Note: Italics denote thoughts here. Except for this first little bit:
3.6
"I..won't –"
"Tell me… "
"...empire will…"
"Stay b –... I'll… anything…"
"...fire…. of life… you dare…"
I choked back a scream and jerked upright. Immediately, the room spun, forcing me to shake off a wave of nausea. After my stomach settled, I looked around in a bid to determine where I was. My survey of the plain room told me little and another wave of nausea shattered what little concentration I had. The room seemed too small and I shifted, pushing back until I was against the wall the bed sat along, the cheap blankets bunched up as a barrier around me.
A shrill beeping hit my ears and I flinched, glancing at its source. The machine fell silent with a thought, sparks erupting from it as something inside its casing broke. I choked back a sound of panic at the sudden flare of light. What… why did that…
My eyes fell on a pitcher of water sitting on the nightstand. Condensation decorated the outside and a glass sat beside it. I reached for it, then stopped, staring at my hands as they shook visibly. What the hell was wrong with me? Where was I?
The door swung open and I jerked, retreating back to the corner even as I felt ready to smash whoever it was. I wasn't going back!
Back? Why couldn't I remember? I had… I had been talking to.. Catherine? Minako? Someone else…?
A woman in a nurse's uniform stood by the door, her hands held up to show they were empty. "Easy, Miss. We just heard the alarm from the nurse's station and…"
"Where…" I began, then swallowed, trying to get moisture to my suddenly dry throat. I wanted… what? Something… "Where am I?"
"Brockton Bay Memorial's general clinic," the woman said. "You were dropped off yesterday evening out of nowhere. We're a little cramped, I'm afraid. With all that's happened recently…"
The hospital? How did I get here? My eyes drifted to the pitcher of water for a moment before I tried to scoot back. No. Can't trust the water, can't trust…
"What day is it?" I forced out, biting my lip to force away an upswell of panic.
"It's April seventh," she answered calmly. "Two thousand-eleven."
I shook my head. A week? "That… no. It's the twenty-ninth of March!"
The nurse's expression softened. "Is that the last date you remember?"
Nodding, I winced and curled inward as another wave of nausea assailed me. "Y-yes. How… I mean…"
Poor girl… left outside like someone had just tossed her away like trash.
"What did you say?" I demanded, fighting past another bout of nausea as a sharp stabbing pain speared into the side of my head.
"I asked you what the last date you remembered was," the woman said, frowning.
Possible memory loss? Damage to short-term memory as well if she's not remembering questions asked just seconds ago. Maybe she got caught in the bombings? The things those were doing...
I shook my head as what I was hearing turned into a wave of revulsion. Whatever the woman was feeling it was... I took several deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. "That wasn't... " Whatever else I meant to say ended as my stomach heaved and I clamped a hand over my mouth. The nurse was at my side immediately and my impulse to shove her away dissolved completely as my throat and mouth burned with an acidic, bitter taste, the meager contents of my stomach splattering into the pan she was holding in place.
"T-thank you," I forced out, trying to ignore the hideous taste lingering in my mouth. The nurse, if that was what she really was, murmured something and rubbed my back in what I suppose was meant to be a comforting gesture.
"Did you want some water?" she asked, reaching toward the pitcher.
"No," I said, shaking my head quickly in spite of how it made the room wobble. Again, the thought that I couldn't trust the water struck me and I glanced sideways at the pitcher with no small amount of dread.
"Doctor Smith will be in to speak with you shortly, okay?" the nurse finally said, gently helping me settle back on the bed. The bout of nausea had robbed me of what little strength I had and I let her rather than fight. The bed was a touch too soft for my tastes but that didn't matter right now. What the hell was going on? The seventh of April? A whole week?
I remembered… talking to Catherine and Minako. And that other girl… Lisa. Tattletale. Then?
Light. Sound. Darkness. That was all. Nothing after that. There should be something, shouldn't there?
"What the hell happened?" I whispered to the now empty room, prodding at the empty spot in my memory. No. Not empty. There was something there. Like a word you can't quite remember on the tip of your tongue. But nothing I did nudged it from that grey fog that seemed to permeate the stretch of time after the attack at home.
My stomach twisted with nausea again, prompting another glance at the water. I shook my head and winced as I began shivering. I fought to keep from shifting, pulling the blankets tighter around myself. If I could get warm, it would stop, wouldn't it?
It didn't get any better and I was barely keeping my teeth from chattering. The room spun and I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to ignore the way it felt like the bed was tilting. Trying to focus failed, my thoughts scattering wildly like shooting stars dancing across the night sky.
