That was her entire team accounted for. "Also, good. I'll come find you when I'm finished here. This—" said Helen.
"Won't take long," said Lex from his bed finishing his mother's sentence.
Author's Notes: Just another idea that won't leave me alone. I'm working on the next part, so please be patient. I would love to know what you think. Also, there was no beta, so there may be a few editing mistakes.
Disclaimer: These are not my characters, I just play with them. No copyright infringement intended.
Yesterday
Helen pushed her bangs out of her face. She sighed heavily as she tired to catch her breath. She was deep in the bowels of the Sanctuary by the river gate. She was tired, dirty, sweaty and fighting with everything she and her team had in order keep the enormous insect-things inside the property.
They had been working all day since the creatures that hadn't even identified yet had escaped. Helen now suspected the clicking noises they had been in their enclosure were more than just echo location. It was clearly communication; they were also clearly more intelligent. It had been an organized break out.
She taped the small radio earpiece, "Henry, what's the status?"
"Team #2 have retrieved their runaways combined with your three that leaves Team #1 with the ring leader," he answered and then added, "You're Team #1, by the way."
"Location?" she said.
"Still moving towards the generator."
"We got it," said another voice of the over radio.
A figure raced passed in the gloom, "You coming, Mom?"
Helen paused just long enough to check her stunner before following her son. She jogged after him, quickly caught up, and then over took him just because. She knew it was somewhat childish, but it had been a long time since she had done field work with her oldest son. She was feeling somewhat giddy. Noah was a medical doctor based out of the London Sanctuary, though he was constantly going back and forth. When he was in the States, he generally stayed in the lab, but during a crisis everyone lent a hand.
"Where's Lex?" he said from behind her.
"He's somewhere in the obsolete heating system. He was hoping to block at least one entrance," said Helen.
"Typical."
Helen smiled to herself. It was typical of her younger son to be doing something as crazy as crawling through heating vents looking for a giant beetle. He had volunteered and it was a strategic location. The beetles seem to be able to see or feel electrical currents. They had escaped by severing the one electric wire that the door lock needed to stay locked and closed. The pod or swarm or whatever you call six black beetles the size of Labradors had been attempting to get to the main power source for the house all day.
Helen turned the corner to the short corridor that led to the generator room. She saw the board coming towards her and stopped just in time. She felt the ripple of air across her midsection before she heard the crack of wood on stone. The two by four splintered breaking in half.
"Lex!" she yelled and heard the cry echoed behind her.
"God dammit! Mom, I'm so sorry. I thought you were—"
"A beetle? Why aren't you in the heating system?" said Helen.
"It collapsed. I'm really sorry. I can't see anything down here."
The tunnel was dark with only a bare light bulb strung every twenty feet or so. It took her a moment to she notice the tangle of metal struts and wood behind him, the scratches on his face and layer of the dust over his black leather field jacket.
"Are you all right?" asked Noah.
"Probably. It won't get through up there," said Lex. "I've done my job. This hallway should be its only option."
"Good. Let's get set up," said Helen.
They clambered over the debris. Helen and Noah took positions in the doorway of the generator room while Lex stood against the opposite wall with his broken peace of wood.
"Two by four, a classic weapon choice," said Noah mockingly.
"Laugh all you want. It works really well. The stunners don't penetrate the shell. You hit them and when they flip over, stun the shit out of them," Lex said without taking his eyes off the darkened passage way.
He had been working most of day with Team #2 as Henry classified them and only joined his mother and brother to help with the capture of the final beetle. Helen and Noah had adopted a similar strategy without the board.
"'Cause a stump is really effective."
"Boys," said Helen.
The banter ended at once. There was scuffling sounds beyond the rubble. Helen tried to rely on her hearing instead of her eyes. It was trying to find a way around. Without warning, the beetle simply chose the easiest route and blundered straight through. Bit of wood and more dust rose as the insect charged.
