Disclaimer-I don't own Static Shock. All the quotes up the scene with Virgil and Robert watching the news come from the episode, but all that come after are mine.

Power Outage: Robert's POV

As I walked to the bathroom to shave, I found that the razor was refusing to turn on. I sighed. It seemed like a lot of my appliances had been shorting out recently. Probably because they were getting older.

Well, at least I could get Virgil to fix it. That had been an unexpected, but pleasant bonus to finding out my son was Static. One day, as I'd been leaving for work and was running late as it was, the car had refused to start. Just as I was about to give up and try to find a taxi, Virgil came outside, about to leave for school. He saw that the car was acting up and, making sure that nobody but me was around, sent a charge into the engine. After sputtering for a few seconds, the car roared to life. He flashed me a quick grin and continued on his way.

I would have offered him a ride, but I had to get to work and I knew he was planning a hopefully quick morning patrol before class. Nevertheless, I did manage to thank him before he went to bed that night, and since then, he'd fix any problem I had with my appliances.

Going into the kitchen, I heard Sharon yelling at Virgil for not taking out the garbage and saying that he always seemed to disappear. "Virgil, believe it or not, I am worried about you. You're always tired; you're out late at night."

I wasn't sure if he could come up with an excuse for it, so I decided to provide a distraction. "Young man, I need a word with you."

"Finally! Maybe now things around here will change. You talk to him Daddy." I felt a little bad about keeping the secret from her.

"This old electric razor just doesn't hold a charge anymore. Could you take a look at it?" He nodded and came over. While Sharon angrily exclaimed that he couldn't fix breakfast, he turned his back to her and shot a charge through the razor and handed it back. "Thanks son. Have a good day today. And be careful out there."

It took everything I had to not tell Sharon the truth with the furious look she gave me afterward. To her, it looked like I was letting Virgil get off easily and saddling her with a lot of the housework. It was true in some part, because sometimes Virgil was so exhausted from fighting that I felt it was better to let him sleep. I didn't like how that affected Sharon, though. Someday soon, we had to tell her the truth.

My workday passed pretty quickly. I kept a TV in my office now and had it turned on whenever I wasn't counseling kids. It kept me up to date with news and allowed me to see if Virgil was hurt at all. Usually, it was never more than a few bruises, but I had a feeling that one day, he could take a nasty hit.

A news bulletin came on the news "Bang Baby cure on the way!" It said that Dr. Todd, who'd been working on an antidote to the original gas, had finally succeeded and would be making a statement on the late news.

A cure! Much as I would like to not have Bang Babies robbing stores and starting fires every other day, a part of me was concerned for Virgil. How would this affect him?

Later that night.

Virgil and I sat together on the couch, listening to Dr. Todd as he explained that the Bang Babies would soon be back to regular people. When the newsman asked why the Bang Babies didn't have a choice and Dr. Todd said that the majority of them were dangerous, I shut the TV off and turned to my son. "And how are you handling this?"

"I don't know. Maybe Dr. Todd's right. For the good of the people and all…" he trailed off.

"But," I prodded, urging him to go on. That was another thing I loved about knowing his secret. He didn't have to hide what he really felt about certain things, like Bang Babies. He could confide in me completely again. I suspected he felt more than he was letting on.

"Pops, I like being Static." he confessed. "Even with the Bang Babies gone, I still think I'd be needed."

I understood. I also had a feeling he might be right. "And how does Richie feel?" I asked.

Virgil smiled slightly. "Well, he could be taking it better." Something told me that Richie was really not happy with this.

Virgil left soon afterward to meet with Richie. He was gone a lot longer than I expected. When he came back, all that he would say was that he and Richie had gotten into a fight with the meta-breed and that Ebon had stolen a canister of the Big Bang gas.

I was worried. I had some ideas of what a member of the meta-breed would do with that gas. I also knew that Virgil and Richie planned to go after him to stop him. I didn't know that much about Ebon or the other members of the meta-breed, but I knew that they were Virgil's worst enemies, with Ebon right at the top. I hated the thought of Virgil going up against him while losing his powers.

As the next night came, I knew that Virgil likely wouldn't be back for quite a while. I wouldn't allow myself to think that he might not come back at all. Looking at the Shock Vox in my hand, I sighed. Richie had made me one soon after I learned their secrets, so they could let me know they'd be late if they needed to. I was tempted to call them myself, but it might distract them.

