Powered Individuals

Chapter 11 - We Earn A New Team Member

Dragging a fully grown, winged human is something that is neither fun nor easy to do. Trying to explain to your chief how it happened aren't any of those either.

I somehow managed not to wake anyone up while pulling Aer to the infirmary. She was miraculously quiet the whole way there, and that scared me. I hadn't known her long, but I knew that she seemed to be one to vocalize her concerns.

When I finally got to the hospital wing, no one was there. It was about three in the morning and the infirmaries were dark and silent. I hauled Aer onto a bed and tried not to fold her wings in uncomfortable angles. In the end, I had a half-dead Penna laying on a hospital bed bleeding out with damaged wings hanging limp over the sides of the sheets.

"Okay," I breathed out, putting my hands on my hips. "Now what to do..." I searched for some kind of call button, but there was none that I could see. "Great. No emergency button, no fire alarm, nothing. How do people expect to get immediate help around here when they need it?"

"By going straight to the chief."

I spun around to see a tired looking Merlin standing in the doorway. Ruby's comment from after the Penna mission popped into my head.

"Please don't get rid of my tongue Doctor Merlin, I didn't do this! She was lying on the ground when I found her. It wasn't my fault I swear I didn't do anything or break any rules don't make me go mute I love my tongue ple-"

Merlin held up a hand to stop me. "I'm not going to cut out your tongue, Zoe. What made you think that I would ever do that?"

I looked at my feet and cleared my throat. "Ruby said that your assistant didn't talk because you cut out her tongue."

There was a couple seconds of silence and then laughter came from Merlin. I slowly lifted my head to see him bracing himself against the wall to keep from falling over. In no time, I was laughing a bit too; albeit nervously.

"You think," he said in between laughs, "that I-I cut out my assistant's tongue? I'm sorry, but that's false. Ruby was just trying to scare you. Ms. Marquez is just very quiet, that's all."

I breathed a sigh of relief and then heard a cough come from the bed behind me. We both sobered up and turned our attention to Aer. She seemed to have come back to consciousness.

"If you are not bothered," she breathed out, weakly, "I need some medical attention. I can heal quickly only a certain amount, but my wings take longer."

"Right, right. Merlin do you happen to know how to heal?" I turned to the chief and he shrugged.

"Ms. Marquez may be quiet, but her healing powers could fix up an army."

——

A bright yellow light radiated from the wounds, and in a second or two many of the small cuts and bruises were healed up. Aer stretched and got ready for her wings to be put in splints.

"You should be okay for now. There are still some bigger bruises that need time to heal naturally. That's the extent of my powers, I'm sorry," Sofie Marquez said shyly. Sofie was a small woman, but I could tell that she had more power than she let on. She really was a humble thing.

"It is alright, my friend. You did the best you could. I should be sorry for intruding upon your house of education and getting my blood all over your nice white garments," Aer tried to apologize.

"You're good," I patted her shoulder awkwardly.

"Aer," Merlin began, "what exactly...happened for you to injure yourself like this?"

"Well," Aer shifted, "I was standing guard outside the city, that is my role in our society. It was an hour or two ago, I am guessing, and it was dark. I was tired from having to clean up the city non-stop after the attacks, and I guess I just fell asleep for a minute or two. That is very illegal for someone on guard duty to do, so I felt guilty for only a little while, but I was so tired that I did not very much care for the rules.

"Then I was awoken by flashes and screaming. I immediately flew over the walls to try and see what had happened, but I could only see blue lightning and hear explosions throughout the city. I went on foot to get a better view, but I almost got struck with a piece of rubble, so I stayed near the outer wall. A figure then came into view and I asked who it was. They just laughed and threw lightning at me," Aer flicked her gaze to me and I felt a bit offended. Whoever did this was not me at all.

"Of course," she began again, "I thought that it was Zoe at first, but I knew that I was mistaken. Why would our savior protect our city one day and then try and destroy it the next? It did not seem right. I could not see who the figure was, and I blacked out when I was struck. I woke up only to find myself falling from the city and my wings useless. The next thing I knew, I was inside of your education house and Zoe was dragging me to this hospital room."

Merlin nodded the whole way through, but I was confused; and a little scared. How could someone else have almost the exact same powers as me? I had figured, in the beginning, that everyone's powers were all unique in some way, shape, or form. At least mine were.

"Aer," Merlin put a hand on her shoulder to provide comfort, "did you happen to see the color of the lightning?"

Aer thought for a moment and nodded slowly. "Yes...I think that it was of the color blue."

Merlin sighed and ran a hand over his face. I creased my eyebrows together in curiousness. He looked tense and I knew that he knew something no one else seemed to know.

"I know who did this," Merlin whispered. He turned to Sofie and gave her a look. Sofie nodded and went off somewhere. Merlin turned back to us and his eyes showed concern, but his face tried to remain as relaxed as possible.

"Where's she going?" I indicated to Sofie's retreating figure. "Why do you look so tense? Is there something bad going on?" Merlin nodded and sat in a chair near Aer's bed.

"There's another super- well, not a superhero per say...More like a supervillain." Merlin looked between us and seemed to come to a consensus in his mind. "His name is Dead Bolt. He has powers similar to yours, Zoe, but he's ten times more dangerous. He has only risen to popularity in the past year or two, but wherever he goes he doesn't show mercy.

"This only means one thing: he's out there and looking for revenge. We haven't been on the...best of terms; him and I. It seems that he's targeting where I last left my tracks. A couple days ago, I got word that he had torn apart the town where I had found you, Zoe. Now, he attacks where I sent you: the Penna kingdom. He has been out to get me for a few years now, but he's getting closer."

Merlin looked at me with a pleading look in his eyes, something I never thought I would ever see on his face. He wanted my help, but I was terrified. This guy had the same powers as me so how was I to stop him? Tristan, Ruby, and I just found out how to work together. How did he expect me to take down a real supervillain that had attacked two civilizations already?

"Zoe, can you do this?" He finally vocalized it. I looked at the ground, not really sure what to say. I could tell him no, go find someone else to do your work. Or I could tell him yeah, I could take this asshat down no problem. The thing was, I couldn't say either.

"I will help." I turned to Aer who looked incredibly sure of herself. She gave me a reassuring nod and I returned it with a small smile.

"Alright," I looked at Merlin who seemed ecstatic. "I'm sure after a little more training, we can do it."

Merlin smiled and the weariness escaped from his face. "Right. And I'm sure you'll have all the time to do so because the school is on lockdown until further notice."