Chapter Text
Isaiah was driving home from the Hospital after a 12 hour shift. Why did he become a Nurse again? He couldn’t remember. He couldn't even remember which side of the road he was on sometimes (he’s fine, don’t worry). He was struggling to stay awake on the drive home. He just wanted to go to bed, why’d he have to live 20 minutes from the Hospital? As he came to a red light he remembered a conversation he had with his coworker before he left.
“Be careful Isaiah” a woman at the front desk-Sandra-told him as he was putting his sweater on. “There was an attack earlier on your route. Possibly some debris left on the road or whole parts are closed down”
“I’ll be fine Sandra. Besides, it's not like I live an unreasonable distance from here.” Isaiah had said while watching his coworkers chugging coffee before seeing a patient. He understood the feeling. He’s done it several times in the past 3 days. “Well, as someone who drove you home more times than I can count, I like to ensure that you’re okay to drive or if I need to take my break.”
Isaiah cringed at that. He felt bad he had made Sandra, someone who has become his work bestie, take time out of her own break and risk getting in trouble with their boss just to drive him home. He didn’t want to be a burden to her again. “I swear I’ll be fine Sandra. If it makes you feel better I’ll text you when I’m home and I’ll keep my location on.”
Sandra sighed. “Alright. But if you are drifting off to sleep, drive off to the side and take a nap. I expect updates”
“Alright,” Isaiah chuckled. “See you later.” Isaiah left the building. He was brought back to the present when a car horn sounded. He didn’t notice when the light turned green, he really was drifting to sleep. He turned on the car radio in an attempt to have some noise so he can have a better chance of staying awake. As he turned on the radio station, a radio host was in the middle of discussing a recent attack.
“...We don’t have all the details as of right now, as it is still very recent. But rest assured that the Heroes will tell us what is happening. As for the destruction, there are no major damages to public property as of right now. And there are no confirmed fatalities or injuries. For listeners now tuning in, at 5:00 this morning there was an attack on one of the many Valor buildings by the villain Solar Flare. He was in a collision with the Hero Imagineer, and unfortunately he got away. We will update you all once we have information. That being said, here's the number one song on the charts” Isaiah sighed, this was going to be a long day.
Once Isaiah was home, texted Sandra and changed into something comfy he realized he was starving. He decided to grab some breakfast before he takes his nap. He saw a note from his friend and roommate, Kuro. He said that he was going to be working pretty late today, getting off around 9:00 pm. And, “If you need anything just call me and I’ll head over.” What was it with people in his life thinking that he can’t take care of himself? What, due to the fact that he fell asleep standing up or that he drank enough caffeine to kill a horse? No, that couldn’t be it. Still, he put the note in his pocket, like he does with receipts or parking tickets.
He decided to turn on the TV while he ate, mainly for background noise, mostly because he wanted to know if any information was discovered from the attack earlier. Was he being nosey? Yes. Yes he was. Was he going to stop? Heck no. He wants gossip. When he turned the TV on it was on a news channel, specifically in the middle of interviewing Imagineer.
“...tried. It was a hard battle and the sun was barely up. I want to be clear that this is no excuse to what happened, but an insight on how this fight has gotten this bad. We will find Solar Flare and bring him to justice. We Heroes at Valor care for the safety and security of the citizens of Barocks”
“Yeah right” Isaiah mumbled. He knew those promises were nothing but talk. Now, don’t get him wrong, he’s not an All-Heroes-Are-Monsters!-Villains-Are-Objectively-Better-Moral-Wise-kind of person. More of a I-Couldn’t-Care-Less-About-
Heroes-Or-Villains-kind of person. The villains make carnage, but they’re expected to. It’s reasonable. The heroes do the same thing, but hide it behind the term, “For The Greater Good” which basically means nothing. Besides, both groups make his job harder.
He went back to eating his cereal, not paying attention to the news station switching to a random event in Downtown. He finished his breakfast and was about to go to bed when he heard a crash coming from his garage. “Those damn racoons” Annoyed, he grabbed the broom and made his way to the garage door. “If this is another raccoon, I swear I’m going to move.” Once he opened the door he expected a racoon rummaging through his stuff, not a person. Specifically the villain Solar Flare who looks to have gotten shot in the leg.
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Isaiah wasn’t sure if it was his sleep deprivation or just his Nurse instincts or what, but he found himself bandaging the leg of this villain. The weird thing wasn’t him patching up the villain, it was the fact that he wasn’t terrified or the fact that his first instincts weren't to call the police but grab the first aid kit. Now he’s here, with Solar Flare, the same villain who would destroy several buildings from the Valor Organization, and he wasn’t afraid. Actually, when Isaiah had bandaged Solar Flare's leg, he noticed the villain made the same body expressions as many teenagers he bandaged up in the Hospital made. It actually got him wondering how old this guy was. He sounded like he couldn’t be older than 18. He definitely acts like a teenager, which actually did make Isaiah worry. Why would a teenager go attack the Hero Organization and fight Heroes that are in their 20s? As far as Isaiah is aware anyway. Was this kid okay? Where are his parents? Are they worried about him? How did he get on this path?
