Operation Wyldhand 5.15
What were my options? Daphne was still unconscious, and hooked up to all the medical equipment. First things first - I had to get her ready to move. I walked to her bed, pulling out a needle from her arm, and several little doo-dads as well. The PRT officers ignored me, and the Director replied to the demand from the hall.
"Not happening, son. And Legend is almost here."
The last part was a bluff. Even I could tell it was. The cape in the hall could too, laughing. "I'm sure he is. Give us Damsel and her sister, and we leave. If not, we can come in, and just take them. Or, we could trade them for the people in the beds around us. Your call, or mine in one minute."
They wouldn't go for it. Which mean the capes out there would come in, soon. So far, a giant snake thing, which was probably the same Changer from last night, a cape with the ability to teleport others, and a cape who had been knocking the building around. I couldn't identify what the last one was, but I had overheard Blaster.
My thoughts were too muddled- I needed to be on the ball, keep focus. Pain was good though or-, pain was an old friend. I could understand pain, somehow. My injuries and exhaustion weren't helping, and could mean the difference between life and death. I reached, grabbing onto something I couldn't quite name, but achingly familiar. But whatever it was, the familiarity throbbed, jamming a jagged black spike through my skull. I collapsed against the bed, but everything after that was clear. My original escort pulled me up with his unarmed hand, looking at me in concern.
"Don't worry, everything will be fine," he soothed, looking back at the doorway.
He was more right than he knew. There was such pain his mind couldn't even comprehend. No one in the hospital save Daphne could think of such pain. Or, I still hurt, but it didn't impair me. It was just pain. I had a significant amount of energy in my inner, and a full outer pool. Energy bubbled, almost eager to be spent, to burn my way out of this. I suppressed the instinct to blast through a wall and fly away, glowing like a star. Not quite what I had in mind. I could do better.
"Listen to me, and we will all get out," I hissed, quiet enough that the pair outside wouldn't hear. At least a pair, on second thought. Just because the Blaster hadn't spoken didn't mean he wasn't out there, and there could be even more. However, the snake-thing had retreated back towards the teleporting speaker. Unless it had circled around, all the way across an entire floor, without making one hell of a racket, it was still there.
"Miss Waldon, what are you-" the Director started, speaking too loud, looking up from his cellphone. Calling in reinforcements, hopefully and probably. I cut him off with a quick slashing motion in front of my throat. Irritated, he was about to start talking again, before I interrupted him.
"You, escort, give me your gun, and grab my sister," I continued, pointing at the man who had just helped me up.
"Miss, I can't-"
I snapped, beyond irritated. I had a plan to get us all out, at least of this room, and they weren't listening. I growled, "I'm the fucking shadow cape. So, if you give me your gun, and grab my sister, I'll blind them."
"Caldwell, gun," the Director ordered, finally speaking quietly. He was also trying to stare a hole through me. The now named Caldwell pulled back the slide, loading a round. He then handed me his pistol, grip first. I took it, and the following two magazines. Safety off, magazines in my pockets, I motioned for him to pick up Daphne.
"The plan is: So far, both of the capes up here have stayed near the elevators. I drop a wall of shadows, and shoot them as much as I can. Everyone else, fire in the general direction, and then we make a break for the stairs. We can deal with the Blaster at the bottom, and then meet up with whoever you contacted," I explained, finishing with a gesture towards the Director.
He nodded, waving the PRT officers forward. The two armored ones stood ready to go in front, after me. He glanced at me, narrowing his eyes, and added, "And then we are going to have a talk."
I ignored that, and making sure Caldwell had Daphne in his arms, braced against the doorframe. One, two, and three-
I spun into the hallway, empty and armed hands both extended. My gun tracked - a man wearing an all black costume, but for a red mask and hat - and instead of pulling on shadows to disguise myself, I pushed them out. A silent storm of them, accumulating right between our opposing groups. Inky clouds blocked everyone's sight. Except for mine.
My empty hand came up to support my gun hand, and I shot twice, in rapid succession. Both bullets blew past the foamed PRT officer, and hit top hat in the chest, sending him on his back. The snake-thing, an eye-searing red, nearly flew right in front of him, and I unloaded the rest of the magazine at it. Doing no damage, bullets bouncing right off, as it pulled top hat out of the hall and back into an elevator. A storm of additional bullets failed to make their mark, as the PRT opened up behind me. Two quick blasts of foam missed by a mile.
Ejecting the empty magazine, and replacing it with a new one - one full magazine left - , I turned right around. The remaining unnamed unarmored officer was leaning down, trying to wake the unconscious or concussed PRT officers left outside. I shouted, no longer worried about being heard, "Go! We have to go, before they realize we're going down!"
Both of the armored officers stomped behind me along with the Director and Caldwell, as we headed for the stairs, marked with signs overhead. I stalked past desks with nurses and doctors cowering behind them, and patients sticking their heads out of rooms. The officers behind me shouted at them to stay down. Who attacked a hospital, when there was so much potential for people to get hurt? Who were these assholes?
I slammed into the door marked 'Emergency Exit,' triggering an alarm somewhere. Apparently you were only supposed to take the stairs during a fire. Iniside the stairwell, a buzzer and flashing strobe flooded the room with amber light, while a big white '4' on a green wall proclaimed which floor we were on. I nearly kicked myself for not noticing it beforehand. It was so much easier to think without my back feeling like it was going to break at any second. Members of the PRT plus Daphne sprinted past the door, and I let it close.