"...I am fire...," the words slipped from my lips and I shuddered once more as the room abruptly stopped moving. Clarity faded back in, and I could see the ceiling above me again. At some point, I had slumped over and was almost entirely off the bed. Getting an arm under me so I could push myself back up was like trying to lift a mountain. All that I managed was a graceless flop backwards, narrowly avoiding hitting my head against the bedframe.
"Ah, you're awake...and trying to fall out of your bed," an accented voice said. "Come on now, up you go." I found myself sitting upright and staring at a slender man in a lab coat, held in a gentle, yet surprisingly strong grip. Brown hair in need of a comb crowned his head and he had the barest hint of a smile on his face.
"Right, then. I'm the Doctor. Doctor John Smith, if you will, and you… are Jane?" When he seemed convinced I could sit upright on my own, he let me go and took the clipboard from the end of the bed. His eyes skimmed the paper then before he set it down. "Jane Doe, is it?"
"That isn't my name," I said, putting a hand up and wiping away sweat. Just the little activity had worked me up enough that I felt like I'd been running a marathon.
"Course it isn't," he said. "You don't look like a Jane at all. So, if not Jane, then what is your name?"
"Taylor," I said, closing my eyes. "Are you really a doctor?"
"Well, yes," he said, pulling up a stool with one foot. "A bit out of practice, but with things as they are right now, I figured I'd help out. Now, Annie said you thought it was the twenty-ninth?" He was leaning close when I opened my eyes, giving me an assessing look.
"That's the last thing I remember, yes," I said. He nodded and pulled out a pair of glasses, putting them on and taking out a penlight from his labcoat.
"Hold still for me, would you?" The light lit up and I tried not to flinch as he shone it in my eyes, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face.
"Well, we weren't entirely sure what had happened to you, to be honest," he said, scratching at the back of his head after switching off the light. "We rushed some blood tests and they… well, I didn't recognize half of the compounds in your bloodstream. Not surprising for memory loss with that sort of cocktail, though. Telol, Triopenin, to just name a few."
I sucked in a breath. "I was drugged?"
"Our best guess, yeah. Like I said, a lot of what was in your bloodstream was unrecognizable, but what I could identify, well, yeah, memory loss isn't surprising. Funny thing, though, it looked like some of it had been broken down for quite a while. Weirdest thing I'd ever seen." He peered at me for a moment, then shrugged. "
Well, not the weirdest, but still pretty strange. How are you feeling right now?"
"I wish I had some water to wash the taste of my own vomit out of my mouth," I said, scooting back toward the corner slowly.
"Oh, yeah, nasty stuff that," he said, making a face. "Want me to pour you a glass?"
I shook my head quickly and he froze in the act of reaching for the pitcher of water. "Ah, got it. Tell you what, how about this?" He straightened and walked to the other side of the room where a sink and some cabinets sat. A moment of searching and he found an unopened box of disposable cups. He kept it where I could see and opened one of the packages, filling it with water from the sink.
"Fresh from the tap!" Doctor Smith said cheerfully and I stared for a moment, then fumbled for it, gripping the cup between my hands. They shook slightly and some of it splashed out, but I brought it to my lips.
The water tasted tangy, the familiar taste of unfiltered tap water drawing a shudder from me for a moment. But even with that, it relaxed me slightly, the cold liquid rinsing out the aftertaste and pouring down my throat until the cup was empty.
"Mmm, a touch dehydrated, I think," the Doctor was saying. "We can get you an IV for that if you want…"
I shook my head before I even knew why. I didn't voice it, but something screamed in my head about needles. I didn't want needles anywhere close to me. There was a cold, hard nugget of fear that hadn't been there before that promised it would kill someone before another needle came near me.
"Right," he said, drawing the word out with a click of his tongue. "More water?"
"Please," I said and he filled several cups and sat them on a rolling tray that he pushed over for me to pick them up from. "Now, you said your name's Taylor. Any parents or relatives we can contact?"
A week? I shook my head quickly. "No. No one who cares."
"All alone?" he asked and there was something in his voice that prompted me to actively touch his mind. I almost recoiled at the sadness I felt there, so strong, so intense that I felt my eyes starting to tear up. His eyes met mine and then the feelings vanished, buried somewhere deep in his mind. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"I… do I have any clothes?" I asked, hoping I had something more than the hospital gown I was wearing and that it would distract me from the strangeness of this doctor.
"I think they're around here somewhere," he said, looking thoughtful for a moment. "They were a bit ragged, so they might have gone to the laundry. I'll have the nurses check on that. There seriously isn't anyone we can call, though?"
"No," I answered again. "I'd like whatever things I had with me, please."
