"Is something wrong, Ethan?" Jack taps my shoulder.
"I..." I wasn't sure what to say. I wasn't sure how I felt. I longed to see that Tyler was doing well for myself but for some reason I couldn't make myself step into the room. I swallow thickly and take a couple steps back as I try to figure out how to force myself into the room.
"You don't have to go in if you don't want to." Jack says and I shake my head, "No, I want to go in. I, just, maybe I'm scared?"
He reaches his hand forward, "I'll walk in with you."
I look at his hand and then the door.
"Okay," I take his hand and tense as he turns and walks into the room. My grip tightens the closer I got to the door, closing my eyes.
"Hey Eth,"
Tyler's voice makes me relax and I open my eyes to see that he was sitting up in bed. His forearm was wrapped in bandages.
"Tyler, I-" I start and he gives me a smile, "Don't apologize, I was just doing my job. You didn't leave me alone to be killed or anything like that. Stella's venom is not the type to kill."
"It's not?" I ask.
"Not at all." He answers and then pats a spot next to him on the bed. "If it makes you feel better, you can sit here."
I take the seat and take in the way he looks. He just looks a bit tired, almost as if he had been worn down over years.
I glance at his arm.
He bled for me.
He took on the injection of venom so I wouldn't have to.
"Ethan, I'm alright." Tyler's voice makes me realize that I was staring.
"Sorry," I rub my eyes a bit, "I've never had anyone protect me like that so I guess I don't really know how to react."
Tyler was quiet for a minute, letting out a soft breath, "Let your emotions go. Feel them as they come. Process it all. You don't have to act strong or put together for my sake."
His words strike a cord and the tears begin to flow. I try to wipe them away as quickly as I can. Tyler grabs one of my hands, "You can cry, it's not weak."
It's hard to see him through my tears but I just lean down to sob into the bed, not wanting to be seen as a complete mess. I can feel his warm hand begin to slowly comb through my hair in a calming motion, making me a little sleepy.
"And what of Stella?" I hear Tyler ask.
"Felix took care of her. From Ethan's recollection, Felix had returned soaked in blood." Jack mutters.
"Blood soaked." Tyler repeats, then I can hear a sigh through his nose, "Should we be concerned?"
"It's hard to tell but Mark believes it's necessary to begin preparations for a hard lockdown." Jack replies.
They must think I fell asleep.
"Hard? Its that bad?" Tyler shifts in the bed. His hand stops combing my hair for a few seconds before continuing.
"Andy was fond of Stella and Felix does not take declarations of war lightly, especially not involving Songbirds." I can hear Jack pace around the room, "And you aren't in top shape, what happened? Stella shouldn't have gotten through your skin."
I thought he was sick??
"I'm not sure, it's been happening a lot lately. I've asked Amy to run some tests but nothing has come back out of the ordinary. I'm not reverting back to human, in fact my DNA is pretty much the same since the first experiment on me. May suggests it has to do with the Lullaby, I have never been affected before but Ethan's ability works as intended." Tyler begins to explain.
I did this to him?
I weakened him??
"Makes sense." Jack huffs, "The Lullaby is made to soothe and calm those who hear it. Demons revert back to human form. It wouldn't be out of the ordinary that it keeps your stone body from reacting as quickly as it should. Speaking of, should we use it?"
"Put Ethan at risk?" Tyler asks.
"No, that's- I don't mean..."
Jack sounds frustrated, "I don't know. What else are we supposed to do? Have another incident?"
"I think we have trained everyone to be safe within the hard lockdown. You and Mark have worked on this for years for this type of situation." Tyler reassures.
"I'm worried." Jack whispers, the pain has returned to his voice.
"I'm so sorry Jack." Tyler also whispers, there's a pain in his voice as well.
"Tyler, I've told you before that you don't have to apologize. You were doing as commanded. It was us or them." Jack shifts, he must be pacing the room.
"I'd rather it be them." Tyler speaks, his voice now harsh. "They deserved everything they had coming to them."
There's a knock at the door and Jack goes to answer it, "Felix."
"Jack." I hear Felix.
