Snippets I thought were too on-the-nose, repetitive, or no longer fit into the narrative of the story, in no particular order.

Suddenly, there was clambering from behind him, and on instinct, Kid Danger whirled around, ready for a fight.

Officer Reed got a facefull of flashlight, and she let out a yelp as she held out her hand to shield her gaze.

The sidekick lowered the device in alarm, before rushing over to her. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm doing my job. Whether I get fired or not…" She muttered that last one to herself as she hauled the rest of her body weight through the hole in the wall.

"They wouldn't fire you for this, would they?" He asked incredulously, because seriously, would they?

Officer Reed brushed her hands on her thighs as she too pulled out her own flashlight. "For disobeying orders, absolutely. But, then again, I've always been a bit of a trouble maker." She attempted to crack a joke, "I've already given up on getting that promotion, anyways. Consider this my two week's notice if things go downhill."

Despite being the one with superpowers, Kid Danger found himself turning to the adult. "Where to first?" He asked, because his energy was slipping away, and fast. He needed direction instead of using his energy to come up with his own.

Desperately, he felt around in his pockets for anything to eat, and by some miracle, there was a smoothie packet in one of his thigh pockets. He pulled it out and flipped it over in his hand a couple times, debating if just pouring the powder in his mouth would be worth it.

He was thankful that Reed didn't ask any questions, instead taking a few steps to the doorway that led to the hall. She had her free hand on her taser as she glanced out the hallway.

"Clear," she said, and Kid Danger quickly pocketed the packet, following in her footsteps and even though he logically knew that those few extra steps wouldn't waste that much energy, the acknowledgement that he couldn't get anything into his stomach yet made his feet drag.

The room the cell was connected to was a giant, rectangular space with a pair of stairs to their left that led up to a balcony that wrapped around the second floor. It was completely empty, spare a few upturned chairs and an abandoned desk adjacent to them. Behind the desk was a door that undoubtedly led to the other wing, and opposite of the stairs were a pair of double doors that probably led below ground.

"Would I be pessimistic to assume that your boss didn't give you blueprints of this building?" Kid Danger spoke out of the corner of his mouth, and Officer Reed only rolled her eyes before shaking her head. The woman unsheathed her taser as she started making her way towards the desk.

"That's fine, I can get someone to get it for us." The sidekick resolved, somewhat apprehensive to be texting Schwoz, but the man was being much less intrusive than Jasper or Charlotte were, and at least knew when to put work ahead of personal life.

Officer Reed let out a hum of thanks as she stepped behind the desk, flashlight scanning across the surface.

"What are you looking for?" Kid Danger asked, coming up on the other side of the desk and shining his own flashlight at the door behind it.

"Security footage…" She said, leaning down to the computer monitor, "maybe we can use it to tell how many escaped."

"Um," the sidekick coughed somewhat awkwardly, "no offense, but can't we do that later? I think clearing the building is more important."

"So is preserving evidence." Reed said simply, giving a brief glance towards the teen as she continued fiddling with the device. She nodded vaguely at the room. "You start checking the cells. I think I'm much more useful here."

Admittedly relieved, because he wasn't exactly expecting Reed to be here in the first place, Kid Danger simply said "suit yourself", and swiveled his flashlight towards the center of the room, surveying the multitude of open cell doors.

They made searching easier, if he was honest. All he had to do was clear the corners with a flashlight before moving on to the next one, and so on.

"I can't believe this thing still has power… they must have a backup generator from the other wing." Officer Reed muttered under her breath, and Henry could only hear it because the room was ridiculously good at projecting voices

"Did you find anything useful?" He asked.

"I'm just securing everything on here that I can. We don't have time to go through every file."

"That's smart," Henry admitted, looking into another cell, briefly cutting out what the officer said as he focused on that.

It took around five minutes for him to completely survey the lower floor, and the buzz of Schwoz texting back with the blueprints was almost like clockwork as the sidekick finished the full loop of cells. He pulled out his phone as he hustled back to the desk, presenting it to Officer Reed. "I've got the blueprints," he addressed, eyes briefly glancing to the second floor as he prepared himself to head up there.

