Author: There is a heat wave in my country. My brain is now mush. I can't think or write. I am sorry for the late chapter. I will make it up on the weekends.
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A Quinjet is departing from New York and heading to California. Coulson is driving the re-fueled jet to go get Skye and bring her back home. Skye agrees instantly when Coulson has told her what is going on. Even at the fastest speed, she will arrive at the hospital around 3 in the afternoon.
…
"Dad, have a seat," Ryan invited his dad to sit down next to him. He is still in the MediQuick chair at the moment. By his calculation, it will take him at least 3 days for him to fully heal himself.
"Mr. Knight… I mean, Father… Do you want some tea?" Gwen is startled when Tim walks in. Then, she got stared at when she called Tim 'Mr. Knight', prompting her to change it to what Tim asked her to call him.
She is getting up from the chair and wants to let go of Ryan's hand. Her body is stopped from moving away as Ryan doesn't want to let go.
"Don't leave me, Gwen," Ryan said softly as he gripped her hand tight.
Although Ryan is being clingy, Gwen didn't get annoyed at him. She patted his hand softly and sat back down.
"I'm not going anywhere," She said in a calming voice. Ryan nods and loosens his grip, but still holds her hand.
Being attacked physically and mentally, he is very vulnerable right now. Her being there is the only reason he didn't spiral into anxiety and overthinking while making the haunting scene he saw go away.
"Son, shouldn't you go to a hospital?" Tim says as he hides his bloodlust. He almost went crazy when he heard that his son was injured. He didn't care if the whole city was destroyed.
"Don't worry dad, my chair is better than most doctors out there," Ryan said in a joking tone. Tim isn't amused.
In the hospital, Kai felt that his ear was itchy.
"I want a full report then," Tim demanded. If Ryan is at a hospital, he can ask the doctor there about his progress, sickness, injury, and so on. How should he ask a chair that?
[ The full report will be printed in 20 seconds...] MediQuick chimes in. Tim is a bit surprised.
"Is this ALBUS?" Tim asks.
"No Dad, it's a new (cough)" Ryan wants to explain, but MediQuick is pumping the blood pooled up, out of his lungs. Black blood came out of his mouth and stained his chin, in front of his dad and Gwen.
Gwen and Tim jumped from the seat.
"Ryan!" Gwen screamed.
"Son!" Tim screamed.
As Ryan keeps coughing, the report is completed. Tim quickly grabs the report and reads it. Gwen too is reading the report.
2 holes in the upper torso. Penetrated his lungs. One hole is an inch away from his heart.
3 holes in the lower part of his torso. His stomach and his intestines are injured. Other than that, there is no other injury to his body.
"Ryan, we need to get you to a hospital!" Tim said urgently. MediQuick chimes in and notifies the worried father.
[ Mr. Knight will die if he gets out of the treatment, even for a second. His condition will stabilize in 6 hours by my calculation. ]
"Stabilises?" Tim asks.
[It won't be an instant death at that time.]
Tim became forlorn. His face was ashen. He gritted his teeth until it was bloody. Gwen's tears fell, but she quickly turned away from Ryan so that he wouldn't see it.
Ryan tries to wipe his blood using his hand, but Gwen stops him. She ran to the rack nearby and took a few clean clothes to wipe out the blood.
"Ahh, MediQuick. A little warning next time," Ryan said as he breathes a bit better. His vision is still blurry, so he can't see what is happening to Gwen and his father.
"Dad, can you talk to Bryan? He wants to quit," Ryan asks his dad for a favor.
"S…. Stop…Talking… " Tim said with gritted teeth.
"Dad?" Ryan asks, confused. Tim saw his son's unfocused eyes, trying to search for him.
"I SAID. STOP TALKING!" Tim yelled. He didn't remember when was the last time he yelled at his son. Probably never in his son's adult life.
Gwen is startled. She takes a step back from the old man who is panting heavily and continues to nurse Ryan. She wipes out the blood stains on his body. Quickly, there is a pile of bloodied clothes next to the chair.
Ryan let his dad calm down first before he comforted the old man.
"Dad. I won't die. Didn't you hear what MediQuick said?"
"Ryan. For god's sake," Tim said in exasperation. The kid won't stop talking, won't he?
