The absolute JOY I had when I realized that I could post tonight instead of tomorrow night. This week has blown by for me, which is kind of a blessing considering posting for you guys always ends up being the highlight of my week.
I'd post the rest of the chapters now if I could, but I've got to have some self-restraint.
Summary: Henry doesn't know if his hospital room has "Henry Hart" or "Kid Danger" written on the door.
Viva La on with the Story!
There was someone clutching his hand. Why was there someone clutching his hand?
…also, was someone playing a video game?
His throat was painfully dry when he swallowed, and it drew a cough out of him that sent his head spinning. His groan sounded raspy, but his hearing was too muffled to really register that.
The hand that was in his startled and then clutched desperately.
"Henry?"
Mmm. Whose voice was that again…? It wasn't Charlotte's. It wasn't Reeds, and definitely not…Ray's.
Oh.
Oh, those beeps weren't from a video game. They were definitely not from a video game.
Henry's gaze flooded with white for way too long when his eyelids finally fluttered open, and his eyebrows pulled together at the pain. He groaned and tried to reach a hand up to rub at his eyes, but the hand that was gripping his left hastily to stop him.
"You've got an IV…" the voice was muddled, but not warped.
"...amiin…the fuckin'ospital?" he slurred out. His conscience tapped him in the back of his mind, telling him that maybe he shouldn't be cursing, cuz the voice at his side sounded suspiciously like his mother; his mother had never really liked cursing to begin with, but especially not from her kids.
But apparently Henry was in the hospital.
And he didn't remember getting there.
Not only that, he didn't remember why he had to be there.
So yeah, maybe she could let it slip this one time.
"I'll go get the doctor," another voice that sounded like his dad spoke from somewhere to his right and then moved, his steps became muffled the further left he went. Again, Henry attempted to open his eyes and managed to catch a door closing between his blinking.
Just looking at something that wasn't the void behind his eyelids was enough to start jogging his memory, Henry sucked in a breath and held it and the beeping to his right sped up just slightly at the action.
This was a Kid Danger thing. That much he was sure of, memories of the junk yard fight were flooding his mind now.
He remembered…disarming Pyromania. He remembered the car ride to the museum, and he remembered the long wait in that broom closet. And…and then…
The whirling started up and he snapped his gaze in terror to the time machine, following the wrapping metal tubes to the plastic ones, which led to his wrists –
Electricity was suddenly coursing through his arms and Henry gasped at the memory, feeling short of breath as he tried to scramble away from something that wasn't there.
"Henry, Baby–!" His mom's voice wasn't distant anymore but it was still muffled and his ear had a ringing in it that sent his head spinning. Siren's hand was on his shoulder, pushing him back down before he was able to reach up and grasp at his head, before he was able to press down, to force the ringing to dull. Oh yeah, she was…she was there.
He wanted to look at her. God, the child in Henry wanted to look at his mom and bury his face into her shoulder and just be held.
But what if she knew? What if she knew, and that was the last memory he would have with her: him being weak and knowing that he would never get that same contact again once the hug ended.
So Henry didn't look. He didn't lean. Instead, Henry focused on the beeping in his right ear, since it seemed to be the only one that was working, and lifted his hands to turn his palms inwards despite the way his skin pinched and protested.
They were bandaged. The phantom electricity (not his superspeed, where was his superspeed?) still buzzed beneath the wraps and his hair felt like it was standing on end.
Henry blinked. For a split second his hands were gloved and shackled and lightning and pain were being sucked out of him.
Except when his eyes blinked again the sight was gone, and his hands were shaking instead.
"Wha…" he tried to ask, tried to remember, tried to be fine, but his throat closed before the sentence even started.
Because what if his mom knew the answer? What if she knew the real one?
Siren's manicured hand was suddenly in his again, wrapping around his palm and wavering, like she desperately wanted to give a reassuring squeeze but was scared that it would hurt him.
Henry's arms were beginning to shake, so he let them drop and instead followed his mom's hand up to her arm, and then to her shoulder, and then to her face.
She was crying. When was the last time he'd seen her cry?
"Hey, baby." She croaked, and the next thing Henry knew she was bringing his hand to her face and kissing his knuckles with similarly shaking lips.
The child in him sparked and he felt his face crumple only slightly. "Hey, Mom."
She breathed out a sigh of relief and the air rushed over his knuckles, Henry's eyes fluttered at the sensation.
He expected her to speak some more. To berate him, or explain to him what had happened – to say anything, really, but as they sat there with his hand still pressed against her lips, Henry realized that wasn't going to happen.
She was waiting for him to speak. To let her know that he was okay, to ask questions that she could answer instead of overwhelming him with her own. Henry didn't know if he was thankful for that or not, his head was still fuzzy.
His eyes had trailed to the side as he mused, glancing out the window to the sunlight streaming in, and then his mouth was opening, "What day is it?"
