William woke with the rising of the morning sun however he noticed immediately he was cuffed to the bed this time, preventing him from leaving.
He waited patiently for five minutes before a nurse walked in to change his fluids but when she noticed he was awake she was startled.
She had seen the bloody pulp of his head from before and was astonished to watch his body restructure itself, she had even taken the liberty to take samples of his blood to see if she could discover the absolute source of his powers but despite all efforts all she was able to glean from the droplet was the fact that the cells were repairing at an astonishing rate.
She immediately pressed a button on her wrist sending a silent message to someone else in the building who had asked her to let him know when the boy had woken.
In a break room an agent is eating a sandwich while calmly scrolling through his messages when an alert steals his attention and in an act of haste nearly choked on the remnants of his sandwich.
"Bang!"
He pushes through the door with enough force that the knob nearly hit the wall and disappeared down the hall while doing his best to avoid running into passing agents.
Eventually he arrives to the medical wing of the facility and can see the nurse who called him chatting merrily with her colleagues clearly talking about the young man who repeatedly keeps returning to life.
"I can't imagine dying more than once, could you imagine?"
The lead nurse said as she remembered all the blood from before.
"How much did it hurt coming back or even healing, there is no way it doesn't hurt like hell!"
Another said while clutching her ribs.
"I hope the Doctor is okay she was so nice!"
The third said with a pained and distant look in her eyes.
They noticed Donald arriving from the distance and quieted down not knowing that he had heard it all and soon arrived at William's room to find him eating some pudding and watching the television.
When he saw Donald, he blinked a few times waiting for him to say something but after a few seconds of nothing William could no longer take it.
"Can I help you sir?"
William asked his voice unsure and confused.
Donald blinked behind his reflective glasses still coming to terms with the fact that the young man before him who was previously torn to pieces by bullets was sitting in front of him with such nonchalance.
As he thought of the deathly scene suddenly flashes of Donalds previous incarnations flashed through his mind more specifically how they died but before he could reminisce on the feeling William's voice once again rings in his ears.
"Sir... are you okay?"
William asked with confusion clear in his eyes, for some reason he felt that the man in front of him seemed to be a kindred spirit or at the very least understood pain.
"I'm fine... just thinking about something!"
Donald said before approaching William with his hand raised in friendly greeting.
He then went on to provide William with a job offer to join the Teen Team which seemed like a decent offer and seeing as how he was a jobless orphan he did not exactly see any downsides to having gainful employment so after about half an hour the two set an agreement with a handshake and a smile before Donald had one of the clerks in the building hand him a copy of the contract he signed detailing his status and privileges as a member of the super-hero team.
One of the terms he was looking forward to the most was free hero suit which he could customize as he wished.
Thinking about the potential uniforms he could wear in the future William's eyes glazed over and he only came out of his reverie when Donald got up to leave.
"Hey, what happened to the doctor lady from before?"
He attempted to ask but Donald had already disappeared around the corner leaving William with his question hanging in the air.
Shelving the question for later he finished his food and got up out of bed to do some light stretches, marveling at how good he feels despite what happened just days before he throws on a new set of casual clothing left on a nearby table for him, a simple blue t-shirt and black pants.
Outside of his room is a clerk who hands him a rather thick set of documents detailing his employment as well as maps to certain GDA owned facilities he would have access to including but not limited to Teen Team hideout and the Tailor known as Art Rosenbaum who would build and customize his suits from hence forth.
He was guided out of the building by the same clerk who then wished him good look and waved him off with smiles.
Exiting the building he is met with a taxicab waiting for him which drove him for thirty minutes before he reached his destination, a seemingly normal tailoring store!
William walked out onto the rather empty street and entered the slightly musty shop, the store was dimly but warmly lit giving it a somewhat homey vibe and he could not help but feel comfortable as he walked towards the desk
"Hello sir, my name is William Black, and I was sent here for a suit!"
The old man at the front desk took a long drag of his cigarette and blew a large puff of smoke that intermingled with the cloud already present.
"Cecil told me all about ya kid, follow me, also in case you weren't told my name is Art Rosenbaum, nice to meet you!"
He raised his hand and William reciprocated with his own, afterwards Art led William to a basement area where he designed personalized super suits for all the heroes in Chicago.
"So, tell me kid, what kind of suit are you looking for exactly?"
Art asked as he clacked away at his computer to start the program.
William thought long and hard for a solid ten minutes before he came to a decent conclusion at least in his rather ignorant opinion.
"I'm sure he will offer constructive criticism!" He thought as Art handed him a tablet connected to his computer via the program.
