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DISCLAIMER: I don't own Static Shock or anything related to it; that all belongs to DC and the Warner Bros.

SUMMARY: A one-shot taking place a night after the events of the episode "Kidnapped" (where Robert Hawkins finds out that his son Virgil is Static), father and son privately discuss Virgil's secret stuff as Static.

WARNING: Spoilers for the aforementioned episode, as well mentions of the episodes "Pops' Girlfriend," "Gear," and "Flashback," although nothing really important from those other few episodes. If any memories need to be refreshed, you can look them up at the section for Static Shock at The World's Finest website. The link is (remove the spaces)...
http :// worldsfinestonline . com WF staticshock /

NOTE: I would also like to apologize in advance if the title for this fanfic wasn't as good as it could have been. Really, I tired... (Also, this is my first-ever Static Shock/ fanfic, so please be gentle.)/


/"Hidden Maturity,"/

By Quillian


Dedicated with thanks to Chorin for beta-reading this fic.


It was late at night as Virgil Hawkins stared out into the night sky over Dakota City, thinking.

His father, Robert Hawkins, now knew that his son Virgil was really the hero Static.

In retrospect... that grand moment of revelation didn't turn out as bad as Virgil had often feared.

Still... Virgil was now of two minds about the subject. Part of him wished it hadn't happened at all, and the other part of him was now sort of relieved that his own father now knew.

In a way, he could take some sort of comfort from the fact that now he didn't have to worry anymore about his father finding out.

Virgil was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't hear his father come out onto the roof until he was closer.

"Hey son," he greeted him.

"Hey pops."

Silence.

"So..." Mr. Hawkins began.

"About..."

"Yeah, that."

"Well, about that..."

Mr. Hawkins made a gesture to lower their voices. Virgil nodded in acknowledgement; they certainly didn't want anyone to hear their conversation.

"Let me guess... you got your powers the same way the others did at the same time as them, right?"

"Yep."

"And you decided to use these powers of yours to stop criminals and such?"

"Yeah... and I guess someone needed to keep all those other meta-humans in check... you know, the ones who abused their powers and got into trouble for it. Oh yeah, and your typical thugs and criminals which I had to deal with every now and then."

Mr. Hawkins nodded, thinking about it.

"I gotta admit, Pops... you're taking it rather well."

Mr. Hawkins merely shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, I guess I am. Better than panicking about it, I suppose."

"Yeah."

"So... Richie also got some powers out of that?"

"Yeah... only his powers didn't come along until later. He wasn't even at the accident, but I guess he got a whiff of that stuff afterwards, since my clothes reeked of that stuff. Basically, it just helped make him smarter and able to come up with all kinds of stuff."

"Hm."

Silence again.

"I also have to admit, Virgil... I doubt any parent in history has gone through this before, so normally I wouldn't know what to do... but after seeing just how much good you've done with these powers of yours, I can say that I am very proud of you."

Virgil was smiling before he even realized it. "Thanks, Pops."

"I know your mother would have been proud."

"Yeah, she was," Virgil said before he could stop himself.

Mr. Hawkins had an odd look on his face as he tried to digest that.

"What - how...?"

"It's... sorta complicated, but I guess it's safe to tell you." Taking a deep breath, Virgil explained, "Not so long ago, Richie and I found this girl, Nina, who was also a meta-human. She could move backwards or forwards in time." Mr. Hawkins raised an eyebrow before Virgil went on. "Richie and I tried to help her with this remote control Richie took and adjusted to try and help her control her powers. The thing worked... except it kind of fell into the wrong hands. Ebon - that's the guy with the shadow-like powers - he got his hands on it and tried to go into the past with more of that chemical that turned people into Bang Babies in the first place. He took Nina and that stuff and went five years into the past... back to the riots."

Mr. Hawkins' face blanched as he could guess where this was going.

"While I was looking for Ebon, I... I ran into Mom." Virgil's voice wavered as he recalled how emotional that was. "I told her everything that happened between then and now... it wasn't easy for me to tell her or her to listen to... but I guess she took it well. She told me... she told me how proud she was of me..."

Virgil stopped there, trying to keep his emotions under control.

"I see..." Mr. Hawkins said in a strangled voice.

