Cygnet 1.7
{Name for a young swan.}
I'd never appreciated how distracting it could be to have someone behind you that you wanted to watch, and not be able to simply turn around and watch them. It was maddening!
My skin prickled, and I was acutely aware of eyes on the back of my head.
I had always wondered if people could feel eyes on them, if it was just hyperbole I imagine it felt much like this. It felt like something crawling on the back of my neck. It was nerve-wracking.
I shuffling around so that I was sitting crosswise from the line that my friends and I had formed in front of the television. The sounds of the movie played in one ear, and the background murmur of conversation between the other patients behind us in the other.
"You think it's funny?"
"I always think it's funny, yes."
It was maddening, splitting my focus too many ways. Patients were still milling about in the cafeteria, moving in and out, and there was a small half-circle gathered around the television with us. The giggling was carried on in the background, softly.
"It always makes me laugh."
"Go laugh somewhere else, then."
There was a low-simmering sense of danger, diffused about the room. It wasn't abstract, was real and imminent. But it had no focal and I couldn't pinpoint the source; I couldn't pin it down and that had me headed for a panic attack. Was it Lizard Prince? Marionette? Who? Why?
I focused ever more intently on Prince, pushing my power as hard as I had with Mimi. Harder.
There was a connection between Lizard Prince and the other patients. It took me a moment to realize they weren't the same kind of connection between him and his gang.
Someone was murmuring under their breath, over and over.
"...They're always departing but they never arrive... and the ones that do arrive... they never leave... you never see them go they're always full... no one ever gets on but they're always... they're always departing but they never arrive..."
Obstruction. Relation. Comparing different paths to the same end, methodology.
There was a feeling of gradation there too, but I could differentiate between him and his gang and the others more easily. The other patients were tools, obstacles or objects with varying degrees of usefulness, maybe components. It was interesting. I hadn't realized I could read related information off of more than one thing when they were close by.
He thought of them in terms of what they allowed him to do, if they would get in the way.
Parts of the whole.
It was ironic because I was learning all kinds of things about my power. Any other time I'd be thrilled.
What was worse, I wasn't getting particulars. If I wasn't feeling the danger screaming at me right now, I'd say he wasn't a danger. He was, personally, calm.
"Hey."
I frowned. But if it wasn't him, who was it?
"Hey, Auspice." I blinked and glanced at Heather.
Heather nudged me but it was her glee that got my attention. "Look, here comes Elephant."
I glanced towards the cafeteria as a halting stomp approached. Elephant, Heather had called her. It was the obese woman from before, the one Heather had shoved- with her power, I think, that first day in the cafeteria. Her eyes were tiny and mean, and a low-simmering anger lurked in them. And, again, I wanted to feel sorry for her. But she did not make it easy to sympathize.
She headed towards the back couch, the one still empty. Muttering darkly and vindictively to herself, it was probably supposed to be quiet for her, but it rumbled on behind us.
The sense of danger was still growing. Still unfocused. Lizard Prince was leaned forward now, smiling and interested. Marionette… I couldn't see Marionette.
Where was she? I experienced a moment of panic. I couldn't sense Marionette- I glanced across the patients, hunting for her.
"…and the ones that do arrive... they never leave... you never see them go they're always full... no one ever gets on but they're always... they're always departing but they never arrive..."
Benny was laughing and pointing at the television. Smile wide and expressive. Heather was smiling and cheering right along with him, Nick more reserved.
"Shut up!" Elephant rumbled, little pig-eyes glittering.
Maser wasn't asleep, and the laughing lady was rocking a little. The balding man was still washing his hands. The rocking man held his fists to his temples and rocked. Where was Marionette?
In the back, Elephant stood up and approached us, stomping and limping, "Give me the remote." she rumbled.
"No way, we had it first!" Heather sniped, not looking away from Die Hard.
Benny aimed his free hand at the screen, miming a shot, in the other was the remote.
Then my senses screamed at me, danger! And Elephant lifted one huge fist and brought it down on Benny's head.
