"This way."
Bruce followed the nurse down the hall to the ICU. Yesterday, they'd had a serious burn victim admitted, and the doctors wanted to see if Bruce could do anything for her.
Alonso led him into a small room that had been sectioned off, and Bruce winced at the smell in the room. It was mostly a disinfectant smell, but there was also the trace of an odour. There was space for a bed and table in the room, but not much else. In the bed, a person lay covered in bandages. A ventilator covered her face, though the only reason Bruce knew this was a woman was because he'd read her chart.
"This is awful," Bruce muttered, sighing. The girl in the bed wasn't too much older than Quincy. For a kid like that to be injured like this...
"We're not sure how much you can do since she's very limited in what she can eat, but Dr. Norman isn't sure if she'll make it. We'll do whatever we can to increase those odds."
Bruce nodded and walked next to her. She had a few different tubes stuck in her, and she looked like little more than a corpse.
"I'll do what I can. I should be able to sense when she's reaching her limit, even if she can't say anything to us. What about the consent form?"
"We've gotten permission from her next of kin." Alonso pulled up the form on his tablet and showed Bruce. Sure enough, the girl's mother had signed off on the treatment.
Ideally, she'd be awake so he could discuss things with her and she could tell him when she was getting tired. Through the past few months, though, Bruce had gotten better at sensing when the person he was helping was struggling to keep up with the Miracle.
He took a breath and held her left hand, one of the only places that didn't seem to be covered in injuries.
"I hope this helps you, Aila," Bruce whispered, then closed his eyes and started concentrating.
What felt like an eternity passed before he finally opened his eyes and took a shaky breath.
"It's not working, Alonso," he said, trying to stem the panic rising in him.
"You mean she's not responding?" Alonso asked.
"No. I can't activate the Miracle at all. It's like it's just...gone." Bruce looked up at Alonso, trying to gauge his response.
"Has this ever happened before?" Alonso asked with a frown.
"Never. I should at least be able to sense the state of her body at this point, but I can't feel anything. I can feel the warmth in her hand, but that's about it."
Alonso looked at her with resignation on his face.
"Then I guess this is one patient we'll lose. Maybe she's too injured for even you to be able to help."
Bruce looked at the kid one more time and sighed. Was there really nothing he could do? Was this kid going to just die like that?
And because of the Legion too.
Grief weighed his heart as Alonso led the way out of the room.
I'm sorry, Aila, he thought. I won't forget you. And I'll better master my Miracle, so that no one shares your fate.
When Courtney headed for the Legon Headquarters on Friday, she didn't expect to be locked out. No matter how many times she punched in that stupid password, it just kept flashing a red light at her. After the fourth attempt, she finally stopped in case it would call the military on fail number five or something. That was a fairly common security measure.
She stood there dumbfounded for far too long after that. Finally, Courtney let out a low growl and pulled out her phone to message Achilles.
And he'd blocked her. What the hell was this?
"Having trouble?" A man's voice came from behind her, making Courtney almost jump out of her shoes.
"Who are you?" she asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. How had she not seen him sneaking up on her? Was she losing her edge?
Yeah. That had to be it. She was off her game because the door wouldn't open.
"I'm someone who can help you." Courtney took a step back, scrutinizing the man's blank expression. He looked like a model or something, but she was sure she'd never seen him anywhere before.
"What do you want?" Courtney glanced around to see if anyone else was around. If it turned into a fight, she didn't want civilians involved and she didn't want him to bring in reinforcements.
"Please stop acting like I'm the devil incarnate. The Legion's kicked you out in case you hadn't noticed. I have an offer you might be interested in, though."
"And why should I trust you? You won't even tell me your name."
"Perhaps Joseph Queen would serve as a reference. Though, I suppose you might know him better as Jumper."
"What did you do with him?"
"Don't look at me like that. I've given him, his brother and two others a stable place to live. All I ask in return is that you do some work for me."
"Did Jumper actually agree to this?"
"He came around. I think the biggest hurdle was getting him to talk to Ned about it."
"So it wasn't willingly?"
"It's a good offer. I can also guarantee Lillie Buchanan's safety if that sweetens the deal for you."
"And what kind of work do you want from us?" Courtney glared at the man, who'd remained unfazed through the entire conversation. Like he was fully in control. She didn't like that. She didn't like feeling like a puppet dancing on a string.
"Our interests align, Courtney. We both want the problematic Gifted to be removed. Bastards like Team Chaos. And right now, Hot Rod."
"What do you plan to do about them?"
"I'll do what I did with Phantasma."
Dread formed in Courtney's stomach like a lead weight.
"You...That was you? Do you have any idea what you did?" Anger flared in her blood as she thought of the struggles the military had endured because of him.
"I removed a problematic person from Arx Nubibus. Would you rather she escape prison and kill again? Or would you prefer she suffer in solitary confinement for the duration of her sentence? Would you prefer she be released and go after Achilles again? I don't care for the moron, but doesn't he have as much right to life as she did?"
Courtney's hands started shaking. His argument was surprisingly sound. But still...
"It was still wrong. You should have worked within official channels. You've hurt people's trust in the military. Things will only get worse from here."
"Current law states that no one may be killed for a crime. Current law also states that solitary confinement is an inhumane punishment that should never be doled out. The military already broke their own rules there. The only reason those cells are still there is because reconfiguring Arx's layout is too much of a chore."
"Wasn't there a better way than killing her? Because of you, General Jordan was forced to resign! People are convinced the military's corrupt and people like Achilles are trying to dismantle it. Without them, where will the normal people be left? We need the military."
"Agreed."
"So why would you undermine them like that?" Courtney barely held herself back from punching that blank face. Did he not feel any emotion at all?
"We can rebuild the trust in the military. If one of those bastards crashes the city, we're doomed. Even if the landing didn't kill everyone, the outside world would." His eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "The likes of Scattershot could have killed everyone on this ship. A stray projectile could have burst a hole in the hull, messing with the pressure and ultimately causing a lethal oxygen deprivation. One can only do so much when there's a damn hole for all our precious air to fly out of."
Courtney didn't know what to say to that. On the one hand, he was right. On the other...
Killing couldn't be the solution. She'd spent her entire career training to take down people without killing them. Life was precious, no matter what the person did with that life.
"I can see this discussion is futile. If you want to hear more about my offer, contact Jumper. I'll then text you to set up a meeting. For now, I'll leave you to stew outside the Legion that no longer wants you."
The words were like a knife to Courtney's heart. The man walked away, but she didn't move from her spot. She pulled out her phone and stared at the black screen. Would Fiore even reply to her now? Would anyone?
Was there really no place for her in the Legion?
