A/N : The end is nigh, but hopefuly you'll all like it!
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 8 - Let Me Get What I Want
"Gwen isn't Royal Pain's daughter, she is Royal Pain" Ethan explained as he hurried back down the hall towards his friends, "the Pacifier exploding turned her back to a baby" he reported to the group who were now sitting on the floor with a map of the school spread between them. It had been Warren's task to burn the lock out on the door to the room where these plans were kept, whilst Zack, Magenta, and Layla watched for trouble and Ethan did a little recon, trickling in his liquid state towards the gym and checking out how Will was doing.
"Dude, Will made out with an old lady?!" Zack commented, with a grossed out look on his face, but as Layla quickly pointed out, they didn't have time to talk about such trivial things right now.
"Here's the antigravity room" Warren pointed out on the plans as the red-head leaned over the paper with him.
"Didn't Royal Pain seal off every route?" she checked as Ethan came to crouch beside her and check out the map.
"What about this conduit?" he suggested as Zack scoffed.
"Right" he rolled his eyes, "You'd have to be like a rat to fit in there"
It took just a second for the group to realise that the throw-away comment actually had some use and meaning. All eyes turned to Magenta, who looked decidedly unimpressed by what they seemed to be suggesting - that she use her shape-shifting abilities to become her guinea pig self and crawl down the tiny conduit.
"Oh, great" she sighed, but they all knew she'd do it anyway.
As Zack gave his girl a pep talk, Ethan studied the plans some more, knowing someone would have to yell instructions to the Magenta guinea pig as she took the small tunnels to the antigravity room.
"Ethan" Layla's hand on his shoulder caught his attention, "How was Will doing?" she checked, "Do you think he can beat Gwen?"
The look on his face was enough to tell both her and Warren that he wasn't so sure. The couple glanced at each other and a silent agreement was made - they had to go and help Will defeat Royal Pain, and hope they weren't too late.
Grabbing each others hands, Warren and Layla ran down the hall towards the gym, arriving just in time to see the enemy, who was really Gwen Grayson, throw Will towards the window on the other side of the room. He went through the glass with an almighty crash.
"Will! No!" Layla screamed, knowing there was no way anyone could survive the fall her best friend had just taken.
"And there goes your last chance of stopping me" Royal Pain said triumphantly as she turned on the red-head and her man. Warren stepped in between the two women, but was prevented from needing to fight as Will appeared through the broken window, apparently unharmed - and flying!
"Surprised?" he said shakily, "So am I" he admitted as he zoomed in through the window.
Whilst Royal Pain was distracted, Warren launched a fire ball at the back of her head, knocking her to the floor and giving Will a little more advantage as he swooped back into the building, picking up the supervillian and dropping her from a great height. As she travelled down to earth another well timed ball of flame struck her body and by the time she hit the ground she was sufficiently injured that she would not be getting up again. What the heroes around her didn't realise was that her plan was already taking shape. Stitches would have the babies on the bus by now, flying away from Sky High, and she had just enough power left to reach for the button that would switch off the school's antigravity device and send it plummeting to earth.
"Nooo!" Layla wailed as the ground beneath her feet shifted and the whole school began to fall from the sky. She grabbed onto Warren who in turned held her tight as they crouched together on the floor of the gym.
"It's okay, we're gonna be okay" he told he, holding her tight, though in all honesty his confidence in that particular truth was waning.
They should have had more belief in their friends. Magenta was, as they spoke, expertly chewing through the wire to the mechanism that Royal Pain had placed on the anti-gravity device, and Will was, even now, beneath the school, attempting to catch it in mid-air before it managed to hit the ground. He knew it would mean terrible destruction and he was the only one who might be able to save the day.
Zack and Ethan were screaming in the hallway of the school, yelling through the airduct to Magenta as they held on to each other and encouraged the guinea pig girl to chew the wire faster, or they were all going to die. Though the pressure was immense she managed to do as they told her and the school came to a grinding halt. Unbeknownst to those inside, Will was beneath them all, catching the plummeting Sky High moments before it crushed a couples house, and lifting it carefully back up where it belonged.
A group effort, by heroes and side-kicks combined had saved the school, and everyone in it.
"Hey, it's over" Warren told Layla whom he was holding in his arms, the two of them sitting on the floor of the gym, "We're okay"
"Thank God" she smiled with relief as she looked at him, "For a minute there I really thought..."
"Yeah" he nodded, knowing just how she felt, "Kinda scary"
"Wow" Layla smiled, "If Warren Peace was scared then maybe I don't feel so bad about being petrified" she told him.
"Shut up" he said shoving her gently and grinning, before he leant in to kiss her.
They were glad to be alive, and even more glad to be together.
With the school back where it should be, Gwen and all her friends adequately disabled, and most of the babies de-pacified, things seemed to be very much as they should be at Sky High, although there were one or two things that had changed forever, and for the better.
