The pillar to Heaven built in Hell

Cebra's words, as unexpected as they were, came as welcome news. Immediately Sam changed her course, flying straight for the roof. Seconds later her feet touched the roof, right in the centre of the large capital H within a yellow circle that was the helipad. Facing her were the elevator and staircase entrances. But no sight of Cebra yet. She must have beaten him to the roof.

She took the opportunity to see how the trapped column was doing. The ominous smoke had the vehicles still wrapped in its smelly embrace with the troops watching from a safe distance, much to the annoyance of their leader who, despite all his shouting, stayed as far away from the cloud as well. They wouldn't have to expect any trouble from that side anytime soon.  

But what kept Cebra? She should have been her by now. The trip up here couldn't take him that long. Unless that liquid assassin he mentioned earlier was giving him a hard time. It looked like she'd have to go inside and get him out herself.

She was halfway the staircase when she heard Cebra's voice again, much weaker this time. This couldn't be good.

"Cebra, what's wrong?" she asked in a panic, but no answer came. What had happened? Was something wrong? With one jump, she pushed herself towards the east end of the roof. There was a man lying below. Cebra! Without hesitation, she flew down, landing right next to the motionless body.

She kneeled down and held her breath as she examined the body. Her worst suspicions were not confirmed, he was still alive. She exhaled heavily with relief before continuing her examination. She didn't need her X-ray vision to come to a conclusion; the dark, wet stain on his back told her all she needed to know. A closer look told her the wound was caused by a knife or similar sharp object.  Fortunately for Cebra, she had treated such injuries in the past, however her patients had always been human. Some meta, yes, but none of them had their body stuffed with technology.

The options flashed through her mind. She had to stop the bleeding, at least for now. She ripped the sleeved of his jacket and tore them into a makeshift bandage. It would have to be replaced afterwards, once the wound was properly treated, but for now, it would suffice.

But what was she going to do with him? Treat him herself, or take him to a hospital? He'd get the best treatment over at the hospital, if they were lucky they might even have someone around who knew how to properly treat a cyborg. But it might also include questions her patient might be unwilling to answer. As much as it regretted her, her patient's wished would have to come first.

Carefully she lifted the unconscious body up. For all the technology he had inside of him, Sam didn't notice any difference in weight with an ordinary man.

"Jeannie, Cebra's injured," she told Jeannie on her magical wavelength. "I'm taking him home to treat him. Can you make it back to the apartment on your own?"

oh no well good thing your a doctor huh?, ok retreat then. ok kittys time to go home she pushes some buttons and the kitty bot line up and drive back to the van.

she then starts to drive out, she pushes the controls some more and the last kitty bot pushes a big cartoon looking bomb out the back of the van before closing the door.

a massive cloud of pink smoke comes out when it goes off and Jeannie speeds away. ninja kitty escape

“Okay, I’ll see you there,” Sam told Jeannie before she took off. Because she wanted to begin treating Cebra as soon as possible, she flew much faster than she normally would when carrying a person. Except when it was Jeannie, who seemed to like it if she flew very fast.

Within moments she had returned to Cebra’s apartment. Fortunately, she had left the window open when she left – an oversight she was now very grateful about - and could just fly in instead of having to lose precious time entering though the front door. Once inside, she carefully laid Cebra on the couch and turned him on his back in order to have better access to his injury. A quick but thorough inspection told her the improvised bandage was holding for the time being. Now to find something she could properly treat his injury with.

She figured a person leading such a dangerous life would have a first-aid kit within reach, she just didn’t know where he kept it. Most people she knew kept these in the bathroom, which was where she started her search. Cebra’s bath room wasn’t too big, there were only a few small cupboards next to and underneath the sink. It didn’t taker her long to find what she needed: a strong disinfectant and a bunch of clean bandages. She hurried back with her find.

Back in the living room she removed what was left of Cebra’s shirt to get to the wound. It seemed whoever had removed the knife, Cebra most likely, hadn’t been too careful when doing so, complicating matters a bit. She began clearing the wound. Hopefully this product was strong enough for this purpose. If not, the wound might become inflamed. If that happened, Cebra would have to go to a hospital as soon as possible.

Once she was convinced the wound was clean enough, she began stitching it. It didn’t occur the her to wonder why Cebra had these laying around in the first place; it’s not as if he could operate on himself. While she had done this before, she had never had to stitch one on such a delicate place. As soon as this was done, she began putting the bandages in place. The whole process took her nearly half an hour. Once she final bandage was secured, she dropped on a nearby seat exhausted.

is he ok? Jeannie stumbles through the door carrying a bunch of bagsi stoped and got some bandges and stuff.

Sam looked up when Jeannie entered the apartment. After all that had happened, it was a relief to see her back save and sound. In fact, she had the restrain herself not to fly through the room and give her a big welcome back hug.

“He’s stable for now,” she told Jeannie. “I’ve taken care of his wound as good as I could, but I don’t know how much blood he has lost. Quite a lot judging by the stains on his clothes. I hope the information he got was worth it cause it’s going to take a while before he’s fully recovered.”

She stood up and helped Jeannie with the bags she had brought. “Thanks, we’ll need them for when we have to replace his bandages. I’m afraid I’ve used up most of his supply already.” She split what Jeannie had brought in two. A part she kept here, in case Cebra’s condition would worsen. the rest she brought to the bathroom to restock Cebra’s supply.

