And with that, I walked out.
9: Thankful Victims
Lexi Stockton
January 16, 2735 – 8 Hours Later – Noon
Lexi gasped, her eyes popping open, her heart racing.
A rapid beeping, running in time with her pulse, filled her ears as a white ceiling came into focus. A flood of jumbled memories filled her mind, tensing all her muscles. For a moment, she couldn’t make sense of them.
Blue sparks began to crackle in the air all around her, setting off an even more shrill alarm as a machine somewhere in the room began to malfunction.
Panic clawed at her chest, strangling her lungs, threatening to suffocate her.
She bolted straight up in her bed, only to discover she couldn’t catch her breath, feeling like she was suddenly falling down a deep tunnel.
For a moment, she urgently looked around for the threat, her vision rapidly darkening, knowing there was an enemy in the room with her somewhere.
He was here. He had just been here a moment ago.
Her enemy.
But then she realized she wasn’t where she thought.
She was in a hospital room.
But then, that meant…
Lexi gasped, looking down at her legs covered up with a blanket.
Without another thought, she uncovered them, finding smooth unblemished skin. Her hands then shot up to her face, followed immediately by reaching under her gown to feel her toned stomach.
Had it been a dream?
No.
She was in the hospital. It couldn’t have been a dream. But then…that meant…
Lexi jumped when the door to her room burst open, several arcs of electricity crackling around her as three people rushed into the room – two women and a man, none of whom she recognized.
“Lexi Stockton,” one of the women – the one wearing a white coat – said urgently in response to the sparks. “I’m Dr. Mohamed. You’re safe. We’re at West Ridge Hospital right now. They brought you in yesterday evening. There was–”
“Where’s my sister?!” Lexi demanded in a shaking voice.
Dr. Mohamed paused for a moment, pursing her lips before answering. “She’s here in the hospital, on a different floor, but–”
Lexi threw her legs over the side of the bed and tried to stand, prompting all three staff to bolt towards her in fear of her falling. Much to her surprise, she did feel lightheaded, still feeling like she couldn’t catch her breath, her heart still racing, causing her to sit back down even before they reached her. The room was beginning to spin.
The other woman, who she assumed was a nurse, placed her hand on Lexi’s left shoulder as if to ensure she didn’t try standing again.
Lexi placed her own hand on her forehead as she attempted to collect her thoughts.
“How bad was I?” she asked after a moment.
Dr. Mohamed hesitated. “Well…”
“Just tell it to me straight,” she demanded. “And don’t water it down. How bad was I?”
The doctor sighed heavily, taking a step back. “There was no chance of recovery. We had you on Life Support to preserve your organs, and were planning to talk to your next-of-kin about organ donation, though we weren’t sure we would be able to salvage much considering the damage.”
Lexi gasped, looking up at the woman in shock, as tears filled her eyes.
“Is my sister okay?” she croaked out.
“I’m not in charge of her care, so I don’t know, but we can find out for y–”
“No,” Lexi sobbed, trying to stand again. “Take me to her.”
When the nurse tried to prevent her from standing, Lexi zapped her, prompting the woman to squeak in surprise.
“Take me to her,” Lexi repeated, getting to her feet and wiping her eyes.
“We still need to run some tests,” Dr. Mohamed tried saying. “You’ve lost a lot of weight, and–”
“I’m fine,” Lexi snapped. “Better than fine, which means my sister’s not fine. Take me to her,” she repeated. “I need to see her with my own eyes.”
The doctor and the man exchanged a glance briefly before she sighed. “Alright, we’ll have one of the aides take you over there. Oh, and your parents were by just about an hour ago, but they left to go check on your sister when they found out she was here too.”
Lexi unexpectedly felt horrible, knowing what that meant – if her parents were here, then it indicated they had just gotten off a thirteen-hour plane ride from their month-long trip abroad. It had been Lexi’s Christmas present to them, since they had always wanted to travel.
Considering the doctor commented that she had been admitted yesterday evening, she couldn’t even imagine how expensive it would be to get two tickets like that last-minute, though she would definitely be reimbursing them either way.
Still, not only had she put her sister through hell, but she’d ruined their trip too!
She knew that would be the furthest thing from their minds, but she couldn’t help feeling guilty. Granted, that guilt was only minor compared to what she felt for her younger sister.
Lexi waited as patiently as she could while the nurse went to retrieve a pair of scrub pants for her, since she had nothing on except a hospital gown and socks – no underwear at all.
Once she was dressed, she then followed one of the aides onto the elevator to get to the floor where Heidi was. Unfortunately, even in a hospital gown, people still recognized her, gawking as she passed by in the hallways. A few people said, “Hey, aren’t you…” but she just ignored them all, her eyes staring straight ahead. The aide was a little chatty too, but she only grunted occasionally, not listening in even the slightest.
All she cared about right now was getting to her sister.
Lexi realized that she must have lost all her hair, because her vibrant gold locks barely reached her chin right now, with her currently short bangs refusing to stay tucked behind her ears. It was an annoying reminder that the last thing she remembered hadn’t been a horrible nightmare.
