Western Uptown, Metro City
"Ok, there's a nearby hospital in Westside," Kara told her passenger as she continued to navigate the city streets of western Uptown. The nurse wanted to put as much distance as possible from the scene but was aware that Juri needed medical attention. "It shouldn't take more than a few minutes, ten tops."
The street fighter shook her head vehemently.
"No hospital," Juri responded softly. "I just need to rest for a few days."
Kara looked at her askance. Her hands were still shaking from the experience in front of the Grand Metro Hotel a few minutes before.
"Juri, you have a possible concussion, you're bleeding from several cuts and it's likely that several ribs are broken," the nurse explained. "You could be bleeding internally in addition to God knows what else. You need medical attention and a hospital is where you oughta be."
Juri turned her head and stared at Kara.
"I...am...not...going to a hospital," the street fighter insisted. "Use your brain, sweetie. You really think Vega and Balrog wouldn't be able to track me there? That's the first place they'll look."
Kara now at least had names to go with the faces that threatened her back at the hotel. Not that it helped much. The nurse shook her head in disgust and muttered a curse. Why the hell did this have to be so complicated? If the hospital wasn't an option, what else was there? Well, there was an alternative, but not exactly one she relished. Kara chewed her lip before exhaling a long breath.
"I can't even believe I'm saying this," Kara mumbled before sighing. Juri turned her head, regarding the nurse impassively. "You could stay at my place for a few days. I can at least keep an eye on your condition there."
The street fighter's good eye widened, her mouth becoming a large "O".
"Ohhhh...you mean like a slumber party," Juri remarked sardonically, clasping her hands together. "We could stay up late, drink wine, eat gummy bears, do each other's hair, have a pillow fight and talk about the latest gossip. Gee, that sounds like fun!"
The street fighter slowly rolled her unswollen eye. Kara's lips pursed as she suppressed a very strong urge to suddenly slam on the brakes to watch Juri pitch forward. She ignored the pain as her hands clenched the steering wheel.
"Listen, you fucking smartass," Kara shot back. "I'm just trying to help, if it wasn't super obvious already. What else should I do, drop you off on the side of the road, say 'good luck' and take off?"
Juri winced before looking away. She had done exactly that to Kara earlier in the evening on Industrial Parkway.
"Whatever," she simply answered, looking out her side window.
Kara growled but said nothing else.
'Why is she being so difficult?' the nurse wondered. Several minutes later, they passed into the Westside area. Kara found a closed strip mall with a parking lot and pulled into it. Juri snapped out of her daze and arched an eyebrow.
"Uh, this is where you live?" she asked, looking around. Kara shook her head as she unlatched her seat belt and got out of the car.
"No, but you're in pretty bad shape and it'll take a while to get home," she replied. "I need to patch you up as best I can until then."
Kara opened Juri's door, knelt down and reached across Juri's legs for the first aid kit sitting on the floor. She quickly found it and rummaged around for what was needed. The street fighter undid her seat belt. She had neglected to put it on immediately after the rescue. The "fasten seatbelt" warning proceeded to chime annoyingly for several blocks before it was remedied at a red light.
The nurse slipped on sterile medical gloves, took a small bottle of pills, emptied a couple of tablets out and handed them and a half-filled bottled water from her handbag to the street fighter.
"This is ibuprofen, it'll help with the pain," Kara explained. "And no, I didn't drink from the bottle. I used some of it to rinse my hands earlier. You're not allergic to ibuprofen, are you?"
The street fighter shook her head and studied the water bottle for several moments before shrugging. She finally screwed off the top, popped the pills into her mouth and took a swig.
Kara next checked Juri's leg to make sure it wasn't hemorrhaging. The wound still oozed blood through the torn pant leg from the slashes. While not gushing, it had soaked into the surrounding areas of the fabric. She took a small pair of scissors and proceeded to carefully cut the pant leg around the wound. Juri screwed up her face to protest.
"What the hell are you doing?" Juri demanded. "Don't cut my pants!"
Kara glanced up at her briefly.
"If I'm going to take care of this, this area needs to be cleared," she replied, before cutting again. "You have three gashes in the pants. They're ruined and I'd have them completely off anyway if we were at home."
"Oh, kinky," Juri cooed. "I can see why you're so eager to get back there!"
The nurse rolled her eyes.
"I always have to get the one," Kara muttered before speaking up. "Do you want this taken care of or not?"
The left side of Juri's mouth curled up slightly, but otherwise she made no further comment.
Kara grabbed a disinfectant wipe and gently rubbed the wound. It bled more due to the aggravation, but it needed to be cleaned as much as possible. She squeezed some triple antibiotic onto her fingers and gently dabbed it onto the wounds. Juri raised an eyebrow again, snorted slightly, but said nothing else. The nurse then placed several gauze pads onto the cuts before wrapping an elastic bandage around a couple of times to put pressure on it and slow the bleeding. She repeated the same procedure with the arm wound.
