Chapter Text
Mark kept trying to pull his hat off. Nolan would have preferred to keep his son tucked at his chest, one hand cradling his head to keep him and the hat in place. Mark had flailed until he had been turned around, able to look out over where they were going. He screamed at the wind in his face and did not like the hat covering his ears. He disliked not being able to see with even greater screams. Nolan traveled slower than he wanted to, what with flying backwards to form a windbreak in order to try and protect his son. Not to mention if he moved too quickly, it was likely Mark could black out from lack of air, little lungs not capable of taking in enough oxygen at high altitudes with superspeed pushing at his chest. Fuck knew Nolan wanted a moment of quiet to think, but a blue lipped toddler in need of resuscitating wouldn't help the situation.
Debbie was alive. For now. Maybe there was a chance her mind would repress what was being done to it and he would get his wife back, none the worse for wear. Fragile as they were, humans made it through a lot by lying to themselves, intentionally or otherwise.
Nolan pushed Mark's hat back down over his ears as the snow covered peak of the Guardians base came into view. His son smacked his hand in extreme offense, but was distracted enough by the side of the mountain opening up that he stopped yelling. Nolan drifted down the tunnel, landing lightly on the platform at the bottom. Green Ghost, sans their typical green appearance, was the only one waiting for him.
"Oh, you- you're not- well, okay."
What? Did he think he could sling a bag of baby gear on his back over his cape? Well, he could have, but he wasn't about to. The world didn't need a glimpse of what was easily identifiable as Omni-Man heading into the mountains with a baby. Mark got his hat off and chucked it at Green Ghost. Nolan caught it before it could make contact.
"Where?"
Ghost led the way, though he kept shooting him looks from the corner of his eye, as if civilian attire had transformed him into a different person. That was the point of a secret identity in a way, though Nolan mostly felt like Nolan through it all. Omni-Man was an incredibly new Earth moniker. Debbie mostly used it to tease him.
Nolan hadn't spent a lot of time at Guardians headquarters. He typically assured them if they needed his help with anything, he would be able to find them at the site of the disaster. He wasn't sure what to make of their overtures to fold him into their group, and bringing up that he had a wife and child at home generally was enough excuse to get away from them. Being among them would be an easy way to keep an eye on them, but could raise more questions than he cared for.
He had never had any reason to enter their infirmary. It wasn't like he was going to get hurt on this mudball, and he wasn't a medic. The only reasons Debbie had ever been to a hospital since he had known her were for check ups related to her pregnancy with Mark. She had refused the ambulance ride the day they met because his intervention had prevented anything disastrous from happening. He had seen plenty of humans hurt and killed since he had arrived here, but he had never seen his wife injured before. He supposed that was enough of a reason for his freezing back at the house. If he had acted quicker, Immortal and the Guardians wouldn't need to be involved at all. Debbie would just be dead. Nolan’s bones almost seemed to ache for a moment.
Mark took his hat back and stuffed it into his mouth.
War Woman and Immortal were talking in the corner when he entered. It was Darkwing who was standing over the bed that held Debbie. Nolan walked over to her, Mark beginning to excitedly squirm in his hands. The room got quiet except for the machine beeping of the monitors she was hooked up to.
Darkwing's gaze lingered on Mark before turning to Nolan. "We gave her some muscle relaxants to try and keep her from tearing anything. The seizures still haven't stopped, I've never seen a brain light up like this before."
"You're a doctor too?" Nolan didn't bother to keep the skepticism out of his voice. Mark struggled to reach for his mother and keep his hat in his mouth at the same time.
Darkwing's expression didn't change. "I'm the one here with a vested interest in understanding how bodies work." The rest of the Guardians either weren't human, or were so altered by their abilities they very well could be defined as non-human. How they got and how they felt about those powers varied. The need for medical intervention on their bodies in case of injury also varied greatly, Darkwing simply insisted he preferred being prepared. "What I don't think I can handle, I get referrals on. Normally through the GDA."
He tried not to grimace too heavily at that, but what did he expect? These were the only people who even had a chance of helping. They knew that too. He couldn't take Debbie anywhere else without drawing suspicion. No standard hospital could even know what happened to her without risking his identity as Omni-Man getting out.
There was a whoosh of displaced air as Red Rush careened into the room, stopping at Nolan's side and handing something off to Darkwing. "Told you I could get it, no problem."
"That does not make me feel good about hospital security," Darkwing muttered.
Red Rush waved at Mark, who ignored him as he continued to try and reach for his mother. The hero didn't look offended, and turned a much more somber expression towards Nolan. "The others explained, but how did you know something had happened?"
"I felt it."
"Ah, lover's danger sense, very romantic-"
"Josef-" War Woman approached them.
"No," Nolan snapped. "Right when that thing left. I felt... her."
Darkwing frowned. "Can you be more descriptive than felt?"
Drowning. She was drowning. "No."
"You think it did something to both of you?"
He knew exactly what that fucking thing had done. "I have no idea."
"Aside from that... feeling, have you noticed any changes?"
