Episode 15, I've been excited to share this one. Hope you're all ready, I suspect many of you will love it because you're all as addicted to angst as I am. The next several episodes will be quite heavy. If you enjoy, remember to leave a review. If you didn't feel free to as well. I love getting feedback. Hope you all feel all the feels.
Danger S1E15: Nemesis
November 4, 2021
Henry rolls over in his bed irritably to answer his ringing cellphone. Blurrily he recognizes Charlotte's picture as he hits the accept button. "Char? What?" he asks.
"Hey, Hen. Happy Birthday." She returns much too cheerily for this early. "You're officially old now."
"I am not." He protests. "Did you seriously call me in the middle of the night just to say 'Happy Birthday'?"
"Yes, and it's not the middle of the night. It's almost seven." She says.
"Which makes it like four in the morning here." He grumbles.
He can hear her smirk as she says, "I know."
"Then why are you calling?" He whines.
"Just to say happy twentieth birthday, old man. You're no longer a teenager." She mocks. He groans. "Also, I wasn't sure if I'd have time to call later. I have classes and labs all day. I'll try to join the group facetime during the party tonight, but I had to be sure that if I run out of time, I could call you anyway."
"Thanks. I guess." He says, "It's not gonna be much of a party, what with all of you guys, my friends, scattered across the country. It's just my parents, Danger Force and Schwoz that'll be there."
"Well, I sent a present to your house so that should be there; I think Jasper and Piper did too. Your Dad's going to try to get a diez-leches cake again, right?"
"Yeah. Maybe I'll actually be able to have more than one bite this time." He says, rolling over in his blankets.
"If you hadn't had that one bite the A.M.O.R.E. molecule wouldn't have been completed and you wouldn't have lost your hyper-motility. So maybe don't complain, it would've been better if you hadn't had any."
"Thank you so much for that reminder." He mutters wryly.
"Just saying. Speaking of lost powers, how're yours?" she asks.
"Starting to come back a little. The kids' too. But it's still unreliable, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I can usually put up part of a shield." Henry yawns.
"That's good." She says, "And how goes…"
"Mmm, just a second. I'm getting another call." He says. "It's Piper."
"Link her in." Charlotte prompts.
Henry does so, "Hey, Piper."
"Happy Birthday. Did I wake you?" she asks hopefully.
"No." he says.
"Sorry, beat you to it." Charlotte says.
"Oh, man! Hey, Char." Piper greets.
"You also just called me at four a.m. to tell me 'Happy birthday'?" Henry asks.
"Yep!" she says.
"Great. I'm so glad I surround myself with such kind people." Henry mutters, rubbing his eyes. "Now that you've said it, can I go back to sleep?"
"Mmm, I suppose." Charlotte hums.
"If you can." Piper badgers. "Have we not gotten you too awake to fall asleep again?"
"No." he grumbles.
"Let's let him be." Charlotte tells Piper, "The old man needs his sleep."
"You're going to be twenty in a few months." Henry reminds.
"Happy Birthday, Henry!" Charlotte says and hangs up.
"Happy Birthday!" Piper ends the call as well.
Henry tosses the phone carelessly back towards his bedside table and fixes the blankets over himself, grumbling tiredly as he gets comfortable again. He's drifting back off quickly when a new voice taunts him, "That was almost too close, Kid. I thought my cover was blown when your irritating friends called, fortunately you were still oblivious enough to not alert them to your predicament."
The voice is disturbingly familiar and does more to wake Henry properly than the phone call had. He sits up a little too quickly and turns about to find the source. In the dark of his room, it takes him a minute to make out the figure of Drex standing at the end of his bed. Henry's eyes widen in alarm and he scrambles up. Drex is too fast for him, being properly awake and all. Henry doesn't reach his gum tin nor his phone, which had fallen to the floor when he'd tossed it away. Drex has hold of his legs and drags him down the bed, away from any help.
Henry twists around to aim a punch at Drex, catching the man in the crook of the elbow. "Ow." Drex grunts at the short moment of pain. "But not enough." He digs his claws into Henry's flesh as he pulls the younger man closer. Henry kicks and writhes, getting the leg not held firm by the claws out of Drex's grasp. He shoves his foot as hard as he can into Drex's nose. "Agh!" Drex says and releases his grip enough for Henry to escape.
Henry rolls off his bed and gets to his feet facing his enemy. Drex, being indestructible, has already recovered and is ready to attack again. Which he does. Disoriented, running on the adrenaline, Henry is not prepared for an all-out brawl with him. He does his best to defend himself, activating his forcefield, but as it's been for the last couple days since he started to get it back, it's feeble and incomplete, appearing only as two roundish fragments over his flexed forearms. He uses them to block Drex's hits, backing step by step as the villain presses into him. Henry's back hits his desk and he lets his eyes flicker over for a moment to spy on where exactly his gum-tin is. Once he's sure, he drops one arm to grab it, leaving him half as defended to Drex's attack. His fingers close around the tin at the same moment Drex's non-clawed hand slips past the one bit of forcefield Henry has defending himself.
