The Girl With The Golden Arm
Part 3
Robotic Technician Isaac Calvin designed a prosthetic arm for Yang. It's three times more powerful than before...but is it strong enough to save a life?
From her vantage point on the sidewalk, it appeared as if her partner had been punched in the stomach, body arching forward slightly as she stood on her toes. Before Akiko could respond, Hart had already stumbled backwards out of the door. Oathblade clattered to the pavement as the Faunas' hand spasmed open. Akiko froze as blood-red multifaceted eyes turned towards her.
The Grim Wasp hung from the legs that had latched onto her partner's shoulders, it's body covering Hart's torso. The transparent wings rustled as the stinger pulsed gently from where it had plunged into the girl's stomach. Air rushing from the insect's body made the sound of a baby's cry as the abdomen contracted.
"...aki?..." Hart's head turned slowly as she sought out her partner, eyes glazing over as she collapsed to the ground. The plea seemed to trigger a release for the people watching.
Akiko darted forward, intent on saving her friend, but Semmel beat her to it. Sliding to a stop on his knees, the medic caught Hart's head on his lap before it could hit the ground, the pistol in his right hand coming to rest against one red eye. His left hand was already reaching for the stinger as chitinous armor spraying against the wall, the smoking gun dropping to the ground an instant later. Gently working the stinger free, he threw the headless carcass over his shoulder. His left hand was already slamming a pressurized ampoule of antitoxin into her thigh as the right reached for a compress from a pouch at his side. Holding the absorbent pad over the hole in her stomach, he tossed the empty ampoule aside before peeling back an eyelid to check her pupils.
"Hart! Stay with me now, girl! You gotta fight it!"he pleaded as her eyes rolled upwards. Turning his head, he called over his shoulder to his own partner. "Isaac! I need transport... NOW! Find something...anything with wheels, quick!" Turning back to her, he placed two fingers against her neck to check her pulse. " I've never lost a patient yet, and you are ~not~ gonna to be the first!" he promised her desperately. Raising his head, he called to Isaac again. "C'mon man! No time to be choosy!"
Isaac had already darted to the other side of the street where a delivery van had been abandoned. Yanking the sliding door open, he began feverishly throwing boxes out while praying that the engine would start.
Akiko stood to one side as the medic worked to save her fallen friend. It seemed as if everything he'd done had been accomplished in the blink of an eye. Her blood began to boil as she absorbed what had happened to Hart, eyes narrowing as she turned to regard the dark opening of the store.
From inside the building an angry hum began to fill the air. Aldus and Hector were covering the open door with their rifles when Akiko bulldozed her way past them. They staggered back from the enraged Huntress as her staff began to spin in front of her, both ends suddenly aflame.
The circle of fire thickened as the flames moved down the length of the weapon, finally merging into a shield blocking the doorway. Paint on the opening began to scorch as Akiko's fury fanned the temperature higher, sweat beading her forehead as her own hair began to curl and smoke. The troopers behind her took another step backwards as the edges of the fiery shield turned from orange to white.
Thrusting forward with the staff and pushing with the full force of her Aura simultaneously resulted in a vortex of flame roaring into the building. Her shriek of fury blended with the screams from the Grim nearest the door, their cries quickly cut off as they and the door were vaporized by the volcanic heat. A moment later the flames burst through the roof of the building, sending burning bits of the interior along with broiled Grim into the street below.
Hector pushed aside Lee's rifle as the trooper made to shoot the burning insects. "Screw that!' he snarled. "Let 'em cook!"
The cooling staff slowed its spinning, one tip rattling to a stop against the pavement as the girl collapsed from her exertions. Aldus managed to catch her before she hit the ground, gazing in awe at the destruction that this comparatively tiny Huntress had wrought. Handing his rifle to Hector, he gently lifted the exhausted girl. Cradling her in one arm, he picked up the staff she'd dropped and followed the medic to the waiting van. With infinite care, he deposited her next to her partner.
As the big trooper moved away, Tan stepped up to the vehicle and paused, one hand on the door handle. "Can you save her?" he asked the medic.
Semmel looked back at him, lips thinning. "If we get there in time!" His free hand slammed against the back of the drivers compartment. "Go...go...go!"
Tan slammed the door shut as the tires began to squeal, stepping back quickly as the makeshift ambulance peeled out. Engine roaring, the van bounced down the street as he turned to the others. The approaching roars of infuriated Grim hurried his steps. He came to a halt next to his partner as she finished attaching Hart's blade to the mount on her back where Sunset usually resided.
Falken stepped in front of the troops, slapping the clip in his rifle to seat it firmly. "All right people, company's coming. Let's set the table!" Nodding to the big Corporal, he pointed back the way they had come. "Aldus! Take your section to a good rally point. First Section will hold here until you signal."