Siren's eyes flitted to the window and then back down to him a few times. Her mouth opened and then hesitated and closed again, and Henry watched out of the corner of his eye as she blinked rapidly.
"Wednesday." She answered eventually, voice cracking back into a whisper halfway through the word.
Henry shut his eyes to try and feign surprise, even if a very real sense of the emotion was clawing at his gut at the word.
He'd lost two entire days. He assumed. He and Officer Reed had spent an awful long time in that closet.
Or even worse, his brain poked at him, maybe this wasn't the same week.
"Do you remember what happened, Hen?"
Something that was actually electricity pulled at him now and Henry screamed at the feeling of it raking across his spine, through his spine, through his lungs, gripping his powers by its neck and dragging it backwards –
He snapped his eyes shut. The machine to his left had picked up speed and suddenly he hated that electric whirring he could hear. He hated it, and he wanted it gone, even though he knew that nothing was being taken from him by it being there.
"There was…an explosion." He choked out.
"You were kidnapped by the Time Jerker." she stated.
Henry nodded and his gaze fell to the bed. "Yeah."
You. not Kid Danger, You. Her wording swirled in his head like a twister as he swallowed again, horrified that he still didn't know what she meant – that he was in the dark, that she could not be, that –
His mom nodded as if his acknowledgement was the most relieving thing she'd ever heard out of Henry's mouth.
The door opened and Henry's father stepped back in, eyes immediately finding his son with a look that was both desperate and relieved. "Hey, Kiddo," he greeted gently, making his way over to Siren. His hand came to brush over hers, which was still gripping over Henry's.
His face tried to twist into a smile, but it felt more like a grimace. "Hey, Dad."
Jake seemed to nod to himself at his response – a self-soothing gesture that left a hole in Henry's gut because he also didn't remember the last time he'd seen his dad look this scared.
"The doctor will be in soon. He's gonna want to ask you a few questions."
Henry nodded but his lips twisted apprehensively, because what would he say? Would he have to lie? Would they know if he tried to lie?
Were they going to ask about his injuries, did they see his flesh stitching itself back together? (Was his flesh still stitching back together?) Was his uniform thrown into some biohazard evidence bag, cut off him?
How many people knew now, and how did he even begin to ask that?
He must have zoned out because he jumped considerably when the door opened again. Henry watched as his mother hastily wiped the tears from her face and made sure it was dry before turning to the doctor.
The man gave him a triumphant smile and was trailed by a male nurse who bustled to check the heart monitor on Henry's right. "Good to see you awake, Mr. Hart. Your little adventure gave us quite a scare there for a minute."
Henry had been eyeing the nurse as he tested the equipment, intently aware that it wasn't the way Jasper did it.
Jasper was gentle. His best friend was scared of pulling at the tubes, of disrupting anything that didn't need to be, and it was so ironic wasn't it, because Jasper was only a Junior in high school – he didn't have medical practice, not really. But Henry was familiar with his way of doing things, and seeing this nurse move with muscle memory instead of care sent his nerves racing and skin almost-crawling.
The doctor seemed to notice this. "...why don't I give you a rundown?" the man asked, flipping through the papers on his clipboard.
Turning back to the doctor made his neck twinge, so Henry let out a noise of agreement instead of nodding. The doctor acknowledged it with his own.
"Okay. So you were caught in an explosion, Mr. Hart. I'm sure you've figured that out by now." the paper in his hand let out a thwip as he grazed over the details on the page below it, "The most significant of your injuries are some electrical burns and cuts on your wrists and forearms. You have some lesser ones on your lower legs, but it seems that they've already healed. Something like a miracle, if you ask me," The doctor raised a playful eyebrow towards him, "the blast damaged your left eardrum, but it didn't rupture. It should make a full recovery, but you could be prone to tinnitus or migraines from now on. You also hit your head."
Ah. "Yeah," Henry stated, and gestured weakly to his ear. It was awkward because he didn't want to bend his elbow, "it's kind of ringing right now."
The doctor nodded like that was expected. Henry knew that it was.
"We'll note that," the man said and nodded towards the nurse, who wordlessly got up and took the clipboard from him, pulling out a pen from his breast pocket, "we'd normally ask you what you remember, but CT scans showed no signs of concussion, so we'll leave that conversation to the authorities. I'm not sad that we'll have to skip that part, though I do have to note that we had to induce you…you showed signs of severe malnutrition and dehydration, which does concern me."
At that, Henry was suddenly aware of the ribs he could see poking through the hospital gown. He pulled the blankets up and laid his arms over them, suddenly finding any other position for them rather awkward.
The doctor eyed his parents for a second as Henry did this, "Your body has been taking on the nutrients well. We'll keep you another day to monitor you, but you should be clear to head home by Friday at the latest. You are very lucky, Mr. Hart"
Henry didn't feel lucky. He still didn't have answers. Which was weird, considering he was giving them, just not the ones that were important.
