#i should tag kay and sebastian but this is already too many people

[qiuing]

edgeworth is just a single parent trying his best

[shaineybainey]

“Noble Intentions”

Lab Rats [T]

The Lab Rats and Mighty Med teams face off with the greatest threat to humanity yet: The Incapacitator, a supervillain bent on becoming the most powerful in the planet. …Which makes things super awkward for Leo, considering that their newest nemesis is his father. AU. Lab Rats vs Mighty Med redux.

** DISCLAIMER: SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMER **

tagging: @fruggin-bitch​ @verified-dumbass​ @dysfunction-ality​ @neshatriumphs​ @clockradio93​ @serpent-princess​ @weareoutofmaplesyrupdave​ @aaaaahhhhh1234​ @lover-of-dc-comics

X: Castle in the Sky

Leo watches quietly as Horace listens to his breathing with the stethoscope. The instrument is cold against his skin, but he does his best not to flinch. One wrong move, and the pain in his ribs can double.

“Well, your lungs seem like it’s working okay,” Horace says, taking off the apparatus and draping it back on his neck. He stares indecisively at the nasty bruise beginning to form on his patient’s skin. “Of course, we’re going to have to transfer you to the hospital outside. We have x-rays here, but not really for humans.”

“Okay.”

“Hm.”

Leo sits up and observes the doctor as he leaves the room. So far, so good. He had thought on his way there that glares would rain down on him since everyone apparently knows now that he’s the son of a supervillain. However, the people he had talked to since getting there have treated him like a normal person.

In fact, besides the look Tecton gave him earlier, the nurses and Dr. Diaz had been kind of apathetic while dealing with him.

It’s as if he was just another patient.

When Horace comes back, wheeling in a wheel chair, a thought pops up in Leo’s head.

“One of the nurses has gone off to alert your family of you being here,” Horace says. He blinks back the sleep stinging his eyes, rubs it off, then adds, “It’s probably best if they don’t see you until after the examinations. They’ve been kind of frantic. Don’t want them squeezing you, what with your seemingly broken ribs and everything.”

“Um – “

“They’re probably going to have to meet you at the other hospital, though. We have x-rays here, but not really for humans.” He frowns. “Did I already say that?”

“Dr. Diaz.”

“Huh?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

Horace sighs, his shoulders dropping dramatically. “Is it going to take all night? Because my shift ended two hours ago.”

“How long have you been here?”

Horace consults his watch. “Probably going on 36 hours.”

“No, no – I mean, how long have you been working at Mighty Med?”

Horace’s features furrow as he contemplates on it. “Probably since the hospital was first built, long before you were even born,” he answers. “Why?”

“So, you know a lot of the people who’s worked here. Right?”

Horace eyes him suspiciously now – a glimpse of Leo’s expectation from earlier. “We may not be like a regular hospital,” he says, “but protecting the patients’ and employees’ identities is still a responsibility that I don’t take lightly as chief of staff.”

Leo nods. “Good,” he says. He then hops off the examination table, but instead of sitting on the wheelchair, he limps past Horace to retrieve the black safety box.

With the chief’s eyes on him, Leo shows him the emblem on it.

Horace frowns at it. Then, the expression clears. “What is this?” He closes the door behind him and asks, “Where did you get this?”

“So I can count on you to keep a secret,” Leo says, wincing as he climbs back on the examination table.

“Those safety boxes were issued only to chief of departments some decades ago,” Horace says. “Where did you find this?”

Leo doesn’t reply. Instead, he opens the box, finds the ID, and then hands it to the doctor.

Horace takes it. A look of shock and sorrow rises to his face after reading it.

“Do you know him?”

“Where did you get this?” Horace asks.

Leo notes the coldness of his tone and the sharpness in his gaze. “I found it by accident,” he says, holding back for now just in case. “I saw the emblem and figured I should ask someone who’s worked here a long time. It says Dr. Castle was a neurologist here. Is that true?”

For a long while, Horace only stares at the card. Then, he smiles sadly to himself. “Hezekiah was my best friend. He had the craziest ideas, but he was a good person. He loved helping people. He was a people person.”

“Did he have a family?” Upon Horace’s glance, Leo says, “This isn’t information that my father will be interested in, I promise. And even if it is, I think I proved already that I can keep secrets – from heroes or villains.”

Horace considers it. “You said ‘did,’” he points out. “There’s a reason for the past tense, isn’t there?”

Leo’s eyes give the answer.

Horace sighs, disheartened. “His family was originally from Tennessee. His parents worked hard to put him through school, but then his mother got sick a year before he graduated. Died right after. His father got to see him become a doctor, but years of working in a factory with poisonous chemicals took a toll on him. He died after Kai’s 26th birthday.”

“He lost his parents young.”

“He did. He didn’t have any siblings, so Mighty Med was his family.” Horace smiles. “Like I said, Kai was my best friend. We drove each other crazy, but he was a brother to me.”

“Why doesn’t he work here anymore?”

Again, Horace pauses contemplatively.

“Who’s Solstice?” Leo asks, hoping to encourage the conversation forward.

Horace frowns. “Who’s Solstice?”

“Female superhero. You haven’t heard of her?”

Horace shakes his head, curious. “No.”

Leo sighs—causing a powerful pang of pain to knife through his insides.

It snaps Horace awake. “Uh, we probably should – ”

“I’m fine,” Leo lies, holding his hand up. Answers are more important right now. “I’m fine.”

“Uh, I’m the doctor here,” Horace says. “You are not.”

“Please, Dr. Diaz. I need to know more about Dr. Castle and Doris Snow.”

“Doris Snow?” Horace’s eyes narrow as he thinks. “Why does that name sound familiar?”

