Chapter 5: 05 The Hive Queen

Apparently, Shadow Stalker in her civilian identity of Sophia Hess had bullied and severely assaulted another student. We rushed to Brockton Bay General to heal a girl named Taylor Hebert, because she had been exposed to biological and toxic waste while locked inside a locker. She was also in a coma.

No one spoke as Armsmaster filled us in on the details of the case and his dry delivery was the best way to hear about the campaign of torture that Taylor had gone through. It was sickening that a Ward was so twisted that they enjoyed doing those kinds of things to another person. That one of the PRT officers had enabled her and covered everything up was disgraceful.

We were all grateful for easily retrieved cell phone records and that Sophia was sadistic enough to want to keep proof of her actions on her cell phone, just so she could read it over and enjoy it again.

The vehicle came to a stop at a side entrance and Armsmaster, Panacea, Vicky, and myself left the SUV and entered the hospital. We didn't stop at the receptionist's desk and went right to the elevator. We rode it up to the right floor and walked down the hallway to see a very worried tall man that wore glasses and he was waiting for us.

“Mr. Hebert?” Panacea asked.

“Oh, thank god you're here.” Mr. Hebert said and looked relieved. “Please, do what you can for her.”

Panacea nodded and looked at Vicky. “Can you wait here? We don't know what state she's in and...”

“Yeah, not wanting to see that.” Vicky said and looked at me with a big smile, as if that was going to sway me. “Alex here can keep me company.”

“No, thanks. I'm going in with Panacea.” I said and both she and Amy looked surprised. “I want to see if she's right about me having a similar healing power.”

“You're a cape?” Mr. Hebert asked, clearly surprised.

“Yes, sir. I just joined the Wards. My name is Alex Powers.” I said and held a hand out to him.

“Powers?” Mr. Hebert let out a chuckle. “I guess if you were trying to hide that you're a cape, your name would be a dead giveaway.” He said and took my hand to shake it.

I felt something niggling in the back of my head and looked at Panacea. “Maybe we can try with someone who's only slightly hurt?”

Panacea gave me a surprised look and then nodded. “Mr. Hebert, do we have your permission to heal you?”

“M-me? There's nothing wrong with me.” Mr. Hebert said. “And you can call me Danny.”

“Even so, we need your permission in case we do find something.” Panacea said and he nodded. She put her hand on mine and on Danny's. “Alex, what is it you can feel?”

“I don't know. I just touched him and the back of my head told me he's hurt.”

Panacea closed her eyes and concentrated. After a few moments, she nodded. “Broken knee that's healed slightly off... a touch of arthritis... nearsightedness... and a few strained arteries.”

“Is that all? I can just...” I stopped talking and let my power suck all of that in.

Panacea and Danny gasped and the both stared at me.

“I can't feel that niggling in my head anymore. Did it work?” I asked and Panacea nodded.

Danny let my hand go and took off his glasses. “Holy cow.”

“He healed your eyes, too.” Panacea whispered and looked into my eyes. “How do you feel?”

“I'm perfectly fine.” I said with a smile. “I guess this explains why I have a massive healing factor and I'm invulnerable at the same time.”

“You're invulnerable, too?” Vicky asked with wide eyes and a bright smile.

“Vicky, NO!” Panacea yelled as Vicky's super-powered fist slammed into my face.

Being the opportunistic person I was, I did exactly like I did with Shadow Stalker. I swung around in place as I absorbed the blow and I swung my fist around and smashed it into Vicky's face... only for it to stop when it hit a forcefield that flickered.

“You're a fake!” I said and slapped her. This time my hand hit skin and the crack echoed throughout the hallway. A bright red handprint quickly formed on Vicky's completely shocked face.

“Alex!” Panacea gasped and touched Vicky's face where the mark was. It faded after a second.

“She punched me first.” I said and Armsmaster nodded.

“That wasn't a nice thing to do to.” Danny said and went to put his glasses back on, then shrugged and put them in his shirt pocket.

“Which one?” Vicky and Panacea asked.

“The first punch. The follow-up slap was just a little insulting.” Danny said.

“That's why I did it.” I said and gave Vicky a squinted eyed look. “Maybe next time you'll control yourself and actually think about what your rash actions can cause!”

“You said you were invulnerable! I had to test it!” Vicky exclaimed.

“Oh, yeah? What if I hadn't braced to take your punch and I flew through the wall behind me and my invulnerable body crushed and killed whoever was in the room? What if I kept going through the outside wall and compromised the building? Huh? HUH? WHAT IF YOU HURT A BUNCH OF PEOPLE BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPIDITY?!?”

Armsmaster, Danny, Panacea, and Vicky were shocked at my words.