Tan sent Renee along to help Aldus, then stepped up next to the sergeant. Drawing his weapons, he cast a quizzical look at the older man. "Thought you guys never retreated." he commented quietly.
Falken snorted. "This ain't a retreat. This is a Retrograde."
The Hunter shrugged. "Retreat...Retrograde. What's the difference?"
"We aren't running, son." Falken said in a calm voice. "We are going to walk back the way we came and shoot anything that tries to stop us!" Snapping the rifle to his shoulder, he sent a Dust round through the center of a white mask peering over a nearby roof. "Think of it as advancing in another direction." he said with satisfaction as the body plummeted to the sidewalk.
Tan glanced over his shoulder. Seeing his partner waving for them to join the waiting troopers at the next intersection, he cocked his weapons, before speaking to the sergeant. "Well then, let's start advancing!"
Horn blaring, the delivery van came to a screeching halt at the camp's hospital. Slamming his door open, the driver dove out and unlatched the side door.
The woman stepping through the doorway of the medical tent wore the white coat of a doctor, which was why Isaac grabbed her arm. "We have an emergency! Where do we take her?" he demanded.
Sydney shook her arm, trying to free herself. "I'm not...!" Her protest died on her lips as she caught sight of the girl being lifted out of the van by Semmel and Akiko. The gray pallor made the faunas' black hair seem even darker than she remembered. Turning back to the entry, she called over her shoulder, "This way!"
Running down the hallway, she paused outside an empty room and held the curtain open. "Here! Put her on the table."
Semmel laid the girl down, then began detailing the steps he'd taken to the surprised woman. He paused as she began waving her hands in the air.
"I'm not that kind of doctor!" she exclaimed to the stunned medic. "I'm a psychiatrist, not a surgeon! I don't know what to do!"
Semmel's eyes widened. One hand waved at his patient. "But...!"
"The only doctor here is in surgery. They're working on a little girl right now. Whatever we do, we have to do it ourselves!" Sydney explained.
The medic's face darkened as Sydney's words struck home. Akiko's hand on his arm shut off the coming explosion.
"You can do this. You must!" she told him. "What needs to be done?"
Semmel drew a deep breath before turning back to where Hart lay. "First thing, we need...Dammit!" He lurched towards the bed where the faunas was suddenly twisting in pain, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She stopped thrashing, air sighing from her slack lips as his fingertips touched her throat under the jaw. "She's gone into cardiac arrest!" he told the rest. His lips twisted into a grimace as he turned away long enough to grab a ventilator bag from a nearby cart. Snatching Akiko's hands, he guided her in placing the mask over Hart's mouth and nose. "Hold this here and squeeze the bag when I tell you!" he commanded before dashing to the opposite corner where a defibrillator stood. Catching up the paddles, he stared at the cable dangling free on the front of the machine. "Shit!" Dropping the broken paddle, he slammed the remaining one into Sydney's hand. Smearing it with a generous amount of gel from a tube, he forced her towards the table as he turned a switch on the console. Light flaring from a screen showed a straight line, a hidden speaker filled the room with a monotonous tone.
"Squeeze!" he told Akiko as he tore Hart's blouse open, yanking the material aside to expose her torso. Pulling Sydney's hand closer, he forced her to hold the paddle against the side of the girl's chest. "Keep an eye on the readout. Tell me when it changes."
Climbing up onto the table, he bent over and placed the heel of his hands on her sternum and began rapidly compressing her chest. "No doctor...broken equipment...you call this a hospital?!...SQUEEZE!"
Akiko's hand closed convulsively at the shouted order, pushing air into the stilled lungs. "Please...don't leave me sister!" she whispered.
"Well, Sergeant. Now what?" Tan asked as he loaded his last two clips into the handles of his Gunfas.
Falken sprayed Dust rounds into a mass of Creeps on his right before answering, Another group of Beowolves loped out of the alleyway on the other side of the street, eliciting a curse from the older man. "Well now! I do believe we may have miscalculated the situation slightly Mister Tyrson!" he admitted.
On their left, Lee fired on the Beowolves. As the last of them fell, he dropped the empty magazine from his rifle, then began madly patting the pouches around his waist. "I'm out!"
"Fall back to the rear!" Falken ordered, before turning back to the Hunter. "This might be a good time to pray for a miracle, too."
A horn called from back near the plaza as the Hunter opened his mouth to reply. The low throaty tone halted the remaining Grim in their tracks, a second note sending them back into the alleyways away from the soldiers. Baffled by their sudden retreat, he turned to the amazed Sergeant and shrugged. "Does that count as a miracle?"