"Right," he nodded. "I'll see what we can do about this. Just hit the buzzer if you need more water, alright? I don't want you hurting yourself trying to get over there yourself."
"Okay," I agreed. "Thank you, Doctor."
He held a hand up and gave me a lopsided smile before slipping out of the room. I took another cup of water and drank it greedily before setting it aside. My thoughts drifted away from the strange doctor. The nurse who had first come in had said I'd shown up the night before out of nowhere, but I could have sworn I heard her say I was dropped on the curb like someone tossing out the trash.
I'd heard her… but I hadn't… My hands curled in the blanket as I tried to make sense of that. There was something different, but what?
It was like a switch had been flipped as I realized what the matter was. The noise beyond my barriers had changed. There was something else scrabbling at the walls around me now. Not impressions of colors and intent, the swirl of emotions intermingling around me. Something loud, something pervasive. For the briefest moment, I opened a tiny crack and listened.
"Ugh, what a me-did I schedule the date at six or eig-eedle marks around the neck. Repeated dr –" I hissed at the sudden rush, closing the breach. The seal had more mental weight behind it than it probably needed, reducing the 'noise' to almost nothing.
What was that? It wasn't like feeling people's emotions. I was… hearing them? There had been several voices…
I was hearing… reading their thoughts? That… that wasn't possible, was it? I thought over what I had heard, trying to make sense of the jumbled together sentences.
Needle marks around the neck. Was that referring to me? My hands flew to my neck and I hissed, feeling abraded skin, like something had been wrapped around it and chafed the flesh. I gave up after a moment. I had no idea if there were needle marks. What did those even feel like?
I brushed against the barrier I kept up and steeled myself. I could feel people outside the room, even through the walls and I looked for anything – anyone I could recognize.
The nurse, Annie, was found first.
I swear, sometimes Doctor Smith is the most exasperating… I have my licensing… why am I stuck fetching laundry while that… that airhead just prances in with his ridiculous credentials from wherever he had gone and takes over…
I recoiled, shoving my walls back against the influx of annoyance that came barreling in along with the thought. Again, I felt that spike of pain, but it faded quickly. Thoughts. I was reading their thoughts as well as feeling their emotions?
I'm a telepath?
I shook my head. No. Telepaths didn't exist. There was suspicion about the Simurgh being one, but I don't think I had ever actually heard of someone who could do that.
At least that girl has a name now. Annie's 'voice' intruded and I flinched a little.
She looked frightful when they brought her in. One of the hobos said she just dropped out of nowhere… I wonder if she did or if he was just drunk and imagined it? Doctor Smith said her name was Taylor. I swear if that man forgot to get her last na –
The brief laugh that escaped my lips was a touch hysterical as I looked around the room. What the hell had happened to me after the firehouse? I was hearing people's voice… thoughts…
I was reading their minds!
No. There had to be an answer. Maybe they were just talking and I was hearing them. Super-hearing was a power, wasn't it?
I get why I'm having to do this, but I swear, Armsmaster did this just to keep me out of the action. I'd rather be out helping clean up the last of the ABB than touring the hospital to boost civvie morale.
A knock sounded on the door just after I heard that and I downed another cup of water quickly. "Come in."
A familiar masked face stuck his head around the door. Dauntless raised a hand in greeting. "Hi, mind if I come in and talk for a bit?"
I stared dumbly. He didn't recognize me? Oh, right. We'd only met in costume. "Um, sure."
"Thanks," he said, leaning on the doorframe for a second before entering the room fully. "I'm just making rounds, introducing myself to everyone. Given recent events, I'm on watch duty here while we mop up the ABB."
"The ABB?" I had heard the nurse say something about bombings earlier. Maybe he could tell me more. "I'm sorry… I just woke up and the nurse said it's been a week since the last thing I remember…"
Dauntless paused in the act of pushing the single stool over toward the bed.
Wonder what happened to her? She looks like – His thought cut off abruptly and I felt his emotions shift to self-reproach. "A whole week? That's really terrible. I'm sorry to hear that."
I forced a shrug. Maybe I could get him to hang around and talk, ask him about what the hell had happened… and if this whole missing a week business was real and not some elaborate lie. "It's a thing. Could I... could I ask you some questions about what's been going on? The nurses haven't said much, being busy, I guess…"
"Well," Dauntless said, settling onto the stool. "What's the last thing you remember?"
Light. Sound. Darkness.
A bird made of fire swallowing me whole. I shuddered at the memory. "Um… stuff blowing up?"
He winced. "Sounds like you got caught up in the ABB's attack on the Empire. Ouch. That's… well, I'm sorry."
