Soon after he arrived at the hospital, Conner’s family was informed of what happened to him. Within a half hour, the whole family had come to check up on his condition.

Once his entire family had shown up, Conner told his parents and sister the full story of what happened. However, he felt like mentioning Death Head’s offer of apprenticeship might have only worried his parents more, so he excluded it from the tale.

As soon as she learned how Frank was responsible for her son’s condition, Conner’s mother exclaimed, “That little s-… rat! He hurt my baby so badly!”

Conner’s mom, Ellie, was slightly on the taller side for a woman, around five foot eight. She had long, dark brown hair she kept back with a hairband. Although she had the garb and speech patterns of a refined lady, largely due to her library job, her maddened blue eyes always showed her true nature of tempered aggression.

Folding his arms, Conner’s father remarked, “Now Conner’s gonna miss school cause of this, and we also gotta pay the hospital bills Frank’s thrown at us.”

Conner’s Dad, Alexander, or Alex as he preferred, was a tall man of over six feet with the powerful build of a man who took his construction work very seriously. Although there was somewhat of an intimidating air about the large man, not helped by his more rudimentary dialect, his expression almost always accentuated the patience and kindness in his deep blueish-gray eyes.

Doing his best to put on a brave face and a comforting smile, Conner sat up slightly and said, “Hey, Mom, Dad, don’t worry. Death Head even told me he thought I’d only be here for a week… I’m so sorry about all this.”

Clenching her fists, Conner’s mom shouted, “What are you apologizing for?!”

Not getting the response he'd expected, Conner explained, “Huh…? Well, this wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t started things with-.”

Before Conner could finish his apology, his mom yelled at him, “Don’t you dare try to take responsibility for something that bast… jerk did! He is the one who started this whole fiasco by harassing your dearest friend! You did the honorable thing by coming to John’s defense, and you shouldn’t apologize for doing the right thing! Frank is the one who needs to pay for what he did to you!”

Shrinking back, Conner briefly contemplated his mom’s words before muttering, “I… I’m glad you think so too… But… But can we even afford the hospital bills?”

“Don’t worry about that, kiddo. Your mom’s right that this ain’t your fault, so we’ll figure something out. You just gotta worry ‘bout getting better is all,” Conner’s dad told him.

“Perhaps I’ll find Frank and break his legs,” Conner’s mom said suddenly, apparently having missed her son’s question.

Leslie, who was standing on the other side of Conner’s bed, peaked over and commented, “Wow… Mom’s really scary.”

Leslie, a girl at the age of eleven, had inherited her parent’s height the same way Conner had, being noticeably large for her age. She had her mother's long dark-brown hair but her father's kind eyes. All of this wrapped up in a package that screamed out curiosity and eccentricity with each bit of body language she displayed.

As the family collectively raised their brows at Ellie’s comment, Conner’s dad put a hand on his wife’s shoulder and told her, “Uh… Ellie, goin’ after a kid ain’t… Actually… Hey, yeah! I think that could work.”

“Huh? Are you serious? You think we should really go rough up the boy?” Conner’s mom replied with a tilt of her head. “I was just venting my frustrations, but if you’re up for it too, then-.”

Pulling his hand from her shoulder and clasping his wife’s hands, Frank exclaimed, “Naw, not about curb-stomping the brat. Making him pay, I mean. We can get his family to pay for Conner’s hospital stay and threaten to sue if they don’t!”

As her face brightened up, Ellie replied, “Honey! That’s a great idea! It would be cheaper just to pay the hospital bills than it would to go to get a lawyer, so there’s no way they’d even try to risk a court battle.”

“Hehe. Thanks, hun,” Conner’s dad said with a hint of pride.

Gripping the handrails of Conner’s hospital bed, Leslie voiced her delight, “Wow! Dad, you’re so smart!”

“Um, guys?” Conner asked to get everyone’s attention. “Couldn’t Frank’s parents think the same thing? That we couldn’t afford a layer too…? Ya know… Cuz we can’t.”

“I… Uh… Ah, shoot,” Conner’s father replied while sulking slightly.

Tapping her foot on the floor while bringing a hand to her chin, Ellie postulated aloud, “Hrm… Conner is correct. However… I still believe this course of action would be our best bet, financially.” Throwing her arms down, she exclaimed further, “We shall test those scoundrels’ conviction for their finances against our own!”

“Oh…? Oh! I get it! It’ll be like playing chicken, but with money,” Alex stated.

“Exactly!” She replied excitedly while grabbing and pulling on her husband’s arm. “Come, Alex! I will need your aid in confronting that rat’s parents over the phone!”

While his wife pulled him out of the room, Alex said, “Alright, alright! I’m coming!” Before he turned to Conner and told him, “Just wait for us, bud! We’ll be back in a bit!”

