Standing up, I brushed down my clothes and fixed my hair. I didn't need whoever was at the door wondering why I looked like I had just walked through a tornado. That would cause too many questions that I wasn't in the mood to answer.

Walking down the hallway, I scanned the room and did a quick check that everything was where it was supposed to be. Once satisfied, I opened the door and was surprised to see my three best friends on the other side.

"W-What are you doing here?" I suppressed the urge to look backwards in case something was still out of place.

"Yo!" Brandon waved, and Aiden nodded at me from beside him.

"We came to bring your bag," Addison gestured at Aiden who had been carrying it. "You left to go to the bathroom, and never came back! I was worried, and so we decided to come and visit you." As an after thought she added, "Don't worry, I told the teacher you suddenly weren't feeling well and went home on your way to the bathroom."

I smiled at that. It seemed that since we were kids, Addison was always had my back. Now I just had to decide whether to tell my friends what had happened or not.

"Thanks," I said, reaching forward to grab the straps of my bag but was stopped when Addison barred an arm in my way.

"Nuh, not so fast." Addison's eyes narrowed, and then her gaze softened. "Are you ok, Levi? What really happened that caused you to leave the school so suddenly? You can tell us."

I looked at her earnest expression and then at Brandon and Aiden who had equally concerned expressions. When it took a while for me to reply, Brandon stepped forward.

"Look," started Brandon, "I may be a bit of an idiot-"

He was cut off by Addison's chortles.

"You mean a lot-"

He glared at her before continuing.

"As I was saying, I may be a bit of an idiot," he paused to glare at Addison who was clutching her sides, "but we've known each other since primary school, and we all know that you like to do things by yourself sometimes. But, Levi, it's ok to rely us a little, ya know?"

Addison sobered up and her expression turned serious, her eyes earnest.

"What are friends for?"

I frowned.

Should I bring my friends into this mess?

Should I bring them into my world?

It was obvious that whoever had captured my father was dangerous, and now I was planning to wander straight into their lair. There was no telling what was going to happen.

A chill went through my spine at the thought and caused me to shudder. Pushing the uneasy feeling aside, I beckoned my friends inside. There was no point standing and talking in the doorway.

As we reached the living room, I realised that the garbage bags still covered most of it. Blushing slightly, I hurried over and moved them aside.

"U-Um I was just doing some... ah... cleaning," I muttered as I dragged the bags toward the hallway. The last thing I needed was for them to be suspicious of my powers- them as in the twins. Brandon probably wouldn't even realise it if he was staring at it in the face.

Addison laughed. "That's fine, we did show up unexpected."

Grinning at her, I realised that Brandon and Aiden were both awkwardly standing in the centre of the room, shuffling their feet. I resisted the urge to laugh. First time in a girls house, probably.

Walking over to the kitchen, I offered them something to drink before realising that I had destroyed most of the cups earlier. Panicking slightly, I wondered if I had to use bowls for cups before remembering that we had some plastic cups in the cupboard. Sighing in relief, I headed over to the cupboard and grabbed the cups before filling them with juice. Setting them down on the table, I looked at my friends, my hands clammy.

This is it. Do I tell them or not?

But I couldn't do this on my own. Feeling my heart thudding in my chest, I turned to face them.

"My-father's-been-captured," the words all came out in a rush as I looked anxiously at the faces of my best friends.

Addison was the first to react, and from the confused expression on her face, it was obvious that she didn't understand what I meant.

"I-I'm sorry, Levi did you say captured? By who? Why would your father be captured?" Addison looked like she wanted to say more but then shut her mouth, waiting for me to speak.

Brandon looked equally confused, but Aiden's face remained blank.

How could I tell the truth without making it seem completely ridiculous?

Taking a deep breath, I opened my mouth to speak but what came out was anything but the truth.

"My father went out with his friends last night, and when he didn't come back this morning, I didn't think much of it. I thought he had probably stayed over at his friends house for the night. He still wasn't back this morning, and still, I thought nothing of it." I struggled to keep my voice even, but my sobs were threatening to break free. My earlier conversation with my best friends made it seem like everything was back to normal, but now I was starting to feel the weight of the situation. Swallowing harshly, I continued.