The fist sails right into Henry's throat and he chokes as the air is knocked out of him. Defenses and gum tin leave his grasp as he gasps and chokes and holds his throat. Drex takes advantage of the moment and traps Henry in a tight hold. Henry tries but cannot break free. Drex's muscular arm presses forcefully over his already bruised throat and it becomes all Henry can do to stay conscious. "Schw-Schwoz!" he tries calling for help, but it's quiet with lack of air and even if it weren't Schwoz' room isn't next door.
Drex chuckles. "Don't bother. I'm the only one who can hear you. So, Happy Birthday Henry Hart." He whispers maliciously as blackness closes over Henry's vision.
(Theme Song: Henry's Voice dubbed over the image of Captain Man's bronze statue. "It all just kinda happened. It wasn't supposed to be this way. He shouldn't have died. But now here I am, doing his job." Cut scene to Man's Nest in chaos as the members of Danger Force and Schwoz run around reacting to an emergency alert blaring through the base. "I'm not sure I'm ready for this." Henry states and the music of the theme song begins to play...)
Kris Hart walks into work and finds her students throwing smoke bombs. "Okay! That's enough of that!" She says, waving the colorful smoke away from her face.
Chapa tosses one last red one as they all look up at her. "Hi, Mrs. Hart." Mika greets.
"What are you four doing with those?" She asks them.
"You guys! I told you the smoke bombs were for Henry's party!" Schwoz says, entering from the back room.
"We're testing them for you!" Bose says.
"Why would you do that? You used them all; now we won't have any!" Schwoz complains.
"Just put the smoke back in them." Bose suggests. The others laugh mischievously.
"That's not how it works!" Schwoz yells. He picks up all the useless shells and throws them away. "At least you didn't get into the sparklers and confetti cannons, or we'd have nothing for the party."
"Where is Henry?" Kris asks.
"I haven't seen him this morning. I think he's still in bed." Schwoz shrugs.
Chapa laughs, "Being lazy. Do you want me to go get him?" She smirks and tries to light up her hand, only a few sparks snap on her palm.
Kris smiles, "No, thank you. I'll allow for it today. We can get started without him. Get in your seats and get out your essays, I want your rough drafts finished by noon."
Henry beams up at Captain Man. Despite the fact that he's small, he feels like he's a giant. Toddler's screams have disappeared with him into the bottomless ball pit. "Get me down now, Kid Danger?" Captain Man requests cheerfully of his new sidekick.
"Right!" Henry says and helps Ray get out of the baby bouncer harness.
The two smile wider still at each other as they leave the Toddler's lair to head towards Jasper's party. They're on top of the world after their victory, Kid Danger's first big win. He feels indestructible, sure that nothing will ever be able to touch the pair of them.
Then a shadow falls over them. It's all darkness and silence and Henry can no longer feel Ray's presence at his side. Someone else is there, but he never sees who. "Captain Man? Captain Man?" he calls fearfully, voice deepening as he ages rapidly from that small, happy child he'd been. "Ray, where are you?"
An almost indistinguishable voice calls from the darkness, "Kid!" but Henry can't determine where it comes from.
"Ray!" he calls desperately. There's a boom and he knows it's too late. Ray cannot respond, he never will. "Ray!"
The cry of his mentor's name translates from Henry's dream to his wakened state. He shakes his head to clear his mind of the images. It's just a dream, similar to the many he has had of late; memories of his and Ray's greatest victories turning to darkness and despair as the Shadow falls over each scenario and takes Ray away. Always leaving him to wake sweating and crying. "Bad dreams?" Drex's amused voice mocks. "Must be to leave the great hero Danger in such a state. Missing dear old Ray?"
Henry blinks in the dim, dingy room. Made entirely of cement, the space echoes every noise made therein. There are no windows and only a single steel door to one side. A wood burning stove is lit in one corner, the fire within making the room sweltering, though fortunately there is a chimney diverting the smoke out. Other than that, the only things in the room beside the two foes are what seems like old junk: a dilapidated tool kit, broken pipes and what might have once been furniture.
Henry is tied to a wall by rough rope, Drex is standing across the way with an evil smile directed at him. Henry shifts, testing his bonds. They're unyielding and just tight enough to cut into his skin as he moves. He glares at the villain as Drex chuckles again, watching Henry's attempts. Drex only laughs more at the glare. "You're not very intimidating: tied up and helpless with eyes still puffy and wet from your nightmares about losing your beloved big brother." He says, pacing smugly towards the bound hero.
"And you're an awful cliché of a villain: kidnapping me in the middle of the night, knocking me out and tying me up in a basement. Do you plan on torturing me now that I'm awake?" Henry returns sarcastically.
"Yes." Drex admits freely and with a hungry look in his eyes. Henry stares him down and struggles to swallow over the trepidatious lump growing in his throat. He forces himself to remain defiant and unflinching in appearance. Still his stomach turns sickly and his heart pounds. Drex's grin widens, "Does that scare you, Kid?"
"Don't call me Kid." Henry growls.
Drex slashes his claw wickedly across Henry's face, drawing four bloody gashes on his forehead, cheek and nose. Henry can't help but wince. "I will call you anything I like, Kid. And I will torture you without mercy until you beg for death. Then I'll torture you some more. I will make you suffer every ounce of pain that I can until I have squeezed every last drop of life from you."