"No." That was true enough. Perhaps a sense of shame that he had failed to respond as he should have.
"Mama!" Mark screamed, finally releasing his hat.
The Guardians crowding around them all took a step back at the outburst, suddenly appearing more busy within the room. Except for Red Rush, who caught the spit soaked hat before it could hit the floor. Nolan turned his son around so he wouldn't be directly facing his mother anymore. Mark squirmed in his hands, face turning red as a new screaming fit built up in his chest.
That heavy feeling like a broken piece of granite wormed its way back down his throat to behind his heart. It was accompanied by that new ache in his bones.
Mark started scream-crying.
chanceforsomethingchangebabypainholdhimwhereis-
“-get the kid.”
“You have any brilliant plans then?” Josef quipped. “A way to make that happen? You’ve seen what happens when he wants to hold on to something.”
“Don’t remind me,” Immortal grumbled.
Nolan blinked. Mark was crying in his outstretched hands. He pulled him close to his chest, trying to get him to be quiet like he had back at the house. The bouncing just made his cries oscillate.
War Woman, Darkwing, Immortal and Josef were all staring at him.
“What?” He snapped at them. Like they could get a damn baby to stop crying any better than him.
“What just happened?” Immortal looked at Darkwing.
“I’m not sure.”
“Nolan, what did you just experience?” War Woman asked.
Nolan. He might have introduced himself to them that way, but once he picked up Omni-Man they had all been a bit uptight about using it constantly. The switch now felt… cautious. Like they were trying to coax him towards something. They had given him a whole spiel about how when in the middle of a crisis, you asked someone their name so you could talk them through what they needed to do to survive. As if someone's name was somehow soothing.
It just put him on edge, the way they were watching him. Debbie and Mark were nearby, he couldn’t- “What the fuck are you talking about?” Mark’s screaming subsided as he grew too tired to keep pulling in full lungfuls of air. He mostly dripped snot and tears on Nolan’s shirt while attempting to wiggle his body back around.
He liked staring at doorknobs. Well, he had before he’d moved on to blocks. Were there any doorknobs in Guardians’ HQ? Most of their doors were automatic. Probably not.
“You sort of… froze, for a moment.” Josef held his hands up in a parody of how he had been holding Mark a moment ago.
Only Immortal had been at the house. No one else should have seen him hesitate. What was he talking about? “No, I didn’t.”
“You did though,” Darkwing said.
His first impulse was to deny it again. Nothing here even remotely had the ability to interfere with his perceptions. What that thing had done, well, the scant few decades of Debbie’s life were somewhere in his thoughts, but nowhere near loud enough to be noticeable. Remembering any of her life wouldn’t seize him up, anyway. She had no life experiences which could be disruptive to him. Not that it would be easy to pull at her thoughts, anyway. A drop of rain in the ocean. He was the one that drowned her. “I’m fine.”
“We can’t know that,” Immortal said. “Why don’t you give Mark to Red Rush and we can-”
“No.” Were they… trying to take his son away from him? He moved a hand up to support the back of Mark’s head in case he needed to start moving quickly.
There was less than a second of held tension in the air.
War Woman looked to Josef. “Go bring a chair so he can sit with his wife.”
“Ah, right.”
Immortal frowned at her and Nolan narrowed his eyes. They just expected him to sit around here and wait? He could- he should- well, fuck it, if they didn’t need help keeping an eye on Earth, why not take the break? He had just been planning on going home and having dinner. That clearly wasn’t happening. If Debbie did wake up he should be nearby in case…
If she was even capable of talking, what would she say? Could he claim she was delirious? That that thing had dumped some false memories in her? That she simply didn’t understand what was floating around in her head? If her eyes were open, if she was looking at him, could he…?
Why was he even thinking about this? Looking someone in the eye while you killed them was infinitely more respectful than crushing them in their sleep. But if she had his memories and didn’t go mad, wouldn’t she understand? Want to help? He wouldn’t need to convince her of his mission, it would simply be hers too.
Immortal waved a hand in his face.
“I’m thinking, not losing time,” Nolan snapped.
“Just checking.”
Josef finally zipped back into the room. “You know, I never really noticed how few chairs we have here. We should maybe change that.”
“This is a crisis center, not a lounge,” War Woman said.
“We should still be able to put our feet up between crises.”
“You hate putting your feet up,” Immortal reminded him.
“Well, for all of you maybe. Make you less cranky.”
Nolan dropped the bag of baby gear at the foot of the chair and sat down. The Guardians’ bickering was irrelevant where it didn’t concern members of his family. Mark grumbled and squirmed, but it felt less like an escape attempt and more like he was trying to settle. Nolan tried to clean up his blotchy face as best he could before resting him against his chest. Him sleeping now was probably disruptive to whatever sleep schedule Debbie was trying to keep him on, but he could deal with that later. Nolan would need to come up with his own system if she- if she could no longer continue caring for Mark.
The display above Debbie’s bed showed red warnings noting the unusual brain activity occurring.