As his parents rushed out of the room to make their phone call, Conner half-heartedly waved at them and whispered, “Where exactly do you think I’m gonna go, Dad?”

After their parents had left them alone, Conner felt his sister’s small finger tapping on his shoulder.

Looking toward her, he asked, “Yeah? What is it, Lez?”

Jumping with excitement, Leslie exclaimed, “Tell me about Death Head! What did he look like? Is he really ten feet tall? Does he really have a magic sword?”

Scratching his scalp, Conner answered all her questions in order as best as he could, “Uh… Um… He’s covered in body armor, so I can’t really say what he looks like for certain. No, he’s not ten feet. I’d say he was more like six feet. And I don’t think the sword he had was magic, but maybe it was. Also, he was coughing a lot for some reason.”

Gripping Conner’s hospital bed sheets, Leslie asked, “Oh no! Do you think Death Head’s okay?”

Shrugging, Conner said, “I don’t know. He told me not to worry about it when I asked him. And he didn’t move like he was in pain at all. So, maybe he just had a scratchy throat or something?”

Burying her face in the hospital sheets, Leslie remarked, “I hope so… Wait, but then you might get sick from whatever he had!”

Unable to contain a chuckle, Conner replied, “Well, it’s a good thing I’m in a hospital already, isn’t it, sis?”

Squirming slightly, Leslie replied, “I guess so… Huh!”

Raising a brow to his little sister’s gasp, Conner asked, “Wassup?”

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Gripping the collar of her brother’s hospital gown, Leslie exclaimed, “What if he’s an alien or… or a demon, or an angel, or something!? And maybe he gave you some kind of space or magic sickness that’ll give you superpowers! Or what if-?”

Leslie had always had an overactive imagination for as long as she could speak. Conner had long since grown used to his sister’s unlikely but creative explanations for the unknown, even encouraging her to turn them into books. And so he simply smiled and waited to speak until she wore herself out.

As their conversation went on and Leslie continued to pry for information on Death Head, it took all of Conner’s willpower not to spill the beans about his future plans to work with the Mask.

For a moment, Conner thought that maybe because his sister was still just a kid, it might be okay to share his secret with her. But at the same time, Death Head’s warning of ditching him kept repeating in his mind. It didn’t help matters that he was frankly desperate to tell anybody.

However, Conner managed to control his impulses by constantly reminding himself how important it was for his own future plans to keep Death Head’s secret. So, he managed to avoid saying anything as Leslie prattled on twelve more ideas about who or what Death Head could be.

Amongst the possibilities she presented were the ideas of Death Head being a zombie, vampire, or several other kinds of undead and/or mythical creatures.

Somewhat over an hour into the admittedly one-sided conversation, just as Leslie began explaining how Death Head might be a merman of some kind, the siblings’ parents threw the room’s door open with victorious grins.

“Hahaha! Excellent news, my young darlings! We jousted willpower with our foes and emerged victorious!” Ellie shouted as she raised her cell phone over her head.

With his arm wrapped around his wife’s shoulder, Alex added, “Hehe! Yeah! Those pansies folded like chairs as soon as we said we’d sue! Your whole bill’s being paid for out of their pocket, kiddo!”

“I… Wait, really? It really worked?” Conner blurted out while covering his sister’s mouth; the only effective way to get her to stop once she was on a creative roll.

Pulling her brother’s hand away, Leslie stated smugly, “See? I said Dad was super smart. Remember? I said that before.”

As his parents celebrated their victory in each other’s arms, Conner smirked and replied, “Yeah… I guess you did.”

The rest of that day, until visiting hours were over, Conner’s family talked gleefully with each other. Most of all, they discussed what to do once Conner was released from the hospital, throwing around dinner ideas.

|XXX|

During the second day of Conner’s hospital stay, while his family was busy with school and work, his friends came to visit him in their place.

Although they had heard bits and pieces of the story from gossip around school, it wasn’t until now that they got the entire tale. It was also at this moment the friend group collectively lost their cool.

“That jackass is dead! Next time I see him, I’m caving his skull in!” Carl exclaimed after learning the full story.

|X|

Aside from Lanna, Carl Murphy was the shortest in the group. It wasn’t that he was small at all. All his guy friends were simply on the taller side. Regardless, Carl was actually quite athletically built and was easily the second toughest in the group. He was of a darker skin tone than the others as well, with his family being of Jamaican descent on his mother’s side and Irish on his father’s. But the trait of his that stood out more than any other was how he had bleached his hair white simply as a means of standing out.

|X|

“Count me in too. I know I’m not as good in a fight, but I need to get some licks in on Frank for this! I shouldn’t have let him push me around in the first place!” John added.

|X|

John Fable had a rather plain look about him, with short brown hair, brown eyes, and a straightforward Christian upbringing. His most noteworthy traits were his somewhat strong jawline and pale skin from days spent indoors tinkering. That said, the boy was still clearly someone who would grow to become a decently attractive man. And while a little taller than Carl, John was noticeably skinnier.

|X|

Setting down the cup of water he’d been sipping from when the shouting started, Conner said through swallowing water, “Mmph-! Uh, guys. That’s not-.”

