Chapter 9: Return
"This had better be good, Lexa. I just got to sleep."
"Believe me, Jesse, it is. Here." She picked his discarded slacks up of the floor and tossed them at his chest as he sat up.
"What's wrong?" he asked, quickly shoving one leg through his pants. "Has another mutant been attacked?"
"No, it's David. He's been shot."
Jesse froze in the middle of buttoning his fly. "Katie?"
"She's fine. She's the one who called it in. Shal and Brennan are already airborne. They'll be back in less than 10 minutes. We've got to get medbay ready."
Forgoing shoes, Jesse rushed to medbay, pulling on a shirt to ward off the chill of the air, such a contrast to the warmth and comfort of his bed. Quickly he and Lexa readied the medical equipment and reset the scanners. Lexa handed him a chocolate bar. Her looked at her confused for a moment, but then understood and started to eat it. He would use his healing ability as a last resort. But if he needed to, it would be a good idea for him to stock up on energy.
Lexa finished drawing up a hypodermic of anesthetic, placed it on the nearest tray. Then the two of them stood there, waiting.
They didn't have to wait for long. Minutes later Shalimar and Brennan hurried into the room, carrying an unconscious David between them. Katie hurried along behind, blood marring her blouse and slacks.
"Put him on the bed, roll him on his side, and then clear out. Lexa, get that shirt off and hook up the monitors." Jesse ushered Katie out, back toward Shalimar and Brennan, both of whom put an arm around the young woman. Then he quickly returned to the diagnostic table. He had Lexa stand back for the 5 seconds it took the equipment to do a body scan. "We're lucky, the bullet stayed in one piece. Lexa, you've got field training. Grab the forceps and see if you can get the bullet out. I'm going to finish these scans."
They worked silently. Jesse evaluated the scan, seeking out the path of the bullet, developing a treatment plan. Lexa efficiently administered the anesthetic, wiped the wound as clean as possible, and dug in. She was thankful David was unconscious, as it took some digging to get the bullet out of his back. Finally, she pulled out the offending mass of metal and dropped it onto the tray with a clunk.
"Holy shit."
Lexa looked up. "Jesse?"
Jesse grabbed a biorhythms monitor and slapped into place on his neck. "There's too much damage here. I'm going to have to go in. Watch the monitor, will you?"
She nodded and moved efficiently over to the monitor. She scanned the tests Jesse had run so she could follow his progress. When her eyes fell on a particular piece of information, she whirled. "Damn it, Jesse, no!"
But it was too late. Jesse already had his hands on David's body, and had already begun the healing process. Jesse's eyes were wide with shock, and there was nothing Lexa could do but wait.
At Lexa's shriek, the other three, who had been waiting on the other side of the wood and plexiglass wall, dashed into the room.
"What is it? What's wrong?"
"Damn it," Lexa swore. "Brennan, get the other biobed ready. Be ready to shock him if we need to."
Shalimar grabbed Lexa's shoulders. "Lexa. What is it? Why do we need the bed?"
Lexa pointed to the diagnostics monitor. "Because David's a new mutant, and his genetic structure is so unstable that fixing it is going to drain Jesse's energy completely."
AN: Yeah, I'm sorry, a short chapter. But I felt bad leaving you guys hanging, and I'm having a bit of writers block (not really: I know what's going to happen, I just can figure out how to say it)...more should be coming soon, probably early next week. Thanks for being patient.
