Mod Superhero

Chapter 4.30 - Brotherly Backup

It was like seeing Paragon stumble.

Darryl came over a second later and embraced Emmett, barely giving their mom a chance to let go. "There's my second little bro. They better be taking good care of you guys over there."

Emmett forced a smile. "It's good to see you, too."

Darryl made an exaggerated side-eye at Clara. "And who's your friend?"

Clara introduced herself to Darryl, giving a quick fabrication about meeting while volunteering with the Summit.

"Well, you look pretty cozy for just meeting, but I always told Emmett to put himself out there—get his nose out of those books for a few minutes, you know."

Emmett chuckled awkwardly.

Darryl added slyly, "Let me know when you want some stories about him."

Emmett coughed. "Right. Anyway..." He looked past his brother, looking for the rest of the family.

Both Maci and Antony were asleep on their cots. A blanket was draped over Maci's cot, and Darryl pointed out that the nephews were hiding underneath, also napping.

Despite Darryl's earlier attempts at levity, it felt like the room closed in again.

Mom said, "Nobody's gotten a lot of sleep. Not even the kids." Dad nodded in agreement and wrapped an arm around her.

Darryl asked, "You guys were okay, right? I mean, of course you were—you're here." He chuckled awkwardly before adding, "It got a little crazy here. We just hunkered down and tried to keep the kids calm."

"We managed," Dad said.

Darryl added emphatically, "Yeah, we did!"

Emmett and Darryl exchanged a look. Emmett's older brother was doing that thing he did when he was nervous or stressed: He would be overly positive and try to fill any silence or lull in a conversation.

It was harmless, mostly—unless he started spilling brotherly secrets to Clara. But it just served as a bitter reminder of how much everyone was shaken up.

~

Emmett didn't want to wake up Antony and the others if they were finally getting sleep, so he and Clara made their rounds through the shelter. They went and talked to Max's mom, Marlene, and she congratulated them on finally getting together. Then Emmett introduced Clara to Larian's family. Emmett still hadn't met Cherry or Krystal's dads, so he couldn't find them.

Max, Cherry, Larian, and Krystal were all out together on patrol, but both Emmett and Clara talked about staying until their friends were done their shifts and back at the shelter.

Dinner was served soon after. That night, the shelter served chili and succotash.

It was the first time Emmett saw Antony up and walking around.

He was limping. His right ankle was wrapped up.

When Antony finally saw Emmett, he gave a half-hearted greeting and limped over to the food line.

Tony had never been as outwardly cheery as their oldest brother, but Emmett couldn't remember the last time he saw his youngest brother so defeated. Even when Rutherford got booted out of the playoffs early, Tony wasn't ruffled. He was stoic and determined, rallying his teammates out of their slump, and then he was back to training the next week.

...He'd also never been injured.

The realization hit Emmett like a truck. No wonder his youngest brother was bummed. The way he was limping made Emmett think that the injury was pretty bad. He should probably be on crutches and get a doctor to look at it, but they were in the middle of a war—Tony's injury would be the least of anyone's concerns.