Once they were satisfied, the doctor and nurse left with more answers than they came in with and Henry remained with more questions as a result.
"Where's Piper?" He found himself asking. He could ask her what everyone knew, because he didn't know if he could trust anyone else yet, and he doubted Jasper and Charlotte were going to be let in to see him before her. He wanted to see Piper to apologize, too. That he was sorry for worrying her.
Jake rested a hand on Henry's shin and gave it a gentle shake, "She's staying at Charlotte's right now. I've called her parents, they'll be on their way as soon as they can."
Charlotte's. Of course. Henry wondered if his friend had soothed Piper or if she was still in the dark about Piper knowing. That was his fault, he knew, he was scared to tell anyone and so he didn't, but he hadn't been very good about making sure that Piper didn't know about Charlotte, so Henry couldn't put it past his little sister to be interrogating her.
That had to have been an interesting couple of days.
"Mom," he choked and looked up to see Siren leaning forward earnestly, eyes beginning to water again.
"What is it, Baby?"
His chest spasmed, it felt so empty, and he felt so useless and with no powers and less answers, and he couldn't take it anymore, "Tell me the truth. What happened after the explosion?"
Please don't tell me that you found out on the news before you got the call.
Jake and Siren seemed to hesitate for a long while, and that didn't help Henry's nerves. He watched as they fidgeted and spoke to each other with facial expressions that he rarely saw on their countenance.
"Well, like we said before. You were kidnapped by the Time Jerker with a police woman." Siren started, head nodding in that way she did when she used to explain to a much younger Henry why Jake was going away for work, "his time machine exploded."
She paused for a while and it took Henry a minute to realize that she was waiting for him to respond before she continued. He nodded to give her that confirmation, trying not to meet her eyes.
"The officer – Honey, what was her name again?" Siren turned to her husband, and Jake immediately replied, "Reed. Amelia Reed."
"Right – Ms. Reed. She said she helped you out of the wreckage and stayed with you until the ambulance arrived."
Henry stared at his parents with something like despair – or anticipation, or confusion. Actually, maybe just nausea – in his chest.
Why weren't they talking about it? Why weren't they saying what he knew they so desperately wanted to say? Were they doing it to be gentle with him? They didn't usually do that, but then again Henry Hart didn't normally go to the hospital, either, so maybe they were just waiting for him to get his footing before they yanked the rug out from under him –
"She said that Kid Danger saved you, Hen."
"What?" Henry felt like his heart had stopped, but the monitor to his left never wailed.
His mom nodded like she didn't quite believe it herself – Henry didn't believe it himself, and now his hands were shaking all over again. "He's an amazing hero. We're still trying to figure out how to thank him."
"We're not sure if thanking him will be enough," Jake admitted solemnly, his own eyes were wet now, too.
And Henry – Henry…he found his mind spinning.
They didn't know.
They didn't know.
The emptiness in his chest was suddenly decompressed, expanding but in a good way, like a weight was being lifted from it, and for the first time since he'd woken up Henry felt like he could breathe.
"How did he –"
"We don't know. Officer Reed said she was locked in a closet during the explosion and when she left, Kid Danger had gone to get help."
That was definitely a lie, Henry realized with a jolt in his gut. He could have excused Reed's story as a misunderstanding, that for some (impossible) reason his suit had been cleaved from him with the explosion, and she opened the closet to find Henry Hart there and Kid Danger not, and made the assumption. But…
Why would she lie?
"I don't understand," his thoughts manifested on his tongue and despite the fact that his parents didn't have the answers (and he was so happy for that) his gaze still darted rapidly between their eyes to find some.
His mom shook her head. "We don't, either. But there's no reasoning with the mind of a maniac like the Time Jerker." His mom's voice wilted at the end of that sentence before she clutched desperately at his hand again, this time with both hands.
"Why didn't you tell us he was cohersing you, sweetheart? We could have – helped. Gone to the SPD before it got out of control."
"Did he say he wanted to hurt us? Is that why you didn't tell us?" Jake asked as Siren broke down into scared sniffles, and suddenly Henry was confused and unsure all over again.
"Wha–"
"Mr. and Mrs. Hart," Henry's gaze lifted to the doorway to find a familiar face, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't start interrogating my witness before I can."
His parents turned to Reed as she let the door close behind her, she held onto the handle so that only a faint click sounded. "I'm sorry, Ma'am." Jake apologized, hand lifting from Henry's shin as he stood to face her, "we were just –"
Reed held up her hand, an understanding nod of her head accompanied the action. "I understand. Just – try to keep it to a minimum? I know this is stressful, but sometimes the best thing you can do is stand by and let me do my job."
