METROCITY
SBA Arena: Infirmary
Emily held onto Sarah’s hand as two MediBots worked around her. She wasn’t sure what the displays on the screen meant, but the large flashing red zones overlaying the scan were obviously bad. “Come on, Sarah. Stay with me, stay conscious…” She lifted her hand close to Sarah’s own face. “You can heal this if you stay with me. Stay focused.”
For a moment a pale silver glow formed on Sarah’s fingertips as healing energy began to collect around her bruised and bloody face. But just as quickly it faded and Sarah’s head rolled to the side. An instant later the monitor went dark and both the MediBots froze. “No… oh no no no… NO!!!” Emily began to panic.
“Ms. Blitzen calm down!” came Mr. Smith’s voice from behind her. He put a hand on her shoulder to pull her back from the gurney but she didn’t budge at all to his normal human strength. His voice dropped in volume but rose in urgency, “Ms. Blitzen, your friend is ok but your electro-magnetic powers are interfering with scanners and the bots. You need to come with me.”
Emily looked up at him with uncertainty fading away to realization, then stood up and backed away from the machines. The MediBots resumed their diagnosis, “Trauma, skeletal, chest structure, level 7. Trauma, soft tissue, kidneys, level 6. Trauma, skeletal, cranium, level 6. Trauma, soft tissue, cerebrum, level 8…”
Emily cried out at the robot voice, “Brain damage? Are they saying she has brain damage?”
“I don’t know,” Mr. Smith attempted to regain his composure as Ms. Blitzen kept grabbing hold of his shirt and his sleeve as the scan commenced. “It could be a concussion…”
“She doesn’t need these machines!” she screamed. “She can heal herself, she just needs to wake up! She just needs to wake up!”
Mr. Smith slapped her. Emily barely felt it and Mr. Smith felt like he just hit a concrete post but it stunned her enough that she stopped. “Sorry…” he said. “SilverStar has a lot of injuries, and her healing power might cause more damage than it can heal at this point. Dr. Sanji is on her way down. Let her work, let her get your friend stable, then we can focus on healing. But right now, your emotional state might easily fry the equipment in the infirmary.”
Emily swiped at the tears on her face with the back of her hand. “Thank you.”
“The commissioner sent me down. To make sure you were ok… and, uh… make sure…” he went from confident to stammering.
“He wanted to make sure I didn’t go after Siren.” she said when she realized why he was hesitating. He nodded. Emily spun around and all the lights in the hallway exploded as she stormed away.
Commissioner X’s Office
“You were out of control! You could have killed or crippled that girl!” Charles Black raged at Siren as lightning flickered from behind his shades.
“No, I wasn’t, and no I didn’t. That was a precision, controlled beating. And that is no girl, she is an adult… barely.” The energy level in the room rose. Siren eased back into a ready stance as she suddenly felt as if the commissioner may actually unleash his power against her. The lights didn’t dim, or explode, there was no outward show of force. But she could feel that Commissioner X was holding back enough power right now to level the entire building. Siren’s defiant attitude immediately melted away. “…Charles..?”
“Suspension. Effective now. I need to discuss further punishment with the arena authority.”
Siren let out her breath slowly as the calm returned to the commissioner’s voice. “I understand.” She turned to exit the office.
“Tiyura.” he called after her. “Was it worth it? Do you feel better now?”
She didn’t answer as she walked away.