The Weak Hero

Awake

The rhythmic sounds of beeps brought Nolan out from a slumber. His sheets were warm, his feet comfortably nestled between them. There was no indication of anything out of the ordinary. No hair out of place from what he could tell, well... that was before he opened his eyes. He was in the hospital, and he was peeking out from some kind of contraption on his face. It shadowed most of the room, except for the nurse staring at him. "What's going on," Nolan asked, but from the looks of it, it came out more like a wheeze. The nurse had a comforting presence about her. She spoke softly. "Don't worry honey, you're A-ok. You were just hit, that's all". Realization washed over Nolan. It was that bastard farmer, he probably smacked Nolan with his gun while he had his eyes closed. What a damned fool Nolan had been! The nurse seemed to have taken Nolan's anger and mistaken it for something else because she held her hands up in a surrendering fashion. "Alright kid, alright. You were struck, see? I didn't lie to you, but, it wasn't a person or anything. You were struck by lightning". The nurse chuckled nervously. "Crazy isn't it?" She smiled halfheartedly. "Some might say you're a lucky boy, do you remember anything?".

Nolan felt utter confusion, which quickly got washed over with fear. "There is just no way..." Nolan thought. The scene of him falling asleep and confronting a farmer kept playing itself over and over in his head. He wasn't asleep then? But if that was the case, how? The nurse leaned over and adjusted the bed a few degrees up so that Nolan could better see her. She eyed him suspiciously. "Do you sleepwalk often?" She asked. The pasty white walls blended in with her milk white uniform. A man with a lab-coat and a blue tie walked in, eyeing a document atop his clipboard. "Doctor, he is awake," the nurse said quickly. "Yes, I can see that Nurse. I can also see you've been trying to get some gossip out of the poor boy. Get back to your patient, you know that Joyce already attended Nolan here". She whisked herself out of the room and the doctor sat down in her place. The doctor rubbed his thumb and index finger together in circles. "So, Nolan, how are you feeling?" He asked mechanically. Clearly the doctor had asked the question a lot of times. Nolan nodded his head carefully, feeling the stiffness of his neck threatening him with pain.

"I'm feeling better now" Nolan slurred. It really was like a slur. In fact, Nolan was quite impressed with himself that he managed to force it out into existence. The doctor nodded. "Listen, I won't sugar coat this for you, here is what happened," the doctor took a deep breath. "From the look of the surveillance footage outside of your apartment, you seem to have gotten straight out of bed and walked outside into the rain". The doctor paused. Nolan looked at him with a frown. "How would you know I didn't go anywhere else in my apartment? Nolan asked curiously. "Well," the doctor said, "You were in the nude, as they say." Nolan cursed himself inwardly, thinking of the nurse that had her phone out while she was talking to him. "She was probably recording me, the naked weirdo walking outside," Nolan thought. The doctor cleared his throat, showing knuckled surrounded by aged bruises that melded to the color of his old hands over time. "Now what happens next is strange, but most importantly quite unlucky." The doctor clapped his hands together. "There had been no lightning to strike the ground up until that point, which does not mean anything special, but... You held out your entire arm like so-" the doctor held out his arm with his palm up, fingers splayed as if holding an invisible ball. "Just like that, a lightning strike blew you away and you flung against the wall." The doctor said. The doctor cleared his throat.

"Now, obviously, that was unfortunate timing." the doctor said seriously. Listen, Nolan, sleepwalking is usually harmless, but you seem to be a special case. I'm going to recommend some medication that should lessen the effects of your sleepwalking" he said, handing out a yellow typical bottle of medicine, which looked pretty much empty except for a few white tablets inside. "You're free to go, Nolan, but be careful," The doctor said with a smile. Nolan grabbed the pills and left. When Nolan stepped outside of the hospital, he did not expect it to be nighttime. "I spent an entire day knocked out? What a waste of time" Nolan thought. He sat down on the steps and looked up at the sky. The stars were bright as... stars. The cool breeze had a calming effect on Nolan's tense muscles. The moon looked so close he could reach out and touch it. So he did. He touched it. He threw his arm back in surprise, falling backward and banging his head against the concrete. Nolan groaned in pain. He looked back at the moon and saw that a figure stood in its place, a good seven feet tall, wearing a brimmed hat and a classic black suit that seemed a little too tight on his large frame. The figure bent over and un-eclipsed the moon behind him. "What now?!" Nolan thought.

