She woke up in the hospital. There was a clear tube in her arm. An IV, her muddled brain finally realized. She followed the tube with her eyes up to a tall metal pole with a bag on it. Her foggy eyes took a minute to focus on the letters and read them. Saline.
It was dark around her bed, but there were thin walls nearby and there was light coming under and over and between the walls. There were voices, too, and lots of beeping.
She tried to sit up, and a nurse rushed in and checked the monitor next to the bed. The monitor had lots of wires coming out of it. Some of the wires were connected to her. To the plastic thing on her finger and to the fabric around her upper arm. She felt like she should recognize these things, but she couldn't think straight right now.
Whit's forehead felt itchy, but when she reached up to scratch it, the nurse swatted her hand away. She didn't like being swatted, but she put her hand down anyway.
"Just rest, sweetie. You'll feel better soon," said the nurse in a cooing voice. So Whit laid back down and closed her eyes. It felt good to sleep.
But there was something she needed to take care of. Something important. She had wrapped herself around it to protect it. Her eyes snapped open. "Sid, where's Sid?"
The nurse laid a hand on her shoulder to push her back down. She didn't like being pushed down. "Is that your brother? He's fine. He's down at the nurse's station, do you want me to get him?"
She nodded.
A minute later, the nurse brought Sid down, and he came in and sat in the chair beside her bed. Her jacket was on the back of the chair. Sid didn't say anything, but he held her hand, and she suddenly calmed down. Her eyes drifted shut again, and she fell asleep again.
◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆
Whit was standing on a beach watching Sid build a sand castle close enough to the surf that the waves would swamp it soon. He liked to watch his castles get destroyed. A blond man in a suit put his hand on her shoulder. She looked over at him, standing there in the loose sand in his nice shoes. His tie fluttered in the breeze, and his green eyes looked gorgeous in the summer sunlight. "I'm so glad you passed Algebra," he said. She giggled.
A distant deep voice rumbled. "We just think it'd be better to talk to them while it's fresh on their minds."
A woman's sharp voice countered, "They're children, and they're recovering from a partial building collapse, and it's three o'clock in the morning."
The deep voice calmly replied, "She's sixteen, so we only need a parent present if she requests it."
Whit opened her eyes. She could suddenly think clearly. She was in a hospital, not on a beach. That had all been a dream. Sid was sleeping in the chair next to her. She had a heart rate monitor on her finger, there was a blood pressure cuff around her arm, and there was a bandage on her temple. Her clothes she had been wearing were gone, and now she was in a hospital gown and pajama pants and slipper socks.
Also, something weird was going on. She needed answers.
She sat up and looked out through the curtains surrounding her bed. She could see the nurse through the gap, and there were two men standing in front of her, but she could only see their feet under the privacy curtains.
"Officers, you need to leave and come back in the morning," said the nurse firmly.
"What's going on?" she asked.
The nurse turned her head and came over to her bed. She turned on some lights over the bed and checked over Whit with a stethoscope and a pen light. "What's going on? Who are they?" She figured she would just keep asking questions until she got some answers.
"They're some police officers, and they want to ask you some questions. But they are going to come back tomorrow when you're feeling better." The nurse looked over her shoulder and said the last part in a loud voice, so the men outside could hear.
"I feel fine right now," she replied. She knew what she was supposed to say to the police. Her father had taught her what to say. "I want to talk to them now."
The nurse pursed her thin lips with disapproval, but she stood up and opened the curtains to reveal two men. One was tall and black. The other was pretty and blond and young, and she had just seen him in her dream. They had been at the crime scene. She heard the monitor next to her beep as her heart rate spiked. "Can you take the wires off?" she suddenly asked the nurse. "I don't like all the monitors."
"Sure," the nurse said warmly. Happy to be able to delay the detectives a bit longer. Finally all the wires were gone. The saline IV must have been taken out while she was asleep. She no longer had any tubes or wires tying her down. She kicked off the blanket and sat cross-legged on top of the bed. If she had to, she could make a run for it.
"Do you want me to take your brother back to the nurse's station, so you can speak in private?" the nurse asked.
