The Metroville Hospital for Supers was not very far from the Parr's residence. One can easily drive to it in around forty-five minutes. The hospital itself is located in a district southwest of the city. As the name implies, the hospital is designed for the care of supers. First developed decades ago, it was closed during the Superhero Ban, and no one bothered to demolish it or convert it for use in other fields, leaving it abandoned and open to vandalism and exposure to the elements, causing the building to decay and deteriorate over the years. But since the superheroes became legal once more two months ago, it has been repaired, retrofitted with newer medical technology and knowledge, and eventually reopened. Since then, it's now a functioning profiting building once more like in its glory days.
The Parrs and Rick have arrived at the large building. Bob looked at the building, and gave a smile of pride.
"Hmm…it's been a long time, old friend." He murmured to himself as the car parked. He remembered the last time he went there; when he had a deep slash from supervillain named 'Jaguar-Man', a villain who specializes in stealth like a black panther. The resultant fight resulted in 2 months in the hospital. However, during that time there, it was one of the best moments he had; with tasty food, caring employees, and he was able to get to know the other supers residing there at the time. He had hoped that the place still looked as amazing on the inside as it did before.
Once they parked their car, they eventually walked inside, and see the inside of the new hospital. Bob looked on…and groaned in disappointment.
"Ngh…too much change." He said as he looked around. The hospital he remembered had simple, yet colorful decorations of various supers for the younger supers that were brought in. Now they were gone, and are mostly replaced with dull, white coloring. In said lobby, where once was a magnificent, large TV set, there was now only a dinky little set that one could barely set.
"What's wrong with it, Bob?" asked Helen. Bob sighed. "They've took away the uniqueness that makes it different from other hospitals, and instead are just making it like a regular hospital." Bob groaned. Helen chuckled. "The place is low on budget; most of it went into the technological needs for the patients." Rick explained. That didn't soothe Bob's mood.
"Hello there, the name's Rick Dicker." He introduced to a clerk; a female in her 30s with black hair tied to a high ponytail. She looked up, and gave a smile. "Oh, hello there Mr. Dicker. How may we help you?" she asked, shaking his hand. Rick smiled.
"We're here to see one of your patients; a seven year old named Donovan." Rick explained as Helen and Bob looked on. The clerk smiled and nodded. "Of course, let me see where he is." She explained a she typed something down on her working laptop.
Soon, "He's at the 4th floor, room 203." She explained, looking at them. "Of course. Thank you." Rick nodded. Bob, a bit curious of something, then asked, "Um, are we uh, allowed to go and check on him ourselves, or do we need his doctor to escort us over to him or something?"
The clerk looked at him and nodded. "Yes, you should have the boy's doctor with you to help calm the child down. I'll let him know that you…oh, here he is." She explained, then exclaimed as she pointed to an African American man walking across the room, a full cup of coffee on his hand. Rick stepped forward and called out, "Excuse me,"
The doctor stopped and looked at Rick. He then smiled. "Oh, Mr. Dicker. It's been sometime since you last came here." He explained as they shook hands once more. Rick nodded.
"Of course it was. Nice to see this place up and running again." He said, before he stepped aside. "These are my clients; Bob and Helen Parr." He introduced. The doctor smiled as he extended his free hand to shake their hands.
"Nice to meet you both, you can call me Doctor Harding. I assume you two are," he began as they shook his hand.
"Yup; Mr. Incredible here." Bob introduced with a smirk. "And Elastigirl here." Helen said with a smile. Given that this is a hospital mostly for supers, anyone can reveal their superhero identities without the risk of having them spilled thanks to security.
"Alright, now that introductions are out of the way, I assume you're both here for the child?" he asked. The two of them nodded.
"Alright. Well, I was out here just because I was getting coffee, because I was up ALL night." He said, groaning as he shook his head. "You were up all night? W-What happened?" asked Helen with concern.