“I suppose I better move him to his bathroom too,” she said when she returned to the living room. “By the way, did you have any trouble on the way back?” Probably not if she had the time to stop for medical supplies, but she wanted to hear it coming from Jeannie just to be certain. The day had been bad enough as it was. There needn’t be any more unexpected surprises coming their way.

yay hugs Jeannie smiles when Sam gives her a hugyay that's good his ok, huh no get back the only tricky part was finding where to get medicine stuff hard when you don't know where stuff is, good thing my phone had a map thingy. once I knew where the pharmacy was a piece of cake getting stuff, umm cake I'm hungry

Some hours later Cebra wakes up from his unconscious state. His eyes slowly open to see the stark white of his bathtub around him. He tries to shift but is met with a striking horrid pain in his back. He groans loudly and falls back muttering every curse words he had in his vast dictionary of a mind. After a few seconds he relaxes a bit realizing he was in his safe house.

"Sam, Jeannie... I hope they made it out alright. I cant believe I let that woman take me down like that... She called me monster."

His eyes shift left to right as he has deep thoughts. The word monster seems to have a resonating effect with Cebra. Who could the two assassins be? Their identity eluded Cebra save for sneaking biting suspicions he had. The thought of who they could be was so strange and outlandish he couldn't say it out loud. However things were a bit different now. Cebra knew Sam would ask him quite persistently about the attack, he also couldn't keep her in the dark since the assassin might be targeting her and Jeannie now. One of the good things to come out of this was Cebra got every bit of data in the facility, as well the shock of the EM knife didn't corrupt any data.

Unable to rest now concerned about Francine, Cebra climbs out of the tub. A small trail of blood droplets trailing behind him. He makes his way to the computer and sits down with a grunt of pain. He starts writing an e-mail to his friend and informant Francine to see if she's alright. Cebra couldn't bare the thought of her being hurt because of something he did. The woman held a special place in Cebra's life, even if she resented him. He sent the e-mail and laid his head on the desk, still far too injured and low on energy to keep focus. It was now that he realized Sam must have patched him up, he'd have to thank her. If she hadn't gotten to him that assassin might have. Even though Cebra had incredible regenerative capabilities there were ways to subdue, suppress and even kill him. EM energy did more than shut down his cybernetics, it affected his mind through the cybernetics. EM interference would cause him migraines and in extreme cases aneurysms.

jeannie was wondering back from the kitchen having found some snacks that she was munching on. oh yay your awake I was worried, are you feeling better?

“You know, you shouldn’t be up this soon,” Sam reprimanded Cebra when she caught him behind his computer. “That was quite the nasty wound you took there. You should take it easy for at least a few, doctor’s order. The amount of blood you lost could have killed anyone else. And it still might, if you’re not careful.”

Cebra noticed Jeannie come into the room food in hand as usual. He immediately straightened up trying to hide his discomfort, something in his nature beyond the cybernetic aspect drove him to try and appear strong.

"Hey Jeannie, yeah yeah I'm fine no worries. It was just a little cut, I've been through worse."

He smiles at her. Shortly after Sam came in with an entirely different tone, apparently seeing how injured he really was to Cebra's annoyance. He wasn't used to having someone try and look after him, a terrible patient.

"It... It wasn't that bad. I can still move."

Cebra's head twitches for a moment.

"Ugh... system errors, I hate my body some days."

He looks up at Sam as if what he was going to say pained him.

"Sam, I know I've asked a lot of you. I'm afraid I'll need more if you're up for it. I'm not going to be much use for a while in the field. You as well Jeannie. My cybernetics are still repairing, for all intensive purposes I'm just a human right now."

yay that's good your ok she gives him a hug. huh so if you can't help tell your robo stuff gets better. then we can play Charles angels! you be Charlie and we'll be your angels and go on missions!

I'll be the blonde one, then Sammie be one of the other ones,
huh darn we need one more girl to play Charles angels, who should we get? hey, sammie think Arielle might want to play Charles angels with us?

Sam doubted Arielle would be up for it. She didn’t like being shot at, for starters. Which wasn’t all that surprising, most people didn’t. She didn’t either, even if the bullets couldn’t hurt her. Beside that, she didn’t want to expose Arielle to any danger. It was already bad enough Jeannie would have to go through it too, the last thing she wanted was for someone else she knew and care about to have to go through it too.

“I don’t think she can handle that,” she told Jeannie.

She turned her attention to Cebra again. “I’ll help if I can, if you promise to be careful while we’re gone.”

She looked at the time on Cebra’s computer. It was late in the afternoon. Back at home it should be around midnight now. Almost a new day. Which meant doctor Janssen would be expecting her back soon. Today she’d have to make her round in her stead while essentially taking over her responsibilities while she stuck around to observe and intervene if necessary. She’d have to be there or she’d get a falling grade for sure.

“There’s one more thing,” she started uncomfortably. “I’ve got a few other things I’ll need to take care of in a few hours.” She crossed her fingers and hopes the others wouldn’t interpret this as her trying to weasel out of it. This was just something she needed to do as well. Helping people didn’t always involve a cape. Not for her anyway.

oh yeah I guys so she forgot Arielle wasn't a superhero too. want me to help with your things?

“It’s not something you can help me with, I’m afraid,” Sam answered with a sad smile. “It’s about my studies. I’ve got to be there if I still want to pass this year, that’s all.”

"Of course, you have your own lives to attend to. Orion isn't going to be completing anything in the next day, we have time."

Cebra said though with little conviction. In truth he didn't know anything yet, nothing relevant until he could go through the data. He managed to gleam a bit back in the complex but nothing big. In the mean time Cebra would check up on Francine, he didn't like that she'd not responded yet. Maybe she was just taking time off work and keeping a low profile. All the same he would go to her house after Sam had gone. He thought twice about leaving Jeannie alone in his place. The image of candy littering the floor, food everywhere and a huge mess came to mind. Maybe it'd be wise to drag her along.

"There are a few things I'd like to look into as well as the data we recovered. When you're ready return here and I'll brief you on what I've learned."