Wilson woke up two days after. By that time, the Trainwrecks had found a large temporary residence to stay in. It was a beautiful, quite expensive private property owned by Horr, but it was unused and slowly collecting dust, so, Charles rented it off him at a discount price.
It was early evening when Wilson woke up, the private hospital room was packed with all the Trainwreck members. Fawn, Dash and Danny were having a little argument among themselves as usual, Sofia was asleep on a sofa and Charlie and the team's instructor whose name no one knew, conversed quietly. Wilson looked at each of their faces and smiled.
"Did we win?"
The entire room went quiet. They collectively looked at him.
"What?" He asked. "You didn't want me to wake up?"
Dash blurted out before any one else could come up with a more appropriate answer.
"No. You're not supposed to wake up yet."
"Huh?" Wilson did not expect that.
"Huh?" Dash repeated. Charlie quickly cut in before things could deviate out of hand.
"What he means is we expected you to still be out till at least the end of next week."
Dash chipped in. "In short, you are not supposed to wake up yet."
Fawn smacked Dash in the back of his head.
Wilson ignored Dash and faced the Instructor.
"Instructor, did we win?" He asked.
"Hey, you just woke up and that is what you say first. Is the competition really all what's on your mind?"
"Yes."
"You couldn't even ask how we were doing?" Danny asked.
"You should be the ones asking me that question." Wilson responded and then faced Fawn on the other side of the bed. "Hey, Fawn, how are you doing?"
"Really?"
"What? I tried to be nice. Did we win?"
"We did." Fawn said with a smile.
"Better." Wilson said and closed his eyes and fell back to sleep.
"Better? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Danny questioned.
"He went through so much to take out the leader so we had better won or his troubles and the excruciating pain he experienced would have been for nothing." Fawn explained.
"Hehe!" Dash chuckled. "If only he knew just how much he scared the opposition."
"Or that the same person who caused him so much pain was sitting beside Sofia." Danny added.
Dash looked straight at the sofa. Sofia had her head on dear Gene Chang's laps as she slept.
"What the fuck!" Dash yelled. "Move it. Now!"
Gene looked up at Dash. He whispered.
"Sssshh. Your siblings are sleeping. Keep it down."
"What the fuck?"
Dash saw red. He walked and grabbed Gene's shirt.
"Get your hands off my sister."
"Don't touch me."
"Tssss!" Dash hissed and grabbed his head as he stepped backwards.
"You..." He pointed but did not dare to step forward to strike Gene. He hesitated then turned to the Charlie and the instructor.
"Help me!"
Charlie shrugged.
"He's as much a part of the team as you or anyone else is." The instructor said and simply went back to scrolling through her shopping list on her phone.
"But... I... she.... She's a minor." Dash stuttered.
"He's not doing anything inappropriate." Charlie continued. "And in a way, he's a minor too. I mean look at him. Someone of his physical age cannot....um... you know!"
"That doesn't change anything." Dash literally squeaked. Charlie shrugged.
The former looked at the rest of his teammates.
"Do something!"
"No, thank you. I would rather not bleed from every hole in my body." Danny said as quickly as he could.
Fawn took some time to consider it. Enough time that Dash even developed an iota of hope.
"I don't want to."
"Why not?"
"Does she look unwilling to you?"
"He's using his mind abilities on her."
"That's not how it works." Gene quipped.
Dash paused. This was too uncomfortable for him. His sister with an adult like that? No way! No fucking way! He walked briskly to Wilson's bed.
"Wilson, wake up!"
He slapped him.
*Pak*
"They're harassing our sister."
Wilson woke up.
"Huh?"
"Ignore him." Fawn said.
"Why does my cheek sting? Did someone slap me?" Wilson asked, his eyes still half closed. Danny hurriedly answered.
"Yes! Dash!"
*Wham*
Wilson didn't even need to open his eyes to deliver a clean slap to Dash. The latter could not have chosen a worse place to stand. With his position primed for slapping Wilson, he also placed himself in the prime position to be slapped by Wilson. The slap sent him flying into the wall.
