The Road to Happiness, The Long One
A/N: Sorry (Not really) for that cliffhanger, and that language was Greek found on Google Translate.
SSF (Summary So Far): Cal saved Kara. Kara has invited Cal and Mason to dinner at her parents after school today. Cal, Mason, Kara, and Barbara all had some interesting events in their first 2 periods. But as the third period started, a gunshot goes off. Cal fights off the 6 armed gunmen and uses his powers to make everyone forget what he did. But Kara and Barbara still remember. Cal and Mason get to their orphanage and realize it's Cal's birthday. Cal is painfully reminded of his father leaving him on the doorstep. Cal and Mason create special handcuffs to subdue super villains. Cal decides to go after Morph Duchess and the Unnamed. The Unnamed doesn't show up, but Cal stops Duchess, but before that can happen, a clone of the Unnamed and Supergirl appear. Cal takes out the clone (that happens to have kryptonite knives) while Kara takes out Duchess. Supergirl takes the newly caught villains to the Justice League, and Batman begins the trail to find 'The Protector' (Kara's name for Cal in his armor). Cal and Mason go to school and Kara and Barbara learn about how Cal was tortured by sadistic rich snobs. Jason, Kara's ex, threatens Cal and Kara and Cal threatens to destroy him painfully if he hurts Kara. Cal planned and prepared for his date with Kara. They went to the mall, had fun, and then went to see their movie. After the movie, Cal carried Kara out and ended up kissing her. After Kara drove away, Cal got his own cab. While leaving a voicemail for Mason, Cal noticed his driver was wearing a bomb vest. After the man growled some Greek and blew himself up. Cal was halfway out of the car when it blew up. Boom, all caught up.
Characters: Cal (Your "average" mysterious male), Mason (Cal's best and most trustworthy buddy), Kara Danvers (Kara Zor-El, AKA Supergirl), Jason (Kara's Ex), Barbara Gordon (Batgirl), Dick Grayson (Nightwing), Clark Kent (Superman), Lois Lane (Superman's wife), Batman, and more that aren't quite ready to be presented yet. (Lots of characters are Out of Character (OOC).)
Chapter 8
*BOOOOOM*
-Break-
*Rapid Beeping* "I'm going to need to put him under, fast!" Cal's eyes fluttered at the rapidly flashing lights above him.
"Pressure's spiking, 20 more cc's." After a while, Cal noticed the lights weren't flashing, but he was moving.
"Get him prepped for the table, call Dr. Materson." Cal struggled to remain conscious.
"He's almost awake, PUT HIM UNDER!" A mask went over Cal's mouth and nose as he tried to fight the chemical sleep.
"Nurse! I need you to restrain him!" Cal tried to wrestle the people off him.
"Geez, this kid's strong, call more nurses!" Cal slowly weakened against his restrainers.
"PUT HIM UNDER DAMMIT! I NEED TO OPERATE!" Cal started to notice the flaring pain over most of his body.
"Sir, I can't give him any more at the risk of his heart stopping!" Cal struggled to stay awake.
"Just give it to him! He might die either way!" Suddenly, everything slowed. Cal saw himself holding hands with Kara, carrying her from the theater room to outside, kissing her. He relived the moments once again, making himself relax and trust his instincts.
"He's calming down. I hope he stays under this time!" Cal let the creeping darkness take over and fell asleep.
-Meanwhile-
Mason woke up. His phone's notification light flashed, Mason picked up the phone. "Voice Mail: Callum," Mason rubbed his eyes, 11:00. He listened to the voicemail. 'Hey Mason, I know it got a little late, the tickets were full till an 8 o'clock showing. Anyway, it went great and I'll tell you all about it.' He heard car noises in the background. 'Anyway, as I was…' Mason strained to hear the next few words. He caught the word 'Chronos' in Greek and an explosion, causing the end of the voicemail. Mason was immediately up and throwing on clothes. He checked the voicemail's timestamp, 10:26. 'Good, I'll rush to the hospital now.' Mason rushed down the stairs and banged on Miss Charlemagne's door. "Something happened to Cal, I'm going to the hospital! I'll text you updates as I get them. Bye!" Mason called rapidly and was out the door. Mason ran to the hospital, not stopping for anything, not traffic, not cars, not people, not anything. He ran the 23 miles to the hospital and ran into the emergency room. He checked the time, 12:32. Mason ran up to the front desk. "My friend, Cal, got blown up or something! It happened about 2 hours ago! Where and how is he?!" Mason said rapidly. The nurse typed into her computer.
