I guess this story is officially AU. Oliver's mother is not a villain, they didn't get powers, etc. Basically, most of the second season didn't happen (especially the last few episodes).

This isn't a long chapter, but it's better than none at all, right? I know I've kept you waiting for a really long time, so I won't keep you any longer. I don't own Mighty Med, just Sydney. Enjoy!

* * * Chapter 4: Keep It Caged * * *

"But Larry, why would you do something like this?"

"I wanted a pet, Jennifer! Mom said I could get one."

"But a giraffe? This is too far, Larry!"

Oliver rubbed his temples and sighed. "Lame," he muttered, hitting the channel button on the remote.

"Vierta el queso con cuidado en el mostrador y meta los pepinillos en el jugo de tomate—"

He hit it again.

"The man who kidnapped a young girl was found by police earlier this morning. He was in a small convince store buying a bag of Cheetos—"

And again.

"Oh, Marco! Kiss me again, Marco!"

"I can't, Esmeralda. I'm . . . I'm a murderer!"

"Marco, no!"

Once more.

"Okay, yo! Everyday's an adventure, you never know by the looks on our face—"

The doorbell rang and Oliver sighed, turning off the TV. Shoot. And that looked good, too.

It rang again. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." He opened the door and raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?"

Sydney glared at him. "What, no hello for your big sis?"

He shrugged and leaned on the door. "Sorry. Hi."

Sydney came into the house, dragging her suitcase behind her. "That's all?"

"Give me a break; I'm tired. What are you doing here?"

"Last I checked, I lived here from the time I was six until I was eighteen. As for why I'm here now, Mom called and said she had some emergency meeting and couldn't pick up until ten tonight."

"Of course."

"Of course. I said I would be fine waiting at the airport, 'cause they had some neat shops I wanted to check out, but when the homeless guy fell asleep on my feet—not at my feet, on my feet—I decided to catch a cab."

"Good call."

"Well, I'm heading up to my room to unpack. Unless you turned it into your video game room."

"I have, but I cleaned it up yesterday so there's space for you to sleep."

"Awesome. After I get settled, I'll make sure to beat all your high scores." She smirked and he rolled his eyes.

After Sydney went upstairs, Oliver began to reach for the remote to keep watching television. He bit his lip and straightened. "Nah, I've got homework to do." As much as he wanted to lounge around and do nothing all day, he had procrastinated on studying for their upcoming science test far too long. Which was quite unusual for him, but he supposed it was only the sleepless nights taking their toll on him.

Oliver headed upstairs and sat down at his desk, forcing himself to concentrate. He started going through the textbook, reviewing terms and reading what had been assigned. Every so often he had the urge to crawl into bed and sleep until summer, but he resisted.

"I'm turning into Kaz," he mumbled as he rubbed his eyes.

After several minutes of semi-successful studying, Oliver heard someone call his name. He looked around, then left his room and walked down the hall. "Sydney?" he called.

"Yeah? What do you want?" she answered from inside her room.

"Did you call me?"

"No. Why on earth would I call you?"

Oliver shrugged and headed back to his room, passing it off as a weird but not harmful incident. A few minutes later, he swore he heard Sydney calling his name again. This time he knew he heard it; it was as if she stood right outside his door. He got up and peeked his head out into the hall.

"Syd?"

"What?"

"Did you call me?"

"No! Leave me alone, dork. I'm unpacking and I don't want to be interrupted."

Oliver furrowed his brow. Once, fine. Twice? Something odd was happening.

He shook his head and went back to science. He was tired. He needed rest. He was going crazy from lack of sleep.

Oliver stared at his science book before falling onto his bed. He needed to study, but he needed to sleep more. Hopefully there wouldn't be a nightmare this time. . . .

"Oliver!"

He sat up and groaned. Part of him figured it was another hallucination, but it had sounded so real. Then he figured that perhaps it was his sister toying around with him—she did like to do that. He stood up and left his room, going all the way down the hall and throwing his sister's door open.

"I don't know if you're messing with me or what, but would you please stop calling me?"

"I'm not calling you, weirdo," Sydney said. "Why would I? I've been on a crowded plane for the past five hours sandwiched between a nursing mother and a businessman that smelled like cheese, and all I want now is to be alone."

"Or you want to mess with me."

Sydney threw down the object in her hand and groaned. "I'm not in the mood. I'm not messing with you, you're just insane. M'kay?"

Oliver narrowed his eyes, but they widened again when he saw the object she had thrown down. "Hey, that's the latest Blue Tornado comic! I was going to read that!"

Sydney held it away as he lunged for it. "Ah-ah. Not until I'm gone. I plan to read every page of this comic over and over before you get it back. Maybe spill something on page twenty-three."

"Fine, I'll just ask Blue Tornado about it later."

"What?"

"Nothing." Oliver sat down on the bed. "What's with you today? You're crankier than usual, and that's saying something."

Sydney threw the comic book onto her barely unpacked suitcase. "I don't know. A lot has happened since Christmas break. I just . . . I don't want to talk about it right now. Leave it be, all right?"

"All right, all right. I'll leave you alone."

"Good. And by the way, even if you imagine I'm calling, don't answer. Even if you think the house might be burning down and I'm calling out for you to save my life, don't answer. Okay?"

"Okay." Oliver got up to leave, but before he went, he turned back and flashed his sister a genuine smile. "It's good to have you home."

She returned his genuine smile with one of her own. "Good to be home."

Sydney's all right, but, you know, big sisters. I am one, so I should know. :P

(Psst! Did anyone hear that fourth wall crumble towards the beginning? I know I sure did! Also, who can translate that Spanish stuff? It's the quite the entertaining sentence once you know what it means. XD Hopefully I did it right . . .)

Okay, now, bad news. I don't know when the next update will be. I'll try to make it soon, but to be honest, I can't promise anything. I'm sorry for taking so long on some of my stories, but I do have news: This year and from now on, I won't post new stories until I've finished them entirely. That way you won't have to wait around for so long. I'll also work harder on updating the stories I haven't finished yet. Keep reviewing and reminding me, because I'm quite forgetful. However, for this story specifically, I'm having a hard time. Mighty Med ended, and with it a lot of my inspiration. I'll try to keep going, but I'm sorry if updates are slow. Your reviews help a lot (I truly mean that), so keep them coming. Thank you. :)

That being said, thanks for reading, everyone! I hope you liked it. Let me know what you through via review, and hopefully it won't be quite as long before I update again. See y'all soon! Bye!