damned_institute | Nightshift 36: East of the Institute

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Nightshift 36: East of the Institute

[from here]

As she walked, Elle tried to think of all the things she wanted to do if this worked. Drink a slushy, fall asleep in her big warm bed with her comfortable pillows. Shock a patient or two.

Trouble was, Daddy wouldn't let her do any of those things.

Especially if she didn't straighten herself out. Snapping at people and being grouchy wouldn't make him proud of her. She needed to be better.

"Sorry," she said to the boy grudgingly. "You're a robot from another planet?" Maybe that would get him talking again and she could space out. Deluded raving wasn't as good as silence, but at least he'd think she was being nice without her actually having to interact with him.

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Elle kept on walking. "It's where they put the bad little boys who didn't eat their vegetables," she sneered. "There are monsters under the beds and in the closets. And who hasn't heard of Doogie Howser?" If she'd heard of him, the rest of the world must have, right?

The suggestion that she needed to rest made Elle turn back to the boy, her fingers flexing around tiny lightning storms that flared, died, and flared again above her palms. "I'm fine," she insisted. "But if you want to stop and take a nap, I'm sure there's a grizzly bear around here somewhere that would love to babysit." She didn't need to stop; she wasn't weak like that.

"Monsters? What kind?" Brainiac 5 asked with interest. He didn't question the existence of such things, the presence of 'Eddie' in the institute would have been persuasive enough even if he hadn't had similar experiences with the Legion, but he did think that it was more likely that Elle had just seen some other alien species around and jumped to the wrong conclusion due to the backwards nature of this era.

"Apparently, I haven't heard of 'Doogie Howser'." He took an automatic step back as Elle turned to him, electricity flaring and dancing around her hands. He didn't want to get shocked again, but he couldn't let her just walk recklessly out into danger like that.

"That's beside the point, we need to rest and possibly consider our situation further!" She didn't seem to be paying him any attention, so without thinking, he reached out grabbing her shoulder and pulling her to a sharp stop.

This time, he did grab her injured shoulder. Elle cried out in pain, jerking backwards in an attempt to alleviate the pressure of his fingers in the wound. "Get off me!" she shouted as her skin reflexively lit up with electrical energy, sending a sharp jolt from her shoulder into his hand.

She stumbled toward a nearby dip in the terrain, and her ankle twisted at the sudden sharp decline. Suddenly, she found herself slipping down into the ditch, landing with a thud at the bottom.

Okay, this was getting more aggravating by the minute. Elle sat up and braced her back against the wall of the ditch, holding her shoulder tightly. There were exploding lights in front of her eyes, and she was pretty sure she should wait for those to go away before she tried to move on.

Brainiac 5 hadn't been paying attention to what he had been doing, so only realised a fraction too late that he was gripping Elle's injured shoulder tightly before she shouted at him and electricity surged over her skin, crackling against his hand painfully. He yelped and let go, clutching the sore hand to his chest with a pained gasp, too distracted to notice Elle stumble and slip into the ditch until she hit the bottom with a loud thump.

He picked his way carefully over to the injured woman, making sure to keep at what he felt was a relatively safe distance. She wasn't looking that healthy, not that she had been before but it was more pronounced now. Under other circumstances he would have suggested cleaning and tending to the wound, but with no supplies there was little point in mentioning it. But he supposed he was expected to do something.

He cleared his throat and shifted awkwardly before speaking. "I suppose I should apologise, I didn't intend to cause you undue pain." Of course he couldn't resist adding, "perhaps now you should consider resting a while."

Elle leaned her head back and closed her eyes, sucking her breath in through her teeth as she tried to calm the lancing pain in her shoulder. The bandage the nurses had put on it was in tatters by now, stuck to her skin with pieces of medical tape. Reaching through the holes in her shirt cut by Eddie's teeth, she peeled it off, slowly and carefully. Every little movement tugged on the wound, but eventually the ruined bandage came away and she dropped it in a bloody pile on the ground.

"Fine," she hissed in answer to he boy as she pushed the heel of her hand into the deepest part of her injury, right where the metal rod had nearly skewered her. Her left hand tensed as her right pressed deeper into her shoulder, clutching at the grass. She needed to be careful not to set it on fire, or pretty soon the whole field - or moor or whatever the hell - would be ablaze. But she needed to stop the flow of blood, or her prediction would come true and she really would bleed to death in a ditch.

