Torukia

Chapter 2: I Can't be Cool

He tried not to cry in seat. He tried all sorts of distractions, looking out at the blur of scenery outside the train's window. Finally, when he felt his voice wouldn't crack when he spoke, he pulled out his personal communicator (his NSA phone worked better, but they could track it. Anyways, it was in Bennett's hands anyway), and dialed a number he'd never thought he'd have to use.

It rang five times, before a young man picked up. "New Orleans Records, how may we help you?"

"Put her on."

"I'm sorry, I don't…"

"Yes you do. PUT HER ON."

"Look, I…" There was a click, and the screen went black.

A woman's voice spoke. "Is this Orin?" He didn't ask how she knew his name.

"Um, yeah. I…." Don't loose it now…. "She told me to contact you if she ever… ever…."

"Where is she?"

"Massachusetts General Hospital's Intensive Care Unit. I'm on my way there now. They don't know… I've got power of attorney, but that only because she can't list you legally."

"I'll come as soon as I can. Look after my sister until then, Orin." The line clicked dead.

He sighed, and wiped a hand over his eyes. One more call….

"Casey MacCurdy, Text News, how may I…You!"

"Look, I need you to pass a message on to your sister and her friend."

Casey looked at the vidscreen like West had grown three heads. "Wh-what makes you think I can contact them? Anyways, I said I wasn't going to help the NSA trap them again…"

"This isn't about the NSA. Look, I know you've been exchanging messages, but I'm not asking how. Anyways, I don't think I'm a NSA agent anymore."

"You 'don't think'- you're not sure."

West scowled for a moment. "Nevermind. Just…just tell them a friend of theirs is at MassGen's ICU. It might be dangerous, but they might want to see her if she…" He couldn't finish the sentence.

Casey's looked away. "Oh. I'm-I…think I might be able to pass something along. I can't promise you anything, but…"

"Thanks." West hung up and looked back out the window, pulling his knees up. He'd managed to change out of his NSA uniform- their business was the last thing he wanted to think about.

The rain outside was soothing. His thoughts weren't.

Groundwire was always crowded on rainy afternoons- less things to do outside, more crowds on the inside, Ro grumbled. Still, she managed to get them a computer. Zee spun in his chair idly while she checked the textnews. Sure enough, there was an ad for a little bulldozer. She clicked the link.

"Hey, Sis, Zee, you're not going to believe who I just a call from- Agent West, I think his name is. Or former agent- he was kinda vague. He wanted me to pass on a message. I recorded the message- it's at the end of this vid. Be careful, ok?"

Ro and Zee looked at each other. "Did he just say what I think he just said, or am I going nuts?"

"No, he did say Agent West. However, I am not equipped to psychiatric health of humans, but I could download-"

"Rhetorical question, Zee- Zip it! The message is playing."

Ro frowned. "Wow, he looks like a wreck."

"I agree. Whatever it is, it must be pretty bad. I think that's the first time we've ever seen him out of uniform."

"Huh. I guess you're right. Geez, I hope nobody died." Ro bit her lip.

When the message ended, Ro looked to Zee as she scooted over to allow him access. "What's 'MassGen'? And do you think it's a trap?"

"Massachusetts General Hospital- it's one of the largest in the Northeast. I think he wants us to look who's listed as their patients in their Intensive Care Unit." His cable connected to the computer terminal, and the hospital's website was appeared quickly as he hacked into their data list. "I do not think this is a trap, Ro." He pointed to the screen.

Ro winced. "No wonder he looked so messed up. I always thought he had a thing for her."

Zee looked at her, confused. "What 'thing'?"

Ro ran a hand through her hair, embarrassed and unsure how to explain a crush, or love to someone who had no prior concept, let alone a heart. "Well, it's hard to explain…"

Zeta blinked. "Are you referring to the attraction West had for Agent Lee? I noticed it too…"

It was Ro's turned to look confused. "And how do you know about that, Tin Man?"

"I may be a synthoid, but I was programmed to recognize certain human behaviors. And it was rather obvious."

Ro looked at him suspiciously, trying her best not to think of the ramifications about Zee's knowledge of what crushes and romance. She really, really hoped that he hadn't seen the occasional glances she had thrown his way. Not that she'd ever admit that, anyways. Although now she started to wonder about the looks she had caught him giving her every now and then…

"Argh! Ok, I'm going to pretend that conversation never happened, ok? Some things are just too weird to be thinking about right now." Or ever. Ooooh, her subconscious was going to have a field day with that one. "Do you think we should go? As Casey said, it might be a trap."

"I don't think Agent Lee would agree to such a tactic. And it's a public hospital, so there should be a live feed for any relative unable to visit…"

A screen popped up next to the hospital website. Ro covered her hand with her mouth. "He wasn't kidding. When does the next train leave for Boston?"

West was used to feeling useless. It seemed ever since he joined Bennett's team, it was a feeling that spent almost a daily basis on the forefront of his thoughts. He'd always managed, though. What didn't kill you made you stronger, as Lee had once told him.