Lex leaped forward. He brandished his plank like a battle axe, but in the cramped corridor the angle wasn't right and it merely bounced out the hard exoskeleton. The beetle still felt it. It rounded on Lex. It changed directions so quickly Lex was thrown across the passage and knocked Noah over.
Once again, the beetle chose the simplest route: over the jumble of arms or legs. Helen pulled the trigger of her stunner, but, as Lex has pointed out, the shell was too thick and even the strongest blast had no effect. The beetle made it into the generator room. Two pincers unfolded as it scuttled straight towards the main power conduit.
Lex untangled himself from his brother and assaulted the insect. He tried to wedge the board under the beetle and flip it over. He should have had a long piece of wood. He was too close. Helen saw what was going to happen and could do nothing but call out.
The beetle focused on Lex again, but will its pincers open the attack was much more unforgiving. It caught hold of Lex's arm and pulled him down to the cement floor with tremendous strength. It had only taken a few seconds, but it was enough time for Noah to find his feet. He rushed forward with Lex's two by four and attempted the same move. With the beetle concentrating on Lex, Noah was able to flip the beetle onto its side. Helen was there stun the soft, unprotected underside. A few more seconds and everything was quiet except for their heavy breathing.
Helen didn't wait for the beetle to stop rocking back and forth on its shell before she jumped forward to check her son's injuries. Lex was caked in dust and blood. There was a laceration from his throat and down to his shoulder. There was another great gash on his arm where the beetle had grabbed him. He was a mess and she just wanted to get him out of the basement.
"Lex, look at me. Can you stand?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Lex said. He wasn't.
Noah moved forward to help as Helen pulled Lex arm over her shoulder.
"I've got him, I've got him," she said. "Stay with the beetle. Call Eden and Clark and then come to the med. lab as soon as they get here."
Noah nodded grimly, "Keep me posted."
"I will."
Helen's heart was pounding. She would never let it show, but even the smallest injury to either of her living children brought back terrifying memories. She was a good doctor and a capable surgeon, but everything was different with her own child. Alexander William Magnus, or Lex as most people called him, what not a child anymore.
He put most of his weight on his mother's shoulder. He was independent to a fault. He had been that way since the first began to talk. He was charming and affectionate, but much like his mother, he kept his true feeling and thoughts to himself. The opposite of his brother. But right now, he was asking for help and literally leaning on his mother. He was really in pain.
"It's just stitches, that's all I need," Lex said.
Helen didn't respond. There would be no arguing with him like this. If she tried, he would just pull further away and possibly refuse any kind of treatment.
As they reached the elevator, he coughed and winced. "I'm having trouble breathing, actually. I got hit in the chest. I might have a few broken ribs."
"Again."
"Yeah, again."
The elevator doors opened onto the main lab. Helen directed them to the medical lab and deposited Lex onto one of the beds. She adjusted the bed, so he could lean back without lying down. He remained sitting up on his own. Lex was her fighter.
"Can you get your leathers off?" Helen asked.
"Nope," he said after a pause. "But don't cut it."
"I'm going to have to. You are barely sitting up and you can't lift your arms," Helen said.
"Mom, c'mon!"
"I am not your mother, I am your doctor," she said sternly.
That shut him up. Dr. Magnus was not someone Lex wanted to mess with. Despite her assertion, Helen unzipped the leather jacket and slid it about from his shoulders. Lex groaned with the pain. Helen rolled her eyes. The jacket was probably ruined anyway. She did have to cut off his t-shirt. There was already a spectacular bruise forming on his chest.
Helen wheeled the scan over. How technology changes. The little screen beside the bed would give her every one of his vital signs without a single wire or electrode. She flipped on the display as the scan. A small holographic image of Lex's body flickered in front of her. It showed bones, muscles, and internal organs. His vitals were slightly elevated, but that was to be expected. He had three broken ribs and a pulmonary contusions. The lacerations were deep but not too serious.
