YES! Believe it or not, I AM updating. Sorry it took so long. I just had to get my lazy butt into it.
Sooo, now for review replies…Which I'm probably not allowed to do, but oh well…
Kate Maxwell: Hehe…Yeeaaah…Virgil...Kinda forgot about him. But don't worry! He will return! And thank you, I liked the twist myself. It really helped put a spin on things. But this is a Richie story, so obviously, it's mostly Richie going through guilt trips, solving the case, yadi yadi yah…Thanks for the review!
Goddess of Twilight: Uh…I'm not sure that I WANT to talk to one of your other personalities:D But thanks for reviewing!
Trecebo: Yeah, multiple personalities make my head hurt too. Too much stuff to think about when it comes to an attempted murder/maybe murder case. But hey, it had to be done for the entertainment of the readers and the good of the story. Thank for reviewing!
Soon to be world renown Gracie: YAY! Cookies! Mmmmm, love cookies…Anyway, yeah, I forgot his name was Tyler Reed too. ;p, so don't worry 'bout that. Thank you for reviewing!
zizzy333: Thanks for the compliment! I'm really enjoying writing this. Thanks for reviewing!
Chapter 10- Hot Cup of Coffee
The ride to the hospital via Javelin was somber. Nobody spoke, not even Flash. Reed lay comatose in one of the Javelin's emergency stretchers, but not a single person there had the heart to look at him. Gear hadn't said a word since they realized about Reed's condition, and nobody could blame him. He just sat staring out the window, watching the word below continue on as if nothing had happened. As if they're prized hero hadn't been shot only a few days prior.
They soon arrived to their destination, and as Gear got ready to follow the League toward the admittance desk, Batman stopped him. "You're not going with us." He stated firmly. That surprised Gear as he took a slight step back.
"What do you mean? I'm turning this guy in." Anger once again seeped into his voice, not wanting this psychopath to go unpunished.
"No, we're turning him in. You're going to go see you friend." Gear stood completely still at hearing those words. Virgil. He hadn't visited Virgil since this whole thing started. How was he doing? Had his condition change? Dear God! What if he got worse? What if he wouldn't survive the night?
Batman took Gear's silence as a sign to leave. And so he turned, ready to leave, but he only got a few steps before Gear's quiet voice made him pause. "Thank you." Batman saliently nodded before following his teammates inside. Richie stood outside for a few minutes. Just stood there thinking, honestly not sure what to do. How long had it been since he had seen his best friend? 2, 3 days? A week? He didn't know. And now that he thought about it, when was the last time he was at home? When was it that he had poured his heart out to his father? When he had last seen his mother? Well, he did know one thing, and that was that he was here, at the hospital, only a few seconds from his friend, and that's where he was going.
So, with that final though, he flew off the building and toward the window of the room where Static was being treated. Peering into the window, the young hero spotted Sharon fast asleep, her head resting on her brother's bed, and Mr. Hawkins sitting close by, a cup of coffee in hand, eyes never leaving his son. With a swoosh, Gear opened the window, surprising Mr. H for a second before he saw who the intruder was, soon putting his finger to his lips to show that Gear should be quiet, then pointing to his daughter.
"How are you two holding up?" Asked Richie, removing his helmet.
"We're doing okay." Mr. H, taking a good look at Richie's face, saw the fatigue lining his young face. "How about you?"
Richie let out a short sarcastic laugh. "I'm fine, don't worry. I actually bring you good news." Pausing slightly, he continued. "As well as bad."
Cocking his eyebrow, Robert motioned for Richie to sit down, but he refused. "What happened?"
"We found the guy who did this to Virgil, but…" His voice caught in his throat as his stomach did summersaults. "But it's highly unlikely he'll go to prison for what he did."
The anger that appeared on Robert's face was obvious, but just as he was getting ready to yell, Richie stopped him. "He's psychologically unstable. He, um, he has multiple personalities. When one personality is in control, the others usually don't know what's going on. He's missing time frames in his life. We only got to see one side of him for a little while before another took over. A more aggressive side. We literally watched him fight himself."
