((1st draft - there will be spelling, grammar, and flow errors. Feedback and criticism most welcomed.))
===== Discovery =====
Doctor Raven hurried down the streets toward the tram to Chiron Medical Center in Atlas Park on her way back from a rare 24 hours at home, rain darkening the street to match the water-heavy black clouds above. The sudden downpour had caught her unprepared and she clutched her coat tighter while the late November rain did its best to melt the mound of snow nearby. Wait a moment
snow? There hadnt been a snowstorm in Paragon City yet this season.
Raven swung around, shoes skidding in a shallow puddle as she raced back around to the alley entrance. There half-buried by abandoned trash was a small form curled up into a fetus position that couldnt belong to anything but a child. The skys attempt to give her a second shower for the day forgotten, Raven dove alongside, brushing aside the loose newspaper to reveal the tiny backside. With the realization that the newspaper had been the only thing between skin and rain, Raven froze with shock for a moment before shucking her own trench coat and covering the quivering form. Brows furrowed and irritably pushing back her namesake hair, she felt for the pulse: weak but strengthening. But the tan skin was rapidly draining of color, the shaking wouldnt stop, the helpless thing was filthy, and already soaked through.
Curse the MedCom system! Why didnt doctors get medical patches to let them get to their own emergency rooms in a hurry? Because the doctors would just use them to get to work quickly and not because they had actual emergencies, can the quick irreverent thought. This child needed an ER, and needed it now! There wasnt time to wait for an ambulance. Swallowing a mega-meal sized lump of pride, Dr Raven yelled out as loud as she could, I NEED A HERO! Wincing at the cliché words, she let out the breath shed been holding when a red streak of light changed directions and alighted next to them seconds later.
Not giving the hero a chance to even introduce herself, Raven jumped up with the quivering form swimming in the long coat. We need to get this one to the ER, now! Her eyes cannot contain her gratitude enough when the hero grabs her on the shoulder and activates her MedCom connection, instantly bringing them both to an empty teleport pod. Luck was with her! They were just down the hall from Ravens own hospital office and the ER rooms. Leaving the hero to follow as she would, Raven dashes down to an empty room shouting orders to the started staff as she passes.
Trying to be as gentle as possible while all but dumping her package on the table, she pulls back her coat, the florescent lights revealing more shocks that the dark alley had hidden. While trying to take in the obviously mature female figure and pointed ears that were still half-hidden under the brown hair trying to pose as a rats nest, she finally realize that voices were talking to her. Mumbling an apology, she took the towel and began vigorously drying off while the staff responded to her earlier orders, easing the girl from Ravens coat and draping a sheet over the quivering form before beginning the short battery of blood and x-ray tests to try and determine what level of emergency they had on their hands.
Glancing around to see who else was free to rope in, Raven quickly spotted the hero standing out of the way near the door. Thank you so much for your help, hero! Raven offers her hand; glad to see someone had gotten a towel to the hero as well. Rose Cross, came the reply along with a handshake. Could there be any more luck left for her both this year and next? Like the rest of the senior staff, and most all of Paragons medical centers, she was very familiar with the name. Please, Rose Cross, could you take a look at her? Obviously shes alien, and Im afraid that even basic medical attention will be harmful.
Offering a small nod, Rose sits down in the chair offered at top of the bed, quickly lowered so her elbows could comfortably rest on the table. Drawing a slow deep breath, Rose brings her hands closer to gently cradle both temples on either side of the tightly-closed eyes. As her own eyes fell closed and a soft rose aura moved over them both, Rose reached out mentally. And found herself in. A delay from surprise at the lack of the normal defenses, she looked around. Flashes, like slow lightening, momentarily painted the black abyss with blurry images of lab coats and sanitized walls. Even those were becoming infrequent. Lingering a few moments to watch, Rose withdrew and sighed as she stood.
In the short minutes she had sat there, Raven has fetched an energy bar to replace any reserves she may have used. How bad is she? Raven asked as she went to hover over the form, worry trying to furrow her brow even more as she watched the color continue to bleach a white to rival medical codes. Shes doing fine. Shaking her head at both Raven look of disbelief and the color change taking place, Rose continues, Im not sure what the skin and hair change is all about but her mind was just slipping from a nightmare in REM sleep into a deeper healing state. Take a look, she has stopped shivering and is as relaxed as you could ask for someone without them being in a coma. Her body seemed to only be cold, there wasnt anything youd expect from hypothermia or infection.
Raven sank into the chair Rose has just been using, sighing, Oh, thank heavens, as her nervous energy abandoned her. Pausing, Rose continued just a shade cautious. Her mind is just this side of a paradox. There was great structure that already knew what needed to be done to recover. But it was also strangely simple and... empty. As if it had only had little to store. Dont be surprised if she has several of her memories missing.
A last final piece of instruction, Rose took in extra air. It goes against our modesty taboos, and probably against every medical standard, but after you clean her up leave her uncovered. Something in the sheets, maybe the cleaning chemicals or the artificial fibers, are an irritant and shell recover much better without than with. Blinking a few times at the unexpected turn of conversation, Doctor Raven finally nods. Rose, please accept yet another Thank you from this grateful citizen. I couldnt have asked for a better hero to respond.
A quick report of her hero info to the staff member, wasnt that Harry?, composing notes for a new file and then Rose waved as she took off for the front doors. As the front door closed behind her, the front desk receptionist could hear Rose reassuring her frantic Super Group that she was on her way to help with the bombs ticking down. ((Got to love timed missions!))
Finding energy from another nutrition bar hastily consumed, Raven follows two other orderlies and Harry to a private recovery room where they washed the street grim off as gently as possible. After untangling the hair until long strands of white remained, Raven worked her way down. She struggled several minutes to open a four-fingered hand locked around a scrap of silky fabric almost as gray as they storm clouds outside. Conceding defeat, she washed as much as possible before finishing the rest. Coming to a decision, Raven directed the girl be settled in her own office, as if sheets were not recommended, then neither were sensor patches.
Filing out, Harry offered a parting shot as Raven already buried herself in a search for any useful information related to the strange white form across the room. Welcome home, Doctor Resident, he laughingly danced out of the room, introducing a closed door to the pencil thrown after him. Imp, Raven though as she took a stack of printouts to the corner recliner. The staffs nickname for her was easy enough to understand, as Raven rarely left the hospital grounds, usually catching only a few hours of sleep at a time. Sleep that shortly came unannounced to rename the recliner as bed.