Was that what had happened when I was talking with the others? "The ABB and the Empire were fighting?"
She would ask that first. Ugh. He sighed and for a moment, I felt nothing but exhaustion from him. "That… well, it's a long story. Short version. The Empire got set back a bit when some of their people were arrested, and the ABB took advantage and bombed the hell out of their territory."
"I'm going to guess it got worse from there?" I asked, frowning as I processed this information. The ABB bombed my place? I wasn't in Empire territory. Maybe they had, but that didn't seem right.
"Understatement," Dauntless said wearily. "We got everything under control, finally, but cleanup is just getting started."
And I'm not even sure we've gotten them all. There could be bombs waiting to go off if someone breathes wrong.
I concealed a wince. This close, even my walls weren't helping and the thread of denial I had been clinging to about telepathy was rapidly fraying. "I.. I'm sure there's lots you can't talk about and all, so thank you for telling me this much at least."
Dauntless shrugged. "There is, but nothing I've said so far goes near that. Between you and me, it's kind of nice to sit down and just talk to someone versus avoiding a screaming wacko trying to take your head off with a brick."
Cricket standing above me flashed across my mind. "I guess it would be."
He straightened, pushing away his exhaustion with an act of will. "Well, I hope I haven't been too much of a bother. I suppose I should get back to my rounds. It was nice talking to you, Miss…?" He slapped a hand over his face and groaned.
"What?"
"I never introduced myself," he said, sweeping into a bow. "My name's Dauntless."
I felt my lips quirk into a smile at the theatrics. That was he willing to take the time to talk to a random person in the hospital and was putting some effort into cheering me up despite being exhausted made me wonder if I had been too hard on him before. He was a nice guy. "Taylor. I'm Taylor."
"It's nice to meet you," he replied. "I hope you'll get better soon."
"Thank you," I murmured. He raised a hand and quietly left the room. I could feel his thoughts even so and tracked him for a moment before I sucked in a breath.
I really was a telepath. How? Vicky's theory that I was some sort of Trump who gained new powers based on who I was around flitted to the forefront of my thoughts. I had ignored it then because it didn't feel right, but maybe she had been on to something? I frowned and pushed it from my mind, realizing that there was something else I needed to take care of.
My eyes flicked to the half-open door that Dauntless had left through, then toward the small bathroom tucked in the opposite corner of the room. Grimacing, I swung my legs off the side of the bed and winced as my feet touched the cold floor. I gripped the headboard with one hand and forced myself to stand, ignoring the shaking in my legs.
Crossing the room to the door to close it took longer than I expected and I could already feel sweat forming on my forehead. I took a step away from the door and wobbled unsteadily for a moment. Each step after that was steadier, but I still felt like I'd run a marathon by the time I flipped the switch to turn on the light in the bathroom.
A few minutes later, feeling better, I stared at my reflection in the mirror. The thought Dauntless had about my appearance made sense now. My hair was flat and looked in need of washing and I looked underfed. Combined with dark circles around my eyes…
"What happened to me?" I asked, turning my head left then right to eye the circle of chafed skin around my neck. A closer look did show spots that I thought were needle marks and I swallowed.
This wasn't the ABB's doing.
Why couldn't I remember? What the hell had happened?
I jumped after hearing someone knock on the door. The wood began to creak as I gripped it with my powers, prepared to shove it into whoever was there. Foresight unfolded and I saw who was there and what she was going to say. "Taylor, I brought you some clothes. Do you need any help?"
The nurse. Annie. Right. I relaxed my grip on the door. "No, I'm alright. I'll be right out." I washed my hands, then made sure the hospital gown was done up properly before I made my way out of the bathroom.
The nurse had a pair of pants and a shirt neatly folded and sitting on the blanket. I stared at them, feeling a frown form as I realized they weren't the clothes I last remembered wearing. That, and... "Um… is this all?"
Her expression blanked for a moment before she offered a hand to me for crossing the room. "While we didn't see any evidence of sexual assault, if that's what you were concerned about, we can't rule it out and the things you were wearing are to be turned over as evidence just in case. We can have an in-depth check done if you are worried about the possibility."
I drew in a breath, considering the offer. The thought of rape didn't evoke any particular feeling in me the way other things had. "No, I… no, that isn't necessary."
"If you're sure," Annie said, helping me sit down on the edge of the bed. "You're sure there's no one we can call for you?"
A week. Has anyone been looking for me? What happened to Catherine and Minako? To Lisa? I need answers.
"Actually," I said after a moment, realizing who I could call. "There is someone I'd like to call, if it isn't too much trouble."
