Greatest American Hero (Hero League 1): Contingency Plans

Chapter 4

Ralph suggested, "After breakfast, let's go to the hospital and check on Eric. If he is awake, we may get more information about what is happening."

"Who is Eric?" Pam said questioningly.

"Oh, that's the guy that fell on my car. His name is Eric Thornton. The suit told me."

Pam said, "Okay, and after we return from the hospital, we should call Holly and let her know what is happening. I hope Eric can give us some more information."

Ralph went into the garage, took off his street clothes to expose the red suit, and began pounding out the dent in the hood of the Lexus that Eric left when he fell from the sky. With the strength and precision the suit provided, he made the car hood look nearly perfect.

They drove to the hospital but were not allowed into his room because they were not family. As they returned to their car, Ralph said, "I'm going back in to see Eric. I'll go invisible."

Pam asked, "Can you go totally invisible? Yesterday, you were having problems with it." Ralph stripped off his street clothes, gave them to Pam, and said, "Yes, I know how to do it correctly now. I have the instructions in my head."

While talking, she noticed his stomach was flatter than usual and said, "It looks like you lost some weight through all of this." Ralph looked down at a much flatter stomach than yesterday. "I guess that was something else the suit did."

He stared off, listening to the suit, and explained to Pam, "The weight loss is primarily due to the excess body energy used during the download process."

"See, I told you, you weren't really asleep. The suit used your energy to perform the download; no wonder you were tired afterward."

While she waited in the car, invisible Ralph returned to the hospital and found Eric's room. He walked in as the doctors examined Eric and discussed his case. From what Ralph heard the doctors say, he was still unconscious and apparently lucky to be alive. After the doctors left, he read Eric's chart. The list of injuries was extensive. He did not understand some of the medical terms, but the suit interpreted them for him. He was surprised by this and mentally thanked the suit for the help, wishing it could have done this when he originally had the suit. The suit told him, 'This ability is also new to me.'

He asked Suit, "Should I place you on Eric to help him heal like you corrected some of my aging problems?"

The suit disagreed and explained, "It would take several hours to heal Eric with the suit on, and the probability of discovery would be 95%."

Ralph decided, "That is too high a risk. It would be better to leave him in the care of the doctors and hospital. I will try to visit him each day."

He met Pam back at the car, dressed, and told her about Eric's condition. They drove home and called Holly to tell her about the weird things that had happened over the last two days. Nothing unusual or dangerous had appeared around her. She was very concerned about the possibility of danger to her family and herself and decided to take her husband, her son, and his family to a cabin they owned in the mountains. Ralph promised to call her if he found out anything new.

Ralph and Pam were also concerned about this supposed danger. Nothing had happened since Eric had dropped in. They didn't like sitting around and waiting for something to occur. Pam had a planned appointment with her friend Suzanne. She had promised to help her friend at a charitable event this afternoon. She was going to call and cancel, but Ralph told her to go ahead and go. He would talk to the suit about what could be done since Eric had said that the suit would know how to help. Pam told Ralph she would return later that evening and kissed him goodbye.