Shadow-Man

9

Mom had invited Gill to come over to our house for dinner, after finding out that he and I had been spending a lot more time together than we used to. Mom hadn't met Gill before, which was actually quite surprising, and she thought that it was about time that she did. This meant that Gill was supposed to come home with me after school, but the problem with that was that I was still going over to Steven's house everyday after school. I had tried to tell Gill that I just would tell Steven no that day, but Gill wouldn't let me do that. He said that he really wanted to see my suit, and Steven's lab, and watch me fight Warren. I couldn't bring myself to tell him no.

"Who's this?" Steven asked when Gill and I met him a Warren a little ways from school.

"This is my friend Gill. He's supposed to come over to my house for dinner tonight." I explained as Steven got out of the car, and got back in at the front seat, leaving room for Gill and I. Steven looked at me with his lips in a thin line, and his eyes kept flickering over to Gill.

"You can trust him. Gill has know everything about me being a superhero since before I even was one." I told Steven seriously. Steven continued to stair at Gill and I for a little while longer, then he looked away.

"So, you're the famous Gill?" Warren called, keeping his eyes on the road.

"I take it you've heard of me." Gill chuckled.

"I've heard quite a bit about you. When you spend just about everyday beating someone up, you kind of get to know them."

"Really? Because according to Ty, he's been laying you out flat." Gill teased.

"Is that so? I guess I'll have to teach him a little lesson about lying." Warren teased back, looking at Gil and I in the rearview mirror.

"Excuse you, but you told me that I really need to work on my ability to lie, because one of these day, lying could save my life." I defended with a smirk.

"Though that is true, today is not that day." Warren smirked. Gill chuckled a bit, and I smiled at him.

When we arrived at Steven's house, Gill was, needless to say, excited. Then, while the four of us used the secret elevator, Gill was practically bursting at the seams. By the time I had changed into my suit, and showed it to Gill, I thought he was actually going to faint. Gill looked at me with stars in his eyes once again, and a giant, blinding grin broke out across his face. He circled around me, lifting up my arms and inspecting every inch of me.

"This just might be the greatest thing that I had ever seen." Gill told me in awe.

"It is really cool, isn't it?" I asked, pulling off the mask and grinning.

"Hell yeah it is!." Gill exclaimed.

"How does it feel? You didn't really get the chance to actually use the suit yesterday." Steven said. I assumed he needed to know how well the suit worked so that he could make adjustments to it if needed.

"I think it feels pretty good. It fits fantastically." I responded.

"Let's test it out." Warren smirked, walking over to the mat in the corner of the room. I grinned, pulling my mask back over my face, and joining Warren on the mat.

Warren and I fought, both of us beating the shit out of each other. Gill watched, cheering for me, and wincing when I got hurt. Steven also watched Warren and I fight, and I knew that he was paying close attention to my movements, making sure that I could move around smoothly and easily. Fortunately, I could! With the special chest plate that made a binder unnecessary, my ribs weren't always aching, and I was able to move better, and breathe better than i was able to in my homemade suit, which was fantastic.