Some Brave Heroes

Ain't That A Bitch...

I woke up to find myself in a makeshift hospital. I groaned as I pushed myself up.

"Whoa," Heather said moving to my side, "Take it easy."

"What I'd miss?"

She sighed and sat on the bed, "You've only been out for two days. Tucker is complaining of headaches so Grey isn't letting him leave, which means Wash hasn't left his side. Simmons needs...repairs..."

"So, Grif hasn't left either?"

"Yeah. North has been here the whole time too. He and York went to go get some sleep, though. I told them they had too. There's a lot of rebuilding to do."

"Oh good you're awake," Grey said coming over.

"Hi, Dr. Grey," I greeted.

"Oh hun, you can call me Emily. And that A.I of yours is extraordinary."

"Yeah. He's good."

"He can control your bodily functions, correct?"

I nodded, "Yeah. So, if he goes out, it can kill me. Locus figured that out. Found a way to shut him down. If Wash hadn't been able to reboot him, I'd be dead."

"Amazing."

"Most days. Now, what's this about Tucker having headaches?"

"Epsilon destroyed himself inside Tucker's head," Heather said.

"Oh God," I breathed.

"Carolina said that you worked with the A.I," Grey said, "You would know the signs of damage."

I nodded and swung my feet over the edge of the bed, "Yeah. I'll talk to him."

"Here," Heather said handing me my datapad, "Epsilon left a message but we can't get into it. I was hoping maybe you could."

"I'll look into it. I should probably look at Simmons cybernetics and see how bad they are. Then redesign new parts."

"Sarge said he was working on what he called Simmons' robot bits."

I nodded and moved to dress. I laced up my boots, grabbed my datapad and let Grey lead me to where the guys were. I quickly braided my hair back while we walked.

"Where you were at is the closest thing we have to a hospital," Grey exclaimed. "So, the less severe cases we told to stay in their rooms."

"We're back at the New Republic base," I said looking around.

She nodded, "Yeah. It's going to take a lot to rebuild, but they're trying."

"I'll help anyway I can," I told her.

She stopped outside a door. She placed a hand on my arm, "I know you will, but first you should take care of yourself and your team."

"I intend to." I nodded toward the door, "This them?"

"No, it's your room. I figured you would want to clean up a bit before seeing them. Theirs is over there." She motioned to the door diagonal from mine.

I smiled, "Okay. I'm gonna shower and change then I'll be right there."

She nodded and walked down to the room. I opened the door to my room and found Nathan asleep on the bed. As quietly as I could, I moved to the bathroom and shut the door. I stripped and showered. Wrapping the towel around myself, I walked out of the bathroom. Nathan was sitting up on the bed.

"Hey," I said, "I didn't wake you, did I?"

He didn't say anything, but did turn to look at me. His eyes were glazed over. Ah, so he wasn't really awake. I walked over and pushed him back down. "Go back to sleep, honey."