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csi_sanders1129Chapters: 1/1
Author:
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csi_sanders1129Genre: AU, Drama
Ratings: T
Word Count: 2583
Pairings/Characters: Will Stronghold/Warren Peace
Synopsis: In which Will and Warren have to make a decision – leave Maxville or face the consequences.
Comments: Set in an AU in which Warren's dad didn't get arrested and instead persisted in messing up Warren's life. As a result, the events of the movie, with Royal Pain, didn't really happen, though Warren did still end up becoming friends with Will & Company.
This, technically, could be an AU of my other Sky High fics (I use the same superhero names for Warren and Will), but it's not necessary to read those (Combustion and Burning Brighter Still) to understand anything happening here.
Also, this might... possibly... end up with some sort of follow up fic, but not now.
Characters not mine! Title from ‘Fast Car’ by Tracy Chapman. Thanks for reading! Comments and kudos are awesome!
"Let's just go," Will says, staring up into the darkness of the night sky. They're parked at the edge of an overgrown field, out on the borders of Maxville, and the two of them are settled together in the bed of Warren's ancient pick-up truck, with an old air-mattress serving as a bed as they watch the stars. They're out well passed Will's curfew, and the chill of an unseasonably cold May wind is biting wherever it hits bare skin, but they don't care – they're tangled together, a mess of limbs and blankets, warmed by Warren's fire, and they're not planning to move anytime soon. Warren gives an inquisitive 'hmm?' in response to Will's ambiguous statement, too close to the edges of sleep for anything more coherent. "You and me, Warren. Let's just leave Maxville. Go somewhere new, where no one knows us. We can't be any worse off than we are here, now, can we?"
Suddenly Warren's much more awake. He shifts in Will's arms, displacing the fingers Will had been lazily carding through his hair. He rolls to face him, his dark brown eyes scanning Will's face for some sort of explanation for this idea, since it must seem like it comes out of nowhere, even though it's been something Will's thought about for weeks now. "Don't even joke about that," he says, but Will knows Warren better than anyone else on the planet – he knows Warren wants a way out of their present situation just as much as he does. There's something desperate in the older boy's gaze, something maybe a little like hope.
So it's a good thing Will isn't joking.
"Just think," he tries to plead his case, "We could get a place of our own. Where my parents can't try to stop us from being together. Where your dad can't force you into any more of his schemes, not ever again. You've got the car, I've got some money saved up." He grabs for Warren's hand, twines their fingers together. "We could do it, you know, find some other town where we're not trapped between superheroes and supervillains constantly vying for power and make something for ourselves. We could just… live, Warren."
Warren sits up straighter, heaves a resigned sigh, gives Will's hand a gentle squeeze before he pulls it away. "We can't. You know we can't."
"Says who?"
To Will, it seems like Warren's steeling himself for whatever he's going to say next. "Says me. You're gonna be a superhero, Stronghold, the best one Maxville's ever had, and I'm not gonna be the one to stop you. You're meant to be something great."
"And so are you," Will insists. "You're gonna be right there with me. Wherever we are. We're partners."
Warren shakes his head. This is an argument they've had many times before and there's no reason to have it again now. "You're the only one who thinks that," he says, and Will watches as Warren swings himself out of the truck, walking a few feet away to lean against the old and rickety wooden fence on the edge of the field.
"I always will," he swears to himself, before he hops out and follows after Warren.
He doesn't say anything yet, just stands at Warren's side and lets him brood. He'll talk when he's ready, Will knows, when he's thought this through. But, while he waits, he thinks on it, too.
Will frowns out at the unkempt field in front of him. He hates that it's come to this. He hates that Warren Peace has been a pariah in Maxville since before he was even born, all because he was Baron Battle's son. He hates that no one cares that Warren hates his father just as much as everyone else in town, probably more; that no one cares that he's never wanted to be a part of his father's villainy. Will's the only one who knows just how much Warren's dealt with in resisting his father. For years, Warren's faced threats of violence and endured physical beatings, but eventually Baron Battle had figured out his son's weakness – and then he'd started threatening Will.
Warren hadn't had much of a choice after that.
