Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High or its characters, settings etc, all of which belong to Disney. Original characters and concepts belong to me.

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews, and thanks to Protector of Canon2, SkyHighFan, Dream's Abyss, andrewjameswilliams and Robin and Marian 4ever who all made comments that contributed to this final chapter. Thanks also to always.x.forever who pointed out a loose end that I didn't tie up, which I have now fixed.

Chapter 22: Return of the Hero

Warren blinked in surprise, and he could hear a similar reaction on the comm.

'Hey, why HIM?' Zach exclaimed in disbelief.

'Yeah, if anything it was Ethan who had the revelation,' Denise chimed in.

'Guys, it was a team effort, but Warren's the spokesperson, so let's all just relax,' Ethan soothed them.

The response in the Oval Office was equally incredulous, but the droid ignored the President's protests yet again. It continued what it was saying to Warren, "Your friends are currently being released."

Warren finally managed to find his voice. "And, uh, and his parents too?" he prompted, trying to make it sound authoritative. It wasn't easy though, considering he was still completely flabbergasted, both by the droids' acceptance of his authority and the fact that they'd decided to release Will and Kate without him having to order it.

"Affirmative."

'Hey, see if you can get them to quickly dismantle the neutralization field emitters around Metrocity while you're at it,' suggested Magenta.

Meanwhile the President didn't seem too sure about Warren's newfound position of authority.

"Young man, it would be best if you instructed the robots to obey me and then we can move on from there," he said, sounding like he was trying very hard to be diplomatic.

Warren, however, just ignored him and passed on Magenta's request to the droid. It responded that the 5.0s in Metrocity had just halted work on the field emitters, and would begin to disassemble them.

"Would it be possible for humans to dismantle them?" Warren asked. He didn't really want to wait until the droids had finished doing that before he could shut them down.

"It would be," the droid replied.

'Okay, that sounds like everything's covered,' said Ethan. 'Layla, you got the code?'

Layla started to read out the sequence of numbers, but it suddenly occurred to Warren that the shutdown code might not actually be necessary. After all, the droids were obeying him and they could be useful assisting heroes with hazardous situations. They'd proved themselves to be very good at rescuing people and defeating evil, provided they didn't get on their high horses again…

And that was exactly the problem. Sure, they were obeying him at the moment, but how long would it last? All he had to do was make one mistake and they might decide he wasn't worthy to command them, and after that they might never accept human authority again.

It just wasn't worth the risk. He had to shut them down while he had the chance.

And so, with Layla prompting him he gave the code, "335-937684-529."

"Please confirm that you want us to shut down," said the droid. "This is a permanent operation and cannot be undone."

"Hey! What do you think you're doing? What's going on?" demanded the Vice President, but once again the other people in the Oval Office might as well not have been there.

Warren said to the droid in a careful tone, "Yes, I want you to shut down."

Without further comment, the three droids in the office simultaneously bowed their heads with a slight jolt. After a few uncertain seconds of silence, Warren reached out and prodded the droid in the shoulder, but there was no response. He prodded it a bit harder and it fell over with a thud on the carpet.

He heaved a deep sigh of relief. Suddenly feeling quite drained now that it was all over, he decided it was time to go back to Maxville.

"Good day, Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, gentlemen," he inclined his head to the astounded Presidents and Joint Chiefs and headed for the door.

"Wait," called the Vice President. "Now that the droids are switched off, who's going to protect the people?"

Warren created a small flame construct and gave a half-smile. "Who do you think?"

Kate stared at the droid which had suddenly paused in the middle of announcing her sentence. It was just the two of them in her cell and she couldn't see any other droids, so she had no idea if it was just that one that had frozen.

Maybe someone had managed to zap the droid(s) with a huge bolt of electricity, or maybe Magenta had finally succeeded in hacking into their programming...

Unfortunately, this didn't actually help her to escape. There was still a locked door and a whole lot of the Ultra-Max between her and freedom.

The droid seemed to come out of whatever deep thought it was going through, but it didn't resume its proclamation. A long nerve-wracking moment passed in silence while Kate wished desperately once again that she and Will hadn't been put in separate cells. She wasn't usually so sentimental, but she'd spent a lot of the past hour regretting that she hadn't had a proper chance to say goodbye… And Matthew, what would happen to her precious little boy?

Then the droid walked purposefully to the door of her cell, opened it and stood aside.

"You may go."

"Go where?" she asked, bewildered. She couldn't believe it was just letting her go free.

"Wherever you wish to go."

Then again, maybe it was. But she had to make sure she wasn't misinterpreting it.

"So, I'm being released from custody then?"