"No, he can sit across the hall." She pointed at the line of chairs along the wall across from her room. "I want to keep an eye on him."
The nurse smiled tightly, gave a parting glare to the detectives, then exited. She escorted Sid across to his new chair and gave him a pocket game to play with. He was wearing her jacket now.
There was only one chair next to Whit's bed, so both men stayed standing to speak with her. "I'm Detective West, and this is…" Whit stopped listening as she gazed into the dreamy blue eyes of the blond detective. Blue eyes were nice, too. She hadn't been able to tell what color they were from the rooftop. She snapped back to reality to hear Detective West say "We want to talk to you about your father."
She felt her whole body relax. They hadn't connected her to Antonia. This was just about her father. She knew how to do these interviews. She had done them a million times.
They started with the normal questions. What's your name, date of birth, father's name, etc. She waived her right to have a parent present.
"What time did you father get home tonight?"
"Around six o'clock, like usual."
"You're sure it was six o'clock?"
"Yeah, I remember cuz the evening news was just starting."
"And what happened after he got home? What was the evening routine?" Detective West was asking most of the questions. She tried not to stare at the pretty detective.
"Me and Sid both hugged him, and he asked us how school went. He's really proud of how well I'm doing in algebra class. He started cooking dinner, and I was in the living room with Sid. Then we heard some crashing from the kitchen. We went over and looked in to check on him, then the ceiling fell down. My dad yelled at us to take cover, so me and Sid jumped back, but my dad was still in the kitchen. Then I woke up here." She hoped any bruises on her face would be assumed to be from the ceiling collapse. She hadn't had a chance to see herself in a mirror yet.
The detectives glanced at each other. "So, your dad was the only one in the kitchen when the ceiling fell?"
"Yeah," she answered. She hoped that was the same story her dad had given. She wished she'd had a chance to find out what she was supposed to say. "Why, what did he tell you guys?"
The pretty detective shifted on his feet. "We haven't had a chance to interview him yet," he said carefully.
"Why not?" she asked. There was something they weren't telling her. "Is he okay?" If he was dead, then she and Sid were free.
"He's fine," West said quickly. Damn. He paused before speaking again, like he was choosing his words carefully. "Your father was brought to the hospital along with you and your brother. His injuries seemed to be more severe, so he was taken to the emergency room. But when we went to interview him about the incident at your apartment, he was missing."
West paused again, then looked at her carefully. "Do you have any idea where he might have gone?"
"He's probably just confused after the accident," she said quickly.
The detectives nodded along with her, even though neither believed her lie.
Now the pretty detective stepped forward slightly. "We just have one more question, Ms. Whitaker." His blue eyes were sharp and observant. Detective West gave him a warning glance, but he pressed on. "Does your father know Antonia Woodward?"
Her breath caught in her throat. She wondered if her face had gone pale. She looked down like she was racking her brain for an answer. "Um, I mean, I go to the same school as her. So, maybe he's seen her at Parents' Night." Her dad had never gone to Parents' Night. "Why do you ask?"
Detective West was giving the stink eye to his partner, but Pretty Boy pressed on, "Antonia was attacked this afternoon. The crime scene was very similar to the destruction found in your apartment this evening. Footprints were found at that crime scene that are the same size as your father's, and an investigator saw someone with the same color hair as your father on a rooftop nearby. Are you aware of the emergence of metahumans in this city?"
West grabbed his partner by the elbow part of the way through his spiel, but Pretty Boy didn't shut up. They thought it was her dad. They thought it was her dad, but they would figure out it was her really soon. They were detectives. They would figure it out. They'd take her away, and she wouldn't be able to protect Sid. She was breathing too fast, and her stomach clenched up painfully.
West had dragged his partner out into the hallway to speak with him privately. West glanced back at her sympathetically before turning and hissing angrily at Pretty Boy. Whit only caught part of what he was saying. "You're scaring … No … just a kid."
She looked up, and Sid was staring at her and at them with wide eyes. He didn't know what was going on, but he was starting to get scared. The detectives were almost done arguing. They were going to come back, and they might decide to keep an eye on her. Now was her chance.