Ryan chuckles as he saw his dad's funny face. His eyes are now focusing again. His sight condition went back and forth. Something it's good, sometimes it'll stop functioning.
[Sir, we need more O-type blood ] MediQuick chimes in. The blood in his storage is running low and he needs it to stabilize Ryan.
"I will handle it," Tim said as he took out his flip phone.
Near Stark Tower. Dr. Selvig had woken up. The normal Banner had returned from his Hulk state. Tony had gotten out of his armor. The geniuses are talking about the incident. Selvig had put in a stop-switch on the generator even when he was mind-controlled. Some of his consciousness is still there. Ryan found his mechanism and used it to close the portal.
It's the same thing as Barton who shoots Fury in the chest instead of his head underground in the research center. Some of their former self is still there, albeit a little.
Thor is asking them for a favor. To create a device that can bring him to Asgard using the tesseract. It wasn't hard for them to do so as Thor provided them with the blueprint.
"Sir, a priority situation had occurred," JARVIS chimes on Tony's phone. He quickly checked it.
"He needs blood? Okay!" Tony activated the Mark 7 to come to pick him up. They have moved to a Stark research center outside the city. It'll take him a while to get to Ryan's house as he is too far away. Using the suit is the only logical approach.
Tim wants to call the director of the hospital nearby, but blood is in shortage right now with many people injured during the war. Ryan stopped him from doing that. It'll be faster to have the islander teleported into his house. There is still some blood stock on the island.
"Ryan, couldn't Dawn heal you?" Gwen asks. Maybe, they can bring Ryan back to the island. The technology there can save his life. Ryan shakes his head.
"Dawn isn't there. He is still in space right now," Ryan said softly to Gwen.
"I am the one who created the medical equipment there. MediQuick is more powerful than any of them," He explained as Gwen still insisted on bringing him there.
"The blood packet will come in 5 minutes by helicopter," Tim informed as he walked inside the room after finishing his call in the living room. He didn't want to disturb his son's rest if he talked there. Also, he did something extra when he got out of there. It soothes the anger in his heart a little bit when he does that.
*Ding Dong*
Suddenly, someone rang the bell on the front door. A beautiful young woman is seen on the intercom camera. She is carrying a sling bag, with the blood packet inside it.
Tim volunteers to open the door and he is greatly surprised when he saw the girl there, with the blood he needed.
"Who sent you?" He asks. How did the girl get there? Who opens up the elevator for them? He had so many questions.
"Grandpa. Ryan is my teacher. This, please give it to him," Park Shin said cutely and handed the blood bag to Tim before she teleported away using the magic ring. Yinsen was notified by R.Q. about Ryan's needs and he sends people there quickly.
Tim's eyes widened as he saw the sight of people disappearing in front of him.
"Has the world gone mad?" He muttered.
…
The Knight shelter. Full of blast marks and cracks, the steel wall lowered itself into the ground, revealing the Knight Industry campus building that is full of people.
The integrity of the wall has fallen 50% during the heavy siege by the Chitauri army. Outside the perimeter, ambulances are waiting for the injured citizens during the evacuation. The police helped maintain the order for the people to get out of the shelter.
The people complied with the orders. However, many of them have lost their homes. So what now? Where shall they go?
*Ding* The citizens' phone is chiming.
[From Department of Damage Control]
A government department founded by Ryan is responsible for cleaning up New York City from the alien devices, and they also have the responsibility to rebuild the houses damaged by the war.
Ryan will use the money from the alien fragment to support the cost of rebuilding. Shield will fight him, but they will bleed out in the negotiation. If Shield wants him to stop, then they need to fork out the money for the repair.
"May, what happened to Mr. Knight?" Peter asks his aunt. His eyes are swollen and his nose is red. He couldn't help but feel that he had disappointed Ryan.
May just got off a call with her only supervisor, Hiddle. Her face was ashen, her pupil unfocused. She asked Hiddle about Ryan, and the butler shared it with her without hiding any information. After all, May will become his successor.
She turns to look at Peter. Ned and MJ are standing behind the future spidey. The rest of the kids are still following their school teacher, going to their school bus. Their parents are waiting for them near the school.
