Static immediately rushed over to the hunched, girlish figure, and grabbed his coat from her hands to throw it around her again. Then he checked his watch.
"Marci," he said slowly, "my watch says 8:43. Make sure to tell that to Richie when you get back..." He put his hands on her shoulders and bent down to look directly into her wide, reflective, pain-filledeyes. "You got that?"
She nodded. "8:43..." she grunted. "Got it."
"Good," Virgil looked around, noticing the sink and several cups near it. "Are you thirsty?" he asked awkwardly, figuring he should do everything he could to make her comfortable. She nodded and he filled one of the cups with water before handing it to her. She grabbed the glass away from him with a violently shaking hand and tried to put it to her lips. He watched as she tried to empty the cup into her mouth, although most of itdribbleddown her chin and onto the floor.
He glanced at his watch again, to see that only a minute had gone by, and then looked at the entrance to the room. If he was caught here...well, his life here would suddenly get a lot more difficult. Not only would he be breaking set rules, he would be near a disappearing patient that he had a direct connection to. With only a slight hesitation, he pointed his hand at the doorknob, and shot a bolt of electricity at it.
"That should hold them," he said to himself. The static electricity now surrounding the door would render it nearly impossible to open for the next several minutes if anyone decided to come and check on her.
Nodding with satisfaction, he took out his Shock Vox, and prepared for an extremely draining conversation.
xoxoxox
"This is not a good time!" Richie hissed into the Vox as he and Shebang clung to the side of one of the main Alva buildings in the city, having just rerouted some wiring for the main security system.
"I don't think she really has a choice," Virgil replied, worry obvious in his voice, despite the disturbance between the two communicators. "Look, she says the pain keeps getting worse and worse...I don't know how long she can handle this..." Richie bit his lip and glanced over at Shebang, who looked back with a stone face.
"Dang it!" he hissed. "I wanted to be there!"
Shebang shook her head and smiled. "Then go."
"But–" Richie started, but she cut him off.
"I can take care of a little reconnaissance, and you should be there to figure things out. Don't worry about it."
"You're sure?" he shot her a warning look. She grinned and shrugged before leaping up to the next outcropping in the building. "I'll take that as a yes," Richie sighed with a weary smile, before taking off in the direction of the hospital. "I'll be right there, V," he told the Vox.
xoxoxox
"I'm scanning the room now," Richie's voice could barely be heard over the static coming through the communicator Virgil held close to his face with a white-knuckle grip.
After a moment's pause, Gear's voice came back. "Everything seems normal, except for a slight charge...but there's no way I can really read the actual makeup of the space-time continuum or the fabric of reality, so I can't really tell what's going on. Although I could construct a device that would make it possible for me to translate the forth-dimensional qualities into third dimensional terms comprehendible with our current understanding--"
"Rich," Virgil bit his lip and looked at the girl, who now seemed almost a wisp of a human...almost like a ghost. "Couldn't I come back with her now?"
"Um," the genius hesitated slightly before answering, still whispering so as not to wake the subject occupying the room he had entered. "I wouldn't, V. We don't know the repercussions. You might end up being stuck in the same cycle she goes through whenever she shifts. Until I run some more tests and try some theories, I think it would be better for all of us if you just stuck it out there a little longer."
Virgil sighed and looked back at Marci, shivering under his trench-coat with her knees drawn up to her chest. The soft sound of muttered words under her breath reached him, although what Virgil did catch of her rantings did not reassure him.
Glancing at his watch for what seemed like the hundredth time, he almost swore. Only 10 minutes since all this had happened.It took every ounce of energy he had left in him to suppress a growl. He hated watching her go through so much pain without being able to do anything about it.
"Static," she breathed. He bent down and grabbed her outstretched hand. Surprisingly, even though he could see through her body almost as if it were a stained glass window, her hand felt as real as ever. "Don't leave..." she gasped.
He sat in front of her in a half-lotus position and nodded. "I promise not to leave until you do." She seemed to relax at that, although the pained look never left her face.
"Thank you," she muttered and slumped against the wall.
He sat there, watching her twitch, wishing he could do something more. She'd probably be getting the sensory perception from both worlds now, and he seriously doubted she could answer any questions he had for her, not that anything came to mind anyway, but his first instinct in this kind of a situation was to distract them. But that would just give her mind something else to think about...
Suddenly, he realized that by holding her hand, he had inadvertantly given more stimuli for her brain tofocus on.He almost dropped her hand at that thought,but she seemed to clutch it tighter than ever.
A few seconds later, her body vanished completely, although the vice-like grip did not release. Gritting his teeth, he did his best to focus on anything but the fact that her nailswere digginginto his skin, and the only person who he'd thought could be this strong would be Shanice or some other human with super stregnth. Virgil kept his promise and stayed for several more minutes, until he could no longer feel her hand crushing his.
"Ow," he hissed, and looked down at his mangled hand. Her nails had drawn blood, and it now leaked onto his jeans. Cursing to himself, he wrapped it in his shirt and bolted for the window. It opened as he sent a magnetic wave at it, and hethrew himself outside. after reaching into hispocket and taking out hisdisk.
His watch read 9:02.
A/N: I hate the fact that I can't respond to reviews, and frankly I might leave the site for it. It's a stupid rule imo, and I'm sure they have their reasons, but I didn't abuse it (I don't know how you really could), and I want to make a formal protest. It sucks. Pardon my language (to me that's pretty bad...; )
Anyway, I'm sorry it's been so long, I meant to update sooner, so please forgive me. And also, my computer has a virus, so I'm having issues here...sigh But hopefully I"ll be able to get more up soon. :D :hug: Thanx everyone for reading!
Obi-quiet signing out.