Reference Game: F.R.I.E.N.D.S.
"Henry!" Rai yelled as we arrived to the Man Cave.
"Rai, I'm fine."
"You are not fine!" Rai persists.
"What's going on?" Charlotte asked.
"I got everyone out, didn't I?" I shout.
"That's a moo point!" Rai yelled back.
"What the hell is a moo point?" I yell incredulously.
"A cow's opinion, it doesn't matter!" He yells back.
I roll my eyes. "You are such a child!"
"Guys, what's going on?" Jasper repeats for Charlotte.
"You could have been killed!"
"But I wasn't!" I snap back.
"Henry, do you realize how many times a bullet nearly hit you and I couldn't do anything about it!" Rai yelled at me.
This caught my sister's attention.
"He what?" She snapped.
"He tricked me into staying with the already rescued citizens while he snuck into the building to get the others out." Rai explained heatedly. "Why is this bad you ask? Because there was a shooter in the building!"
I see the others look at me in shock.
"You did what!" Piper screamed at me.
"You don't understand, you weren't there." I reply.
"Let me get this straight. You went to an active shooter situation, left the indestructible superhero to babysit the victims, and decided to do it all by yourself. Oh yeah, that makes complete sense." Piper snapped.
"You don't get it Piper!" I shout at her. "We had no idea how many shooters there were. One of them could have tried to finish off the survivors. It was important that Rai was there just in case to take the fire if it happened."
"Henry-"
"Which it did. And guess what! No one got hurt because Rai was there." I say.
"And how did you get in?" Jasper asked me worriedly.
"I told Rai I was going to alert the owner of the building that most of the current occupants were out of the building, but I really just snuck into the building to try to find any remaining survivors."
"Which was very, very irresponsible of you!" Rai yelled.
"Oh yeah, like you are totally Mr. Responsible." I growl. "Only two days ago, you tried to turn the Man Cave into an amusement park."
"That was a brilliant idea!" Rai growl.
"No it wasn't." My friends and I say in unison.
Rai grumbled as I continue the story.
"Once I was in, I made around the building, and did find more survivors... and deceased." I say sadly. "If it wasn't for me, they would all be dead."
"Alright, and what happened then." Schwoz asked.
"Well Rai figured out I was missing so he contacted me over the coms."
"Which is when the idiot told me where he was." Rai growled.
"I'm not an idiot, but yes, that is when I told him where I was. He wasn't very happy about it and ordered me outside, but naturally, I didn't listen." I say with a slight grin. "He was going to come in to help, but he couldn't leave the survivors alone, so he had to stay outside."
"Yeah, thanks for that." Rai snarled.
"When I was evacuating the survivors, Rai spotted me and tried to switch places with me, but I was already gone. I found the shooter, I nearly got shot, but didn't. I took him down. Stunned him, he's in prison now, which is good."
"Tell them what happened next." Rai growled.
"Henry, what happened next?" Charlotte asked, seeing my hesitation.
"I kept looking for more shooters and/or survivors. I didn't find any other survivors, and luckily no deceased, but I did find more shooters."
"How many?" Piper asked.
"Not all at once, but I found six others. So in total, seven shooters."
"Seven!" They yell.
"Seven."
"You fought off seven shooters!" Piper yelled in frustration and disbelief.
"Yes, so I found them all and fought them, but they all lost."
"And you didn't get shot?" Rai asked worriedly.
"Well you see..." I trail off.
"Henry, why are you holding your arm like that?" Schwoz asked, but he seemed to already know the answer.
"Well..."
"Henry were you shot!" Rai yelled at me.
"It's just a graze."
"Oh for fu-" Piper starts.
"Language." Charlotte reprimands quietly.
I show Schwoz my arm to reveal a hole in my suit where the bullet had grazed it.
"Oh, ok, you'll have to take off your shirt. I'm going to have to check that out.
"It's fine, really, and plus there's more to the story."
"Oh, come on, Henry, just take off your shirt and tell us." Charlotte demanded.
I roll my eyes but unzip my vest and slowly and steadily, pull it from my body, careful not to hit my wound. I pull my shirt over my head to reveal a raw, bleeding, large graze wound. I'm left with a bare chest which definitely making me self conscious.
Schwoz sucks in a breath before releasing.
"Oh. My. God." Piper says, pronouncing each word carefully.
"Ok, that needs to be treated. Pivot your arm." He orders.
"Schwoz it's really not necessary. It doesn't even hurt."
"Pivot!" Schwoz orders with a more ordering tone.
"Fine." I mutter as I twist my arm, causing a sharp pain to shoot up my arm, I groan at the pain.
"Oh, ok, this is definitely going to hurt but I need to clean your wound." Schwoz warns.
"Do whatever you want, I've been through worse."
It suddenly struck me how true that statement was.
"Ok." Schwoz pulls out a Q-Tip from his medical cabinet and a bottle of what I think is iodine.
He cleans my wound causing a great wave of pain but I quickly ignore it.
"I had taken down the first six shooters with no problems but then I got to the seventh."
My friends listened to me with bated breath.
"And then what?" Jasper asked me.
"We were fighting, we were both shooting at each other when a bull- ow that hurts, Schwoz- bullet grazed my arm."
"And then?"
"Then we fought some more despite all that and I won. That's it."
"Henry, it was very irresponsible of you to go in without backup. You might not get so lucky next time." Charlotte warned.