"Peter…Mr. Knight… he is injured. Why don't you stay in my office first? I will come to pick you up later," May said as she kneeled to comfort Peter.
Peter hugged Aunt May tightly before he let go. He is sniffing as he tries to control his emotion. Before May could leave, suddenly her phone rang again. It's a video call this time.
"Hello May, is Peter there with you?" Ryan called from his medical chair. Gwen is helping him hold the phone. Only his face is shown in the call. He couldn't use the holochat as it would interfere with MediQuick keeping him alive.
"Mr. Knight, please get some rest!" May scolded him instantly. How could a person with 5 extra holes in their body be so energetic?
"I will, after I talk with Peter," Ryan says as he smiles softly. May shakes her head as she knows Ryan only pretends to listen to her at the moment. May turns the smartphone camera to Peter and lets him hold it.
"Hey Rudolph, why the red nose?" Ryan asked Peter as he saw his crying face.
"Mr. Knight. I am sorry. It won't happen again!" Peter says agitated. What if Ryan is disappointed in him and would not see him again? He didn't want that. Peter keeps talking, but Ryan interrupts.
"Peter. Let me stop you right there. You did well today. You have helped a lot of people," Ryan said in a soft tone.
"But sir, If I followed your order more accurately, then you might not get injured," Peter said as tears fell from his eyes again.
Ryan let him calm down first. "Breathe Peter breathe."
He then continued after Peter had calmed down.
"I was wrong to involve you in this. You're just a child. You should not participate in it."
"Sir!" Peter is startled.
"I am sorry Peter," Ryan apologizes sincerely.
May, who is hearing the conversation, is shocked. To be honest, what Peter is doing is playing a game. However, when she thinks about it, Peter does happen to be participating in the war.
"Don't feel bad because you get power drunk. I went through the same thing," Ryan comforted Peter.
"Remember Peter, when you get a hold of power, it's intoxicating. It's like being with a girl for the first time. It'll suck you right into it, and tempt you to abuse it," Ryan said, making May glare at him. Gwen too is glaring at Ryan.
"What are you saying to an 11-year-old?" Gwen scolded.
"Ehem. My point is. With great power…comes great responsibility to the ones who wield it. Remember this Peter," Ryan said softly. He talks with Peter for a while, but then the gaping hole on his penthouse walls is inviting a red bug to come in.
"Dude, I am delivering your blood. Could you ask the drones to stand down," Tony said as he was surrounded by 30 or so Brainbots with a metal pipe in their hands. The Brainbots are helping Ryan fix the hole on the wall. Most of the work is done by a humanoid construction robot Ryan summoned from the island.
Ryan's balcony is stripped from the rest of the house with the wall. The living room is a mess. The Brainbot is working hard to scrub the blood pool on Ryan's computer. Shots from the Chitauri gliders had broken Gwen's China that Ryan fixed using magic when Amora came by.
"BrainBot, stand down. You can hit him once, but stand down after that," Gwen ordered the bots to let Tony in. She was greatly startled when he just nonchalantly landed inside the living room. Now there is an additional scorch mark to be cleaned up.
"We already have the blood supply. Send this to Saint John. they need blood there," Ryan ordered the metal man as he controlled MediQuick to come to the living room. He didn't want Tony to get to his quantum displacement room. There will be endless questions if Tony sees it.
"In a minute. You're looking extra 'Hole'y today. Don't you need a doctor or something?" Tony asks playfully as he hides his worry. He had been scanning Ryan from a close distance, and comparing the data he got with every medical record in the world.
"Tony. How did my condition get out?" Ryan asks, snapping Tony back to reality. He opens up his face armor and retracts his entire helmet into his suit. The suit is full of scorch marks and scratches from the battle.
"I don't know. Maybe someone is being loose-mouthed in the Avengers team. Maybe it's Captain America," Tony accuses Steve instantly.
He is the one who did it. Without him knowing about it. All because he cracked a joke with the delivery man he snatched the blood from.
"Go Tony. A lot of people still need help. I want to do it but…" Ryan pretended to be vulnerable. Tony nods solemnly and flies out to City Hall. He will be helping people with the rebuilding.
"You're abusing him," Gwen scolded Ryan. "What about using your power responsibly like you say to Pete?"
