(A/N) Hey guys, time for another update, and some big news about both this fic and another one that will be coming out in a few months. Firstly, you're going to be seeing a lot more updates for this fic over this month, as we want to have the finalé go up on the 27th of November, the same night that Rooster Teeth's X-Ray and Vav animated series débuts on their website!
I'm also really happy to announce that we recently went over the 1,000,000 word count for our entire array of fics combined, which is obviously a big deal for us! As a result, we have opened applications for our next fic – an Avengers/Hunger Games fic – are looking for as many new writers as possible to join our little team, so if you're interested either PM me or head on over to our forum, The Freelancer Collaboration, and take a look at the application forms. We may be migrating the sections concerning a new fic to a brand new forum, but details on that will be coming up soon. If you've enjoyed reading about superheroes here, now is your chance to write about superheroes with us!
Oh, and guess what – not only is the Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part One trailer out, but so is the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer, so head on over to YouTube to check both out and get those creative juices flowing!
Enjoy, and forgive me for all the exclamation marks!
Chapter Thirty-Four – Knock on Wood
Dr Gavin Free / Vav
Written by NicKenny
"A werewolf tossed me against a giant packing crate while I was trying to rescue a frightened young girl who'd been kidnapped by an evil witch and a drug lord."
― Patricia Briggs, Moon Called
"No matter how bad things are, you can always make things worse."
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture
"Dr Free, your attendance of late has been dismal," the Chief of Surgery, Margaret Tominey, stated coldly, frowning at Gavin severely, causing him to squirm in his seat.
Her office was drab, grey and visually interesting, especially this early in the day, as he had just come off a night shift. Admittedly, it was one of the first night shifts he had turned up to in a fair few weeks, and he had been ducking phone calls from her for the last week or so, but still, could she really have not waited for a better time to call him down?
"I'm very sorry about that," he replied mournfully, "but as I told you, I've been pretty sick over the last month, on and off."
Dr Tominey glanced down at the notes and her desk, appearing to consult them for a moment, before looking back up at him.
"As far as I can see, Doctor, you haven't submitted any prescriptions that you've received for this…sickness." The pause was barely noticeable, but still, it was noticeable. "Not even so much as a doctor's note. Care to explain that, Dr Free, or should I assume that you've been self-medicating?"
Gavin missed her tone of disapproval for just a moment, and had already begun to nod. "Yes, that's it exactly!" he agreed, until both her words and his caught up with him, and he quickly backtracked. "I mean, no, of course not! I'd never do that!"
He squirmed for another moment, under Dr Tominey's gaze, and couldn't resist the urge to dig his hole even deeper.
"I mean, I'm a surgeon, and I've been working when I've felt up to it – I have a duty to my patients, after all! I wouldn't risk my illness causing me to make mistakes, or minging up my diagnosis because my brain wasn't working properly, or…or…or…" he trailed off, and closed his eyes, already bracing himself for the sharp words that would no doubt be directed his way. He just hoped she wouldn't cut his pay – being a superhero wasn't cheap, after all, given that it took up a lot his free time, and ate up money faster than himself and X-Ray could take down a mugger.
And that was pretty damn fast.
Instead, to his surprise, Dr Tominey merely sighed, and glanced down at the notes on her desk once more. "Fortunately for you, Dr Free, it appears that the hospital's Board of Directors have requested that no action is taken against you, though for the life of me I can't understand why they're interfering in a matter like this."
Gavin sighed in relief, sensing the hand of the FBI in this mysterious request by the hospital's Directors. It wouldn't have been the first time that they had interfered in his private affairs to help him out, ever since they had discovered Vav's identity, and while he resented the intrusion into his life, he couldn't help but feel grateful at the same time. Unaware of the little internal battle going on inside Gavin, the Chief of Surgery continued, "If I had my way, doctor, I'd either have you fired or, at the very least, have your pay docked. If you have indeed been self-medicating with medication from this hospital, I would have your licence stripped from you. Instead, I have been asked, quite firmly, to leave you be."
She stared at him for a moment, before shaking her head wearily and sighing again. "Can I ask, Dr Free, what it is about you that would lead to a request of this nature being sent to me? What is it that you contribute to this hospital that others can't?"