"Mom? Dad? Guys?" Will shifted awkwardly as he gathered together the people he must apologise to, "I just want to say I'm sorry, because, well, this whole thing was kind of my fault"
"Honey, you can't blame yourself" his mother told him kindly, "The whole award thing was a trap"
"And so was the Homecoming, Will" his father chipped in, "We all fell into Royal Pain's trap, but you defeated her. You saved Sky High, and everyone in her"
"I didn't do it by myself" Will smiled across at Ethan, Zack, Magenta, and finally Layla and Warren who stood hand in hand, smiling still.
"Well, I think I know exactly what to do with this award" Josie smiled as she took it from Mr Boy's hands, "It belongs to them" she said as she handed it to the group of kids before her, "The sidekicks. I mean, hero support" she corrected herself, with an embarrassed look.
"Why don't we just call them what they really are, Josie?" her husband told her, "They're heroes, every one of them" he smiled, and nobody was more proud of that title than Warren Peace. He'd been labelled a villain via his father for too long. Now he stood most definitely on the side of good, beside this girl whose hand he held. Layla was the best thing that could ever have happened to him, and he loved Sky High for being the institution that brought them together.
"I have de-Pacified all the babies and destroyed that horrible weapon forever" Mr Medulla announced from the stage in the slightly battered gym, "Let's boogie!" he cheered as the music was cranked up and everybody took to the dancefloor. Even Zack got a chance to bust a move as Magenta gave in and danced with him.
To one side, Layla stood between Will and Warren, feeling awkward. She so wanted to dance again with her new boyfriend, but Will was her best friend and she would feel awful about leaving him all alone.
"I can't believe how tonight turned out" Will shook his head, "I mean, I meet this perfect girl and she actually likes me, and on what should have been the greatest night ever, she turns out to be a supervillain in disguise" he sighed, "Then there's you two, and hey, no offence man, but you look way more like a supervillian than Gwen did" he told Warren, who shrugged off the semi-insult, "And you guys end up all together and happy"
"It's true" Layla smiled up at her man, the memories of all the bad stuff that had happened tonight just slipping away behind all the happier thoughts, the moments she'd spent in Warren's arms, the few times he'd kissed her...
"Well, that's it" Will interrupted her thought process with a snap, "No more women for me, not for a while anyway" he said firmly, looking as though he really meant it.
"Um, excuse me" said a voice behind the trio suddenly, and they all turned to see a girl standing behind Will. She seemed to flicker in the bright lights, almost as if she might disappear at any moment. With a visible effort she came back to solidity and smiled.
"Hi" Layla greeted the girl when it seemed Will was just too in awe of her to do it himself.
"I... I just, I wanted to come over and say, well, I think you're amazing" she told the young man who grinned back at her, going a little red, "I mean, you saved the school and everything and... well, I just wanted to tell you" she ended a little lamely, feeling so stupid.
She'd really wanted to make a good first impression on Will Stronghold. He was the most amazing person to her, she just wanted him to notice her. It'd make a nice change for anyone to pay attention to her, though it wasn't really anyone's fault that she was often overlooked. Her own power was invisibility, but controlling it was still somewhat of a problem for her, and her nervousness always activated the superpower that, whilst a blessing in some ways, could also be a real curse.
"Hey" Will called her back as she turned to go, "Er, what's your name?"
"Misty" she told him nervously, concentrating hard so as not to disappear again.
"Would you like to dance, Misty?" Will asked her, holding out his hand as Layla and Warren glanced at each other in astonishment. One minute their friend was swearing off the opposite sex forever, and now he was asking to dance with the very next pretty girl that came along!
In moments the pair were making their way out onto the dancefloor and Warren turned to Layla.
"So, now do we get to dance too?" he asked and she nodded her head.
As they moved out onto the floor, neither could stop themselves from smiling, as they wrapped their arms around each other and swayed to the music just like they had been some time ago before Royal Pain had brought havoc to the proceedings.
"This is kind of familiar" Warren smirked as they danced.
"It is" Layla agreed, "Now what was it we were doing before we got interrupted?" she asked with a certain look in her eye that he recognised instantly. They both remembered exactly where they were as they leaned in close and their lips met in an explosive kiss that was, this time, uninterrupted by anyone.
Both Warren and Layla were smiling when they parted.
"You think every school dance will be this exciting?" she said thoughtfully, as he stared down into her eyes.
"As long as I'm with you, who cares?" Warren shrugged, and he meant every word.
The End
A/N2 : And that's all she wrote! Sky High has now ended just how I wanted it too, and hey, I even made up a girl for Will since he didn't get Layla in this fic!
Power to the Warren/Layla shippers! (and anybody else who got a kick out of this fic!)