"Already?" She asked, utterly surprised at the speed, and she leaned to look at the map on Kid Danger's phone. "...huh."

"Are you done here?" the teen asked, gesturing at the computer, and Reed nodded in confirmation.

"I've done all I can. I need to take this back to my chief. Will you be okay while I dip?"

"You're talking to an experienced sidekick, Officer Reed." Kid Danger deadpanned, "if anything, I'm the one babysitting you."

Like something akin to a disappointed parent, the officer straightened with a sigh towards the ceiling. "You kids are so mean these days…fine. Just…don't push yourself, Kid Danger. Please?"

With a mock salute with two fingers, the sidekick cracked a smile and blatantly lied through his teeth. "Wouldn't dream of it."

A grave nod was all Officer Reed gave as a goodbye, and soon Kid Danger was watching her disappear back through the cell that they'd entered through.

"...nry! Dude, you can't keep ignoring us like this. Schwoz, he's not answering again."

"Disassociation, got it." The man said as though it were part of a checklist. Henry glanced towards Shwoz in indifference as that damn tablet came out again.

Jasper shoved something akin to a thermometer into Henry's face. Again. "Speak into this," The other blonde said.

Henry didn't.

Why would he? He'd had that thing shoved through his teeth so many times this last hour, he'd lost count. A glare he didn't know he'd had was the only thing sent Jasper's way as the other teen continued to hold the recording device to his face expectedly.

It took a few seconds for him to realize Henry wasn't going to comply, and he shrunk back awkwardly once he did, the device falling to his lap as he looked to Charlotte for guidance.

Henry's gaze fell to the couch again as Schwoz's earlier statement came to mind. Disassociation? He didn't think he was experiencing that. May

"You're forcing down your powers through the normal executions, so they're finding less-conventional ways to release that energy. Your voice, and your senses, are being supercharged with their own versions of superspeed."

"Do you need water?" Officer Reed asked instead of answering his question, And Kid Danger turned to her with a strange mixture of bashfulness and hope.

"I could use one, yeah." He admitted, eyes flickering briefly to Reed's pockets as she produced her own water bottle, "How did you know…?"

"I recognize vitamin packets when I see them." She admitted, tossing the bottle to the sidekick, which he caught easily. "Sorry it's not cold, I only have it for emergencies."

Henry really wasn't worth an emergency, but he needed to be in his best shape. He nodded his head silently as he poured the Dont-Die-Powder into the bottle and shook it up.

Despite that, he felt he owed an explanation – just on the off chance that they stumbled across someone that needed it more, and he wanted to justify himself. Officer Reed's inquisitive gaze was hard to avoid, anyhow.

"It, uh, helps my body keep up with my powers." He mentioned as nonchalantly as possible, shrugging as a blush formed on his face. He quickly unscrewed the top again and started chugging.

The detective's head swiveled restlessly between Kid Danger and the door to the interrogation room before he let out a sigh, "You can observe – you will not speak with him. He knows nothing of the Time Jerker's attack on the factory yet, and I will not have you screwing up this chance for us to put him behind bars."

Swallowing, Henry nodded curtly, managing to catch Reed's gaze out of the corner of his eye. "Yeah, no problem." He agreed.

With a disgruntled noise, the detective nodded towards the room, and Kid Danger followed his footsteps as they entered.

They were greeted by another detective – the one from yesterday – who was scowling through the one-way mirror at Pyromaniac and his lawyer. He took notice of Henry with a double-take, hands nearly unclasping from where they were situated behind his back.

"Carr? What is Kid Danger doing in here?" the other detective asked his partner, who made it very clear that he didn't want Henry to be there any more than his coworker did.

