A/N: This is part of the same universe as Resident Superhero. I began to write this as on Instagram, I saw many doctors standing up to what the NRA said about them to "stay in their lane", protesting for more firearm safety laws. I am not American, and I do not know what freedom it entails for a civilian to carry a firearm, but I know that on Supergirl we have all heard about their anti-gun tendencies. So with the second chapter of (my main story) Resident Superhero in mind, here's a one-shot. Take note that the situations here mentioned are made up, but may resemble real situations.
She was a surgeon, she wasn't a stranger to blood, she saw it whenever she had to cut someone open in the operating theatre. She wasn't a stranger to gruesome injuries either, she could stomach things on a daily basis that would cause most people to literally have a panic attack.
Just that day, she had been having lunch with a few colleagues in the hospital cafeteria when suddenly on the overhead speakers, "All surgeons please report to the ER, stat." At that moment, the entire table of surgical residents jumped up from their seats, and speed-walked (god forbid they ran) through the crowded hallways. The food was long forgotten.
As soon as they arrived in the emergency room, it was already cramped. Someone had yelled at them to scrub up, and they got to work.
By the time the entire ordeal was over, more than a day had passed, and most of the doctors had barely eaten, taking a nibble from the vending machine, or surviving off dextrose candies in their pockets as to not faint from hypoglycemia. She had almost collapsed a few times due to her out of this world metabolism.
Changing into her clean(er) clothes that she wore to work, and smelling strongly of disinfectant, blood and puke, she took the bus home, ignoring as other people glared at her shabby appearance at six in the evening. She was too exhausted to care, the setting sun not doing much to help restore her powers.
Once she unlocked the door into the apartment she shared with her sister, she was a literal zombie as she trudged to the bathroom for a shower. When she came out, she saw boxes of fresh, steaming Chinese on the table, her sister sitting on one of the chairs poking at a box of noodles, "There's no need to talk, just eat, we can do it later."
Smiling, she opened up the box of potstickers and bit into one. And gradually, she cleared the box of postickers and began to wolf down the fried rice. After she finished it, and was starting on the noodles, Alex spoke first, "So, difficult day?"
"How did you notice," Kara replied immediately after she had swallowed.
"You didn't come home last night, and I'll ask again, difficult day?"
"Yeah," she nodded.
"If you want, you can always try your hand at research, it's less demanding."
Hearing that statement, Kara began to speak, "If being a doctor was easy, everyone would be a doctor, because it is the best job in the world, despite everything. Because of everything. My many awesome days as a surgeon will overshadow this one bad day."
Alex smiled at her little sister's statement, "You know, you have a gift with words, if you weren't a doctor, I'd say you should be a writer."
The next morning, after a good night's sleep she desperately deserved, she turned on her laptop. Her hands flew over a keyboard as she typed up what was in her head since she had finished her shift. She was given the day off after she pulled thirty six hours straight, one of the longest between all of the hospital staff.
This was a statement she needed to make, she finally knew why there was this hashtag campaign on social media, and she needed to make her voice be known, being a bystander wasn't an excuse in this case.
After she had finished venting her feelings in the most eloquent way possible, she opened up her email. She still had CatCo's email address from a previous letter, and attached the document. After composing a letter to the editor, she hit send.
The next day, Alex was once again waiting for her as she came home from work, this time at a more reasonable time.
"Explain this?" she asked as she brandished a copy of CatCo Magazine, which one particular article regarding some breaking news.
NO MORE UNNECESSARY BLOOD - a surgeon's view of shootings
I still remember the day I put on the white coat that now defines me for the very first time. I had barely turned twenty, one of the youngest in the class due to skipping a few grades. I remember that we were given cards with the Declaration of Geneva written on them. The Declaration of Geneva is just one of many oaths that doctors take, and try to abide by in our daily lives. You may have heard of the Hippocratic Oath. These oaths act as a standard as what a doctor should act like. It defines a doctor's life.
There are two sentences in it that I want to highlight, "I WILL MAINTAIN the utmost respect for human life" and "I WILL NOT USE my medical knowledge to violate human rights and civil liberties, even under threat."
I am from National City, and as most of you know, while it is a great place to live, but it isn't the world's safest city. And a few days ago, we experienced a horrible tragedy. At the NC Knights vs Metropolis Meteors game, someone clocked their Glock and started shooting inside the arena. Just like any other person, the people watching the basketball match started to flee in a rather rapid and disorganized way that it caused a stampede. Some people were shot, others were stepped on, but all in all there were many injuries.
If any of you remember me, five years ago, when I was just about to begin my residency, I was involved in a robbery-hostage situation at Noonan's in Midtown. Some of you know me as the doctor who did an impromptu surgery on the one casualty on the restaurant floor. Needless to say cases related to GSWs (GunShot Wounds) tug hard on my heartstrings.
On the day of the shooting, many of the casualties were transferred to nearby hospitals with emergency departments. My hospital, NC Southbank, was one of them. As we had one of the best trauma centers in the area, all of us in the building were pulled from what we were doing to do what we can. Even colleagues on their day off were called in to help. Many of us pulled twenty-four hour or more shifts without as much as taking a bite or a wink. The ER was packed. All twenty bays were full, and there was nothing we could do except work as fast as we could, like we had Supergirl's super speed.
