This World

by Lee, TD

  “It most certainly has Carmen, good to see that you are still in one piece,” Adele greets back.

  “Yes, thanks to your tip, I’m safe. I will never understand how you came to the conclusion that I’d be attacked, but I’m glad that you have,” Carmen says retaining her smile. Her eyes scan over the rest of us and she greets, “Dominique, good to see you are in top shape again. How is your prosthetic treating you?”

  “It’s been fine, still getting used to it,” Dom answers.

  “Good! And little lady Cutlass-”

  “Don’t call me that,” Ainia quickly interrupts.

  Carmen laughs quietly. “Yes, yes. Ainia, you’re still doing well correct?”

  “As well as I can be,” Ainia responds.

  Carmen squats down to talk to Shiko, “Little Shiko. You best not be eating too many sweets otherwise your transformations will alter for the worst, you hear that?” Shiko barks in responds and wags his tail. She then moves onto Drake and has a stern look on her face, “Ah, Meteor it’s been far too long since your last checkup. I hope you know that! You must keep up with your health!”

  “I’m fine doc,” Drake sighs, “wouldn’t want to waste your precious time dealing with a living husk like me.”

  “Oh shut it, you will get a checkup!” Carmen says, grabbing his arm. The device around her neck glows green. The headphones move over her ears as small little projected screens appear before her eyes. A bright light emerges from the neck device as well.

  I hear Ainia quietly chuckle to herself, well that’s the first.

  “Before that Carmen, may I ask what happened to you last night?” Adele asks.

  Carmen looks over at Adele, answering, “Oh right, yes of course.” She motions her hand to the chairs, suggesting, “Please, take a seat.” We all sit as Carmen continues to explain, “Last night I decided to stay here upon Adele’s suggestion. For those who didn’t know, she told me that there’s a high possibility I was going to be a target as part of the superhero murders. One of my fellow surgeons, Desmond was targeted not too long ago.”

  “Why would they target you?” Dom asks.

  “They targeted Carmen to induce fear, to reveal that these murders are not to be taken lightly and no one is truly safe in the public eye,” Adele explains. “It is quite the bold tactic.”

  “Whoever tried to attack you made a really bad mistake,” Drake says, crossing his arms as he eases back onto the back of his chair.

  “Why’s that?” I ask, I feel like I’m the only one that doesn’t understand anything here.

  “Carmen is also known as the Silent Surgeon, not because she’s quiet, but because she will never disclose any information on who she helps patch up. Whether it be heroes, villains, thugs, or normal people, she will patch them up without a single question. All she cares about is helping people,” Drake explains, “this hospital in itself is a specialized hospital for life-threatening threats specifically specialized for super people. Targeting this place in itself is basically a terrorist move.”

  “Oh,” I say, “so by attacking someone who is so neutral, the assailant that attacked has basically created a situation that not just heroes will go after them, but villains and others.”

  “Exactly! I don’t understand why they would do so, but it is their choice and I will never understand it,” Carmen agrees. “So, as I was here last night there were a couple of unusual things that happened. First, several of the heroes that were employed here last night appeared to be mind controlled as they were fighting each other. Second, there was a gas that was leaked inside this room. Thanks to the MED around my neck, the gas couldn’t affect me. I was also able to get a sample of the gas as well. Lastly, the assailant did come for me, but they were stopped. I wasn’t able to see who they were, but they left a weapon behind.” Carmen reaches into a drawer of one of the many tables in this room and pulls out a plastic bag that’s holding an intricate knife. “This knife is the same design as the one that Butterfly uses, yet Butterfly is in containment.”

  “So are you saying that this knife you have is a fake then?” Dom asks.

  “Precisely. Adele first pitched the suggestion to me not too long ago, but with the attack last night, it is pretty much confirmed that we are dealing with someone who can somehow replicate heroic weaponry,” Carmen answers, she hands the knife to Adele who puts it into her briefcase. “I hope that will help with your case.”

  “So Adele is pretty much right with all of her hypotheses,” I say.

