Aftermath
Chapter Two

Richie sighed to himself as he flew through the sky heading towards the gas station, the battle of Dakota Hills Mall was short as the police arrived back from stopping a pair of shoplifters so he had their help in catching the new Metabreed.

'Puff was having more fun fighting her team than me!' Richie thought shaking his head slightly before landing outside their headquarters of their superhero gig, wincing slightly at the movement of his bruised ribs.

Once he was inside the Gas Station Richie removed his helmet with a grateful sigh, "Backpack put the coffee maker on" He said tiredly before crashing on the couch, rubbing his eyes.

Digging out the cell phone frrom his pocket Richie dialed the number he knew off by heart and waited for someone to answer.

"Hawkins Residence" A tired voice answered.

"Hey Adam it's Richie, just thought I'll check in before coming back" Richie replied as he fought his boots off with one hand while Backpack clawed around near the coffee machine.

"Hey Rich, Robert's upstairs while Sharon's asleep at last" Adam spoke softly.

"That's good to hear Adam, I was thinking about stopping in town to get a few things before coming back, if you need anything I can get it then" Richie said as he got up to get his regular clothes out.

"Um I'm not sure Rich, you could pick up some more fuses if you could... just in case we run out at an akwward moment" Adam replied with a soft moan in the background.

"Ok Adam, I'll let you get back to sleep" Richie said with a small smile guessing that Sharon had moved in her sleep.

"Ok Rich and thanks" Adam replied before hanging up with a small click.

"Thanks Backpack, can you x-ray my ribs while I change" Richie told his robot buddy as he took the large mug from the coffee maker, he took a long drink of it the last bitter drink before putting the mug down on the table.

Removing his shirt and threw it onto the back of the chair Richie winced slightly at the movement before Backpack scanned his rib cage, and moved over to the computer allowing Richie to put his t-shirt on.

Backpack printed up the results on the monitor as Richie got changed into his street clothes making a mental list of what he needed to buy for his plan on cheering Virgil up.

Robert sighed as he closed the bathroom door closing his eyes and rubbed his temples. Virgil had fallen back to sleep shortly after accepting a glass of water, but had turned away the tray of food.

'I got to get him to eat something but everything we try he turns it down' He thought with a sigh and worked on having a wash before returning to Virgil's bedroom.

Richie loaded his rucksack with the shopping before leaving the store with his mind on other things, crashing into someone.

"Oh sorry, I was..." Richie appologized putting his glasses back up on his nose before offering a hand. "Daisy?" He asked surprised in seeing their friend.

"Thanks Richie, you were what?" Daisy asked as she was helped up onto her feet and straightened her clothes.

"Just got things on my mind, you know with my folks out of town and Virg's got the flu" Richie said with a small smile shrugging his shoulders.

"Oh right, was going to ask if you knew where he was" Daisy said with a smile before a cell phone rang making them both check their phones. "Mine, I better go. Say hi to Virgil for me" She said before walking into the convienence store leaving Richie to continue back to Virgil's place.

Richie shook his head with a sigh stuffing his hands into his pockets and headed off to the quickest route he knew past the clean up across the city. 'Wish it was the flu but its not, its something I done... did to him' He thought to himself with a inward groan.

Virgil woke up slowly blinking the tiredness away from his eyes and looked around the room, and sighed when he saw his father asleep in the chair.

Throwing his sheets off Virgil slowly got onto his feet walking slowly hoping that he wouldn't wake his father up, he opened the door and continued to pad along the hallway towards the bathroom.

Once in there Virgil winced slightly at the brightness of the bathroom before looking in the mirror and sighed when he saw his reflection in it.

Facing Virgil was a face he didn't recognize, this young man was pale like a milky coffee while around his eyes were dark patches. The normally energetic brown eyes were dull and lifeless, all the signs showed that he had gone through something tragic.

Virgil fought to remember if he ever looked this bad before but he couldn't. Closing his eyes hiding away from the reflection on the mirror he crashed back down onto the toilet seat with a groan, hiding his face in his hands hoping that when he moved them away everything would be back the way things were.

The creature's roar full of power and hunger echoed in Virgil's mind making his hands clasp onto his ears with his eyes screwed tightly shut, fighting the memories that flooded back to him.

Richie sighed with relief as he got to the top of the stairs leading up to the Hawkins Residence before letting himself in quietly, he could make out the sleeping forms of Adam and Sharon on the couch so he crept into the kitchen.

'Mr H must be upstairs' Richie thought to himself as he unloaded his rucksack of the items he had purchased for his plans to cheer Virgil up.

Once that small job was done, Richie switched the coffee maker on before leaving the kitchen and quietly headed up the stairs to see if Robert wanted a cup of coffee, and to see if Virgil was awake.