Elle didn't know much about electrocauterization, only that it was supposed to stop bleeding. Her dad had gotten her to learn pretty much everything there was to know about her ability, and that word had come up once. He hadn't cared about the ways her ability could heal, though, so she hadn't bothered to figure out how to do it properly.

When the heel of her hand was as deep in the wound as it would go, she unleashed the highest voltage blast she was capable of. The sudden burst of pain made her cry out, the force of it slamming her shoulder backwards into the ditch wall.

It hadn't even worked; she was too good at absorbing what she generated. Crap.

Elle was clearly in a lot of pain, but Brainiac 5 couldn't think of anything to do for her wound with his current form. If he'd been his usual self, he'd have had a range of medical tools on hand with which to treat her, but now? Unless by some miracle there was a complete set of surgical tools and supplies just over the rise, there was nothing he could do.

Still, this was partially his fault, and Superman and the Legion had taught him that helping others was important. Superman would want him to try to help her.

"Is there anything..." he began, knowing what the answer was most likely to be, but he couldn't think of anything else to do.

"No," Elle said quickly. She didn't need help. Daddy had put her here to make her stronger, better, he'd said. So she'd be strong. She'd prove to him that she was the best.

Elle pulled her hand out of the wound, choking back a whimper as fresh blood started to ooze again. No, she'd be fine. This was nothing she couldn't handle.

With that thought, she braced an arm against the highest point on the ditch wall and tried to lever herself up. But dizziness swept over her. There was something rushing in her ears. She could feel the blood pumping out of her with every beat of her heart.

"I need to sit," she said, lowering herself back to the ground. "But I'm fine."

Brainiac 5 didn't need a 12th level intellect to tell that Elle was lying, but he still couldn't think of what to do to help her. Instead he remained silent and sat down opposite her, taking the opportunity to rest his tired legs. He'd never had to walk so far, particularly after fighting some strange person and being shocked several times in one night. He felt drained from the fight and from the toll of adapting to being human. Just sitting down and taking the time to think things through was a welcome change.

"If I only had my flight ring, I could get you to medical facilities and contact Superman for assistance." He sighed heavily. Of course, he may as well wish that he had his cybernetics or a fully functional spaceship for all the good it would do him now. But it would have been comforting to just be able to see Superman's face again. Something about the kryptonian just seemed to be able to put his mind at ease.

"Considering that we have little else to do for now, perhaps you could answer a few questions? Namely about your... abnormal behaviour. Or if you have any idea how I came to be here and in this body."

As soon as the world stopped spinning, Elle focused back on the boy, who had apparently moved in front of her while she was busy almost blacking out. "What's with you and Superman? You know he's fictional, right?" Despite his stature, he looked to be in his late teens. "You're too old to be one of those drooling fanboys who thinks all the superheroes are real."

She didn't want to talk about her 'abnormal behavior;' the only person she'd ever explained herself to was Peter Petrelli and she intended to keep it that way. But she could run with the last bit. "This body? What's your body normally, Junior? No, wait. Don't tell me. You're really Lois Lane."

Brainiac 5 bristled at the 'drooling fanboy' comment, but the rest of what Elle was saying sank in and he paused, eyeing her curiously. "I can assure you that Superman is not fictional. At least, not where I'm from. He's widely considered the greatest hero of your time, if not ever. Besides, you yourself have powers, why would you think that superheroes are purely the realm of fiction?"

Of course it was uncertain as to if Elle would even answer that question, judging from her track record with his other questions. In particular she seemed to want to avoid talking about her behaviour; he made note of that in case it became useful later. She also didn't appear to know anything about how he came to be here at all, which was unfortunate. He'd have to search for answers on his own then. Presuming he actually managed to make contact with anyone other than Elle that is.

"As I already told you," Brainiac 5 began as patiently as possible given the circumstances, "I am actually a Coluan. Normally I'm mostly cybernetic, but for some reason I appear to have become human. It's somewhat... disconcerting."

A web of electrical arcs sprang up between Elle's fingers. "Superheroes aren't real," she repeated. The closest person to a superhero she'd ever met had used her, betrayed her, and abandoned her, so she didn't really think he qualified.

