Counterattack: Part 4
"It was one of those two A.M. phone calls," Vaughn said. "You know, the ones that are either going to be incredibly good, or incredibly bad."
The cafeteria was mostly empty and lunch hour was mostly over. Vaughn had happened to pass my table on the way out. Courtney and Keith were sitting with me, so I couldn't say much.
"That was how it worked when my uncle got kidnapped too," Keith said. "I was already in the hospital, but my mom and dad got called out of the blue."
"Have you gone to see him?" Courtney asked.
"No. My parents aren't going to have me skip school for it. My mom might have dropped by during the day. I don't know."
Keith nodded. "How did he get hurt?"
"Some kind of random thing," Vaughn said. "He's in his residency, so he comes home really late, and just happened to be in the middle of a shooting."
"Like with whoever it was in Justice Fist, and the Heroes League? There's something going on." Keith looked around the table at all of us. "You and I ought to go investigate. Wouldn't that be cool?"
"No." Courtney pushed his shoulder. "It would not be cool. Those people have real guns."
"It's a waste to be able to lift a couple tons and not be able to use it. With great power comes great responsibility, right? You investigate and I'll take them down. It's made to be."
Courtney stared at him. "It's crazy. Remember the fight on the north side? Captain Commando cut off somebody's leg, and someone else got thrown through a house. If we got attacked, the worst I could do is develop really bad acne, and hope to scare them away. And you're strong, but not Grey Giant strong. We'd get killed."
"Well, that's the thing," Keith said. "This place is getting to be like New York or something. I think all of us second stringers need to get organized because otherwise we won't be able to protect ourselves."
"I'm going to bring my tray back. It's nearly time for class," I said, and got up, wondering if Vaughn would walk with me.
He didn't hesitate, just waved to them, and walked along.
We shoveled our leftovers into the trash can, and put our trays on the racks that stood in the corner.
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I looked both ways as we stepped out of the door. No one stood anywhere near us.
"How did Lucas keep the press from connecting him with Red Legacy?"
"Oh, family stuff, I bet. We've got a lot of pull with the hospital and the police. He went into the hospital as Red Legacy, but got moved to another room as himself."
Keeping my voice low, I said, "How bad is it?"
"Bad. He can't move his legs. They got him while the juice was low in his system."
"Is it permanent?"
"They're still trying to work that out."
"He deserves better than that."
"Yeah," Vaughn said. "I know. He does. I've never really liked him, but I can't deny that."
"Why?"
"No real reason. He's not a bad guy, but I get sick of hearing my mom tell me that I ought to be more like him. Good grades. Good athlete. Never in trouble. It gets old."
"Do you think it would cause problems if I brought someone in? You know the Southern California Defenders? Paladin's a friend of mine...