He stared at her for a moment, unable to come up with a reply. "Well…I'm British?" he offered weakly, running a hand through his hair to hide his embarrassment. "That normally throws people for a loop."
Dr Tominey continued to stare at him, unfalteringly, for what seemed like minutes, yet couldn't have been more than a few uncomfortable seconds. That space of time, however, did more than enough to express the scorn that she was emanating from every pore, and Gavin prayed fervently that she would let him leave.
"That will be all, Dr Free," she finally murmured, breaking off her gaze to consult her notes once more, and he sighed in relief, jumping to his feet and marching out of room before she could change her mind and call him back.
Michael was sitting outside, looking glum, having no doubt been called down to the Chief of Staff's office for the exact same reason that Gavin himself had been. He raised his eyebrows at Gavin as the doctor sauntered over to him, smiling sheepishly.
"So, you got called down here too?" he asked, looking down at his hands, not meeting Michael in the eye. He hadn't heard from his friend since Mogar's last appearance in the city, and while he and Ray knew the identity of the giant bearlike rage-monster, he was pretty sure that Michael didn't so much as suspect him of being the British superhero.
Iron-Ryan, however, was a very different matter – Gavin had no doubt that he knew exactly who X-Ray and Vav were, and he wasn't sure if he was entirely comfortable at that thought. Still, he was one of the good guys now, so Gavin would just have to trust him. After all, it wasn't like he could do much about it, was it?
"Obviously," Michael replied shortly, frowning at Gavin. "Otherwise I'd be doing something else, like getting lunch or, y'know, fixing people. Whatever you might think, I don't just choose to hang out down here in my fucking free time."
A moment paused between them, and Michael sighed, appearing to regret his harshness. "I've been out a bit lately, as you've probably noticed. Tominey wants to talk to me. Something tells me that it's not to give me a pay rise and shower me with cake and puppies."
He looked gloomy, so Gavin smiled and threw himself into the chair next to his friend, secure in the knowledge that he had already finished for the day, and his next shift wouldn't be until noon the next day. "Don't worry about it," he advised, punching Michael lightly on the shoulder. "I've been out sick too, and she went pretty easy on me. What excuse are you going to use?"
Michael stared at him, a momentary flash of surprise registering on his face. "I was out visiting family in Achievement Burgh," he replied, speaking slowly and taking care to enunciate every word, as though he had committed the speech entirely to memory. "My car broke down, and it took the mechanics a week to get the necessary parts to replace it."
"Why didn't you take the bus, or a taxi?" Gavin asked, and Michael flinched as that thought clearly had just occurred to him for the first time.
"Fuck!" he swore, and Gavin just laughed next to him.
"Just say you were sick," he advised his friend, who nodded tiredly, and brushed the sleep out of the corner of his eyes somewhat self-consciously.
"Yeah, I'll probably just do that. I know a good doctor that'll cover for me too, so that'd actually work a lot better."
Gavin nodded, but frowned internally, as he read between the lines to correctly assume that this "doctor" was in the employ of the FBI – a service they had certainly never provided for himself or X-Ray. Then again, maybe they didn't need a doctor quite as much as Michael, or rather Mogar, did, so he couldn't feel too bitter about it.
"Dr Jones?" a voice called from the far side of the room, where Dr Tominey's office was located. Michael heaved himself up off his chair with a grunt, and nodded to Gavin as a way of saying goodbye, before heading into the Chief's office.
Gavin glanced down at his watch, and a wide smile burst across his face.
It was time for lunch.
-0-
"You know what's bothering me?" Gavin asked slowly, sitting in a booth at the back of a Whataburger, still slightly surprised to see that Ray had made it into the fast-food restaurant under the harsh glare of the outdoor sun. Sure, he had no problem going around when in the guise of his alter ego – X-Ray – but he always claimed to hate leaving the confines of his own home, leaving – under great duress and with terribly poor grace – only to go to work, at the new games retailer that opened up after the old one had burnt down.