He wasn't sure he'd survive it this time.

After he'd arrived at the hospital, it had taken two hours of speaking to doctors, filling out forms and dealing with red tape before he'd even gotten to see her. And that had been on the other side of a glass window, until he'd been prepped and sterilized.

He'd always thought of her as a rock, strong enough to get both of them through any mission. She'd always been so tough, and he'd admired her for it. Now… now she was like a porcelain doll, with wires and tubes for strings. Nine broken bones- her legs, upper arms, 4 ribs and her jaw, and she had sustained three laser blasts. The first two, the doctors said, had broken her femurs, and the last had been to her chest. The head trauma had knocked her into a coma- a small miracle, given the pain. But the last word the overseeing nurse had mentioned hit the hardest. Even when they used medical terms, he knew what the word assault meant.

West was afraid to touch her at first, that one touch would make her crumble to dust. A nurse, after watching him sit in the chair and simple stare at Marcia, brusquely picked up his hand and placed it in Lee's. "It's ok. She's been in a bad place, but she needs your help to get out of it. Talk to her. She'd probably like to know you're here."

West didn't know what to say, at least at first. It felt silly talking to someone who for all likelihood couldn't here him, let alone talk back. But as he began telling her about the past year without her, it got easier and easier.

West wasn't sure when he fell asleep there, sitting beside her, but when he awoke with a blanket draped across his shoulders, it was definitely morning. A doctor came in to check on Lee's prognosis, and he washed his face in the bathroom. The hospital had a wing with rooms to rent for family of ICU patients, but for West (who'd managed to wrangle a room due his status as her power of attorney), even the thousand or so yards was too far away. Just changing clothes there felt like he was leaving her to the wolves.

It was night time before he noticed someone looking into the glass of the room. A woman, in a grey trench coat and black hair half hiding her face, who'd be non descript at best if it weren't for the black goggles hiding her eyes- in a darkened hospital, no less. West had pretty good idea who she was, even if they had never met face to face.

Marcia Lee had been a ward of the city of Gotham since the age of 6, when her mother had died in a plane crash. However, she didn't enter the system alone- she had a half sister four years older- they had different fathers, but the same mother. Lee had been given the last name of her father, an NSA agent who was dead two years earlier, but her elder sister, Naomi, had been given their mother's last name: Kyle (West was surprised to learn Marcia was only half Chinese, but had never brought it up). Since they had different last names, it wasn't long before they were separated, but they kept in touch.

At least until Naomi became a wanted felon.

Marcia didn't tell him much about what she'd done, but he'd been able to fill in the details with various searches online. Naomi, unlike Marcia, hadn't taken to foster care well, and had gone missing from the system in her early teens. However, her name came up in the criminal system shortly thereafter for Deejaying at an illegal club, and a new alias had come up with the record- Neon.

She managed to stay out of the system after that, as far as West could find, save for a few minor charges for ruckus and disturbing the peace. Naomi Kyle was gone, but 'Neon Spider'- as she had taken to calling herself as a DJ- was here to stay. She lived up to her new name, getting nanobot tattoos that glowed neon blue, and dressed in a catsuit and boots marked with a glowing stylized spider. Marcia said she took after their mother too much, but West didn't know what she meant.

That was all fine, but what put her on 'Wanted' posters wasn't about being a DJ; during a session at one of the most high profile clubs in Gotham when a scuffle broke out between her a drunk who wouldn't take no for an answer. He pulled her into a private room, beat her, and went to lock the door- and she shot him in the back. Without witnesses, the police had ruled it a homicide, rather than self defense. It didn't do her any favors when they found out that her 'victim' was a FBI agent- a suspended one, but still a government agent in the eyes of the law.

Neon Spider was now a wanted fugitive, but a very low priority one. As long as she kept underground, the police didn't really look for her, and she kept to the officially deserted city of New Orleans with her partner, DJ 'Craft. No one ever made the connection to by-the-books NSA agent Marcia Lee.

She pulled goggles up as she quietly approached the opposite side of the bed. The crescent tattoos around her eyes were muted under the halogen light. "Oh, 'Cia, what did they do to you?" She caressed the bandages carefully. "What have the doctors said?"

It took a moment for Orin to realize she was speaking to him. He handed her Lee's chart. "If it weren't for the shot to her chest, they'd say she'd probably be awake, but that, with all the other trauma she took…."

"Who knows. Thank you, Orin." Her cold blue eyes regarded him for the first time. "I'm Neo- Naomi." She grasped his hand in a firm handshake.

"So…how do we kill the bastard that did this?"

Now that all the major players are introduced…er, sorta. Dadadadummmm. Neon's been an OC of mine that's languished in my deviant account without a place to call home until now. She's a badass, and she's got more ties to the DCAU that just Marcia Lee. If you can guess her and Lee's mum in your review, you receive bonus points! And if anyone can guess Neon's daddy, welll… either get out of my head, or you like conspiracy theories as much as I do. Heee. Hint- Terry might wonder about any sibling's from his dad's side….