The medical bay was an especially intriguing place for Naomi, as she had never seen it in the movie. It was reminiscent of the rest of the tower, yet much more orderly and calm. The doctors on staff seemed to be unbothered by any of the chaotic elements thats plagued the rest of the planet, as though the Grandmaster had forgotten the bay had even existed. The bay consisted of a large circular room, with several cots lining the walls, some occupied. The majority of the injured seemed to be champions from the contest, crowd warm-ups that returned for every contest, like Korg and Miek. Naomi assumed that anyone who faced the Hulk, the grand champion, never made it to the med bay.
A few doctors walked around the room, checking in on the patients and working primarily with large rectangular scanners and reminded Naomi of the purple alien's clipboard. Though none of the doctors carried gaudy quills, or presented any kind of pompous air.
Upon entering, Naomi had been escorted to an empty cot by a doctor who introduced herself as 'Adelina.' She had a naturally calm demeanor, that may have contrasted with her scales. Adelina was some sort of snake alien, with small tracks of burn scales decorating her pale skin, slitted golden eyes, and a thin black mouth that naturally curved up into a smile, almost reminding Naomi of the Joker. However unlike the Joker, Adelina was perfectly rational, and had no problem fixing Naomi's busted wrist, which she diagnosed as a dislocation.
"There will be soreness for a few hours, but you will be able to fight in the contest." Adelina nodded to Naomi as she held the brunette's wrist in her hand. Naomi smiled and thanked her, worrying all the while about whether she would actually end up fighting. If she kept claiming to be a champion to every person she met, eventually it would catch up to her.
"If you'll just give me your name, I can send a report to Dengar that you will be able to compete." Adelina let go of Naomi's healed wrist, moving to a side table where she began to the into a hologram. Naomi tensed, realizing that this would be a deciding moment in whether she would enter the ring or not. She chewed her lip as she hesitated, and Adelina took note of her silence. "Do you have any other injuries? I'll need to write an incident report for your file." The snake woman asked, her voice comforting but she managed to ask all the questions that Naomi couldn't answer.
"Uh, nah i'm all good. But are you- ah, sure that I can fight?" Naomi questioned hesitantly. She was sat up on the hospital bed, her legs dangling over the side. Vaguely, Naomi wondered what would happen if she suddenly ran for the door, and avoided the questions all together. But that would never get her anywhere, and she had no idea when Thor and Loki would turn up.
Adelina frowned, scrunching up her immaculate eyebrows as she assessed her patient. "Have you not fought in the contest before?" She guessed, turning away from her work on the hologram to face Naomi. Naomi let out a breathy laugh at how quickly the woman had guessed what she was worried about. Perhaps she doubled as a psychologist.
"Technically no..." Naomi said, drawing out the syllabus as she considered whether to lie. "But you don't have to write to, uh, Dengar or anything, I'm sure he knows I'm fighting." She chewed her lip when she finished, playing with her fingers subconsciously. Adelina's frown cleared, and she arched her eyebrow in an expression that clearly stated, 'that's bullshit.'
"You are not a champion." Adelina stated, sure of herself. Naomi sighed in response, slumping in her seat as she glanced around the quiet atmosphere of the med bay.
"Not really, no."
"Then how did you get an authorized gun?" She asked, gesturing to Tony's prototype laid out on the bed bedside Naomi. She had been afraid that the staff wouldn't have allowed a weapon in the functioning hospital, however it seemed fairly standard for champions to be given lenient treatment around the tower. Thus, her damaged gun hadn't raised any questions- until now.
"Brought it from home." Naomi smiled weakly, hoping that the doctor wouldn't turn her in- if Sakaar even had a jail system. Adelina nodded in response, her face only slightly guarded.
"When did you arrive?"
"A couple hours ago. I kinda fell onto a moving ship- how i dislocated my wrist." Naomi answered, desperately hoping that she wasn't making a terrible mistake by trusting Adelina. From her limited knowledge of Sakaar, new arrivals either became a 'fighter,' or 'food.' Obviously this wasn't true for everyone because they had a large population, but Naomi was in too deep now and couldn't risk trying to get out of the tower and integrate into civilian life. She also needed to eventually reunite with Thor and Loki, and with her comms busted, leaving the tower would only complicate matters further.
"Out of a wormhole and onto a moving metal surface? You're quite lucky, uh?" Adelina said.
"Naomi. But it'll be Hepburn in the system. Thats the name I registered the gun under." Naomi answered, regaining her confidence. If Adelina hadn't reported her yet, chances were that she would keep Naomi's appearance on Sakaar a secret.
"I see. How did you arrive here?" Adelina relaxed her tensed expression, softening into a delicate trust of what Naomi was saying. "Most people have unfortunate stories of how they arrived on Sakaar, but you don't seem lost, like they do." She observed, clasping her scaled hands in front of her. Naomi examined the snake woman further as she answered, appreciating her immaculate ginger hair tied up into a neat bun, and her long nails that could have been passed off as acrylic, but she doubted they were fake.
"I was supposed to come with my friends, but we got separated on our way here. I'm waiting for them, and I think I need to stay at the Grandmaster's tower in order to see them again." She explained, and Adelina gained a light, reminiscent smile on her face. "How did you get here?" Naomi asked, leaning forward. Adelina lifted her brows and smiled, surprised at Naomi's perceptiveness.
"I too, came here with friends. We've gone different ways since coming here, but I still see them time and time again to catch up. Sakaar has treated us well." Adelina moved to the end of Naomi's cot, resting her hands on the edge as she spoke. The brunette shifted position on the bed to face the doctor, intrigued by her story.
"Why did you come?" Naomi asked.
"We, ah, well it sounds silly I suppose, but we disagreed with the way our society functioned. You could say we were radicals, or at least, thats how we were viewed." Adelina gave off an aura of reflection as she spoke of her 'society,' leaving Naomi wondering what kind of planet the woman came from.
"Your society?" She probed.
Adelina considered her answer, looking up at the ceiling as she spoke. "My planet had a very... extreme system of justice. We felt that the punishment system was too severe for the types of crime it dealt with. We, the radicals," Adelina scoffed, "felt that punishment should be more equal. It should suit whatever crime had been committed, and nothing more."
"Punishment fits the crime?" Naomi interrupted, smiling slightly at the common Earth phrase. Adelina chuckled at the casual language, and nodded, her natural smile widening.
"Our beliefs were not appreciated, so we ran. The people were not ready to accept change, and therefore, not ready to accept us. We found Sakaar a few months into deserting our planet." Adelina finished, drumming her nails on the bed.
"So you tried to start a revolution, but didn't print enough pamphlets?" Naomi tried, unable to resist herself. Adelina looked at her in shock at the question, before narrowing her slitted eyes.
"Have you spoken to Korg?" She asked, dead serious. Naomi laughed, glad that for once, someone else was able to understand her references. Albeit, for a different reason.
YOU ARE READING
A Twist Of Marvel || Infinity War
Fanfiction"KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, BUT IGNORANCE IS BLISS." Naomi Swanson is fresh out of college, working as an assistant in a small paper supply company and inhaling coffee by the gallons. When an accident knocked her out, Naomi woke up in a world she had only...