Siren was standing now, too, hands wringing together nervously once she let go of Henry's, and he couldn't deny that he missed the warmth her grip had. He watched with a tight throat and tried to catch the officer's eye, but she was focused on his parents.
"Yes, of course –" Siren wavered and turned to look at Henry for a split second, like she wanted to say something to him, but decided against it.
Reed accepted the apology with a quiet nod of her head. "It's okay. May I?" She waved with a palm face up towards the end of Henry's bed.
"can we – stay while you question him?"
Henry didn't know his mother could sound so timid. So pleading. The way her shoulders pulled towards her ears was almost foreign to him and he felt his throat tighten at the sight.
Reed didn't answer right away and instead she finally, finally turned to Henry, who had tried to sit up as best as he could. Pausing somewhere between leaning on his elbows and balancing on his hands, Henry tried to pour every single question he could think of into that fleeting eye contact they made – to desperately get an answer out of her, to tell her no, I need some answers too, not just you, and they can't know.
Somehow, Impossibly (like Kid Danger rescuing Henry Hart) Reed understood and gave a nod. "I'm sorry. In cases…like this," she turned to Henry, and he could suddenly see the suspicious look the doctor had given his parents earlier, "I can't allow you to do that. We'll call you in when we're done, okay, Mom and Dad?" She tried to sooth them with their titles.
It worked, though that didn't mean that Jake and Siren didn't make a fuss about it. He couldn't ignore the way that they reeled as if being scalded at the quiet accusation.
Henry leaned backwards as his mom turned back to him to scoop him into a hug. Once he realized that was what she was doing, he leaned into it, pressed his head against her shoulder, hummed at the familiar scent of slightly-faded perfume and lavender shampoo. She pressed a kiss against his forehead as she pulled backwards, hands lingering on his face as she studied him with thin lips.
"Call us if anything feels wrong, okay?" She asked and Henry had a feeling any response he gave would be used to comfort her instead of the other way around, so he nodded earnestly. He'd already stressed his mother out enough this week.
His dad ruffled his hair slightly as he guided Siren away from Henry, a thanks just barely slipping past his lips as they passed Reed and slipped out the door. It shut with a decisive click.
A sigh of almost-relief left Henry. He looked up to the woman in front of him.
"Hi, Officer Reed."
She smiled, shifting her weight to one foot as she rested her hands on her belt. Something that he began to associate with her twinkled in her eye as she spoke.
"Hey, Kay-Dee. Next time you flee a crime scene, at least leave a statement, eh? Can't have this be a recurring thing."
Despite himself, a smile turned at the corners of Henry's mouth. His lip trembled only once before he admitted with a shake of his head, "I am so confused."
A chuckle left Reed as she sank into the seat that his mother had occupied minutes before, "Then let's fill you in, eh?"
"So how did you figure it out?"
Henry's eyes kept flickering to the door, overtly aware of any movement in the tiny window and ready to clamp his tongue if someone entered.
"You know, I'm supposed to be asking you the questions." Reed droned, words slurred as she was preoccupied with writing something down.
Henry rolled his eyes. "And I thought only detectives interviewed witnesses," he snarked even as his voice became fatigued at the effort, "are you even supposed to be here?"
Reed snorted and set her clipboard down on her knee, "I figured you'd rather talk to a familiar face. Pulled a couple strings..." She quipped, leveling her gaze with the sidekick as he fiddled with his IV drip.
Henry hummed.
The officer noticed his silence and must have taken it as disappointment, because she sighed bashfully and shifted in her seat. "It was your phone number, if I'm honest." She shrugged.
Henry buried his head in his hands with a groan, trying to ignore the phantom pinching from under the wraps. "I'm sorry," he muttered as he pressed his palms into his eyes. "I'm so, so sorry, Reed, I couldn't tell you. I couldn't let you figure it out, Captain Man, he would –"
He cut himself off with a shaky breath, unaware if Reed actually knew what the stakes were, "I didn't want to stop you from becoming a detective, I promise." He choked, and the guilt he'd felt sitting in her cruiser that day was back full-force.
Reed's voice was suddenly concerned – sad, even. "Hey, Kay-Dee, it's okay. I promise. I get it," he heard her clothes rustle as she shrugged, "and it – I didn't break my promise, you know? At least, not at first."
He swallowed thickly to prevent the tears from flowing, and moved one hand to look at her as she continued.
"I wasn't tracking your phone, but I was just…I don't know, something about it was itching at me. I knew I'd seen your number before, I just didn't know it was from my own phone. And when I figured it out, well…your silence wasn't boding well with me, and I still had one of your handcuffs. So…"
"You lied about rewinding the video?" He rubbed his nose against his forearm, holding his breath.
That time, Reed did smile, "that thing isn't capable of recording…I just figured you already had enough on your plate…me knowing who you were wasn't going to help your situation. So I kept quiet."
