Kihonne: Alright, I'm back guys. Sorry that this chapter was a little late – kinda been without WIFI for a couple of days now. But I'm back, and you're getting all three chapters I promised you in one go. First up is Horace, but first, it's shoutout time!
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LabGirl2001: I'm so glad you enjoyed it so much, especially Alan. I have to admit, his chapter was one of the hardest. I'm looking forward to writing the kids now too – I mean, I was before, but I'm even more pumped for Legacies now.
Algernon23: You know what? That's fair. It's fair to hate me sometimes. I have to admit, Alan's chapter took a more depressing turn than originally planned. I never really had the best grip on his character, so his chapter was harder than most of them. I figured a sentimental theme, albeit a little sad, would be appropriate for his story, given everything that's happened. As for Horace's sister, you are actually going to see her in this chapter. I agree that Douglas and Donald's fallout was sad too, but I also figure it was an important aspect of their lives. They did make up, and clearly they have their priorities straight, but it was important to show where it all began. I'm glad you liked the scene after You Posted What, and yes, you did interpret that correctly – it never made much sense to me how quickly the Academy was built, so I figured it made more sense if it was already being created when they found a real use for it. I'm glad you liked Donald's chapter the best, especially the ending. I don't know, I've been stressed with school, so maybe a bit of that leaked into the chapters. I haven't even started Villains – I've been meaning too, but I've been too busy. Anyway, hopefully these chapters are a little more cheerful for you. Some of them are a little sad, admittedly, but I think there's enough cheer to go around.
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Horace: Kihonne doesn't own Mighty Med, Lab Rats, or the Elite Force. She just owns this series, any OCs in the chapter, and anything else you don't recognize.
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1766
"So, what do you think?" I questioned, walking through the doors to the hospital. My sister looked around, vaguely curious. "Well?"
"It's...nice." Mari replied. I gave her a look. "It's a hospital, Horace. How is this any different than the one they're building down the road?"
"Because it's for us. People like us, with powers. People who want to do some good in the world." I explained, looking around the emergency room in awe. Mari gave me an amused look.
"There aren't many people like us. You can't save everyone, Horace." She told me kindly. "And not everyone lives as long we do."
"That doesn't mean we shouldn't try and keep them alive as long as we can." I pointed out. She looked at me, curious for a moment, before realization crossed her face.
"This is a mid-life crisis." She realized.
"No, it's not." I told her. She gave me a look that clearly told me that she didn't believe me. "Mari, I'm sick of sitting on the sidelines. I may not have offensive abilities that can shoot villains out of the sky, but I can heal people. With or without using my powers. Every hero has a purpose, don't they? What if this is mine?"
She bit her lip, smiling a little before she nodded. "Alright." She said slowly. "I see your point."
"Good. Because the people funding this place have already put me in charge." I told her. She turned around slowly, taking in the place.
"They're not funding it much." She observed. I had to admit, she was right. I barely had any equipment at my disposal, and it was clear that this place wasn't much more than a few rooms, a surgical suite, and a waiting room. "It's going to take some work."
"I've got the time." I replied. She rolled her eyes and I smiled proudly. "No, really. I'm going to make this place something special. You'll see."
2015
I frowned to myself, a little surprised by what I'd just been told by the security team and the nurses on duty in the ER. No normo had ever managed to even find Mighty Med, let alone get into it, and yet, the first time they do, they manage to save a hero's life? It was unfathomable.
I pushed open the door to the cafeteria, where the security team had deposited the three Normos, and was even more surprised to see that my nephew was in there, attempting to scare them. "Alan?" I demanded as I entered.
"The punishment is Alan!" One of the Normos - a boy with light brown hair - screamed, scared. I rolled my eyes and switched on the light, before realizing that the sign above the door was glitching again.
"Stupid sign!" I muttered to myself before hitting the wall, the blow fixing the glitch so that it read the proper phrasing once more.
"Oh, know your diet facts. That's far less scary." The brown-haired boy breathed in relief. I glanced at the so-called Normos before deciding to deal with my nephew first.
"Alan, what are you doing in the cafeteria?" I questioned. He shrank back, knowing that he was supposed to be in one of his private lectures.
"Nothing, Uncle Horace." He mumbled.
"Is that my mug? Send it over." I recognized it instantly. Alan sighed and sent it my way telekinetically, not even bothering to get out of his seats. I heard one of the Normos laugh in amazement, and I turned back to them and showed them the mug. "'World's Sexiest Chief of Staff and Vice Chancellor of Medical Administration'. I bought this at a gas station - what are the odds?"