"You are," replied the droid at the same time as she heard familiar voices in the corridor – Will and his parents.

Kate didn't need any further encouragement, and she ran past the droid out the door. A huge group hug followed and then Will suggested that they get out before the droids changed their minds.

It turned out that they were closer to one of the entrances than Kate realized, and soon they were standing out in the fresh air. They were just walking out the prison gates when all of the droids in sight stopped what they were doing and dropped their heads to their chests.

The heroes shared confused glances and went over to the nearest one. When it gave absolutely no response, they were even more perplexed.

"Okay, is it just me or did the droids all just freeze and then un-freeze and then shut down?" asked Steve.

"We'd better go find out what's been going on," said Josie and Kate and Will agreed.

Not long after the four Strongholds left the Ultra-Max, Magenta and Zach arrived with Gwen.

Maj turned to their prisoner in the back seat. "It's weird, but I'm almost sorry I have to hand you over."

"Not as sorry as I am," Gwen replied dryly.

"In return for your help, we'll try to get your sentence shortened," Zach told her.

She gave a brief smile. "Thanks."

But when they got closer to the prison itself, it soon became obvious that without the droids to keep the inmates in line, they were about to break out.

"Looks like there're some other people who're really happy to see the end of the droids," Gwen remarked.

Magenta gave her a glare and opened her cell phone, while Zach took the dart from his crossbow and jabbed it into her arm. Assuming that she'd just been injected with the mind control drug again, she launched into an accusing speech about betrayal which he kept trying to interrupt to reassure her that it was only a tranquilizer. In the end he gave up and just waited for it to take effect.

Warren and Tessa stepped out of her portal into the Guardians HQ.

"Where is everyone?" he asked, looking around in confusion. He noticed that Matthew was looking unhappy in Denise's arms – not really crying but not a happy camper – and he took the baby from her.

"Well, Magenta and Zach went to get Gwen from…" Ethan trailed off in his explanation as he, Denise and Tessa just stared open-mouthed at the way Warren was calmly holding Matthew, who was now quite content.

Warren raised his eyebrows impatiently, almost daring them to comment, and Ethan made an effort to pull himself together.

"They got Gwen from level 4a and she got them into her lair to search for the shutdown code, but it turned out that Arnolde was the only one who knew it, so Layla went to Darkham Asylum and got it from him."

"She should be back soon," Denise added, and then she gave a light chuckle at the way that Matthew was tugging at Warren's tie.

He handed the baby back to her and took off his tie and jacket as Layla arrived, looking quite worn-out.

"Nice work," he said, giving her a hug. "That must have been lots of fun."

"Yeah, about as much fun as you had at the White House," she answered, pulling a face, and she turned to the others. "You know what's weird? I actually ended up feeling almost sorry for him. He was really really sorry that it hadn't all turned out the way he'd hoped."

They contemplated that in silence for a moment, and then Will, Kate, Josie and Steve flew in the open window of the headquarters. There were a whole lot of hugs and the Strongholds were brought up to date with what had been happening since their arrests, until Warren's phone rang.

It was Magenta, and he put her on speaker-phone. 'Guys, you better get down to the Ultra-Max NOW. With all the droids out of action, the prisoners are about to break out!'

Just then some more reports came in, from other parts of the city, saying that there were other criminals taking advantage of the droids being shut down.

"Looks like it's time for superheroes to make their big comeback!" said Steve, looking proud.

"Actually, Dad," said Will with a slight frown, "There's too much for us to handle on our own. It's time to call for reinforcements."

"This is such a beautiful sight, I think I'm going to cry," said Mr. Boy, staring at the television. Behind his back Magenta rolled her eyes and Zach tried not to giggle.

Their old teacher had joined them in the Guardians' HQ at Steve's request. Fortunately it hadn't taken too much for Will to convince his father that they would need the help of other heroes, especially to take care of the rest of the country. Mr. Boy had contact details for every Sky High graduate hero, even the inactive ones, and it had been very easy for Magenta to rig up her system to send each of them a distress call.

Now, while Will, Warren and Layla were out helping take care of the city's problems and Steve and Josie were flying around the country to help out where needed, the others were watching Maxville News 24. Some other screens in the room were showing news channels from around the country, where superheroes were saving the day from assorted villains and other opportunistic criminals. The heroes were a little rusty from being out of action for a while, but they got back into it fast enough for the general public to not really notice.

"Everything's back to the way it should be," Mr. Boy continued emotionally, looking like he was about to get tearful.

"What is Boomer wearing?" asked Denise, looking closer at the Maxville news broadcast where their former gym teacher was using his sonic boom voice to knock down the prisoners who had made it out of the prison compound and were heading for the gates.

