Cape Crossed

Chapter Nine

"How is she?" Crimson Sword demanded as he strode across the white floor. He walked right past Solar Flare who hadn't stopped pacing the room since arriving.

"She's alright, but she'll be a bit unsteady on her feet for a bit while her body figures out what to do with the solar radiation it's been pumped full of," a young man explained. The badge pinned to his white shirt marked him as one of the doctors employed just for The Aerie.

"Alright? Are you serious?" Solar shrieked. "She took a sun bolt straight to the chest! I've knocked out buildings with those."

The doctor nodded again. "It's unfortunate that your sun bolts are concentrated orbs of electromagnetic waves, otherwise she might have been able to shrug the force of it off entirely. Someone really should look into adding more insulation to her suit if you're going to be throwing those out willy nilly like tonight."

The lights in the room flickered and one of the heavy ones in the ceiling shattered. "It's not like I was trying to hurt her, she got in the way. If she-"

"Enough," Crimson cut her off harshly. His words were accompanied by a harsh blast of psychic energy that made Solar wince. "Go home, Solar. You're benched until further notice." The slamming door didn't phase him. As one of the three heads of their location, Crimson was used to others fighting against his authority.

Solar in particular often had a problem with him. It wasn't all her fault. The knight that shared her body had his own moral code that was not only somewhat old fashioned but entirely from another planet. The stubbornness of both of them often threatened to overwhelm him. Normally he had Black Star to calm her or Silver Shield to back him up. With the latter on forced bed rest and the former stuck cleaning up after Solar's mess, Crimson was on his own with her tantrums. Putting her on lock down was more for his benefit than the city's.

The double doors slammed open and Claudia stormed in. Her black hair was pulled back in a haphazard ponytail and her jacket was somehow inside out on her left arm and the correct way on her right arm. "If I see Magda I'm going to rip her bottle blonde hair out and use it as a rope to pull her head out of her ass," Claudia snapped.

"You're so loud," Hannah groaned from the bed. She'd managed to pull off both her mask and wig which now lay on her lap. Her green eyes opened for just a second before the light forced her to squeeze them shut. "Why is everything in this room so much?"

"Because your entire system got fried," Crimson explained. "Solar hit you with a sun bolt, and a pile of bricks I think. Don't worry though. I'm dealing with her and the doctor says you're on your way to a speedy recovery."

Hannah spoke from behind the arm she'd moved over her face. "The diamond? Hijack?"

"Gone, for now," Claudia grunted. She'd stripped off her jacket to fix it. The scowl on her face had dissipated as soon as Hannah spoke. The tattoos down each arm were in full view and a few seemed to shift as she moved. The snake that normally took its place on her back had twisted up around her neck. The spectacle-like circles on the back of the snake's head seemed to have a glow about them that was slowly fading.

"As soon as I get out of this bed I'll get to work on finding them," Hannah said. A sudden jolt of pain twisted her face and her body. The monitors hooked up to her across her body went temporarily haywire. Fresh waves of electricity fought their way out of her body through whatever outlet available.

Crimson placed a gentle hand against her shoulder, nervous about causing her anymore pain but needing to have her full attention. "You're done for the week, Hannah. I need you to rest and recuperate. You're no good to anyone if you're working at half capacity. Moon Fox will take over for you until you can walk by a blanket without making it crackle from the static." He poked the thin sheet covering her and was rewarded with the sound of dry linen hiss against her skin with visible blue sparks.

"And if you try to sneak away I'll tackle you," Claudia threatened.

"That doesn't seem like it would help her recover," Moon Fox said from the doorway. She'd entered silently as usual. The dark orange fabric of her long coat tails fluttered around her knees. From the front they could just see the silver interior and the black edging on the back. The matching mask on her face kept her eyes obscured. "I was hoping to get a feel of your mask."

Claudia held out both Silver's mask and wig for her and they all looked at her expectantly. Their shoulders collectively dropped when she shook her head.

"Nothing clear enough. The sun bolt scrambled the memories as much as they did you," Moon said. The disappointment was clear as a bell. "I'll head back to the scene and see what I can pick up in my civvies."

Once she was gone, they were able to convince Hannah to rest until someone came by to take her home. They'd already delivered an excuse to the hospital courtesy of Crimson. Outside of the mask he ran his own private practice with one of two other low level capes. It made things like patching up heroes after fights easier if they didn't need to involve their real names and health insurance.

When she was finally home and had convinced Claudia that she did not need a babysitter, Hannah dropped into bed and didn't move until midway through the next day. She awoke to a pile of missed calls and text notifications competing for space on her phone screen. An incoming call blocked them out before she could look into any of them. The loud jingle went through her head like a spike and she instinctively tossed the phone to the side.

Hours passed in a dazed half consciousness until banging on her front door fully woke her again. She desperately wanted to ignore it but knew whoever it was had no intentions of leaving, judging by the way they were trying to beat down her door. Hannah bundled her thickest blanket around herself and over her head like a hooded cloak. Her face was barely visible under the dark purple fabric.

The door creaked open and she caught Jake in the middle of a long apology. "...not what I meant. I'd never say that to you and I get you're mad but please don't ignore me." At first he didn't see her or notice the door had started to open since his head was lowered. It only clicked when his fist went through air instead of hitting the door. "There you... what happened?"

Frustration melted away to panic and worry when he spotted her pale face. Jake didn't waste another second and scooped her up. There was no resistance, her chilled body curling into him. "You look like death smacked you with a pillow full of bricks."

"I think I have the flu," Hannah offered up as an explanation. It wasn't far off from the truth. She half expected to get the flu now that her immune system had been shaken so harshly. The last time she'd had anything like the flu had been when she was in high school. Without a doubt, her body would be lacking in antibodies and wide open for anything anyone happened to be passing along.

Jake pressed her back into the bed and cupped her face between his hands. "I've never seen you sick. What can I do?"

"No idea. I feel like a lump," she mumbled between shivers that shook her entire body. His warm hands on her face were like twin rays of sunlight. Unfortunately the thought of all things sunny made her stomach twist.

"Does it help to know you're a cute lump?" Jake asked. He kicked his shoes off and crawled onto the bed behind her. The static in the dry air made his hair stand on end all down his arm.

"No, not really," she answered. Bit by bit her shivering calmed down along with the headache she'd woken up with. The headache had been a new constant since she'd woken up in The Aerie's infirmary. No amount of coffee or aspirin would clear that up. She leaned her head into Jake's hand as when he started to run his fingers through her hair.

Jake pulled her in tighter and kissed her cheek. "Rest up, I'll make you something to eat when you're up to it."