Cliffhanger resolution, coming up!

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Anke's POV

Hermes, Adrian, Lateysha, Noah, and I are called into the hospital by Hermes's dad. Once in there, we find a familiar lynx lying, seemingly dead, on a hospital bed. He is over the covers, which exposes lots of cuts and bruises over his body, arms, and legs.

Lydia is already there. She's sat by the lynx's bed, holding his hand. I let out a muted sob, Adrian goes over to the other side of the bed, Lateysha and Noah tightly clench hands, and Hermes sadly strokes the lynx's shoulder.

"You know him?"

Perry's tone indicates a question but we all know it's more of a statement.

All six of us nod at the same time.

"Laurence," I say. "His name is Laurence the Lynx. He can manipulate light."

"Light..." repeats Perry. "In what way?"

"I don't know about now, but before he left, he could take light away from light sources and give it to others," Hermes says. "If he's been with the Overlord, he might have had his powers developed."

"We don't know he's been with the Overlord," I argue.

"I know." Hermes seems eager to prevent another argument between us. "I know. That's why I said "if" he's been with the Overlord."

"Guys, there's something you should know," Lydia says. "When we found him, he said "they're coming, all of them". What do you think he meant?"

"All of them..." I repeat thoughtfully. "All the remaining Bionics?"

"That's possible," Hermes says, frowning. "Very probable, in fact. But we really need Laurence's full story. There are lots of questions that need answering about this."

"Like why he came here," says Lateysha.

"And how he got hurt so badly," adds Noah.

"And what exactly he meant by what he said," Lydia contributes.

"Exactly," says Hermes. "Adrian, can you run a diagnosis?"

"Can do."

Adrian gently places his paw on Laurence's chest and closes his eyes, concentrating. "Internal bruising, major lung-."

He stops suddenly and quickly places his second paw on Laurence's chest.

"What?" I ask fearfully.

There's silence as we all watch Adrian for a minute or so, our hearts pounding in our chests. Then Adrian takes his second paw off Laurence and says, "Sorry, I only just saw that his lung had collapsed. I had to heal that quickly or he might have suffocated."

Hermes nods, clearly trying to calm himself down. "Good. Carry on."

Adrian closes his eyes again and goes back to his diagnosis. "Fractured spine, internal bleeding in the liver, large blood loss. Even with my ability, it's going to take a few hours to heal him fully."

"How long will it take for you to heal him just enough for him to wake up and talk?" Hermes questions.

Adrian makes a face. "Couple of minutes. Hold on a sec."

He re-lies his second paw on Laurence's chest and pauses. He looks at Perry. "Uh...no offence, but it might be better if only the six of us were here with him. If that's okay?"

"It's fine," Perry says, standing up. "All I ask is to come and report to me when you have more information."

"Of course, Dad," says Hermes.

Father and son hug briefly, before Perry leaves the room.

Adrian begins the healing process. Lydia, Lateysha, and Noah all watch anxiously. Lateysha takes Laurence's right hand with her left, still holding her boyfriend's left hand with her right.

I take Hermes aside. "Are you sure you want to know the answer to this question?" I ask quietly.

He looks at me in confusion. "Yes, of course. I need to know why Laurence is here, why he's so hurt, where he's come from." He pauses and adds, "if he knows who the Overlord is."

Lydia did not prove useful in terms of information on the Overlord. Apparently, she had never even seen him. She said that Rose and Anton had been given the mission without her, and that they had decided to take her along.

"Hermes, we don't know-."

"Anke, he's our best hope of learning about the Overlord," Hermes interrupts. "Lydia doesn't know and Anton and Rose won't tell us. If Laurence came here from the Overlord to warn us, he might have information that he's willing to share with us."

I sigh through my nose and look down at the ground.

"Hey." Hermes gently puts his fingers under my chin and tilts my head up until my eyes meet his. "It's going to be okay. We'll find out who the Overlord is and we'll stop him."

"Guys, he's waking up," calls Lydia from the other side of the room.

Hermes and I hold each other's gazes for a moment longer before Hermes breaks away and heads over to the bed. I follow.

We're about to find out the truth.

...

Dun dun DUUUN! Well, not really XD