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“I cannot believe you’re doing this to me. After all this time, you really think losing my powers is all it would take to kill me? I’m insulted.”
Morgan and Alex had been having this same debate for several days in the hospital.
Alex, who could not be cured of their god complex by any means, it would seem, had been through hell since having their powers stolen. Morgan had gotten distracted in the attempt to rescue Alex from a bear trap, leading to a nearly fatal amount of blood loss. After being rushed to the hospital, Alex spent their time bemoaning the indignity of the villain hospital and of having to deal with the prospect of a powerless life in the time between then and whenever they tracked down the hero who put them in this predicament.
Morgan, however, had other ideas. They were not used to Alex being quite so delicate, and it troubled them deeply. They had spent days pleading, debating, and scolding Alex to let someone else take the lead on recovering their powers. Unfortunately, there was no reasoning with them, so Morgan had to bring out the big guns. They had left while Alex was in surgery, instructing the surgeon to text them as soon as it was over, at which point they teleported Alex to their parents house far outside the city.
“You called my mom on me?! Really?”
“Well who else is going to be able to keep you safe while we get back your powers?”
“We? Who is we?”
“Me, Ohio, Barnaby, Hawk, and I’ve called in a few favors. We’re leaving in twenty minutes.”
“Oh, cool, a heist! I’ll get ready and then we can hit the road!”
Alex went to get up and Morgan had used two fingers to gently push them back down.
“Absolutely goddamn not. Your parents are going to keep you right where you are until we can be sure that you’ll be safe. I will be back as soon as I possibly can.” Alex’s mom walked into their childhood bedroom and sat on the foot of their bed.
“Your friends are all here. That professor and that nerd, I know already, but who is the... large bug?” Morgan and Alex shared a wide-eyed look, remembering that in all the time they had Hawk, they had never thought to bring him to the farm.
Or to tell Alex’s parents that he existed.
“Gotta go!” Morgan shouted behind them, leaving Alex grasping at the air where they had once been.
“Coward!” Alex turned to face their mom. “Um... Well... That’s Hawk. And do you remember that space war a while back that was all over the news? Well that’s the thing all the heroes were fighting against. Kind of, they were a hivemind and he was in control, so he didn’t actually directly fight any of them, but anyway, I had Morgan watching him to keep the hivemind safe, and then Morgan had me give him a consciousness so he could play with their little nephew, and we’ve been raising him ever since so... uh... He’s kind of your grandkid? Surprise?” Alex’s mom stared at them for a moment, folded her arms, stood up, and left the room. “... Shit.” Alex sunk back against their pillow and put their face in their hands. Not even a full minute had passed when the door banged back open.
“I HAVE A GRANDSON?!” Alex’s dad burst into the room practically frothing at the mouth. “When? Where? How? What is he like? What is he interested in? What are his hobbies? How old is he? Where are my pictures?!" Alex should have known that the last question at least was coming, considering their father’s love of scrapbooks and commemorating special occasions. They looked up to see their father standing over the bed, with their mom smirking, arms still folded, leaning on the door frame.
“Well, dad, we didn’t exactly have him... the traditional way, so we didn’t think to tell you about him! Honestly at this point I thought he might have destroyed the planet so it wouldn’t really be relevant. I do have pictures though! I can get Morgan to send you a bunch!”
“You are bringing him back here and getting him to have some quality time with his grandparents this minute.” Alex relaxed a little at this, not just because it was clear their father was excited rather than just angry, but also because they were officially about to not be the main problem child.
“Well dad, I’ll try, but Morgan really prefers to have Hawk with them on missions like this, and to be honest, I really don’t think they’re going to want to send him back.” Alex picked up their cell phone and dialed Morgan.
“How bad is it?” Morgan answered on the first ring,
“You are dead, resurrected, tortured, dead, alive again, and buying me brunch for this”
“Ooh, tempting, but I think you’re forgetting that I’m the one out getting your ability to do that back for you.”
“Dad wants Hawk back here so he can get to know him.”
“As small a sacrifice as that might be under normal circumstances, we kind of need the muscle for this mission. He can totally spend the summer there when we get back though! I bet Hawk would love that!”
Alex put the phone to their shoulder and looked over at their dad. “Morgan says he can spend the summer after the mission if that’s okay with you, but they can’t really spare him now. Is that okay?”
“Of course! Morgan always knows best! And it’ll be so nice to have the extra help on the farm.”
“Yeah, dad says that works.” Alex grumbled, noting their parent’s favoritism yet again.
“Please tell him I’m so sorry that we didn’t tell him, it honestly didn’t even cross my mind, and we got so caught up with raising a kid and everyday life and-”
“You’re apologizing to him?! Really? You kidnapped me under anesthesia and you’re stealing the heist of a lifetime from me, but you apologize to my dad instead?!”
“It would be the heist of a lifetime because you would fucking die.”
“I don’t care! When am I gonna get another chance like this?”
“Maybe a million times in the future if I do this because you’ll survive to see tomorrow!”
Morgan hung up. Alex dropped their phone and sighed. “Morgan wanted me to be sure to apologize that you haven’t met before.”
“They’re so good. I can’t wait to meet my new grandson! What does he like? What should we do while he’s here?”
Alex smiled and laid back. “He likes skateboarding and eating, although his appetite is more quantity-based than quality-based, so if you want to make something for him, make a lot and don’t worry if it’s good.” Alex’s dad practically skipped out of the room, listing all the things he was going to teach his new grandkid, glowing with the joy of discovering he had been a grandpa all this time. Alex’s mom sauntered back over to the bed, arms still folded, and sat back down.
“So, when are we getting a second grandchild?”
Alex put their pillow over their face and screamed.