Disaster

Everywhere he looked, he saw death.
Brave men and women who went far to protect the one place where they could be themselves.
Nurses and doctors who saved their lives daily.
Colleagues, team mates, close friends, heroes who would never be able to come back.

It was just a normal Wednesday, except that a lot of heroes had to be in the hospital. Another reincarnation of a group of villains - which immediately fell apart after they were defeated - had released a virus among the heroes. If left untreated, it could be lethal. To get it over with, all heroes who were affected came that Wednesday.

Tecton had just received the cure. He had to stay half an hour to see if it really worked, along with his colleagues. There could always be complications. Kaz and Oliver, who had decided to continue working in the hospital until they knew how to use their powers, confirmed the virus has left his system and they allowed him to leave. When he was about to leave, she appeared.

Every hero had seen at least one picture of Mr. Terror without a mask. After she received such great power, they all had to be careful. Her small demonstration became an example of what she was capable of, and that was just the beginning. They had been given the authorization to bring her to Mighty Max if they saw her. She endangered herself and everyone around her, they told the heroes, so it was crucial that she would be behind bars as soon as possible.

She had arrived with back-up; two strangers they've never seen before. Mr. Terror remained standing, looking around at the possible victims, while the two strangers went to work immediately. The guards were useless and the two strangers could beat them almost immediately, changing into a big black cloud.

Tecton figured out they must be shape-shifters. He had no idea how she managed to get shape-shifters on her side, but it made her look a lot more powerful.

As soon as the lights in the hospital turned red to warn everyone in the hospital about the imminent danger, he saw Kaz, Oliver and Skylar. He knew about Mr. Terror's relation with the three. He looked from the villain to the three teenagers.

Tecton made his decision. With his super speed, he ran to the teenagers, grabbed them and took them outside. He started with Oliver, then Kaz and Skylar. His colleagues could keep the villains occupied for a while, but he would join them and stop the villains as they always did.

"Stay here." he told them. He wanted to go back inside immediately and help his colleagues, but the three weren't too happy that they were brought outside, away from the danger. Tecton stayed a little longer, only to hear if they would complain or not.

"We want to help," Oliver said. Tecton shook his head.

"Stay here, please." He knew he had to convince them to stay and just saying please probably wouldn't help in their case. Not after what happened a few months ago.

"But we have…"

"…powers, I know," Tecton interrupted Kaz. No way he'd forget it. Kaz bragged about it the entire time, even if he hardly tried to learn how to control them. He did learn a few tricks from Solar Flare, though. "Having powers doesn't make you a hero. I've seen you train in the rec room. You're not ready to fight Mr. Terror." Kaz and Oliver remained silent after that comment. They did realize they had to train more. If they had, Tecton would've allowed them to stay. They then agreed to stay out here, but would engage if the villains came out. They didn't mention that last part to Tecton.

"I'm a hero, let me help," Skylar then tried. Technically, she wasn't a hero anymore. Everyone still saw her as one. Tecton shook his head.

"No, you've got to stay with them. When one of them comes out, someone needs to protect them. Someone who knows how to fight villains. Please stay out here. We can handle it." He turned around and ran back inside. The last thing he heard from the three friends was Kaz yelling 'no, you…' – he didn't catch what followed.

The lobby bathed in red light when he had come back. The security orbs were already laying on the ground, obliterated with almost no real shape left. On his left and right, heroes were fighting the villains. The two shape-shifters were busy hurting anyone they could find. They had to be experienced, because they could easily keep up with Surge. Tecton, however, focused on the biggest threat in the room: Mr. Terror.

It still felt weird to refer to Mr. Terror as a 'she' after her revelation. He stared to long at her, because she noticed him after telekinetically throwing Titanio into a wall. They looked into each other's eyes for one moment. How could a woman like her have descended into madness? No doubt that she was a mentally healthy, strong woman before she got dragged into this crazy world.

But the reason didn't matter now. She was attacking the hospital. The first and second line of defense failed, so now it was up to the heroes they saved daily to return the favor. Tecton ran closer to her. She wasn't prepared for the impact and Tecton hit her once in her stomach with his fist. He wasn't able to do it a second time. There was a blinding flash of light where she stood and then she was gone.

He turned around and immediately found her standing behind him. He didn't hesitate and stomped with his foot on the ground. Soon, the ground began to shake violently, about four on Richter's scale. He never went higher than four, so he wouldn't go higher now. Mr. Terror fell on the ground. As soon as she hit the ground, she stayed there for one second. Then she rose, going higher, hovering above the ground with a malicious smile on her face.

"My turn," she said. The way she said it didn't scare Tecton. He's seen many people descend into madness, mostly villains, and she was no different. It's just that she descended so quickly, so much faster than the others. Another disadvantage of the Arcturion.

She only moved her wrist. She turned it about ninety degrees to the left. Tecton didn't stand a chance – this small movement immediately threw him into the wall, almost pushing him through it. Tecton got up as soon as he could, ignoring the small wounds across his body. When he looked up, he noticed she was waiting for him to try again.