"How very villainous of you. You've really kicked your phycho up a notch." Henry jeers.
"Hold that brave face as long as you can Kid. It's more fun for me that way." Drex sneers, claw-hand forcing Henry's head back none to gently into the brick wall behind him. "I want to break you; I want to take from you all strength and will. I will kill you, but I will make you suffer every agony before I let you taste that release. The only hope you have left is that when I'm done, you'll get to join Ray in some mediocre afterlife for failed heroes." Henry's defiance slips a little from his glare. "Did I hit a sore spot?" Drex mocks. "How about I hit another?" he says and punches Henry solidly in the side. Henry gasps but doesn't utter a complaint. He remains determinedly silent as Drex beats him with vindictive blows he cannot stop for all his efforts to loosen his bonds and activate his forcefield.
The SW.A.G. doorbell rings with the special lunch delivery Mrs. Hart had ordered for them all from Warm and Cheesy. "Grilled cheese is Henry's favorite," She explains.
"Yes, he says they make him feel more manly." Schwoz nods, helping her with the food.
"Where is Henry?" Miles asks. "He still hasn't come down."
"Seriously," Chapa agrees, "How long is he going to sleep?"
"We should probably go wake him." Bose suggests.
"Yes, I'll bring the sandwiches. Nothing will tempt him out of bed faster than the scent of melted cheese." Mrs. Hart says, toting a platter with her. She joins them for the first time in taking the tube up to the Man's Nest.
They all gather quietly outside Henry's bedroom, preparing to enter and shout him into consciousness. With a silent countdown Mrs. Hart flings the door open and they cheer "Happy Birth-!"
"Oh my god!"
"What the…?!"
"Henry!?"
They all call out these and more exclamations of alarm when they see the mess his Henry-less room is. Much of his bedding in draped off the mattress in a tangle, the Shadow Man investigation files are a disordered mess all over the floor along with most of the other regular contents of his desk, including his phone and gum. "What happened? Henry!? Baby!?" Kris calls out fearfully. "Where is he?"
"I don't know." Schwoz says looking about in horror. "How could this have happened?"
"It looks like there was a fight in here." Chapa says, stepping through the room cautiously. "There's blood on the sheets."
"Blood?" Mrs. Hart asks, hands pressed over her heart.
"A little bit," Chapa says.
"Someone… someone must have attacked him. But I don't know how. No one can get into this mountain undetected; it's got surveillance and alerts systems everywhere." Schwoz says.
"Who could've gotten by them?" Mika asks. "And who would know which room was his?"
"I don't know." Schwoz repeats. "I'll need to check the systems."
"Then do it!" Miles says.
"Who would want to attack him?" Mrs. Hart asks tearfully.
"He's got plenty of enemies." Chapa says.
"He's a hero." Mrs. Hart protests. "Everybody loves him."
"To be a hero, takes villains." Miles says. "One of them must've snuck in somehow."
Mika nods, "It must've been one of our greatest nemesises. Nemeses? Someone smart enough to get in here and who hates him enough to try."
"So… someone took him?" Mrs. Hart questions. "Who? Why? Are they going to hurt him?"
No one says anything, the air shaking with nervous breaths. Kris Hart looks desperate and terrified around for someone to reassure her. "We- we have to find him." Bose says. His eye catches hers and he promises nervously. "We're going to find him, Mrs. Hart."
"I- please." She begs.
"We'll find him." Bose promises with a trembling jaw and many shared, terrified glances to his teammates.
(Commercial Break)
"No, no, no! Now is not the time for an emergency!" Mika complains at the alert as she rushes over to answer the phone.
"We're already in the middle of one!" Bose agrees. He is petting Blue, pacing around behind Schwoz who's running through his security programs to figure out who took Henry and how.
"Hello?" Mika answers the call. "…Wait. What? Who is robbing the Museum of Meteoric Stuff?"
"Somebody is robbing MOMS?" Miles asks surprised. "That's Mom's favorite museum!"
Mika waves him off. "What do you mean hairy people with funny noses?" she asks whoever is on the other side of the phone. "Um… okay, yeah. We'll be there as soon as we can."
"What exactly is happening?" Miles asks exasperatedly, incredulous at their luck.
"Some robbery." Mika says incensed. "By unknown creatures; a bunch of them apparently."
"Oh my god!" Chapa fumes. "We don't have time for this!"
"The cops there don't think they can handle it alone and need our help." Mika says.
"What about Henry? We have to find him." Chapa says.
"I don't know." Mika says. "I know we need to find him, but we can't just ignore an emergency call. Henry wouldn't want that."
"He's been taken by a villain; who might be killing him as we speak. How is that not the more important emergency?" Chapa criticizes. "We have to save him; we can't lose another teammate."
Mika's lip trembles, "I know."
"You guys should just go." Schwoz interrupts.
"What!?" Chapa fumes.
"We don't have a lead on Henry right now." Schwoz says backing away from her fearfully. "And you're not doing anything helpful from here. Maybe you'll get lucky and find Henry if you go out."