"What?" Ray snapped back, half-heartedly, clearly uncomfortable at being surrounded by all the unfamiliar people around him, tense and ill-at-ease. He paused for a moment as he took in Gavin's hurt expression, and his face softened slightly. "I'm sorry, what's bothering you?" he asked, more politely this time, realising that he shouldn't take his agoraphobia out on his friend.
"It's just been so…quiet, these last few weeks," the Brit replied, matching Ray's expression of discomfort, those his stemmed from a very different source. "I mean, we took on the Corpirate, beat his sorry robotic ass, and fought off that giant dragon thing, and…well, nothing. I mean, crime in the city's been on pretty much an all-time low ever since those mercenaries were fought off!"
"Maybe the criminals realised we wouldn't be fucking around anymore?" Ray proposed, picking up several fries from the table at eating them slowly, thoughtfully. "Y'know, we've been at war, pretty much, with the Community – maybe the normal bad guys thought we wouldn't go easy on them anymore, and have decided to sit this out?"
"And the Community?" Gav asked tiredly, realising that his friend might well be right, although something didn't really sit quite well with him.
Ray shrugged, picking up his cup of Sprunk and taking a swig. "Maybe they've decided to sit this out too?" he suggested, although he wasn't dumb enough to believe that for a second. "As I said, we did beat the Corpirate, and his flying lizard monster. They'd be idiots to take us on again, after that. Hell, that was just the two of us! With the feds establishing a permanent base in Achievement City, and Mogar and Iron-Ryan here now, we're set, right?"
Gavin smiled slightly, wishing that he could share in his friend's enthusiasm, though both of them knew that it was forced, and the words sounded hollow to both of them. "We hardly beat that dragon-thing, Ray," he reminded he friend quietly, looking away, out a nearby window, onto the street outside. "It threw your through a train, and rescued the Corpirate before we could do anything more than injure him slightly."
A moment passed, and then his friend sighed, nodding slightly before taking another swig of his Sprunk. "Yeah, you're right. What do you want from me? We've got a legion of supervillains somewhere out there, our new friends were created by them, and we can hardly start trusting the FBI at this stage, can we? We're up shit creek, but at the moment, it's stopped flowing. So why don't we just pretend everything's going to be okay, until it isn't any longer, eh?"
The hero was referring to the new FBI building that was being redeveloped in Achievement City, on the corner of 4th and Cakeless. Agent "J-Roll" Heyman had let them know a few days ago, while contacting them to see if they had turned up any new leads in their hunt for the Community. They hadn't, of course, but they replied to Joel in vague terms, in a vain attempt to disguise their own fruitless efforts.
The ever-mysterious "Omega" himself had, apparently, been on site to supervise the redevelopment. Both Ray and Gavin, or rather, X-Ray and Vav, had never had the opportunity to meet Heyman and Burns' boss, not even in the five years or so that they had been on fairly familiar terms with the FBI agents.
The Brit's smiled disappeared at this frank statement, and his face turned grave as he continued staring out through the nearby window, and finally frowned.
"I still think it's too quiet," he muttered sullenly, and shook his head.
At that exact moment, some movement outside caused him to sit up in his seat, and Ray followed his line of sight. A second or so later, distant screams began to be heard, closely followed by the far off sounds of gunshots, and the two heroes glanced at each other, just as the fleeing citizens began to come into sight. All around them, people began to get up from their seats to see what was happening, and a steady and uneasy murmur began to sound out throughout the room. A lot of bad things had happened in Achievement City over the last few months, so it wasn't surprising that they were already worried by the noises in the distance.
"You just had to say it, didn't you?" Ray asked, a note of accusation in his voice, and Gavin flushed darkly in pure indignation, resenting the statement that his friend had just made.
"Come on, you can't blame this on me!" he squeaked, outraged. "I was just saying!"
Ray glared at him, and finished his Sprunk angrily, before getting to his feet. "I've said it once, and I'll say it again: never, ever, say shit like that! You're a jinx, Gav, and you should know that by now!"
"I don't believe in jinxes," Gavin replied, sulkily, following Ray in getting to his feet.
His friend gave him a long, appraising look, and shook his head. "Until I met you, Gav, I didn't either. Now I believe in them in very specific circumstances."