He had to distract her, make her lose consciousness. He could punch her a lot, hit her stomach hard a couple of times. Super speed would do the trick – he hadn't used it before, so she wouldn't know he was going to use it to defeat her.

A lot of things happened the next second. Tecton sped towards Mr. Terror. Mr. Terror lifted her left hand. Tecton stopped mid-air, being held back by her telekinetic powers. At the same time, his friend the Crusher had also decided to attack her, only he had aimed to surprise her by coming from her side. She stopped him the same way she had stopped Tecton and pushed him back into the wall, using the same force she'd used to slam Tecton into one a few seconds ago. She did it all without breaking a sweat, keeping that twisted smile on her face.

He forced himself to break free from her grasp. While she fought other heroes, Tecton slowly went forward, one inch at a time. Eventually, after an awfully lot of seconds, Tecton could break free from her telekinetic grasp. The tension he had built up didn't help him at all, as he almost fell on top of her without hitting her.

Mr. Terror has had enough of the game they were playing. She grabbed Tecton again and pushed him into the wall, immediately sending the desk in his direction. Tecton was too late – he got stuck between the wall and the desk. He couldn't push it off, because Mr. Terror was keeping it in place.

The next minute, she hit him with everything she could hold in her telekinetic grasp. Anything that she could just pick up, anything she could tear apart, she would send it towards Tecton with such speed and force that he had no time to defend himself or perform a counter-attack. By the time Mr. Terror had stopped throwing stuff at his head, he could take a breath. This battle had exhausted him physically. The several wounds that needed healing took away small bits of his energy, just as trying to avoid getting hit (which didn't turn out well).

When he looked back at the mad woman, he noticed she held a steel bar in her hand, which was about two inches wide. It would leave one nasty hole in his body if she wanted to put it there. If not, she could still do a lot of damage if she decided to hit him in the head or anywhere else.

She threw the desk behind her, hitting Solar Flare in the process. She wasn't even aiming for her, throwing it behind her without caring if she hit a hero or an ally. Almost immediately, she pushed the bar in his stomach. Tecton reacted when the metal pierced his intestines, reaching out for the bar. The sooner it was out the better.

"Don't!" Mr. Terror said. For some reason, Tecton didn't immediately pull it out. Was she distracting him or was there really something she wanted to say? There was not time to think about it, because she continued. "Now close your eyes and die."

Tecton did not close his eyes, staring at Mr. Terror. So she wanted to do neither. Didn't she know he was hard to kill? It might have been better for him to have closed his eyes, but it was too late for that. Mr. Terror lifted her arm and punched him in the face. The impact was big, the power she had unleashed on him even bigger. He was close to unconsciousness, even feared that she might have broken his neck. With such force, he wouldn't be surprised if she had broken his neck.

He didn't get up. There were whispers, sounds from behind, from the sides, from up front, telling him to let go, to close his eyes, to accept the darkness, to die. For now, he agreed with every single one of those whispers, except the last one. He closed his eyes and let the darkness in, letting go of the situation around him.

He didn't feel any pain. There had been no gargulon gas, no delta rays, no pieces of gold to wound him permanently or have him heal at a normal person's speed. His body was sore. As he grew more and more conscious, he got more aware of his situation. His throat was dry, he was tired and was laying with his back on debris, with pieces on top of him as well. This wasn't the first time he woke up like that, but it certainly was the first time it took him so long to wake up.

His stomach did hurt a bit more than the other parts of his body. He forced himself to open his eyes. At first it was all just a blur, but he focused on looking at his stomach to solve that problem. Then he saw it. An iron pole, a steel bar stuck in his stomach. His hands crept closer to the bar until they were able to grab it. With one swift move, he pulled it out and it dropped next to him. He rolled over, closing his eyes again, preferring to lay on his right side and think about everything that had happened.

After a while, the hole in his stomach closed. The smaller wounds all across his body from the debris were already healed. When he didn't want to lay anymore, he pushed himself up, taking a sitting stance. That's when he opened his eyes for the second time and looked at the damage for the first time.

There was darkness, there was light. There was a big contrast with what it was supposed to be. The only rays of light came straight from the sun, going through the holes in the roof. The rest was darkness and shadows. It was a miracle the building was still standing. There were only different shades of gray, both light and dark, and a few yards ahead of him a bit of dull red, of whatever was left of the hospital's logo after it had been taken down. There was debris everywhere, blocking everyone's way out.

He stood up and walked towards the employer entrance of the hospital, the one that looked like the janitor's closet. He cleaned it up, takin pieces of different sizes and shapes and putting it down behind him. Even if everything was destroyed, he still was careful with the pieces of what was once his safe haven. When he took one big plate away and put it behind him, he found her.