Ryan grinned at Gwen. "I am a little different. For me the quote is…"
"(in an Irish accent) With great power comes the total fuckin' certainty that you're gonna turn into a cunt."
Gwen shakes her head as she nudges Ryan back into the room. She thought that he could pretend all he wanted, but no one in the world could say that Ryan is not a responsible superhero.
"Gwen, Dad is going to the City Hall right. Could you ask him to handle Shield for me? I don't have the energy to do it right now," Ryan said weakly. Fury just landed the helicarrier near the Triskelion building. Ryan is sure Fury will come by here.
Speaking of Fury, Ryan did change his impression of the man a little bit. Fury did not stay idle during the war as Ryan thought. Shield members have been posing as CIA or FBI and helped the people for the evacuation.
They also guarded the perimeter during the battle. Sure, they arrived 10 minutes after the battle had already started, but they did something too. Surprisingly, none of the agents who had been helping are from the STRIKE team a.k.a Hydra.
"Shield is made up of a massive number of people who believe that they are protecting the world. I hate that the Hydra uprising will eliminate the good ones in Shield." Ryan murmurs. A plan brews inside his mind.
Gwen is letting him rest for the rest of the day. She is resolute in keeping away any distractions for Ryan. The media is going crazy because of Ryan's disappearance.
Cindy Moon, a reporter from New Jersey, had been promoted to the New York CNN branch after her coverage of the nuclear bomb on the sea. She is interviewing a detective from the 99th precinct about the war.
Cindy Moon: So Detective Charles Boyle. Can you share with us the situation during the war?
Gwen is watching the interview as Ryan finally goes to sleep. She is watching it from the holographic projection on her watch with the sound lowered. She is still holding Ryan's hand as he refuses for her to let go. It's now 1 p.m. Ryan has only been sleeping for an hour.
Boyle: At first, I just thought that it'll be an ordinary day. Catch some perps and go to the farmer's market for some gouda. All of a sudden, the alien came!
Boyle: Mr. Knight is not only inside of me, but he is guiding all of us to fight back against the aliens. If he says duck, we duck. Shoot, we shoot. Some tried to reject his order, but they were killed by the aliens within 5 seconds.
Cindy Moon: Can you say that, without Mr. Knight, we wouldn't have won?
Boyle: I don't know if we wouldn't have won. But I think that a lot more people will lose their lives without Mr. Knight.
The interview is ending. Cindy Moon is giving out her closing remark.
Cindy Moon: Even if he is besieged by the aliens, Mr. Knight didn't abandon the people of New York. We have it clear that he is shot five times in the abdomen and is in critical condition. Will the 'Oracle' survive the ordeal? We will keep you updated.
Gwen chuckles a little bit when she hears Ryan's superhero name. There are a lot of names thrown out there for him. 'The Dark Knight', 'Savant', 'Overwatch', 'Cipher', and more. New names are coming out every minute.
But Oracle sticks out like a sore thumb.
Gwen mutters softly as she kisses Ryan's cheeks.
"Hey, Oracle. You have a superhero name now. Don't get nightmares when you hear about it later okay?"
…
It's finally 3 o'clock. The Chat Group is now online!
Mephisto: Dude, you got stabbed by 5 black rods?
GreenWitch: You got penetrated by 5 huge, throbbing black rods?
RedWidow: You got penetrated by 5 huge, throbbing black rods that opened you up to a whole new sensation? Something that you have never felt before?
Hydra: Ha Ha (drylaugh). Very funny guys.
VampireKid: (5 black men standing behind a tiny blonde girl sitting on a sofa picture)
Mythic: @Vampirekid what the f… (crying-laughing.gif)
Ryan had shared what happened to him with the chat group. Even though they look like they are having fun teasing Ryan, they are checking the information or knowledge they have to find out what is causing Ryan's healing to be disrupted.
Mephisto: The Fear Lord is an intangible entity. He didn't have a physical form like you and me. Maybe, there is still part of him inside of you. That's why your healing is disrupted.
Hydra: There is only residual demonic energy though.
Mephisto: I don't think that is what you think it is. I will send you a scroll pattern. Oh, shit the system is locked. Urghh… I will send you the knowledge about it then. Try to understand it quickly. Otherwise, you will… die.