Chapter One
The day was blazing hot, moreso in the desert, yet still, Bill and Ralph were there working on suit powers.
Or atleast trying to.
Ralph had his arms crossed over his chest, repeatedly refusing to go along with Bill's suggestions.
"Ralph, you're being a real pain about this, you know?" Bill complained.
"Bill, I feel like I'm roasting out here, it's so hot." He motioned to Bill. "And you're standing there in your three-piece. How can you stand it?"
"Korea," Bill responded simply, causing Ralph to roll his eyes. "Fine, kid, how about trying the weather idea, then?"
"With my track record, I'll probably create a tornado that'll take us to Oz!" Ralph exclaimed, throwing his arms out at his sides. "I'm tired, Bill! I don't wanna do this anymore today!"
"You're really being selfish about this! The word 'brat' comes to mind," Bill said.
Ralph's eyes narrowed. And suddenly, the sky had a complete cloud-cover... with very dark clouds. He looked up, eyes widening. "Uh... Bill?"
Bill was looking up, too. "I see it, kid, and I don't believe it. Or maybe I do..."
There was a rumble of thunder, shortly followed by raindrops. The rain picked up and within seconds it was downpouring. Bill ran for cover in his tan Dodge Diplomat while Ralph stood stock-still looking up at the rain clouds.
Bill watched him from the car, shaking his head. "Kid's a piece-a work."
Ralph continued staring up at the sky, even as another rumble of thunder came and went, followed by a bolt of lightning.
Bill rolled the window down slightly and called out, "Ralph, you're gonna get zapped by lightning! Get in the car already!"
There was another rumble of thunder... a very loud and close rumble. It was so close it practically shook the ground. It made Ralph jump, finally breaking out of his assumed trance. He finally looked towards the Diplomat, but glanced at the sky once more. Another bolt of lightning flashed, bouncing between the clouds before making it's way to the ground.
To Bill, it seemed to happened in slow motion. As Ralph had turned to look up once more and the lightning bolt came down, everything became brightly illuminated. So bright, it almost seemed like a white-out. It faded as the rain came down heavier. Bill squinted his eyes, once again looking to where Ralph had been... and glanced down slightly.
Ralph lay on the ground, unmoving. Bill's eyes widened and he flung the car door open, then slammed it behind him. He ran as quickly as he could and knelt by Ralph. He glanced over the younger man, seeing nothing unusual. He shook him gently at the shoulder. Receiving a subconscious grimace, Bill picked the other shoulder to shake. Ralph merely frowned. Bill slid one arm under Ralph's arms and the other arm under his knees and hoisted him up. Bill flinched slightly; he kept forgetting that, even though Ralph was slim, he was heavier than he looked with his well-toned muscles.
Bill ran the best he could back to the car, all the while thinking up possible one-liners concerning the situation and weight to use on the younger man once he came to. He shifted Ralph around and managed to open one of the rear doors. Bill climbed in and laid Ralph on the seat, causing him to frown again.
"Right, forgot," Bill said and shifted Ralph's weight off the seemingly injured arm. Seeing the frown dissipate, Bill checked other vitals. Both pulse and breathing were fine, but Bill couldn't wake him. He sighed and climbed back out, going around the car to get in the driver's seat. He glanced at Ralph in the rearview before turning the engine over and shifting into drive.
It was still raining as Bill pulled into the Hinkley's driveway. He shifted into park and glanced in the rearview mirror again. Ralph hadn't moved. He opened his door, slammed it, and opened the rear door. Bill hooked an arm each under Ralph's armpits and pulled him out, letting his feet drop to the pavement. Ralph flinched again. Bill kicked the door closed, then hauled Ralph over to the front door of the house. He then proceeded to kick the door with his foot.
"Counselor, open up! We got a big problem here!"
The door opened seconds later and Pam stood aside as a soaked Bill dragged and even more soaked and unconscious Ralph into the living room.
"Bill, what happened?" Pam asked, as he put Ralph on the couch.
Bill gave half a shrug. "The kid got zapped by lightning."
"Lightning! Bill!" Pam exclaimed. She knelt down and placed a hand on Ralph's cheek. His mouth twitched, almost looking like he was trying to smile.
"Listen, Counselor, you know it as well as I do that it was sunny one second, the next it was pouring rain with thunder and lightning. Ralph did it. He changed the weather and either got so amazed by it or... something, that he ended up staying out in it while I took cover in the car. And he got zapped," Bill explained.
"How could he change the weather like that? As far as I know, he's never even tried anything like that before." Pam paused, then quirked an eyebrow. "Right, Bill?"
