Family Matters

Scott woke up on the couch the morning after last night's events only to realize that the bag of peas had melted and all the ice turned into water that soaked the couch and his clothes. "Ugh, gross." He got up and went to his room to change his clothes, when he saw himself shirtless in the mirror he noticed how much his physique had changed in only a week. "Overnight sixpack? Nice."

Scott stood in the mirror for some time posing and flexing his newfound body when he got a text on his phone. It came from Adrian and said "Call me. ASAP."

"Oh no." Scott muttered aloud.

He checked his phone to see six missed calls from Adrian this morning. "Oh no." He groaned, anticipating bad news. He dialed the boss immediately.

"Scott, finally got a hold of you. Thank god."

"My bad I was asleep. What's going on?"

"Jamie's in the hospital, he was found and sent here early in the morning."

"Oh my god. What happened?"

"Come here and we can talk. I'm texting you the address now."

"O-" Scott heard the phone dial tone, "Kay.."

Scott grabbed his suit and placed it in his backpack and he'd head to the hospital in normal clothes. When he entered the living room Darren was sitting at the table eating cereal.

"Heading out again?"

"Making money."

"I work late tonight so make sure you have the keys on you."

Scott jangled the keys before walking out the door.

"Okay then." Darren shrugged and continued munching on his cereal.

——

Scott hesitated to walk through the curtains that led to Jamie's hospital room, inside it was quiet except for the beeps of the heart rate monitor. He took a breath and pushed through the curtains. Adrian was accompanied by Flint, who sat at Jamie's bed side.

"He's asleep." Adrian informed Scott.

"What the hell happened?"

"When he was awake the only thing he said to me was 'Tombstone'."

Scott flashed back to the brief moment where Vincent and Jamie talked about this Tombstone guy, he was focused on completing the mission he didn't stop to ask what this guy's deal was. "Who's that?"

"A mobster with a reputation for violence. They say he's superhuman like you."

Scott didn't like the comparison between him and this monster of a man. He struggled in a fight against Leap-Frog, and this guy beat them both? The idea that someone with that kind of power was leading a crime family terrified him. That reminded him, what happened to Leap-Frog? And another thing, was that Belle girl working with Tombstone? There were too many questions left unanswered.

"So what do we do?" Scott asked.

"Well you are doing nothing." Adrian responded.

"What? Why?"

"I never wanted you and Jamie to be fighting people, getting yourselves and everyone else hurt. You remember what I said to you when we first met? It's better not to draw attention to yourself. Well getting people hurt and killed draws bad karma in the same way."

"But I can -"

"No Scott!" Adrian shouted, shutting Scott up. "No. You're going to stay here and watch over Jamie. You're on guard duty, and if he says anything you contact us. Is that understood?"

"… Yes."

"Good. I got to make a call, wait here."

Adrian stepped out of the room, leaving Scott and Flint to watch over an unconscious Jamie.

"You know, this is actually my first time being inside a hospital." Scott remarked.

"Can't say the same. Consider yourself lucky."

"Oh, what happened? You catch something?"

"Not me, my daughter. She's been in and out of hospital beds like that one since she was two."

"Damn, I'm sorry to hear that Flint. Is that why you started doing all this?"

"You can say that, but I'm not new to this life. I left it all behind seven years ago when I met my wife Sophia."

"And then your daughter got sick?"

"And then she got sick. We didn't have the money for proper treatment, so I went back to my old ways."

"Yeah, but it was for a good cause at least."

"That didn't stop her from divorcing me."

"Oh." Scott felt uncomfortable knowing the conversation had turned so negative.

"Sorry Scott, it's just being in rooms like this brings back memories. It isn't something you got to listen to."

"Hearing Flint talk about his wife and kids made me realize how much I missed out on. Flint was willing to risk getting thrown in jail to make his daughter safe, and my parents gave me up before I could speak. I never thought I'd say I'm jealous of a girl with cancer but, I think I am?"

"Adrian is upset but he means well Scott. He just doesn't want anyone getting hurt. Don't take it personal." Flint reassured,

"Oh I know."

Adrian stepped back into the room shortly after his name was mentioned, he had the look of a busy man across his face.

"Scott, look after Jamie. Flint, come with me."

"Got it." Flint said as he stood up. "See you round."

"See you."

The two adults left the hospital room, Scott sat down next to the unconscious Jamie and frowned. "I'm sorry buddy. I ran off on my own and…. I wasn't there to help you. Everything's going to be okay though, I promise."

Scott heard footsteps behind him, he spun around quickly to see who was entering the hospital room. He was surprised to see a young Hispanic woman.

"Who are you?" Scott asked.

"I should be asking you that." She responded. "I'm his sister."

——

It was six in the morning when an unexpected phone call woke up Henry. He answered the call with a groggy, half asleep tone of voice.

"Hello?"