"I told him that he could observe the interrogation from this side of the room." He shot a pointed glare at the sidekick, who felt a growing agitation blossom in his chest

Kid Danger's first encounter with an escapee happened three miles from the prison. Listen, Henry was admittedly in a pretty shitty shape, but if he were a freshly escaped convict, he wouldn't be trying to immediately steal a pearphone.

It wasn't the same shop from earlier that week — Kid Danger had never been to this one before, he didn't think, even if he was fairly certain it had been in Swellview longer than the other one.

One swift kick in the shins and a hit with the blaster, because Kid Danger really couldn't be wasting time if someone had already made it this far into town, and the convict was down.

The sidekick was just about to wonder what to do with him, when the sound of police sirens faded into range from outside.

There was an abnormal amount of cop cars on the street that day — or, perhaps, a perfectly normal amount considering the situation — so all Kid Danger had to do was step outside and wave frantically until the cruiser screeched to a halt.

Henry also had to pray that the cops didn't hold a grudge against him for what he'd said yesterday.

Kid Danger was back inside before the cop even stepped out of the car. The sidekick made his way over to a man with a nasty cut on his arm, who was crouched by a display shelf.

"Are you okay?" Kid Danger asked as he knelt next to the man, who simply nodded shakily.

"I think so? It's, um, still bleeding."

"Have you called an ambulance yet?" Kid Danger asked as he grabbed some gauze from his belt. He wasn't a medical professional, obviously, he apparently could barely take care of himself, but even an idiot knew that pressure helped the bleeding to stop.

"I did, they're on their way!" The woman behind the counter spoke loudly; shock was probably preventing her from moving.

"Everyone needs to shelter in place until every convict is back in custody." The cop said as he hauled the escapee to his feet, "take everyone into the back room, or try and make it next door. A locked room is preferable."

Kid Danger nodded as he finished wrapping the injured man's arm. "Establish a code word with the paramedics, okay?" He said.

This was one of two shopping districts in town. It would be hit the hardest for convicts looking to ditch the distinctive orange jumpers.

Shakily, the occupants of the store nodded, and the woman behind the counter waved her hands towards the back room. "Come on, we've got a safe room for occasions like this." Her voice only wavered slightly, and she sent the smallest of assuring nods towards Kid Danger, who returned it.

The sidekick helped the injured man to his feet before handing him off to another customer, and turned apprehensively back to the cop, who had already walked out the door and was forcing the convict into the back seat.

Kid Danger hastily threw the glass door open just as the cruiser's doors shut, and the officer turned just as he locked them.

Jim ended his statement with a quiet 'thank you', and suddenly it was Kid Danger's turn.

Henry was thankful for the slap on the back he got from Ray as he stood, because it was just annoying enough for him to focus on that instead of the nerves in his own stomach.

He'd never been very good at public speaking. Which was…well, ironic, considering he was kind of a celebrity. He could do interviews, sure, but planning a speech? That was a completely different story. There was a reason Kid Danger didn't have very many out there.

Ray was different. Not that the man was responsible enough to plan out a speech, but he did have the uncanny ability to improvise anything with ease, and if he couldn't, well, he wasn't considered Swellview's Most Eligible Bachelor for nothing.

As Kid Danger turned to face the stand, he caught his boss' gaze, and both Captain Man and Detective Reed gave him an encouraging thumbs-up.

"Kid Danger," the judge said, and Henry turned to look at the man.

"You may speak," he said after a moment's contemplation, and the teen nodded before turning to the room.

"Thanks," he breathed, and cleared his throat to loosen the nerves in his chest.

At least there weren't a lot of people in the audience. Much in the way Jim had, Henry found his gaze turning towards Mike as he started.

"I've seen people argue that Mr. Raza's actions in saving Mr. Bowry's life had ulterior motives." he began, and felt his voice teeter dangerously on cracking, so he sucked in a deep breath. "That, had he gotten a sentence that had no chance at parole, he wouldn't have tried to make up for his character at all."

Clasping his gloved hands together, Kid Danger's voice grew steadier, "I'm here to tell you that this is false. When you work in a field like mine and Captain Man's, you learn to read body language. Being unable to do so can be the difference between life and death."