It had all been real.
The villain who arrogantly called himself the Sheriff, a terrorist bastard who had a warped sense of right and wrong, was still alive…and vengeful, sending brainwashed suicide bombers after her.
She had to let the Central Department of Superheroes know immediately, but first she had to make sure her sister was okay.
When it was clear which room the aide was heading towards, Lexi rushed ahead and bolted through the doorway, seeing that her sister was sitting up in bed, appearing…
Fine.
She looked perfectly fine. Completely normal.
Really tired, like she hadn’t slept in days, but otherwise normal, as if she hadn’t just spent who knows how long healing her older sister.
Lexi froze when Heidi’s eyes locked with hers, ignoring the other two people in the room, her vision blurring with tears. Without another thought, she closed the gap and half fell into the hospital bed as she threw her arms around her sister’s shoulders.
Heidi hugged her back tightly, both of them unable to stop crying.
❖ ❖ ❖
Sam Archer
January 16, 2735 – Current Day – Noon
It was pretty obvious Lily was drugged on the way home earlier, with her experiencing all the typical symptoms of someone coming off anesthesia. For one, her emotions were all over the place, being goofy-happy one moment, and crying the next, all of which she ended up not remembering later that day.
According to Freya, they had her completely under, at least until the female anesthesiologist watching over her got a call to wake her up immediately. Overall, Freya hadn’t harmed the woman when she got to the room Lily was in, except for a pretty nasty bite since her third-eye had deactivated and Freya wanted to read her thoughts to verify no harm had come to Lily while at the lab.
Better than having her head torn off though, like Freya almost did to one of the other security guards.
And had the woman’s memories rev
ealed an alternative scenario, then a very different person would have come back up the stairs – a monster who couldn’t be reasoned with.
Not to mention, Freya wanted to make sure it was the real Lily too.
Needless to say, once everyone was up for the day, Lily ended up becoming super depressed after we told her what had happened, sitting on the couch with her forehead resting between her hands, her eyes tight. Her eclipsed citrine irises were churning slowly too, as if to emphasize her mood. She wouldn’t tell us what was on her mind though, so eventually Freya took Rose outside to play in the snow in order to allow us some alone time.
I had previously called the hospital to check up on Lexi and Heidi, only to find out that their parents had just shown up. So, while we still planned on visiting them, we decided to let them have their own family time after such a traumatic incident.
No doubt their mom and dad were besides themselves with grief over the situation, knowing they had almost just lost one of their daughters again, since they had believed for three years Heidi had passed.
Except, this time, Lexi wouldn’t have come back like her younger sister.
Sitting on the couch, I wrapped my arm around Lily’s shoulders, prompting her to shift her weight to lean into me, resting her head against the front of my shoulder. Her body temperature was so warm that it was almost uncomfortable.
She was wearing a cherry red latex tank-top coupled with a pair of small black latex shorts, which was what she had slept in – Freya helped her get dressed, and in a momentarily goofy state, Lily decided that she wanted to dress in her own favorite colors to match her friend’s appearance. It was also the same colors Lily had worn on our very first date.
Needless to say, it had certainly been an interesting conversation to overhear, with Lily reminding Freya that she was the reason she liked red and black so much, only to have Freya remind her that Lily was the reason she had fallen in love with the color orange.
Lily had then immediately had a mood swing and started crying, saying that Freya was so sweet, only to burst out laughing barely a full minute later.
It was nice to hear her cackle, even if it was because she was drugged.
But it was quite the opposite of now.
She seemed as depressed as ever.
“What’s wrong, sweetie?” I finally asked when I saw tears appear in her eyes. I mean, I knew she had good reason to be upset – we all were – but Lily didn’t always process situations like a normal person. She was too selfless, willing to do almost anything I wanted if I really pressed for it, though I usually didn’t push an issue if I knew it involved something she didn’t want to do.
Certainly, that wasn’t to say she didn’t have an opinion, or that she didn’t voice it, but when push came to shove, she would always put my wants ahead of hers.
And of course, that meant her selflessness also showed up in other ways.
After all, when I had told her about my daughter being killed, she had considered breaking up with me to protect me from that happening again, having visualized herself dead in my arms, and feeling distraught over how it would make me feel, rather than being worried about her own wellbeing.
Thus, I wasn’t too surprised when her answer wasn’t something I was expecting.
“I just feel so useless,” she sobbed. “Like, I’m a burden to everyone.”
“No, of course you’re not, Lily,” I replied gently. “Why would you even think that?”
She turned her head more towards me to hide her eyes against my shirt. “Sam, I was prepared to fight – to protect myself. But I don’t even remember them sedating me. Even Rose probably would have been able to defend herself, and here I am getting kidnapped in broad daylight!”
I sighed. “You’re not being fair to yourself,” I countered softly. “These people knew who they were dealing with – they were well prepared. Plus, you’re comparing yourself to…well, immortals with top-tier powers in multiple categories.”
Lily grimaced, prompting me to shift gears. “Look, Lexi almost died from something that you might have survived just fine. I mean, I don’t know how your body would handle the blast from a bomb, but you certainly wouldn’t have gotten burned. Lexi is pretty heat resistant, but she can’t stick her hand in a fire like you can.”