Their greeting sounds stiff.
Like they would rather not be in the same room.
"I believe it is time to move you back to your side." Felix speaks, his voice firm.
"How much time do you think we have?" Jack asks.
"Probably not long. I already wasted a night on you." Felix all but hisses.
"Wasted-!" Jack starts but Tyler interjects, "We appreciate your hospitality and I appreciate your medical care."
Does Jack and Felix have bad blood?
"What is your plan?" Tyler keeps to the point.
"I'm anticipating Andy to blow his top." Felix huffs, "The child."
"You did kill Stella, he is quite fond of her." Jack points out.
"If he was so fond of her, why did he send her into my territory? Everyone knows I don't take declarations of war lightly." Felix shuts down Jack's argument, "You don't send those you love to fight your battles."
"Mark wasn't in his right mind!" Jack yells, he sounds heated.
"You're excusing him?" Felix asks.
Don't take the bait, Jack.
"No, I'm not excusing him!" Jack yelps, "It wasn't his fault!"
"Not his fault?" Felix again speaks, he knows this is a sore spot for Jack.
"Jack, calm down." Tyler tries to de-escalate the conversation.
"Calm down!?" Jack's voice sounds distorted, "Calm down!?"
"Yes, you're short circuiting the equipment." Tyler states bluntly.
Short circuiting??
I hear a bunch of heavy breathing and assume Jack is calming down.
"I'll leave Daisy to help you make your way back to your side. Be on guard." Felix says, he sounds more serious.
"We appreciate your help." Tyler shifts in the bed. I can feel him shift me around.
Better pretend to wake up, he doesn't need to waste his strength carrying me.
I groan and then sit up, stretching and giving a loud yawn, "Are we leaving?"
Tyler smiles softly and nods, "I didn't mean to wake you, I figured you didn't sleep well last night."
"It's okay, I feel a bit better after that power nap." I rub my eyes and then look over at Jack. He looks tense.
"Are you all ready to get going?" Daisy asks, stepping into the room as Felix makes his way out.
"Lead the way." Tyler speaks up.
"This building feels like it gets bigger and bigger every time we walk through it." I mutter as I look around the hallway.
"The old hospital was added onto years ago to house all of the kidnapped people." Daisy replies.
"Wait, there used to be more of you?" I look at her.
"Oh yes, this hospital was about as full as a small town, but years ago an incident occurred-"
Jack clears his throat loudly.
Daisy seems to take his hint and falls silent. We turn a corner and Tyler rests his hand on Daisy's shoulder, "Wait. Someone is waiting for us."
"Sharp as ever Giant." A sinister voice echoes down the empty hallway.
"Seems Stella didn't do much to keep you out of the fight."
Jack pushes me closer to Daisy, "Stay with her, she'll keep you safe." And then Jack steps out from behind us, "Why don't you quit hiding in the shadows, Creep."
"Who says I'm hiding, merely stalking my prey." The voice replies, "Just hand over the Songbird and all will be forgiven."
"You know that is not true. Andy declared war on Felix." Daisy giggles, "Just handing over the young one is not an option."
"Behind!" Tyler shouts and Daisy shifts us around, keeping me behind her, and swings her fist forward.
Direct hit!
The person she punched in the face went flying backwards a few feet.
The man glares daggers as he wipes the blood dripping from his mouth.
"You'll regret that!" He races forward again. Daisy thrusts her arms up in a x to block his attack, swinging her arms in an outward motion to send him flying backwards again.
Tyler grunts and I glance behind me to see him in a bit of a fight with someone else.
"Let's go!" Jack grabs me.
"Tyler's-"
"He'll be fine!" Jack speaks over me, "Hang tight!"
"Wha-?"
Suddenly everything vanishes around us and in a blink of an eye we are in a different spot of the hospital.
"What!" I stumble and start to feel sick.
"You might throw up but don't worry that's normal for newbies." Jack states, he taps on a door, which slides open.
"Stay here, I have to go back and help the others."
"But I want to help!" I say as he shoves me into the room and then disappears in a blink of an eye. The door shut after I entered and I turn, trying to open it.
