Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, ideas, or concepts borrowed for the purposes of this story. I just wish to create stories to tell to all who would listen.
Chapter 1: A Long Way Down
Yohko Mano
When Grandma bought access to the foreign channels on TV, I sometimes saw bits and pieces of Star Trek late at night while I was studying for tests. Given what we're all dealing with now, I wish I'd gotten more interested in it as Chi had. We all woke up at about the same time after the flash had subsided. Instead of a subway tunnel, we were in some kinda alleyway between buildings.
I felt a little short of breath but didn't think to say much about it until Jon stumbled complaining of how his ears suddenly popped on him. "Gah! Did someone just fire a gun in my skull?!"
"That most likely was your ears popping, my young friend. We seem to be very high up, wherever we are." Iroh looked around as he spoke, while Jadzia took out her scanning device and tried to get a reading on where we now were.
"Well, according to my scan, the air concentration is thin. If I compare these readings to other recordings of M class planets…" She began fiddling and poking at her device for a few seconds. "...We are approximately 4,572 meters in midair."
Our 'leader' suddenly chimed in with a quip and grin. "Welp, that doesn't sound bad."
The Starfleet officer just stared at him. "Jon, that translates to about 15,000 feet high. We need to avoid strenuous activity at this height, or we risk passing out from oxygen deprivation."
I stifled a giggle as Jon comically let his jaw drop while making a shocked noise. Iroh just grinned. "This reminds me of the time my nephew, and I began our search for the mythical Avatar. We first journeyed to the various ruins of the Air Nomads and observed some truly fascinating examples of Airbender engineering. The Western Air Temple, for instance, was constructed upon the very ceiling of a massive hollow cliffside."
"Seriously?!" I squeaked out as I tried to imagine such a thing. "Can Airbenders fly or something?"
"Their rides can." I focused on Jon as he started speaking with a childish grin. "Big 'ol honking creatures called Sky Bison. Never mind the fact that they can weigh several tons, these gentle giants can airbend so naturally that they fly for hundreds of miles at a time!"
Our tech head gained a thoughtful expression on her face. "If some humans and certain animals can do this 'airbending,' maybe there's a common factor between the two that endows this ability…"
"I'm pretty sure it's not in the food, Dax if that's the case." The American then walked toward the opening of the alleyway. "You guys wait here a sec, I'll scope out the scenery."
I called after him asking about Ian, but all Jon mentioned was to wake the goofy psychic and see how he was holding up after his fight with that elf thing.
Much to my annoyance as the lecher came to the first thing he did was look at my chest and grin. "Hello, Girls!"
That stupid quip pissed me off, so I smacked him upside the head and tilted his head upwards till his eyes met mine. "Eyes off my chest, idiot." After that, I left Ian to pick himself up if he could make jokes like that he had to be okay. Besides, it's not like I asked to have a large cleavage hole cut in the front after converting that bitch's dress!
Just then Jon dashed back into the alley as pale as a ghost. "Guys! Y-Y-You have so got to fucking see this!"
The rest of us stood and ran after the American as he dashed back out of the alleyway, only to have the bright view of endless white clouds enter our vision.
Where the streets ended, there was just sky. Sky, sun and other buildings drifting lazily in the breeze as if they were balloons. The view was breathtaking. Far in the distance was a giant golden statue of some Christian-style angel with her arms reaching towards us. I quickly dashed to the railing on the edge of our platform and gazed at the sight below: a rocky shoreline as well as acres of grassland for miles away. "What is this place? Where are we?"
"We're currently a few miles off of the coast of Maine, and if I'm any judge of Q's macabre sense of humor the year is currently nineteen hundred and twelve." I turned my gaze to my left, where Jon had set himself up to enjoy the view. He shifted his gaze to meet mine.
"Welcome everyone… to the city of Columbia." A foghorn blared at that exact moment which made that proclamation far more impressive. ...Now if only the little otaku could've avoided looking shocked himself, that would've made it look like he had a hand in timing it. The group turned toward the section of the city where the horn seemed to have gone off from and now sounded off in an odd pattern: two short, two long, and another at full blare. A slight pause and the same signal went off again, leaving all of us scratching our heads at whatever that might've been.