Doctor Harding shook his head as he ran his hand through his hair. "The poor child…he wouldn't stop having nightmares of the attack at the orphanage." He explained sullenly as he shook his head.
"At one point, he even breathed a tiny stream of fire from his mouth, and that woke him up. *sigh* You should've seen his face when I had to tell him what happened. He looked like a child lost his dog." He added.
Bob, Helen and Rick looked at him with sorrow. "Is…is he available? We…we just came to see him." Helen asked. Doctor Harding nodded with a slight smile. "Of course. I'm on my way back actually. You can tag along if you'd like." He explained as he gestured his hand to have them follow him, which they did so.
As they waited on the elevator, Doctor Harding turned to them. "Um…does anyone here have a personal connection with Donovan?" he asked. Rick slightly raised his hand. "Yes, I have. I've personally raised the boy myself until he was four." He explained. Doctor Harding looked at him with interest. "You? No offense, but…I didn't think you'd be good with kids." He said, chuckling sheepishly. Rick shrugged as he made an "I don't blame you" gesture while the Parr's chuckled. "I don't blame you for thinking that. But, I did so as a promise to his mother…she was a longtime friend of mine." He said.
The Parrs and Doctor Harding looked at him with confused expressions. "You know his mother?" asked Bob. Rick nodded.
"Yes; a friend since my college years. I…*sigh*" he began, but a saddened sigh left the others in a state of sympathy for him. They were curious as to whether the mother had the same powers as Donovan, but they decided now's not the proper time to ask Rick. Maybe another time would do for them…
Soon, they made it to 4th floor, walked towards the door he was in, and opened the door. Helen looked inside, and internally sighed in relief; there in the bed laid a seven year old boy, completely bald with white skin. He appears to be drawing something on a notebook. He was so interested in his drawing, that he didn't notice the adults standing by the door. Helen just lets out a sigh of nostalgia; seeing him like this reminds her of seeing Dash when he was four always drawing about him racing against race cars
"Uh…excuse me, Donovan?" Doctor Harding asked. Donovan looked at him, and tilted his head. "Hmm?" he went. His voice was rather quiet and timid.
"Um…you've got some visitors here who would like to see you." He explained, pointing back. Donovan tilted his head in confusion, before Doctor Harding moved out of the way. "Here he is." He said to the guests.
Donovan immediately recognized one of them, and he smiled. "Mr. Dicker." He squeaked out as he crawled towards the other side of the bed. Rick just smiled as they soon hugged one another.
"Hahaha…I missed you, kid. You feeling okay, now?" he asked once they pulled out. Donovan gave a nod with an innocent smile. Rick just gave another chuckle, before he frowned a bit.
"Well…listen kid…there's this pair of people, that I'm sure you would recognize. I've brought them with me, because they want to see if you're alright after the attack at the orphanage." He explained, tilted his head over to the Parrs.
Donovan looked at them, and widened his eyes in recognition of one of them. He gulped, before pointing to Helen. "You're…you're…" he began, slightly pulling back. Helen smiled. "Yes, it's me; Elastigirl." She explained softly as she slightly approached him with a gentle smile. Donovan was afraid, but if he remembered correctly, this woman was the one who saved him back at that orphanage, the one who saved him from the evil people.
"You…you saved me…" he whispered once she was in front of him. Helen nodded. "Yes, I did." She nodded. Bob in the background, just silently scoffed, annoyed that he didn't receive any credit. Granted, they really didn't do anything, only she did any effort in rescuing the boy, but still…
"My real name is Helen Parr, sweetie." She introduced her secret identity to him. Donovan gave a shy smile. "It's…it's nice to meet you, Mrs. Parr. I'm D-Donovan." He said, lifting one of his hands to shake hers. Helen giggled as she gently shook his hands. "I know who you are, honey." She corrected, making Donovan blush a bit. "Oh…" he went. Helen just chuckled.