Solar Flare was laying there. You didn't immediately see something was wrong. She still wore her costume, which wasn't even torn apart. There was a little blood in the corner of her mouth and in her hair. She could've been unconscious. He knelt in front of her, brought his hand closer. He checked any sign of life. As expected, there was none. He looked at her, put his hand at her chest. He couldn't feel her heart beating.

He stood up again and looked around. Now that he realized Mr. Terror and her henchmen didn't come to just destroy the hospital, he could see them all, scattered in the lobby and probably the entire hospital. The Crusher was leaning against a wall. Close to him lay Surge with his stomach on the ground. There was Alley Cat – he could only see one of her legs and debris covered the rest of the body. Titanio, whose blue suit lay in pieces no two yards away from him, seemed to be 'clean', even if his neck was twisted in an unnatural way.

And those were just the heroes. He could see the tail and a piece of purple fabric - both belonged to Lizard Man. The guy with the big head had passed away with open eyes, which now seemed to stare at him. Fred's goggles lay abandoned and broken in the rubble. No doubt several other nurses and doctors and heroes had died, not just the ones who were in the lobby when it happened.

The bright red and blue spandex in the rubble caught his attention. He pushed away the debris and after a while found his good friend, Captain Atomic. He didn't look too great, either. His yo-yo was laying one feet away from his open hand. His eyes were closed. On his forehead was a mix of sweat and blood. In other words, he looked terrible.

He scanned his friend, searching for any sign of life. His eyes widened when he found a pulse. It was weak, but there was one. Captain Atomic breathed in and out every now and then, but not more than that.

There was no time to lose. He went back to making a way out of this place, clearing the way to the Normo part of the hospital. He pushed the rubble away at super speed. Someone lived. If Captain Atomic could survive, other heroes could have a chance, too. He needed to get them out of the debris, outside, while there still was hope they could make it. He didn't care about the big superhero secret – lives were at stake, and surviving was much more important than keeping a secret that would shock the whole world.

While most of the Mighty Med walls kept standing, the Logan Hospital didn't. Mr. Terror didn't even spare the Normos who worked here and were in the building during the attack. There was a big dome visible where the Mighty Med was supposed to be. The hero hospital was much more resistant to villain attacks than the Normo hospital, but it still wasn't fair they only had reinforced the Mighty Med and not the entire hospital.

He was relieved to see Oliver, Kaz and Skylar at the side, unharmed, safe from the villain. she hadn't found the teens. At least he had been able to save three lives this day. He rushed back inside, carefully picked up Captain Atomic and then rushed outside, stopping a few yards away from the trio.

"Tecton! you're alive!" Oliver said with a big smile on his face. Skylar smiled as well, relieved this hero survived. Kaz had a smile, too, but to a lesser extent.

"Dude, you look terrible." He said as soon as he saw Tecton. Tecton realized he may not look that good, considering the hospital was destroyed, but he couldn't care less at that moment. All that mattered at this moment was the safety of Captain Atomic and other survivors who were still inside, fighting for their lives.

"He needs medical attention immediately," he told the three, "Our best bet is to bring him to the Super-Secret Heroes in Hiding. They have their own doctor and med bay, so he may be able to help him."

"We can do that," Kaz responded, "I've got the worm hole generator and Optimo's address. We'll take him there." Tecton nodded. His super speed had its limits. With the generator, they would be there faster than when Tecton would run there at his fastest. Besides, he had no idea where the SSHH base was located – the honor of knowing the location was only meant for members. When he turned around, Skylar stopped him.

"Where are you going?" she asked him. He didn't turn around to answer.

"There could be more survivors. Come back here as soon as you can to bring more survivors to the SSHH." He didn't leave any room for more questions as he ran back inside. He rushed from one hero to another, from a nurse to a doctor. Every time, he checked if they were still alive. When he doubted, he checked again. And again. Until he was certain they were dead, beyond saving. And so he went through the entire hospital, looking for survivors, only to find dead heroes. He found a lot more heroes, nurses, doctors, close friends. he could bring none outside, to the three teenagers, who would hopefully be waiting for another survivor.

He stayed inside for over two hours. He still was looking for survivors, cleaning some places, pushing debris aside to see if anyone was caught underneath it and survived, like Captain Atomic. The few he found underneath the rubble did no longer need any help. And so he searched the entire hospital for survivors, when there were none.

And only when he was certain nobody of the victims could be saved, he allowed himself to sit in the rubble and cry.

So... well, since the Elite Force told us the Mighty Med got destroyed and a lot of heroes got killed, I wondered how that went. I figured that if there would be one hero who would be able to survive such an attack, it would be Tecton. And that's how this story was written. I'm convinced Bridget (and possible followers) destroyed the hospital because she has enough power to do so. I didn't mention Alan and Horace on purpose, because we don't know what the Elite Force wants to do with them. If they're never mentioned again, then they probably died during the attack. Also, I wanted to publish this before the episode aired on TV so it wouldn't influence this one-shot, and I managed to do it! Anyway, that was how I thought the Mighty Med got destroyed. I hope you enjoyed, and until the next time!

-Writer207