Warning ⚠️
There is mention of torture and murder in this one shot.
"Henry?" A man asks.
I look up. I know that name. That's my name. Though I haven't heard that name in a year. Yet when I look up, there's a man, a man I also hadn't seen in a year, saying my name.
"Rai?"
"Ya Kid it's me." He says. He blasts my chains off.
"I never thought I'd see you again." I say. My voice was rough and raspy after days of torture.
"I looked for you. I looked for you for 393 days. Just over a year."
"What happened to Charlotte?"
"She still works with me. We've been looking for you together." He replies.
"And Jasper?"
"He still works with me too."
"And my family?"
Silence.
"Rai, what happened to my family?"
"A good 4 months after you were kidnapped, your mum killed herself." Rai said grimly. "A month after she died, your father left."
"And Piper?"
"She's fine. She lives with Charlotte's family now."
"Does she know?" I ask.
"Ya Kid, she knows. I told her right after your parents... well you know."
I nod awkwardly.
"Kid, we should get out of here." Rai says.
I silently agree.
He helps me up. We silently exit the fortress Minyak and Cohort kept me in.
As I exit it, I realize that it was literally in the middle of no where. Everything was pitch black so it had to be early in the morning, possibly 1 am?
I remember the day I had been captured. It was a simple mission really. Minyak was causing mayhem on Main Street and Rai was too tired from the late night mission the night before, so naturally, I went alone. It turns out it was a trick to lure me in.
They knocked me out and kidnapped me. They tortured me. Usually heavy jets of freezing water, starving me and low doses of electricity.
Minyak was careful, he never wanted to kill me, he just wanted revenge for all the times we bet him.
I always scratched the days that had gone by on the walls. Hoping that some day Rai would find and rescue me.
And now he has.
"Henry?"
I look up. We've made it to the Man Copter.
"Sorry." I murmur.
He nods as we climb into the Man Copter.
I lean back in the seat. It feels like heaven against my back. Over the last year, all I've had to sleep on was a cot with a very thin mattress, pillow and very thin blanket that let in no heat.
Once we take off, I felt myself start to drift off. I probably should have fought it, but I didn't. I was exhausted.
- time skip -
"-nry? We're back." Rai says waking me up.
I open my eyes. I nod and push myself out of my seat. I walk into the hidden back entrance. Two platforms stand firmly where they always are.
"Down the tube." Rai orders.
Once we are finally down in the Man Cave I see the familiar faces of Piper Hart, Charlotte Page, Jasper Dunlop and Schwoz Schwartz, pacing the room.
Piper looked so grown up. Her blonde hair was tied into a messy bun. She wore a tank top and red, plaid flannel pyjamas pants.
Charlotte was beautiful. Her curly hair was tied into a bun since it was in the early hours of the morning, she was still in fuzzy pyjama pants and a tank top that said good vibes.
Jaspers hair was straight, when did he start wearing it like that? He was wearing a plain shirt and flannel pyjamas.
Finally Schwoz was wearing a onesie with ducks on it.
When the tubes released their heads whipped up.
"Hey." I said stiffly.
"Henry!" They yelled. I flinch slightly as they tackle me with hugs.
"Did you miss me?" I joke.
Piper wipes away tears from her eyes.
"Henry, Mum and Dad, they're gone." She says with tears in her eyes.
"I know Pipes, Rai told me."
She nods. I pull her into a hug. Normally she would have pushed me away, but this time she wraps her arms around me.
After a little while we let go.
"Come on kids, we're gonna have a little catch up time." Rai says. I nod.
I watch as they relax on the U shaped couch. I join them bide more stiffly.
Piper sits close to me.
"So..." I say awkwardly.
"How did you, you know, get kidnapped?" Jasper asks.
"It's complicated." I say stoically.
"Henry, we haven't seen you in over a year, can you at least tell us what happened?" Charlotte says.
I sigh.
"When I went on the mission, where Minyak was causing mayhem, it was a trap. He knocked me out and brought me to the fortress. He tortured me for information, mostly just freezing water and starvation. After a while he kind of just gave up on getting info so he just tortured me for fun." I explain. Honestly, that's the most I've said in months. You get pretty quiet when speaking causes pain.