"Paul Nolan, you've caused quite a scene. You never even registered in our database, it is a mystery" The large man said, holding his arm out for Nolan to grab. Nolan did so, then rubbed the back of his head where a bump was beginning to form. "I don't use my first name," Nolan said. The man smiled, showing a row of clean white teeth. "I think you'll find I don't follow many rules, Paul," He said. Paul scoffed and started to walk away. "Whatever, weirdo. Don't follow me or I'll call the police" He said, looking over his shoulder. As he turned back, he walked straight into a wall. The wall turned out to be the large man. Paul looked over his shoulder and then back at the man in complete confusion. "What! How did you?" Paul said frantically. "I am gifted, just as you are, Paul. I'm going to place my hand on your shoulder, and I don't want you to freak out, but what is about to happen will cause severe nausea. Close your eyes if you are prone to getting queasy. Paul was in complete and utter confusion. "What the hell is happening right now? What are you talking about!?" Paul yelled. "Hey! let go of me!" Paul tried to wriggle off the man's grip but it was fierce. "1..." the man said slowly. "Stop that! stop counting!" Paul said as he hit the giant man in the chest with his free arm. "3. I skip 2 to save time," The man whispered with an evil grin. The world vanished and turned a bright canvas of colors whirling and blending in ways and dimensions Paul had never seen before. It was beautiful and haunting, yet it vanished in an instant. Paul crashed into what felt like a floor until he realized that that was just the wall, once he slammed into the real floor below him. "Whoops," the man said, "I guess I need to practice porting people some more. Anyway, here is the kid, director. I'll be back in a few". Paul coughed furiously and rubbed his eyes. he was no longer outside, which seemed impossible since he was clearly just outside an instant before.

Paul dizzily stood up, taking in his surroundings. He was in what looked like an operations room, and the closest thing he could compare it to was a sort of high-tech headquarters one would find in a World War II movie. Paul felt a pat on the shoulder and turned to see the large burly man that had somehow brought Paul here. "I am truly sorry about that, but orders are orders, Paul". The man gave Paul a blank look and then disappeared. Paul looked dumbfounded. The man had just disappeared into thin air, and all Paul saw or felt was a small blast of wind that tussled his hair a bit. In the room's center was a large table, and at the head sat a middle-aged man in business attire. "Welcome, Paul. Is it alright if I call you Paul?" He asked. "I overheard how you are not used to that" he added. Paul closed his eyes and breathed out. "Sure, at this point I hardly care about that!"He started his sentence out calm but lost his control near the end. The man lowered his glasses a bit, the way Paul's father would do when distracted from his newspaper. 

"Paul, I am going to explain the situation to you as plainly and directly as I can, because I can feel your frustration from here. It is quite pungent actually." The man said as he flared his nostrils. "My name is Dr. Tolse, and I am the director of this program. Every country has its own program, and..." Paul interrupted him by raising his hand. "Alright, you're already being cryptic by assuming I know what the program is. Not really that straightforward to an outsider, is it?" Paul said sarcastically. Dr. Tolse sighed, taking his glasses off. "Of course, I had assumed Jovi had explained that to you. You know, the big guy that ported you in?" He asked. Paul nodded. "Alright," the doctor said, "This is the association of... how should I put in, fighters? No, maybe heroes, would be a better term for your age". He stood up and began walking towards a far wall that was adorned with a painting of a city on fire, with a lone child standing in the middle of the flames, seemingly about to be consumed by them. Paul chuckled. "I can't believe this. I knew my family had a history of mental illness in the past, but," Paul looked at his hands as if he had just strangled a cute baby pig. "I didn't think I would go crazy at 16. So... I'm still in the hospital, aren't I? Dreaming? I can never get a break. Honestly, I have had the weirdest dreams the past two weeks, and to be quite frank with you Dr. Toolbag, this one is not even well written. I mean for one, the association of... heroes? really? how about the Hero Corps or something a tad bit cooler?" Paul vented at the doctor who slowly began to smile back at Paul. "Unfortunately, this is not a dream, and doubly unfortunately, Jovi is back to port you to your ranking diagnosis". Paul whirled around just in time to see the giant Jovi, and when he turned back to the doctor with a look of despair and nausea, he saw a shameless smile form on the doctor's face. A hand touched his shoulder, and the world bloomed in color once more. Paul's stomach bloomed as well, but not so beautifully.