“..Aren’t you going to demand an explanation?” Isaiah was startled. He didn’t notice how quiet or how long they were both in the garage, so hearing Solar Flare speak to him out of the blue definitely surprised him. But he regained his focus, processed what he asked and responded accordingly. “What?”
Solar Flare rolled his eyes. “You know exactly what I mean. I, a villain, broke into your property. Aren’t you going to demand what I want? Or at least call the Police to throw me in jail or something?”
Ah, so that’s what it was. The only part Isaiah could see of Solar Flare’s face were his eyes. He could tell the rubbing alcohol stung when he attempted to clean the wound. While bandaging he could see it in his eyes that he was in pain but tried to hide it, as teenage boys usually do, and now he seems confused, scared and demanding. That’s when he solidified what he was originally thinking. This wasn’t just another villain, this was a teenager. A scared and injured teenager.
“You’re a child who got shot in the leg. I think that’s enough disappointment for one night, or day. The Police don’t need to be involved in this.”
“..How do you-”
“However, as far as I can tell, the bullet is still in your leg and hasn’t damaged any major blood vessels. Though we need to get you to a Hospital for further inspection and to see if we can get that bullet out.”
“WHAT?! ARE YOU CRAZY?!?! I don’t know if you know this, but wouldn’t they, I dunno, ARREST ME?????”
“If you show up as Solar Flare, yes. But you won’t”
“Huh?”
“If you show up to the Hospital looking like..that,” Isaiah gestured to Solar Flare’s clothes. “Then they’ll arrest you. Buuuuut, if you show up out of costume, then they won’t even notice. I think.”
“Oh sure, let me just take my costume off and reveal my identity to you. ARE YOU AN IDIOT?!?! WHY WOULD I EVER DO THAT????”
“Well, I dunno about you, but to me it seems like you don’t have many options. Besides, if I wanted to get the Police involved I would’ve already done that 10 minutes ago instead of bandaging your leg.”
“I…” Solar Flare paused. He knew he couldn’t win. “..Fine.”
Certain that Solar Flare wouldn’t try anything, Isaiah carried him to the living room and set him down on the couch. He then went to his room and pulled out 2 boxes, one empty, the other with clothing that was definitely too small for Isaiah himself. He grabbed a grey hoodie and the empty box and went back out to the living room. Once there, he set the box down and handed the hoodie to the kid, who looked confused upon receiving it.
“What’s that for?” Solar Flare nodded towards the box while he grabbed the hoodie.
“Well, since you can’t go out in your villain costume, I grabbed this box for you to put your gear in.” Isaiah gestures to the empty box he set on the coffee table. It wasn’t really big, enough space to hold a basketball at most, but even then it might be a tight fit. “I’ll put it in my closet, my roommate doesn't go in there anyway.”
“You have a roommate?” Solar Flare asked, he had already changed out of his muted yellow hoodie and into a grey NASA hoodie (Isaiah definitely didn’t forget he had a Space phase as a teen).
“Yeah, we met at college. We became friends, then best friends, then roommates. We kinda see each other as our brother.”
While absorbing this information Solar Flare took the rest of his gear off and put it into the box. Absent mindedly, he asked Isaiah another question. “Do you have any siblings? Not a my-friend-is-like-my-sibling sorta deal. Like, same parents.”
That was a conversation Isaiah never wanted to engage in. He hated talking about his family, specifically his siblings. Not that he hated them, quite the opposite actually. But the memory was still so fresh in his mind, even though it was 14 years ago. He could still hear the cries of his mother, the sound of footsteps running towards the street, the panicked feeling of someone missing. He could let these thoughts absorb him right then and there. He shook it off. He had a child to help right now. He couldn’t wallow in his own grief. He had to be in the present. The present. Right.
“Uh, let’s not talk about that. You got everything set up? Your gear’s put away?”
Solar Flare looked confused at the change of subject and even the tone of voice. Isaiah prayed he wouldn’t ask. He didn’t, which was a relief. Instead he nodded. Afterwards, he grabbed the box (the hoodie was able to fit inside somehow) and stuffed it in his closet. He went and grabbed his keys and helped Solar Flare to his car. Then they took off.
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“Name and age.” Isaiah said, just out of the blue. They were on the road for five minutes and he was already asking a villain to reveal more than just his face.
“What?” Solar Flare, not even masking the surprise he felt, looked at Isaiah.
“When we get to the Hospital, they’ll ask for a name and age. I need to know what to say.”
“Well..I guess that makes sense. But…how do I know you won’t blab to the cops?”