"I believe the person you are talking about is still in surgery, please have a seat," she said. Mason frantically sat down and began nervously fidgeting. He pulled out his phone and texted Miss Charlemagne first and then Kara. 30 minutes later, Kara rushed into the door.
"Mason! What's going on?!" Kara asked frantically.
"I don't know! I woke up in the middle of the night, heard this voice mail," Mason replied, playing the voicemail. After the explosion, Kara gasped in shock and covered her mouth with her hand, holding back sobs. "And now he's still in surgery." Kara sat down, shaking with shock. She held her head in her hands and sobbed. Mason awkwardly rubbed her back, attempting to be comforting. She sniffled and left to call Barbara. Mason nervously rubbed his neck, paced, and fidgeted. Finally, at 1:42, a doctor came out into the reception area.
"Bomb victim, teen?" the doctor said. Mason stood up and walked over. Kara rushed to the doctor.
"How is he?" Mason asked rapidly.
"Well, he spent a lot of time refusing to stay awake asleep, and we had to use the defibrillator on him 12 times. He died a total of 7 times, totaling to 15 minutes, not at once, of death. But, his skin is revitalizing, which is unusual, but not impossible, and he's responding well to treatment, but the thing is…" the doctor trailed off.
"What?! What is it?!" Kara demanded, evidence of tears still on her face.
"He's in a coma…" the doctor said. Kara gasped.
"Can I see him?" Kara and Mason asked in unison.
"Um, usually I say only family can, but… for you guys I'll make an exception. It's a hell of a lot to go through, friend, or boyfriend, being bombed," the doctor noted. Mason and Kara thanked him and rushed to Cal's room. They walked in, tatters of the remains of Cal's clothes lay folded on the table next to the bed. Cal was laying in the bed, wearing the standard hospital patient getup. Tubes ran into his arm, and Cal laid there without the scarcest sign of being burned. Mason sat next to the bed, relieved at his friend's safety. Kara rushed next to Cal, holding his hand. Mason pulled out his phone to call Miss Charlemagne and left the room. Kara teared up again.
"Wake up! Cal! Please!" Kara cried. She sniffled and pulled up a chair. She held his hand. After a while, Mason came back in and sat down.
"So, um, what happened at your date tonight?" Mason asked. "He was gonna tell me, but…"
Kara sniffled and recounted the afternoon-night's date. When she got to the part where Cal kissed her, she choked up and sniffed, but she got through it. Shortly thereafter she finished recounting the story. They sat in sleepy silence for a while, before they officially fell asleep. Suddenly, they both awoke to a rapid beeping, followed by a constant flat tone. Nurses rushed in and escorted the 2 guests out.
"No! No! Cal! Please! No!" Kara said, fighting the nurse. She broke free and rushed to Cal. "Cal! Please no!" she said, leaning over Cal's comatose body and beating on his chest. Cal involuntarily jumped in reaction to the hit. The nurses dragged Kara out. The nurses did their best and Cal's heart rate returned too normal. Kara and Mason rushed back in. Kara rushed to Cal. After several hours, it was morning. Mason was asleep in the chair next to the bed, and Kara had climbed onto the bed, curled up next to Cal. Cal's arm was around Kara, but he was still in his coma. Mason woke up suddenly, rubbing his eyes and yawning. He got up and went to get some hospital cafeteria level coffee. He brought back 2 cups, handing one to Kara, who had recently woken up.
"Well, school starts in… negative 2 hours. Let's go, I'll give you 5 minutes clean yourself up or whatever females do in the morning," Mason said. Kara nodded and went into the bathroom. 5 minutes, Kara emerged looking good as new. Mason nodded sleepily and started to walk her out to get them to school.
-Meanwhile, inside Cal's head-
Cal awoke up in a prison cell. His head throbbed like it had been kicked by a horse. He rubbed his head and got down off the bunk. In the bunk under him was his familiar friend.
"Bartholomew, how have you been?" Cal asked smiling. Bartholomew had his Gandalf like beard and graying hair and his darker clothing. Bartholomew was laying on the bunk with a comic book in his hand. It was a DC comic book, which made Cal laugh. "Still reading this universe's alternate's future eh?" Bartholomew smiled.
"I like the randomness and extremely unlikely luck of the Justice League's victories," Bartholomew explained. He closed the comic and got up. "Recognize this place?"
