Meds and Monsters

Chapter 3: Fight Back

An entire not one, not two, but three weeks of silence from the villains. The four friends, Claudia, Hannah, Maria, and Julia do the best they can to keep happy spirits while laying low in the shelter house FEAST. And, may I tell you, things are way more tense and chaotic than before.

Claudia is the most active, having received the least amount of injuries from the fight against two-thirds of the Sinister Six. She bolts around the shelter house, helping people who need it most. She gives people food, helps with electronics, and is always around to give people company. If she could, she would hop right out of this building and give those four villains she's met a piece of her mind for hurting her cousin and friend that much. Alas, she knows that if she tried to leave, they would surely find her. And Claudia knows that if they find her, they're not showing any mercy.

Maria feels awful even after three full weeks of being separated from the villains. She remembers watching Julia go straight into surgery once the Spiderlings dropped them off, and how she had to explain to Julia's mom vaguely what happened. She didn't mention anything about the villains, saying Julia was injured along the way to get Hannah. Every time she walked into Julia's room, she was unable to look at her crippled state. On top of that, Maria wasn't able to sleep that well for the first two and a half weeks. However, she has learned that it wasn't her fault and knows Julia is fine in her hospital bed. Maria used to completely blame herself, but she remembers a conversation she had with Julia that made her think otherwise the past few days. Now, she's starting to feel hope stirring inside her again, thinking they might actually recover sometime soon.

Hannah has no idea what to do. She's been extremely busy helping out in the hospital rooms because of her experiences with different types of medicine. The doctors have found out she's quite handy in the medical field as their assistant, but that also means Hannah is working nonstop to help people. She has no time to comfort Maria, apologize to Claudia for getting her in this mess, or even visit her cousin Julia since her recovery has gone on for so long. She sees them every now and then, but she feels awful for seeming so distanced from them. Hannah knows this is her place right now, but honestly she just wants to be with her friends.

Julia is actually recovering very well over the weeks she's been bed-ridden. She rebelled against the doctors' wishes when she tried to pick up a pencil right after her surgery to start writing, so they had to take away all her journals and writing utensils. That did not go so well for her, as she didn't have a way to vent all her nightmares that constantly filled her brain whenever they put her to sleep. She keeps telling everyone she's okay, but once she was taken off the IV fluids, she hasn't been eating that much. On the bright side, she has upgraded from a cast to a splint because her upper arm was able to heal enough. Now it's just her lower arm and fingers that need the most attention. And, a couple days ago, she was able to snag a journal from one of the doctors along with a pencil to start writing again. It feels good to get words on paper. Currently, she spends the hours staring out a window and clumsily writing squiggles in her new notebook.

Hannah is finally able to take a break from her volunteer duty and runs across the room to find Maria watching the news with a few elderly people. The Spiderlings had to save a few pedestrians from a fire across the city and rescue Triple J from the Bugle robbery. Hannah shakes Maria's shoulder gently, grabbing her attention. "Hey, you okay?"

Maria nods her head to the side a few times and pulls the thin blanket tighter around her shoulders. "If everyone else is."

That has been their greeting for the past few weeks. Hannah will ask if she's okay and the answer is always the same, but she has noticed an improvement in Maria's tone over the days. "I'm going to visit Jules, wanna come?"

"Sure," Maria answers. Of course she wants to visit her best friend. She stands up, leaving the blanket on the old couch for someone else to use, and follows Hannah to the medical wing of FEAST.