Cutting Conner off, Lana asked in a tone that would have been jovial if it hadn’t been for the actual words themselves, “Will you bring enough bats for everyone, Carl? Or at least one for me too? I’ll need one if I’m gonna get in on this.”

|X|

Lana Kristian was the shortest of the bunch, standing just around five foot seven. She had bright green eyes that complimented her light red hair she kept tied in a ponytail. Although not horribly fit due to her preferred nerdy pastimes, the brutal lifestyle of Hive City had given the young woman at least some muscle tone. And although she was caucasian, Lana didn’t have the same kind of pale skin normal for most other gingers.

|X|

Stepping in front of the others, Will told them, “Now, hold on. Using bats to attack someone could result in serious injury or even death. That would go well beyond the bounds of the schoolyard fights we’re used to, and we could get in serious trouble.”

|X|

William Rodriguez was the largest in the friend group, standing slightly over six feet. His military-grade training regiment resulted in him being built like an ox, with enough bulk to even put Frank to shame. He had brown hair in a crewcut, eyes a much darker shade of brown than John’s, and light brown skin resulting from his Hispanic ancestry. Additionally, Will was easily the most attractive out of the whole group, and it showed with his long list of ex-girlfriends from even before the Junior Marines molded his muscles into shape.

|X|

Gritting his teeth, Carl shouted, “But that bastard tried to kill Conner! He pulled a knife on ‘em and everything, for fuck’s sake!”

Nodding while rolling his eyes, Will retorted, “Yeeees, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let any of you go to jail for murder.”

Sighing while scratching his neck, embarrassed, John gave a response reflective of his religious upbringing, “Yeah… I suppose murder is a sin, after all. It’s a good way to get yourself sent straight to Hell.”

Rubbing her arm awkwardly, Lana pouted slightly and said, “I mean… Yeah, I guess I don’t really wanna go to jail.”

Relieved to hear Will being so sensible, Conner sighed and told him, “Thank you, Will. I mean, you guys seriously don’t need-.”

Cutting Conner off, Will folded his arms and stated, “I think tracking Frank down and giving him a quick beating will work just fine.”

While John was still visibly uncertain, the eagerness had returned to Carl and Lana’s faces as they exclaimed together, “Oh, Hell yeah!”

“Guys! Shut up and listen to me already!” Conner shouted, finally regaining his friend’s full attention.

“Jeez, Conner! What? We’re trying to figure out how to help you here,” Carl replied.

Slamming a fist into his hospital bed, Conner told them, “Yeah, that’s just it, you don’t have ta do anything! If you beat up Frank, his parents probably won’t pay for my hospital stay anymore. Besides, didn’t you tell me he got suspended already? I’m fine with that.”

“Expelled, actually. There’s talk he’s even gonna go to juvie, too,” John clarified.

Smirking, Conner proclaimed, “See? Everything’s settled.”

Flabbergasted, Carl leaned on the rails of Conner’s bed and exclaimed, “He tried to murder you!”

Shrugging, Conner replied, “Yeah, and I got a few good hits in on him at the same time. And now he got punished for what he did. Justice is served and all that good junk.”

Putting his hands in his pockets, William said, “Wow… You always had a sense of justice about you, but I didn’t realize it went this far. I don’t think I could let this go that easily if it’d happened to me.”

“Eh, I’m just not too big on the whole revenge thing,” Conner said.

Backing off a bit, Carl gritted his teeth into a frown and said, “Well, that makes one of us, dude…”

Gently elbowing Carl in his ribs, Lanna told him, “Ah, don’t worry about it. If Frank doesn’t end up going to juvie, you and me could always take a couple bats to his head if he ever causes shit again.”

Putting his fists on his waist, Carl smirked and replied, “Yeah, I suppose I could settle for that.”

“Uh, guys, remember what Will and I just said about that? Jail…? Hell? Any of that ringing a bell?” John asked.

With a dismissive wave, Lana told him, “Ah, whatever. We just won’t hit him that hard.”

As the hours ticked by while he and his friends conversed and argued playfully with each other, Conner found himself surprised how none of them bothered to ask him anything about Death Head as Leslie had. However, he would soon learn that the lack of inquiries didn’t universally represent a lack of interest from all his friends. In fact, one, in particular, would prove perhaps a tad too invasive in how they handled their intrigue after Conner was let out of the hospital.