OUT OF MIND² ━━ Bellamy Blake

𝐕𝐈: Crime, Crime, Crime!

     Jackson looks like he has something to say, then gives a defeated shrug of his shoulders. It's not as if Lyra's wrong. Trying to focus on anything other than the stinging pain as Jackson rubs the icy ointment into her raw skin, Lyra starts to look around the med-bay. There's only one other patient aside from her, Raven. The mechanic is on a flat-top treatment table about a dozen feet away with Abby crouched so that she is level with Raven's bad leg, examining it thoroughly.

     "How about now? Anything?"

     "Nope. All good," says Raven. "Pain's gone."

     Lyra's eyes widen. Raven sounds happy.

    Abby's brow furrows. "Your leg — "

     "Still doesn't work. I know," says Raven easily as Abby rises to her feet. She seems entirely unconcerned, almost carefree. "I just don't hurt anymore."

     She goes for her brace, but Abby stops her with a hand to her chin. "Hey, hold on." Abby raises a small light, shining it in Raven's unblinking eyes as the mechanic complied without complaint. "Pupils aren't dilated."

     "Jaha gave me the key to the City of Light, Abby, not drugs."

     "Wait!" Lyra blurts, jumping from the treatment table to the ground without meaning too and Jackson makes a small noise of annoyance. She ignores him, crossing the med-bay in a few quick strides. "You took the chip?"

    Raven gives her a vivid smile. "Sure did. Why wouldn't I?"

"Well. . . it's a little weird, isn't it?" Lyra asks with a little frown, unsure of herself now as Raven just keeps smiling. "Jaha leaves for three months, the twelve people he went with are missing, and John Murphy is gone, too. And then he just promises to fix all of us by inhibiting certain neural pathways from firing. That's, like, definitely weird. . . right?"

     "What's so weird about wanting to save people?" Raven asks, looking almost amused. "You of all people should understand that. Aren't you happy for me?"

     "I am," says Lyra quickly, flushing. "I just. . . I dunno."

     "It's just unusual for pain to subside this quickly," Abby fills in for her as she strides back over, paperwork in hand. "I'm more concerned with what the blood tests will say."

     "So," Raven is still grinning as she slides off the table. "Am I all clear?"

     "Apparently," says Abby reluctantly. "Let Sinclair know that I said it was OK for you to go back to work, but you're benched again if I find anything abnormal in those tests."

     Lyra finds herself hoping that Abby doesn't find anything abnormal at all.

     "You won't," promises Raven with a sweet smile. "Thanks, doc."

Then, much to Lyra's shock, Raven leaves the med-bay. Well. That's not exactly the shocking part. The shocking part is this ━━ Raven's limp is gone. Before she can stop herself, Lyra is scrambling after her, ignoring Jackson's shouts about how her wounds need to be redressed and that engineers are the most difficult people he's ever had to work with.

"Raven, wait!"

Raven turns at once, giving Lyra a broad grin. "What's up, Spacewalker?"