Someone screamed. Elephant roared and grabbed Benny by the back of his neck.
She struck him again, in the chest this time, and I heard ribs break, for just a moment, nausea and disorientation hit me like a physical blow, Benny's power firing blind. I jerked, trying to keep from vomiting. Then she threw him with a backhand swing into me.
I had stood, or been standing, stunned, reacting too slowly, and the motion threw me, launched me clean off my feet. There was a flurry of motion, sudden and complete pandemonium. Something bright sailed out in an arc, charring a line down the wall- the paint bubbled curled and blackened at the edges and whitened to ash at the center of the mark.
Benny and I came to rest against the wall; I was winded, he was bleeding.
Disorientation. Projection of hindrance, mild disruption of inner ear.
Benny's power. What was- what was going on? I struggled weakly under his weight.
There was a surge of wind, and about half the furniture rose an inch into the air and hurled itself at the doorway, along with the giggling woman, still seated on it. Upon impact, the woman dissolved into a mass of finger-length fleshy worms that immediately burrowed into the ruin of the couch.
I lay there stunned, staring at the chaos as it broke out. Everyone was on their feet, and there was a sudden crush of bodies as everyone tried to push everyone else out of the way to get away, or to fight. Nick was on the floor, desperately crawling backwards out of the middle of the room as Heather threw herself at Elephant, leaping at her with a flying kick and that turned into a springboard off of her shoulder. Elephant stumbled slightly, and Heather was jumping back for more. She rebounded, flying over my head.
Benny was bleeding, there was… a kind of divot in his head. Where Elephant had hit him. It made me nauseous just looking at it. His breathing was ragged and wet, and my power returned a mixture of confusing signals. I hugged him to me and pulled him towards the corner of the room, out from underfoot.
Something flew across the room and latched on to Elephant, a mass of sticky strands entrapping her fist and arm. I glanced up and found Lizard Prince grinning thinly, hand raised. He glanced at me and swung his other hand up, and a second stream of the strands arced out.
My power- it had not prepared me for Elephant's attack but it supplied the arc of his power this time fine- but the strings bent in midair as they ran into a distortion. The air bent, and my vision swam dizzily, when I could see again Lizard Prince laughed. He looked like he was about to say something, only for Blake to sideswipe him.
Arms raised and hands glowing blue, he swept his arms to one side, Lizard jerked like he'd been yanked by a rope and followed the path of his swing, wreathed in a glow as well, until he hit the wall and the glow dissipated. But instead of sinking to the floor, Lizard grabbed the wall and ran up onto the ceiling. One arm lashed out- not the strands this time, the arm stretched out, impossibly long, like rubber. Blake dodged back, and another searing blot of energy pocked the ceiling beside Lizard Prince.
Closer at hand, there was a gust of air, a crash, and a fog began to rise from the wall and the bookshelves. The walls smoked, the paint smoked ran, and the books blackened.
Poison. From fluid contact with organic/inorganic objects/surfaces. Catalytic reaction.
A balding man with black hair and a lined face crawled towards us, the back of his scrubs were smoking too. He grabbed my arm. The fear of what the poison could do to my bare skin made me panic, scream and bite his arm. He grabbed my hair and tried to get me to loosen my jaw. He let go, so I let go, and he stumbled off, climbing to his feet and running. The smoke dissipated quickly, rising sharply into the air above us. Lighter than air. Laid out on the floor, Benny and I were safe.
There was another crash as Lizard Prince, Elephant, and Maser moved out into the cafeteria. I sat there, like an idiot, and watched, blinking, stunned. My head was spinning, but Benny's shirt was rapidly turning red and I roused myself.
"Nick!" I looked up, frantically scanning the room. It looked like the site of a natural disaster, with crushed and shattered furniture scattered over the floor, and bodies mixed in, draped limply or laid out unmoving on the floor. How much time had it taken?