Miles nods, "Historically we do have much better luck stumbling into the right answers while on a mission than researching them here."
Chapa glares at all of them. "Henry could be dying." She says in a last futile argument before blowing a bubble alongside her teammates. The usual energy and determination they have when going on missions is entirely absent as they leave for MOMS.
Henry's sure he's going to die here. Drex is not holding back on the torture; only pulling away from each attack to make sure Henry's still breathing enough so that he can start with the next one. Utilizing every piece of junk he can from off the floor to produce every kind of pain possible. Henry can feel the strength and energy draining from him with each attack.
Still, he refuses to give Drex the satisfaction of hearing him protest or beg. When the rolling waves of pain from electricity frying him from the inside out stop, he doesn't let the whines leaves his throat. He stands as well as he can on his shaking legs and scowls hatefully at the villain. When Drex starts in with the one-by-one finger breaking, Henry tightens his chest to keep from sobbing. The beating goes on.
At MOMS, Danger Force find cops and news crews and civilians all standing around the outside of the building trying to figure out what's going on. "What's going on?" Volt questions irritably.
"The robbers are holed up inside," says a nerdy looking man with a MOMS jacket on, he reveals himself as the owner. "I don't know how they got in, they didn't come through the entrance, it's like they just sprang up out of the Earth."
"What are they?" Shoutout asks. "You were very unspecific on the phone."
"I don't know. I think they must be monsters. They're hideous hairy beasts, large and roundish. About the size of men, they walk on two legs, but their feet and hands are only giant claws and their faces… god, their faces, wrinkled and scrunched with these creepy, wormy noses." The owner of MOMS says.
"Eww!" Brainstorm says. Blue screeches too.
"YES!" the man agrees, "They came in and all the lights went out. They must be creatures of darkness and shadow. Please get the vile things out of my museum."
"You just described a gang of Hell-beasts to us and you want us to go in there with them?" AWOL asks, completely freaked out.
"Yeah, yeah." Volt waves off. "Let's just get this done with, we've got other things to do."
"Shadow creatures?" Shoutout ponders.
"My thought exactly." Police Chief Stalwart says to her, joining them.
"You think this museum robbery has something to do with… that?" Shoutout asks in return.
The chief glances at the museum owner and nods away indicatively. Of the four young heroes he requests, "Walk with me." After they've gotten far enough away he begins. "Shadow Man then? This does seem to have some remarkable similarities, does it not?"
"Maybe." Shoutout considers.
"This doesn't really seem like his style." AWOL disagrees.
"Do any of us really know his style, though?" Volt argues. "We don't really know anything about him. Maybe he's got a hidden fixation on junk that fell from space."
"No. AWOL's right." Shoutout says. "Robbing a museum with creepy creatures? How does that correlate with all the killings?"
"Well, none of the killings really correlate with each other either." Chief Stalwart postulates.
"Still, this doesn't have to have anything to do with him. Aren't creepy creatures who live in the dark more than enough to deal with? Can we not just assume this has nothing to do with anything worse than a meteorite robbery?" AWOL requests.
"I don't think we should assume anything right now." Shoutout says. "But we can find out; let's go in."
The police chief nods, "Will you require backup? Or do you want to do it alone? How're your powers?"
Volt, Shoutout, and AWOL look at each other in bitter agreement. "We'll be fine." Volt says.
"But maybe stick close by, just in case." AWOL says.
The three begin walking up the steps but only make it a few before they realize their fourth is not coming. "Brainstorm?" Shoutout asks of him. He in turn is looking thoughtful and concerned, still standing near Chief Stalwart. Blue mimics his expression from on his shoulder. "What's wrong?"
He looks up at them frowning hard. "Do you guys think Shadow Man could have anything to do with…uh… what happened this morning?" he asks.
For a moment, they all stop, horribly stricken. "No!" Volt says sternly.
"But Danger…" Brainstorm says anxiously.
Looking around for a moment Chief Stalwart asks, "Where is Danger?"
All four members of Danger Force glance at him then back at each other. "He's busy." Volt says insistently. "And, no, Brainstorm, Shadow Man couldn't have had anything to do with that."
"He definitely could've gotten in and out without detection." AWOL says. "And wouldn't he want…?"
"No!" Volt cuts him off. "If it had been Shadow Man, there would've been a dead body and no evidence. We have plenty of evidence and no body, so, it can't be him."
"But, you're arguing that this robbery could have something to do with him," Brainstorm says, "And there's no dead body here."
Volt looks at him in what is probably supposed to be a glare but fails to be. Paling dramatically, she is unable to retort. Shoutout speaks instead, looking almost as sickly as Volt. "We need to find out if this has anything to do with Shadow Man."
They four teens, and the monkey, sprint into the building to meet the monsters within.
After hours of endless torment at the hand and claw of Drex, Henry's resolution begins to slip. Dangling from his bonds by bruised, bloody wrists, his one unbroken foot too tired to hold him up any longer, and aching in every inch of his being, a tiny moan of complaint echoes out of his throat while Drex is twisting tiny screws into his shoulder and collar bones.