Magenta smirked at the sight of Boomer in his gym shorts and make-shift mask. "No wonder Will's dad called him 'Gym Teacher Man'."

"Guess his old 'Sonic Boom' costume doesn't fit anymore," Zach remarked with a grin.

As they watched, some of the escaping felons started to get to their feet again. A moment later it looked like a scene from an old Hitchcock movie, as they were dive-bombed by dozens of birds who were no doubt friends of Dione Williams. The birds kept the prisoners from getting to their feet, while leaving the wardens and police officers unharmed so that they could take care of the escapees.

"Hey, is that who I think it is?" Ethan asked as the news report moved on to another part of Maxville. A ball of brilliant white light that could only be Principal Powers, a.k.a. Comet-Storm, was harassing a group of thieves in the process of robbing a jewelry store. One of the burglars, evidently the leader, told the others to just get on with it because the 'fairy lights' couldn't hurt them. But then one of the little comets zipped straight through a wooden cabinet door, leaving a small round hole. The burglars got the message, and surrendered straight away.

Zach whooped and even Magenta looked impressed.

"Looks like she's still got it," said Kate with a smile. Then the television showed Will stopping a train from being derailed by a villain called Commotion, so she held Matthew up to the screen. "See, your daddy's making everything all better," she told the baby.

"Don't let his 'daddy' hear that, he'll get a swollen head," remarked Warren as he and Layla walked into the HQ from the elevator looking tired.

Ethan frowned slightly. "Why are you guys back already?" he asked.

"They seem to have everything under control out there," Layla replied, going over to say hello to Matthew.

Warren sank heavily onto the couch and added, "And we're exhausted, so we thought we'd let them handle it."

"Yeah, I'm not surprised you're tired," said Kate sympathetically, thinking what the two of them had been through earlier. "This morning must have been pretty draining for both of you."

"Who said anything about this morning?" replied Warren, leaning back and closing his eyes. "I blame complete lack of sleep last night, thanks to a certain little munchkin."

Kate glanced at Matthew and then up at Layla apologetically. "Oh, I'm really sorry, guys."

Layla shook her head with a reassuring smile. "Ignore him, he's exaggerating. Matthew was actually very good, all things considered, and as a matter of fact, Warren's a natural with him."

"Really?" Kate almost giggled. "No offense, but I find that kinda hard to imagine."

"It's true, we saw it as well," Tessa piped up.

"Yeah, it's like he just developed a fifth power or something," Ethan agreed.

Kate looked impressed and Layla smiled. "I think it came as a big surprise all round. But I'm not kidding. He took it all much more calmly than I did."

"You know, 'he' is right here," commented Warren without opening his eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry, dearest," Layla teased. "I thought you were asleep already."

With his eyes still closed, Warren powered up one fingertip. "You know that pot plant on your bedside table that you like so much?" he mock-threatened.

Their banter came to an abrupt end when Will flew in the window, closely followed by a ball of white light, who proved to be Principal Powers just as Ethan had guessed.

"I am so proud of all of you," she said, looking at each of her former students in turn, and they all smiled back, even Warren who was wide awake now. The Principal went on to Will, "I have a favor to ask, to move something big for me. It seems that I have a school that needs to get back up into the sky."

Epilogue: A year later

Warren turned to his mother-in-law with a sigh. "I thought you said it would be different when it's my own?" he said in mock frustration.

Dione smirked. "I said it would be different when it's your baby, not shopping for your baby. I don't expect you to be enjoying this."

They both looked across the shop to where Layla was merrily taking childcare products off the shelf and putting them into her basket. Now and then she would wave at her mother and husband, and excitedly hold something up for them to look at.

"You're really brave, coming into a baby shop like this," Dione continued. "Your reputation will be shot, you know."

"Yeah, well, someone needs to keep an eye on her or she'll buy the whole place."

"She's about to become a mother in less than three months," she pointed out. "Don't you think she's responsible enough to go shopping on her own?"

He shrugged. "Normally, sure. But it seems that being pregnant does something to a person."

At that point Layla came up to them with a miniature outfit that was designed to look like a tuxedo, embroidered with the words 'Mommy's Little Man'. "Isn't this just the cutest?" she asked with a little squeal.

"It's for a boy, so we don't need it," Warren said firmly, taking it gently out of her hands with the practice of someone who had been doing that a lot lately.

"Well, maybe the next one will be a boy," she answered brightly.

"Let's just focus on one at a time, okay?" He looked at the other things in her basket and removed a lacy pink hat. "And if she has your red hair, pink is not a good color."

She sighed over-dramatically. "I know."