"What the hell was that?" Ian glanced in various directions as he spoke seconds before the five of us saw some kind little rocket shoot up from the cloud cover below.
"Must've been some kind of relay signal for the people down below. If a construct like this city never lands, it's possible they have supplies and personnel flown up to them at regular intervals." The Starfleet officer was smiling like a little kid as she observed the rocket beginning to fall once its booster lost power. A parachute deployed, and the little pod drifted till it landed on a waiting pad. Seconds later it started to descend, taking the mini rocket inside. "Just incredible. Such simplistic technologies at their disposal and humans can still pull off a short-range missile delivery system."
I smiled along with Jadzia just as Jon started herding us in a random direction. As we wandered the streets, I was at first excitedly immersed in all the unique sights around the five of us: weird mechanical horse-drawn carriages, yards of overhead railways that carried various crates of cargo and sometimes even people, blimps and even jet powered boats! But then my gaze shifted back to street level, and I started seeing the people around us. At first, those who noticed our wandering group was looking surprised, and I caught a few whispers thinking we were part of a fair that was going on. I couldn't get why after they stared long enough they grew angry.
I got the answer soon enough when a group of men dressed like old-time cops stopped in front of us with their batons drawn. "You all need to come with us, right now."
Jon stepped forward and just started talking. "Are you fellows from the Fair committee? I was told that my troupe would have a suitable escort into the interior."
I started to ask what the heck Jon was talking about before he put his open palm in my face to shut me up. I did so, more out of shock than anything else but damn if I'm not going to remember that for later. The cops, on the other hand, seemed more confused now than angry. "Why in God's name would we want a pair of slant-eyed Orientals to perform today?!"
The American got into it now, acting like he was trying to explain things to someone beneath him. "Why do you think, man? So that good Father Comstock could show some of the great odds Columbia faced during the damn Boxer Rebellion! Do you know the sorts of hardship required to find a qualified sword dancer and firemaster these days?!"
Right before our eyes, several of the officers started laughing out loud over the narrative the otaku kept feeding them, but the one in charge kept his expression neutral. A couple of the more crude thinking officers pointed at me and loudly whispered to the one speaking for them. "Hey Sarge, I hear some female chinks prowl the night looking for honest, red-blooded American boys to feed their unnatural hunger… maybe we've found one looking for fresh meat!"
"Yea Sarge, who knows how many men this one's sucked dry!"
I glared at the lot of 'em for an instant before I decided to turn their comments back on them. Strutting forward slowly, I focused on the two perverts before speaking to them in very broken English. "Excuse, please. What mean when say 'suck man dry'?"
I put the most innocent, wide-eyed expression on my face as I asked them, as well as leaning towards them with my hands clasped together. It had the added benefit of pressing my tits together, and I laughed a little inside as both pairs of eyes were focused entirely on my enhanced cleavage. "Could sirs explain? Yohko not speak English goodly yet."
It took them a moment to realize what they were doing, but once they did their faces turned wonderful shades of red, as expected. But instead of stumbling over their words and actions, like many men back home, they got angry and lashed out at me! "You filthy chink! Think you can just walk into our fair city and slink about like some cheap whore?!"
The both of them swung at me with their batons which I sidestepped with ease before hopping back to get some distance from them. When they started to pursue, I hit each of them with a hand chop to their wrists. Both weapons fell harmlessly to the ground as both men cradled their stunned wrist. Seeing how shocked all the cops were, I couldn't help but rub it in a little more. "If sirs wish to fight, need pay fee first. Then Yohko be happy for make you cry again."
Jon started clapping loudly. "Absolutely right! As you can see gentlemen, this lovely young thing is none other than Yohko the Sword Mistress! As the Strongest Woman in the World, she is capable of taking on men twice her size and besting them in any kind of no holds barred match! Just a measly two dollars will earn you a chance to prove you're better than this femme fatale of fisticuffs! Do I have any takers for the next bout?"
