Orion and the Clockwork (The Carmsborough Vigilantes #2)

Chapter 19

The pain continued as he was led down a series of alleys and into a subway station, from which they took a train car all to themselves and blocked out all the windows.

"I'm sorry to do this to you, Orion," one of the leaders said, staring down at him on the ground, "but we're going to have to set your leg. Looks like some serious damage that will be much worse if we don't get this taken care of right now. It's going to hurt significantly."

"Just do it," he said through gritted teeth, unsure of how anything could be more painful than what he was feeling at the moment.

Two of the three that had carried him all that way kneeled down next to him and grabbed hold of his leg. Then, he felt an unbelievably sharp pain in his leg, and the world went black.

-◦=[ ]=◦-

When he awoke, they were in a completely unfamiliar area. One that looked more akin to a hospital room, but dimly lit and less sterilized. He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but he was sure of one thing: the two orange lights next to him in the room were that of the Clockwork's eyes, staring down at him to make sure he was alright.

He could still feel the pain in his leg, but whatever they had done numbed a good portion of it. From the dim light, he saw a cast and brace had been wrapped around his knee, which also likely meant he didn't stand a chance of walking normally for a while.

That was going to be a significant hindrance in his plans to defeat Syndra.

He gave the Clockwork a good look. There were some pretty nasty dents from what he could tell, but otherwise, he seemed functional. That was his biggest worry, as they could always fix him up cosmetically when all of this was said and done.

Three or four silent minutes later, a doctor entered the room and flicked on the overhead lights. They dazed his eyes and gave him an immediate headache, but the doctor didn't seem to pay attention to that, and instead moved for a bucket on the side of the room.

"I'm actually very glad to see you woke up," the doctor said, going to the foot of his bed excitedly. "Nobody was going to be happy with me if I had managed to overdose the hero of Carmsborough on pain pills."

"Where are we?"

"This is the rebel hideout in an undisclosed location. Not that we need to keep it undisclosed from you, probably, but there are only two people who know the actual location of this place, and those are the bosses."

"Rebels? Hideout? Bosses?"

"Yeah, probably lots to catch you up on down here. Let's take it slow, first. I need to ensure you don't have a concussion."

"I don't. I feel fine. I need to get back out there and get back to the Gearmaster so he can finish the chip."

"I have no clue what you're talking about, but I don't think I can dismiss you just yet. In the meantime, I've been told you have a visitor I can let in. Apparently someone you know. Sorry I'm not caught up on your life story."

The doctor left as quickly as he had come, and in his place came Rami, who rushed in and immediately hugged Orion.

"Rami?" Tears formed in his eyes. "I didn't think I was going to see you again after..."

"I know. The doctors patched me up pretty well, but I couldn't stand to wait to see how my parents were going to react to everything that had happened that night. In between doctors doing rounds and my parents showing up at the hospital, I made my escape, until I eventually ran into this group, who gladly took me in."