Drex stops immediately with a darkly triumphant grin. "Had enough, Kid?" he mocks.
Henry doesn't respond, knowing the only thing he'll manage at the moment is more moaning and whimpering. He does however glare up at his enemy with absolute loathing. Drex is obviously unintimidated. Probably because Henry is struggling to even breathe through the pain and his efforts to keep from screaming.
"Nothing to say? Don't tell me you've given up so fast. Where's the obnoxiously persistent little thorn in my side? Where's the usual sass? C'mon Henry, fight back." Drex urges.
Henry remains resolutely silent. Pleased to see as he does so that, despite his efforts not to show it, the lack of response does irk the villain. Drex throws his clawed paw at Henry's throat, catching it in a vice grip and subsequently Henry's head snaps backward into the concrete wall behind him. He groans and blinks blurrily.
"You're losing your ability to hold your tongue. You are breaking, Henry; I'm going to tear you into a million pieces." Drex's paw tightens and Henry chokes roughly. "I'm going to destroy you and everything you love, until there is nothing left. All your friends, your family, and your city will die. I will make every one of them suffer a terrible end. Only what I do to you will outstrip the horrors I'll do to them." He lets Henry go. Henry coughs, sucking in air as fast as he can. "The only memory left of the Dangers will be how terribly you failed. There will be no grand legacy for any of you; and whatever Ray left behind, will be torn down with you too, his legacy destroyed by the failures he tried to make into heroes."
Henry tenses with utter rage. With an effort greater than the pain that results, he brings one knee up as forcefully as he can into Drex's nether region. Drex steps back with a short shout of pain. He curses a bit but the stare he aims back at Henry isn't angry. After the few seconds it takes for his indestructibility to negate the pain, he is smirking at Henry while the young man spits furiously, "You will never be able to destroy Ray's legacy. You won't be able to destroy Swellview or Danger Force."
"There's that fighting spirit." Drex praises. "This is so much more fun when you fight back. It's not worth it to torture and kill you when you're just hanging there letting me."
"You won't get away with this, any of it." Henry says.
"You're going to die here, Henry. I suggest you get used to it. No one's coming to rescue you, at least not in time. I am going to kill you," Drex jeers, stepping in close to Henry again and sucker punching him violently in the upper ribs. "painfully."
Coughing again from whatever had been dislodged in his chest, Henry is given a new worry about the blood that he sprays Drex with. He really struggles to breathe as the coppery liquid continues to block his windpipe and fills his mouth.
"Oh, that can't be good." Drex says dryly.
Henry gives him his best glare. With great spite he spits some of the blood pooling in his mouth at Drex. He in turn slashes Henry with his claws again. "You might kill me here." Henry gasps through his coughing fits.
"I will." Drex promises.
"But you will pay for it." Henry continues. "My friends will revenge themselves on you and you can't hope to beat them all. They'll hunt you down."
Drex nods sarcastically along with Henry's words. "Mmm, yeah. Because they've all done such a great job with that over Ray's killer." He mocks.
Henry glares more pained by the truth of it. "You're not Shadow Man," he insists. "You're a self-aggrandizing criminal who wants to be seen as the biggest and baddest threat. But you're hardly worse that Minyak. Neither of you have ever successfully pulled off a scheme against us: me, Danger Force, Captain Man. The only reason we haven't found Shadow Man is because he does his work so silently, hidden in the shadows. Not working to make people fear him. My team know you and your desperation to take claim for every evil thing you even think you've done. They will find you. You cannot hide from them like Shadow Man does. You're not even clever enough to have realized that I didn't die the last time you thought you killed me until we were face to face again."
Drex exhales furiously, he grabs a poker that's sticking out of the stove in the corner and stabs the red-hot end into Henry's abdomen. Henry cannot stop the screams now. His agonized wails echo through the small concrete room. It hurts worse than almost anything he's ever felt. "This time I'll make sure you're really dead." Drex hisses and pulls the burning metal back out.
(Commercial Break)
"You got us all worked up over mole people!?" Volt bellows as Danger Force exit the Museum of Meteoric Stuff.
Chief Stalwart blinks blankly at her. "Mole people?" he asks.
"Yep." AWOL says.
"Your 'Shadow creatures'." Volt sneers.
"Mole People?" the chief repeats, "Like the fictional boogey-men parents tell their kids will get them if they don't eat their dinner, or do their chores?"
"Exactly." Brainstorm says.
"Except they aren't fictional." Shoutout says.
"They're real?" Chief Stalwart asks.
"Yeah. They live in a bunch of tunnels underneath Swellview." AWOL says. "We met them once before, and Captain Man and Kid Danger fought with them a few times."
"And they have absolutely nothing to do with Shadow Man!" Volt seethes. "You got us all worked up over nothing!"
"He's not the only one who suspected," Shoutout corrects. "The way the owner described them, it sounded like they could've been."
"But what did they want from the museum?" Chief Stalwart asks.
"Apparently one of the space rocks in there was actually a treasure of theirs that was stolen from them," AWOL explains. "They came to get it back. We chased them off. So, it's all good now."
"No, it's not." Volt says. "It was a waste of time, we have more important things we should be doing."