"It wasn't like I was very subtle when you were interviewing my parents, either." Henry grumbled, and his face heated up as he let his hands drop. She'd really known the entire time they were held captive, and he hadn't even suspected.
Reed shrugged like it wasn't a big deal. "Yeah…" She wavered, eyes darting out the window behind him for a split second, "They…really don't know, do they?"
Henry couldn't say it out loud. His head shook instead. "You're not going to tell them, are you?"
"I'm not sure if that would even be my jurisdiction," She said quietly, glancing over her shoulder as Henry once again startled at the sight of someone passing by.
He realized this and shrunk back, pressing his thumb bashfully into his palm, "...they don't neglect me, you know." He said, "They–they're doing their best, considering…" He waved his hand vaguely.
Reed sighed, as though she didn't quite believe him. "I…" She trailed off, and Henry was suddenly waiting to defend his parents, if for nothing more than for Piper's sake.
"I'm not gonna pry." Reed shook her head, "at least, as long as – any injuries you have can be proven to come from, y'know, Kid Danger."
Even if it wasn't the most stellar review for his parents, Henry sighed. "Thank you." He breathed, and she nodded curtly, opting not to comment.
"Would you like to go over the story again?" She asked, after a while.
Henry didn't nod, and instead began reciting the mantra, "I am Henry Hart. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time during the prison break, and Time Jerker threatened my family if I didn't do exactly what he said. I convinced him to let me go home to get some supplies for his machine, where my parents caught me sneaking in. You saw me with him the next day, and then you were taken, too. Kid Danger blew up the time machine and I was caught in the blast. He protected me from serious injury and left before paramedics showed up. Laura Smith knew nothing of this."
Reed nodded as he spoke, satisfied with his recap. "And?"
He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, lips turning inwards as he tried to remember what he forgot.
"And…" He wracked his brain…oh, right, "Captain Man found us a little while later."
Because Ray was home.
Because his plane had landed as Kid Danger and Officer Reed were being thrown into the closet. Because he, Jasper, Charlotte, and Schwoz had spent hours trying to reach Henry, only to realize that his GPS was missing and his equipment was abandoned.
Because when the portal exploded, their system had picked up on it and they came scrambling.
And Ray and Reed plotted a whole coverup in as much time as it took for the first responders to arrive.
For some reason, Henry thought that Ray's return would feel instantaneous. That it would be as simple as turning the lock at Junk n' Stuff and heading home for the night.
He thought that he'd be there. That Ray would tap him on the shoulder at the airport and tell him it was his turn to keep watch.
And then when things started going downhill his return warped into a slamming door, a snip of a fate string, the whine of a memory gun after the first sorry passed Henry's lips but just before the second one ever graced the air.
He thought he'd feel Captain Man's presence. That he'd sense the order he draped over Swellview with his presence – okay, well, not quite order, more like not-chaos – and that Henry would finally be able to relax, or cry, without feeling guilty that Swellview was being left unattended.
And yet he didn't.
He didn't grovel at Ray's feet, he didn't collapse onto the nearest flat surface at the relief. He didn't feel his presence.
Instead Henry had to be told that Captain Man wasn't still gone, and for some reason that was so much worse.
"Okay," Reed sighed as she unfolded her legs and stood to stretch. "I think that's all the 'questions' I need," she noted with an overdramatic wink, turning her notepad around to reveal a very crude drawing of an opossum. "Your account matches mine and Captain Man's team's. I'll tell my superiors that, and this should be a closed case."
"W-wait!" he called as she started making her way towards the door. Reed spun back around with a quizzical-yet-patient look. Henry paused to make sure she wasn't going to dismiss him before he spoke.
"I just – you said that the museum was closed down. I get that the sprinklers still worked, but I never heard any alarms. How did the city know to send people out?"
A grin that was almost malicious spread across Reed's face, "Didn't I tell you?" she asked, brushing a strand of hair out of her face, "Pyromania ratted him out. I guess she had enough with men stealing her inventions."
Henry's mouth dropped open as his head fell forward in shock. "Are you serious?"
Reed genuinely laughed, throwing her head back, "deadly. It's almost poetic, isn't it? Karma really is a bitch."
A breathy laugh came from his nose, slightly disbelieving and slightly satisfied all at once.
Karma was a bitch, indeed.
His powers still weren't there.
"Call us if anything feels wrong." his mom had pleaded, but how would he tell her that the one thing that was wrong was something he barely even understood himself?
He didn't, that's how.
Henry hadn't even been awake for half a day and he was back to lying to his parents.
It was weird, feeling so empty, like a gaping hole was letting wind howl through his chest to leave him shivering.
When he'd first gotten his Hyper Motility it was just a thing that was his. It was an accessory.
But then it woke up last Saturday and grew, evolved – it was like its own little consciousness that spoke with him.
Henry hadn't even realized he'd been personifying, talking back to it, until it was gone, and now it felt like he was screaming into a void.