~~~~~~~~
The door flinging open with more force than was necessary made me jump, but I relaxed an instant later when I saw Vicky. "Taylor! Gods, where have you been? Are you alright?"
My fingers curled in the blanket for a moment. "The first is a question I'd like answered and the second… I just woke up in the hospital a bit ago… what do you think?"
Vicky came to stand by the bedside, worry dominating her thoughts. "You look terrible, so I'm going to say not alright."
"A brilliant deduction," I retorted. "Sit down. Is it really April seventh?"
"Uh, yeah, what would it be?" Vicky asked, looking confused.
"March twenty-ninth."
"Wait, what?" Vicky grabbed the stool and sat down. "What the hell's going on, Taylor? The girls called me last week, said your place had blown the hell up and they'd been knocked out in the process. Didn't know what had happened to you and now you turn up at BB Memorial. Have you been here all this time? Why didn't you call us?"
"I haven't," I forced the words out slowly, a kernel of worry for Catherine and Minako popping with Vicky's words, "been here all week. I just woke up. Apparently, I showed up, to quote the nurse, 'out of nowhere' out front last night. I remember everything going nuts and then nothing till I woke up here."
Is she joking? Vicky's thought made me wince. "What… nothing at all?"
"Nothing, and no, I'm not joking," I said, brushing my hair back to show her my neck. "This is all I have to go on right now."
"You're not joking, okay… I didn't say you were…?" Vicky said, leaning in to look at the marks on my neck and scowling.
"Yes, you did. You aske –" I stopped mid-word. "Ah, fuck."
"No, I didn't, I…" Vicky's eyes went wide and her voice was faint as she went on. "I thought that. You heard me think? That isn't possible."
"Not… exactly," I sighed, reinforcing my walls and working to make them as thick as I could. I wasn't sure it would help. Dauntless had been wide open sitting the same distance away that Vicky was now. "Apparently, I can read minds now?"
She shook her head. "No, you can't. I'm studying that. They've figured –"
"– that even with powers, you'd need a brain many times larger and more complex than anyone anywhere could ever hope to have. I know." I sighed, running a hand through my hair and instantly regretting the greasy feeling it left behind on my fingers. "It's impossible. I can't be reading minds or hearing thoughts. But what do you call it then?"
"It's... some sort of intuition?" Vicky offered, looking just a touch pale. "You're just drawing correct conclusions on what I'm thinking based on cold-reading, physical cues and all that."
"I'm not Tattletale," I rolled my eyes, thinking that Lisa's powers had sounded a lot like what Vicky had just described. "I can prov –"
"Wait, wait. Leave that craziness aside. Who the fuck is Tattletale?" Vicky asked. "Isn't she a member of some gang or another? The Overunders or something stupid?"
I shrugged. "Undersiders, I think. The others didn't mention that when they called you?"
"They told me you were missing, but I haven't had much time. It's been all anyone could do to keep a lid on things." Vicky shook her head. Her face was sunken with fatigue and I could sense revulsion coming off her in waves. "You're lucky you missed this past week, really."
"Considering I can't remember the last week, I'm going to hold back on believing that," I muttered. "Dauntless said that too. But what the hell exactly happened? The ABB and the Empire fought?"
Vicky's laugh was bitter. "The word 'fought' is an understatement. After your scene at the mall, the ABB started a fucking war. Buildings all over the city just started blowing up, and there was armed mobs in the streets with ABB colors. That bastard lizard got a new parahuman, some Tinker named Bakuda."
She laughed again, though this time it wasn't bitter as much as hateful. Her face twisted in a scowl, and she looked ready to hurt someone. No, she was ready to hurt someone. "She makes bombs, you see. Bakuda? Bomb? Apparently it's fucking
funny. We've spent the last week trying to stop them. I hear Piggot even cut the Empire a deal –"
Maybe if you hadn't flipped out and put the stupid Neo-Nazis down by four, the ABB wouldn't have done this. Vicky recoiled as the thought finished, staring at me with wide eyes.
"Taylor… I… I'm…"
I shook my head, the movement prompting her to fall silent. "Don't… just.. no, okay? You said Piggot cut the Empire a deal. Do you know what it was?"
Vicky's face twisted unpleasantly. "I don't, but I can guess. Fenja, Menja and Cricket were let out. Apparently it was the only way the Empire was going to actually work with anyone else."
"She's out?" I snarled in question. "After… gods… that stupid…"
She brought a hand up, catching my attention. "No one's actually seen her since the end of the War, though. That was two days ago and the Empire's been making a show of strength in their territory. Though, a place downtown went up last night. They think it was some bombs that hadn't gone off yet."
