Death 1.2

The security guard brought me to reception, from where a nurse took me to an empty room – thanks to Panacea, there were always a few spare beds in Brockton Bay General Hospital. The nurse, whose name was... Annette. Tears came to my eyes very suddenly. After that blow to my psyche, the bed was quite welcoming, and I settled down to wait.

About three hours later, and after a check-up of my general health, which apart from the absence of a heartbeat was described as 'excellent', a doctor entered with a policeman in tow. "Hello Ms. Hebert" The doctor said, flipping through a chart. "This is Special Investigator Morrows from the PRT, and I am Dr. Olden. SI Morrows is investigating your murder in conjunction with the police, as in preliminary examination of the scene it was determined that forcing yourself into the locker and locking the door from the outside would be impossible. Quite how the locker came to be in the emergency room is still under investigation"

He paused. "Do you understand what I am saying?" I began to nod before my attention hitched on the word 'murder'. I frowned and asked "If I'm alive, why is the detective investigating my murder?"

Detective Morrows coughed and spoke up "Following the decision in the State of Alaska v. Merial, if a Parahuman is killed long enough for an investigation into their murder to be started, even if the Parahuman later returns to life. 787 U.S. 896, 2005." He grimaced. "Which they really should legislate properly, but for now it'll do. The state has retained the services of Carol Dallon in the light of the autopsy results, which is why Dr. Olden is here."

The doctor, whose name suited his appearance quite well nodded. "Ms. Hebert, this is your autopsy report. It should be quite informative." He extended the file, and I carefully took it. For some reason, my hands were shaking. The shaking suddenly became a violent spasming, and pain lanced up from my limbs to my chest. The file went tumbling from my hands, as body-scouring pain ripped through me, and then all I saw was darkness.

When I came to, Dr. Olden helped me up again. "You were out for one minute, nineteen seconds after a suspected seizure." He informed me. His voice, I noticed, was monotone, much like his tone was factual. He was not, I suspected, a man who often had to speak to his... 'patients'. He gestured towards the autopsy report, and then turned to dismiss a pair of nurses who were in the room. They hadn't been there before I passed out.

The smell of rot crept up my nose for a moment, and I turned to look out the window. In an alleyway across the street, there was a mugging. I blinked when I realised I could see it just fine, while everything else stayed just as blurry as I normally was without my glasses. I blinked again, and the moment passed, and the mugger walked away.

[Failure]

Tears stung my eyes, and a horrible sense of guilt washed over me for a moment. I should have helped, I scolded myself. I had nothing other than helping others anymo- I violently shook my head to throw off the... external thought. I had my dad. I had my future, even if my grades weren't great right now. I had [to save people].

I turned to look at the file in my hands, and opened it. There were quite a few pictures, depicting my naked body and the changes that had happened to it and... I paused, noticing an unusual white mass on a picture of my leg. "What is that?" I asked Dr. Olden.

"Those would be the maggots." He said calmly. I felt bile rise in my throat, and had to keep myself from retching. Maggots. MAGGOTS had grown in my leg.

"But the interesting part is that your skin and nails are made of the same metal as your locker, ordinary biological materials, tarmac and a scattering of other materials. Nevermind what happened to your heart which is on ah... page 7?" He actually seemed mildly interested now. I duly turned to the page.

I stared. In the middle of my chest was a mass of some sort of crystalline flesh. "And f you think that's shocking, when we checked your brain, we found no sign of you being a Parahuman at all" Dr. Olden added. "Although with all the other evidence, we've decided to classify you as one anyway. It seems like a safe bet."

I nodded uncertainly. "I don't feel super." I muttered under my breath, prompting a laugh from SI Morrows. "I'm sure it'll come" He assured me. "Now, would you like to wait for your father to get here, or a lawyer before I start asking you questions?"

I was silent for a moment, still flipping through the booklet that detailed the changes to my body. I stopped and stared into space. "I'd like my dad to be here" I said quietly. I felt small. I would have to admit everything to my father. All the things I had kept to myself to keep him from getting stressed out. Every time I had wanted to cry out to him, but had been too afraid. I would have to inflict all of these things and more on him, and soon. And there was nothing I could do.