“I don’t know how many times I need to say this, but I swear, I won’t. I will remind you every time ‘till you start to believe it.”
“Um..okay…uh, name. My name is Max. Alverez. I’m 15 years old.”
“And you’re a villain? Barely starting Highschool, and you’re a villain?”
“I like to think of myself more as a Vigilante.”
“Whatever floats your boat, kid.” A silence passed for three minutes before Solar Flare-Max-decided to ask Isaiah something.
“So, how will we explain, um..y’know. This?” Max gestured to his injured leg with his free hand while the other was putting pressure on the wound.
“I already got that covered. No need to worry.”
“Uh, huh, yeah, easier said than done. Ugh, my mom’s gonna kill me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I kinda sorta maybe ditched school today…for the third day in a row.”
“Seriously? Kid how are you not suspended yet?”
“No idea..nope. Not one.”
Isaiah picked up on the nervous tone Max spoke in. Something’s telling him it’ll be brought up later but he honestly doesn’t care enough to engage at the moment.
“Got a phone, kid?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Call your family. I’m sure they want to know their son is okay…-ish”
“Did you not hear me say my parents would most definitely send me to the afterlife with the chancla when they find out I skipped school again?”
“Well, it’s either facing your parents' wrath or being announced as missing. Your choice.”
“Ugh…fine.” Max reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He dialed one of his parents. After a few moments of nothing the phone picked up and suddenly Isaiah had no idea what was being said. He should probably brush up on his Spanish. This was going to be a very long ride.
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It was five hours after the surgery. Thank goodness the bullet wasn’t any deeper in the leg, 45 minutes to find, remove, and patch up his leg. The kid is still here waiting for his family and so his leg can heal properly. He was not looking forward to being in a Hospital bed for a month at most. So now, Isaiah is playing Uno with Max. He knows he’s cheating, he just can’t prove it. Just then two elderly people and two women who are most likely Max’s parents and sisters, went into the room. His parents went to his side immediately. They asked if he was okay and if there was anything they should know about. Once he was confirmed to be fine and that it was only the leg wound they went back to seeing how he was feeling, was he shaken? Was he tired? Was he cold? The questions from his parents stopped when the people he assumed were his siblings asked if he was alright. After about 10 minutes of this, they finally acknowledged Isaiah’s presence.
“Excuse me, but, who are you, sir?” asked Max’s mom.
“Oh, I’m Isaiah Davis. I’m a Nurse at this Hospital. I actually found your son and brought him here.”
“So, what exactly happened Mr. Davis?” the man, Max’s dad, then asked.
“Well I was headed to the store and found him on the sidewalk bleeding from his leg. I was able to bandage him up and brought him here. I was lucky I kept a first aid kit in my car. He was shaking so I gave him a hoodie I had.” It’s a good thing that he sent Kuro a text explaining that he was going to the store. Just in case it was brought back up at any point.
“Why do you have a hoodie in your car?”
“I have a niece, she sometimes gets cold when I’m driving her somewhere and she likes to wear my old sweaters so I just keep them in my car.”
“Well, thank you Mr. Davis.” Max’s mom said. “Thank you for helping our son.”
“It’s no problem Mrs. Alvarez. Just did what I could.”
“Please, call me Merri. I can’t thank you enough.”
“You’re a good man Mr. Davis.” Max’s dad, who I later learned his name was Chito, told me. “You take care of yourself.”
“You as well Sir.” With that, they both went to Max’s side. Just as Isaiah stepped out of the room he was stopped by his siblings.
“Excuse me.” Said the older girl. She looked about Isaiah’s age. Her face looked impassive but her eyes were full of worry and relief.
“Uh, yes Miss?” Isaiah asked as he turned to face the woman in front of him. Wondering if he had done something wrong.
“Mia Alvarez. I would like to thank you for bringing my brother here and notifying my family and I. I cannot tell you how worried we were.”
“Oh, well, it’s my pleasure. I would hate to not know a sibling of mine was injured.”
“Precicely. I would hate to take up more of your time. Drive home safely.”
“Uh, you aswell”
“Let’s go back to check in on Max. Mei? Come on.” Mia turned to the younger girl.
Isaiah saw the younger girl, around Max’s age, shift a bit. She didn’t say anything but Isaiah could tell she was studying him to determine if he was a threat or not. Weird. After that interaction, and both girls went back into the room, Isaiah went back into his car and drove to the store, again in case, somehow, someone were to figure out what happened. Not sure why he’s doing this much security, but still.
Afterwards, he was back home, and put all the groceries he got away and finally went to sleep. Just before he closed his eyes and drifted off to a blissful land, it finally clicked that he had helped a villain. He helped a villain and if it got out he would go to jail. Sounds like a future-him-problem, he’s going to focus on getting some Z’s.