"Yeah, last time I was here I was in a coma. I had to escape," Cal recalled.
"Correct, you are doing this again, but this time it's different. This time you have a time limit and this will prepare you for the upcoming future," Bartholomew stated. Cal ran his hand through his hair.
"Time limit AND preparing me for the future?" Cal asked unconvinced. Bartholomew laughed heartily.
"I don't need to explain what I do, but I try anyway. You have 12 hours to escape. That buzzing you hear is electricity crossing over the bars. The walls are reinforced with concrete behind the bricks. Behind the toiletries are small pipes, not big enough to fit through. Outside the cell is a TV that will show you your surrounding of consciousness. The hallways have literal lasers, with guards passing every 20-25 minutes. The doors are bolted from the other side. There are 2 of these doors to pass. After the second door, there is a gate or fence or whatever people call it nowadays that you will have to climb over. There's your information. Good luck, Kara and Mason are waiting on you," Bartholomew explained. Cal smirked and shook his head.
"Luck is exactly what I need," Cal laughed. He turned around and smiled at Bartholomew, but he was gone. "Great disappearing act." Cal looked around the room. 'Get to the pipes, remove the pipes, make a bigger hole, escape,' Cal thought. 'But why give me information about past the bars only?' Cal looked at the TV. He was in a surgery room and every oh so often they would use a defibrillator on him. 'That's what's keeping the bars electrified.' He winced at his appearance on the table. About 75% of his body was burned, burnt flesh and raw muscle showing. His face was untouched, but the rest of his body had the look of a dead man. Finally, the guards passed and Cal noticed their appearance. They were skeletons and their uniforms were standard correctional officer uniforms. They passed and Cal got to work. He removed the sink and looked at the pipes. They were very small, but sturdy. Cal managed to remove the pipe, and began to chip away at the wall. Eventually, the soft click of the guards' shoes got louder and the jingling keys became too close. Cal quickly hid the evidence of his escape. As the guards passed, Cal focused on their belts. They had 2 sets of keys each, which Cal found pointless with the bolted doors, with a baton and Taser. Cal waited for them to pass and resumed working. After a few hours, Cal glanced at the TV. Kara was half asleep and holding his hand. Cal noticed this and smiled. He laughed at Mason's clearly uncomfortable sleeping form. After laughing, he became somber at the thought of their pain if he never got out of his own mind. He pushed the thoughts far from his mind and continued working, this time faster than ever. He pushed through the wall with 2 hours left. Behind the wall was a room. This room was completely blocked off in every direction save the one Cal had just made. Cal yelled in anger and punched the wall. The wall didn't even become smudged, but Cal grabbed his hand in pain. He went back into his cell and hid the hole in his wall. He looked at the time, 1 hour 47 minutes left. Cal rubbed his neck and groaned. He had less than 2 hours to make a plan and execute it. The guards passed, glancing into the room. Cal looked at the TV, losing hope. Kara had curled up against Cal's comatose body. Cal's arm had somehow made its way around Kara and Cal smiled through his watering eyes. He couldn't let her lose him. He couldn't lose her. Cal grabbed and shook the bars in anger, only to be sent flying back by the electrical discharge. Cal slammed into the wall, hearing his bones crack and his body flaring with pain. Then a plan struck him. Cal rushed back to the bars, grabbing and shaking the bars again, only to be sent flying into the wall again. With every try, Cal weakened the bars' strength. When the guards passed, they paid no attention to Cal's bleeding and pained body. They ignored Cal's continuous attempts to shake the bars open. When they passed, Cal was broken and bleeding, but his determination to escape for Kara and Mason kept him going. Finally, with one last try, the bars clanged onto the ground. Cal stumbled down to the entrance of the hallway, checking the time, 20 minutes. He focused and saw the outline of the lasers that glittered in many various directions. Cal mentally made a path and prepared to make his way through it. He stepped over the first, spiraling over the second, and ducking the third. He stopped before the 4th to catch his breath. His body screamed with pain, but he kept going, under the 5th, over the 6th, around the 7th, breath, over the 8th, around the 9th, over the 10th, breath, under the 11th, over the 12th, but Cal tripped, nicking his arm on the 13th and final laser. Cal withheld his cry of pain and stood up. He walked to the first door. He broke the one way mirrored glass on the door and took a large piece, heading over to the lasers. He angled the laser to cut through the door. He walked through the door and looked around the room, noticing a crowbar. He picked it up and began to lever the doors open. He was almost through when he heard the jingling keys of the guards. The jingling stopped and Cal slowly turned around. The guards were holding their weapons, ready to fight. Cal sighed and readied himself for the fight. The guards attacked. Cal painfully blocked the baton and grabbed the wrist of the holder of the Taser. Cal turned towards the guard with the Taser and kicked the guard behind him. He wrestled the Taser from the guard, taking a few punches to the face with him. After he obtained the Taser, he tased the guard. Cal turned to the guard with the baton. The guard rushed towards him and Cal narrowly avoided the baton, and quickly tased the guard. He checked the time on the wall, 2 minutes. Cal frantically rushed to finish levering the 2nd door open. He opened the door and saw the gate to the open. 10- Cal sprinted for the open. 9- Cal pushed himself beyond him limits. 8- Cal was almost to the gate. 7- Cal reached the gate and began to climb up and over it. 6- Cal didn't think he was going to make it. 5- Cal made it to the top. 4- Cal started to climb over. 3- Cal looked down and in a last ditch attempt, jumped. 2- Cal fell towards the ground. 1- Cal saw white.