I took a deep breath and calmed down. “I think you needed a good lesson in humility and a slap to the face was well deserved, under the circumstances.” I said and looked at each of them. “Panacea, do you want to assist or do you want to stay here and look after your sister?”

Panacea looked too shocked to respond, so I nodded.

“I'll be right back.” I said and entered Taylor's room. I paused just inside, because she looked emaciated. She was really tall and rail thin, as if she hadn't eaten in a while. She also looked pale and sickly and the lush black curls of her long hair hung limply over her pillow. I walked over to her bed and I looked at her face.

Her features were a little sharp and for some reason I thought that when she was older, she wouldn't become girly pretty and would instead become an alluringly handsome woman. That was an odd thought to have, considering I didn't know her or how she would turn out.

I shrugged and took her hand and held it tenderly. The back of my brain practically vibrated with all of the damage she had and I didn't hesitate as I let my newfound power suck it all in.

Taylor's almost deflated skin and flesh swelled up and returned to a healthy color. Her long black curly hair fluffed out and looked freshly washed. It would also make every woman jealous, because of its natural fullness. She probably never had a need to comb it, either.

I smiled at that and admired her face. I had been right in my odd thought earlier, too. With her completely healthy and restored, she actually did look alluringly handsome.

Taylor slowly opened her eyes and then started to panic.

“Hi, Taylor.” I said in a calm voice and placed a hand on her shoulder as I showed her the hand I held. “My name is Alex Powers and I just healed you.”

Taylor's panicked look only slightly faded. “You what?”

“I healed you and it's all right to be freaking out after what happened.” I said and gave her hand a little squeeze. “The PRT and Protectorate know about what Sophia did and they've already taken her into custody.”

“The PRT? Why would...” Taylor stopped talking and her eyes widened. “Sophia's a Ward!”

“Was.” I corrected. “Her own cell phone is full of evidence against her and she's been suspended. Of course, anything you can testify to or prove will also help prosecute her.”

Taylor nodded and the panic faded even more from her face.

I let her shoulder and her hand go. “Your father is waiting in the hallway. Do you want me to...”

“DAD!” Taylor yelled and Danny was through the door and at her bedside nearly instantly.

“Taylor! My baby!” Danny said as tears came to his eyes. Of course, this set Taylor off as well and the two of them hugged and cried.

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I walked out of the room and Panacea gave me a pointed look. She glanced at Vicky before she entered the room and the door closed behind her.

Vicky glared at me and seemed to be trying to do something, which I ignored.

“Are you okay? You look constipated.” I commented and that made her face change to show anger. “Ooo, now your outside matches your insides.”

“Myriad.” Armsmaster said in a stern tone.

“What? She's in high school and she trying to intimidate a 12 year old with angry looks like that.” I said and Vicky caught her breath. “I do have to admit that she has guts to do everything she did right in front of the Head of the Protectorate and he's recording everything.”

Vicky gasped and her eyes went right to the device on Armsmaster's shoulder. She looked afraid and took a step back, then another, then she flew off down the hallway and right out through a window... without opening it first.

“I don't know why I'm sure she does that a lot.” I said and looked back at Armsmaster. His glare was pretty good. “Yes, sir. You can dock my living expenses to...” I trailed off and looked back at the window.

“Myriad?” Armsmaster said in a questioning tone.

“I just had a really weird thought, sir.” I said and started to walk down the hallway.

“Where are you going?” Armsmaster asked.

“I want to see if my weird thought could be true.” I said and reached the end of the hallway. The window had taken the entire impact and the frame and the building seemed fine. I reached out and touched a piece of glass still in the frame and the back of my head gave me that same niggling feeling as I got from Danny.

So, being the entrepreneurial person I was, I used my power and sucked in the damage it detected. The window reformed right in front of me and I stared at it, even after Armsmaster made a very unprofessional sound and then cursed.

I walked back over to him and he was completely distracted as he described what had happened and then he nodded to me and he went to the elevator. “The broken glass is still down there.”

Armsmaster nodded again and the elevator doors closed, which left me all alone in a hospital. A hospital full of sick people. Sick people that might want some healing. I walked down to the nurse's station and asked to borrow a set of scrubs before I entered the contaminated patient's room and they handed everything over, even a surgical mask.

“Thank you very much.” I said and dressed, then waved to them before I walked down the hallway.

Now I just had to decide if I wanted to charge people for it. Maybe the ones with failing organs? They pay through the nose for those, right? It's a huge waiting list for replacements, as far as I could remember. Then again, maybe those are the ones Panacea handles first and saves the patients and the hospital tons of money?

Panacea came out of Taylor's room and stopped to stare at me. “Alex, what are you doing?”