"I had accidentally left my phone in my locker this morning, so I didn't get the call from my dad's friend earlier. When my phone started buzzing in class, I tried to ignore it but it wouldn't stop. Finally, I decided to pick it up to see who it was, so I asked to go to the bathroom. When I finally picked up, it turns out that I had twenty-two missed calls. Twenty-two. If I had picked up earlier-" I stopped to clench my fists. Digging my nails into my hands, I tried to keep the pain and tears away.

No.

I didn't cry before, I won't cry now.

"The call was to tell me that my father had been captured, and that it was my fault." Stopping suddenly, I realised that I had said too much. How would I explain that his capture had been my fault without giving away that we were villains?

"How could it have been your fault?" Addison interrupted whatever I was going to say next. "You didn't know about this until just a while ago, right?"

I couldn't meet her eyes.

"Y-Yeah. That's right. All that I found out was that my father was captured by STARKON and -"

"Wait, STARKON? That super famous superhero organisation? Why would your father be captured by them?" Brandon seemed honestly confused, but I really wanted to shut him up for creating more questions that I didn't have an answer to.

I couldn't stop the pained expression from crossing my face.

"I don't know. But, what I do know is that I'm going to rescue him." I looked at the faces of my friends, still contemplating whether to ask them to help me or not, but Addison beat me to it.

"We'll help you," she turned to look at the others, "Won't we, boys?"

I smiled gratefully and breathed a sigh of relief. I hadn't realised how much I had been stressing over how I had to do something so big alone until Addison had said that.

"Thanks," I said as I looked at Brandon's determined face and Addison's smiling one. Frowning, I felt my stomach clench as Aiden's face stayed expressionless.

"Aiden...?" I was almost afraid to ask. "Are you -"

"But it's strange isn't it?" Aiden turned to look at Brandon and his twin, his expression twisted. "Why would STARKON capture Levi's father if he hadn't done anything wrong? They're superheros. They won't bother with normal folk like us, which means that Levi's father must have done something bad to get their attention, right? He must have done something to deserve it. He must have -"

Aiden stopped talking when Addison suddenly slapped him across the face.

"DON'T- Don't talk about Levi's father like that. Who was the one who cared for you when you broke your leg? Who was the one who made us lemonade every weekend? Who was the one who let us ride on his shoulders as kids? How could someone who's cared for us so much possibly be bad?"

She turned to me, her expression caring- like she was the sister I never had. "Don't worry about Aiden, Levi. We'll find your father, you'll see."

"Y-Yeah!" chimed in Brandon, looking like he didn't want to get on the bad side of Addison's wrath. I almost smiled at that. Almost.

"U-Um... If you want, I can drive you to wherever... my parents wouldn't notice if a car went missing." He scratched his head sheepishly. "T-That's if you want to..."

I laughed at how awkward he was being but then quickly sobered up.

"Yeah, thanks." I replied, but my mind was elsewhere.

I still hadn't told them about my powers. How would they react when I tell them? Would they look at me in disgust? Fear? Would they hate me? No- they were my friends...

"Um, I - "

I have to tell them, or I never will.

"Um... I have something to say..."

I have to tell them or they'll never trust me again.

"Ahh... I actually..."

I have to tell them.

"I - "

I have to.

"I - Thank you!"

I can't say it.

I can't say it.

I can't bear it if they leave me too. I can't. Not now. Not with my father gone.

If they leave me too...

I was broken out of my thoughts when Addison whopped me on the back.

"Of course! That's what friends are for! Right, Aiden?"

I looked up at Aiden's sheepish and slightly guilty face.

"Yeah..." he scratched the back of his head. "Sorry about that... I guess I lost my head for a second there... sorry."

I smiled, about to reply when the words of my dad's best friend came back to me.

"Someone who just leaves their team stranded with the coordinates for a fire escape which didn't even exist..."

But it existed. I confirmed it with my own eyes. It was there on the blueprint that I found on the server. Why would I betray my own father? The only living member of my family that I had left? I couldn't have made a mistake, either. The particular fire escape that I gave them the coordinates for ran through the whole eighty or so storeys of the building. It was hard to miss or mistake. How could it not have existed?

I gasped as the answer dawned on me. The reason why it had been so easy to hack into the STARKON server was because it wasn't the STARKON server. All the information on it was fake.

The server I had hacked into was the dummy server.

It had been a trap.

They had known from the beginning.

a.n.

As usual, if you see any mistakes, please point them out! I hate having mistakes in my work :P

SpiderPrincess