A/N: First, a warning about language, there is going to be some dirty language here, so don't let your parents see.
Fire.
Everything around her was burning. The air smelt of smoke, of dust. There was a chill in her bones as she looked around at the flames. There was a loud noise, and another bullet whizzed past her. Then another. Then another. They didn't scare her anymore like they used to.
They were not taking it easy, that was for sure.
So she positioned her rifle, slipped her index finger around the trigger, pulled it and retaliated.
Being the person who wrote the feature article regarding Lena Luthor, Ms Grant decided that she was the perfect person who would report the renaming ceremony. It also happened to be the perfect chance for her to work with the new art director.
That morning, they stood in the CEO's office, "Jimmy Olsen, this is Kiera," Ms Grant said, "he's in charge of the images, she's in charge of the words. Now chop chop, they won't wait for you to make history."
"Yes Ms Grant," Kara replied as she grabbed her coat and bag, starting to head out of the room, following Mr Olsen.
"So you're Jimmy Olsen, the photographer from the Daily Planet in Metropolis, who won the Pulitzer last year."
"James Olsen, Jimmy's reserved for my mom and my best friend. Can't seem to get them to change."
"And it's actually Kara, to everybody on the planet but Ms Grant"
"So, we're going to take a cab there?"
"Actually, we might want to take the metro. From what I've heard they've closed off a few roads near the event so a taxi won't be able to take us near there. The metro station has an exit right next to the square outside the LuthorCorp building."
James nodded, "Sure," and they both headed towards the elevators.
Both of them gathered in the plaza where everyone was. A stage was set up with a podium and microphone. A large banner with the new logo, and "L-Corp: A New Beginning" was hung behind it. They stood right in the front where there was a clear view of the speakers and guests.
Lena Luthor walked up on stage at exactly when the clock struck ten. She strode up to the podium, "I want to thank you all for coming. My brother hurt a lot of good innocent people. My family owes a debt, not just to the people of Metropolis, but to everyone. And I intend to pay that by renaming my company L-Corp. We will usher in a new age."
Kara held up a recorder at Miss Luthor, recording her speech, but right after she had said her introduction, there was a loud bang, and flames erupted behind the stage. People screamed and began running. It was havoc.
"Shisir!" Kara cursed, turning to James, "Take care of yourself and as many photos as you can! This is breaking news!" And they split up.
She wasn't unaccustomed to this, having been to combat zones with double or even triple the level of chaos here, and thus, while others were panicking, she kept her cool, shuffling her way out, remaining as calm as she could.
That was when she had heard "Help!"
She whipped her head that way, and saw a man holding up a gun, in what looked like a stolen police officer's uniform. There were two people, one of them being Lena Luthor, and another being a large burly man in a dark suit, probably a bodyguard, directly in the bullet's path.
She dashed that way.
What she did could either be considered brave or stupid. But the next few moments were a blur to Kara, so with pain coursing through her, it was Lena that told her and the real cops what had happened.
Apparently with a rush of adrenaline, she had used her prosthetic arm to stop the bullet just as it was being fired, yelled at the two women to run, while tackling the shooter to the ground and disarming him. But unfortunately, that had lead to her landing on her wrist on her good hand, while her prosthetic was blast to smithereens.
Another officer began to radio for help, and within minutes a fleet of ambulances arrived to deal with any problems that had arised. Apparently, she wasn't the only casualty. There were a number of other people who had been accidently knocked over and caused a stampede.
Sitting on a bench in front of a row of parked ambulances, a paramedic immobilized her right wrist using a triangular bandage. Then he began to work on her left arm. When the bullet hit, the force had dislocated her shoulder (there was nothing to do about that until the hospital), there was also some shrapnel embedded in her flesh, which he proceeded to remove bit by bit using a pair of forceps. She also had a minor concussion, when she tackled the man and hit her head on the ground. Needless to say, it brought her back some old memories that she buried deep in her mind, ones that she hoped would not see the light of day.
"You'll need to go to a hospital, but there are many others in more serious condition, so you'll have to wait a while," he replied as he secured the gauze bandages.
She nodded and started staring out into space, her bag was right next to her, but because she couldn't use both her arms, it wasn't possible for her to take her phone out to call James.
"Thanks for saving me," she heard a familiar voice say next to her. She turned her head, and made out the face of Lena Luthor.
"Just doing what I could, Miss Luthor."
"Anyone who saves my life deserves to call me Lena," she replied, "and not everyone would throw themselves at a gunman to stop a bullet."
"Bullets don't faze me, Miss Luthor, I mean Lena, and if I'm calling you that, please, use Kara, my given name, instead of my surname."
At that moment, a paramedic interrupted them, telling them that the she was ready to be transported to the hospital.
"See you later," Kara replied, as the paramedic picked up her bag, and using the other hand, helped her to her feet and led her towards the ambulance.
Strapped in her seat, there was another young man on a gurney who looked dazed and unresponsive but not unconscious, he was bleeding heavily from an open fracture from his leg, and there was nothing the paramedics could do other than supply him oxygen and try to stop the hemorrhage using a torquinet until they arrived at the hospital.
It was silent, and it felt awkward, so she asked where they were going.
"National City General Hospital," the paramedic sitting in the back with them said.
"Um, sir," she asked the paramedic, "is it okay if you get my phone out of my bag please?"
"I don't think you can move your arms."
"I know, but can you dial the number and hold the phone for me? Just need to call my boss, and tell her what happened, I'm supposed to be working."
"Sure," he replied, and then Kara whispered her passcode to him to unlock it.
