Hero's death - part 2
Ray was up early after a restless night. The images of Henry passing away had kept him awake at night, prompting him to get up earlier than he used to. After a couple of hours of doing nothing, he decided to take action. The news station was already wondering why Kid Danger went to the hospital and they had already called him several times, asking for an explanation.
He'd tell them – he just needed to tell the Hart family first.
He has called Charlotte to ask her if she wanted to go to the Hart's house and tell them (and Jasper) to wait for him. She agreed with the plan and then hung up, probably to immediately call Jasper to come over to Henry's house. As soon as she had hung up, he took a gum, blew a bubble and transformed into Captain Man.
He walked over to the tube and once the glass had reached the floor, he looked at the now empty tube at his right. Without thinking about it too much, he said "up the tube" and left for the Hart house. They deserved to know what happened before everyone else.
Charlotte was already at the Hart's house. She had convinced Jake and Siren to stay here, since there was something important they had to know. Piper was convinced to stay and hear what Charlotte had to tell because according to Piper, none of her friends did something interesting lately. In other words, she had some time to listen to Charlotte until her friends posted something interesting again. Captain Man was already waiting, standing at the bottom of the stairs which lead to the basement. So far, none of the Harts had noticed him standing there, because nobody needed to be in the basement that morning. Now, they just had to wait for Jasper.
Before Jasper arrived, everyone was starting to get annoyed with Jasper being a little late. "Can't you just tell us?" Jake asked Charlotte, who shook her head.
"I'll tell you when Jasper's here," she said. Piper, who didn't look up from her phone, sighed.
"This is gonna be boring," she said. nobody was sure if she was talking about Charlotte's news or that none of her friends had anything interesting to say. Not long after Piper said it, Jasper ran inside. They had kept the door unlocked just in case Jasper would barge in like that.
"I'm here, Charlotte!" he yelled while he shut the door, "What's the emergency?"
"Take a seat," Charlotte said seriously. Everyone sat down on the couch, looking at Charlotte expectantly.
"What is it you wanted to tell us?" Siren asked her.
"There's someone who wants to tell you something," Charlotte responded and looked at the staircase. Ray knew that was his cue and walked upstairs. The four turned their heads when they heard the footsteps and could barely contain their surprise when they saw Captain Man walking towards them.
"Hey everyone," the superhero said. only the adults and Charlotte noticed the serious expression on his face. Both Jasper and Piper jumped up.
"It's Captain Man!" Jasper yelled.
"No way, Captain Man!" Piper shouted at the same time. Captain Man nodded.
"Yeah, that's me," he said, "Now please sit down." Jasper and Piper did as he said, mostly because they heard the serious tone in his voice and knew that once Captain man didn't smile in public, it must be serious.
"This sounds serious," Siren said and Captain Man nodded again as he walked until he stood with his back to the TV, able to see everyone.
"It is," he said, as a response to what Siren said. He then noticed Piper was looking around.
"Where's Kid Danger?" she asked. Ray looked at her. Henry's little sister was the first to notice his sidekick wasn't with him now.
"That's what I wanted to tell you," Captain Man began, unsure if he could continue without crying himself. He took a deep breath before telling them what happened. "Kid Danger and I, we found Savage yesterday. We fought him. Savage was faster and he…" He stopped. It was so hard to say it, but he had to. He decided to look at the ground so they wouldn't see his tears. "Kid Danger's dead."
Charlotte looked at the four when they heard the news. She, of course, already knew, but that din't stop the tears from coming. The parents were shocked, as were Jasper and Piper, though the latter two didn't want to or couldn't believe it.
"What?" Jasper said, unsure how else to react. Piper, on the other hand, almost started to cry, burying her face in a pillow and screaming 'no' over and over again. Charlotte reminded herself that Piper thought Kid Danger was hot and that Piper probably had a crush on him. She didn't lose just her crush, though, but also a brother.
"Excuse me, Captain Man?" Jake eventually said while Siren tried to comfort Piper and Charlotte tried to be there for Jasper, "but shouldn't everyone in Swellview know about this? Why do we get to know it first?" Captain Man looked at Jake.
"That's why I'm here, too," Captain Man then said, trying not to get too much carried away by his emotions. He took some more deep breath before breaking the news. "Your son, Henry Hart, he was Kid Danger."
He got mixed reactions from everyone, saying "What?", "That's impossible" and also a "Henry can't be Kid Danger". Piper didn't say anything, since she just took her face out of the pillow when they were reacting to the news Captain Man brought them. since they didn't believe him immediately, he had to make them believe.
"Henry sometimes had to leave all of a sudden, right?" Captain Man asked them, "Didn't he always leave when his watch beeped three times and flashed? That was me telling him there was an emergency that required Kid Danger to come with me. Then he'd be home later and didn't seem too surprised whenever we were seen on TV." He let the words sink in. Everyone started to realize he was right and eventually the message finally came through. Kid Danger's dead. Henry Hart was Kid Danger. Henry Hart is dead.
"I can't believe it," Jake said in a monotone, unable to do or say anything else, taken aback by the reveal and the consequences for his son. His wife started to sob and put her hands on her face, covering her eyes as she cried.