"Volt." Shoutout admonishes, "I know, I agree, but we were needed here."
Volt grunts, "Yeah, maybe if it had actually been Shadow Man. But freaking mole people!?"
"Dude, chill. It's all going to be okay." AWOL says.
"Don't tell me to chill!" Volt says, sparking a slight bit. "You don't know that it'll all be okay!"
"Uh… guys." Brainstorm interrupts. He's staring troubled into the sky.
"What?" Volt demands.
"I know the mole people didn't have anything to do with Shadow Man but I think that might." He says, pointing upwards to a dark shape floating over their heads. His teammates all gasp alarmed. "I mean it's a dark swirly shape."
"Oh my god." Volt says horrified. Shoutout and Chief Stalwart both nod.
"Yeah," Brainstorm says. "So, what's it doing here?"
The four kids all remain quiet. Chief Stalwart stirs them, "Shadow Man must be here. We need to find him; this may be our best chance to stop him."
"We need to get everybody away from here." Shoutout says. All around them are civilians, reporters and cops. All now are focused up at the dark swirl curiously.
"Yes. Officer Kogen!" Chief Stalwart calls. The officer runs over. "Evacuate this area, now."
"Sir, what is that thing?" Officer Kogen asks.
"I'm not entirely sure," the chief says, "But I know it's nothing good. Get the people out of here. Danger Force and I will investigate it."
Officer Kogen nods and begins rushing about, gathering the help of the other cops to usher everyone else away. "What do you think it means? What's Shadow Man up to?" AWOL is asking his friends.
"I have a bad feeling we're going to find out." Brainstorm says, sheltering Blue in his arms now.
"Where is he?" Volt asks. "He's got to be somewhere around here. Does anybody see him?"
"We don't exactly know what he looks like." Shoutout says, scanning the crowds regardless.
"Um, what's it doing?" Brainstorm asks. His eyes still directed skyward.
The shadowy swirl mark is twisting, unscrewing itself until it's four arms point straight out. It continues to twist itself, opposite to the direction it has always shown itself to be until it resembles… "is that our logo?" Brainstorm asks.
"Kind of like a dark, creepy, inverse of it." Shoutout comments frightened.
"What is it supposed to mean?" AWOL asks.
Suddenly, the shape changes again, into a sort of oblong blob that shoots off down the street. "Where's it going?" Brainstorm asks.
"After it!" Volt commands and runs down the street, shouting as she goes for people to get out of the way; her teammates and Chief Stalwart following behind.
The run for blocks and blocks with it remaining in sight above and ahead of them, leading them towards the foot of the mountains. Then out of seeming nowhere it dives towards the earth and vanishes beneath the reinforced steel door of an old military bunker.
Much to their surprise the door opens when they try it. The dark substance has vanished in the dark concrete hall beyond. "We should go in after it." Chief Stalwart says. "This may be the Shadow Man's lair."
"You really think he'd set out his mark to lead us to his lair?" AWOL asks.
"And even if he did, wouldn't it only be a trap we'd have to be stupid to walk into?" Shoutout agrees.
"I don't like this." Brainstorm says. "The last time we went into a creepy dark building after a villain we lost our powers. And this time it's Sha-aaahh!"
He screams because the dark blob has reappeared in the doorway, and now has taken on the form of a man. "Shadow Man!" Volt shouts and throws a punch at the figure. Her momentum carries her through the intangible darkness. Stumbling through the bunker door, she turns back to see the figure turned as if it's looking at her. It raises its hand and points down the hall. Turning back towards those still outside the door it reiterates its gesture and beckons them to enter.
Wisely not obeying the orders of this shadow of Shadow Man Shoutout boldly asks, "What do you want, Shadow Man?"
He, or it, gestures more aggressively inside. "We're not going to go in there," AWOL rejects. "And there's nothing you can do to make us."
The shadow man drops its hand and stares them down, or at least that's how it seems, since they cannot make out any features on it. It changes shape again, swirling around until it's become a different symbol, the most basic human-like shape: a circle above a triangular body, surrounded by two concentric arcs interspaced with a zig-zig line.
"Danger." Volt says.
"That might be a good reason." Brainstorm admits. The shadow returns to its human shape.
"What does this have to do with Danger?" Shoutout questions.
The figure points down the hall again. "Do you think he means…?" AWOL asks. The shadow man repeats his point pointedly.
"We have to check it out." Volt says and turns to look down the dark corridor.
"What? Why?" Chief Stalwart asks, unaware of what it could possibly mean.
Danger Force stand together and walk into the corridor the way the shadow man had directed, lighting the way with their phone flashlights. The shadow, a shapeless blob again brushes past them and disappears into the darkness.
"You look pathetic." Drex laughs. Forcing Henry's face up from its drooped position by a claw around his throat Drex leers with an evil glint in his eyes. "And I've never enjoyed anything more." He drops Henry's head and slashes his claws through the rope binding Henry to the wall.