I placed the mug down before addressing them directly. "I'm Dr. Horace Diaz, head of this hospital. Who are you and what can you do?"
I didn't really believe that they could be Normos. There was no way a Normo could get in here, and besides, what Normo would know enough about the Crusher to be able to save his life faster than my employees?
"Well, I'm Kaz." The other boy, this one with dark hair, introduced himself, "and I can do this." He grabbed a tissue out of a nearby box and covered his face in it before tearing a hole in it with his tongue. I stared at him, a feeling of dread coming over me.
"Anybody can do that. I meant, what are your powers?" I questioned, hoping it was just some sort of misunderstanding.
"We don't have any powers." The girl confirmed my worst fears. Alan leapt to his feet, stunned.
"WHAT?" He demanded loudly. "You're Normos! Normos can't know about Mighty Med! I'm going to get a Normo cage!"
"Not so fast." I raised my hand, freezing him in time for a moment. This was a peculiar situation, and had to be handled sensitively.
"Can you teach me how to do that to my mother?" The girl questioned, smiling a little when she saw what I'd done to my nephew. I looked at her curiously for a moment, always amused by Normo's fascination with superhuman gifts, before looking at the others.
"The Crusher is one of our most important heroes, and you saved his life. How did you know that his heart wasn't in his chest?" I questioned.
"Well, I thought that the super-gravity on Embreyon might have pulled his heart down to his feet." The brown-haired boy explained. I nodded thoughtfully - yes, that would make sense.
"That's very clever. You figured that out faster than our best doctors, even Dr. Brainhead, and his entire head in a brain." I told him sincerely. Clearly, this young man knew quite a bit about our people - perhaps that could come in handy.
"Well, we pretty much eat, drink, and breathe superheroes." The girl told me, grinning.
"Literally. This morning I had a bowl of Honey Nut Blue Tornado Os." The boy added. I grinned - not only did he know his stuff, he was also an enthusiast.
"A true fan. I love this guy!" I exclaimed. "We might be able to use somebody like you around here."
"What's that noise?" Kaz questioned suddenly. Frowning, I realized that he was talking about the muffled sounds coming from Alan's frozen body.
"Oh, right. Alan." I remembered, snapping my fingers to unfreeze him.
"We can't have Normos here! I heard that if you touch them, your butt falls off!" He argued.
"That's not true!" I reassured him before looking at the Normos for reassurance. "That's not true, is it?"
"Um, no." The girl assured me.
"Oh, good. Because without a butt, what would I shake on the dance floor?" I asked. The girl gave me a weird look, but was soon distracted by Kaz messing around with one of the pieces of equipment in the room.
"SO, you want us to work here?" The brown-haired boy questioned.
"Not us, you. Your friends seem a bit...off." I glanced at his friends. This boy seemed to know what he was doing, but the other two...they didn't quite seem like they belonged here. It didn't help that, whilst playing with a piece of complicated and delicate technology, Kaz accidentally replaced his hand with a chainsaw. Their excitement after the fact further told me that I'd made the right decision in only choosing to hire just the one. "I think they just proved my point. You, with me." I looked at the other two. "You two, do you happen to know if you take small or medium Normo cages?"
"What? No! We want to work here too!" Kaz argued. The girl nodded.
"We just just as much about superheroes as he does! Right Ollie?" She looked at her friend for validation.
"Yeah, back us up, man." Kaz agreed.
"Yeah, they're great." 'Ollie' put his arms around their shoulders. "And we're a package deal."
I hummed thoughtfully, considering it. This kid would be an invaluable asset to the hospital. Losing him like this would be a mistake. And perhaps his friends had just not had the chance to prove themselves yet.
This was a crazy decision, I knew that. Not once in Mighty Med history had Normos ever been brought into the equation. The superhero community wouldn't like it. But I had a feeling that these kids would do great things here, if given the chance.
"Okay, I'll give you kids a trial run." I decided.
2016
I sighed deeply to myself as I made my way through the hall of Mighty Med, feeling exhausted and drained. Today was supposed to be one of the best days of my life, and yet it had turned out so awful. I'd just finished cancelling the honeymoon I'd been planning - a trip to Florence to see the Ponte Vecchio - and I wanted nothing more than to go to bed and pretend today had just never happened.
I paused briefly as I passed the rec room, noticing that a light was still on. Frowning, I gently pushed the door open a crack, not wanting to disturb anyone. Dani was lying on her stomach on the couch, one hand grazing the ground as she slept. Kaz was passed out in one of the chairs across from her, feet up on the arm of her couch and his phone lying in his lap.