I rolled my eyes at the amount of ham the American was trying to sell right now with this story but judging from how some of the officers were rummaging through their pockets and were counting out silver coins maybe I was giving him too little credit. The lead cop put his hand out, palm up. "I suppose people might be willing to see something like that. Lemme see your registration papers, and I'll let you folks go on your way."
Jon froze, blinking twice. "Papers?"
The officer nodded. "Yes, sir. Mr. Fink is making sure no Vox Populi try to sneak about the fair this year by having all those participating register with him in advance. However, since the lot of you are new here, I can help speed things along for… say… 50 dollars each."
The American began patting himself down and making like he was looking for 'papers' that he didn't have. "Ah… of course. Uh...Mr. Iroh, would you mind showing off one of your more impressive tricks, say the Dragon of the West, while I find what I need to grease the wheels?"
"So what're ya gonna do, Chinaman? Breath fire at us?" A few of the assembled cops started laughing uproariously at their fellow's needling as Iroh nodded and stepped up to face his new audience. Jon just shuffled back near the tech head while still goofily patting himself down in various areas. Seconds later I heard a small whisper come from my combadge. "...When Iroh gives the signal, run like mad!"
"Something like that is just what I had in mind, officer." The firebender waved to the cops to bring them closer while the rest of us tensed in place. In one smooth motion, Iroh took in a breath of air and exhaled a small fireball into his hand. The jeers from the crowd halted immediately, though some of them were still able to claim it was just the effect of a Vigor, whatever that was supposed to be.
With the tiniest bit of a push forward, Iroh let the puff of flame drift towards the assembled officers…
...Which then burst in a fantastic imitation of a flashbang grenade, stunning all of them!
Ian pretty much said what we were all thinking at that point: "Scatter!" And so we did, each of us taking a random direction zigzagging down side streets and alleys until we thought for sure we had outrun the policemen who no doubt was after us.
At least that was the plan. But as I ducked around the fifth random street in so many seconds the tightness in my chest became too much to ignore. My lungs were heaving, trying to get whatever breath they could at this high altitude. Suddenly dizzy, I wanted to brace myself against a nearby wall, only to slump against it as I blacked out.
"Well, this is rather interesting."
...Wha?...Whazzat?
"Which part, brother? What she's wearing or what she can do?"
"What they all can do, actually."
"Indeed. It's rather refreshing to find something completely new after all this time."
"Our time, or theirs?"
"Both."
My eyes fluttered open to the sight of a man and a woman looking down at me. They looked like they were related to each other, like twin siblings. Both had light brown hair, though one set was in a bun and the other cropped short. Each wore a tan sports coat over a brown waistcoat, white collared shirt and green tie. The only difference between the both of them was the woman had a long skirt while the man wore trousers. "Who are you two?"
The man spoke up first. "Who is not as important as what-"
"-which is far less important than why." The woman interjected, finishing the sentence.
I was getting more confused. "Ooookay… well, where is this place then?" I gazed out over the formless white expanse for a few seconds before my eyes began to ache, making me again focus on the two in front of me.
Once more the man was the first to answer. "Not much point in answering that, since you won't be here much longer."
The woman moved closer to me before handing over a large beaker filled with some dark red liquid and an antique key. "Best gulp this down. I'm told the taste is far from palatable."
Can't put my finger on it, but something about these two radiated power. With that thought in mind, I shrugged once and downed the contents in one long chug. Oh, ancestors, the stuff was horrible! At the very second, I'd guzzled the last drop, I started to feel woozy again. "wh-what waaas this stuff…?"
"Just something to help get you used to the altitude, fainting at any time during the experiment would be rather disastrous for you all." I couldn't remember which of them said that since I blacked out immediately afterward.
The first thing I noticed when I came to was feeling cramped and surrounded by vertical iron bars. The fact I was swinging high off the ground was the second thing, which helped me put it all together. It was a birdcage! Those… those… whoever they were, they drugged me and locked me in a big stupid birdcage!
