I Can't Stand To Fly

Better Than Any Superpower

The group sits lamely by the van with the two giant cages beside them. The Dean is still unconscious, while Will sits quietly in his. He has attempts at a couple snide remarks, but even he can't seem to try to make light of the situation.

Carmilla stares numbly at the pile of rubble and debris where the apartment building used to be. Somewhere within that pile is Laura's body.

It's been a few minutes and, after Carmilla's revelation, no one has spoken or made any movements, except for LaF and Perry.

The pair, bless their hearts, had concocted a quick plan where Perry materialized a thermal scanner, which LaFontaine used to search the entire area of the building, but there were absolutely no heat signatures.

Carmilla looks down at her hands and tears fall into them.

"I can't believe all three Karnsteins made it out alive and she didn't," Mel bites out. "This isn't right."

"No, it isn't," Carmilla croaks out.

There's a small rustling noise nearby before a small voice squeaks out, "Can someone help me out here?"

Carmilla's eyes widen. No way.

She rushes over to the source of the sound, followed closely by Danny. Across the street in an alley lies a battered and bruised, but very much aliveLaura.

"Holy shit," Carmilla breathes out, dropping to her side.

"Remind me to never do that again." Laura groans. "'That,' being shrinking myself and flying out of a collapsing building only to slam into the side of the building across the street and knock myself out."

The group rushes over, overlapping each other with "Thank god" and "Laura, are you okay?"

She tries to answer them but her body gives into exhaustion and she slips into unconsciousness.

~*~

Laura wakes with a start. "What happened?" she asks groggily.
"You fell asleep," Danny answers without looking up from the screen she's reading from. "Again."

"You really should go back to your apartment and get some rest, Laura," Perry chastises lightly.

Laura crosses her arms. "No, I'm fine," she insists.

Carmilla enters. "Honey, if you're too tired for tonight, no one would blame you. You've been through a lot, and it's only been a couple days..."

Laura shakes her head. "I'm good! Honest." She crosses her heart and Carmilla lets a smile flash across her face before sitting next to Laura on the couch.

"Are you sure?"

Laura nods emphatically.

"Alright, calm down before your cute little noggin pops off," Carmilla says with a chuckle.

Kirsch comes in and places his hands affectionately on Laura's shoulders. "Go out, bros! Have some fun! You deserve it."

Laura gives him a warm smile.

"And then get some actual rest for a couple days so you can come back here and help us out with the research Jeep managed to get from the Dean's computer," LaF adds.

Everyone in the room gives them a look.

"What? I'm just sayin', we've got a reason for why she was so hell bent on causing chaos in the city, even if we can't pronounce its name. For all we know, Lophiiformes could be on its way here now––"