Helen briefly took note of how small his hand is, before looking at his mouth. "Hang on, sweetie. How's your mouth? Are you feeling better?" she asked. Donovan raised a brow, before realizing what she meant, and opened his mouth. "Aaaaah…" he went, making the adults giggle.
"Hmm…it seems that your throat, your mouth…your EVERYTHING is much better already." Helen explained. Donovan's mouth corners tilted upwards as if he were smiling.
"We're astounded by this result. We're not sure how he was able to heal such devastating injuries so quickly." Doctor Harding explained. Bob looked at Rick, a bit inquisitive over what he knows.
"Excuse me, Rick?" asked Bob. Rick looked at him. "Um, in the note that the owner of the orphanage gave me, you – I think it was you – mentioned having studied his DNA." He whispered as Helen and Doctor Harding conversed with one another. Rick nodded.
"Yes. One of the scientists of the NSA, Rita Fitzgerald was a genetics expert. And not even she was able to decipher the genome. She said it was…eight times that of a normal human." He replied. Bob raised a brow, not really knowing a lot about genetics, or Biology in general. Rick saw this, and began to explain.
"You see, the average human genome has around nineteen to twenty thousands protein-coding genes, and three billion base pairs. Supers have 3-4 times the amount. This kid…he has EIGHT times a regular man's. So with him, the possibilities are as endless for power development as with your baby son, Jack-Jack." Rick explained, sounding slightly excited. Bob exhaled in shock, before growing a smirk.
"Wow…that's amazing." He said, thinking of the possibilities this boy would do.
However, he remembered the attack two weeks earlier. He frowned at that now, growing concerned that this boy's power development could be as damaging as it is useful.
"That's right…" he mumbled to himself. "What is it?" asked Rick. Bob shook his head. "Oh nothing. It's just that…I'm worried for my family." He said. Rick looked at him and nodded in understanding. Then they turned to see Donovan talking to Helen as Doctor Harding was watching the scene.
"So you're a great hide and seek player?" asked Helen. Donovan nodded with a smile. "Yep; I'm the best one in the whole wide world. I was one of the smaller ones, so I could fit in spots that most other kids couldn't. Hehehe, you should see the faces of one of the bigger kids." He giggled. Helen chuckled.
"I was a good hide and seek player as well in my youth. All thanks to this," she replied as she stretched her arms out. Donovan looked at her arms, eyes in awe as he witnessed the arms swerving around.
"Thanks to my flexibility, I can squeeze into anything like an octopus." She said, before she moved her left arm up like a snake, placing her finger on his chest. Donovan looked at it, and she playfully flicked it up. Donavan looked stunned at first, before he giggled, making Helen smile warmly as she pulled her arms back to their normal length.
"So um…what are you doing here, Mrs. Parr? And who's…that?" asked Donovan, pointing to Bob. Helen smiled as she looked at Bob. "This is my husband, Bob. He may look big, but he's actually really nice. Aren't you, honey?" she asked, turning to Bob, fearing Donovan would be scared by his bulk.
"That's right, little fella." Bob approached with a calming smile. Donovan still looked a bit stunned, but he reached out his tiny hands to give him a handshake.
"N-Nice to meet you, Mr. Parr. Whoozers your hands are like a bear." He greeted, and then added the last part with a hushed tone upon seeing the giant hands. Bob just chuckled warmly. "I get that a lot during the Glory Days, so don't worry about me getting offended." Bob assured. Donovan nodded with a shy smile. Rick then stepped up.
"Well, Donovan. The reason why I brought these good people here is because…well, we've been talking about what's gonna happen to you since the orphanage attack." He began. Donovan frowned a bit at the mentioning of the attack. Rick paused briefly, before he continued,
"After talking it over, we've decided something; I was wondering if you can stay with these two for at least until the heat with the Resurgence dies down." He suggested.
