Doctor Kevin Wu
Brockton General Hospital
Life was harsh.
This was doubly true on Earth Bet, which had Endbringers and thirteen times the more parahuman population than Earth Aleph, than anywhere else.
For a doctor, life was tiring. Due to the endless fights between the parahumans, their minions, and the authority, innocent people always suffered as a result.
As an immigrant from China before the glorious People's Republic became CUI, Kevin Wu was aware of how America had it good compared to everywhere else in the world. He was actually very vocal about this to his patients - those who would listen – and most of them didn't get it, even the ones who lived in slums.
Kevin remembered when he was only a young man in the mid 80's. He remembered parahumans usurping the rightful government's control over bits of China. His older sister was taken away; he hasn't seen her since then and he didn't believe that she was alive anymore. His young brother was gone from their house when he came back one day from work. The kicked in door told him everything he needed to know. His father was murdered because he spoke out against the local parahuman warlord in Qinzhou. His father was a police officer. His mother …
Less said about that woman, the better.
He fled China to Japan and met his wife.
He still wondered how America was able to coordinate and keep electricity in the hospitals when there were gangs fighting all of the time. In China, hospitals were the first to be targeted. This was not the case in America. He didn't understand, though, when he first came to America.
It wasn't until he was halfway through his doctorate program that he learnedwhy.
As much as hospitals were juicy targets for gangs, the Protectorate and the PRT had averyserious stance.
In other words, if any gang decided to hit any health facilities that governments endorsed or funded, then the Protectorate and the PRT threw the kiddie gloves away and went for lethal kills.
Doctor Wu didn't understand why they didn't do that right off the bat, because they ha-.
… He shouldn't assume things. From what he heard, America -despite its outward stability – was straining itself to keep peace. Just like how he didn't understand the sanctity of American hospitals that the government actually enforced, he accepted that he needed some more information and time to learn all of the nooks and crannies of the complex American system.
Well… except for the newest event.
Panacea and her newfound ability to resurrect people.
He understood exactly what that meant.
The breakdown of order.
Resurrection … it was too big of a prize. Villains and even rogues might start assaulting this hospital. He … knew of a way. He knew someone who can help protect this hospital – his hospital where he poured almost a decade of his life into – but it would mean that he would finally be giving into accepting something he had sworn not to.
But he had also sworn to help people however he could. He took a personal oath upon taking up his first job – and now that he thought about it, he still held that job to this day -, he swore that he would not allow himself to be involved with parahuman gangs.
"I guess everything ends, no?" he muttered to himself. "Even my own promises."
"Doctor Wu, you're done for the day?" a passing nurse asked.
Wu smiled. "Yes, Ms. Wills. I have a family to see today," he replied.
Nurse Wills looked surprised. The pretty blonde – someone who should be anywhere but here in Brockton Bay – blinked prettily out of surprise. "You have family, Doctor Wu?" she asked. And then she gasped and held a hand to her mouth after realizing her faux pas.
Instead of being offended, Wu laughed.
"Don't worry, Ms. Wills. I know it comes as a surprise. I do spend way too much time at the hospital," he replied. And it was true. He wasn't offended. His wife had died long ago. There was nothing to be offended at.
"Sorry, sir!" she squeaked and hurried on her way.
On his way out of the hospital, Wu met four more nurses and hospital staff who reacted exactly as Nurse Wills.
He just laughed it off.
-
He drove his 2004 Ford Crown Victoria towards his home at the edge of Downtown. Many people were surprised that he didn't change his car like a girl changes her socks. It was what most doctors did, they said.
Wu was not most doctor. He had more important things than derived image from material goods. Such a thing was … too shallow for his taste. Power and wealth derived not from what one can see, but how much one can influence.
He stopped at a red light. A homeless man quickly ran out from the street to beg to the people in the cars. For some reason, Wu's car was avoided. He rolled down his window and gestured for the begging homeless to come to him and not bother the people behind him. He pulled out a $20 bill and gave it to the homeless woman with a smile.
Wu knew that out of the five homeless he encountered, four of them would spend the good money he gave them in drugs and other vices, but he gave regardless. Why? Because justification against alms does not mean that he shouldn't be doing what he can to help others. Though he knew that most would waste his charity, he hoped that the ones who did get his little help would hang on to life for longer as they struggled to reach a better place.
The light turned green, and he rolled away on the road towards his home.
Once he reached his home, he took off his sweaty button-up shirt and changed it for something more comfortable. In his empty home where only his bedroom was alive and lived in, he reached into the drawers and pulled out a t-shirt. He put it on, ignoring the fact that his pot belly was growing.
Then he walked out, got back into his car, and drove forth again.
He still remembered the first time his eldest son invited him to see his group; he wanted his father to see what he had achieved with parahuman might. It was a semi-juvenile attempt at impressing someone who they each thought lost. When Leviathan struck and sank Kyushu, their family had been separated and neither were capable of reaching the other. Wu thought his wife and son had died; they thought he had died.
Instead of being proud of bringing a semblance of peace to the streets, Wu had become enraged by what he saw. His eldest had done the exactly same thing –allowed the exact same thing– that broke Wu's family apart. He verbally lashed out at his son, left, and they hadn't talked since then.
He wondered how his son would respond to him coming to him for help.
He pulled up to an establishment. A simple ramen restaurant like the one that his wife's parents ran back in the day. His eldest son was always fond of his maternal grandparents.
He knocked on the backdoor.
There was a pause.
Then the door opened.
A tall, black haired man in his late 20's appeared at the door, complete with a ramen chef outfit.
He stared at him for a second before his eyes widened. "Otou-san," he asked with surprise in his voice.
He tried to smile for his son who had become a parahuman warlord. "Hello, Kenta," he replied. "May I come in? I'd like to talk."
To protect Brockton General Hospital and Panacea, he would cast aside his past grievances against parahuman villains and make peace with his own son. He wondered if his sister and brother would forgive him for this.
-
The next day, the world watched in shock as Lung, the gang leader of Brockton Bay's Azn Bad Boyz, declared that Panacea and Brockton General Hospital was under his protection and that anyone who dared to coerce or attack Panacea would have to face him.
-
A/N: So I'm changing Lung's age here a bit. In canon, he's in his 30's. This could be anywhere from 31 to 39. I'm changing it to 29 to fit this story's timeline/details.
Kevin Wu: 54
Kenta "Lung" Mushiya: 29
Kenta when he triggered: 16
Kenta when Leviathan attacked Kyushu: 17