When Richie woke up it felt as if he had been run over by a herd of angry elephants, who than turned back around just to be sure that the got him. Groaning he slowly opened his eyes and noticed that he was in a hospital room, either that or someone seriously redecorated his room.
Slowly he sat up and leaned against the bed frame. He was happy to notice that he had no broken or sprained bones, he has had more than his fair share of those and they were hard to explain away. Luckily, when he got his last sprain happen when his school bus was attacked so he did not have to worry about excuses.
Just as he was sitting up the door to his room opened.
"Mr. Foley, you should not be trying to sit up," the doctor said.
"What happened?" Richie asked.
"What do you remember?" the doctor asked as he got Richie to lay down.
"Not much," Richie lied. Now that he gotten over the shock of waking up in the hospital, he remembers what happened. Ebon and Hotstreak, who had fused together after their last fight, had returned and had attacked down town. When they had confronted them he and Virgil had a hard time keeping up, and had taken a lot of hits. Richie had taken one that had thrown him into a car. The hit must have knocked him out, because Richie doesn't remember much after that.
Of course, he could not tell the doctor all of this.
"Mr. Foley, you can be honest with me," the doctor said, "I know that you are Gear, I need to know what you remember so I can see if there are any memory issues from that hit on the head."
At this Richie sat straight up ignoring the pain.
"Mr. Foley, you need to relax. You don't need to worry as a doctor is my job to keep information about my patients private," the doctor said.
"How did you find out," Richie asked.
"Don't worry about that right now," the doctor said. "Can you tell me what you remember?"
Richie told him, however the fact that the doctor knew is identity did not set well with him.
The doctor paid little attention to Richie's worries and continued examining him.
"I have to say you are very luck. Hitting that car at that speed could have done a lot of damage, but it appears that it is just a couple of bad bruises and scratches. We were worried about there being some damage due to how hard you hit your head, but everything appears fine. We will need you to stay here tonight for observation," the doctor said, making some notes on his clipboard. "You should be out there fighting crime in a week or so, proved that you rest and take it slow."
At this Richie simply nodded. The doctor showed him how to call a nurse and left.
Now along Richie could not help, but wonder how the doctor knew who he was. He wasn't injured bad enough for Virgil to feel the need to tell his identity to a doctor, so how did he find out.
While Richie was trying to figure this out there was a knock at his door. When Richie turned to see who it was Virgil walked in in his Static uniform, closing the door behind him.
"Hey Richie," Virgil said sounding just a little nervous.
"Static," Richie said. "Why…"
Richie was having a little trouble finding a way to ask him why he was visiting him in his Static custom. As far as anyone knew Static did not know Richard Foley, so were likely to wonder why he was visiting him. Something they would not do if he came as Virgil.
"The only way I was going to be able to get in to see you was as Static," Virgil said, answering Richie's unasked question.
Virgil sighed.
"I asked the doctors not to say anything, hoping I could find the right way to break it to you. But I think it would be better if I just show you."
With that Virgil took the remote off of Richie's bedside table and turned on the TV to the local news station.
"For those of you just tuning in, it was a scene of panic today when a new bang baby monster attacked downtown Dakota. Static was able to drive the monster away, but not before it knocked Gear into a nearby car. The force of the hit had knocked the young hero's mask off," The reporter said.
At her words Richie felt the color drain from his face.
"The hero has been identified as local teen Richard Foley, and he has been taken to Dakota Central Hospital for care."
At this Richie took the remote from Virgil and turned off the television.
There were a few moments of quiet in the hospital room as both Richie and Virgil fought to find something to say.
"So everyone now knows who I am," Richie asked in a voice so small Virgil almost didn't hear it.
"Yeah, pretty much," Virgil said.
"My parents?" Richie asked.
"Are in the waiting room now," Virgil said. "They got here not along after you did. Apparently they had seen the fight on the news and came as soon as they could. Even before the news announced who you were."
"Great," Richie said running his hands through his hair. "I'm going to be grounded from now till I'm 50."
"Nay, more like till your 18," Virgil said. "The hospital staff haven't let them in yet, because they wanted you to wake up first."
"That is going to be a fun conversation," Richie said, and than he thought of something.
"Hey V, do they know who you are?"
Virgil shook his head. "Some people have made the connection, but very few people believe that I am Static. Sharon, however, now knows that I'm Static."
At this Richie raised his eyebrow.
"Apparently the two of us are 'glued to the hip' and she finds it hard to believe that one of us will be a superhero and the other not," Virgil said putting air quotes around the words 'glued to the hip'.
"I'm telling you man, I've never seen Sharon that mad," Virgil said.
"And to think that I'm over here worrying about my parents," Richie said with a smile.
"Anything else that happened while I was asleep?" Richie asked.
"Remember when it was revealed that Adam was Rubberband Man and all the people who wanted to talk with Sharon," Virgil said, "It looks like all of them and everyone they know is trying to get into see you. I think that is why they haven't let your parents in yet. You would not believe how many people are claiming to know you. There was even this one girl who said she was your fiancé and the two of you were just waiting for graduation to get married."
"Virgil can you do me a favor and knock me out?" Richie asked, "Maybe if you hit me hard enough I will be knocked out and wake up in a world were this did not happen."
"I don't think it works like that," Virgil said.
"It worth a shot."
After a while Virgil left and, with a little courage he didn't know he had, Richie asked the nurse to let his parents in. The conversation that followed was as bad as Richie thought.
"What were you thinking?" Sean said clearly trying to keep his voice down.
"You could have been killed, while you were out there playing vigilante."
"Sean, please calm down," Maggie said.
"Calm down, Maggie our son was almost killed today and he has been putting himself in danger for a while now," Sean said turning to his wife.
"And getting worked up about it now will not fix anything," Maggie countered.
"Well, its kind of hard not to, seeing as he will never be able to have a normal life now," Sean said.
"Oh, Sean…" Maggie started.
"Maggie you saw those reporters out there. Richie may be done with this hero nonsense, but it will always follow him."
"Wait a minute," Richie said. Richie had been letting his parents get things off of their chest, but his dad could not mean what he thought he meant.
"What do you mean I'm done with this hero nonsense?"
"Richie you can't honestly believe that your mother and I would let you continue with this. Whether you noticed it or not it is dangerous," Sean said.
"But, Dad…" Richie said.
"No, buts Richie," Sean said, "This is my final word on the matter. You will not be endangering yourself like this."
"To be honest, with the media attention all of this is getting I'm thinking we may have to move," Sean added. "That is a decision that we will have to make at a later date."
Richie could not believe his ears, not only did his parents want him to stop being Gear, but they might even make him move from Dakota. The day had started like any other day, in one moment it had turned his world upside down.