  “Yes, indeed. The hard for you all now is to figure out who this assailant is. Adele is a madwoman so she’ll figure it out eventually,” Carmen laughs.

  “Careful now, would not want this madness to go after you,” Adele jokes, sharing a laugh with Carmen. “And what have you found regarding to the autopsies?”

  Carmen takes some papers and hands them over to Adele and begins explaining, “Yes, the autopsy of Hiro Watanabe. Thanks to your tip, we looked deeper into the cause of death. We found strange traces of poisonous toxins and even residue of a cloud-like matter inside the airways and lungs of Hiro. This toxin causes the muscles to go numb and tighten, essentially making them unusable. The asphyxiation is indeed the cause of death, but now that we have found this toxin, we can do our best to search for where this toxin came from and why there are wisps of a cloud.”

  “Cloud? Can you describe to me this cloud?” Drake asks urgently. He’s suddenly so pumped and engrossed in this conversation.

  Carmen answers, a bit surprised from Drake’s intensity, “From what I saw it was an offset white, a bit grayish-purple to be a bit more exact. That is really all the minimal information I know about the cloud.”

  “Huh,” Drake sighs quietly to himself.

  “And what of the investigative reports of the murders?” Adele asks.

  “Any weapon that was used on the victim has been taken by HERO so I do not have any access to them. I’ve looked over the autopsies and reports for the victims and they all have the same cause of death. Unfortunately, fingerprints and any sort of biological evidence was not left behind.” Carmen answers.

  “I see, I appreciate all of your help Carmen,” Adele says.

  “Of course, you did help save my life after all, so it’s only natural that I return some sort of favor. I just hope that this investigation doesn’t take a horrible turn for you all,” Carmen says, worried.

  “I’ve gone through worse,” Ainia remarks.

  “I think most of us here have,” Dom adds.

  Loud, echoing yells come from outside the door. Each of us give each other a confused look. Carmen opens the door and people are running by and screaming. A weird, lumpy looking cloud slowly begins to creep through the doorway.

  “Stay back!” Drake demands, he throws his hand down and throws a flame at the cloud. Drake’s flames keep the clouds back, stopping them from advancing any further. “It’s not safe in here, you all have to get outside,” Drake commands. He touches his wrists together and summons a continuous stream of fire aimed at the cloud.

  “This cloud looks like the same remnants in Hiro’s body!” Carmen exclaims.

  “All the more reason to get out of here! Hurry the hell up!” Drake orders, making the stream of fire coming from his hands even stronger. He slowly approaches the cloud that retreats the more he uses his flame powers.

  The rest of us run out of the room. I look back briefly just to see if Drake is following, but he’s not. He’s creating an entire wall of fire. It looks like he knows what this cloud thing is, which would mean he probably knows how to beat it or how severe it is. How can you fight back against a cloud?

  I get separated from everyone else since the halls have become so crowded with people just running for exits. The screams are everywhere. If this place was just attacked last night, then it’s weird that they would decide to attack it again so soon. Then again, who’s the target? Could it be Carmen?

  As I run, I’m pushed and shoved to the ground. I try to get bac
k up, but there are so many people just stampeding through these halls that it’s almost impossible. I look around trying to find an opportunity to actually get up.

  “Oh my God, you’re here too!?” someone speaks to me.

  I look over and find a familiar face. “Mari? What are you doing here?” I ask.

  “I was visiting a friend,” she says with absolute terror and fright in her voice. It looks like she’s about to cry. “What’s happening!?”

  “There’s this cloud thing and that’s all I really know. We really need to get out of here,” I say to her, still trying to find a good opportunity to actually get up again and move.

  “Ridley!? Ridley! Where are you?” I hear someone call for my name. I can’t make out who it is since there’s just chaos happening around me.

  Working back through the crowd is Adele. She reaches her hand out for me. “Ridley! Grab onto my hand!” she suggests, trying to reach even an inch closer to me.