"I'm sorry to call so early Mr. Patilio, but I have some concerning news."

"Just tell me what happened."

"When I came in for work there was a, I thought it was a break in. The door to your office was unlocked, there was damage and a hole in the window."

"A hole?" Henry sat up in his bed and rubbed his eyes. "Is anyone hurt?"

"That's the thing sir. They didn't take anything. And worse, there was blood on the floor in several places. I called the police to take a look but I just thought you should know."

"I'll call my son and see if he can check the cameras for me."

"Okay. Thank you sir."

"Oh, Michael."

"Yes?"

"Take the rest of the day off once you finish with the police."

"Thank you sir."

Henry hung up the phone and dialed Vincent's number, but the call rang and rang with no answer.

"I'll call him later when he's up." He mumbled to himself and went back to sleep, unaware of what had happened to his only son.

——

"You know, when I first saw you sitting next to Jamie I thought you were a boyfriend he didn't tell me about." Camila teased.

The awkwardness of strangers meeting for the first time washed away fast, Scott explained himself and the conversation went on from there. Camila was a tall, skinny girl with the same brown skin and curly hair as her brother. She was older though, in her early twenties. Scott thought she was pretty and that she had a cool personality. She seemed laid back, but had a wisdom about her.

"Do you know what happened to him?" She asked.

"Not much. Just that he got into a fight."

"That sounds like him. Jamie's a good kid but he's… he's like his brother. Likes to get into trouble."

"I am the trouble." Jamie muttered, still coming out of a deep sleep.

Camila hugged Jamie and said something to him in Spanish. Scott didn't know what it was but it sounded something like 'Don't get yourself hurt you stupid boy.'

"Love you too." Jamie said which a strained voice.

After a few minutes of small talk, Jamie asked Camila to go and find him something to eat and drink. Before she stepped out of the room she looked at Scott and said, "If you're lucky Jamie will invite you to a family cookout. I make a mean dish."

"I'll make sure to fill up my plate."

Camila chuckled and walked away.

"Don't try to sleep with my sister."

"What? I wasn't planning on it!"

Jamie punched Scott's arm, "Serious talk."

"Okay."

"Leap-Frog is dead."

"What?" Scott felt his heart pound in his chest. "What happened?"

"Tombstone wants Phineas' particle gun, he forced Vincent to steal it from us. He found us and attacked us. I saw what he did to Vincent man, it was f**kin horrible."

"Adrian told me to stay here and not get involved but I don't know man, I have a lead that might help."

"Don't go after him on your own bro." Jamie warned. "But if you can do something, you do it. Just don't end up like Leap-Frog man."

"I won't. Are you sure you're okay with me leaving you?"

"Yeah man, it's fine. Do me a favor? I ditched my gear in a dumpster near the warehouse. Can you grab it for me?"

"Yeah sure. Making me dumpster dive huh?"

"Shut up." Jamie laughed. "Get out of here."

——

Adrian and Flint were in the car driving through the streets of New York. There was an awkward silence between the two of them until one decided to speak up.

"I just don't like it. Making a deal with him is a bad idea." Flint disapproved.

"Tombstone has an army of killers and the money to fund them. A guy with sand powers and two teenagers isn't enough. They're just boys and that piece of shit has them in his crosshairs. I won't let them get hurt."

"Okay but what about after this is all said and done. Tombstone dies and then what? Another mobster to deal with." Flint retorted. "And what makes you think he's going to go along with this?"

"He owes me."

"Great."

They parked their car on the second floor of a multi-level garage located in the outskirts of Hell's Kitchen. Adrian and Flint exited the car and leaned against it.

"You ain't even got your suit on Toomes."

"I got a gun."

Flint rolled his eyes at Adrian. From the darkness a black limousine rolled into the parking garage, it stopped near the two men and a man in an expensive looking suit and tie stepped out of the car. He was a large man, tall and bulky, with a bald head and fierce, cunning eyes.

"Toomes."

"Fisk."

"I seem to recall that you denied my offer of employment last time we spoke."

"What can I say? I wanted to be a free agent."

"So what brings you here today?"

"Your competition attacked one of my guys. I'm looking to put an end to that but I can't do it alone. It benefits us both if we work together to take Tombstone down."

"You did good work for me Toomes, I didn't forget that. I agreed to lend my help if you asked, and that's why I'm here now. Consider this; you and your men are under the Kingpin's protection. In exchange you reimburse my organization with fifteen percent of your earnings. Is that agreeable?"

"Yes."

Flint looked over at Adrian in disbelief, he just agreed to a deal with The Kingpin of New York without negotiating, asking questions or even asking the group if this was something they all wanted to do. He bit his tongue and chose not to speak up about it.

"Excellent. We will discuss our plan of attack soon." The Kingpin smiled, "Welcome to the family Mr. Toomes."