that the heroes are going to become disabled somehow but they have no idea how or when that will happen. Davey agrees with them,
"If he's made this good of a plan, who's to say he won't disable the heroes in some way? He's too smart not to at this point."
Once the group come up with a plan, Jack and Katherine take the subway downtown. Jack laces his fingers with Katherine's and she squeezes his hand in reassurance. The two of them enter the festival. Heroes are everywhere and there is not a sidekick in sight. This is for the heroes to celebrate what they themselves have done. Jack feels very out of place here.
"This could be you someday soon," Katherine whispers in his ear and to Jack's surprise, kisses his cheek. Jack's face flushes red the tiniest bit at the kiss.
"I hope so. Or this will be the last thing we ever do," Jack says, holding her hands in his with a sad smile on his face. He leans down and quickly kisses Katherine's lips before pulling away to go look for his father.
Personally, Katherine feels that his kiss was entirely too short. Jack looks around making sure his father is not around yet. Heroes filter into a building and Jack watches as a struggle starts. A young girl is being taken inside and she is struggling against a little bit. Katherine walks over to Jack and notices as someone pulls her inside....Oscar Delancy.
"She knows what's happening," Katherine says quietly. Jack quickly starts to push her towards the exit.
"Get out of here. Go hide. I don't care where. Just please find somewhere safe to go," Jack whispers, moving her quickly towards the door.
"Ahhhh, Kelly! Wonderful of you to show up!" Snyder calls from a platform. Jack turns back to face Snyder as Katherine runs away.
"You're not going to get away with this, Snyder," Jack yells up to the man.
"Oh? So, you know of my plans," Snyder states as Jack's own father starts to move towards him. His arms begin to stretch out so he can grab Jack. Jack merely shakes them off and throws a punch to his father's face. Raymond falls back on his back and stares up at his son.
"Jack, please..."Raymond starts to beg, "Just listen to him, please."
"Yeah...fat chance of that. Making me think that you could be a hero, that I could be a hero," Jack thinks out loud. He stops and raises his fist to strike again.
"He wants to try to fix things, Jack," Elley says, coming out of her hiding place. She moves her head up to face Snyder, "Nobody tricks my brother and gets away with it. Besides, we Kellys have a knack for getting into trouble." Jack looks down at his father.
"Please, Jack. Let me live and go back to jail. Besides, you wouldn't kill your father," Raymond says quietly. Jack nods his head, starting to let his father go.
"Raymond," Snyder growls, "remember who saved you all those years ago? Kept you safe? I think you owe this to me." Jack looks at his father who appears very conflicted. Suddenly, Jack feels himself be lifted into the air and tossed onto the ground. Elley soon comes flying towards Jack but he leaps into the air and catches her before she can hit the ground.
"You need to get out of here, you can't defend yourself," Jack says to her.
"I needed to see Dad again," Elley pleads, "He's innocent in all of this. Jack, he never wanted to leave prison. He never lied to you. He was willing to pay the price for his actions. Snyder twisted everything."
"He's been threatening to kill you two. Both of you. He knew you two would figure out eventually. I'm proud to be your father. If nothing else comes out of this or we don't make it, just know that," Raymond says, lying on his back, "You two have grown up to be better teenagers than I ever could have been." Elley throws her arms around her father's neck and hugs him tightly. Suddenly, fireballs come flying out of the sky and land on either side of them. Snyder is throwing them at the family on the ground.
"Elley!!!!" A shout from the alleyway cries. Mush comes running out and triple flips over the fire balls surrounding Elley and her father. Jack tosses his father onto his back and the two of them jump over the flames.
"Mush!! You weren't supposed to..."Elley complains but Mush squats down.
"Jump on. We don't have much time," he commands. Elley climbs on and wraps her arms around his neck. Mush leaps high up over the flames. The rest of the boys and the girls come running into the arena. Katie immediately runs over to Oscar to try to convince him onto their side.
"Snyder!" Jack shouts, "You're about to lose to a bunch of sidekicks! You were right. Anyone can be a hero. Some of us just have different ways of being heroes. Except you think heroes would ruin your taking over the city."
"I was so close. I could have done it without you, Kelly. Nothing about this plan truly involves you. I just wanted to watch you get hurt. You have caused me so much trouble with all of your escape acts. I just want to put an end to you and everything you love because of how much trouble you have caused me," Snyder growls, "All there is left to do is get rid you and all of the annoying sidekicks." Jack feels the frustration growing inside of him. No one is going to touch his boys....ever. He runs up and punches the building with as much force that he has. The building begins to crumble around him. Jack runs out and suddenly, Crutchie lifts his crutch and from his other hand, lightening starts to spark. He puts his hand on the metal crutch and aims at Snyder. Snyder howls in pain at the electric shock. The Delanceys start to scuffle with the other boys. Blink races after Morris and his super speed. Romeo charms Mr. Wiesel, the Delancey's uncle and the right hand man of Mr. Snyder, into walking into a carriage. Race shape shifts into a cat and bites him. He doesn't let go. Skittery finds a bow and arrow lying around as memorabilia from one of the last heroes, and since he never misses his target, hits Weasel into a park bench. Race bites him the whole way there.
Elmer grins and kneels down as Blink runs past with Morris right on his tail. He ices the ground Morris is right about to run and Morris goes sliding across the festival grounds and into a park bench. Davey, who can recall any kind of information that he's experienced...ever, remembers that he briefly noticed a pay phone not too far away. Falcon turns into a giant bird and scoops up Oscar. She drops him next to Albert. Albert uses his fire powers to trap the three thugs on the park bench.
Snyder glares up at Jack, still barely conscious.
"Someday, Kelly," he gasps out, "You're gonna pay for all of this."
"Nah, you're gonna spend a lifetime in jail," Jack says as the police arrive. Katherine reappears with Davey which Jack notices. The police, after Elmer puts out the fire that Albert lit to keep the Delanceys and Weasel trapped, arrest the three of them for being accomplices in helping Snyder attempt to take over the city. Another group of them pull a weak Snyder to his feet. They haul him off as he promises that someday, he will take his revenge. The group comes together and Raymond smiles as he stands from his place off to the side.
"Now, you're all heroes," he says, "Even if you never get recognized for this and if no one else hears it, you are protectors of this city." Jack pulls Katherine close to him and wraps an arm around her waist.
"He's right. We're all heroes and this city will always be ours to secretly protect," Jack says and the boys look onto the city that they just saved.
AN:/ Once again...you were WARNED. This turned out to be a crazy long one. I've actually been working on this for awhile just because I really couldn't come up with anything but I finally did and I think it's pretty good. There were nods to the Back to the Future because this is the 1980s. I hope that the powers were appropriate for their respective characters. I tried to research those fairly thoroughly and I asked for some help from some peeps on here (thank you for your help, I appreciate it). It's finally done. I started it in January and now it's finally done. I hope you guys liked it. It was a fun and long one to write. I had fun writing it once I got into it. Also, Elley got some more character development that I personally really liked for her. This whole oneshot was fun. If anything, I feel like I could have included more of their high school life in it but..maybe not? I don't know. It's really long as is.
Might try to do a shorter update (thank goodness, these long ones can be super draining to write sometimes) in Stars and Sabers (my newly released Star Wars book that I released this past week for all of my Star Wars fans out there) sometime either tomorrow or Monday.
Thank you thank you thank you for everything that you guys do on here. I appreciate it a lot!! I love reading your thoughts and just commentary on what's happening in the story. Thanks for even just reading too if that's all you do. It still matters to me. :) Hope you all enjoyed it. See you around.
-Aisling