  I grab for Adele’s hand, but I fail to make contact with her. The sea of people force her away from me. Looking around I can’t even see Mari anymore, she probably got carried away by the crowed too. I try stand, but every time I get knocked around forced aside. I’m slammed into the wall and pinned, I can’t move at all.

  My head is getting lighter, my breaths heavier. Vision going dark. Is that cloud getting closer? Suffocating, I’m suffocating.

  Something lifts up my body. My head completely hangs back, everything is upside down. I can’t move.

  “I told you to get out of here!” Is that Drake’s voice?

  “Shit, shit, shit,” he mumbles.

  The hallway starts blurring. Annoying alarms keep echoing in my head. Something wet is hitting me, is it raining?

  The sunlight hits my eyes and I’m gently placed on the ground. My breaths are returning to normal. I can slowly start moving my fingers and toes. Surrounding me are the familiar faces of the agency.

  “How the hell did you get lost in there!?” Ainia yells at me, nudging me a bit with her umbrella.

  “S-sorry,” I manage to say.

  “Bold move for whoever is attacking this place, considering there’s been police and heroes around here since we’ve been here,” Dom remarks, her eyes carefully looking at the hospital.

  “Where is the lass that was with you Ridley?” Adele asks.

  My head slowly turns to look around and don’t see Mari anywhere. I just hope she’s safe. “I don’t know.”

  Adele gives me a suspicious look for a brief moment, but says, “No matter, if she is safe then that is all that matters. We must hope that Drake is faring well in there.”

  Did he go back in? Why would he do that?

  Carmen kneels down next to me, her MED around her neck is activated and she’s scanning me. “Hmm,” she hums, looking over me carefully. “You’ll be okay Ridley, you’ve inhaled some of that cloud which is why you can’t move, but the effects will subside soon. Meteor brought you out here just in time, as any more of the cloud entering your system would have had you suffocated and die.” She grabs a vial from one of her pockets and holds it over my face. “I know this is going to be weird, but I’ll need you to ingest some of this, don’t try to resist—well, not that you really can right now.” She pushes my chin down to open my mouth and tilts the vial.

  My eyes widen as the green fluid drops from the vial and into my mouth. It’s a strangely minty flavor with a bit of bitterness. It slides down my throat and leaves a warm sensation wherever it goes. Slowly I’m able to regain complete motion in my fingers, then my arms and face. Carmen helps me sit up, with how slow I’m starting to regain my motions, it’s reminding me of that moment when you first wake up from sleeping. My head is pulsating a bit, but it doesn’t feel as light as it did before.

  “Thanks Carmen,” I say.

  “Just doing my duty,” Carmen says, deactivating her MED, “Let’s just hope Meteor will be fine when gets out of there.”

  “Why did he go back in?” I ask.

  Carmen shrugs her shoulders, answering, “I’m not sure, but he’s a strong man, he can pull through.”

  “Doctor Marquez! We need your medical assistance on victims!” a police officer runs up to us in a panic.

  “You take care, don’t exert yourself just yet, especially with someone like Adele around who’ll make you run everywhere,” Carmen laughs before running off into the crowd.

  “What a rude woman,” Adele remarks with a smile on her face. “Are you feeling better?”

  “Much,” I answer, stretching my arms. What a relief.

  I take a look at the hospital to find a bunch of smoke rising and the cloud is seeping out through doors and the window. Gradually the cloud grows larger and larger, hovering over the building. The cloud morphs into a menacing figure, like a large monster happily to take down this hospital.

  Crashing through the ceiling is a flaming figure that blasts the cloud with a large stream of fire. This has to be Drake, he doesn’t take on a fiery human form often, but he does it if necessary. It makes sense to me though, maybe the toxin in the clouds don’t affect him when he’s a fire man. Drake hurls a large flaming ball at the menacing cloud which explodes on contact. Somehow, the cloud bellows a gurgling roar. The cloud starts advancing towards Drake, who retaliates with more flaming balls.