Donovan looked at him, stunned a bit. "Them? B-But what about you?" he asked with fear in his voice. Rick sighed and shook his head. "I can't take care of you anymore, kid. I'm sorry, but…your powers are simply too much for an old man like myself." He said as he patted his chest, giving a small smile to help make Donovan.
"B-But…you can put up with me. I-I don't want to stay with them. I don't want to hurt them." He pleaded, giving a sad look from his eyes.
The adults looked at him; a bit of relief was in Bob's mind, knowing that the boy was aware of his powers. "Don't you remember what I did to those other kids…I hurt them so much. I…I don't know what's inside the fire and lazer, but it caused them great pain! I…I don't want to hurt their kids…" he said, referring to Violet, Dash, and especially Jack-Jack. Helen and Bob looked at him with sympathy.
"Oh honey…" Helen said as she placed a comforting hand on his shoulders. "Your powers hurt me as well, kid. No matter what; as long as your powers are out of your control, you'll hurt everyone else regardless." Rick explained sternly. Donovan and even the Parrs pulled back in shock, not expecting blunt, but truthfulness coming from him. Donovan then looked down, as he remembered being given the news of Rick after the fire of their old home. The memory of the revelation was shocking and saddening to him.
"I…I just don't want to be near anyone if I will hurt them…" he whimpered as he wiped away a tear from his eyes. Helen looked at him, not knowing what to do. Then, an idea came into her mind.
"We can teach you how to control your powers." She suggested. Donovan raised his blue eye to look at her, intrigue in his face. "How? Mr. Dicker, I'm sure, told me about myself." He said, concern in his face. Helen shook his head.
"You know who else has endless potential when it comes to your powers?" she asked, a smile on his face. Donovan, still confused, shook his head.
"Jack-Jack. That boy can shoot lazers from his eyes, turn into a blob, burst into flames harmlessly, and even into…" she was about to mention a demonic monster form if Jack-Jack didn't get any cookies, but remembered…she was trying to persuade Donovan that he'll be safe. With that, she decided against it.
"What? What else?" asked Donovan, confusion in his two multicolored eyes. However instead of despair, they looked like they have hope within. Helen shook her head.
"Don't worry about that for now. I'll explain more when we get there. Anyways, can you imagine the hassle we had to go through to get him under control? We're getting there, but uuuuggghh!" Helen added the last part dramatically, making Donovan smile. Bob, wanting to join in, then said,
"First time I learned of Jack-Jack's powers…I couldn't sleep for 2-3 days thanks to him. It was already having to do Dash's homework, or deal with Violet's boyfriend issues, but with Jack-Jack…I feel like I'm about to grow like an insane old, wrinkly man who's about to throw poop all over the place like a monkey!" Bob exaggerated. Helen and the other adults looked at him with shock, while Donovan was struggling to hold in a laugh, not only because of Bob and Helen's descriptions, but also…the poop joke.
Anyways, it seemed to work for now, as Donovan was trying to calm down. "Really?" he asked, a smile planted on his face. Bob shrugged. "Well, I was exaggerating at the poop throwing part, but…the rest is true…now I know how Helen felt." He said as he patted Helen's shoulder. Helen just gave a smirk, before she looked back at Donovan.
"So, the point is, if we can handle an almost out of control baby, a feisty 10 year old boy and a moody teenager, I'm sure we can take care of someone like you." Helen assured, patting his scalp. Donovan took her words into account, and began to ponder some more.
"So…what do you say, kid?" asked Bob. Donovan thought, and thought…he then looked at Rick. "You'll come by, and visit, right Mr. Dicker?" asked Donovan. Rick nodded with a smile. "Of course, kid." He assured.
Donovan smiled at that, and pondered some more. Eventually, he made a decision…
AN: Apologies for the chapter feeling a bit rushed, because at the time of making this, I'm leaving for Puerto Rico for a week. I hope this is satisfying enough.
Hope you liked it, don't forget to leave reviews and tell me what you think. So that's it, I'll see you all later!