After a moment's pause to evaluate the new situation, Falken slung his rifle over his back and turned to the puzzled group. "Alright, people! Listen up. Second Section...on point. First Section...rear guard. If you have more than one clip, share with whoever's empty." He waved a hand towards the road to the camp. "Let's go home!"
As the trumpeter next to him lowered his horn, Adam adjusted the binoculars to bring the armored group into focus. He grimaced as they turned away, heading back from where they'd originally come. The Grim that Cinder had sent against the soldiers without asking his advice had been wasted, again without a single human casualty to offset the score of beasts lost. As things stood, he decided he needed the Grim more than he needed this useless human woman.
Lowering the glasses, he turned to the large faunas next to him. "Double the people on the rooftops!" he ordered. "When those soldiers come back, I want to be ready for them!"
The Lieutenant straightened respectfully. "Yes Sir." he responded before hurrying away to pass the word.
Adam raised the glasses to his eyes again, watching his enemy escape once more.
As the others worked to save the huntress, Isaac picked up the discarded paddle and inspected the broken end. Seeing no way to repair the connection without his tools, he set it back down again. Snapping open a panel on the side of the machine, he peered inside. Following the connection from the broken cable his eyes lit on three translucent Dust charges held in a rack. Working one free, he weighed it in the palm of one hand. His breathing became more rapid as the beginning of a plan unfolded.
"Can you...fix it?" Semmel called from the table, his sentence broken by each push of his arms.
Isaac's head jerked up. "No! I don't need to!" Sprinting around the table, he spun Akiko around by the shoulder and shoved her towards the door. "Find Xiao Long and bring her here!" he commanded before snatching up the fallen ventilator to continue her task.
Semmel kept up the compressions as he watched the girl pause in the door. "Go on!... And hurry... He's got that...'Mad Scientist' look... again. Means he's...got a plan...that might work." he called to her. "I hope...she makes it...quick." he confided to the other trooper. "I can't...keep this up...forever." He took a moment to look at the woman on the other side of the table. "Anything?"
Sydney's hand tightened on the paddle, pressing it as hard as she dared into the still form. "Nothing yet, just little bumps when you push."
Semmel shook sweat out of his eyes as he concentrated on maintaining an even stroke. "C'mon girl!... Help me out...here, please...I ain't...quittin'...on you!"
Yang was contemplating the stack of candy bars in the metal chest. She was basically a moral person, but the temptation was pretty strong right now. Stealing was out of the question, but a few well placed smears of chocolate around the mouth when the troops returned would be good for a laugh.
Her hand was almost touching the topmost bar when Akiko's arm encircled her waist and abruptly yanked her backwards. Yang let out a surprised shout as the walls of the tent flew by.
The wide eyed blonde stumbled to a halt just inside the doorway, pushing long hair out of her eyes as she tried to make sense of what was happening. The unexpected trip to the hospital had taken only a short time, but her abductor hadn't said anything the whole way.
Stepping towards the medic on the table, she stopped short as she saw what he was doing and who it was being done to. She suddenly felt light-headed as the blood drained from her face. "Hart?"
Taking a limp hand in hers, she turned to the sweating man sitting on top of the girl. "Semmel? What's going on?" The hand dropped from hers as the prosthetic arm was pulled away by the robotics tech.
"At last!" he crowed, one fingernail pressing a hidden catch. As the cover of the ammunition storage opened, he ripped the red belt of Dust rounds free and dropped them on the floor. His grip tightened as Yang tried to draw away.
"What the hell are you doing?!" she shouted, frightened by his manic expression.
Levering up the topmost barrel of her new weapon with a thumb, he jammed the defibrillator charge into the opening. Twisting the arm up between them with one hand, he slapped her lightly on the side of the head with the other. "No time for questions! Make a fist!"
"Why?" She flinched as the hand slapped her head again.
"Just do it, dammit!" Isaac demanded. When the hand had closed, he pulled her towards the table. "Semmel, clear off!"
Sliding off the far side of the table, the medic took the other paddle out of the Sydney's hand. "I got this, doc. Watch the monitor...and pray this works!" he told her quietly. Pressing the cold metal against the girl's torso again, he nodded to the other man. "Do it!"
Dazed and confused by the pace of events, Yang let him twist her arm until the metal knuckles pressed against the cold skin of her friends chest. Suddenly revolted by the feeling, she tried to pull away.
Isaac's hand clamped down like a vice, holding the hand in place as she squirmed. "Either you do this...or she dies! Which is it gonna be?"
As jumbled emotions brought tears to her eyes, the girl let herself be pulled into position. "I hate you!" she blurted out.
"Fine! Hate me all you want. On the count of three, you fire that charge! Got it?" he asked brutally. When she nodded, he stepped back. "You're all she's got, Yang. Make it count." The trembling blonde closed her eyes. "One...two...three!"