After a few rings, Ms Grant's personal assistant, an Eve Tessmacher, answered the phone, "Cat Grant's office, this is Eve."
"Eve, this is Kara, and you might want to patch this straight to Ms Grant, since I'm headed straight for the hospital."
"Oh my, you okay? I'll send you straight to her."
"Keira, I was going to wait ten more minutes before I called you, knowing the commotion, but you decided to call me."
"Ms Grant, I might have to call off the article, I'm currently headed to NC General."
"I saw the breaking news, you're going to interview some of the casualties? That's new and interesting."
"Ms Grant, I'm one of the casualties," that shut her up, "Got a dislocated shoulder and presumably broken wrist."
"I presume you want me to tell James?"
"Yes, Ms Grant."
It was at that moment that the vehicle stopped, and the doors opened. The paramedic hung up for her and placed the phone back in her bag. Immediately, with practiced efficiency, the man in the stretcher was unloaded first, then they helped her out, guiding her through the swarm of patients to a seat in the ER waiting area.
"The paramedics briefed us about your condition, someone's going to pick you up for an X-ray and a CT in a bit, first may I have some identification to fill in admin forms?" the nurse who guided her there asked her.
"They're in my wallet in my bag," Kara replied.
The woman took out her driver's license, and write down something on a clipboard while reading from it, then place it back where it came from.
Slowly, she raised her head and looked around her. It was complete chaos. She looked around her. Beside her was a woman slightly older than her, trying to calm a crying toddler, screaming in her ear. She knew she could help, after all, she used to babysit Kal, but she couldn't deal with a noisy child when she was in pain and she couldn't move her hands.
So she did the next best thing and smiled at the boy, who somehow sensed it, stopped crying and looked at her.
The little boy started giggling, and pointing at her. She smiled back, and in the corner of her vision, she saw two familiar figures head towards her.
Alex and Ms Grant, what were they doing here together?
Kara made eye contact with her sister and the brown eyes flashed with an emotion she had been on the receiving end way too many times throughout their adolescence.
Great, she was coming to chew her ear off.
"What were you thinking?" Alex asked when she was finally standing in front of her sister, her arms were folded, and she exuded a sense of authority in her dark suit, despite not having to raise her voice, "You're a paradox sometimes, you listen to orders and directions and follow them to a tee, then there are the times that you blatantly ignore the rules to do your own thing, recklessly. I don't like how you've willingly run into danger, multiple times."
"Alex, it was my assignment, danger wasn't supposed to be part of it."
Ms Grant stepped in, "She's saying the truth, I did give her an assignment at the renaming ceremony."
"Thank you," Kara mouthed at her boss, but her boss's rant wasn't finished.
"But I did NOT ask for you to go get yourself killed! And now the company has to pay your medical bills."
Kara looked straight at them, remaining emotionless, when suddenly, a wave of shock struck her. "I wasn't planning on killing myself! I can protect myself, I can use my entire childhood as proof!"
It was then that the nurse arrived, "Miss El, I'm here to take you for your scans."
Saved by the bell. Kara stood up, and turned towards Alex, "Please look after my things for me."
And she followed after the nurse to the radiography chambers.
Lying in a gurney in the ER was not fun, especially with a double hand injury. There was nothing to do except wait for the doctor to come in with her results to decide on what was going to happen to her.
Luckily, she was pumped full of sedation drugs and could hardly feel any the pain she previously went through.
It was ten minutes later that a doctor in scrubs walked in, "The results are in, you only have a simple distal radial fracture, along with the shoulder dislocation, and now I'm here to reset it, it will only take a moment."
The doctor walked right next to her, where he placed his gloved hands on her shoulder where the bone was jutting out at a wrong angle and with one swift, hard movement, popped it back where it should be.
Kara swore loudly as the wave of pain hit her.
Alex and Ms Grant were leaning right outside the curtains, as the patient herself had shooed them away.
Alec winced when Kara's voice called out, "Plehs khuhtiv fahghozh!"
Ms Grant turned to Alex, "So your sister does know how to swear."
"Usually only in Kryptonian, I've seen her get told off many times over her filthy mouth when we were teens. It's less prevalent these days, but we all blame her aunt for it."
The curtains were drawn back and the doctor walked out, facing Alex, he told her, "Her shoulder's now in the right place, but she will have to wear a splint, it's more of a wrap though. She'll also have to stop using a prosthetic arm for the next few weeks, at least until the next checkup, as the extra weight will only exacerbate the injury. As for her wrist, the same thing applies, someone will apply a cast in just a while. The severity of her injuries will take at least a month to heal fully, so she will need a checkup then. But because of the concussion, sure it may be considered mild, but I'd prefer if she stay the night for observation. You may go in, someone will take her for the cast in just a moment."
Both women nodded, and the doctor left, hurrying to tend to the next patient.
"She's definitely taking at least the next three weeks off then," Ms Grant replied, so Alex could hear.
And they both headed in to tell Kara the news, now the IV was unplugged from her, and she was beginning to recover from the trauma.
A/N: For the medical scenario, the reason why Kara wasn't transported to the hospital, or seen by the doctor as soon as possible because of different types of triage. So a fracture is quite urgent in the ER, but because she could still walk, it wasn't so important to the paramedics. Anyway, that's here for now.
Translations to English
*WARNING: Don't show your parents, filthy language*
(From Kryptonian) Shisir - Damn
(From Kryptonian) Plehs khuhtiv fahghozh - Eat my underwear (meaning "eat shit")