  People in the crowd start cheering for Drake. Although, they don’t call him Meteor or anything. Several of the superheroes nearby go to assist Drake, while others are maintaining ground control. There are a bunch of superheroes here, some are shooting lightning bolts, others using ice. There’s such a wide assortment of superheroes that it’s reminding me of World Ending events.

  The cloud angrily roars and starts closing in on a couple of unaware superheroes that are on the ground. The ground rumbles a bit and the unaware superheroes are sent flying by a protruding piece of the earth. Another flying superhero would’ve been engulfed by the cloud if it weren’t for Drake tackling them out of the way. Drake is really trying hard to keep everyone safe. Weird. I remember him being a lot more out of control and just attacking like he has no regard. Not that the way he’s saving some of these people is the nicest way, but he’s protecting them.

  Drake suddenly flies into the cloud. What’s he doing? Is he going to be okay? Several spots explode within the cloud, rising higher and higher in the sky. A harsh, dangerously hot flame bursts out of the cloud. It’s so bright that I can’t even look at it without getting blinded.

  Once it’s safe to look again without burning my vision, I see Drake flying into the sky with the cloud funneling around him. The cloud quickly starts gathering together and forming into a humanoid shape. Drake dives down to grab the person before they splatter all over the ground. He lets her down gently on the ground near the police then flies towards us. The police are a bit confused, but they put bulky looking handcuffs on the woman.

  The body the clouds became is a familiar looking woman. She’s the same woman that was at that one SAVE meeting with Beth and everyone else. What’s her name again? Winona? I think that’s what it was. What’s she doing here? And she has that power, to turn into a cloud?

  Drake descends near me. The flames that covered his body dissipate and he’s back to human form. Drake’s shirtless, probably from his fire form, but his pants are still intact, only harboring a few holes here and there. Does he have fire resistant pants? Somehow, even his glasses aren’t broken or melted. He takes a deep breath and fixes his glasses. He’s definitely tired though, his walking is a bit slower than usual.

  The cheering crowd dies down and immediately turns from excitement to disappointment as a couple of them remark, “Oh, it’s just Meteor.”

  “What a deadbeat superhero.”

  “Stop trying to be relevant!”

  Surprisingly, Ainia snaps back to the crowd, “Why don’t you try doing better! I didn’t see any of you attempting to fight at all, assholes!”

  Adele and Dom give Ainia a shocked look, they probab
ly wouldn’t expect Ainia to be defending Drake. I wouldn’t either. Ainia’s normally so snappy and aggressive towards us, it’s weird to see her doing it to other people.

  “Oh, look at that everyone!” someone from the crowd yells, “The failed sidekick thinks she’s better than us!”

  “I don’t think I’m better, I know I am. And I’m no one’s sidekick!” Ainia remarks. Uh oh. She’s getting battle ready. Her umbrella hand is getting ready to strike the crowd.

  Drake reaches for Ainia and holds her shoulder. He says, tiredly, “It’s okay Ainia, just let it go.”

  Ainia grits her teeth, but relaxes. That’s weird. But maybe she realized that picking fights with civilians isn’t the best idea. It definitely won’t improve what the population would think of her already.

  “Ha! What a little bitch!” another person in the crowd yells.

  “She couldn’t even handle being Blind Justice’s sidekick!”

  “I bet I can kick your ass!” someone suggests with a loud snicker following.

  Ainia snaps, quickly diving through the crowd with ease, they all scatter as the man lets out a scared yelp. Ainia hooks the man’s leg with her umbrella, tripping him and she points her umbrella at the man who looks scared and defeated.

  “You want to say that again?” Ainia asks as she steps on the man roughly.

  “Y-you freak! J-just you wait until I r-report this to H-HERO!”

  Ainia gives a quick, but harsh looking push on the man’s chest as she moves off of him. She remarks as she walks back towards us, “Go ahead. It’s not like they haven’t screwed me over enough as it is.”

  Ainia continues walking as other people in the crowd throw slurs and curses at her for basically existing. These remarks also are thrown at Drake who’s nonchalantly just trying to catch his breath from the fight. What’s with this crowd of people? Is it like this normally for these two?