It was just large enough to hold a single person, but only if they were scrunched up in a ball first. There were other cages in the room I was in as well, but only one seemed to be occupied by a weakly moaning prisoner. The whole look of the place reminded me of a garden or cemetery, carved stone framed the grey walls and grassy floor, and a statue of a woman stood in the center. Every so often big black birds, ravens maybe, fluttered from neatly trimmed bushes around the room to perch on the cages above. One suddenly flew to the other occupied cage and actually… guh… start pecking at the poor soul inside. Now it made a certain sense why the spaces between the bars were large enough to slip an arm through; the oversized scavengers needed the room to get at whatever might be inside.
And unless I wanted them to start pecking me to pieces, I needed to get out of this thing now! At first, I tried forcing the door open and slipping out, but the grating was secure and refused to give way. All my struggling and heaving also made my cage shift and squeak, which drew the attention of some of the birds. They surrounded my little prison and clung to the bars all around me, all three of them just staring with those red eyes of theirs. Urge to scream… rising!
That was the moment another bird landed on the bars and stared at me as his friends had been. What made this one worse was how much bigger it was versus the others, and its beak was glistening with fresh blood… and how somebody's eyeball was dangling from its mouth. I screamed like a girl in a horror movie, startling the ravens and making them scatter.
Yea, I'm a devil hunter, someone who's faced horrific monsters almost daily for years. Doesn't mean I'm not allowed to have a freakout every so often when super creepy birds start looking at me like I'm Grandma's special curry dinner! ...Anyway, I hugged my legs tighter against my chest and tried to get my composure back under control, only to hear some oddly muted thump straight ahead of me. I peeked out in the noise's direction only to find a man standing there.
At least I think it was a man. He was the right size to be one, wearing a dark blue coat, pants and a pointed blue hood that covered his entire head except for two holes for in the front for his eyes. "The raven is a patient bird. They can easily wait until you're too weak to resist. Then… they will feast."
It's incredible how anger can make you forget you were scared stiff a second ago. "Why are you doing this?! What did that guy or I do to deserve this treatment?!"
The guy in the hood tilted his head to the side for a moment like he was mulling it over. Then he turned and walked off, ignoring my demands for an answer as he suddenly vanished in a puff of dark smoke and feathers.
I glanced around the room for a moment or so more before I leaned against the bars behind me with a sigh. That is until I heard an odd clank from the small of my back and felt something pressed against me that wasn't there before. I snaked my arm behind my back and pulled out the same antique key that those two weird folks from before had handed me!
I focused on the small thing in my hands for a few moments, wracking my brain trying to figure out why I was given something like this… it's not like it would fit the lock!
...At least that's what I had been so sure of until I slid it into the lock and the door opened with a simple half-turn of the key. Felt rather dumb at that point…
The groaning of the captive next to me helped focus my mind back on the situation. With a bit of effort, I managed to slip… gracefully through the cage door to land on the ground below.
...I didn't slip on the grass and land on my face, okay?! Jon can insinuate from where that stain was on my dress all he wants; I swear I got that in the battle against the raven guy later on!
Anyway, the ravens around me seemed content just to stay where they were perched until I moved to release the man still locked up. The whole murder in the room seemed to take flight at one time to swarm around me. I summoned my soul sword, the light of which startled the birds and drove them back, which in turn gave me the room needed to chop at the oversized pests until the ground had been sprinkled with bloody bird parts and feathers.
If Grandma were here, she'd be quipping at how it was a good thing these had been ordinary birds instead of shibugarasu or yatagarasu - demon birds that worked in flocks and were always a chore to deal with due to their speed and random patterns of movement as well as their unique attributes. I tabled the little daydream for later as I released the hapless man from his hanging cage and helped him down. He was a young asian adult, maybe at or a little younger than myself, wearing a black Chinese pantsuit and slippers. The birds had managed to poke several tears into the fabric, leaving scabbed over wounds behind. He was swaying some but thankfully was able to keep his feet while I lead the both of us from the room.
