"MJ you can't fight with your arm. Malia can't either as she hasn't recovered enough energy from the fight so you two will stay with Peter, while the rest of us take care of the Ghoul that's coming," I said and MJ frowned but nodded.
"Let's get them to a different spot right fast," Miles said and I grabbed Epilogue before we moved the three of them to a different spot before I saw MJ's ears twitch wildly.
"It's close isn't it?" I asked and she nodded. I nodded and went to leave when she grabbed my hand making me stop.
"Be careful, please," she said and I nodded.
"We'll make this quick and the airship will be here soon. Just hold on," I said before she let me go and I ran to the others.
"That thing is horrifying!" Indigo said when the ghoul came into view.
"We've never seen a Ghoul like this so be careful. Use your ammo sparingly until we figure out how to properly kill it," I said.
"Got it!"
I winced as my back hit the wall of an abandoned house after being swatted away by the unknown ghoul after we'd been fighting it for twenty minutes but it gave me an idea.
"Gabe! Charlotte! Pin down the left arm!"
"Got it!"
"Miles! Lizzy! Pin down the right!"
"On it!"
"Indigo!"
"She's on her way!" She yelled and I nodded before I shifted my hold on my scythe Sunflare. I let out a slow breath before I focused. A moment later, I took off in a flash of light where I was soon hovering several feet in the air above the unknown ghoul before I twisted and shot myself toward the ghoul before I pinned it's back down making it scream in pain. The others quickly pinned down its arm before cutting the arms just before a very tired Malia came up.
"Get the kill shot! You'll need as many Ghoul Summons as possible for this upcoming fight!" I yelled and she gave me a tired nod before she quickly rushed forward and stabbed the unknown ghoul several times before she twisted and cleanly cut off its head.
"MJ just said she's picking up the sound of the airship," Indigo said as we all panted and gathered our barrings from the fight.
"Perfect timing then," I said and everyone nodded before I smiled.
"Great work everyone,"
"Thanks for the plan," Miles said and I nodded before we went over to MJ and Peter.
"He's starting to sweat badly. The wound smells horrible. It's actually taking all I can to not puke," MJ said and I grew worried about that.
"Peter has healing powers, though, right?" Miles asked.
"He does, but it still takes him a while to fight off poisons," I said.
"Plus with Quentin being a Hybrid, it's a bit more deadly as Hybrids like him can control the amount of poison they inject into their Prey. With Quentin working for Ulric, and Peter being one of the best Hunters and being the Raven-Wolf alongside being a leader of Team SWORD, Ulric is going to want him dead more than he wants Aurora. We still never found out why he wants Aurora in the first place," MJ said.
"And he's never going to. We'll make sure of that," Lizzy said as she crossed her arms.
A few moments later, the airship came into view. I waved it down before a few workers came out with a stretcher.
"What's wrong with Parker-Stark?"
"He's been poisoned by a Scorpion Hybrid. It's only now getting worse and his healing power isn't doing much," I said to which they nodded.
"That means we can synthesize another round of antidotes because of him now. I just wish he would stop getting poisoned. Synthesizing antidotes for the civilians is nice but it's not worth the risk he takes when he has you, kids, to take care of," The worker said.
"How many has he helped synthesize like this?" I asked.
"One hundred and fifteen," she said and we all blinked in shock at that before she cleared her throat.
"We'll get him on board. Where to exactly?"
"Oh. Uh, the closest hospital to Zeamonia Institution," MJ said and they nodded before they ushered us on the airship as they carefully carried Peter on the airship on a stretcher.
It took us about an hour of flying before they landed on the hospital roof. We were all carted off to rooms for our injuries to be checked before we were all discharged but we all sat around in the waiting room until a doctor came in. Though the doctor came in after we'd been there for eight hours, so the moon was very high in the sky.
"Peter is awake. Very sluggish but awake. We've synthesized the new antidote and his healing is taking care of everything else. Because of how sluggish he is, we'll be keeping him overnight," he said and we all sighed in relief.
"Aurora, he's asking for you," he said and I nodded before I followed him through the halls until we got to Peter's hospital room.
"Hey, Little Light," He said when I walked in.
"Hey. How are you feeling?"
"Like shit but I'll be fine once I eat a whole pig by myself, a shower, change of clothes and a good bed," He said and I snorted at that before I gave him a hug.
"Why does Ulric want me?"
"I don't know but I know this. I'm never going to let him, have you. Not even Death will save him from my wrath if he ever touches you," he said and I closed my eyes as he kissed the side of my head.
"Hey, Peter,"
"Hm,"
"I gotta question, for you,"
"I believe I might have an answer,"
"Do you like, like MJ?" I asked as I pulled back so I could look at his face. I watched as he blinked at that before he turned a bit red as he sputtered. I blinked at that before I started laughing at him.