“I'm Healer Man!” I said and struck a heroic pose. “I can't be Myriad until my costume's ready, so this has to do for now.”

“Healer Man.” Panacea said with a shake of her head. “I can't take you on my normal rounds. I already did them and...”

“I have a few questions about that.” I said and launched into the questions I had asked myself minutes ago and Panacea answered what she could.

Let me tell you, I was surprised to learn that she didn't get paid for working so much, even if the patients paid the hospital for admittance and for her help.

“You're in high school and not legally allowed to work because you're underage; and yet, you work six hour shifts after school nearly every day as you make your way through various hospitals. For free.”

Panacea stood there with a blank look on her face and didn't respond.

“I'm glad I'm not being forced to do that.” I said and smiled. “Do you want to come along while I try to scam and rob the hospital out of paying patients?”

Panacea looked down at her outfit. “I'm not exactly subtle while wearing this.”

I nodded. “I've already been told I'm too young to offer to help girls change their clothes, so you have to do it yourself. I'm sorry.”

Panacea blinked her eyes at me. “Did you just... you didn't just...”

“I have to wait a couple years, apparently.” I said with a shrug. “Why don't you take off the outer robes and we can go to the nurse's station and get another set of scrubs? No one should question two scrub-covered people, right?”

Panacea waited a moment before she nodded. “I'll be right back.”

I watched her enter a janitorial closet and took out my cell phone to message Armsmaster about going around the hospital to heal people. He approved as long as I masked up and gave credit to the Wards and Protectorate. I told him I already was masked and would also do as he asked and he said he would have me picked up when I wanted to leave.

After a couple of minutes, Amy came out of the closet wearing a pair of tight jeans and a t-shirt. The only word that came to mind when I looked at her was 'mousy' and I had no idea how I knew that word. She had frizzy brown curly hair and freckles from her forehead to her chin that were packed densely enough that there was as much brown freckles as there was white skin.

“You're staring at me.” Amy said with a frown.

“I'm trying to decide if you're cute or pretty.” I admitted and her eyes widened. “The freckles really are eye catching and it's difficult to tell if you would look better without them or if you need them to keep your attractiveness.”

Amy's frown disappeared and she looked surprised. “Wh-what are you saying?”

“I have no idea!” I said with a laugh. “These words keep popping into my head as the right thing to say and out they come.”

“You... you're too young to be complimenting girls like that.” Amy said with a blush.

“Meh.” I said and took her hand. “Come on, we have wealthy patients to pilfer and smooch off of.”

Amy gave me a pointed look. “I think you meant sponge off of.”

“Did I?” I asked with a grin and she sighed. “It'll be fun, I promise.”

“Fiiiine.” Amy said and we went to the nurse's station. She was given scrubs like mine and we went right to the long term care ward. She had compromised by making me heal all of the cancer patients in exchange for helping me weasel money out of the rich organ replacement clients.

By the end of the night, we both had bank accounts with over $60,000 in them and Amy had a huge smile on her face. Because she hadn't been in costume and it was me doing the healing, she had been treated completely differently from how she normally was. It was definitely an eye opener for her, that was for sure. We gathered her costume up and went down to the lobby to leave the hospital.

“We are totally hitting up another hospital on the weekend.” I said as we stepped outside. “Do you want to catch a ride with me back home?”

Amy looked thoughtful for a moment and nodded. “After what happened with Vicky earlier, I doubt she'll want to see either you or Armsmaster for a while.”

I made a snort sound and laughed as I sent a text to Armsmaster. “I thought slapping her might knock some sense into her and it was a simple camera that did the trick.”

Amy sighed and nodded.

“Hey, look on the bright side. You can go home and comfort her and pretend to be the one to put us in our place.” I said and Amy looked surprised. “Tell her what big meanies Armsmaster and I are, that you told us off on her behalf, then let her cry on your shoulder. It'll be great!”

“But, I... I didn't...” Amy started to protest.

“What do you think about what I did? I slapped her pretty hard to leave a mark, right?” I asked.

Amy frowned at me. “Yes, that was terrible! I couldn't believe you would strike her like that! I felt like smacking you upside the head as hard as I could after I healed her!”

I let a huge smile grow on my face. “There you go. You just ranted at me and you won't be lying when you tell Vicky that you did.”

Amy's frown disappeared and she didn't respond.

“Vicky needs someone to look out for her and to keep her in check. As far as I can see, that person is you. You're close and you know each other, so who is better than you to take care of her?”

Amy gave me a searching look before a small smile appeared on her face.

The SUV pulled up and we climbed inside. Stopping off at New Wave's home was a slightly circuitous route and the PRT officer was happy to go that way. He liked long late night drives, apparently.

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