"Anyway... I warned her about what happened to her, but she said she just couldn't avoid doing her job. And I guess in the end... she stuck with that."

Mr. Hawkins solemnly nodded.

"And what happened to Nina?"

Well, after I made sure there was no explosion of Bang Babies in the past and returned to the present... Nina went back into the past to prevent herself from getting caught in the accident. When Richie and I saw her again after that, she didn't even recognize us, so she succeeded."

"Hmm," Mr. Hawkins said. "I may not be an expert on stuff like the time-space continuum... but I'm sure that preventing herself from having such powers was a very smart thing to do."

"Yeah... I think we've all watched and read enough sci-fi stuff to know that altering history for personal reasons is a bad idea."

Virgil then reconsidered his words. "Well... to be fair, I thought I was doing the right thing by trying to save Mom's life. I mean... I don't see how saving her could have affected history..."

"It's okay, Virgil," Mr. Hawkins said reassuringly. "I know what you mean." Pausing for a moment to remember his beloved wife, he said, "I also think that's one topic best left unspoken about."

"Yeah," Virgil said with a nod, looking down.

Silence yet again.

"Well, like I said, I am proud of you for what you've done," Mr. Hawkins said, putting a hand on his son's shoulder. "I... don't know if I should stop you from doing this, if this is what you truly want..."

"Because no parent in history has ever had to deal with this kind of thing before?" Virgil said jokingly, echoing his father's own words.

"Heh, yeah, that too," Mr. Hawkins said with a grin.

"Well... if I don't go around doing the right thing with my powers, then who will? Well, apart from Richie, I mean, and we work together..."

"Yeah, I see your point, son."

"Besides, I've worked out ways of keeping it secret so no one figures it out." With a smirk, Virgil added, "Who would have guessed that all those hero comic books and stuff would be useful guides for this sort of thing?"

Mr. Hawkins actually chuckled a little. He then thought of something. "Virgil... why didn't you go to the police at first about this sort of thing?"

Virgil sobered up a little as he recalled that. "The guy responsible for the stuff... what's his name? Oh yeah, Edwin Alva... he had a few people in his pocket, including the police. So... I really couldn't even trust the police with my secrets. I even had to run away from that one cop on occasion..."

Memories clicked in Mr. Hawkins' head as he realized something. "You mean Trina Jessup? The one I was dating?"

Virgil nodded. "Yeah, her."

"Exactly what happened that day?" Mr. Hawkins asked, concerned.

"The police were looking for something that had been stolen by some kids, and she wanted to see if I had it. Of course, I had my Static outfit in my backpack, but I wasn't about to tell her that. So I ran, you found out later... and, well, you know the rest."

Mr. Hawkins gave a small groan as he realized what happened. "I'm sorry I grounded you, Virgil... if there's anything I can do to make it up to you..."

Virgil shook his head and waved it aside. "Don't worry about it, Pops. That's old news, history. Water under the bridge."

His father nodded, feeling a little bit better about it.

"Yup... like I said, I really am proud of you for how you've matured."

They spent a few moments together in comfortable silence until they heard something else.

A few streets over, they could see lights and hear the wails of sirens. Leaning over the edge of the roof to get a closer look, Virgil could see some police cars and an ambulance or two, rushing after a small group of meta-humans. A few small explosions could also be heard, along with some people screaming.

Turning to his father, Virgil said, "It looks like they could use my help."

Mr. Hawkins nodded. "I understand, son."

As Virgil dashed back inside to get his outfit, Mr. Hawkins called out, "Virgil, wait!"

Virgil stopped and turned around. "Yeah, Pops?"

"Be careful and come back safely."

"I will, Pops," he said as he dashed inside.

About a minute later, Static shot past Mr. Hawkins, flying out into the night. However, the young hero also took a moment to wave to his father before continuing on his way. A moment later, Gear came into view, flying across the horizon and joining up with Static.

As the two of them went off to help, Mr. Hawkins felt an uncontrollable smile pass over his face.

That's my boy...


A/N: So, how was this? I felt it was nice to revisit the Static Shock series, because it's a shame that they had to cancel it because they ran out of funds for it.

Thanks for reading this, and please don't forget to check out my other works as well! -Quillian