"I'll take that as a yes,"
"You're a little brat,"
"You love me, "
"That is true, but you're still a brat,"
"You should tell her,"
"We've got enough to worry about," He said and I frowned at his response.
"You know. The doctor said you would be sluggish,"
"I am but a different kind of sluggish. I don't think I could even transform to fly out of here to get food. OI! CAN I GET A BOWL OF OLD MAN TATE'S NOODLES?!" He yelled.
"Peter!" I said but it came out more like a laugh.
"You can have one of our hospital meals," A nurse said and I just lost it at Peter's look of disgust at the mention of hospital food.
"Fuck this sucks. Oh go and get the others," Peter said and I was still laughing as I walked out.
"Hey, Peter wants to talk to all of us," I said and they all got up and followed me to Peter's room.
"You are one crazy bastard," Gabe said when we walked in.
"Eh, with what I've experienced, I'd be more concerned if I wasn't,"
"I'm glad to see that your okay," Charlotte said.
"It's going to take more than Hybrid poison to kill me and Ulric knows it,"
"Why does Ulric want Aurora?" Miles asked.
"I don't know and he's never going to get her in the first place," Peter said.
"He was shocked about my summons being different from my family," Malia said.
"I never did find the answer to that so I'm just going to chalk it up to you being the change. Besides they are stronger than your families,"
"You showed me the proper way,"
"You had it all this time I just pointed you in the right direction,"
"Did you have the flask so you could drink?" MJ asked.
"No. The flask is part of my first aid. To small for drinking and I haven't had a drop to drink since that last time you dragged me back drunk," Peter said and I didn't stop the smile that formed on my face at that.
"Surprise your liver still works,"
"Aw, I knew you cared, Kitty Cat,"
"I'm going to punch you as soon as your out of that hospital bed," She said and we all snickered at that since we knew it wasn't true.
"I want a fucking bowl of noodles. Who wants to sneak me twenty bowls?"
"Wow, only twenty?" I asked in a mocking tone making him stick out his tongue.
"Since when can you eat more than me, anyway?" We all heard Twelve ask from the window.
"How long have you been there?" I asked.
"About a minute. Kitty Cat heard me land," He said and MJ growled at that.
"Don't call me that, you fucking pigeon," She said before she shoved him out the window making him yelp.
"That was rude!" Twelve said when he flew back up making us all snicker.
"Hey, man. I'll back off on the relationship cracks if you sneak me in some of Old man Tate's noodles,"
"Not going to lie but that's very tempting,"
"Oh come on. Twelve, please,"
"Hm. Nope," He said and Peter groaned before Twelve yelped once more as MJ pushed him out the window again making Peter laugh.
"Thanks, I was going to ask if you would do that again,"
"Fuck the both of you," Twelve said as he flew in and landed away from the window.
"Fuck, he learned," MJ and Peter said at the same time making us all laugh while Twelve flipped them off.
"What brings you here anyway, man?"
"We're all here, actually. KAREN notified us of the attack at SI and Lillian got a message from Indigo saying you guys were here after being attacked by a rabid Hybrid who is loyal to Ulric and you were poisoned by him,"
"Makes sense,"
"So what's the number for this one?"
"I don't know, I stopped keeping track after thirty,"
"One hundred and sixteen, now," I said.
"That's higher than I would have thought," Peter said before he sniffed the air.
"By the Goddess, I love you!" He said just before Lillian and Star walked in carrying bags of food.
"I hope this is aimed at us and not the food,"
"Of course, it's aimed at my sisters. Twelve is a bastard who wouldn't give me Old Man Tate's noodles," Peter said.
"Well, we ordered a lot so let's all dig in,"
"Who paid?" Miles asked.
"Dude, don't worry about paying us back. We've got plenty of money saved up since we switched our accounts to being joined to Peter's," Star said.
"How much money do you have?" Charlotte asked.
"I could buy all of Askye and not make a dent in my account," Peter said and I was shocked by that.
"Anyway, eat up," Star said and we all ate and joked around with each other until Peter sighed.
"That's disgustingly amazing," MJ said as we all stared at the twenty-four empty bowls of noodles he ate while Twelve only had twelve.
"That also happened to be my first meal in three days,"
"What?!" I asked him.
"You're not going to puke that all up are you? Because if you do, aim that way," Star said as she pointed to Twelve.
"Hopefully not and I've been nonstop with missions, killing ghouls and getting to you kids in time,"
"Did you even eat at all?" Malia asked.
"Handful of berries but no,"
"You're a fucking dumbass," Twelve said.
"I didn't realize I was a mirror, Twelve," Peter said and I let a few giggles slip out at that while MJ straight up cackled.