“I don’t know,” Lily retorted in a mocking tone. “Lightning is a lot hotter than fire.”
“Lily, you know Lexi probably wouldn’t survive a lightning strike either. She controls the electricity she generates completely – it doesn’t release heat when it’s inside her body, just like the electrical activity in our brains and hearts don’t release heat. But that’s not the point anyway, sweetie. She’s a top superhero, and yet even she could have been kidnapped just as easily. Very few people are one-man armies like Freya is.”
“And you,” Lily whispered.
I took another deep breath. “For a long time, it wasn’t like that. I was even more helpless than you feel right now. Which, in my opinion, is unwarranted. You’re not helpless at all. You could defend yourself easily against the average super, so don’t compare yourself to the ones at the top – or in the S-FBI’s case, don’t compare yourself to an organization that knows how to prepare effectively.” I cringed then. “Freya and Rose aren’t completely indestructible either. Don’t forget what happened to Rose last summer – yet no one blamed her for being a burden.”
Lily cringed too, her face scrunching up with an unexpected wave of emotion as she shifted her weight to wrap her arms tightly around my torso. I tightened my embrace more as well, thinking I had made my point.
Boy was I wrong.
She was silent for a moment, before speaking up in a strained voice. “Sam, Rose could have just run away if she hadn’t needed to protect me.”
I scoffed in disbelief. “Lily, that’s not the point.” I then groaned. “What do I have to say to get you to realize you’re not a burden?” I finally wondered.
She didn’t have an answer though, continuing to rest her head against my chest.
After a moment, I decided to dig deep for her sake…and cheat…by breaking my heart all over again. My eyes began filling with tears, something I rarely let happen, to the point that I was barely able to speak now.
The sudden change in my tone certainly got her attention.
“Lily…because you’re fireproof…” I sucked in a deep breath. “You’ve taken away my biggest fear. So, for me at least, you’re the opposite of a burden. You’re the thing that’s saved me.”
And she knew that now.
It had taken her a while to truly realize that she had saved me from over a century of loneliness and pain, but she fully understood now.
Her teary gaze met mine for a few long seconds, before she shifted her weight entirely, getting up a little to sit sideways in my lap as she threw her arms around my neck.
We both then just held each other in silence for a long time, remaining in the moment, finding comfort in each other’s embrace.
However, I didn’t want to focus on the bad, so within the first few minutes of silence, I shifted my mindset to more happy thoughts. After all, I did have a lot to be thankful for.
Then, after a while of focusing on her warmth, I began exploring the red latex tank she was wearing, just feeling its slickness across her side, back, and shoulder. I then started feeling her smooth thighs, only for my hand to slide in between her legs a little.
She groaned softly, though not out of pleasure. “Sam, I’m not really in the mood right now. Not after finding out I was kidnapped so easily.”
I sighed. “But you could be,” I suggested. “Why don’t you just let me take you upstairs and work on you a little? I promise it’ll include a lot of kisses to help you take your mind off it.”
She mimicked my sigh. “Lots of kisses,” she emphasized.
I grinned, scooping her up in my arms and shoving myself off the couch with a couple of astral limbs, prompting her to squeal adorably in surprise.
&n
bsp; “Shh,” I whispered playfully. “If you’re too loud, Freya will hear you all the way from outside and think somethings wrong.”
“Uh oh,” Lily teased. “I guess that means quiet sex.”
I rolled my eyes as I started up the stairs. “As if we haven’t had quiet sex almost every single time for over half a year now.”
“Well, we did have the entire house to ourselves for the last month I was on probation. I certainly wasn’t quiet then.”
I couldn’t help but grin.
She definitely wasn’t wrong about that.
Prior to the arraignment court date, when we would find out if Lily’s case would go to trial, the emergency court order preventing people from living with her had turned into a permanent thing for the duration of her probation.
However, our lawyer had managed to get the judge to make an exception for me, given my superpower. It wasn’t an ideal situation, having our family split like that, but Lily and I had certainly used all the alone time to our full advantage.
Lily ran her hand along my chest as she continued. “And actually, speaking of that, we should see if Rose wants to have a sleepover with Heidi and Lexi for a night, so the three of us can have loud sex.”
“Maybe,” I hedged, not wanting to ruin the mood by sincerely debating that issue. After all, I was still feeling extra paranoid after everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. “But for now, let’s just focus on you trying to stay quiet as I ravish you with kisses.”
To emphasize my point, I plopped her on the bed and went for her belly, knowing she was especially ticklish just below her navel and along her hips. When she flipped herself over, trying to get away as she giggled hysterically, I resigned myself to kissing her thighs and running my lips along her latex-clad butt.
Her muscles flinched occasionally, but her uncontrollable squealing stopped, since those areas weren’t as sensitive.
I then kissed the dimples on her lower back briefly, before laying on top of her, pressing my chest against her shoulder blades as I gently kissed her neck, followed by her cheek when she turned her head towards me.
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