"I want to help! Don't keep me locked up!!"
Silence answered me.
I don't know how long I was locked in this room before Jack had returned to get me. He had apologized for locking me up but he explained that it was because I didn't know how to fight and everyone else was skilled way beyond me. He teleported us back to the main room on Mark's side of the hospital.
"We have to secure these weakened areas here and here." Mark points to a couple of spots on the blueprints, "And reinforce a few walls along the south side."
"Need something to snack on Ethan?" May walks over with a tray of small sandwiches. "I heard Jack left you in a room."
"Oh yeah," I take a turkey sandwich, "Something about everyone being more powerful than me."
"Well, he isn't wrong." May sets the tray aside for the moment. "Those that follow Andy also seek power. They train day in and day out. And they take their jobs very seriously, you are their only weakness."
"But I'm everyone's weakness." I point out and she nods her head slowly, "That is true, you are. But you also take away pain that has been caused by the rage for years."
"May, can you stay with Ethan while we run to fix things?" Tyler asks as he walks over. He had his curly hair stuffed underneath a grey beanie and the shirt he wore was tight against his body.
He looked to be wearing tight jeans as well. I bet his ass looks great.
Huh! Woah, brain slow down there! That's a bit much of a thought...
"Absolutely!" She giggles with a bright smile, "Sandwich?" She holds out the tray. Tyler gives her a very small smile before grabbing a sandwich. His gaze makes it to me and I feel a strange flutter in my chest followed by his deep reverb, "We'll be back in a little bit, please stay here. If anything happens May knows how to reach us."
"Will do." I nod and then finish off my sandwich.
Tyler walks back over to join Mark, Jack, and a few others at the table.
They all make some form of contact before Jack whisks everybody away.
"How can he do that?" I look at May.
"His teleporting?" She questions.
"Yeah." I confirm.
"Just an ability, it's a slightly different version of Mark's ability." May starts to explain, "He is able to teleport throughout the building, he has a limit of carrying people. But Mark is able to warp through our dimensional space."
"Is that not the same thing??" I stand up from my seat.
"It sounds like the same thing but it's not. Mark can only take one other person with him and he cannot physically move within our dimension if he uses it, unlike Jack who moves within our dimension only." She senses my confusion and tries to find a simpler way to explain. "Okay, take this spoon as Mark and the fork is Jack." She holds up both utensils and then uses the table as two separate rooms.
"Mark, if using this ability, cannot just appear into the other space. He must first walk through the other dimension," She moves the spoon below the table, "Jack can simply appear in the other room." She puts the fork down before bringing the spoon back up. "Jack's ability is much swifter, but when they work together Mark can usually sneak up behind an enemy."
"That makes sense?" I tilt my head as I try to understand what she was trying to explain to me. "Are these the secondary abilities that Tyler was talking about?"
"Oh yes." May grabs the utensils to put back on the tray, "Alright, I'll have to put this stuff up. I'll be back in a minute, don't go anywhere." She giggles before leaving the room. I look down at the blueprints that Mark left out.
It had different colors marked on it.
Pink stood for Mark.
Dark blue for Felix.
Black for Andy.
Both Mark and Felix held the larger areas of the hospital.
What's this?
I bend down to get a closer look.
A part of the blueprints was scribbed on in almost an angry manner, it was labeled: scientists look out.
~Flashback~
The metal table was freezing.
The bright light above me made it hard to see, but I eventually gained my bearings.
"Where...?"
I look down in shock as I cannot raise my hands.
"Why am I strapped in?? Where are my clothes?!"
My head snapped up to see the room had a lot of windows, one way as I couldn't use what was on the other side. I shake my arms back and forth trying to see if I can loosen the straps.
"H-help! Somebody help me!"
I take in a deep breath and watch as the steam leaves my mouth, only turn did I take in how cold it actually was.
"Hello..? Anyone there?? I, uh, I think I'm in the wrong place! You got the wrong guy!!"
~End Flashback~
"They're watching us?" I whisper.
Is this why they're afraid to leave?
We're being monitored.
I immediately start searching the room for anything that seemed like a camera.