"Nick, help me! He's bleeding!" After a moment of hesitation, I reached over and tore his shirt. Underneath, his ribs were broken, and splinters were sticking out from under his skin. His chest was swollen and an angry purple. I pressed one had to his chest and desperately tried to make sense of it.
Nick crawled over, eyes wide, he looked lost; I couldn't see Heather. I stared down at Benny's ruined ribs. I… I didn't know what to do.
There was blood on my hands. Warm and sticky, like I'd dipped them in a bucket of paint. I spread my fingers and there was resistance, they stuck together. I started breathing quickly- no! No time to hyperventilate! I whipped my hand on my shirt.
When this is over, I promised myself, as blood from Benny soaked into my shirt collar. I'll freak when this is all over, have a complete and utter breakdown. Later.
"I can help!"
I jerked, looking up from the horror of Benny's chest to see the patchwork girl with the yarn. Quilt. She sat beside us, and pulled up her right sleeve. She gripped one of the patches- this one looked like velvet, and pulled in off. Then she slapped it on Benny, over the splinters. She did this again, and again, wrapping his chest in them.
Sympathetic healing. Weak effect tied to her patches, area of effect. Brings tissue to base state. Limited scope.
It might buy him time.
There was a crash, and one of the chairs flew over us to shatter on the wall. Blake- Maser was out in the cafeteria now, and half a dozen patients were plastered to the floor with a blue glow shrouding them. Maser was flying in the air, hands in his pockets. Lizard Prince was on the floor, elongated limbs limp. Elephant was still up, however, bellowing furiously as Blake's aura pushed her down to one knee.
Gravity manipulation. High degree of control. The lasers- small particles rapidly accelerated.
There were security personnel pouring through the doors, and I saw some nurses in green scrubs among them. Maser drifted to the ground as Summer Holiday stepped in. They exchanged a long look. Summer Holiday didn't like him, I thought. Maser let the patients on the floor stand as the staff reached them.
I closed my eyes and sighed, help was here. Benny was still breathing, was still bleeding, and struggling feebly. We were okay.
I clenched my hands together to keep them from shaking, and pulled my knees to my chest.
It was okay. We were going to be okay.
...
-Alchemilla provides housing that is far above the national standard in terms of safety, security, and comfort-
It was quiet, in the infirmary waiting room. Quiet was good. Quiet was… quiet was good. The wall clock ticked, there was no other sound.
Time for that mental breakdown I had promised myself.
I hugged my knees to myself and kept rubbing the damp wipe over my hands, scrubbing at the crevices between my fingers. It was still sticky, I was sure.
The smell of antiseptic and floor wax and copper and copper and copper and copper and copper.
Heather was sitting across from me, actually sitting, not fidgeting and twitching. Just… sitting. Nick was next to her, miserable, staring at the floor.
Benny was in surgery.
I didn't have his blood all over myself. Not anymore.
I wiped my hands again.
There were others seated in the waiting room, also waiting for news of someone inside. Charnel stood against the wall, staring unblinking straight ahead. She wasn't hurt, not even her hair was out of place.
She hadn't been fighting, I think I'd seen her on the floor though, just… lying there like some discarded toy. Now, she looked like a mannequin in a store window. She didn't move in the slightest, didn't breathe.
I looked away.
Three orderlies, a man and two women, drifted through the room. One of the women was checking a bandage on Nick's jaw. He'd need stitches. I hadn't even noticed.
I hadn't noticed anything.
My power hinted at inexperience, at lack of skill, but also at compassion.
Sympathy. Empathy. Drive to assist endangered members of social group.
I tuned it out. It was cold and impersonal, and… and so pointless.
Quilt and Frog sat by themselves, in the corner.
They had placed themselves defensively- close to the door with their backs to the wall. I wondered if they expected some kind of backlash. That didn't make much sense to me, Lizard Prince had played a very minor role in what happened. But… I guess anger could be senseless.
Benny.
Why had Elephant done that to him?
I drew in on myself, hunching my shoulders and hugging my legs. I shivered. I was cold.