After taking care of the cuts, Kara grabbed a couple of instant cold packs, wrapped them in gauze and handed them to Juri. The street fighter took one of them but was reluctant to part with the small box being held in her other hand.
"What's that?" the nurse asked. Juri expression hardened.
"None of your damn business!" the street fighter shot back. Kara visibly recoiled from the unexpected response.
"Hey, take it easy," she said. "I'm not trying to steal it, but you have to let it go so that the swellings can be iced down. Just stick it in the glove box. You can grab it when we get to the apartment."
Juri stared at her defiantly for several moments before following Kara's suggestion. She looked away but remained quiet.
"Ok, place these against your side and face," the nurse instructed. "We need to get that swelling down, or it's gonna be a real problem later. Are you having trouble breathing?"
The street fighter shook her head, looking down at the floor.
"It hurts to breathe, but nothing major," she replied. Kara nodded.
"Ok, well, every three breaths or so, take a longer one," the nurse explained. "It's important that you do this while you're awake, ok? You don't want to develop pneumonia on top of everything else."
Juri paused before answering but eventually gave a small nod in acknowledgement.
"Let's just go," she said quietly, holding the ice packs against her side and eye. The street fighter sighed contentedly as the soothing chill began to dull the pain.
Kara nodded and got back in the car to exit the lot. The two sat in silence for a while, not really knowing what to converse about. It was only after they got on the freeway from one of the Westside on ramps that Juri broke the silence.
"How did you know to be there?" she asked, glancing sideways. Kara kept her eyes on the road, swerving around a vehicle that was going under the speed limit.
"Goddamn idiot," she muttered, trying to remain focused on driving. "I'm sorry, not you. Could you repeat that?"
"How did you know to be there?" Juri repeated. "Back there at the hotel. You were exactly at the right place at the right time. Don't even tell me that you knew where to find me because you had no idea where I was going. Not to mention you couldn't have possibly followed me. So, how the hell did you know? Are you a psychic or something? No, scratch that. A psychic wouldn't have been stupid enough to get jumped on the road like that."
Kara huffed. If this is how Juri would act during her convalescence, this would be a long couple of weeks.
"No, I'm not psychic," the nurse replied. "However, your acquaintance is. That's how I knew where to find you."
"Ok, so...who the hell showed up after I left?" Juri demanded.
"Some fortune teller," Kara answered. "Name was Menat. She told me you were in real trouble...and where to find you."
"Heh, fortune cookie," Juri remarked. "I'm sure you two hit it off. I have to admit though, I could have used her help earlier."
"She couldn't," Kara explained. "Had other things to deal with. Said that I was going to be the one to do it. And what's with you giving everyone nicknames?"
"I'll bet," Juri said. "She always had a flair for the dramatic. I give nicknames because it's fun. Regular names are boring. And before you ask, no, I haven't given you one. I guess 'sweetie' will do fine for now though."
"You know, Menat was actually concerned about you," Kara commented. Juri rolled her good eye. "You could be a bit more appreciative. By the way, I do have a name."
"Yeah, I'm touched," Juri said. "Oh, by the way, I forgot it already. Sweetie's much easier to remember."
Kara let out a soft growl of frustration. What the hell was this woman's problem?
"Besides, Menat was warning about something going down soon," Kara said. "She told me a 'storm's coming'. Sounded pretty serious and she wasn't talking about the weather."
Juri deliberately craned her neck to look upwards out of the window. Kara glanced over and shook her head. The street fighter leaned back into the seat and smirked. Although it hurt a little to do that, Juri felt it was worth it to annoy the nurse.
"Funny, looks fine outside," she remarked leaning in slightly towards the nurse. "Bad things are always happening; nothing new about that. The world's nasty, brutish and doesn't give a damn about anyone."
Kara shook her head and gave Juri an exasperated look.
"Jesus, that's a hell of a way of looking at life," she said quietly. "So, you're saying that there's nothing redeeming about the world at all?'"
Juri barked out a laugh before wincing.
"You need to warn me before you crack a joke like that, given my 'condition,' " the street fighter replied. "Most people are pretty damn worthless, sweetie. You're a nurse, right? How much human garbage have you seen in the hospital? I mean, take those assholes who tried to rape and murder you. I guarantee they've seen the inside of a hospital once or twice. The fact that you were clearly a nurse meant nothing to them. You were just another target. How do you feel about that?"
"I've seen some things in my two years there," Kara admitted, recalling the long hours and a lot of sleepless nights. "And yeah, it's possible we might have helped patch up some of them in a hospital at some point. I didn't recognize any of them, though I wasn't exactly studying them for a portrait. I knew enough that they were in a gang by what they wore, though. I know the world isn't totally sunshine and rainbows, but it's not completely horrible either. Do you mind if I ask you what happened to make you think that way?"
Juri's eyes narrowed as she glared at the nurse.
"Yeah, I mind a lot and you'll be smart not to bring it up again," she shot back.
"Ok, I'm sorry," Kara replied. "Just wondered, that's all. I asked Menat the same thing about you and she told me that I should ask you myself."