I nodded absently, worrying over Cricket. She had seen my face before then clearly put two and two together at the Mall scene and gotten Sirin… if she figured out my name…
"She could go after my dad," I whispered, going cold. I was not happy with him right now, but… I didn't want anything to happen to him. "And no one's seen her? Shit… I need to get out of here."
"Are you sure?" Vicky asked. "You do still look awful. I can do a check-up on your dad then go get Amy to fix you up, if you want?"
"I… no, but thank you," I shook my head, staring at the clothes Annie had brought me and ran another hand through my hair. The greasy feeling was still there, no surprise, and I began untangling my hair as best I could.
"Taylor, gods, your neck… what the hell?" Vicky's thoughts polarized into outrage and worry and I froze. What was she… Oh.
I let my hair drop, feeling it cover the marks on my neck. "I don't know what it is… Some of the doctors think something was there, injecting drugs. They found traces in my blood, they said. I don't remember anything though. There's... I can't call them memories. Impressions, maybe but nothing substantial."
God, I've been blathering on and blamed her, but she looks awful. What the hell happened to her?
I smiled a bit and laid a hand over hers. The thought from before still stung, but I could tell there was something deeper bothering her but not what exactly. "It's okay, Vicky. I'll do a fly-by and check on my dad. There is something you might be able to help me with, though."
"Name it," Vicky said, relief coloring her emotions.
I felt myself flush. "Um, apparently, when I showed up out of nowhere, these were the clothes they gave me as mine are considered evidence now and there's no... um…"
Vicky glanced at the shirt and pants. "There's no…?" She looked at me, then back to the clothes. "Oh, I get it. Um, yeah, I can see that being a problem. Evidence? You weren't…"
"I don't think so and the doctors don't either, but," I shrugged, "can't remember. Not going to worry about it for now."
"I can go get some for you real quick," she told me and I rattled off sizes for her, feeling my face heat even further at asking someone to get those for me.
"Thanks," I said when Vicky stood to go. "Once I'm out of here, I'll check on my dad, then back by the firehouse, to see if anything survived. I hope the jacket you got me didn't get ruined."
"Taylor," Vicky said. "Don't worry about the jacket. Worry about getting better." She left the room in a rush to do as I had asked and I took a deep breath, then grabbed one of the last cups of water on the tray and downed it in one gulp.
Get all the clothes, get out of here, check on my dad, then the firehouse… and after that, I had to figure out what had happened. And what I was going to do to whoever was responsible.
~~~~~~~~
Getting dressed and having actual clothes instead of a hospital gown actually helped me feel more like a person. Seeing my bare feet made me groan in frustration, though. I forgot to tell Vicky to get me some shoes and socks as well, but I would have to just deal with it until I could see if any of my stuff had survived the explosions. Something had clearly been bothering her that she wasn't talking about and I let her go look at her family or to take care of whatever it was.
There was a knock on the door while I was trying to get used to the cold floor and Annie the nurse stuck her head in. "Taylor, are you up to talking some more? There's a few people here to see you."
People? I stretched out and felt the familiar presence of Dauntless, along with several others I didn't know. Why was he back? Who was he with?
The door opened a bit more as the nurse leaned in, and I caught a glimpse of uniform black. It connected instantly, as my eyes darted down and saw a belt decorated with a holster.
Police.
I closed my eyes and counted backwards from ten, already piecing what had happened from their thoughts. They had, since I'd woken up, contacted the police. The circumstances of my showing up at the hospital had flagged the PRT, possibly my giving my first name as well. Damn. There went getting out of here easily.
"Fine," I said as they filed in, trying to bridle my frustration. Sneaking out of here was going to have to wait, it seemed.
Dauntless commandeered the stool and I almost smiled a bit as he directed an apologetic shrug at me. "Sorry about this, Taylor, but the report the hospital submitted had someone concerned and they sent us to talk to you."
"Concerned about what?" I asked, turning a puzzled look from him to the police men.
One of them flipped open a small notepad to a page about halfway through. "There were some concerns, given your condition, that you might have been abused in some fashion. Is there anything you can tell us?"
Stupid waste of time. The report said she didn't remember the past week. Probably got snagged by the Merchants and used while she was drugged out of her mind. Not going to be able to tell us anything worthwhile.
I almost growled at the thought, but managed to control myself. "No, I'm sorry. I remember things starting to explode around me on the 29th, and then I woke up a few hours ago in here. The doctors can probably tell you more than I know, to be honest."
"You don't remember anything at all?" the other cop asked in what sounded like a good cop tone of voice. The fact that I could read what was he was thinking took away that illusion though.