"He tried it today, but he wasn't trying very hard. Then the heat finally got to him and he put up a fit. Listen, Counselor, I need to go dry off before I get pneumonia or somethin'. I'd suggest you help the kid outta his jammies and get him dried off before something worse happens." With that, Bill left, slamming the door after him.
Pam glanced at Ralph, then nodded. "Right... towels, I need towels and dry clothes."
The evening into night was uneventful and long. Bill had returned in dry clothes and hung around a while, waiting to see if Ralph would come to. Shortly before midnight, BIll called it a night and told Pam he'd be back the next morning. Pam meanwhile made herself comfortable on an oversized chair in the corner of the room. She had a perfect view of Ralph to watch him easily. When Bill had returned, he told her about Ralph's shoulder, which Pam in turn told Bill she'd already figured out when she pulled the suit's tunic off and Ralph grimaced deeply. She'd wrapped an Ace bandage around it and put a heating pad on it, figuring the heat was better for it after being out in the rain.
Eventually, Pam fell asleep. And sometime after that, the rain stopped. Then Ralph finally stirred.
He blinked his eyes open. It was dark in the room, but he could easily tell it was his living room and that he was on the couch. He slowly moved to finger the heating pad on his shoulder. The shoulder throbbed. He frowned, thinking a moment. Ralph remembered the rain, watching the lightning between the clouds, then coming down... and striking him on the shoulder. He frowned. He wasn't sure why it didn't strike his head, instead, but decided not to think about that.
A quiet gasp caught his attention and he looked to his right, watching Pam return to his side. She clicked on the lamp and the end of the couch, just above where his head was. The sudden light caused him to flinch and shade his eyes.
"Sorry, hun," Pam apologized. "Oh, Ralph, I was so worried about you!"
"You were worried...?" Ralph gave a slight grin, his eyes finally beginning to adjust. He held a brief gaze into Pam's eyes, which suddenly widened. "What?"
Pam gasped, her mouth opening, but unable to get words out.
"Pamela, what's wrong?" Ralph asked.
Pam got up and disappeared into the bedroom. She returned with a handheld mirror and held it up so he could see his own face.
"I don't--" Ralph couldn't tear his gaze from his own eyes. It wasn't a pair of blue eyes staring back, however.
These eyes were a bright purple.
Ralph let out a breath and whispered, "Damn."
Bill let himself in the next morning. He stopped in the now-empty living room. "Ralph? Counselor?"
Ralph came out of the bathroom, wearing a robe and toweling his blond curls one-handed. The towel hung down past his eyes.
"Good to see you up and about, kid. How's the shoulder?"
"Sore," Ralph responded, shortly.
"Let me guess, you're mad at me," Bill said, folding his arms over his chest.
"And why not?" Ralph said from under his towel. "My shoulder aches and..." He pulled the towel from his head and glared at Bill with piercing purple eyes.
Bill's eyes widened. "Holy geez, Ralph!" He turned away from Ralph's glare, holding a hand up in front of him as if to shield his own eyes from a bright light.
"Bill, what the hell happened to my eyes?" Ralph exclaimed, pushing Bill's hand down.
"Musta had to do with the lightning strike. I don't know, kid!" Bill paused. "Do you have to look at me like that?"
Ralph didn't respond to that, instead, he tightened the grip he still held on Bill's arm.
"Yow! Kid you're gonna crush my arm--" Ralph eased up his grip and Bill glanced down, noting Ralph's bare feet and lower legs. "Uh, you're not..."
"...Wearing the suit." He shook his head. "Nope. Yet, I can still do everything that it allows me to."
It took a moment, then Bill grinned. "That's great! You won't have to worry about changing into the suit everytime we need it!"
"And that's fine," Ralph conceded, then amended, "but not if that means having purple eyes!"
"Well, what do you want me to do, Ralph? Go conjure up another thunder storm?" Bill said.
Ralph ran a hand through his damp curls. "I don't know." He paused. "I called in sick today. I couldn't go to school like this. They'd probably have me get tested for drugs or something." He paused again. "There's something else I can't figure out."
"What's that?"
"Why, if I have the suit's powers, can't I hardly move my arm?"
Bill moved closer and motioned to his arm. "You mind?"
"Just don't let it drop."
Even though Bill hadn't really done body injury checks since Korea, he still knew what was right and what was wrong, and there was definitely something wrong with Ralph's shoulder. "You gotta get a doc to check that out, kid. Best guess, I'd say it's separated."