We walked up a set of carved stairs that led to a sort of patio overlooking the view of several floating buildings and the fantastic skyline from earlier. The young man managed to lift his head to the sight in front of us and smile. "I thought… I would die without ever seeing... the sky again. Thank you…"
I leaned him against the wall of the building and gave him a little smile in return. "Well, at least the view doesn't show any of the… people... that live here."
The young man opened his mouth to say something in reply, but a muffled boom turned my head back to the building we just left. Several more explosive sounds rang out an instant later, which made we wonder if these crazy bird guys hadn't managed to find Iroh along with myself. I had to make sure, so I turned back to the young man, only to see his head slumped against his chest and the rest of his body had gone still.
I checked for a pulse at his neck… there wasn't any. Somehow his face still held a smile, even in death. I offered a small prayer for his spirit, then ran back inside the building. Whether Iroh was inside or not, I would send these bird watchers straight to hell!
Almost as soon as I jumped down the stairs to the garden room that same hooded man from before materialized in front of me. He now held a saber in his right hand and charged right at me while screaming something about 'no one deserves her mercy' or something like that. I deflected the blow quickly and struck at him in return, but he vanished into a flock of crows that flew to the far end of the room.
Mr. Hood rematerialized where the birds landed and pointed my direction. "For Our Lady!"
Dozens of black birds flew from the guy's body in a mad rush, surrounded me and began trying to peck at me wherever they could. I was honestly expecting my dress to be torn apart in the assault after all this… y'know since… um… similar things tended to happen in a fight.
As I adjusted my stance to hold the crows at bay, suddenly everything in my view began to slow down. The birds were moving a such a sluggish rate you could perceive every motion of their wings as they flapped.
I grinned as it hit me - the boots! My ancestor's spell must've left the original enchantment alone as it shifted everything else about the footwear to perfect it's fit for me. Which meant this just became too easy…
I sliced my way out of the circle of crows with a passion, letting the thoughts of that poor guy from before overtake me. In less than an instant from my perspective, I had turned every one of the birds into bloody chunks and had dashed to Mr. Hood before neatly decapitating him. Time reset itself as I came to a complete stop, allowing the body of the hooded man to drop to the ground along with the bird bits.
My dress had scratch lines in a few spots but otherwise was just fine. I gave off a quick mental grin at the thought of not having to flash anyone for the next hour just so I could keep hold of my sword and other weapons, before continuing further into the building.
The door I reached next was warm, and as I opened it a crack I figured out why - the place was ablaze! I burst in calling out Iroh's name as loudly as I could while quickly searching the sizeable cathedral-like area for the firebender. I noticed him one floor below me fighting off several more of those hooded guys with fire blasts, punches, and kicks.
I dashed down the stairs to reach the old man only to bump into two more hood guys with pistols in their hands. A pair of quick punches dropped the both of them, and I made it to Iroh's side as he stood off against three more hooded men. "Are you ok? These guys seem to have a thing for killing foreigners…"
"I am as well as can be expected, Miss Mano, given the nature of our 'hosts.'" The martial artist turned his eyes back to the three still in a stalemate against him. "Since I have managed to locate my young lady friend I believe it would be best for the both of us to now take our leave of you… interesting gentlemen."
We started to move away from the bird men while keeping our gaze locked on the both of them. At the time though, I was kind of hoping they'd try something. "Just say over there until we both leave, and I won't have to chop your hoods down to size."
The hood in the middle began to shout something, but right then the sound of a door being kicked in echoed across the room along with Jonathan's voice calling for Iroh and myself. Half a second later the rest of the group peeked over the upstairs railing along with a man I hadn't seen before. With the two of us suddenly distracted, the three guys Iroh and I had been staring down suddenly charged perhaps hoping to do some damage on the way out.
It didn't work.
Right before my eyes, the middle guy's hood popped clean off his head like a champagne cork, causing the other two to stumble to a stop as everyone just stared at the surprise carnage.