"There's impressions, like things I want to avoid, but that's it. I didn't want to drink any water that I hadn't seen get poured and the thought of needles… bothers me," I answered, nudging the folds of the blanket with one finger. "That's all, though. I try and remember and it's just a big hole of nothing."
"Nothing at all?" the first cop asked.
Like I thought. A waste of time. Feel bad for her, but doubt there's much we can do here. Why the hell did we have to have Dauntless along anyway? Girl looks so ill a stiff breeze would blow her over…
I shook my head. "I'm afraid not, I'm sorry. If there was something more, I'd tell you, I promise."
The second cop nodded and they asked me a few more questions that I gave what answers I could. Dauntless was silent and I could sense he was simply waiting until they were gone. His words from before worried me. Since was back, had the report and mention of my first name flagged something with the PRT? Did he know I was Sirin?
"That's all we have to ask for now, Ms. Hebert," the first officer said, after they took pictures of the markings around and on my neck. "Let us know if anything comes back, if you would."
"I'll be sure to." The two men left, leaving me alone with Dauntless. For a moment, he said nothing, then he folded his hands together and leaned forward slightly. There weren't any thoughts connecting me to Sirin that I could hear from him, but I wasn't sure if that meant anything or not.
"So, let me just say you're not in trouble, alright?" his tone was calm, pitched to soothe. "No one's blaming you for anything, but we did have some concerns. The hospital's report mentioned some irregularities in how you got here. Since I was already here, I got tapped to ask you about it."
I snorted. "If I knew how I got here, I'd have an idea of what exactly went down in the past week. I wish I could tell you something there, but from when I was meeting my friends and everything started getting blown up to waking up is a big blank."
"The report mentioned that you had several spots on your neck that resembled injection points," he remarked. "I know you let the officers take pictures, but may I take a look at them?"
I swept my hair back without a word and he leaned in to look at them. After a moment, he drew back and I let my desperately in need of a wash hair fall into place once more. Dauntless said nothing for a moment before he reached over and gave my hand a comforting squeeze.
"I know this probably bothers you a lot, Taylor," he said. "But I promise we'll make sure that no one comes and tries to take you out of here. Given the odd circumstances you showed up, I should be able to justify getting some PRT agents tasked to keep an eye out at your door…"
I felt his thoughts as a mix of concern and outrage on my behalf. He really did mean every word he was saying to me. I smiled slightly, touched by his concern… but I wasn't going to stay here any longer than it took him to leave the building. "I… thank you. I imagine I'll be out of here soon though. I'm already feeling better since my friend came by. Having clothes instead of a hospital gown does wonders."
"I remember some of my hospital visits from before I got my powers. I understand completely." Dauntless chuckled as he stood and stretched. "I should go turn in my report. I'll have someone here to keep watch soon, alright?"
I merely nodded, my smile still fixed on my face as he waved farewell and left. I tracked his thoughts, keeping focused on him out of everyone else as he walked further away. The moment that the elevator doors closed to take him to the ground floor, I swung my legs off the bed and forced myself to stand.
Time to go. I split my attention between tracking him and mapping out my escape, carefully moving out of the room and toward the elevators as well. Dauntless was stepping outside when the elevator closed to take me to the roof and I heard his thoughts as clear as if he were standing beside me.
Still not sure why they said to talk to her. The guys in investigations covered everything… Curiosity radiated and I felt the moment when he connected the dots. I couldn't work up the effort to get upset that someone else knew now. I had more important things to worry about.
I knew that hair looked familiar. Ah, hells, Piggot's not going to like this at all.
I used my powers to go airborne, not wanting to cross the gravel-strewn roof with bare feet, even as I felt Dauntless change directions, heading back toward my room.
"Sorry, Dauntless," I thought and I could almost see him skid to a halt, looking around wildly. Then I dropped my contact with his mind and left the hospital behind.
~~~~~~~~
The light was on in the living room and I could see my dad moving back and forth between there and the kitchen. Two of his friends, Kurt and Lacey, were there as well, talking to him and there was, I could feel, a slight undercurrent of tension in the room. He seemed animated, though it took me some effort to ignore the feeling of hopelessness he was radiating. I couldn't see how Kurt or Lacey weren't able to tell as I saw one of them start laughing in response to something he said.
I pulled my gaze away from the house, stretching my thoughts out in all directions.
"Tonight, I'll get Marie to try…"
"God, is he ever going to learn how to do that… oh…"
"I will one day, she's going to tell me to fix her dinner and I'm going to…"
I stopped paying attention to the actual thoughts and began sorting through the feelings, looking for anyone I recognized. If Cricket was here, then I would find her… and she wouldn't get a chance to come near him. Or anyone else.