Henry crumples in a heap at his feet, not able to help the pained noises at the unbearable shocks the fall sends through his broken bones and torn muscles. Reflexively his body curls up, at least as well as it can for the plethora of injuries and lack of energy he has at the moment. Drex doesn't allow for the slightest relief Henry might've been able to gain from his new position lying down. He kicks the beaten hero onto his back and unnecessarily places his foot on Henry's chest to keep him pinned there.
"Do you want me to do it now? Are you ready for me to end it? End you?" Drex asks, pushing the foot more painfully into Henry's sternum. "I can, you just have to ask." Wanting nothing more than that, to end it, Henry still refuses to allow Drex to get any more satisfaction than he can. "Come on, just beg me to kill you and it'll all be over.
"No." Henry rasps. Valiantly he wills body to respond, getting one hand then the other around Drex's ankle, and heaving with all the might he has yet, he pushes it off. Drex stumbles a slight bit but is off Henry; he shifts in the opposite direction, inhaling as deeply as he can.
"Oh, well done. Still too weak to be of any use." Drex says pulling Henry up by the scruff of his tattered pajama shirt. "But at least the game doesn't have to end yet."
Henry wants to respond something witty and insolent, but he can't make his jaw move. It's hard enough to keep breathing. There is nothing he can do to alleviate his dire position. Death is coming quickly for him, and he is not inclined to stall it. With a heave that takes little effort, Drex throws Henry against the wall. "So, this is how it ends for the great Danger. The Kid will spend his last moments helpless and not even trying to fight. This truly is the greatest victory of my life."
Henry's head swims, darkness swirling in his vision around Drex's head, and many voices echoing in his ears. The voices are full of pain and misery, crying out for help. One stands out among them. "Kid… no…" it seems to say with such mourning.
"Ray?" Henry asks.
Drex actually flinches at the sound of the name. He glances over his shoulder where Henry's bleary vision is directed. "What the…?" he asks seeing the swirling darkness. The darkness rushes him and passes through him without touching, as it had to Volt. He faces it confused and afraid. "What is this?" he questions to the empty air.
Then he hears voices coming from the other side of the door. He looks infuriated at it and drops to Henry's side. Pulling something from his pocket he shoves it into Henry's mouth. "Chew." He orders, and forces Henry's weak jaw to move so.
Henry knows what it is, but hardly understands why Drex would put a gumball in his mouth. Drex forces his mouth to pucker and punches Henry in the abdomen one last time, forcing air out of his chest and into the gum. It's only a small bubble but it's enough to initiate the transformation. "Why?" he succeeds in asking after a moment.
"Because if you don't die before whoever is outside gets through the door, I don't want anyone to learn your identity." Drex says. "I am the only one who gets to know, so that I can be the only one to torture you as thoroughly as I do. Not that I suspect you'll survive that long."
"Oh wow!" a new voice says. AWOL has appeared in a flash of yellow. "That really took it out of me. That was hard." He looks around and spots Henry and the frozen Drex. "Drex!? Henry!" he cries with great worry.
A series of great poundings come on the door. "AWOL?" several voices shout. He turns in response and Drex makes his move as AWOL opens the door. By the time the rest of Danger Force have entered the room, Drex has pulled the stove chimney away from the ceiling. Before they've taken full stock of the room, he's climbing up the scorching, smokey hole to escape.
"Drex?" Shoutout says in surprise and fury.
"Danger!" Volt says. She and Brainstorm are at his side in moments. Shoutout and AWOL right behind them.
Chief Stalwart stands in the doorway, looking confused as can be. "Danger?" he asks, looking at the incapacitated young hero.
"Oh god!" AWOL says looking over Henry's injuries.
"What do we do?" Brainstorm asks. "Is he going to be okay?"
Shoutout shakes her head, "He needs a hospital."
"It's just his face. His suit is completely intact." AWOL says. "Why would Drex have not hurt anything but his head?"
"He didn't," Volt says assuredly, "There's not blood on his uniform, there's no way he was wearing it while he was being beaten. He's got more injuries beneath it." She says, tugging the jacket from his shoulders and revealing a spreading bloodstain under his arm. "See."
Henry groans in pain as they shift him to try and check him for other injuries. "Danger?" they each ask, staring at his face. His eyes are open, staring at the roiling shadow still floating over them. He doesn't see any of them, his attention only on the voice he can still hear calling his name from nowhere in the darkness. "Henry, Kid, hold on. Kid…"
"Ray." He calls back weakly, voice barely more than a whisper. "Ray."
"Danger?" they ask him again.
"We have to get him to a hospital." Shoutout says.
"But his secret identity." Volt says.
"Who cares?" Shoutout asks with a border of hysteria. "He's dying! And we don't know anyone who can take care of all of this. This is way beyond our basic first aid training."
Volt grits her teeth and clenches her firsts. Brainstorm turns to Chief Stalwart. "Do you know who could help? Someone who can save him and not tell his identity?" he asks desperately.
"I- what has happened? How did he…?" the chief asks alarmed.
"Can you help him?" Brainstorm asks again.
"I… yes. Yes, I can find some people to help him." he says and pulls out his phone. "Don't move him, try to keep him awake." He advises while dialing and stepping out to get some better reception that the bowels of the concrete bunker offer.
"You hear that, Henry? You have to stay awake." Chapa hisses at him.
