Steel Ethereal

Ch. 8 Training

Luciana

Sharp cries of pain reverberate through the room. My cries. I alternate between hisses so sharp I think my teeth will be shoved from my gums. 

With brilliant bedside manner, my doctor hisses right back at me, "Quit squirming. I swear I'll put you down myself."

Though his words are irritating to me through all the pain, I know my brother would never hurt me. Though his words carry weight, they remain soft.

I take several deep breaths to calm myself. I have temporary amnesia that's made me forgotten Liam's pet peeve: an difficult patient. They caused problems, made the problem last much longer than it should.

Sore is an understatement when I think about my side and back now. The pain lights up and spreads throughout my body. My muscle and skin are very tough, Enoch tough, but even they suffer when beat hard enough. A lead pipe swung as hard as possible would still cause a great amount of pain.

It was a miracle I didn't fall over on the streets, but I had a job to do. And there was no way I'd let Rob carry me literally after carrying the fight figuratively. What was worse was I could have gotten to Promenade's hospital by flying, but thanks to the no-fly rule I was stuck walking... All the way to the other side of town. Nzo offered to carry me, but my stubbornness got the better of me. Step by slow step I limped to my brother's office.

The coughing worsened with every step and I'm sure I made whatever broken bone or bruise much worse by stepping and relying on my left leg for support. My head pounded and I was drenched in sweat by the time I reached the hospital.

I made a mental note to tear the bastard apart who blindsided me with a dirty trick. With the same lead pipe.

Liam's treatment involved healing the damaged tissue at a rapid rate. It was part of his augmentation and not the part of it he was well known for. I see why in the way his brow sweats and soon his t-shirt underneath his doctor's coat is dampening in spots. We look like a sibling duo more and more by the minute.

I don't want him to go out of the way with me. I want to bark at him to give me pills, there's someone else in this hospital who needs his energy. But upon seeing me in the Emergency room he brushed past Nzo and urged me to a room. The nurses under him protested and he promptly told them to, "fuck off."

If my brother was anyone else he would have been fired long ago. But my brother is my brother. Best doctor in Promenade. The nurse turnover rate was unbearable to the admin of the hospital, but no one could do the job he did with the same results.

And god I hated how much of a big head he got from being so successful.

But after looking, Liam doesn't need to expend any energy to heal me quickly. He somehow listens to the thoughts I shout in my head. He prods gently at my side and I wince. I almost shout, curse, call him every name I know.

"Broken," he mutters.

"No shit," I hiss. At least I'm laying down on the medical table.

Can't penetrate my skin but they could get through to my bone. That fucker.

What Liam was going to do was use the other part of his augmentation to fix me. It was one that required little to no energy to use. It was the technique he used in the field and it made him incredibly deadly. Add his knowledge to the human body and he was nigh unstoppable. If he weren't so lazy.

Liam hovers his hand over my exposed back. Though I won't feel it, I somehow sense the coldness of his hand hovering above my skin. he has to get it right or he could misplace my organs.