The thing about being a robot was weird, but Elle was too tired to argue about it. Let the kid have his delusions if he really wanted them. She needed to get out of this ditch and hopefully find something to wrap her shoulder with. Because medical supplies were in such great abundance out in the middle of nowhere.

Much more slowly than before, Elle pushed herself upright, bracing herself against the ditch wall until she was standing. "I'm going," she told him. She wondered when she'd gone from giving anything to be alone to telling him her plans in advance. It must be for the very practical reason that if she did end up passing out, he could carry her, or at least make sure she wasn't eaten by wild animals. She certainly didn't want the company.

Of course, the doing was a lot more difficult than the saying. Scrambling up out of a ditch wasn't Elle's idea of a good time, but she managed it. Once on more level ground, however, she had to lie down, watching the stars wheel before she caught her breath and they began to steady.

"I'll be sure to bring up the issue of our nonexistence at the next meeting of the Legion of Super Heroes then. It ought to at least amuse everyone."

Brainiac 5 didn't bother arguing when Elle insisted on moving. She hadn't listened any other time, seeming intent to do whatever she wanted in spite of the obvious value of his advice. And with him having no idea about the location of the road they had left, he had little choice but to follow her lead; if they encountered anything dangerous he'd have to rely on her protection after all.

So he pushed himself to his feet and clambered awkwardly out of the ditch, considerably frustrated with how easy the task would have been if he hadn't been human. Elle was lying down on the grass now, still bleeding badly, though he didn't think she had lost consciousness yet.

"Unless you think we're going to find medical supplies just lying around, it would be best if we returned to the road or found some other way to get in contact with a hospital."

Elle rolled onto her side, then pushed herself onto her knees, taking a few deep breaths before attempting to stand up. Once she found her feet, she glanced around, trying to get a bearing on where they were. It was almost impossible - no landmarks stood out above the hilly terrain except the group of buildings they'd been headed for and the forest just beyond it.

"I don't know where the road is," she admitted grudgingly. "And I'm pretty sure the only hospital around is the one we barely escaped from with our lives."

The only real option was hope there'd be something other than angry people with weapons in the village. Elle started walking again, determined to make it to her destination without falling down again.

"Then considering the circumstances, it might be best for your continued health if we returned to that location. We should be able to locate a different method of entry that would allow us to avoid that man - Eddie - and I would be better able to assist in repairing your injury if we were in a medical environment. Taking into account our current location, it really would seem like we have little other choice." He doubted Elle would listen to the voice of reason, but he would continue to try regardless. It was that or return to insisting she answer his questions, an exercise which had proven fruitless thus far.

As he'd anticipated, Elle was already headed for the buildings they could just make out beyond the trees. He supposed it would be too much to hope that there would be some sort of vehicle or method of contacting others for assistance, but maybe someone would have a first aid kit of some kind.

"Don't you get it?" Elle snapped. The electricity in her palms crackled. "The point is to get away from that place!" She kept on walking, studying the buildings as they loomed closer. They definitely looked... wrecked. Ruined. The closest one - a sort of barn thing - was roofless, and beyond that was something that looked like a church with the spire ripped off.

Maybe there'd been a tornado or something. A long time ago.

"I understand that... Eddie... posed a considerable threat, but it should be easy enough to avoid him in that facility. And while you've mentioned other 'monsters', I failed to notice anything out of the ordinary otherwise. Are you sure you weren't seeing things?"

Brainiac 5 looked up at the damaged buildings, taking in the cracked and torn roads, the remains of walls indicating what might have been buildings, and arched an eyebrow. "I don't think we'll be finding much help here."

"I could kill Eddie," she said, fists clenching as she fell under the shadow of the ruins.

Except she hadn't. Maybe she couldn't generate enough electricity here to stop his heart or melt his brain, but there were other ways she could have, with him lying there, unable to move. It would not have been difficult for Elle Bishop to kill an unconscious man.

But she hadn't - a slip in judgement, a little clerical error where her brain supplied something else instead of anger or indifference. It happened. Next time, she wouldn't make the mistake of giving a crap.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/504336.html)]

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Nightshift 36: East of the Institute

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