1.5 Rapids Part 5

All three of the doctors and Brooke look up at me.

I know all three of the doctors, two of them quite well, from my regular visits to Joan. The two men and the woman all look like your average doctor with none of them particularly standing out to me.

Who does stand out is the sitting upright in the hospital bed, Brooke Rodgers. Despite her young age, the girl is really good looking. Long luscious brown hair with sparkling eyes that are electric blue combined with a darn pleasant body even in spite of the fact she is still going through puberty. Not even the hospital gown can hide that.

“Hello Miss Rodgers,” I greet her as I walk up to the hospital bed.

Calm confident will keep be in control of this situation while hesitation will make me lose my momentum.

“I’m Leo,” I tell Brooke as I hold my hand out, “Pleased to meet you.”

“Hello Leo, I’m Brooke,” mumbles Brooke as she looks over at me.

I’m getting some odd looks from the doctors, but none of them are telling me

“Well Brooke,” I say as I reach her bedside, “I heard that you were responsible for the electromagnetic pulse that just occurred.”

“I didn’t mean to do it,” whispers Brooke, “I have no idea how I did that.”

It just occurred to me that if she been in a coma since she got her powers, Brooke won’t know about people suddenly gaining powers.

That’s right. We should probably explain what has happened at the first opportunity.

“Don’t worry about that,” I reassure her, “It’s quite obvious that you didn’t intend to cause trouble. If you were, then we would have our hands full right now. Anybody with half a brain could figure that out.”

“You think?” asks Brooke in that soft voice of hers.

“Sure,” I tell her, “If you were going to supervillain or something you would be blasting or zapping or whatevering people. You’re clearly just confused. Which makes sense as you just woke up from a coma and none of your friends or family are here for you. Even without discovering that you have powers. By the way, you’re not the only person who has developed powers as a few other people have. They actually just formed an official, government superhero team in which they allow secret identities. It was literally formed yesterday.”

“That sounds cool,” mutters Brooke, “Are you a doctor?”

“No,” I reply, “Just a visitor. My girlfriend is a long-term patient.”

“Oh,” says Brooke as she looks away, “Are you staying?”

“Would you like me too?” I inquire.

“I would,” replies Brooke as she looks me in the eye, “If you or your girlfriend don’t mind that is.”

“Joan will understand,” I tell Brooke, “She has had the misfortune to know what it is like not to have any friends or family there for you. Besides, I get to see her plenty anyway.”

And that’s the unfortunate truth. I’m pretty certain I know Joan better than her entire family put together.

Not entirely true. Joan still has us, now and forever.

Aye.

Hear, hear.

We shall never abandon her.

“Okay,” replies Brooke and I take a seat by her bed.

The girl chats away with me as the doctors tend to her. When the police show up, they attempted to send me out, but Brooke protested and since the doctors didn’t object, I was allowed to stay.

I don’t know why I’m doing this. Spending my time helpful a complete stranger who I most likely won’t ever see again. And if I do, she probably won’t even realise it’s me.

Because you are nice guy.

And you help others because it is the right thing to do, not because you benefit from it.

***

It is quite dark when I’m on my way home. I called my parents earlier and so I don’t need to worry about them. As I said before, I have never been that afraid of the local nightlife and especially not since I got my powers.

I’m going to call Charlie and update him on today’s events.

You sure he’ll be up this late?

If he isn’t, I can just catch up with him tomorrow and call Legacy instead. She is always available due to not having a life of outside of being Guardian. I still can’t tell if that is a good thing or bad one.

It is what it is and let us leave it at that.

Yeah.

“Hey Leo,” says Charlie as he answers his phone.

“Hi Charlie,” I reply, “Just wanted to tell you about today.”

“Okay,” says Charlie, “It is about that Brooke girl? I know you’re visiting Joan at that time and since you’re you-know-who...well...”

“I was definitely on top of that,” I confirm, “I was one of the first on the scene and I basically kept her company until I left. Nice girl. I sincerely hope things go well for Brooke.”

“Don’t you already have girlfriend?” asks Charlie jokingly.

I snort before replying, “I’m allowed to be nice to other girls.”

“But talking about super stuff, what sort of route are you going to take?” asks Charlie, “Atlas is basically non-alien Superman with Alexandria as Supergirl. Mentalist is a non-crippled version of Professor Xavier with hair. Crimson Crusader and Hard Shell are both trying to be Iron Man. So what about you? You could go down the Iron Man route as well.”