"My little boy…" Siren sobbed. Jake embraced her, comforting her in these hard times. Jasper and Piper turned to Charlotte to confirm the news.
"So Henry's gone?" Jasper asked, his eyes starting to be filled with tears, too. Charlotte nodded.
"Yeah," she said, voice cracking, "They tried to help him, but it was too late." Jasper looked away, sad, preferred to deal with it on his own. Then, Piper walked up to her.
"Did you know?" she asked her, "Did you know about Henry being Kid Danger?" Charlotte nodded in response, unable to say anything else without her voice cracking too much or bursting out in tears.
"Then why didn't you tell us?" Jasper wondered. Since Charlotte didn't want to say anything else, it was up to Captain Man to explain why they had to keep it a secret.
"Because I didn't want her to tell you," he began, drawing the attention of the kids "We wear these masks not only to protect our secret identities, but also to protect those around us, our friends and family. Once Charlotte figured out Henry was Kid Danger, I told her she wasn't allowed to tell anyone, so she didn't. She's helped him come to me ever since." Jasper nodded, understanding why Charlotte didn't say anything. For a long time, everyone remained silent, the six of them mourning Henry together.
"Can I ask you something?" Captain Man looked at Jake, who asked it.
"Sure," he nodded a little absentmindedly.
"Was it painless?" Jake then asked. Ray thought about last night, about how Henry bravely fought the poison until he couldn't anymore, how he just closed his eyes and his heart stopped beating.
"Yes, it was," Captain Man said, "It was as if he fell asleep." Jake nodded, hopefully having some peace with the fact that his son didn't suffer during his last minutes.
Ray looked at the clock. It was almost time to go to the press conference he had organized. He cleared his throat, hoping to get everyone's attention. "I'm now going to tell the press what happened. I have just one question for you: do you want Swellview to know who Kid Danger was?" He turned to Mr. and Mrs. Hart specifically – they were the parents, they should decide whether Swellview could know or not.
"No," Siren immediately said, "No, I… It's too early."
"Maybe later, but not now," Jake agreed with her and Captain Man nodded.
"Okay," he said, "I won't say who he is. But you'll have to come up with a reasonable explanation for what happened to Henry, like a car accident." He paused, and then continued. "If you'd like to see him, he's at the hospital mortuary. Just ask nurse Rogers about him. You can trust her. You'll see Henry, not Kid Danger. She changed his clothes." He thought it'd be nicer for his family to bury Henry as Henry and not as Kid Danger. He knew nurse Rogers personally as Captain Man and asked her for a favor: to give Kid Danger normal clothes.
"Thank you," Siren said and Ray showed her a sad smile.
"You're welcome," he said and he walked towards the door. Before he could open it, however, he heard a voice in his head. It was Henry's voice: "tell my parents I love them. Tell Piper I still cared about her, despite everything. Tell Jasper—" and then his own voice responding: "You can tell them yourself."
No, he can't, Ray thought, so I have to do that now.
Captain Man turned around to the five. "One more thing," he said, announcing he wouldn't leave just yet. "Henry asked me to say some things to you. Mr. and Mrs. Hart," he turned to the parents and they looked at him, "he loved you. He never wanted to hurt you in any way. He knew the rules and how dangerous it could be. he never backed away when Swellview needed him most. You have a brave son."
Mr. and Mrs. Hart held each other tightly as they listened to Captain Man, thanking him for telling them what their son wanted them to know. Captain Man nodded once before turning his attention to the young girl.
"Piper, despite everything he still cared about you," He said, "On many occasions, he saved you as both kid Danger and Henry Hart. He's your older brother and older brothers look after their younger sisters." Piper admitted she too cared about Henry, but that she never would have the chance to tell him that. Lastly, he turned to Jasper.
"I think he wanted me to tell you he's sorry you weren't allowed to know, but he took a vow to never tell anyone. If a villain figured out who he was, they'd be capable of doing horrible things to his family and closest friends – so, they could hurt you. He had his reasons – don't blame him, but blame me for keeping it a secret." Jasper couldn't say anything, just nodding in response before seeking comfort with Charlotte.
She glanced at Captain Man, as if she asked him if there was anything Henry wanted to tell her. Ray shrugged, to tell her he had no idea, partly because he shut Henry up before he could finish. He looked at the clock again.
"I'd better be going," he said, "Goodbye everyone." He left through the front door and immediately went to the press conference, where he announced Savage was in prison and that Kid Danger had died. The mayor, who attended the conference, immediately announced they would bury Kid Danger next Saturday to give him a good funeral, despite the fact that they wouldn't have a body to bury. It was breaking news immediately, telling everyone in Swellview about Kid Danger's fate.
Then, Captain Man went back home and tried to get some more sleep.
And here's the second part. I hope I did well with the sadness. Anyway, the third part will probably focus on the funeral(s). The next chapter will come around the end of next week and I hope you enjoyed. Since it's become a habit with my other stories, here is my response to the reviewer:
Dino Girl 16: Thanks for reviewing! Also, I am not going to add Cheyenne, but only because I don't want to upset you if I portray her wrong. She's your character and I wouldn't want you to be upset if she does something in my stories she wouldn't normally do.
-Writer207