CHAPTER FOUR
Broken Heart

In the same store that Hank had thrown a mugger up and through the ceiling, the orthopedics doctor stands waiting in line to purchase his things, and thankfully, in his regular clothes.

The roof is fixed, he notices, failing to realize that the few cents he had given the cashier probably never made the cut.

The next thing he notices isn't has joyful or welcome. In the magazine rack below the counter, newspapers and gossip magazines show, but the most startling of them off is the Daily Trauma, with its bright yellow heading over a picture of Captain Eagle himself: Eagle Man! Get the Latest News on This Fiend!"

Hank's muscular hand reaches for the newspaper, clutching it tightly, as if wrangling a slithering snake. His fingers unconsciously tighten their grip on the horrible title. Fiend… how dare they… call me… a FIEND?

"Hey, Mister!" The cashier's voice comes just in time for Hank to release the crumpled newspaper and prevent him from ripping it to shreds. "It's your turn. Ya gonna buy those or not?"

"Oh yeah!" Hank says. "I'm sorry. I'll just take this guy as well…"

Hank holds out the newspaper folded in his hands.

When Hank steps outside the store, the roar of ambulances and sirens wailing isn't mundane to him. His eyes follow the trail of flashing lights, turning his head to go with them. "Could something have happened?"

Hank's eyes slither over to the newspaper still clutched in his hands, and his fingers grasp them tighter and tighter still. It doesn't matter what the public thinks of me. I have to do this.

"Quit standing around!" Maria's unmistakably commanding voice reaches every paramedic and bystander's ears as she whirls around to face them. "Get stable victims ready for transport!"

"Allow me to help too, Miss!"

The even more unmistakable blue-and-yellow costume of Captain Eagle appears behind Maria.

"You're that… Eagle Man from the papers!" she says.

"Just some bad press," the captain shrugs, and then points at the collapsed Ferris wheel behind them. "Let's focus on saving this patient for now!"

Maria is reluctant to let creepy guys in eagle costumes to help, but agrees anyways.

"He has several broken bones," Captain Eagle says immediately, disguising his voice so that even Maria Torres cannot recognize him. "What hospital can take him?"

"Everywhere's full!" says Maria, failing to recognize Hank Freebird behind the mask. "We're sending the rest to Resurgam!"

"You're transporting them to Resurgam First Care?" Captain Eagle asks, shocked. "But…"

"Don't worry," says Maria, happy for a chance to brag. "Our orthopedics department is top notch!"

Me, Hank realizes guiltily. Without a word, he runs off. If that patient with the broken bones arrives at Resurgam, and Hank isn't there but crouched at the incident scene instead, that's not going to do a lot of good for his disguise.

Hank pushes away Maria's shouts for him to stop running, and keeps charging forwards. But when he hits the yellow tape that holds back the commoners, things prove to go wrong.

"Hey! Isn't that Eagle Man?" one person cries, pointing at the bright blue costume.

"That's him!" another person yells. "He must've been behind all this!"

"What?" Hank shouts, sure that he has heard wrong. "No, I had nothing to do with all this!"

"No more excuses!" a third person roars. "Hey, police! Here's the culprit!"

Speechless, Hank can only run off, trying to find a way to weave through the tide of incoming, and angry, citizens.

"Get back here, you filthy coward!" another person screams at him, but Hank keeps running, and ducking behind some ruins, tears his Captain Eagle costume off.

This is no good, he realizes. No good at all…

Hank runs into the ER gasping for breath, clutching the walls for support, smudging the spotless glass with oily fingerprints. The janitor wouldn't be happy, but then again, neither would be Gabriel Cunningham.

"Where've you been, Hank?" the diagnostician declares. "Stop playing around! We're ready to begin!"

Hank takes a deep breath. "Sorry." Even talking hurts.

"Is there a problem?" Gabe asks.

"No," says Hank. "No, but… I've lost sight of why we're saving people's lives."

Claire's words have finally gotten into Hank's water-filled head, and the incident earlier today has probably added to the burden.

"Quit thinking about useless crap like that!" Gabe yells. "There's a patient here! Now isn't the time for this!"

"You're… absolutely right," Hank lies. "Let's… uh… begin the operation!"

Hank opens up the patient's right leg, finding the tibia chipped."

"We should fix it with synthetic bone," Hank says.

"Whatever. You're the specialist."

Hank first saws off a bit of the bone to prepare for the synthetic one. Then, he uses the laser to cut out the synthetic one.

The synthetic bone fits in perfectly. "Now to secure it with a plate," Hank instructs. "Prepare the drill."

After the plate, the femoral neck is next. The joint is completely smashed, leaving the two surgeons with no choice but to replace it with a synthetic bone.

Again, Hank saws off a bit of the bone to prepare for the synthetic one. The stem goes in, and then the ball point itself. A few more synthetic stuff go in, and it's operation complete.

At least, for one patient.

The next patient has an injury in the left leg. The entire leg is fractured, so Hank puts them back in place and secures them with plates, screws, and pins. Rock solid.

The femur comes next, and with no surprise to either doctors, the joint is completely smashed and needs artificial joints. Hank does that, and immediately after, finishes the operation.

Hank steps out onto the roof and much to his surprise, finds Maria sitting cross-legged on the surface.

"Well, this is new," says Hank, surprised that Maria actually takes breaks. "Something bothering you?"

Maria sighs, and quietly begins to tell her story, about the orphanage fire, the hero, everything.

"And that's when I made up my mind," says Maria. The sky has turned into a golden orange color, clouds flying past it. "I decided that I'd be an awesome hero who would save people!"

"Have you stayed in contact with the child you rescued?"

"Huh? Oh, that reminds me, I heard a letter came for me. I've been so busy that I haven't had time to get it. Ha…"

"I see."

Hank flashes back to the newspapers, the crowds, Theodore Gacy. "There's an important point you're missing."

"Huh?"

"There's a limit to what even a hero can do by himself. A hero acting on his own only acts in vain…"

Hank exits the building, passing the garbage can, passing the remains of his Captain Eagle costume that lies on top of the trash…

He doesn't pick it up.

Whew. The proxy's been wearing me out; refreshing every other minute. Glad I have that out of the way.

Again, Gabe, a specialist is only a B rank! Good old fk1998 here can get an XS rank on Aletheia. Okay, fine, I had cheat on, but seriously, I can achieve XS in most of the missions without cheat. And only one stylus.

Hehe. We're almost done Hank, and after that comes Tomoe, and after that, fk will be invading mf's Gabe. That came out wrong. Whoops.

Now, back to that OST I was listening to... do any of you listen to OST? No? DO IT NOW. I COMMAND YOU.