Out of breath on the second floor landing, following my signal to stop, Director Wilkins wheezed, "Two minutes till reinforcements. Legend is coming, and more officers."
I wasn't feeling too great myself, but I wasn't winded. Both of the armored officers were standing on the stairs below us, ready to go through the first floor door. And it was time for the second part of my plan. I safed my pistol, jamming it into my waistband, and moved to check on Daphne. Caldwell noticed my concern, and said, "She's fine. Just won't be happy waking up."
"Thank y-" I interrupted myself with a mass of shadows occupying the landing we were on. I kicked Caldwell in the groin, foot fitting in like it was meant to be there. He dropped Daphne, hand dropping to his crotch, and I caught her. I staggered low under the sudden weight, and then jammed my shoulder into his leg, knocking him back. Caldwell fell right into the Director, whimpering, and they landed on the concrete floor. As I came up, I yanked the door handle, and ran through, on the second floor instead of the first.
I needed an unoccupied room. I ran as fast as I could, checking the rooms facing the outside of the building as I went. Occupied, occupied, occupied, the stairway door opening behind me, occupied, unoccupied! I skidded to a stop, before backtracking into the empty room. I caught a brief glance of a severely pissed off set of PRT officers, before I went into the room. I dropped Daphne on the bed, and the pulled it to the doorway. I blocked off the door, which opened inwards, and fiddled with the wheels, locking them into place. Even with a good look upstairs at Daphne's original bed, it was still a bout of quick guesswork. A body slammed into the door, and I could see a face through the window set into it.
The face vanished when I pulled my gun. Of course, I wasn't aiming at them. I shot the single pane window at the end of the room, thick glass shattering into large jagged pieces. But still in the frame. I grabbed the unused IV bag stand, and used it as a pole to knock out the glass. The door behind me jostled, as someone rammed into it. Several hundred pounds of medical bed stopped them. And my single gunshot, aimed very high, discouraged them.
I rolled Daphne over, pulling out the thin mattress from underneath her. I tossed it out the window, and went back to Daphne. Pistol resafed and back in my pants, I grabbed her, and headed for the window. What could only be two people were trying to ram the door down, and probably the armored PRT officers. I looked out the window, at the mattress on the sidewalk. It worked in the movies.
I stepped out of the window, falling. I landed hard, right ankle twisting. I sprawled across the pavement, with Daphne landing on the mattress. I stood, unevenly, favoring my left ankle. I awkwardly picked her up, and headed away from the hospital. A cop car was blocking off the street to the east, and I hobbled to them.
"Help!" I shouted, even as they aimed their guns in my general direction. "She needs help!"
The both of the policewomen moved forward, holstering their weapons as they did so. They took Daphne off my hands, and I yanked the closer's ones pistol out of its holster. I aimed at the still armed one's face, and said, "Put her in your car."
"You are pointing a gun at a cop-" she heatedly replied, before I fired the purloined gun. Both of the officers flinched back from the muzzle blast, even as a brick building down the street received a new decoration. They obeyed, rather sullenly, and I took the opportunity to relieve the other policewoman's gun from its holster. Aiming both pistols at them, they followed my gentle directions with said pistols to place her in the front seat.
"Keys," I added, safing my second new pistol and adding it to my waistband collection. Older made to toss them to me, before I aimed my still out pistol at her.
"Set them on the hood. And then cuff yourselves." I ordered, gesturing again with my pistol. They walked out of the street, and turned around. I grabbed the keys off the hood, and while they were pretending to cuff themselves, turned the cop car on. Both of the cops turned around in surprise, as I put the car in reverse, and yanked the wheel to the left. From nose facing west, to nose facing east, tires squealing, I reversed my future course. The door slammed shut as I stopped. Hospital now behind me, I could hear a crash as something exited a mostly glass lobby. In the rearview mirror, I could see the bright red snake, carrying three people.
I shifted the lever on the side of the wheel to 'D', and floored it. I could cut through Central Park, and lose them. I nearly flew through an intersection, traffic helpfully kept away by an additional pair of police cars. I looked over at the fire hydrant, wishing I had ordered the police to buckle her in.
Fire hydrant? A second, panicked look confirmed that Daphne was now a fire hydrant. A look in my mirrors showed Daphne lying on the sidewalk, not a fire hydrant, being sprayed with water from where a hydrant had been.
The snake-thing had stopped, dropping its passengers off in front of it, and I saw top hat walking towards Daphne. And then I had to flinch back, as an eye searing glow formed in the middle of the street. Which then started flying towards me. I floored the cop car, but it wasn't enough. The ball of bright fire engulfed the rear of the car, leaving nothing but melted plastic and metal. I desperately tried to stop the car, but it wasn't having any of that. I opened the door, falling out into a roll. The half-a-car slammed into the curb ahead. It flipped up, landing on its roof on the sidewalk.
I rolled to a stop, right in front of a bus stop. Injuries new and old voiced their complaints. I tried to stand, but couldn't. I felt my vision dim, even as I desperately tried to grasp out to Daphne. I just couldn't reach -