The room lit up for an instant as the electrical charge raced down the edge of her Aura, seeking the path of least resistance. Entering the skin, it passed through the intervening tissue on its way to the paddle leading back to the defibrillator.
Yang leapt backwards as Hart's body surged upwards, Semmel keeping the paddle tight as he moved with the rising body. As the muscles relaxed again, Hart dropped back onto the metal surface with a thud.
Semmel closed his eyes in anticipation. "C'mon..c'mon...c'mon!" he whispered fiercely.
BEEP!
"One more! Gimme another!" Seconds passed as he held his breath.
BEEP!
He'd never heard a sweeter sound in his life. Opening his eyes as the rhythm of beeps picked up, he straightened with one fist in the air. "YES!"
Isaac backed away from the table until he reached the wall. Trembling legs gave way and he slid downwards, finally ending with his head resting on bent knees. Closing his eyes, he breathed a silent prayer of thanks. He stiffened as another body slid down next to him, a warm arm settling on his shoulders.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it." Yang said quietly, resting her head against his. "I owe you for saving her."
The tech laughed bitterly. "I didn't save her, you did!" he protested.
Yang looked up as a tall man in a white coat bustled through the door, followed by a woman in a similar coat. "What's going on here? Who are you people?" the stranger demanded.
Semmel handed the paddle to Sydney before stepping around the table to confront the two. He spoke quickly for a few moments as he described all that had happened, from the point of attack until the present moment. The older man's eyebrows rose as the medic described their efforts to save the girl on the table. The description of Isaac's makeshift defibrillator nearly made them climb into the receding hairline. "That's...incredible, young man." he admitted when Semmel finished. "Damn good work...Doctor!"
Semmel flushed at the praise. "Could you please look her over? I'm kinda out of my league here."
The woman patted his arm, giving her own praise in quiet words as she passed him. The two doctors bent over the table, conversing quietly as they made their diagnoses. Semmel followed them, pausing to briefly hug Sydney. "Great work!"
Holding him at arms length, she pulled a towel off a nearby counter and wiped the sweat from his face. "Hey now! All I did was hold the paddle. You're the lifesaver here!" she told him with a relieved smile.
Isaac grimaced as another body slid down on his other side. "Inspired thinking, my friend! I'm proud of you." Semmel said quietly. "Her heart rate is up and steady. Blood pressure is good. A couple of days and she'll be up and around thanks to you."
Isaac reached out and patted the armored leg next to his. "Not just me, man. You did pretty good there...for a blister popper!"
The weight shifted on his shoulder as Yang reached across to the medic."You're both wonderful! She wouldn't have survived without you two!"
Semmel rested his head against the wall. "The recruiter said it would be a great life for a young man!" he announced to no one in particular.
"An opportunity for travel, meet new people!" Isaac continued, before starting to chuckle.
"New challenges...every day!" Semmel's face twisted as he fought to contain his own set of giggles.
"Learn a new trade, one that can be used in civilian life!"Isaac's head turned toward the tech. "Lying bastard didn't know the half of it, did he?"
The medic wiped tears of relieved mirth from his eyes as he looked across the room at the girl laying on the table surrounded by doctors. "Be all you can be!" he deadpanned.
A puzzled Yang smiled at the two troopers as they dissolved into wheezing laughter.
Drifting in and out of consciousness, Hart tried to focus on the faces around her. Something stung her right arm for a moment, the momentary pain followed by a delicious lassitude. Her eyes rolled to the left, following the movement of a vaguely female figure as it drew back to meld with a second blurry outline.
Her eyes tracked upwards as another figure began to form next to where she lay, the shape clearer than the others. The head moved closer, revealing a single gray eye, its mate covered by a patch embroidered with a familiar rose and flame.
Her words were the barest of whispers as she strove to call his name. "...edda?..."
His voice came to her in a gentle, yet firm tone. "You must not join me yet, little one. There is much for you to do in this world. Darkness has risen, and you are but one of many flames that will drive it back! Live, and by living confound our enemies!" His lips touched her forehead in a gentle kiss, even as his form began to dissipate.
"...I love you..." she whispered as sleep claimed her.
A/N: I have nothing but words of praise for Military Medics and those who work in the emergency rooms around the world.
Combat Medics risk life and limb to save the lives of wounded soldiers on the battlefield, coming to the rescue under the worst possible circumstances. Over the decades they have earned the title "Doc", doing things that people with medical degrees never have to.
I grew up around hospitals, and I know the kinds of things technicians and Doctors in the Emergency Room see on a daily basis. They know how precious time is when a patient is wheeled in. They don't always win, but they do one helluva job.
Death is cheated every hour by these dedicated people.
Keep writing!
Vindictious