Somehow the new guy managed to snap out of the stupor we were all in first. "Wh- what the hell was that?!"
"That, DeWitt, is my friend Ian getting crazy with his new abilities again…" Jon, Jadzia and this DeWitt guy turned to where Ian still had his hand outstretched towards the remaining crow lovers.
Ian just grinned seconds before the two hoods drew pistols and started firing up at the others. As everybody upstairs ducked behind the hardwood railing, Iroh and I charged the shooters. Iroh then snapped his target's neck while I settled for stabbing mine in the back. Whatever these guys were under those hoods, I was just thankful they didn't have the usual defenses most of the monsters I've fought had.
It was at that time some of the burning ceiling beams decided they didn't want to hold up the roof anymore and gave way. Iroh and I ducked clear as the glowing debris landed where we had just been a second earlier. Jonathan then called out to the martial artist. "Iroh, hurry and put out the fire before the whole place falls on our heads!
The old man nodded and with several deft movements pulled the heat away from the flames, extinguishing them. The big room still creaked in a few places and was mostly charred black now, but managed to stay intact as our group came together and made way for the back exit.
Just before we reached the door to the garden the otaku spoke up again. "Yohko… um… sorry for not taking the shot back there." I turned to face him and noticed he had a pistol in his hand and a holster strapped to his waist. Both hand and gun shook about slightly before he grimaced and put the weapon away.
Iroh just patted him on the shoulder. "Do not be so hard on yourself, my friend. There is no shame in valuing life enough to not feel capable of taking it."
I scoffed and quickly shoved the door open as DeWitt spoke up behind me. "Nice sentiment an' all old man, but we're way outnumbered up here. Kid needs to man up or get ready to take a bullet from these guys. They ain't gonna play nice just 'cause he is."
With the light from the open door, I was able to get a good look at this man called DeWitt. Short light brown hair and blue eyes with a pale complexion. A dark long-sleeved shirt with white collar and the sleeves partially rolled up his arms. A loosely tied red ascot around his neck with a blue vest and shoulder harness for a gun framing his chest. Round it all off with his dark pinstripe pants and boots as well as a cynical, tired look to his otherwise handsome face, and I frankly became concerned about where Jon managed to find such a man.
Which would be the point he noticed me. "There a reason you're staring, lady?"
I turned with a huff and quickly walked through the open door with the group following behind. The scent of blood from what I'd slain was far more evident now, and it didn't take long for someone, Ian in this case, to comment on it. "These hooded guys must be off their rockers if they're watering the grass with blood…"
Jon squatted down and picked up a fragment of a wing from the ground with a disgusted look. "Unless they were trying to get away from the bird motif they've been cultivating someone else did this, man. It looks like a whole murder was minced then spread across the lawn… and speaking of murder…"
Just as the Texan made his way over to the hooded guy that I beheaded earlier the doors at the far end of the room burst open. Several armed men rushed down the stairs and discovered us. "It's the False Shepard! Protect the Lamb from him and his wicked servants!"
"Who's a 'wicked servant?!'" Our goofy leader shouted out at the soldiers, only to have them fire dozens of bullets in reply. We all ran for the marble columns on our side of the room and dove for cover, Mr. DeWitt being the only one to return fire afterward.
I covered my ears as the cacophony continued for what seemed like forever until a sharp pain in my thigh made me scream out loud. I clamped my hands where the pain was coming from, looked down and saw blood dribbling through my fingers on the outside of my right thigh!
A hiss escaped my clenched teeth as I tried using my hands to staunch the flow of blood from the wound. Thankfully it didn't seem like a major artery or vein was hit, so there's that small favor. I lifted my head to get help from someone, only to see Jon in front of me staring straight at where I had been hurt. His face was pale, and he started to shake in place just as Iroh turned to Ian and yelled something I couldn't make out. Ian seemed to understand it well enough however and pushed out with his right hand from behind the safety of his pillar.