She leapt to her feet and ran across the hallway and swept Sid up in her arms. Sid's pocket game clattered on the linoleum floor.
"Wait," Detective West called from behind her.
She didn't see any stairs, but there was an elevator. She hit the button before turning around to face the detectives. The hairs on her arms were standing straight up, and it felt like tiny buzzing snakes were slithering under her skin.
The detectives were coming towards her slowly with their hands empty and outstretched. West motioned for Pretty Boy to stay back, but he wouldn't.
West spoke to her gently, "Calm down, calm down. We can help you. We can protect you. We won't let him hurt you." Behind him, she saw Pretty Boy reaching one hand back towards his holster.
Whit clung Sid to her chest with one arm and held out her other hand out towards the detectives with her palm facing them. The elevator dinged. She turned to look at it, and as soon as her back was turned, she felt a hand wrap around her outstretched wrist. Instinctively, she fired a burst of whatever was inside her out from her palm. She turned around to see that she had hit the blond detective in the middle of the chest. He flew back against some curtains and IV poles.
She could tell the blast was weaker than her earlier ones that day, but she had hit him directly in the chest. She heard the elevator doors open up behind her, so she ducked in with Sid crying fearfully into her chest. Detective West stared at her in shock, and she pointed her palm at him threateningly, even though she knew she didn't have enough of a charge to hit him with anything. But he backed away with a look of fear and horror on his face. Just at the doors were closing around her, she darted her eyes over to look at Pretty Boy. She couldn't tell if he was moving.
◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆
She dropped Sid down next to her. His little body felt so heavy all of the sudden. She held his hand and kept him close to her in the big empty elevator. His arms were covered in chill bumps, and he was shivering. He was terrified. He wasn't supposed to be terrified. She was supposed to protect him.
She searched around in her jacket, trying to find the hidden inside pocket. It was awkward to find it with Sid still wearing the jacket, but finally, she found what she was looking for.
As soon as the doors opened on the ground floor, she ducked out with him in tow. She went out the back exit, emerging into a small alcove behind the hospital. It was dark, and the wind was cold, and her clothes were thin. The pavement was hard and uneven, and she could feel painful pebbles through the slipper socks. She missed her boots.
She could see a taxi stand across a small parking lot. She only had to make it there, and she could finagle a way into a ride, even if it was a short one. She felt tired and heavy. All she wanted to do was sleep for hours, but she had to get away first.
She started across the parking lot, when suddenly there was a man in front of her. He had a red suit on from head to toe, and it even covered his hair and part of his face. She recognized him from an online blog she sometimes read. He was the Flash.
He gave her a cute toothy smile, and he held his hands out in a calming gesture. "Hey, let's slow down here and talk."
She got the knife out and held it in front of her. Not that it would deter the fastest man alive. She hadn't even been able to fight off a normal human girl.
But the Flash kept his distance and kept trying to talk to her. She maneuvered so that a red car was between her and the Flash. She could throw the car at him, but she felt no power running through her. The hairs in her arms were flat. Sid clung to her wrist and wailed.
She was almost dizzy with exhaustion, and she knew she couldn't defend herself, much less her brother.
Sid screamed, "Get away from my sister!"
She looked down at the small boy by her side. A swell of love blossomed inside of her chest. He still had round baby cheeks, but he was willing to stand up to a metahuman to protect his sister. She looked back up at the Flash. She and Sid stood side by side, hand in hand, them against the world. She felt like she could do anything. The red car flipped up and flew at the Flash.
The Flash easily dodged it with his superspeed, but Whit took the opportunity to run. She scooped up Sid and sprinted towards the flight of concrete stairs that led up to the taxi stand. Or she tried to sprint. Sid was a load of bricks in her arms, and her legs were like lead. She felt dizzy, and her vision was tunneling.
She made it to the first landing of the stairs. Then she fell down, sitting on the landing and leaning back against the railing. Sid was in one arm, and the knife was held loosely in her other hand.
With her fuzzy narrow vision, she saw a blurry red figure appear in front of her and kneel down slowly. Then everything went black.
She woke up in a small padded blue room. Her knife was gone and so was Sid.