Danny and Charlie burst into laughter.
Thirty seconds later, the doctor came in with some hefty security men and ushered them all out for making too much noise and disturbing the patient.
**************
Two days later, Wilson was discharged. That day, only Charlie stayed in the hospital with him. The rest of the team had gone out to scout for more members. The criteria, good fighters, loyal people, good skills and potential and a strong ability. Ability was very . And they had zero chance of getting someone who had more than one ability. People like were scouted by powerful important people and organisations right from birth. What were the chances of them finding an unemployed one. Not even the most useless people with dual abilities would ever be unemployed. The mere knowledge that someone could control two different abilities was deterrence enough for most thugs. Oh, and we can't forget the age bracket too.
And so, while Wilson and Charlie were registering out of the hospital, Dash, Danny, Fawn and their instructor scattered to different parts of Tiger City, each with their own methods of finding potential candidates. Fawn went to the industrial districts and gave out flyers, erected banners and spoke to all and sundry about their great team and how they wish to expand and all. In truth, all she succeeded in doing is letting them know about a team named the Trainwrecks.
The instructor went straight to Horr and Barnes to converse with them under Charlie's recommendation. In Charlie's words, "Horr and Barnes are the go-to people for recruitment."
Danny went to other bars to in his own words, 'scout for the hidden gems' but in fact, was only using the opportunity to look for beautiful women to flirt with. The team did not even register in his mind. His excise was that even Dash would do a better job than him at recruiting. As for Dash, he went to visit the 'slums' with Sofia.
The slums was not really a slum. It was actually a amalgamated group of streets that had branded themselves as the poorest part of the city. It was called the slums because of the sheer number of thugs and stragglers and semi-legal stuff that ad become a normality.
This was where Dash and Sofia grew up. And it was where hidden gems abound.
"If there was a rank for the areas with the most number of crude, unrefined talent and potential, The Slums will easily rank in too three." He had told the instructor.
His own major goal was to catch them young. He wasn't looking for ready-made candidates, he was looking for the youngsters and teenagers with hidden skills and talents.
"They will be the future of The Trainwrecks." was what the Instructor and Charlie concluded.
And they had put such an important responsibility in the hands of a teenager and his cute little sister.
While they each did their own things, Wilson and Charlie walked towards a huge company building that was being renovated.
They walked past a couple workers and machines and entered the garage. In there, they came across a wooden door that did not belong there. Charlie stopped in front of it and took a deep breath. He looked at Wilson beside him and gestured for him to go through the door.
Wilson took a long look at him, noticing his nervousness. When he looked back at the door, a spatial gate opened and a voice came from the other side.
"Come in. Hurry! The gate won't hold for long." The voice ushered them in. Charlie went through immediately and Wilson followed right after. His gauntlets covered his hands as he exited on the other side.
He vigilantly looked around him. He was in a place that closely resembled a garden that had been stripped bare.
He looked to his sides but Charlie was nowhere to be found.
"Wilson." A voice called from behind. Wilson immediately turned around.
"Mom?"
Shock was an understatement.
'What is she doing here? How did she get here? Did.. oomph.'
His thoughts stopped as his mom embraced.
As his mom hugged him tight and sobbed, he stopped thinking entirely. The emotions that had been locked away in his heart came back to the fore. And soon, before he knew it, he was sobbing as well.
"I'm sorry, mom. I'm sorry. I should not have made you cry. I should have listened. I got Uncle Dale killed. I...I..." He apologized and cried louder.
Charlie stood there, far away from them and watched silently, tears welling up in his eyes too. He thought about his own father and about the way they had sullied his name. He remembered the hurtful words and beatings he received for years for a crime he did not know about. His lips trembled but he held it in. He was grown up now. There's no point in tears. At least his father's name was cleared of all accusations. He was happy for Wilson and Silvia. Things had worked out for them, although he wished he got a second chance to apologize to his father as well.