My probing stretched as far as I could push it, sweeping across neighboring blocks until I finally drew back, sighing. The moon had moved quite a bit and I saw the lights were dim across the street now. How long had I been keeping watch? I shrugged and rose up, leaving the neighborhood behind with one last glance toward the house.
It took me only a couple of minutes to reach the firehouse. More of it was intact than I expected. But even so, several windows were shattered and the inside was dark, a forbidding maw that I almost didn't want to enter. I floated slowly in through the window that I had, by my reckoning, just jumped out of only hours ago.
I called a sphere of fire into being above my left hand. I almost flinched at how bright it was, despite its size. It had come easily, unlike before when I had fumbled with just heat at the mall. My thoughts shifted as I slowly looked around at the damage around me. The furniture, the TV, the walls, all wrecked. Fire and water damage was visible everywhere. I clenched a hand into a fist, feeling my anger flare at the ruin of what I had started considering home. Was there anything salvageable, that was the question
Shifting around rubble beneath the hovering light of my flame only turned up one thing. It was a bit battered, but the jacket that Vicky had bought me was still intact. I slipped it on and grimaced at the way it sat just a bit too loose. I needed to get something to eat and soon. Another search didn't find anything useful. The half-finished costume I had been working on was ruined and I couldn't find any money amid the wreckage. The lockbox I had been keeping it in was almost indistinguishable from the rest of the ruin, just a blown out husk of metal.
"Guess they're not rated against explosions," I muttered before floating outside. My gaze fell on a patch of grass out front of the building. It was where I had dropped Catherine and Minako, if I was remembering everything right.
"Vicky said they were alright, so I'll go see them tomorrow," I said aloud. There was one other place I wanted to go right now. I took off toward downtown, rising up above the city's skyline until I was just over the area I wanted to go to.
Descending, I checked the street names until I found the address Lisa had given me. Mentally, I sighed that I could remember that so clearly, but not what had happened after the explosions. The sight that greeted me was not what I had expected. I'd noticed a few places that had clearly been damaged by the attacks, or war as Vicky put it, but this…
What was left of the place Lisa had said was Coil's base was a slagged ruin that teetered on the edge of a blackened crater. Walls were collapsed and some even looked like the brickwork had melted. I didn't bother shifting anything with my power. There wasn't, I knew with absolute certainty, anyone alive under that. With the moon overhead, I could peer deep into the crater to see the holes in its walls that were likely hallways at some point, and bisected rooms.
The surrounding area wasn't any better. Neighbouring buildings were pock-marked and scarred, some even missing their fronts or sides. I had seen the aftereffects of the war I had missed on my way here, but this trumped most of them. It was like the aftermath of a truly massive explosion.
"Well, this was a waste of time," I muttered, no closer to answers than I had been at the hospital. Maybe I could…
Everything twisted and disorientation seized me as I found myself somewhere other than the patch of air I had been floating in. My stomach rumbled at the twisting sensation and I staggered, the sensation pointedly telling me that I should be in bed trying to get better rather than flying around while I was unwell.
I managed to not empty my stomach and froze as the vertigo settled. I was on a rooftop and I wasn't alone.
"Oh, you idiot, why did you do that?" I heard someone say. "Now she's going to –"
"Quiet," a female voice that I didn't know cut off whatever argument was about to develop. I turned warily, putting up a bubble of telekinetic force around myself and prepared to attack at the first sign of hostility.
There were six of them. Five in costume arranged behind the sixth, a brunette who might have been my age or a bit older. I wasn't entirely sure. She had her hands up so I could see that they were empty.
"I'm sorry about that. Krouse can be a bit eager, sometimes. We didn't mean to startle you, only to talk."
I didn't know who they were, but the feeling when I'd swapped places. That, I knew and remembered. "Talk? About what?" I tapped my precognition in case any of them tried to attack me and what I saw made me blink and replay the sequence. What the –
While I tried to make sense of what I was seeing, the woman – Noelle – walked forward until she was standing in front of me. I kept my attention divided between her and the one they had called Krouse as she shifted awkwardly, trying to find the appropriate words.
"My name," she began, then swallowed before continuing, "is Noelle Meinhardt. And… I… thank you!"
Whatever composure she had dissolved and I staggered, even with my knowledge of what she was going to do, I barely held back from flinging her away as she abruptly hugged me, repeating her last words over and over. Noelle buried her face against my shoulder and I could feel her tears soaking my shirt.
"I… um… you're welcome?" I said, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. She was thanking me? For what? What the hell had I done for her that I couldn't remember?
--
