Chapter 11—The Conclusion

It had been two weeks since what they had started referring to as 'The Incident'. Will had finally been allowed once again to have people over, so everyone had congregated around his newly restored X-box. They were playing the latest racing game and generally goofing off when Steve Stronghold appeared in Will's doorway looking serious. "Warren, can I speak to you a moment?" he asked.

Warren blinked twice in surprise but got up and followed Steve down the hall a little way. "What did you want, Mr. Stronghold?" Warren prompted after they had stood in silence for several moments.

"I wanted to say that I was wrong. I see now that you aren't a bad influence. In fact, Will is lucky to have a friend like you. I'm sorry I misjudged you."

"It happens," Warren shrugged.

"But it shouldn't. You have my sincerest apology."

"Thanks," Warren nodded.

They stood a few more moments before Steve smiled. "Go hang out."

Warren quirked a smile in response and went back to Will's room. He was unsurprised to find that they had paused the game and were trying to look like they weren't listening.

"So, what did my dad want?" Will asked too-casually.

"Oh, you know," Warren shrugged.

"No, we don't," Maj retorted. "Somebody was a little too quiet out there."

"Magenta!" Layla scolded.

"Oh, you mean you couldn't hear my private conversation?" Warren asked in an unwontedly teasing voice.

"No, we actually couldn't."

"Yeah, so could you, like, spill already, man?" Zach asked.

"Actually, I think I just got your old man's stamp of approval," Warren said looking over at Will.

"Really?" Layla squeaked.

"Yes, really."

"Awesome!" Will exclaimed.

"Wait, you mean our plan worked?" Zach asked in a shocked voice.

Magenta immediately elbowed him and Ethan turned to glare at him. Layla and Will began trading significant glances again, mostly as an excuse not to meet Warren's eyes.

"What plan?" he asked. He was met with silence. "What plan?" This time it was a demand.

"Well, you see, we sort of…" Will stammered.

"We just wanted to help you," Layla tried to explain.

"We didn't like the way my Dad was treating you, so we thought…"

"Thought what?" Warren asked in a loud voice.

"That maybe we could help him see that you were better than he was giving you credit for," Layla explained.

Steve had gotten no farther than the second step when he heard raised voices. All right, so he had lingered a moment after dismissing Warren. Right now he was half-wishing that he had lingered a bit longer. "What's up kids?" he asked as he appeared in the doorway trying to look casual.

"I guess you didn't know either, huh?" Warren commented.

"Didn't know what?"

"About their 'plan'." Warren gestured at the other super-teens in frustration.

"What plan?" Steve stared at them, his face settling into stern lines.

"Um, I'd just like to take this moment to remind you that you promised me I wouldn't get pounded by the Commander," Zach interjected, looking beseechingly at Layla.

"What are you talking about?" Steve asked more insistently. His face was turning red.

"We just wanted to make you see that Warren wasn't a bad kid," "Or his father," Will finished for Layla.

"I told you guys to stay out of it!" Warren hissed.

"So you manipulated me?" Steve shouted at the same time.

"Hey! It's not like our plan actually worked! Can you both just calm down?" Magenta bravely asked.

"Calm down?" the Commander roared. "You manipulated me!"

"Actually, we didn't. We never really got beyond the planning stages." Ethan pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose nervously.

"I told you to stay out of it!" Warren hissed again. "I told you I didn't care!" he glared fiercely at Will.

"Well maybe I did!" Will fired back.

"Why? It had nothing to do with you!"

"Nothing? Excuse me? Oh, no, it's only my father and my best friend. Clearly it's completely separate from me!"

"What is going on here?" Josie entered and looked around the room confusedly.

Steve threw his hands in the air. "I suppose next they'll tell me that you knew about this little plot of theirs," he said exasperatedly.

"The one to convince you that Warren wasn't his father?" Josie asked.

"For Pete's sake! Did everyone know but me?"

"As you'll recall, I've already pointed out that I had no idea," Warren fumed. "In fact, if I had known, it wouldn't have happened."

"You know, your father always tried to claim that he didn't know anything, too. What is that, like a family trait?"

"I wouldn't know," Warren replied stiffly. "Someone tossed him in jail before I got a real chance to know him."

"Only because he tried to burn down half the city and enslave the other half!"

"OKAY!" Magenta bellowed. "That's enough!"

"Yes, it is quite enough," Josie agreed glaring at her husband.

"Both of you need to calm down. Neither of you knew anything about it. We did. Maybe we shouldn't have meddled, but what's done is done, and it was with the best of intentions," Will said.

"You two have already decided to get along once today, I'm sure you can do it again," Layla said.

"What makes you think we'd want to?" Warren asked defiantly as Steve nodded in agreement.

"Because if you don't we'll have to go with Zach's plan," Layla said sweetly.

"What's that?" Will asked, nose and brow wrinkled in confusion.

"Well, it involved an evil giant robot," Zach offered.

"And if that doesn't work, we could always just lock them in the detention room together," Ethan suggested.

The gentlemen in question bristled. "I don't think that will be necessary," Josie soothed. "After all, as Layla pointed out, you had already made the decision to tolerate each other. The reasons why you made that decision are still valid, right?"

No one spoke.

"Right?" Desperation crept into Josie's tone.

"Yeah, I guess they are," Steve said. "I was impressed by the way you looked out for your friends," he offered to Warren in a low, embarrassed voice.

"I kind of admired how you tried to look out for Will's best interests," Warren replied through the curtain of his hair.

"Well, that wasn't so bad," Zach said. He quailed under the twin glares that Warren and Steve leveled at him.

"So, all is forgiven?" Layla asked hesitantly. Warren and Steve shared a brief glance before nodding.

"Well, I guess this makes it fairly obvious that you guys won't be going into the villainy field." Warren said with a philosophical air. "I mean, you couldn't even carry out a simple, under-handed plot. Unless you meant to get jumped by Larson?" Warren raised an eyebrow. The others couldn't help laughing.

Fin

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A/N: Well, that was it! The last chapter. I hope everyone enjoyed it. Thank yous to everyone who has reviewed. I can't tell you how much it means to me. Until next time, cheers! MQW