Oliver, on the other hand, was wide awake, sitting sideways in his chair with his legs dangling over one of the arms as he listened to music and played some game on his phone. He looked up as I opened the door, confused. I jerked my head towards the hall, and he slowly got out of his seat, careful not to wake his sister or friend.
"What are you still doing here?" He asked with a yawn, pocketing his headphones.
"Finishing some last-minute paperwork." I lied, frowning at him. "Why are you awake?"
He shrugged. "Couldn't sleep. Dani took the couch, and I have no idea how Kaz managed to fall asleep in that chair."
"I'm sorry, if there were any more beds left, I'd offer them to you two. We'll bring in some cots or something tomorrow." I promised him. He shrugged again.
"It's fine. I get that it's short notice." Oliver assured me. I nodded towards a door at the end of the hall.
"You want to grab something to eat?" I suggested. "The cafeteria is open 24 hours."
"Kaz made us grab some fries on our way back." Oliver assured me. I nodded, silently thanking Kaz's sense to make sure the twins ate, seeing as the reception dinner clearly hadn't been at the front of anyone's minds after everything that had happened.
"Are you alright?" I asked bluntly. Alan had always been rather easy to deal with emotionally - usually just distracting him with something else worked rather well - but Oliver was a completely different case. Dani too, but she would go to Alivia if she needed comforting, and somehow I sensed that Oliver would take it worse. He and Bridget were closer, after all.
"I'm fine. I just...I can't believe this is all real, you know?" He sighed, rubbing his eyes.
"I'm sorry." I didn't really know what else to say to him. I wasn't sure what would make him feel better or what would make him feel worse. Hell, I wasn't sure what could be said about this that would make me feel better or worse. "I-"
Thankfully, I didn't have to say anything. The door to the rec room opened up and Kaz poked his head out. "Oh, hey Horace. I kinda...crashed here."
"I can see that." I replied. The invitation to stay at Mighty Med had only been extended to the twins, but I wasn't surprised or bothered by the fact that Kaz had stayed as well.
"What're you doing up?" Oliver questioned. Kaz held up a can of whip cream that he must have gotten from the fridge.
"Do you think if I spray this on Dee's face, she'll wake up?" He asked simply. Oliver and I stared at him for a moment.
"...Yes." Oliver answered after enough time had passed to determine that Kaz was, in fact, serious.
Kaz grinned. "Cool." He replied before closing the door. Oliver glanced at me, then back at the door.
"I should probably go stop that." He decided.
"Probably." I agreed. He gave me a smile then headed into the rec room after his best friend. I chuckled as the sounds of roughhousing started to come from the room.
Who was I kidding? Oliver would be fine - and if he wasn't, I had a feeling Kaz would be there.
2017
I tapped my foot impatiently, waiting for someone to pick up the phone. I hadn't been surprised when Dani didn't pick up – busy or not, she rarely answered calls from numbers she didn't recognize – but Oliver was usually quick to answer the phone.
"Hello?" Eventually, Kaz picked up, sounding slightly distracted. In the background, I could hear the sound of blaster fire, so either he was in the middle of a fight, or, more likely, he was playing some video game.
"Kaz." I greeted with a smile. There was a long moment where Kaz didn't say anything, then I heard the background noise pause as well.
"Holy crap." I heard him mutter, and I couldn't help but chuckle. "Horace?"
"Do you want to explain to me why I've only just recently discovered that the four of you are alive? Mighty Med was destroyed months ago!" I exclaimed, slightly frustrated with the kids. Admittedly, it wasn't their fault, but it would have been nice to know that they were okay.
"You're alive." Kaz said in response, sounding in shock.
"I've lived for over 3,000 years – did you really think a softball team's worth of shapeshifters was going to kill me?" I questioned rhetorically.
"Holy crap." Kaz said again, clearly still processing this. I heard him shout Skylar's name before he finally said something of substance. "How are you alive? We...we searched the ruins for survivors."
"I got lucky. As did Geminus, though I understand you're already aware of that." I commented, a little surprised that the Irish hero hadn't told them I was alive.
"Yeah, we found out a couple of weeks ago. Haven't talked to her in person yet." He explained. I heard some noise in the background. "Hey, Skylar, guess who I'm on the phone with."
There was a pause as he waited for her to respond. "No, I talked to my mom yesterday...Yes, I know it was a joke." I chuckled in amusement at their bickering. "Dude, it's freaking Horace...I'm serious."