He didn't know he could grieve something that never lived.
And yet here he was, legs crossed and leaning forward with his head bowed low enough that his chin rested on his collar bone: still calling. Still searching.
Still waiting.
Just give me anything. I just need something. His thoughts were racing, even though he knew in the back of his mind that the odds weren't looking good.
After all, his injuries weren't healing.
He should be happy that the doctors wouldn't notice, that they wouldn't ask questions, or connect the dots. He should be happy to be flying under the radar.
But his chest remained empty, and so his heart did, too.
Was this what losing a limb felt like? Being so desperate for it to reappear that with every little jerk of his body, every brushing sensation that felt vaguely like an electric shock, every remaining pain from the time machine, made his mind latch onto the idea that it was still there, even when it wasn't?
Was he just torturing himself?
The sound of the door handle turning made Henry's head shoot up and he forced himself to wipe the probably-disturbed look from his face in preparation for his next visitors.
"Henry!" cried a welcomed voice, and Jasper's smile was suddenly the most beautiful thing that the sidekick had ever seen.
A sigh of relief left him at the sight of Piper, Charlotte, and Jasper as they filed into the room with an air that felt very, uh, them. Worried, sure, but also arrogant and excited.
Henry managed to catch a glimpse of his parents' faces in the doorway before the door swung shut, and Siren let out an indignant squawk as she leaped back.
Jake plastered a hand against the doorway to prevent it from shutting all the way, "Piper! Let us in!" he scolded, but his voice was already tapering in that giving-up way it always did when Henry's little sister did something he didn't approve of.
The twelve year old was opening the door to wind up for another slam of it, a pout on her face. "No way! This is an integral part of sibling bonding! No parents allowed!" She demanded, sliding to plant her body between the rest of the room and their parents.
Siren sighed tiredly. "Piper –"
"Hey, Mom!" Piper stood up straight and tilted her head to the ceiling, looking at nothing in particular, "I actually think my cramps are getting pretty bad. Do we have Midol anywhere?!" She cried at a volume that was sure to have sent the entire floor reeling.
Henry facepalmed. His parents grew red, and Siren in particular let out a noise that was somewhere between a gasp and a scoff, "I–have some back at the house, Baby, but –"
"Great! Bring me some!" Piper didn't let their mom finish and instead slammed the door – successfully this time. She turned to brush off her hands dramatically, and Henry was sure his face looked very similar to Jasper and Charlotte's astounded ones.
His sister rolled her eyes, "what, I've embraced the lie."
"So I take it you told each other…" Henry swallowed, glancing between his friends and his sister as she neared the group.
"More like Piper connected the rest of the dots," Charlotte corrected him, her arms were crossed and her body remained turned towards the doorway – her voice was teasing but there was a coldness there that he knew was lingering from the breakout.
"Does Ray know yet?" He asked, not sure if he wanted to know himself. Though he had a feeling if he did, Piper wouldn't be much for talking at the moment.
"Yeah, actually, he –"
Piper cut Jasper off with a sputtering of syllables that left him blinking rapidly and raising his arms in self-defense, "I want to tell him," Henry's little sister jabbed a finger towards Jasper.
She turned back to Henry with her typical sly smile, "you," she paused for a split second to take a step back and hold her arms out to the side, "are looking at the official Social Media Manager of Captain Man's team!" She announced.
"Future social media manager." Charlotte corrected, head tilting forward as she gave Piper a half-lidded gaze, "you aren't thirteen, yet."
Henry's sister did that thing she did when she was called out for something, lower body twisting away and head swiveling from side to side as she picked at her bracelet. "Give it a few more months…" she resigned to the truth.
Charlotte snorted and Henry waited for her to turn to him and give him her typical 'are you seeing this?' look.
"I…don't understand." Henry admitted, glancing between his friends and his sister.
"What's not to understand? You were thirteen when Mr. Manchester hired you, so when I turn thirteen, I'll –"
"No, I mean…" Henry's gaze dropped to his hands and he rubbed at the bandages there yet again. He felt his company shift at his mood change, and suddenly his bed felt too crowded.
"I mean why aren't you guys…mad at me?" He forced out, leaning back onto the headrest to try and gain some distance from them. "Why isn't he mad at me?" He added on, despite everything in his chest screaming at him to not say it.
"...what do you mean, Hen?" Jasper asked, elbows resting on the bedside as he leaned forward, voice uncharacteristically solemn.
Henry felt his eyes welling up again, so he pressed his palms against them before the tears fell. "I mean, I screwed everything up! I – I tried to – I pushed you guys away! And Swellview…"
He shuddered, hands falling briefly from his eyes to cup his nose and mouth, "I didn't even make it a week trying to protect Swellview on my own!" He choked out, "how am I supposed to take Ray's place when I can't even – when I'm too scared to even use my own powers? How is he not disappointed in me because of that?! I screwed everything up, and now he has to clean up the mess!"
