2.08

After getting a few readings from Gauzelle, Michael was confident he knew where to go. He’d picked something up when he first met Gauzelle and had since gotten in contact with a few people. Their powers were much greater than his, and he was able to figure out where he had to go next.

Michael teleported the two to a private owned hospital that specialised in patients with superpowers.

Superpowers and civilians used to share the same hospitals, those with powers were just squared off into their own corners. It was cheaper that way and nobody would have to explain what a lot of extra buildings around the city were.

However, a few too many incidents happened involving those with superpowers and a lot of people were accidentally killed.

It was these accidents that propelled those with powers into the forefront of the general populace as a concern. Heroes and villains had already existed, but something needed to be done.

This started the heroes needing to be sanctioned to be able to act. Controlled by the government in partnership with a private security firm. The Academy within Athena City was privately owned as well. There was money to be made in the world of superpowers.

Michael was informed that at this hospital, an extremely powerful psychic had been admitted in for care. Her body had been disfigured and warped in such a grotesque way she no longer looked human.

Through the nights she screamed in agony and even brought one of the extensions to the hospital crashing down, killing thirty people in the process.

All that could be done was to keep her heavily sedated. Nobody could figure out what had happened to her. Any attempts to delve into her mind was met with extreme mental ferocity.

She had died close to a year ago, right around the time people started noticing Gauzelle. Michael had been keeping tabs on Gauzelle for a while, not knowing of the possible link, but for her abilities as a living bandage. The connection was brought to his attention by a former colleague.

“What are we doing here?” Gauzelle asked Michael. She could feel the anxiety rising up from the depths of her mind, ready to throttle her the moment she let her guard down.

“I want to see and know what happens to you whilst you’re here. I think this place is tied to your past somehow,” said Michael.

“How, it’s a hospital. I’m a bunch of bandages, don’t really need a hospital.” What was the old man getting at Gauzelle wondered “So, what do you want me to do?”

“Just walk around. The staff know we were coming, it’s all good.” Michael scratched his moustache and wrinkled his nose. He was getting a massive empathic overload from Gauzelle right now. He hadn’t felt something this strongly in a while.

“Seriously, just walk around?”

“Gauzelle, please, do as I ask. I’m trying to help here.” Gauzelle was surprised at the old man being so straightforward, something he hadn’t done before.

“Yeah okay. But this place is giving me some strange vibes, I don’t like it.”

“That’s all right, we’ll be safe here. Just take a walk down that hallway there please.” Michael pointed down the direction he wanted Gauzelle to take.

Gauzelle waltzed down the hallway. The white sterile walls and the empty artworks used to plug up the blank space were of no help to easing the vibes she was feeling from the place.

Gauzelle couldn’t quite place it. Her anxiety was acting up more than usual, but it also felt different. Like it was coming from a deeper place that she couldn’t grasp.

A nurse walked past Gauzelle and he bumped into her. A flash of blue-hot pain seared through her mind. The nurse apologised and kept on moving.

“That was weird,” Gauzelle remarked. She put a hand against her forehead and doubled over.

“I sensed something, I had to cut it off before the psychic wave assaulted me. What happened?”

“That nurse bumped into me and I felt this immense pain strike through my mind. It friggin hurt. I saw a strange creature on a bed, but the image was instantly gone.” Michael helped Gauzelle to stand and turned around to find where the nurse had gone to.

“Was that the one?” Michael asked, pointing to a burly nurse ducking into one of the wards.

“No, they were pretty skinny.”

“Come on then, lets go.” Michael ran after the direction of the nurse and Gauzelle kept in close to him.

Michael put out his mental feelers and extended them as far as they could go. He got a quick read on the nurse before he shut them out when they bumped into Gauzelle.

Patients screamed and cried in pain and terror as all sorts of treatments were carried out in the different rooms. Gauzelle looked on in amazement as she watched a fish person, not too unlike an old horror film monster she had seen, walked down the same hallway she was in.

She watched as paper cups floated through the air, a jet of fire burst forth from one room and a geyser of water exploded from the opposite room. The fire and water burst into mist.

“We need all available nurses to be in Red Ward, Room A right now. I repeat, all available nurses to go to Red Ward, Room A right now.”

Michael grabbed Gauzelle by the arm and pulled her into a room just as a robot on wheels skated past.

“What?” Gauzelle asked.

“Excuse me,” Michael asked the nurse. Gauzelle realised it was the one who had bumped into her.

“Just a second.” Michael had been so focused on finding the nurse, he hadn’t realised the nurse was attending to another patient.

The patient looked normal enough save for a few blades that were sticking out of her body. Michael knew who she was, Ki Jung. Blades jut out every time her body was cut. It was getting rid of them that was the problem.

The nurse stood and looked at Michael and Gauzelle.

“How can I help you?”

Agonising pain ripped through Gauzelle’s mind. She crouched down and started to scream. The lights in the room exploded and the windows shattered. Gauzelle’s mind was ripping itself apart.

Michael ducked down and approached Gauzelle, who was still screaming. He had shut her off as soon as they entered the room, otherwise he would’ve been knocked out already.

“Hey, hey. Its okay.” His hand touched her shoulder and she collapsed into a pile of bandages.