After scrolling through a series of potential design options and going over several revisions William settled on emerald, green spandex with reinforced obsidian black kevlar covering the chest, shoulders, armguards and shin-guards as well as a neat helmet that not only has an optional visor that folds into the sides but also can alternate between a full helmet and a half helmet.
He chose to forgo a cape as it not only felt unnecessary but would likely be a hindrance in most cases, he took a second to imagine some great foe using his cape to spin him in a circle before tossing him away as well as a very cartoony rendition of himself getting pulled into an airplane engine turbine.
Art nodded in gratitude after hearing William refuse the capes, he knows all too well how many heroes have been lost due to a mere fashion statement.
As the two continue discussing details and future customization the doorbell rings letting Art know that he had another customer and they wrapped up their business downstairs.
Coming back up the stairs William and Art shake hands, as they do so William looks over at the new customers and sees a rather tall mustached man with salt and pepper hair and a body like a linebacker and standing next to him was a young woman in an orange crop top over a tight black undershirt and what appeared to be gym shorts of some kind showing off her toned legs.
William's eyes wandered a bit too long and the older man next to her began staring him down with a slightly murderous glare.
"Keep your eyes to yourself young man!"
He says with a not-so-subtle threat hidden in his tone which sent chills down William's spine before turning back to Art.
As William leaves, he turns his head to see the young woman waving him off and with an awkward smile on his face he waved back and left using the cab that was still waiting for him.
The ride was rather boring, so he casually chatted up with the driver but when the two ran out of things to talk about they returned to silence for the rest of the ride.
Twenty minutes late they arrived at the base that according to the paperwork he decided to skim through on his way.
William is initially confused as this was a strange place for a base, the golden gate bridge, a historic landmark had a hidden superhero base hidden within, it is simply unbelievable.
He was led to a hidden elevator by the helpful cab driver who William suspected wasn't a normal cab driver and soon he was moving up the bridge.
The elevator opened with a ding and directly in front of the door stood a rather cold looking chinese woman with short black hair and a shirt that says one on it, she approached William with and looked him up and down, comparing him to the picture on the report.
She turns back to William and holds out her hand which he shakes.
"Welcome to the teen team hideout, this is where we come to relax, eat, sleep or anything else we happen to need at any given moment!"
She began showing him around from the kitchen to the bedrooms and ended on the bathrooms, it was there where he heard a rather grating and irritating voice.
"Who the hell is this jerkoff, hey Kate is this guy bothering you?"
A tan teenager with a man bun approached with a rather attractive redhead on his arm who was tracing circles on his chest as they walked.
The girl named Kate glared at him hatefully for a moment before turning her eyes to the redhead with slight sadness in her eyes.
"You want to go eat, i'm starving!"
She asked the redhead who nodded excitedly as she was quite famished, leaving the tanned young man alone with William.
They could only stare awkwardly at each-other for a moment before in an effort to break the tension the young man introduces himself to William.
"Name's Rex, "DONT FORGET IT", Splode, nice to meet you I guess, want a beer?"
The two begin talking over a beer, suddenly an alert takes over the images on every screen in the facility.
"Robbery Alert... Robbery Alert!"
Rex stands up with excitement clearly visible on his face and begins rushing to a different room before he pokes his head back and yells at William.
"Get dressed rookie, we are moving!"
William shot towards the room Kate had showed him was his and set down his briefcase where he placed his new suit prototype.
Art wanted him to take notes of anything that needs improvement, so he made a mental note to do so as he got equipped in his suit.
After getting dressed William rushed out of the room and arrived at the waiting elevator with Rex, Kate, the girl he now knew as Eve and a robot man who he was told to just call robot!
"WIIIIIRRRR"
The elevator rose to the top of the golden gate bridge to a small hangar where a personal VTOL helicopter waited for them to ride to the scene of the crime at a speed that caused William's stomach to lurch as if the stomach acid was trying to leave through his mouth.
After a few seconds the helicopter levels out and the feeling goes away causing William to let out a visible sigh as he waited for the chopper to reach its destination.
After a few minutes they arrived at the scene of a robbery where the cops were struggling to halt the advance of two very large blue men.
"Who are they and why are they blue?
William asked and Rex let out a dry chuckle before answering.
"They are the Mauler twins and well they are the Mauler twins hehe!"
Rex explains with a sagely look on his face which irritated William to the point a vein began pulsing on his neck and forehead.
"SHHHHHTTT!"
Robot opens the door and leaps out of the helicopter followed by the rest of the team with William being the last to leap out, the sound of resounding gunfire from both conventional guns and energy weapons being used by the massive Mauler twins.
"BOOM!"
Rex initiated the fight by tossing a grouping of small explosives at the back of their heads, effectively gaining their attention.
"Everyone ready.... GO!"
Robot shouted and everyone split up to handle a specific twin.
The fight had begun.