He whimpers, "No. No more." Green bits of shielding flicker momentarily around him.
"No one's going to hurt you." Miles assures.
"We're getting you help." Mika promises. She peels some of his hair from the bloody cuts on his forehead.
"Ray." He begs quietly. "Ray."
Mika sobs, her eyes not the only ones filled with tears. "He's not here."
"Ray." Henry insists.
"He's not here, Henry. I'm sorry." Mika says.
"It's going to be okay." Bose tries to assure him. They all hold on, talking to him, trying to keep him awake. Trying not to bawl themselves. None of them notice the swirling darkness slither it's way up the stove-chimney after Drex.
Henry seizes up. Eyes fluttering shut as he loses the ability to breathe. "No! No!" the kids cry. "Hold on Henry!"
"Stay awake!"
"Just keep breathing!"
But he can't hear it, and he can't see it. Even Ray's disembodied voice has disappeared.
It feels like an eternity to Danger Force as they wait for medical help to reach them there, but that time has nothing on the hours of waiting they suffer through in a private waiting room at the hospital with his parents.
Chief Stalwart is somewhere out in the hallways, graciously refusing to join them so that he doesn't learn Danger's identity, swearing that only the doctors working on him would even see his face and have any clue who he was under the mask. Those specially selected doctors and medical staff had basically sworn their lives away by signing nondisclosures about keeping secret this operation.
The Hart parents and four young teenagers sit through the night, giving frequent updates to friends by text about what is happening, or not happening, here. They alternate curling up in chairs, zoned out but not asleep, and pacing anxiously. There are many tears and few words. No one has any idea what could be said.
Finally, as the sun is rising outside the window, an exhausted doctor comes in and tells them "The surgery went well, he should recover. But it will take some time. He may not be fit for crime-fighting for a while. He's still asleep, but he should wake up in the next few hours. If you'll give us a few more minutes to clear the halls, I'll escort you all to his room to see him." They all nod and give him their thanks.
Once in his room they all take a breath of relief at seeing him breathing on the bed. He's bandaged heavily but it looks better than the dirt and blood all over him had. His parent's take up vigil by his bed while the younger heroes collapse together on the couch near the window. The four of them are asleep in so short a time they might've felt embarrassed about it if they didn't have so much else to feel at the moment.
Jake Hart follows them a short time later, leaving Kris the only one awake, though barely, when Henry finally stirs. She sits up quite alert as he shifts and moans lightly. "Henry?" she whispers hopefully.
He hums and blinks very, very slowly. It's a full five minutes before he's come to and his big brown eyes, swimming with pain, meet hers. "Mom?" he asks in the quietest, most broken whisper.
"It's okay, Baby. I'm here. You're safe now." She says, brushing her fingers through his hair.
"Ray," he says, breathing more labored as he remembers. "I thought… I heard… Ray?"
"I know, the kids said you were calling for him," Kris says. "It's okay. Sometimes we see, or hear, things we want to when we're scared and hurt."
"No. I heard him." Henry insists fervently, some of the monitors he's attached to begin beeping faster or louder. "I heard him."
"Shh, shh, Baby. It's okay," she calms.
"He was calling to me. He told me to hold on." Henry says, tearfully. "I heard him."
"That's good. You did hold on. You're going to be okay." she smiles softly.
He shakes his head more. "I- no. I'm not okay."
"Hey shh. That's your sister's phrase." His mother teases. "You're going to be okay. We'll take you home in a few days and you'll get to heal up and it'll all be okay. I promise, Baby."
He sniffles and cries quietly while she holds and comforts him.
He stays in the hospital through the weekend and is only allowed to leave that early because of who he is. But, true to her word, his mother takes him straight home where he is confined to either his bed or the couch downstairs. He hates it but allows it as he can see how scared he'd left his parent's.
The second evening following his return home, and with him showing some small progress in healing, he gets a happy surprise when his mom turns on the tv in the living room and a half dozen camera feeds appear there with the faces of all his friends across the country. At the same time Danger Force and Schwoz enter through the front door with a big cake and shooting off confetti canons. Everybody shouts, "Happy Birthday!" at him.
He startles but laughs, though it hurts and turns into coughing every few seconds. "Thanks."
"Well, we figured, better late than never." Jasper says from his dorm room at Harberd.
"And we thought you might need some entertainment." Charlotte adds.
Henry smiles. It is good to talk to them all again. Charlotte and Jasper are his best friends as ever, a little annoying in their concern but amazing at cheering him up. Piper is eternally sassy and jibing, though not unkindly. The Thundermans, including the two kids and the mom he'd not yet met, are a chaotic mess in their house that entertain him. Babe and the Game Shakers are full of fun stories and jokes. Henry also gets to open all the presents that have been waiting for him, which takes a long time with one hand bearing five finger splints. They eat the cake Schwoz made as a replacement for the diez leches cake that had melted while Henry was in the hospital, though that is its own disaster.
It's a great night and he appreciates it fully. But when it's over the depression and pain remains. Nothing can take away the nightmares and the scarring wounds will always be a reminder of his suffering.
Next Episode: S1E16: Double Down on Danger