The OR was also packed, that was where I was, being a trauma surgeon. I went through surgeries like people plucking sushi off conveyor belts at rush hour, drifting from one OR to the another. There were people with limb injuries that, in the worst case, I had to amputate. Then, there were the more serious cases, where the brain, spine or heart were involved and I had to page for neuro and cardio.
Throughout my career, I don't even have enough fingers on my hands to count how many families I had to tell that their beloved had died, but tonight, a full handful were added to the ever growing number. Because of the rush, I even had to do it with bloody scrubs on that I didn't have time to change out of. The blood of their loved ones.
To be able to be be empathetic and to offer a helping hand if you can, that is the utmost respect for a fellow person, along with treating them like one, unconscious or not, dead or alive.
I know how to shoot, my family does have guns, my sister is a federal agent after all. But we need to do what we can to keep the innocent out of harm's way, I agree with more restrictions on the matter, so situations like what happened this week do not happen again. I have faced death more times that I can imagine, both as a doctor, and as a family member or friend.
We need to change because people need to get their fundamental human rights back. I am not doing anything to help if I stay silent. Now, literally staring down the barrel of a gun, I stand with my fellow colleagues, and say this is the reason I became a doctor. It isn't easy, because if it were easy, everyone would be a doctor. It is the best job in the world after all.
Dr. Kara Danvers is a surgical resident at National City Southbank Hospital
XX. 11. 2018
"Um, Alex, I can explain this, I mean you were the one who said I have a gift with words, right?" she rambled, fiddling with her fingers in preparation to be on the receiving end of a lengthy lecture.
"I'm not going to be yelling at you, in fact I want to say that it was very brave. You're already brave putting on that cape, but writing this as Kara Danvers, that was even more courageous."
"Thanks, Alex, that means a lot," she hugged her sister.
"Check your social media, I think you're trending."
She whipped out her phone and opened up her twitter, indeed, she had gone viral again. There were dozens of people referencing her passage, and #unnecessaryblood had become one of the top ten hashtags. A similar thing was happening on Instagram, and many of her colleagues, friends and classmates from medical school had tagged her in their own posts.
There was even a message from Counterpoint Daily's Sean Chiu, who hosted a popular current affairs show, was asking for her to be on the show.
She had talked with Cat Grant, the Queen of All media herself, to ask for advice on how to deal with this situation. She had been given a list of prompt, and hints on how to answer Sean's questions, or what her opponent would propose. She even turned to her medical advisors, such as the attendings she worked with. She was fully prepared.
With Nia next to her giving her amazing insight on what to say to her counterpoint, she straightened her dress, put on her pressed and ironed white coat, and walked out ready to take a stance.
"Miss Danvers, thanks for joining us on the show" said Sean.
"It's actually Dr. Danvers, and thanks for having me." she corrected her.
Sean nodded, "This is your counterpoint."
She took her seat as the man turned his chair and smirked that arrogant, obnoxious smirk back at her, "Ben Lockwood, it's very nice to meet you."
"What is the proof in that. If we didn't have guns, how would we be here today, how would our country currently be standing here. The founding fathers surely didn't fight against the British with just their fists, I'm sure they used muskets. Crude, but still a firearm nonetheless," Professor Lockwood said.
"As we're on the topic of war, back over a hundred years ago in 1918, two things happened, the World War One armistice, and the Spanish Flu. Which was more deadly? The flu. It killed ten million more people at around 50 million, than the 40 million war casualties. That is to say, we don't have to kill just to have many people die, nature will take its own course."
"Are you saying we should do research in biological warfare? You do know that that is considered a war crime, as said in multiple United Nations doctrines?"
"I'm not talking about biological warfare, I'm talking about the millions of people dying and getting injured unnecessarily over the years, although it generates around a billion dollars in profit each year, the medical expenses in treating the casualties caused by gun injuries cost more than that altogether. That's a billion dollars available to be invested into other forms of medicine, such as cancer research, or into genetic disorders."
"But, how will we as Americans be able to protect ourselves. There are people that to attack our businesses and shops, or to hurt our family, friends and ourselves. During all those alien attacks, if we didn't arm ourselves, just relied on the cops, military, feds or Supergirl, we'd all be dead. How are you going to justify that."
"Most injuries related to firearms are either accidental, self-inflicted, or done by someone close to the victim. Not by a random stranger on the street, despite how much the media loves to portray it. That is what the statistics from the NCPD say, this is a growing epidemic, and one we can control," she said, pointing on the table with her index finger.
"Maybe, that's a good place to end this talk. Goodnight, National City," Sean cut her off, and stopped Lockwood from replying.
The audience started to clap, and Kara gloated at him. The last word was hers.
When she arrived back at the hospital, she was clapped on the back by many of her coworkers, surgical, medical, and nursing staff. "Saw you on TV Dr Danvers, how's the second wave of celebritism doing right now?"
"Pretty good, there's a reason I'm there. I help at maximum forty patients a day here at the hospital. If I can change the hearts of the five million people in the Greater National City Area, I'm going to be making huge waves, just as I told Nia, I think I'm going to be making a tsunami."
A/N: I know that this is a controversial topic, but this is just what I think Kara would do if she sees the viral hashtag, and just for a story. Kindness in the comments section will be greatly appreciated. There could be more that I could put in here, but I feel like it'll be more of a sociology essay than a story. See you in the next chapter of Resident Superhero.