Sharon interrupted my thoughts, looking concerned. "What's going on Daddy?" I was startled. Virgil and I thought she wasn't going to be at the house tonight. She had a night class and a friend of hers had invited her to stay. At my questioning look, she explained. "My night class got cancelled and my friend decided to use the time to visit some relatives. We decided I'd stay over another time." She glanced around. "It's nearly eleven. Where's Virgil?" I knew she wasn't going to like my reply.

"He's going to be home late."

She exploded. "Why in the world are you okay with that? He's been skipping chores, staying out late, he's always tired, and half the time he has some stupid explanation. And you're encouraging him! Why!?"

I struggled to find an explanation when I caught something out of the corner of my eye. Out the window, in the distance, near the docks, I saw smoke and a glowing light. Judging from the smoke, the fire was huge and coming from the docks. I felt my gut twist. Virgil had called to let me know that he and Richie were heading for the docks to stop Ebon.

Sharon joined me at the window, looking scared. The glowing light changed, temporarily lighting up the sky before disappearing. Something had exploded. "Daddy, what's happening?" she asked.

I turned to her. "Come with me." It was time she knew. I led her to Virgil's room and pulled out the box where Virgil hid his old uniform. "Look in here." Looking confused, she did and nearly fell over backwards.

"He…he's." She couldn't get another word out. I nodded. Looking like she was about to explode again, I told her to follow me to the living room, where I could keep my on the window and hopefully see my son and Richie and explain some things to Sharon.

She sat down and frowned, waiting. I sighed. "I found out your brother was Static when Puff and Onyx kidnapped me. The one behind it was really someone called Omnara. She'd found out about his identity and decided to use me to make him steal something from ALVA Industries. I realized while imprisoned that the only reason someone would use me to get to Static was if Static was Virgil.

"You already know what happened after that. Virgil stole for Omnara, but he and Richie stopped her soon afterward."

"Richie?" Sharon asked. Her eyes widened. "He's Gear, isn't he?"

I nodded and continued. "I decided I wouldn't stop Virgil or Richie from being superheroes. However, I did tell them that we had to tell you. When we got home, though, you were furious about the car and ranting about how you were sick of Bang Babies. It didn't seem like the best time to tell you then." Sharon blushed. "Since then, I've been trying to find the right time to have them tell you."

"Why now, Daddy? Virgil isn't even here."

Carefully, I answered. "Last night, the meta-breed stole a canister of the gas that caused the original Big Bang. Virgil and Richie figured out that they'd gone to the docks to cause another Big Bang and went to stop them."

"That means…" Sharon's eyes widened and she stared at the window. There was still some smoke coming from the docks. Her expression changed to fear.

"I'm going to try to call him." I told her as I took the Shock Vox out. I called him, and to my immense relief, he picked up after a couple seconds.

"Hey Pops, what's up?" he sounded like he was just fine, but I wanted to see him for myself before I assumed anything.

"Virgil, there was an explosion and I'm very sure it was at the docks." I told him in a no-nonsense voice.

His reply was a bit nervous. "Yeah, I know. Look, I'll tell you about it later. I'm tired and I want to make sure Sharon isn't around." I sighed. He heard. "Pops, what's up?"

"Sharon's here Virgil. And I told her you're Static."

There was a pause. "Oh." It took a few seconds for him to speak again. "Why."

Sighing-I seemed to be doing that a lot lately-I answered. "Virgil, you know she needed to know eventually. And after seeing the explosion, I somehow knew you were involved and well…Sharon needed to know."

I could almost see him wincing on the other side. "I see." He took a deep breath, and his voice softened "I understand, I really do, but can we talk about this later? That fight took a lot out of me."

"Alright," I agreed, hanging up. After what felt like hours but was really only fifteen minutes, Virgil came in, looking tired and haggard, with what could be blisters on his face from high temperatures. He headed straight for the stairs, and, from what I heard, collapsed on his bed.

Only a few minutes later, I got a call from Richie's parents, who sounded near hysterical. Richie had come home with similar injuries and they were wondering if I knew how it had happened. Apparently, Richie hadn't told his parents his secret at all, and they were worried about him.

I could only say that my son had come home from similar injuries and hang up. That's when I decided that Virgil and Richie had to tell Richie's parents their secret and discuss it with them and Sharon. And myself, as well.