Beep… Beep…
The heart monitor was the only sound in the room while the doctors worked.
Chiro breathed gently, proving he was still alive, but just barely.
"He's quite sick." One doctor finally spoke. "But it's just an extreme case of a common cold. He should wake up in a few days or so. Until then, we suggest he remains here. Use this button to call us if he gets worse. We'll check back in an hour or so."
"Thank you, Doctor." Angelina replied softly, her friends echoing her.
The doctors checked a few more things and then left.
"Jinmay!" Sprx's voice came over the communicator. "Where are you and Tommy? You've got us worried sick, Kid!"
"Um… I'm in town." Jinmay answered.
"Where in town? We've been looking all over for you two!" Sprx snapped.
"Um…" Jinmay stammered.
"Just tell them the truth, Jinmay." Amy sighed. "There's no need to keep it a secret any longer."
"But he's sick." Jinmay whispered.
"We knew you were keeping a secret from us!" Sprx yelled. "You know you're not supposed to be keeping secrets from the team!"
"Chiro's alive, but he's sick in the hospital. That's where I am now." Jinmay announced.
Sprx was silent for a moment. "Not funny, Kid. Now tell us the truth."
Angelina leaned towards Jinmay. "This is Angelina speaking. Jinmay is telling the truth. I'm the one who asked her to keep quiet while I went zip-zoom all over the cosmos trying to resurrect Chiro."
Sprx was quiet for longer this time. "I'll be right there."
A few minutes later…
Sprx and Otto rushed into the hospital lobby. They were greeted by stares.
A nurse saw them and walked over. "Follow me."
They followed the nurse up three flights of stairs to Room 412.
Immediately after stepping inside, they saw it wasn't a joke.
Chiro lay in the bed, alive but ill.
"Where are Antauri, Nova, and Gibson?" Jinmay asked.
"Antauri told us not to wait for him, but he's on his way; Nova promised to pound me into the ground with her fist, and Gibson said it wasn't 'scientifically possible'." Sprx answered.
Angelina sighed. "When the doctor predicted when Chiro would wake up, he didn't say a few minutes or a few hours; he said a few days." She growled. "If only that horrible monkey hadn't gone and hurt him while he was still weak from the resurrection process, maybe we wouldn't have this problem."
"Let's just be happy he's alive." Sprx said as Antauri entered the room.
"How is he?" The silver monkey questioned.
"The doctor said he'd wake up in a few days." Jinmay replied. "They want him to stay here at least until then. I suggest we guard him twenty-four seven. That way, Mandarin can't get his filthy hands on him again."
"I agree." Antauri responded. "We'll take turns with the night guard and whoever wasn't on guard that night will guard him the next day unless they're resting up for the next night."
He got agreement all around.
"Sprx, Angelina, You've got the shift tonight." Antauri continued. "I'm going to go talk to the doctors to make sure it's okay for us to stay during the night."
The group watched him go and then turned back to Chiro.
"I hope he'll be okay." Angelina finally whispered. "He means so much to me. I don't want to lose him again, especially after all we went through to get him back."
Amy put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. He'll be fine. We just have to watch him until he wakes up."