Despite the limitation imposed on him by the broken ribs (and probably broken many other things), Leo gingerly opens the box to search for the document. “Originally, she was a mathematician at NASA,” he says for the meantime. “Then she became a superhero.”

“NASA?”

“Yeah?”

It stumps the doctor for a while. Then, an incredulous laugh escapes him. “That crazy guy…”

“I’m sorry?”

“NASA, you said?” Horace laughs, shaking his head. “I knew it. I knew he would fall for something like this.”

“Something like what?”

Horace lets out a breath, amused. “That’s why he stopped working here,” he answers. “He had just been appointed as head of the neurology department when a case came up. Hopefully I can talk a bit about this now, but from what I know, there was an accident involving a mysterious alien artifact exploding at a remote facility.

“Different experts were called in; NASA, too, unsurprisingly. The government wanted to know what it was that the Air Force found. They were examining it. Next thing they know – boom!”

“It…exploded?”

“Yeah. Rumor is that something in the test caused it to do that.” Horace’s eyes narrow. “Something was up with it, because we had an influx of reports of people acting strangely, people going missing. People acting strangely and going missing—”

“NASA employees?”

“Almost everyone who was in that building, not just people from NASA,” Horace says. He frowns thoughtfully at Leo. “I can check the files of the ones who came here before, but I don’t remember a Doris Snow. The name sounds familiar, but not as a superhero’s alter ego.”

“The League won’t have anything on her, would they? They probably weren’t even established when these accidents happened.”

“Huh. You know more than a regular kid from California should know,” Horace notes. “I’m suspicious.”

Leo hands him the draft letter. “I think the gap in the time between the first documented proposal for the establishment of League of Heroes and the actual date it’s established gives me more reason to be suspicious.”

Horace reads. “This…” He shakes his head. “This can’t be real. The League was established in the mid-90s. It was proposed by Dr. Sebastian Kline.” He hands the letter back to Leo. “I was there when it happened. It can’t have been by her.”

Sebastian Kline. It’s the first name he’s gotten in regards to his grandparents. Leo wonders if it’s a name his father knows too. “You said Dr. Castle left because of what happened with the alien artifact,” he prompts.

“Yeah, but I can’t tell you exactly why he left. It’s top secret.”

Leo stares at him. “Fine,” he hops off the table when the doctor won’t give. He sits on the wheelchair. “I’ll just wait until Tecton sees me again. I’ll ask him.”

“Okay, wait.” The decision tears Horace apart, but it’s evident even to Leo that the temptation of knowledge has become too irresistible. “Ugh, I can’t tell you this. It’s too dangerous.”

“My dad and I just got caught in a crossfire. Nothing in my life right now is not dangerous.”

“No. You don’t understand.” Horace walks on over to the examination table, leans on it as he decides. “I can’t tell you. I want to, kid, but I can’t. Like I said, I have to protect my employees and my patients. If even the little that I know gets out, we can be looking at something catastrophic.”

“But it’s been decades since.”

“Don’t underestimate how long evil can linger,” Horace cautions.

Leo wants to press for more, but somehow he understands. There’s something bigger at play, something that his father understands and Dr. Diaz doesn’t know he hold pieces of. More and more, it becomes clear that his grandparents’ deaths may be more than just a random act of violence.

Grandparents.

Leo fishes for the photograph from his back pocket and is relieved when he finds it still there. He takes it out, unfolds it, and smiles at them. Then, he gives it to Horace. “He married her, you know. Solstice,” he tells him.

A smile comes up to Horace’s lips as he looks at his best friend and his wife. “She’s pretty.”

“She is. Their kids don’t know what I know about them, though, so I’m kind of hoping we can keep this a secret.”

“Kids?”

“Two sons. Men now, actually,” Leo says, taking the picture back.

There’s a knock on the door. “Dr. Diaz, they’re waiting for him outside,” Philip says, peeking in. “I’ve told the Davenports. They said they’ll be making their way there.”

Horace nods, disoriented.

“Did you want me to cart him out for you?”

“No, no. I – Yes, but give us just one second.”

Philip nods, confused. He takes his leave and closes the door.

“Where are his kids?” Horace asks quietly. “Are they alive? Do you know where they are?”

Leo chuckles. “They’re no stranger to you, Dr. Diaz.”

“They’re...?”

The grin on his face shrinks. “You’ve probably been hearing about their oldest all shift long,” he says. “The Incapacitator. Joel Jones – Castle, actually. My dad is Dr. Castle’s son.”

The door opens again. “Dr. Diaz, I’m so sorry, but we really have to take him out there,” Philip says, grabbing the handles of the wheelchair. “The nurse said they’re pretty swamped, and if they don’t take him in within the next five minutes, the kid will have to wait for a few hours for a check-up.”

Horace nods numbly, his mind swimming with the new information. “Okay,” he says. “Okay.”

It dismays Leo that he didn’t get any more information. Still, the thought that he’s met someone who was another important part in his grandfather’s life makes him smile. “Thank you, Dr. Diaz,” he says as the nurse carefully turns his wheelchair around.

Horace grabs the armrest of the chair before they get out the door. He hesitates a moment. “Can you tell me more about what happened to him?” he asks. “Your grandfather?”

Leo nods. “After we both get a decent amount of sleep,” he promises.

Horace nods. He doesn’t seem to want to let go, questions about his best friend anchoring his fingers in place, but eventually his grip loosens.

Leo gives him a smile before he completely vanishes from view. It gives him some hope knowing that his grandfather is important to someone who’s in a position of power. Maybe that can keep the superheroes off ending The Incapacitator. Maybe they can arrest him without hurting him.

He looks down at the picture of his grandparents, grinning at him.

Maybe the world isn’t such a hopeless place after all.