Why had she done that?
I hadn't seen it coming. I hadn't imagined it happening. I had been so focused on Lizard Prince I hadn't realized that he wasn't the threat, the source of my sensed danger. If I had… If I…
It wasn't right, I'd been there. I'd been holding him and I had no idea what to do. I had a power, but it'd been useless, again. He had been right there, in my arms. I'd been holding him. I had…
The door opened.
A doctor in green scrubs stepped out. He walked across the room and through another door without saying a word.
The clock kept ticking. I kept waiting.
I was looking when the girl entered, not through the door, through the wall. She wasn't wearing patient scrubs either- she was wearing a sweatshirt and jeans. She had red hair- which reminded me warmly, sharply, and painfully of Emma; but her hair was darker and shorter.
She glanced around cautiously and caught me staring.
"Hi…"
I blinked at her.
"… Don't tell the doctors I'm here." She said, and when I said nothing she slid the rest of the way out of the wall. A moment later she… shifted. Jeans and sweatshirt became scrubs- blue ones -and she sat down on the bench beside me. Her skin darkened and her hair lengthened.
Heather glanced at her, "Hey Gretchen."
"Who got hurt?" She asked.
"Benny." Heather said, "It looked bad too."
Heather glanced at me, "This is Taylor," Heather introduced me, "Taylor, this is Gretchen, also known as Nymph."
I didn't ask any questions, this was normal now, I was sure I'd get used to it eventually.
Gretchen turned back to Heather immediately, "I could ask All-Eye to look if you want, but if she gets caught again it'll be someone's head."
Heather shook her head, "I don't know… No. It…"
The door opened and the doctor stepped through. He was accompanied by Doctor Yamada, Doctor Werneck, and Doctor Greene. Doctor Greene had a double take when he saw Gretchen.
"…Gretchen?" Doctor Greene asked, one hand darting to his glasses, adjusting them.
"…Hey." She muttered, looking resigned.
I'd worked with both of them before.
I didn't really like Werneck- a hawkish, lean man in a blue suit. He reminded me too much of one of the professors Mom worked with. Not exactly terrible… but impatient and focused on his field, uninterested in the lives of his students.
Doctor Greene was shorter, wore glasses, and was one of the youngest on faculty. He was far more pleasant, but inexperienced.
I'd prefer to talk to Doctor Yamada.
"What are you doing here, Gretchen?"
"I hear something happened." Gretchen shrugged, "One of my friends got hurt. I had to find out who."
That didn't seem like the truth. I sensed insincerity, but also earnestness… so not the whole truth? I didn't know. I couldn't find the energy in me to care. I looked down at my feet, the legs of my scrubs were still stained with blood. I had blood on my socks. It was dried and still sticky but dark now, almost black. It made my skin itch.
"… We need to talk to each of you."
There was a pause.
"Taylor?"
Doctor Yamada stepped over to me, and squatted down so she was eye level with me where I sat. The silence stretched on until I looked up and saw her realized she'd been talking to me.
"Is that all right, Taylor?" she asked quietly.
"Sure." I whispered.
She took my hand, and I stood, following her out. I was beginning to suspect what this was about, what she was going to say.
When she turned to face me, I think she understood it too. There were tears in the corners of her eyes.
"Taylor. I have some bad news."
I knew what he was going to say. With a sinking certainty in the pit of my stomach I swallowed.
"Benny died in surgery, a half an hour ago," she said, "I… I wanted to be the one to tell you. You were his friend."
Emma was my friend. My best friend. I'd hardly known Benny. I hadn't known him well enough to be a friend, had I?
'One day I will be a renowned hero, hailed worldwide for my daring exploits!'
I smelled copper.
"Why would someone do that to him?" I asked, in the silence it sounded much louder than I intended.
Doctor Yamada sighed, and reached out to hug me. I didn't fight her, I was too busy trying to parse what she'd said. It kept getting jumbled, out of order. Kept echoing, skipping, repeating, but not sticking.
Benny was dead.