The first time had been something simple. He'd helped out on a bank robbery, melting the mechanisms that would've otherwise prevented entry into the vault. The second had been a bit more involved – starting a fire in a run-down apartment building in order for a friend of his father's to gain control of the land for some unsavory development deal. The only reason Warren agreed had been because he'd made sure the building was empty. The third time had been worse – Baron Battle had aimed his son's fire power at some low-level thug to try to get information out of the guy. When he didn't talk, Warren had refused to kill him despite his father's command. One of his father's lackeys, however, had no issues carrying out the order and had eagerly stepped in to finish the job. Baron Battle had made Warren watch.
Despite Warren's attempts to fly under the radar while placating his father, the last incident had drawn too much attention – as far as the superheroes were concerned, as far as the media and the citizens of Maxville and the world was concerned, Warren's alter-ego, Inferno, was officially a supervillain.
And that's where the problem really sets in.
Today is the day after Graduation Day at Sky High. Will is officially a superhero now. Yesterday had been a day full of celebrations and parties, but tomorrow, the Commander and Jetstream plan to announce that their son, Airstrike, will join them in the family business.
Tomorrow Airstrike and Inferno officially become enemies.
"We can't run."
The words break Will out of his own thoughts and he turns to find Warren, still just a little bit taller than him, frowning down at him as if he's come to an unfortunate conclusion. "Why not?"
"What makes you think they won't come after us? Your parents - Hell, no one will think we ran away together – they'll think I took you, or brainwashed you, in some sort of crazy scheme for my father. They'll send out search parties to hunt us down and get you back. And if Baron Battle catches us, catches you, then he'll…" Warren doesn't tell him what Baron Battle will do, but the look of dread on his face tells him more than enough. "We can't risk it."
"There's risk to staying, too. What happens the first time we end up on opposite sides of a fight?" Will points out the clear and imminent possibility facing their relationship. "Anything he forces you into after tomorrow, anything my parents get called out to deal with, I'll be there, too. And no one's going to let you and I sit on the sidelines while they duke it out." Warren looks ready to say something in response, but Will plows on. He decides against mentioning what could happen if Warren isn't with his father on any of these hypothetical encounters. "What happens when your dad gives you an ultimatum, 'you fight him or I do,' or threatens to hurt you if I don't get the superheroes to back off? You don't want him near me; I don't want him near you – so let's get the hell away from him before he can do anything else. We can lay low somewhere, build up our own reputation, somewhere they don't know Inferno or Airstrike. By the time they find us, we'll be established enough to stop him."
He's starting to wear down Warren's resolve against this, he knows, but he's not quite there yet, there's still something holding him back.
"I can't ask you to give up everything to run away with me," Warren says.
There it is.
"What am I giving up, Warren? I'm giving up the Stronghold Three, but that was my parents dream, not mine. I was never going to partner with them for the rest of my life – the only person I want to partner with is you. I'm giving up Maxville, but what's that against going someplace where we aren't living in our parents' shadows?" It's not even like they'd be alone in leaving. Several of their friends from Sky High are leaving Maxville, too. Layla's going to protect the Amazon and he almost feels sorry for anyone who tries to stop her. Magenta's joined up with a group of other shape-shifters to fight animal testing. Zach and Ethan are teaming up and road-tripping it across the country in an attempt to figure out where they want to be, scouting out different ways they can use their powers for good. There's nothing stopping them from doing the same.
It doesn't help that Will's parents have never approved of his friendship with Warren (he can't imagine what they'd do if they knew about their relationship). He supposes he understands their perspective – the son of one of the biggest supervillains Maxville has ever seen befriending the son of the biggest superheroes, in what universe was that not suspicious? If Will didn't know better, if Will hadn't been the one to badger Warren into those early days of cordiality in his freshman year at Sky High, he might even agree with them. But they don't know Warren. His parents had done everything they could to keep Will away from Warren, but nothing had worked. There was no stopping them when Warren was still in school, where they were free to hang out at lunch or between classes. After Warren graduated two years ago, when he'd claimed Inferno, they tried harder. But, for once in his life, Will hadn't followed the rules – he'd broken every single one for Warren.
Maybe if it hadn't been that way, if they'd accepted Will's assurances that Warren wasn't like his father, things could have been different. They could have gone to Will's parents for help before things got so complicated. They could have stopped Baron Battle before he pulled Warren into his world.