At first, nothing happened but as the soldiers and Mr. DeWitt exchanged another volley of gunfire the base of the stone statue began to crack and split open. The Lady that these hooded guys had revered so highly began to tip and fall over, the sounds of it crumbling entirely masked by all the shooting. By the time they noticed something wrong with the statue, it was too late, three of their guys flattened under the heavy ornament. The other two were picked off as they moved clear, one by DeWitt and the other by Jadzia with her phaser, which impressed the older man quite a bit. "This place has everything, doesn't it? Flying buildings, crazy powered people, girls that can make some weird light thing appear and kill a man from a distance…"
DeWitt then moved to the body I beheaded earlier and started rifling through the coat pockets, pulling out a sizeable glowing bottle with a stopper in the shape of a raven's head. "What's this? Some new kinda Vigor?"
Before anyone could comment or stop him, Mr. DeWitt uncorked the strange bottle and took a deep swig of the contents. He then jerked upright letting the bottle fall from his grip and just stood still as one raven that had somehow avoided the violence up till now landed on his hand. The bird focused its gaze upon the older man for a few moments, then flew away. DeWitt managed to shake off whatever the bottle had done to him after that. "Whatever these Vigors are supposed to be, they really mess with your head."
"What's a Vigor?" I asked before wincing from Iroh poking around my injured leg as Jadzia started scanning the site with her tricorder.
Mr. DeWitt just shrugged. "Dunno. All I know is that you drink 'em and you suddenly can do stuff that normal folks just ain't capable 'o doin'."
The older man started to fidget in place for a few seconds before starting for the stairs that lead back outside the building. "Look, uh… Jonathan, right? I'm glad I was some help to you folks, but I've got important business to get back to."
I don't know whatever our 'leader' said in return since Dax had isolated where the bullet was lodged (just above the femur, if you wanted to know) and Ian had managed to yank it out without warning me first. And yes, there was a lot of screaming and a bit of swooning on my part. By the time the pain had subsided, and my amateur nurses had finished binding the wound shut, Mr. DeWitt was gone.
"How about it, Dax? You think Yohko can walk on that leg now?" The otaku asked while throwing glances at me every so often.
Dax shook her head. "The femur wasn't damaged, but her thigh muscle now has a deep hole in it. We need to find a way to make sure the wound's cleaned and sealed unless you want Iroh to sear it, Yohko."
I blanched at the thought, remembering the time a few years ago when we had to do that to Azusa after she did get an artery nicked in her left leg after we fought a demon with waaaay too many spikes on its body. Denying that option as emphatically as I could, I redoubled pressure on my leg while looking around for something in the room that could help clean out my injury. The problem was I could only choose from grass, stone or wood in the entire place. Maybe there were supplies further inside in the building but given the state of that hall now…
Suddenly the Texan perked up and ran up the stairs to the outside. Not an instant later came the loud boom of the heavy doors being shoved open. Iroh during all this had managed to find the sword that that one hood guy I fought had been using and had wiped it clean of blood and stuff. Now he was using his powers to heat the tip to a dull red color… Oh, Jon you better not have run out of the room to throw up like earlier in that park!
Just as the firebender started towards me with the glowing hot saber, the heavy doors to the outdoors burst open again. At the same time, I heard the otaku shouting that he'd found 'it'. What it was was a medkit that flew out of Jon's hands to land between Jadzia and me as he slipped on a slightly slick bit of grass and planted himself into the turf back first. "...ugh… Stupid bloody grass..."
The goofy psychic just laughed out loud commenting over Jon's graceful dive as Jadzia cracked open the medical supplies. In response, the Texan just flipped the bird at Ian while remaining in his prone position on his back, just as the Starfleet officer methodically pulled the cuff of my boot away from the wound site and started dressing it.
But seeing those two idiots act like we hadn't been fighting for our lives not five minutes ago… I just started laughing. It quickly spread to everyone having a perfect laughing fit that helped us all unwind from the stresses of the last few hours.
Chapter 4 End