"Go in there like this?" He pointed to his eyes with his good arm, then jerked his thumb to point behind him. "The doc would probably not even get past the color of my eyes. I'd probably end up locked up for examination and experiments. Neither of which is promising."
"What about the suit? Would that fix any of it?"
"Already tried it." Ralph shook his head. "No."
Later that morning at the Federal Building, Bill sat at his desk, on the phone. He had a couple file folders open and spread out in front of him. Ralph came in and made a bee-line for Bill's desk. He stopped, perching himself on a corner. Then he readjusted the dark sunglasses he wore. Several other agents in the room gave him odd looks. He turned away from them and toward Bill, who waved for him to wait.
"Alright, thanks," Bill hung up the phone and glanced up at Ralph. "Nice sunglasses, kid."
"Thank you, Uncle Bill," Ralph commented, sarcastically, then forced a grin.
Bill made an aggravated sound. "Listen, Ralph, I'm trying to help you out, here." He grabbed at one of the files. "And you're sitting on my paper work!" He gave it a tug, pulling it out from under him.
Ralph leaned over and looked at one of the other files. "Rare weather occurances. Freak thunderstorms..."
Bill clasped his hands together, resting on the desk. "That storm yesterday was a freak accident in timing."
"You think so?"
"Yeah, I do."
"Hmm." He glanced up and around at the other agents, some still looking in their direction. "Bill, can't we go discuss this at my house or your apartment? Somewhere more inconspicuous, or atleast with less people to overhear us and give me weird looks for wearing sunglasses indoors?"
"My apartment. I've got books and files there that might be useful." Bill closed up the files on his desk and shoved them into a briefcase.
Ralph stood. "Good."
Ralph hung up the phone and crossed the apartment to where Bill sat, mulling over reports and books. He flopped himself down on the battered couch, wincing slightly from jostling his injured shoulder too much.
Bill tapped the eraser-end of the pencil he held. He glanced up. "Counselor's on her way?"
Ralph nodded. "Yeah. She said she picked up something at the store that'll make me feel better. I'm not sure what she might've found, but it'd take a near miracle to make me feel better."
"You know, kid, I really hate seeing ya like this. Moping around and everything." He tapped the book with his pencil, "That's why I'm doing this egghead work."
Ralph motioned with his good arm. "It isn't so much getting struck by lightning that bothers me. I don't even care that the suit's powers have transfered directly to me. Heck, even atleast with wearing the suit I could cover it up in a not so obvious manner. It's my eyes that really bothers me. Or rather, the color that bothers me. I mean, I can see just fine, maybe even better than before. It's just the fact that they're... purple." He made a face.
"If only we had that instruction book. It'd probably have something in it about the transfer of the suit's powers and a tell-tale sign that they've been transfered." Bill reached over and grabbed a notebook, then flipped it open. "It goes right along with alot of the other more odd powers of the suit. Like the mind-push that gave you headaches."
"Yeah..." Ralph scratched at the back of his neck. "So, it's a choice between wearing the suit or having purple eyes? I want a third option if that's it."
A knock came at the door, followed by Pam's voice. "Bill? Ralph?"
"It's open, Counselor!" Bill called out, flipping the notebook closed.
Pam came in carrying a small brown-paper bag. She pushed the door closed then went to sit next to Ralph. She smiled and handed him the bag. "Here you go, hun. I hope this works."
"What--" Ralph opened the bag and peered into it, then tipped it over, letting a small box fall out onto his hand. His eyes widened slighty and he grinned. "Contacts... now why didn't I think of that?"
Pam tapped the box with an index finger. "They're colored. I'm pretty sure they'll do the trick." She looked him straight in the eyes. "Although... you know, Ralph, they aren't as bad as you think they are."
Ralph sighed. "But it isn't my eye color and I've never personally seen anyone with this coloring..."
"It does exist, though," Bill spoke up, glancing at them from behind a two-page article he held. "Of course, it's mostly found in women, but you ought to see the other qualities that come along with the color. Perfect vision, living over a hundred years, slow aging process..."
"Bill, stop, alright. This," he pointed at his eyes, "was a mistake. I think I'll just wait for the next thunderstorm, then head out to the desert and stand around in it." He got up and headed off to the bathroom with the box in hand.
Bill waited a moment before commenting, "I've known the kid for over three years and I'd never guessed that something so trivial would send him overboard like this."
"Ralph's just... upset. If what's happened is going to remain with him, he'll get used to it after a little while."
"You sure about that Counselor?"
"Almost."