They'd actually discussed the 'pink' issue at length, and so far Warren was winning. But Layla didn't really mind, considering she'd won a much bigger issue when she managed to convince him that they needed to move into a proper house with a garden, which became their new home four months ago.

The past year had been a busy one for the others too. Soon after the droid debacle, Ethan and Denise got engaged, and Magenta and Zach finally got married. It had been an even smaller wedding that Warren and Layla's, with a picnic at the botanical gardens for the reception and everybody had just been wearing their normal clothes, even the bride herself.

Warren took a few more items out of Layla's basket and dumped them on a nearby shelf, earning him a scowl from a hovering saleslady, which he ignored. They were debating the wisdom of buying a toy marked 'Ages 3 and up', which Layla promised would go into storage until the baby was old enough for it, when his cell phone rang with the emergency ring tone. With a quick goodbye to her and the baby, and a hasty appeal to Dione to restrain her daughter from going overboard, Warren left to take care of the distress call.

He stepped out of the shop just as the Guardian van drove by to pick him up. Warren noticed that it would be just him and Stronghold, which meant that the situation wasn't too serious. Kate was finding Matthew to be a full-time occupation, so she only helped out with herowork when things got quite critical. Layla was, of course, on maternity leave and Tessa had been offered a wonderful opportunity in Metrocity, which she'd taken on the encouragement and advice of the Guardians. Ethan, Denise, Zach and Magenta were still performing their valuable behind-the-scenes function like before, though.

Things were back to normal as far as herowork was concerned, although it had taken longer than they'd expected. Despite the dramatic superhero comeback on the day that the droids were shut down, it took a few months before things were really straightened out. A number of heroes had committed themselves to other full-time occupations, and there were also some shortages in the non-superhero emergency services. Warren went back to his cover job as a fire-fighter to help out temporarily, but he was planning to leave when the baby was born so that he could spend more time with his family. His friend Dean was happy to be working with him again and would be sorry to see him go, so Layla had her doubts about whether Warren would be giving it up permanently. Of course, having a baby can radically change a person's perspective on life.

On the superhero front, things came together reasonably smoothly, especially after the next class graduated from Sky High to swell the numbers of active heroes. The shortages were all solved quite easily compared to the political fallout.

After the whole situation with the droids, the public needed to be told something. The NCS issued a short press release and official apology, stating that the robots had been a failed experiment in their ongoing efforts to serve the people of the country. No details were given, using the old excuse of security reasons, and the public seemed to accept this half-truth. Still, that didn't mean that they were prepared to simply forgive the NCS for what had happened during their 'experiment'. So, to appease the critics, it was also announced that the entire Directorship had resigned and the National Council of Superheroes would be replaced by the newly-formed Department of Superhero Defense.

That was mostly spin, though. No one knew the names of the Directors anyway, due to the secrecy surrounding the government organization, so no one would know whether the Directors had really resigned or not. All that actually changed was the design on the corporate memos, and the signs outside the NCS buildings now had the DSD logo instead.

So, things were very much back to normal. However, there were a number of people who still liked the idea of the droids and didn't understand why they'd had to be shut down. Eventually Will (as Eagle, of course) paid a private visit to the chairperson of the Bring Back the Droids Society, one of the most vociferous groups that lobbied in support of the robots. After she signed the non-disclosure agreement, he fed her a colorful tale about how the heroes had uncovered a plot by evil aliens to take over the world using the droids, and so the only way to repel the invasion and destroy the aliens was to shut down all the robots. The BBDS disbanded soon after that, and another alien cover-up conspiracy was born.

Slowly the superheroes were winning over the other diehard droid fans too, but it was hard work and they always needed to be on their best behavior because the critics jumped on even the slightest perceived flaw.

The current crisis turned out to be very good for PR. The hostage situation was over in about five minutes, thanks to some intimidation from a flame construct created by Warren and some super-speed and strength from Will. Soon the terrified hostages were safe and the perpetrator was in custody.

Warren left Will to smile at the cameras like usual, while he quick-changed out of his uniform behind a convenient delivery truck and headed back to the baby store to check on Layla's shopping spree. The last thing he heard was the sound of Eagle avoiding having to explain to a militant feminist reporter why there weren't any girls in the hero team anymore, and he smirked to himself as he walked off.

Yes, it was business as usual for the heroes of Maxville, the Guardians of the City.

The End

A/N: And that is also the end of the Phoenix series, folks! I'd like to thank everyone who has read these stories, especially those who have reviewed and/or put them on favourites or alerts. Your encouragement has kept me going and your constructive criticism has helped me to improve as a writer. It's sad that the series is finally over, but I hope that you've all enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Thank you all for sharing it with me! :D