"...is that what you've been worrying about?" Jasper sounded astounded, but Henry had buried his face back into his hands so he didn't see anything, "Henry, no one thinks you were failing Swellview."
"It was the tweets, I knew it!" the sound of Charlotte throwing her hands up in the air made its way to his ears, "see this is why I say social media is a disease–"
"It wasn't the tweets!" Henry interrupted her exasperatingly, throwing his hands out away from himself. The look she sent him made him cringe, "sorry."
"...if it wasn't the tweets, then what was it?" She didn't acknowledge the apology, she'd probably forgiven him before the word even left his mouth.
Henry's jaw suddenly hurt, and instead he shrugged with a little head shake. "Okay, the tweets were…a part of it. But they only confirmed what I already knew –"
"And what did you know? That we were short-staffed? That Schwabbit and Kooschtello didn't add in that one enzyme and you got Superspeed because of it? That the criminals didn't care about that?" Jasper was shaking his head incredulously, "None of those things are your fault, Hen."
A scoff left the sidekick as he rubbed his palm again. "Yeah, well they sure feel like it."
"But they're not."
Henry didn't have the willpower to keep arguing with them about that, mostly because he still didn't really believe that they didn't blame him.
Because they had definitely been mad. And looking back he had definitely been a dick.
"You can say that, but I know you guys were still mad at me anyway. I'm sorry, I know I deserve it."
He watched as Charlotte and Jasper shared a knowing look – Piper had kind of trailed off to the sidelines, not being privy to most of what was going on and instead choosing to listen for once.
When his friends spoke, it was calculated and strained, but understanding.
"We know that things got heated between us during the prison break," Charlotte tried to meet his eyes, and for the first time in a long while Henry wasn't the one to break the eye contact first, "and I know that we – that I – crossed some personal boundaries, and I am so, so sorry for that…" She paused and her eyes clouded over, seeing something in the sheets that Henry couldn't, "but I was never mad at you. Just…worried. And stressed. Do you know how many calls we had to sort through?"
"We thought that this was a superspeed issue. We thought that you were…moody because of that. We didn't know you were feeling…like this." Jasper gestured towards Henry in lieu of whatever he wanted to show, "and yeah, you were being a bit of a jerk about it…"
His friend caught Charlotte's stink eye for a second and cowered slightly, "okay, you were being a lot of a jerk about it, but we should have tried to understand a bit more. To communicate."
"Which would have been easier if you hadn't been an edge lord and thrown out your GPS." Charlotte mumbled through the corner of her mouth and Jasper nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, that would have been nice." And then he shook his head rapidly in the way he did when he realized he was getting sidetracked, "look, all we're saying is that – we forgive you. For the stuff that needs to be forgiven. And we hope that you'll…forgive us."
"That you'll come to us if you start having these thoughts again." Charlotte said, "We love you, Henry. And we're not just saying that."
The sidekick nodded, too choked up to speak, and swallowed to get rid of the tightness in his throat. "Thanks, guys." He said, 'I will' almost slipped out of his mouth, too, but he bit it back.
Henry loved his friends. He loved his sister, he'd trust them with his life (okay, maybe not so much Piper, but he still trusted her).
It's just that…some thoughts felt too personal to dump onto them. Too heavy. He could carry them on his shoulders, but he was scared that passing it onto theirs would cause them to break.
He wasn't sure if he quite believed the 'sharing the weight' philosophy. At least, not anymore. He could tell them what was going on in his mind, sure, but he wasn't sure if they would understand. He wasn't sure if he could tell them in a way to make them understand, and that was just the normal stuff. He didn't even know how to begin to explain what was going on with his superspeed.
He hadn't realized he'd gone silent until Piper spoke up again. "I'm still hung up on what you said earlier about not protecting Swellview," she shoved her phone into Henry's face. The sidekick reeled back and squeezed his eyes at the brightness, but still grabbed it nonetheless.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Look," his little sister said, pointing at the article on the screen, "this is a list of all the criminals you took down this week, including Time Jerk-face."
It was a long list. Henry had known that, logically, he'd had it stored somewhere in the back of his mind, but he hadn't realized just how many there were.
He could feel his eyes widening as Piper continued, "and that's not even counting the number of regular people you saved! There's this interview with the prison guard you saved – Jim-something? – that's supposed to be coming out tonight, but it's all about how Kid Danger took the time to listen before you reacted. And, uh, that father you saved in Pyromaniac's fire? He started a small rally to show his support!"
Henry was speechless. The articles that Piper was showing him had pictures attached to them, too, and he could see those familiar faces peering at him through the screen.
