1.5 Intermission - Why health is important

This is the story of Rudo Nast, otherwise known as Zap, a fantastic hero of the 1960s. He was a rising star, at 19 he was already fighting crime as a vigilante hero of sorts. He was an eccentric happy guy, the kind of guy whose laughs made you want to smile and laugh too, even if nothing funny was happening.

He possessed the power of electricity manipulation, being able to make things spark. When I first met him, he was watching sparks crackle, dancing between his fingertips, laughing as if his powers were new to him. He was 23 when I had the pleasure to work with him. We were partners, with his electricity and my (censored) we were unstoppable. It was fantastic.

We told each other everything. We even took off our masks and told each other our true identities. He had a family, one that he said I'd get to meet in the future. I told him about my family, we laughed, it was great. He was one of the only friends I had made in the heroing business, the rest were never comfortable with revealing their identity. It is a good measure, though, to keep one's identity a secret. You never know whom you could trust.

Rudo did keep one thing secret from me: He suffered from cardiac dysrhythmia. He never told me, he never told anyone, he kept it a secret. He went about his business happily, nobody knowing anything about his problem. His heart was always beating too quickly, but sometimes randomly too slowly. This irregularity started causing problems when he was 25.

While on patrol one evening, he suffered from a cardiac arrest. I did my best to resuscitate him, bring him back to life. He was rushed to the hospital, and he survived, thank the lord. He spent a lot of time bedridden. He was never the hero he used to be. He stopped heroing for 5 years, focusing on a much slower pace job. He couldn't wear out his heart, I know. Yet, I still felt betrayed. Betrayed that he never told me, that I could have helped him if he had told me.

Like rollercoaster ride warnings, don't become a hero if you are pregnant, suffer from heart diseases, are epileptic, etc etc. Check yourself before you wreck yourself.

Take care out there, young ones.
- TM