He felt pretentious explaining that, but he wanted to make sure he got his next point across, "When I was working with Mr. Raza to stabilize Mr. Bowry, there was nothing there to indicate that he wanted to run off. In fact, he could have left once I got there, there was nothing keeping him with us physically. But he stayed to make sure that Mr. Bowry got out of there alive."

Kid Danger hesitated, "Mike didn't just help Jim that day. As many of you know by now, that week of the prison break was the week my superspeed decided to manifest. I had to figure out a lot of things on my own that week."

He turned to find Ray's gaze, expecting to find him shaking his head and tell him to shut up, but the man remained still. It gave him the confidence to continue, even if his speech slowed to plan out his next thoughts.

He'd gone over this part in his head so many times. He'd scratched it out and rewritten it more than he could count anymore. Nothing felt good enough.

"There were a lot of doubts running through my head back then. What-If's, If-When's, the works. There were moments where I was unsure if I could handle everything on my own."

Henry could suddenly see the closet Jim had been lying in all those months ago, and he paused only briefly to let the memory pass, "Not once during my time with Mr. Raza, was I unsure of his intentions. In fact, his presence – his actions – inspired me to do better. Before we'd discovered that Time Jerker had escaped, Mr. Raza volunteered to be my backup in the high-security area. Now, I'll admit," Kid Danger chuckled with a roll of his eyes, "I didn't exactly appreciate it at the time. But the fact that he didn't hesitate, the fact that I felt confident enough to leave Mr. Bowry at his side, is not something I consider lightly."

Turning back to the judge, Kid Danger nodded, "I would call Mr. Raza a hero as much as I would call myself, Your Honor. His determination is something that helped me through the rest of that week. I'm not sure if Time Jerker would have been caught as quickly as he was if it weren't for Mr. Raza's actions that day."

The sidekick finally found his gaze at Mike, who still looked just as nervous as he did when he entered. Henry didn't know if the head nod he sent his way was to comfort himself, or the other way around.

"Is there anything else you have to say, Kid Danger?" The judge inquired, and Henry turned to look at him.

Henry nodded, suddenly scared that he was running out of time. Did these things have a limit? "Mr. Raza told me, that day, that he was working to be a better person. I, personally, think he's already there. He saved one life behind bars. I can only imagine the good he could do outside of them."

He tried not to let the Judge's indifference get to him – that was the man's job, after all – but still, leaving the stand, Henry couldn't help but feel like he should have said more.

But, he supposed, as the judge called for a short intermission, that would be something worth a lot more words than a five-minute statement.

When Henry came to, what had to have only been moments later, he found that he was no longer cuffed.

Actually, he was no longer in the generator thing at all. Against every muscle's wish in his body, Henry managed to pull his eyelids up to find himself laying on the floor.

He gasped for air, and for once oxygen filled his lungs and wasn't immediately sapped away. He was being pelted with rain – no, sprinklers (those still worked?), and his chest burned like a thousand suns.

Henry wasn't sure if he was making any noises. His ears were ringing too loudly for him to hear anything and his vision was much too blurry and doubled for him to make out anything beyond indistinct colors.

He must have been near the wall, because suddenly something that looked like a door cut off his vision as he struggled to get up onto his elbows, and a shape that looked vaguely like Reed stumbled out of it.

This isn't how I imagined dying, he thought, and despite himself a hysterical laugh burbled out of his mouth.

The thing-he-hoped-was-Reed hesitated at what she saw in the room before turning to him, kneeling down with her hands stretched out warily.

"Help me up," he muttered, reaching an arm out towards her even if he couldn't hear himself, and his eyes fluttered closed for a brief second before her contact made him start.

They waited until the nurse looked at them expectedly before the doctor spoke again, "I'm just going to ask you to recount what you remember. It will help us understand the amount of head trauma you received from the blast."

"Do I have a concussion?" Henry asked as his head throbbed at the idea.