But, it wasn't like that.
So, here they are.
Standing at the edge of a field on the edge of town in the middle of the night, contemplating their future.
"The one thing I'm not willing to give up is you. I love you," he finishes, which is a thing they've said to each other before, long before tonight, but it's a thing that he means with every fiber of his being, even if Warren still looks vaguely shell-shocked every time he hears the words.
Warren takes a deep breath and turns to face Will a little bit more directly. "You really willing to do this, aren't you?"
"With you? For you? For us?" Will asks, before answering with a resolute and emphatic, "Yes."
"Okay. Then we'll do it."
"Seriously?" Will asks, just to be sure.
In answer, Warren pulls him into his arms, presses a kiss to Will's forehead. "You and me, Stronghold. Anywhere but here. But…"
"But?"
"We go tonight," Warren says, and the look on his face suggests that he thinks he'll find this a deal breaker. But, he's wrong.
Will isn't surprised by this caveat at all. In fact, he'd been thinking the same thing. Tomorrow's announcement would be too big a risk, too big a target for any supervillains, let alone Baron Battle, to pass up. It's the best chance they have of getting away without anyone trying to stop them. "Perfect. We can stop by my place so I can grab some stuff - I'll leave my parents a note so they at least consider the possibility you didn't take me. Then we stop by your place so you can grab what you need and we get going." He leans up, kisses Warren soundly for a long moment – it'll be the last time they're here to do it, after all. "Let's go."
But Warren holds tight, keeps him trapped in his arms for a little longer, maybe reveling in that same feeling, in the peace they've found out here in the middle of nowhere – soon they'll be somewhere new, somewhere safe. "I love you, too," he says, stealing another kiss before he finally releases Will.
Will grabs his hand and leads him back to the truck.
They'll be gone by morning, he's sure.
They are.
They stop at Will's place, as discussed. Warren pulls his truck to a stop just down the street from the Stronghold house, like he always does when he sneaks Will back after a night spent by the field, only this time he doesn't leave, but waits there, while Will hurries to his room, climbing in through the window and immediately setting to work. He haphazardly throws some things into a bag – clothes, some photos, a couple little things with fond memories attached, the money he's been saving up. When that's done, he scribbles a note to his parents – he tells them that he's running away with Warren, that they shouldn't try to come after him because even if they manage to find him, he won't come back with them, that maybe one day he'll send them a wedding invitation or something. Airstrike's costume is down in the sanctum, but that's fine, because he has no intention of taking it with him. He opens his closet, instead, digs into the depths of it, where he's hidden the one he does want, the version he made himself that matches Warren's costume better than the red, white, and blue theme the Commander and Jetstream favor.
With one last look around his room, he takes his things and leaves.
Warren's place is their next stop – luckily, he doesn't live with his father, he's been on his own in an apartment for a few years now, which makes things much easier than it would have been if they'd needed to sneak by Baron Battle to pull this escape off. Still, Will finds waiting in the car just as troubling as Warren had. He's anxious and terrified that something is going to go wrong now that they're so close to getting out. It seems like it takes Warren forever to return to the truck, to throw his bags into the back with Will's things, but the clock suggests only the passage of a few minutes.
Warren climbs back into the truck, buckles himself in. "You okay?" he asks, taking in Will's vaguely panicked expression.
Will grabs his hand, shakes off the paranoia because they're going to do this, they're going to get out and no one is going to stop them. Will won't let anything stop them. "Fine," he promises, feeling just that little bit more relieved when Warren tangles their fingers together as he backs out of the driveway and gets them on the road. He aims the truck toward the highway and drives.
They trade the dark sky and the scattered stars overhead for the beginnings of pale pinks and oranges on the horizon, the first signs of sunrise as they leave Maxville behind. The more distance they put between themselves and the lives they're leaving behind, the more the tension drains away. By the time they cross the county line, it's like they're entirely different people, free from their roles in whatever twisted, nightmare, superhero versus supervillain version of Romeo and Juliet that Maxville had tried to force them to play. They're speeding down the highway toward their future, whatever and wherever that may be for them, together.