"I got the job done, didn't I? All seven shooters were taken down and are now in custody. I did my job and I only got somewhat hurt."
"I guess you're right." Jasper mumbled.
"Wait, that's what you call 'somewhat hurt'?" Piper said, somewhat more cautiously.
We all went silent. I never really discussed everything that's happened to me with Piper.
"Well, yeah. I guess it's not the most serious injury I've had before." I say awkwardly.
"Wait, wait, wait, what injury have you had before that is more serious?" She asked worriedly.
"Well, I broke my arm before, that was pretty serious, I was in an explosion once. That was serious."
"Hold up! You were in an explosion?" She asked incredulously.
"I mean, yes. There was an explosion a few years back at a clock shop. You were talking about it for ages when it happened."
"I remember that. But I never knew you were in it?" She stuttered.
"Well, yes. I left my phone in the building so I had to go back for it." I mumble the last part.
"You went back for your phone?" She screeched.
I wince at her harsh, high pitched scream.
"I only dislocated my... what was it Schwoz?"
"His buttocks." Schwoz replied.
"Right."
"That doesn't seem too bad." She says, a little relieved.
"Those aren't the bad ones." Jasper pointed out.
"I beg your pardon?" Piper asked snapping her attention to Jasper.
I shoot him a glare that luckily went unnoticed by my sister.
Jasper shifted uncomfortably.
"What are the bad ones?" She demanded.
"Oh you know, paper cuts." He joked nervously. Piper glared at him as though she had fire in her eyes. "Hi, I'm Jasper. I make jokes when I'm uncomfortable."
I ignore him. "Right, the bad ones." She turns her attention back to me.
"What are the bad ones?" She asked angrily.
"Uhh, I broke a couple ribs, I've been shot, electrocuted by the Thumb Buddies, what else? Should I continue?" I ask her.
She looked horrified but breathed out a yes.
"Do you two want some space?" Jasper asked. "It's my turn to cook dinner tonight anyway so I have to go home."
"I'm almost done with the wound." Schwoz tells me as he wraps the injury in a thin nonstick bandage. "When I'm done I have to work on an experiment."
"I'm kind of tired also so I'm going to go home." Charlotte added.
"And I'm gonna go watch Friends™. I'm at the part with the break."
"Yes. Thank you." Piper said quietly once everyone was going to be gone.
- time skip -
My sister and I sat on the couch, now alone.
"Henry, why didn't you tell me about what's happened to you as Kid Danger?"
"I didn't want to stress you out." I reply.
"Stress me out?" She asked, but it was more of a statement. "Henry, I'm always stressed. I always worry that one day you'll go on a mission and never return. Why did you think I wanted to be Rolling Thunder?"
"Why?" I ask her, but I already know the answer.
"It was so I could make sure you would never get hurt."
"Piper..."
"Look, I'm going home. I can't be around you right now."
"I'll see you at home?"
"Yeah. Sure, Henry."
Just like that, I'm left alone with my thoughts. How many times in my life have I almost died?
How lucky am I to be still alive?
It's only by miracle that Marc's electric abilities were new and not fully in his power that I wasn't killed when I was electrocuted. We didn't know about his new abilities so we couldn't prevent it.
The times I've broken ribs, how lucky am I that one of my broken ribs didn't puncture my lungs or hit a vital organ? I don't even know how I am still alive.
What about the few times I've been shot? What are the chances that I never got hit in a vital organ or major artery? Or that I never bled out?
I get up and make my way to where I can hear Rai watching Friends™.
I knock on his door.
The sounds of the TV shut off. Rai appears in the doorway.
"Oh, hey Henry. How's your arm?" Rai asks me worriedly.
"It's feeling much better, thanks." I reply touching my arm gently.
"Where is Piper?"
"Oh, uh, she went home." I tell him.
"So what did you want, because if it's not important, I really want to go back to watching The One With The Morning After™."
"Rai, how many times have I almost died on the job?"
Rai's look of excitement to get back to such an iconic episode was quickly replaced with one of solemn and seriousness.
"Oh, I don't know, do you want to come in?" He asks.
"Sure."
Rai's room was as much as expected. Decked out with mirrors and printed out pictures of himself decorating the walls. A Captain Man bedspread, a TV decorated with the Captain Man logo stickers and drawings. Good luck to him on selling that. But what kind of surprised me was the string of lights with polaroids of myself and our friends.
I sat down on his bed next to him.
"Rai, how many times have I simply gotten lucky on a mission?"
"I don't know Henry. A lot I guess."
"All those time's I've been shot, in explosions, broken bones. How am I still alive Rai? It's just luck."
"Henry, yes, sometimes those injuries where you were never too hurt, were just luck, but Henry, you are an amazing fighter and superhero. You have to know that. A good amount of times when you could have died, you never because you were strong enough and smart enough to make your way out and avoid injuries that could cost you your life."
"Do you really mean that?"
"Well I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it." He chuckled.
I smile. "Thank you, Rai. I needed that."
How lucky I am to have such an amazing friend as Rai.
Hope you guys like it. I try to publish as much as I can but I do have a job. I'm a barista. I'm legit the character Ella from Pride. I try to update as much as I can while working around my schedule, which is why most of my chapters are published late at night or early in the morning, depending on where you live.
Anyways, cheers <3