The wounds would be healed with dermal repair. The ribs would need only time if she could get him to take it easy. Her son would be fine. But he was still so pale. He was covered in his own blood. She worked quickly and gave him an IV and nasal cannula. She pulled a small dose of morphine even though he would never ask for it. She double checked the scanner results with her stethoscope.
Noah entered followed by another figure as Helen was just setting up the dermal repair. The man behind Noah was Reuben Henderson. He was Helen's newest protégé. He was big, sturdy man with a heart of gold. He was smart and quick to act. He had only been with the Sanctuary for a little over a year, and much like his predecessor, Helen had plucked out of his life and brought him into the world of myths and abnormals.
He had been a forensic anthropologist working with the police department when she had crossed paths with him during a murder investigation. The crime had ultimately been proved to have been committed by an abnormal. It had become necessary for Helen to give him the tour of the Sanctuary and he had hardly flinched. That was just Reuben, capable and unyielding.
"How is our very fragile and sickly patient?" asked Noah.
"Ah, shut up," Lex said.
"He'll be fine. The pulmonary contusions is the worst of it. How are the beetles?" said Helen. Reuben was here to answer Helen's question.
"They are just beginning to wake up. We have them secured in a fresh enclosure in the S.H.U. with an electric field so no access to wires. I'm hoping that if they can see or sense electrical currents the field with simply make everything all blurry," he said. He waved his hands in front of face to mime blurry.
Helen nodded. They had reached the same conclusions. "Good. That's what I was going to suggest."
"Clark is monitoring just to be on the safe side. Eden and I will deal with the evening feedings, which is already over due. Joanna and Henry are running diagnostics on the electric system," he said.
That was her entire team accounted for. "Also, good. I'll come find you when I'm finished here. This—" said Helen.
"Won't take long," said Lex from his bed finishing his mother's sentence.
Reuben made a face in Helen's direction that seemed to say 'boys will be boys' and left to go take care of the abnormals.
Noah had moved to his brothers bedside and was checking Lex's vitals. If Helen had had one influence over her son's medical training, it was to teach him not to rely on the scanners. He finished setting up the dermal repair, but left it for his mother. No one in the Sanctuary network was more skillful or had more practice at repairing lacerations then Helen.
She pulled on a pair of sterile gloves and injected the syringe Noah had prepared for her to numb Lex's arm. Noah handed her the lazar pen of the dermal repair. She began knitting the skin back together.
As Helen worked, she couldn't help looking up at the faces of her two son. To Helen's eyes, they were both a blend of Druitt's features and her own. They looked alike; strangers could tell they were brothers. They were both taller than Helen with strong shoulders. They both had blue eyes and dark hair. They had both inherited a long, lean face from their father and that was really what made them look so much alike.
That was where similarities stopped. Their personalities were remarkably different. Even the way they choose to style their hair was different. Lex had a buzz cut hardly half an inch long while Noah left his shaggy.
Noah was careful and reflective. He was open with his opinions and how he felt. He was a brilliant doctor, even at his relatively young age of thirty-six. He had attended the University of Oxford for both undergraduate and medical school. Helen was proud that he had chosen her alma mater, even if the school was unaware Noah Magnus was any relation to Helen Magnus, one of their first female students.
On the other hand, Lex was bold and impulsive. He was happiest when he was chasing an abnormal, or tramping home dirty and with a new bruise to show off. He was also uncannily observant; nothing escaped his attention. Helen believed her would make a skillful researcher someday, but he needed to settled down first. He was still a child and many ways.
It was hard to imagine that two people who were so different could be as close as her sons were. Helen guessed it was the eleven-year age difference. They had really been raised so far apart that most of the usual sibling bickering had never become an issue. Of course, there were still times when Lex was the annoying baby brother and Noah was the mean big brother.
Noah had left for undergraduate at Oxford University when Lex was only eight. By the time Noah finished his residency, Lex was eighteen and by then the brothers learned to be a seamless team. They trusted each others skills and knowledge. They were the Magnus boys, how could it be any different?