"Yeah, well, she was smart to keep her mouth shut," Juri replied, relaxing slightly. "It doesn't matter. What happened, happened."
'Do I even want to know what she thinks of me?' Kara thought. 'Am I worthless?'
The nurse decided that ignorance was bliss. There would be time enough to figure that out over the coming days. She turned the conversation in another direction.
"There's a couple more cold packs in the kit if those are starting to lose their chill," she said quietly. "Just wrap them up in that gauze before you use them so it's not touching the skin."
Juri simply nodded and followed the nurse's instructions. She looked over at Kara several times before speaking again.
"Why did you do it?" the street fighter asked.
Kara tilted her head quizzically.
"Why did I do what?" she asked. "You'll have to be a bit more specific."
Juri sighed and shook her head slowly.
"I meant, why did you pick me up at the hotel?" Juri asked. "I asked the how before. Now I'm asking the why. Sounds like fortune cookie put you up to it, but no one stuck a gun to your head and said you had to. There must have been a reason."
Kara didn't answer the question immediately. So far, Juri had pried far more information out of her than the other way around. In fact, she still knew little about the street fighter since they started talking.
They were reaching the Outerbridge, which connected Metro City with New Jersey and while there was considerable traffic outbound, it was the activity on the other side that caught her attention. A long line of various military vehicles rolled along on the westbound side of the bridge into Metro City. The National Guard were arriving to help enforce the curfew and put an end to the rioting. She breathed a sigh of relief as the car reached the bridge. Kara was glad not to be caught up in that, but suddenly felt a pang of concern for her co-workers. Her friend Mary was working the night shift at Uptown East in the middle of the rioting. The nurse resolved to call her when she got home as promised before leaving the hospital.
"Wow, this must be getting serious if they're bringing in the military," she remarked before returning to Juri's question. "It just felt like it was the right thing to do, I guess. I never thanked you for saving my life back in the Industrial area and I felt really shitty about that. So, thank you, Juri. If it wasn't for you, I'd be a battered corpse on the side of the road right now. That's a nightmare I'd rather not think about. I suppose helping you out was...is the least I could do in return."
Juri's face reddened and she turned away to hide it. If the street fighter wasn't used to rescuing people, then being appreciated was rarer still. She was really in uncharted waters now.
"Yeah, well...no problem," Juri mumbled awkwardly in response. "And, uh, thanks for helping me out at the hotel."
The street fighter started to giggle.
"I mean, the pepper spray on Vega was priceless!" she continued, trying not to laugh harder. "He's so damn full of himself with his looks."
Kara snorted in response before smiling. She didn't tell Juri how terrified she was when using the pepper spray. The nurse was shaking so hard at the time that she almost dropped the canister. So much for a rescue if that happened.
The car was almost over the bridge as both watched the steady stream of National Guard vehicles continue to pour into Metro City. The pair were safely out of the combat zone that threatened to tear the city apart. The rest of the drive home was done in silence. They didn't really have anything else to say.
It didn't take long to get to Kara's apartment complex, a sprawling network of brick-faced buildings. The nurse eventually reached her parking lot before pulling into a spot. She took a moment to lean back in the seat, close her eyes and blow out a deep breath after turning the engine off. Juri also closed her eye and waited. The nurse nodded to herself and turned to her passenger.
"Ok, let's get you inside," Kara said as she opened the driver's side door. "You'll be more comfortable there."
Juri dipped her head while unclasping the seat belt. She dropped the cold pack being held to her ribs and opened the glove box to retrieve her prize. The parking lot lights illuminated the pair as they slowly made their way to the apartment's front door, which was fortunately on the ground level.
Juri felt strangely content. The street fighter didn't sense any hostile intentions from Kara and she could usually pick up on that sort of thing. The young woman seemed to genuinely want to help, which unnerved the street fighter a little. There were few reference points in her adult life to help guide her in this situation. She should feel...appreciative? Was that the word? Perhaps it was a touch of admiration. After all, Kara had drove straight in and put herself in harm's way to save the street fighter. Juri pushed the emotion away and turned her thoughts to more important matters.
She finally had her eye back and once it was installed, Shadaloo would pay dearly and the fun would really start. But for now, Juri would relax and heal. One thing at a time.
Kara was unaware of her guest's throughts as she unlocked the door, opened it and gestured for the street fighter to enter. Juri tottered past her, taking in the surroundings. The nurse ambled in behindher, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Well, we're finally home," the nurse simply said, shutting the door behind her. She too, could finally relax.
Notes: As you might have guessed, I placed Metro City on Staten Island, so that does not exist in this particular SF universe. I've read some stuff from people who think Metro City is roughly in Jersey City, but the shape of the island containing Metro City as well as the surrounding landmass conforms more to Staten Island.
Outside of one small follow-up chapter that will deal with the aftermath at the hotel from Vega/Balrog and Aiden's perspectives, this will end the Metro City arc of the story (though not the story itself…it'll be going on for quite a while).