Piper, once again, took his silence in stride. Nothing like a tongue tied person to get her rambling, "and by the way, you said that Mr. Manchester had to 'clean up your mess', but really the mess just cleaned itself up. Once news got out that you took out both Pyromania and Time Jerker in the same night, well I don't even think Jeff would have been dumb enough to try and test you."
"...I think these articles are making it sound more heroic than it actually was." Henry choked out, but his hands kept a death grip on Piper's phone as he stared at the picture of the nurse he'd saved in the park (it was a candid photo, she was back to treating patients, apparently).
"Henry Hart." Charlotte spoke in her Disappointed Mother Tone, chin tilting downwards as she met his gaze, "any amount of heroism is heroic. And you just happen to have enough in you to take down three supervillains in one week."
"Three?" Jasper parroted.
Charlotte shrugged, "I'm counting Pyromaniac."
"I don't think he really counts. He's more like…a half of a supervillain."
"A quarter, even." Piper chimed in.
Charlotte threw up her arms in defeat. "Fine! Whatever! Henry has enough heroism in him to take down two and a quarter supervillains in one week. There, happy now?" She turned to Piper and Jasper, who nodded with very similar smiles on their faces.
A chuckle left Henry at the sight.
Yeah, he was happy now.
And then something sparked in his chest.
The next afternoon, Henry found himself being escorted by his parents up to the front porch of their house. It was another miracle, the doctor had claimed upon seeing the improvement Henry's burns had made overnight, and the sidekick could practically see his father's religious past manifest for a split second at the sight.
Alas, the sudden healing didn't get him a free pass home, so they'd remained in the hospital until they were given the all-clear.
He was surprised to be going home instead of a rehab center. Unless Piper was mistaken (and more times than not, she wasn't), his parents had been looking into them.
But the hospital's drug test (that apparently was mandatory for any patient getting induced) came back clear. Obviously. And between that and the fact that he'd been kidnapped by Time Jerker, he supposed his parents had decided the worst was behind them.
"We're not sending you off, Henry. We know now that you were being forced to do what you had to do. We're mad at you for not hunkering down at school during the prison break, but we think you've been punished enough." Jake had said.
Henry wasn't going to argue with that.
An entirely new door greeted them at the porch and Henry cringed at the memory. But neither Jake or Siren made any mention of it as they entered the house, and that he was thankful for.
Henry was ushered to the couch (advised by the doctors to not be climbing stairs for at least a week, so he would have to get used to the guest bedroom), and suddenly things started to seem normal again.
His father rushed upstairs to try and make it to a last-minute meeting. His mother kissed him on the cheek and told him that she was going out shopping for dinner tonight: "I was so damn sick of that hospital food", she'd complained, and Henry had a feeling she was going to be coming back with ingredients for his favorite meal.
Piper was at school (it was, after all, still a Thursday), and so Henry was left alone in the house.
Just like normal. Not a good normal, but a familiar one. A refreshing kind of not-good normal.
As soon as he heard the garage door close, Henry bolted to his feet to raid his room. He never thought he'd say it, but he missed those damn Don't-Die-Smoothies. The hospital had opted to give him an IV drip instead of actual food, but it had hardly been enough to keep up with his metabolism. And apparently, his superspeed needed just a bit more time to recuperate then his body did.
Henry was shaking up the smoothie when the doorbell rang and, curious, he turned to see who was at the door (his parents had opted for a solid oak one this time, something that was a lot more sturdy, his dad had probably said).
And a lot more heavy, Henry realized as he let out a small, and slightly-pained, grunt as he swung it open.
"Nice door, where'd your dad get it? Oak-lahoma?"
Ray.
Ray's first line in this story being a pun is very fitting, I think. The man's back. This story's almost over. The next chapter, I think, is the one we've all been waiting for.
Me: what's a good first name for Reed.
Me: ah, Amelia. Sure, why not.
My parents, who almost named me Amelia: She's got a good brain, that one.
It was entirely unintentional btw, but whatever. I think "Amelia Reed" is a pretty spectacular name. And yes, up until a month ago she was just "Officer Reed" in my mind. No first name.
To those of you who guessed that she already knew Henry's identity, have a gold star.
Anyways ANNOUNCEMENT TIME: Chapters 29 and 30 are going to be posted on the same day, so when that happens, don't freak out. 30 is going to be bonus content: deleted scenes, mayhaps a picture of Reed I've sketched (:,'
So ig if any of you guys have fanart you wanna share for this? Hmu? You can find me on tumblr under "local-dragon-haunt" to message me, or posting a link in the comments works, too! I'll include whatever you guys make (as long as it's, you know, PG-13 or less) in the final chapter!
"Old people love to talk about how Gen Z speaks a language they don't understand. A lot of it is self-explanatory, y'all, ju…it's – it's giving dumb. It's giving dumb, that's what it is." - user "itsnikkibjtch" on tiktok
Until next time, my lovelies!
~Local Dragon Haunt