Emma had been sitting in the chair, trying to block out the pain. Because of the adrenaline and Tensou's painkillers, she hadn't felt the true lasting pain of her injuries. However, the painkillers had long since stopped taking effect, and she didn't have anymore. She shifted uncomfortably as she mentally tried to push through it.
Gavin felt her movement and began to stir. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Emma smiling at him.
"Hey Gavin, are you feeling okay?"
He punched her gently. "You can ask me that when your leg comes out of that cast. I can see you're faking your smile, and I know you're in pain. Is there anywhere you can get painkillers strong enough for that?"
Emma silently cursed her brother for being so observant. "I don't know. Tensou only gave me those painkillers for when he had to fix my knee and the dislocations. And I don't want to ask any of the doctors. They can't prescribe anything to me without having a check up first, and we don't have enough to pay for that right now."
Gavin visibly deflated. Once again, the entire financial situation was causing her to suffer. "On a scale of 1 to 10, how bad is it?"
Emma laughed. "Probably a five. I'm serious, don't worry. I'll be fine."
Her little brother snorted loudly. "Yeah, so since you answered five, I should probably add another ten to that. I know you're trying to downplay it so I don't get stressed out and start seizing again, but you lying to me isn't going to help. Plus, you telling me not to worry is a load of bullshit. How am I supposed to not worry about you when you have to fight creeps like Vrak, who enter childrens' hospital rooms after they nearly die and attack them? When I saw you get blasted, I freaked. And it certainly didn't help to physically hear your knee get broken to pieces."
The pink ranger sighed. "I know. I'm sorry. He only found and attacked you because he can track me. Now, any of us being around you can put you in danger."
"Well, me not being near any of you is probably way more dangerous. If he finds me alone, I'll be defenseless. What does he even want with me anyways? Why can't he go pick on some other innocent child with a brain tumor?"
Emma sighed, knowing he was just joking, but still not liking the situation in the slightest. "I haven't talked with the others yet, but I think he's trying to make some kind of bio-weapon. He saw that you were born with a brain tumor and should have died, and the fact that you are still alive fascinated him. He wants to study you to see what makes you stronger or more resistant than other people, in hopes that he can either use that to make himself stronger, or find a way to counter it and take everyone out."
Gavin shuddered at the thought of his blood and genetics being used to kill everyone on the planet. "So he's trying to snatch me and what? Probe me? Like I'm some kind of alien?"
"Well, to him. You kind of are an alien."
Gavin just gave her a look.
"Seriously, don't worry about it. None of us are going to let him come near you. Nothing is going to happen. One near death in the hospital is slightly ironic, and also one too many. Just worry about yourself and getting better. The doctor did say that your prognosis has improved. There is a chance the tumor will shrink completely and they can surgically remove it. Since the day you were born, we've never been told that."
Her little brother kept staring at her. "The fact that you just told me to take care of myself is the most hypocritical thing that has come out of your mouth. Ever."
Now it was Emma's turn to fix him with a look. "Shut up. You know, if it weren't for me, you'd be dead right now." It was meant to come off as a joke, but both siblings knew there was truth to that statement.
Gavin squeezed his sister's hand. "Are we going to be okay?"
"I hope so. We'll try like hell to make things work out. Just keep fighting."
Gavin nodded and slowly drifted off to sleep.
-0-
A week had passed since Vrak's attack at the hospital, and the rangers' lives were slowly starting to settle down. Upon seeing Emma's cast, Ernie had sighed and asked her to go home, but she refused. He just shook his head and set her up at the register. Money was slower since she wasn't getting tips anymore, but she was grateful he was still letting her work.
Vrak had gone suspiciously quiet, so the rangers allowed themselves to relax a little. The constant threat on their loved ones was suffocating, but worrying about it all day would do nothing to help the situation. If he decided to make a move on their parents or at home, they had a plan and were prepared. The rangers just hoped it wouldn't have to come to that.
Word quickly spread about how the Goodall siblings had been attacked in the hospital, and everyone at school either looked at them like they were afraid, or pestered them incessantly with questions about the encounter. It took many confrontations and glares from Gia to get people to stop talking about it, but the talk never completely disappeared.
One of the more quiet lunches, the rangers were all gathered at their usual table, trying to eat in peace. People still came up to Emma and asked about what happened, but it happened with much less frequency than even a couple days before. As soon as Gia even glanced in their direction, they fled. Gavin was sitting with his friend Jackson, who had run into that bully some weeks before.
Jake was three bites into his sandwich when the dreaded sound of a morpher beep went off. He audibly groaned and muttered curse words under his breath as he took out his morpher and asked Tensou what was up.
"Rangers, there is a sighting of Loogies near the central plaza. They are attacking the civilians."
Noah questioned. "Is Vrak with them? Or any kind of monster?"
Tensou answered that there were only Loogies. The radio silence from Vrak seemed to be continuing. If he wasn't even willing to send down a monster, he was either desperate or plotting. Neither seemed all that great for the rangers.
The boys all grabbed their bags and ran, and Emma made to join them when Gia pushed her back down. "Are you insane? Your leg is still broken. You can't even walk without your crutches, there's no way I'm letting you fight."
Emma protested heavily, but was once again cut off by Gia. "You heard Tensou. It's only Loogies. What can you even do to help us? You only have use of one leg."
The pink ranger grumbled unhappily as Gia began packing her stuff. "This sucks."
Gia did her best to give her a reassuring smile. "You'll be back in a month. Until then, you need to stay benched. I don't want anything else happening to that leg while it's still healing, and neither does anyone else. We'll keep you updated on how the battle is going over comms."
With that, she ran out.
Gavin looked in her direction when he saw that she had stayed back from what was obviously a ranger encounter. He just gave her a sympathetic shrug, trying to say that though he felt bad she couldn't join, he was happy she wasn't in danger.
Emma just sunk down into her seat further and took a small bite of her salad.