"Hello?" A moment later, Skylar's skeptical tone came on over the phone.
"Well, good to see nothing has changed between you two." I mused, remembering how the two of them had always seemed to enjoy fighting with each other.
"Oh my God." Skylar gasped, not having believed Kaz until this moment. "You're really okay?"
"I'm okay." I assured her. "And thank goodness you four are as well."
2019
"How many times were you hit in the head?" I questioned, shining a light in Dani's eyes. She winced a little at the sudden brightness, making a displeased face at the tiny flashlight in my hands.
"Um...three, maybe? I didn't really keep track." She admitted before looking at me with tired eyes, one of them already surrounded by dark bruises. "Really, I'm fine, Horace. I just want to go h...I just want to go back to the Penthouse."
"Kaz was right about making you get looked at. I'm pretty sure you have a mild concussion." I told her. She frowned but didn't say anything. "Though, I am surprised that the boys aren't the ones checking you out."
"Kaz wanted to be sure, and Ollie..." She licked her lips nervously. "Ollie hasn't said a word to me since they broke me out of mom's facility. Most of them haven't, actually."
"They'll come around." I assured her. She shook her head, then winced, regretting it.
"No, they won't. They hate me, and I don't blame them." She admitted.
"I am sure they do not hate you." I told her patiently.
"You're as bad as Kaz." She muttered. I smiled a little, glad that at least one of the boys were on her side. I hadn't been thrilled when Alivia had told me about the plan with Dani, but it had been necessary. Thankfully, Kaz seemed to see that, even if Oliver was still upset with his sister. "You didn't see the look on Ollie's face, Horace. I've seen him mad before, but this was something else."
"It's going to take him time, but he'll forgive you." I told her. She didn't look reassured. "You just need to earn their forgiveness."
"How?" She asked, looking at me, eyes genuinely asking me for help. She was biting her lip tightly, eyes watery.
"What did Skylar do when she was trying to earn everyone's forgiveness for turning evil?" I asked her. She frowned.
"She was basically super nice to everyone, and went out of her way to help them." She remembered. She cocked her head to the side, thinking about it. "Do you really think that'll work?"
"It can't hurt." I replied. She nodded.
"Okay, yeah. I can try that." She decided. She gave me a small smile. "Thanks Horace."
I smiled back at her. "Alright. Avoid screens and bright lights, and try not to do anything strenuous." I quickly scribbled down a prescription for something that would help with the symptoms. "And since I know you're going to ignore everything I just said, take one of these twice a day for the next week."
Dani rolled her eyes. "Got it, Dad." She replied sarcastically, taking the paper from me and climbing off the exam table. I smirked a little in amusement, glad to see that everything that had happened hadn't completely crushed her spirit.
2034
"He's pretty good." I admitted, watching as the teenager Alan had brought me healed a deep cut on Tempest's arm. Alan nodded thoughtfully, also watching as Felix did his work. "Where'd you say you found him?"
"Crappy foster home in Memphis." Alan replied with a shrug. "The parents were sending him back to an orphanage anyway - something about not being able to support 3 kids plus a baby or something - so they didn't have an issue with us taking him in."
"How good is he? Do we know?" I wondered. All powers had their limits, and I'd rarely seen a healing ability without a limited number of times or range of abilities.
"Dani and Kaz have been testing him in the base's medbay. He can close wounds like it's nothing, but anything more than that he just speeds up the healing process. Tires him out too." Alan replied, arms crossed. "We thought with a bit of training though, he'd do pretty well here."
"And you want me to train him?" The idea still seemed crazy. "Alan, I've never had a sidekick before."
"So?" He questioned.
"I'm not good with kids. I wouldn't even know what to do with him." I protested. Alan gave me a look.
"You're not good with kids?" He repeated. I nodded.
"They're weird little things with grabby little fingers." I insisted. Alan rolled my eyes.
"He's fifteen." He told me. I raised an eyebrow. "C'mon, he's older than I was when you took me in, and I turned out okay."
I glanced at him. "Well, yes, but..." He raised his eyebrows at me, and I smiled. "Alright. I'll do it."
"Awesome." He grinned. "Hey, Felix. Come here for a second."
The young man ran over, leaving Benny to finish bandaging the now miniscule wound. I had to admit, he reminded me a bit of Alan back when I'd first brought him to Mighty Med - a little shy, but excited to be here.
"Felix, my name is Dr. Horace Diaz." I smiled at the young boy. "Welcome to Mighty Med 2.0."
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Kihonne: Alright, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Anyway, Lily is next, so let's keep the ball rolling.