Mr. Hawkins stared in shock, wanting to say something, but at a complete loss of words. Finally, Richie broke the silence. "How's he doing?" He asked, indicating to Virgil, who still lay motionless on the bed. To the young hero, it appeared as if nothing had changed since he'd last been to visit him.
"He's still the same." Sighed Robert, and as Richie looked at him, he noticed the bags under his eyes, and the way his shoulders slumped. Richie wondered when was the last time Mr. H had gotten a full nights rest. Probably the night before this happened you do-do head! I mentally berated himself.
"Hey, Mr. H, why don't you get some sleep, I can take over watch for now, and I'm sure Sharon isn't going anywhere."
Robert shook his head, tired as he may be, he wasn't about to leave his son. "No, I want to be here when he wakes."
Richie knew that there was no way of making him truly leave for at least an hour of sleep, so he opted for something much simpler. "Alright, then how about just getting a hot cup of coffee. I'm sure that'll do you a ton of good."
Robert sighed in defeat, that hot cup of coffee sounding extremely tempting at the moment. "Alright Richie, I'll go get some coffee."
Before he even knew what he was doing, Richie had moved in front of Mr. Hawkins and stood in front of the door. "Don't worry about it. I'll go get it." He'd been at the Hawkins place more than his own, and knew by heart how Mr. H liked his coffee. He smoothly slipped on his helmet and was out of the room before Robert could protest, which was fine with him, because he was just about ready to fall asleep standing.
Richie didn't know why he had decided to leave the room. Maybe because he couldn't stand all those machines. No, that couldn't be right. He had visited people on life supports before, but this time it was different. This time….This time it was Virgil. His best friend. The whole time he had been there, he had barely been able to look. It wasn't like he didn't want to, he did. The young hero just couldn't' bring himself to do it. Not yet.
He only made it halfway down the hall before bumping into someone. It was a young man, probably about a year or so older than he was. They both stumbled slightly, the man apologized with a small laugh and a, "Sorry, head in the clouds," before he realized exactly who he had bumped into. "Oh, I'm so sorry, seriously man, I…"
Gear put his hands up to show that everything was okay, also letting loose a slight grin. "It's okay, no damage done."
The young red head ran a shaky hand through his messy hair, not sure exactly what to say. "Oh, I heard about Static. Is he okay?" Worry clearly lased his voice.
Gear sighed, not exactly sure what to say. "He…m…He's stable."
"Not good, huh?" The man saw right through him. "By the way, name's Jason." He said, extending his left hand. Gear noticed instantly that it was in fact his left hand that was being extended and not his right. Jason laughed slightly before answering the unasked question. "Heh, sorry. I confuse people like that a lot." He moved his right hand up, and Gear instantly realized that it was fake. "I'm hear to learn how to use this thing. Brand new."
"I…" They young genius was dumbfounded.
"No worry, just trading the old one in for a new model. I haven't had it since I was, like, five." Looking at his watch, Jason smiled before continuing. "Well, gotta go. Hope Static gets better soon." He said as he ran off down the hall.
Shaking his head, Gear continued on his way, wondering why he was so surprised by the fact that someone could be happy while crippled. That thought led to another. What if, for some reason, Virgil's crippled after this? What then? He'd be devastated! What if…What if I'm just thinking too much? I need to calm down. I'm not thinking straight anymore. Well, he thought as he reached the waiting room, All that should be fixed with a hot cup off coffee. Coffee fixes everything…
Sorry, it's so short. But hey, at least I updated right? Hmm, and if your wondering, I don't think I'll be doing anything with Jason. I probably will though, since I put him in the story and all. But honestly this is just kind of a filler chapter. I'm not sure exactly what will happen in the next chapter, but I really hope you all liked this one! So please review!