-Meanwhile-
…Kara nodded and went into the bathroom. 5 minutes, Kara emerged looking good as new. Mason nodded sleepily and started to walk her out to get them to school. Cal shot up with a gasp and looked around. His body had fully healed, but his body started to recreate his injuries from the mental prison. His nose started to bleed first. He ripped the cords and tubes from his body and got up painfully. He ran out of his room, looking for the reception area. He made it to the area and nurses made a move to restrain him. Cal noticed Mason and Kara outside waiting for a cab of some sort and called out to him.
"Mason! Kara!" Cal yelled, fighting off the nurses. His friends turned around with shock. They rushed towards him.
"Wait, wait, it's ok! He'll cooperate!" Mason called out.
"Hey, leave him alone!" Kara shouted. The nurses let go of Cal.
"I'm sorry, but you're going to need to go back to your room," one of the nurses said.
"Cal, are you ok?" Mason asked. Cal nodded, wiping his bloody nose. Kara hugged him. Cal flashed back to the comfort sight of Kara snuggled up against him on the TV. He flashed back to the previous night, holding her cheek and kissing her. Cal hugged her back tightly. Finally, Kara let go and Mason shook his hand and patted him on the back. They made their way back to the room, but Cal collapsed on the floor. Kara and Mason caught him. They helped him back into his room and onto his bed. Cal could already feel his body healing.
"So I meant to ask, but what is a coma like?" Kara asked.
"Well, there's this happy rainbow room with candy and video games," Mason joked. Kara laughed and turned to Cal for a real answer.
"Um, well," Cal glanced at Mason, "I don't really remember. It's like sleeping, but with no dream. You remember falling asleep, but nothing until you wake up." Kara nodded thoughtfully. "So, school day?" Mason laughed.
"I'm not going, I'll be here with you all day," Mason answered. Kara nodded in agreement. Cal nodded.
"Is there anything left of my stuff? Clothes, phone, backpack?" Cal asked.
"Well, there are you clothes over there, or what's left of them anyway," Mason said. Kara got up and grabbed them, handing them to Cal. Cal unfolded them and examined them. They were full of holes and had been cut away for the medical responders and surgeons to get at his burned up body, but overall most of the clothing had been burned away.
"Well, Mason… Would you mind getting me a pair of clean clothing?" Cal asked. Mason nodded.
"I'm on my way," Mason answered, leaving the room. Kara got up.
"Maybe I should leave too, I could use a fresh change of clothes," Kara said.
"Oh, ok," Cal looked down, trying to hide his disappointment, but Kara noticed it.
"You know what, I think I'll live. I'll stay with you," Kara said comfortingly.
"No, it's fine if you want to go. I'll live," Cal said. Kara smiled at his joke.
"I'll stay, and I'm glad you're ok," Kara said. Cal slid over on the bed, grabbing the TV remote. He patted the space next to him.
"Any favorite TV?" Cal asked. "Mason's a whiz with electronics, so he'll be able to magically set up Netflix or something when he gets back, but for now we're stuck with channels."
Kara climbed up next Cal and snuggled up next to him, "Just start flipping, we'll find something." Cal smiled and put his arm around her. He started flipping channels.
"So no joke about watching Netflix with me? I expected more," Cal said sarcastically. Kara laughed.
"I thought I would let you make that remark," Kara answered. They snuggled against each other and got comfortable.
A/N: Have a good day! Please review!