Helen finished the repair on Lex's arm and began working on the wound on his shoulder. Someone's phone beeped. Noah pulled his out of his back pocket.
"It's Jenny. I'll be right back. I promised I'd call her," he said.
"Go ahead, I'm almost done," said Helen.
Jenny was Noah's girlfriend and the main reason he was living in England. They were not married, but they might as well be. Helen like Jenny. She was a researcher at the London Sanctuary. She was smart with a good sense of humor and a good match for Noah. Once again, Lex's relationships were the opposite of his brother. He had never been with any one serious. He was only twenty-five; he had time.
Noah left to take the call. Helen finished the dermal repair and bandaged both wounds. "If I get the brace will you wear it?" Helen asked her son.
Lex leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, "Not a chance."
Helen shook her head. She knew that was going to be his answer. The brace won't really help, but she still wanted to him wear it. "This is not a request. Once your IV is finished, I am taking to your room and you are getting some rest."
"Can I shower first?"
"Yes, but then in bed with your laptop and a movie."
"I can follow that order."
"You better or I'm using hard restraints to tie to your bed."
"That's too kinky for me, Mother,"
Helen scoffed and gently pulled his face away with the tips of her fingers. He was still sitting up on the bed and she sat down next to him. He took her hand for a second and squeezed it. Lex didn't often share his feelings, but little gestures like a hand squeeze or a kiss on the cheek made up for it. They waited in comfortable silence as the IV dripped.
There were foot steps in the hall. Helen watched through the glass doors as Noah made his way back towards the med. lab. He was reaching for the door handle when the lights went out.
"Shit," said Lex.
Helen heard the door open and Noah shuffle into the room. "Everyone okay?" he asked.
"Noah, we haven't even moved," said Lex.
The boys were just voices in the darkness. Helen waited for the auxiliary power to kick on. The small back-up generator automatically activated after a few seconds. There was a groaning sound from the depth of the building and a few key lights blinked to life revealing Noah with his hand in the drawer containing the flashlights. The medical equipment and scanners would now have power, so would some of the well traveled hallways and, of course, the containment for all the Sanctuary patients. The perimeter security would be down and there was no EM shield.
"Henry? Joanna?" Helen said over the radio waves.
"We have lost all power from the main generator," came Joanna's voice, "The bugs may have done more damage then we thought."
Joanna was another one of the Sanctuary's resident technical genius. She worked side by side with Henry Foss, who at age ninety-one was beginning to slow down. She was brilliant, but slightly awkward. She had a strange abrupt way a speaking and looking at a person too intently. She was persistent to the point of obsession. She had found her way to the Sanctuary when she was twelve after she saw a team dealing with an infestation of Ozone beetles in her apartment building.
She had hung around the Sanctuary like it was an after-school program. She had left for long time to attend university, returned with PhDs in biology and engineering, and requested a job. Helen had little choice but to say yes. It had been a good decision; Joanna was dependable and a good friend.
"Radio will any information," said Helen. "The rest of the team," she knew each one else would be listening on the same channel, "Check containment."
There was a few seconds of chatter everyone gave their 'okay' and 'understood.' Helen turned back to her sons.
"Lex, stay here. Please."
"Mom, I can help."
"I can't only worry about one thing at a time. Stay here or I will restrain you."
"Yes, ma'am," he said after very long pause.
"Noah with me," she said.
They left Lex sitting in the med. lab and down the same hallway that led to the main lab. There was a strangle electrical charge in the air as they across the open space. Helen reached out to put a hand on Noah's arm to slow his pace. A small spark jump at the contact.
"What—" began Noah.
There was a crack of red hot light. It hit the ground like an explosion. Noah yelled and tried to pull his mother out of the path, but they were both thrown several yards. Helen rolled over and found herself looking at two figures standing in center of the room. Her mind reeled; the entire room felt like it was spinning and it had nothing to do with the impact. It have been fifty years. There was no possible way for that person to be standing in front of her.