I feel Piper shift uncomfortably next to me. Charlotte had a look of worry in her eyes, so did Schwoz and Jasper. Rai looked furious.
"Kid, I'm so sorry, if I had found you quicker, if I hadn't been too tired, you'd be fine. You were in the outskirts of Boarder Town. Almost in Hidden Ville."
"It's ok."
"It's not ok Henry. You're barely speaking, you can hardly look us in the eye and you were tortured. How is that ok?"
I wince at his hard tone. "I know it's not ok, but it will be."
I wrap an arm around Piper to hold her in closer. I need her. She's my sister.
- time skip -
Piper, Charlotte, Jasper and I spent the night in the Man Cave. I slept with Piper, something we hadn't done since we were kids. It felt right though. I had nightmares all night.
When I woke up, she was still there. When she woke up we got waffles from the auto snack.
She told me all of what happened over the last year. I just listened and nodded. It was like old times. Before we argued all the time, piper and I were close. We would play and talk all the time.
When Rai, Charlotte, Schwoz and Jasper came out, we were watching Dog Judge.
They joined us.
Everything was going smoothly until -
Beep
Beep
Beep
"Rai, that's the crime alarm." Charlotte exclaimed.
"I know." He jumped up. I copied.
"Henry, you don't have to go." He said.
"I know. But it's been a year. I miss it."
Rai nodded.
He hands me a gum tube. I blow a bubble and transform into Kid Danger.
Although being in the costume seems like right, it feels wrong.
"Kid, you ready?" Rai asked.
I nod.
"Be careful Hen, I can't lose you again." Piper says.
I nod before Rai orders the tubes up.
- time skip -
When we arrive on the scene, it's immediate chaos.
A band of thug like criminals are were destroying the street. Shattering the windows of cars and shops and terrorizing citizens. One of them was even setting shops on fire.
"C'mon Kid!" Rai yells.
I run toward the arson and push him to the ground.
"Hey! Watch it!" He says before looking up. "Kid Danger?"
I smash my foot on his face, knocking him out and breaking both his nose and his jaw.
I then run to a thug destroying a car.
I throw him over my shoulder and kick him in the ribs. I hear a crack. I ignore it and slam my foot on the side of his head.
"Hey freak! Ya you! What's a slut like you doing out alone?" I hear someone yell at a teen girl, who was just trying to escape.
- flash back -
Minyak finally releases me from his chokehold.
"That's right freak. Cry. What were you doing out alone without Captain Man?" Minyak taunted. "Oh ya that's right. He didn't want to be around someone as pathetic as you!"
- back to reality -
I run over to the thug and pull out the knife I had been using this morning to cut my waffles.
Deep down I know this is wrong, but right now, all I see is red.
I press my knife to the front of his neck. I drag it along the flesh. He gasps out as blood pours out.
- time skip -
Once all the fires are put out, citizens are calmed down and thugs rounded up, I sit down against a street pole.
"Hey Henry? You alright?"
"I killed him." I whisper.
"What?" Rai asks.
"He was calling her a freak. That's what he called me. I lost control and now he's dead." I say.
"Kid it's ok. You've been through hell. I know. You've changed. If you need to adapt to your new self, I understand that." Rai says while he had his hand on my shoulder.
I smile lightly.
- time skip -
After a month of counselling from a hero therapist in Metro Berg, I'm ok. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not back to my original state. I'm a lot different. I ended up changing the Kid Danger costume. It's now a mixture of black and navy.
I'm a lot darker personality wise and I have major PTSD. The word freak is some what of a trigger word so we don't use it anymore.
Anyway, I have my best friends and my sister with me, I live in the Man Cave with Rai, I legally adopted Piper considering I was technically an adult.
Minyak was arrested and taken to solitary confinement for derangement and was labeled unsafe for the community.
And yes I have issues. But nothing that I can't handle.
Wow. This was a bit dark. Anyway. This is for MecredieSmith I hope you liked it.