"You must have been restrained," the doctor shook his head, "You have bruising, but CT scans showed no signs of concussion. We were honestly surprised that was the case. You are very lucky, Mr. Hart."

Henry swallowed nervously and nodded. The phantom feeling of rain plastered his face for a split second and he pulled at the corners of his mouth to make the feeling dissipate.

He must have been silent for quite a while, because the doctor spoke up again, "you don't have to speak about it now, we can wait a few hours if you'd like to get your memory jogging again. I know being held hostage can't have been very pleasant."

"I'm just – confused," He finally admitted, finally bit the bullet, "I don't remember…what happened to Time Jerker?"

That came out skewed. He'd meant to ask how he got to the hospital. Who picked Kid Danger up and who contacted his parents when his mask came off. But of course he had to ask about him instead.

The doctor and his parents shared a silent conversation that Henry couldn't quite comprehend amidst the ringing in his ears, but whatever they'd spoken about seemed to deem him an answer.

"He was knocked out in the blast too," the doctor answered, "he was treated for his injuries but has no memory of the event. He's being held in the state prison in Cheyanne. You don't need to worry about him."

Henry nodded slowly as he processed the information, trying not to anger his head.

Henry's boss was not known for being stoic. Henry didn't know what the implications of his childish tendencies were, but being stone-faced was something so rare on Ray's face that the sidekick wasn't even sure he'd ever seen it.

And yet here they were, Henry curled up on the couch as Ray stared at the floor somewhere to his left with nothing short of, well, nothing on his face.

Henry forced down a gulp, because his boss was never really known for being silent, either.

"I know it goes without saying since I'm the one that just came out of hospital…but are you okay?"

There it was, at least some emotion – Ray's brow furrowed as he glanced towards Henry sparingly. "I'm…thinking."

"That's new," the words fell out of Henry's mouth before he could stop them.

He'd seen Ray mad. He knew his tells. He'd been expecting them to come this entire week, and yet his bracing for impact seemed to be increasingly in vain.

Because he knew a loud and angry Ray. He knew what to expect and how to satiate him.

But this…this was different.

"Is this about my sister finding out?" He choked out, because he could probably believe Charlotte and Jasper's claims that he'd done an okay job at protecting Swellview, but the mistake of walking (well, more like fainting) straight into Piper was something he'd promised Ray would never happen again.

But his boss shook his head solemnly. "Nah, Kid." the man seemed to shrug it off, but Henry could see the way he fidgeted at the memory

"Does yours talk to you?" He murmured eventually, head still plastered firmly on Ray's shoulder.

Ray didn't answer right away, probably taking things slow in fear that Henry would lash out again. He did that thing where he paused briefly when he wasn't quite sure of the question. "What, you mean my powers?"

Henry nodded against his boss' shoulder, sucking in a deep breath and holding it to try and slow his heartbeat.

"Uh…sure, I guess?" Ray paused, lifted his head off Henry's briefly, and then returned it. "Yeah, actually, I guess it does…you don't mean literally, right?"

That brought a chuckle out of Henry, and he shook his head. "No. no demon-thoughts here. It's more like…" the sidekick trailed off, suddenly unaware of how to begin to describe it.

"Like not-thoughts?" Ray asked, and this time it was Henry's turn to pause.

The sidekick groaned as he pushed off his boss, head ducking so that the man couldn't see his probably-red face. "Yeah. not-thoughts. God, that's a vague way to describe it."

"But it works."

That it did.

He could feel his boss do a double-take at the sensation. "You tired?"

Nodding wordlessly, Henry's eyes closed, "mmm, a little bit."

"Cool. I'll do evening patrol by myself tonight. You've still got that test to study for, right?"

Henry opened one eye to look up to Ray, "You sure?"

"Answer my question."

"Well, yeah, but if you need me –"

"Shhhhhhhhhhh…" Ray patted his head sarcastically, causing a snort to draw its way out of Henry's mouth, "I don't care if it's the weekend, if you need the time off you take it."