Hearing a small thud Richie hurried to the source of the news to find Robert rubbing his elbow, his eyes half closed. "Mr H?" He spoke softly before looking at the bed to see it empty. "Where's V?" Richie asked as Robert woke up a bit more.

"I'm not sure I guess he's gone to the bathroom, I'll head downstiars and make a coffee" Robert said stretching slightly and adjusted his glasses before leaving the bedroom.

Richie sighed and rubbed his temples before stripping Virgil's bed to replace the sheets with fresh linen, he had done it several times with help from the other family members. Once the dirty linen was put into the basket, Richie left the bedroom and headed towards the bathroom as the clean linen was stored in a cupboard in there.

"Virg? You ok bro?" Richie asked knocking on the door softly before putting his ear near the door, he could hear muffled cries coming from the room. "V?" He called again before opening the door slightly.

Looking around the room he found Virgil sat behind the door his face burried in his legs and his arms wrapt tightly around himself, rocking slightly. 'Oh Virg' He thought with a sigh before bending down beside him, "Hey V, come on! Let's get you out of here" Richie spoke softly resting his hand on Virgil's shoulder hoping to get through to him.

"R-rich" Virgil's voice spoke up a little croaky before looking up at his friend wiping the tear stains away from his eyes and cheeks.

"Yeah its me, come on let's get you back to your room and we can talk if you want" Richie said softly with a smile moving back to help Virgil get up onto his feet, Virgil took it shakily and rose up onto his feet with his weight being supported by Richie.

"Mm sorry Rich..." Virgil muttered as Richie helped him back to the bedroom.

"It's ok Virg, you were there for me so now I'm here for you" Richie replied as they got to the bedroom, "I'll go and get the clean linen in a minute" He told his friend helping him onto the edge of the bed.

"Thanks Rich, you're right about it but I can't..." Virgil said sitting down on the edge of the bed and pulled himself back into the small ball he had been in the bathroom.

Richie inwardly sighed and sat down on the bed, "You can't what Virg?" He asked looking at Virgil carefully trying to figure out what he was going to say.

"H-how can you be around me? After what I done? What I became? I can't be around anyone after that..." Virgil said softly with a small croak, with his throat closing up and his eyes burned with the threat of new tears.

Richie hung his head hiding his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking from his own supressed tears pushing the memories and horrors of his time when he was held captive by Brainiac.

"I-I asked myself the same thing once I learned how dangerous I have become... I'm different Virgil but at the same time I am like you" Richie spoke softly his voice muffled by his hands.

"When I realized that it was that stupid experiment that caused you to transform... I was horrified to realize that I did that to you, I became obsessed to finding a cure while Adam and Shenice was out in the streets trying to buy me time..." He continuedf but was stopped by a hand resting on his arm.

"Rich... I-I couldn't... we couldn't" Virgil croaked before coughing harshly past his dried up throat, Richie held him straight until the coughing fit passed.

"Here Virg, sip it gently..." Richie spoke quietly helping Virgil take slow sips from the glass of water that was on the bedside cabnet. "I should have known that there would have been consequences, there always is" He added moving the glass away once Virgil pushed it away.

"It's ok Rich... we couldn't have known, what has happened has happened right?" Virgil spoke softly leaning against Richie, his eyes half closed worn out from the small panic attack and coughing fit.

Richie sighed softly and leaned back against the wall, Virgil shuffled up and leaned against Richie's side. "You're right V, we can take our time and get you back up in the sky soon enough" He replied with a soft smile and felt Virgil nod slightly against his arm before falling asleep.

Robert finished making the coffees and put the coffee maker back on with a clean filter when he heard Adam stirring in the lounge before taking one of the cups of coffee upstairs to Richie.

Stopping outside his son's room Robert opened the door quietly to find Virgil and Richie fast asleep together under a blanket, tear stains on both of their faces.

Sighing to himself Robert closed the door and walked back downstairs wondering if things would start getting better, and hoped that his son became the hero he once loved to be.

On the other side of the city at Dakota Docks, the quiet sounds of the docks and the water of the lake usually soothing was unusually still.

The gulls swooped down on the lake's surface but pulled up calling in distress before flying away from the lake as it started to bubble and boil from an unknown source under the surface.

Trouble was brewing at Dakota Docks unaware by the citizens of the city.

To be continued...

I am so sorry that this took so long to update! But my co-author gave up on this so I had to take it back, then my muses went AWOL but they're back with a vengence so I'm slowly filtering through the ideas and Aftermath - I am pleased to say - is one of the fics going through the idea spin!

So stay tuned!