Daniel woke up as they arrived at the hospital. Thea was by his side crying but forced a smile when she noticed Daniel's eyelids flutter.
"Hey sleepy head." She sniffled.
"What… what happened?" Daniel asked, a bit confused.
"There was an attack at the school. I…I don't really know too much about what happened to you, but the building collapsed on you, and you got badly injured. We…we couldn't find you and the others up there all died, and I thought I lost you, with the last thing I'd said being…"
"Hey, hey," Daniel weakly placed his hand on top of hers, "I'm right here, and I'll… I'll be alright."
Once they arrived, Daniel was rushed away as the doctors and healers examined his injuries. Thea was informed that he suffered heavy blood loss, a broken collar bone, fractured hand, several cracked and bruised ribs, and several torn ligaments. Daniel was healed to a stable level and brought to a room where Thea was able to join him. She paced back and forth in the room as they worked. Healing magic's biggest drawback is that it's effectiveness and capacity is limited by the injured person's healing magic affinity and NRG capacity. To her knowledge, he had zero healing magic affinity. Any time she'd ever healed him it always took way more magic than she'd need for someone else. Also, his NRG levels were so low that the doctors had him listed as 'fragile'. This limited how much they could even try to heal him without the increased risk of overtaxing his body and his existing magical capacity. Thea waited as they worked, silent and watching. As the doctors left the room, Charlotte arrived to join Daniel and Thea. Thea couldn't look Charlotte in the eyes at the moment after what they'd done to her, so she looked down at her phone as the two greeted each other. Checking her phone, she saw that Masuyo and Nephele were at the hospital as well, but neither were in life threatening condition.
Eda had messaged Thea as well, saying [Counsel contacted me. Your suspension is over, and you're back on the team!]
While this was the only real good news she's gotten all night, she couldn't enjoy it. Charlotte wasn't looking too good. Even thought he was in far worse shape, Daniel seemed visibly concerned about her. Her dress had been replaced with casual clothes, and her makeup definitely showed that she'd had been crying. There was still swelling at her nose and cheeks, and her hair was a mess. Charlotte sat at his left side, the opposite of Thea. He looked closely at Charlotte.
"What-?"
He was immediately interrupted by a sea of people rushing into his room. Pressers, officers, and a few heroes Thea recognized came flooding in, almost shoving each other. The pressers, holding out recorders, began asking all manner of questions about the attack. The officers were trying to get reports, and the heroes were saying how brave Daniel was in the face of such danger. They seemed to be very deliberately saying this in front of the reporters. The girls could do nothing but look on in bewilderment. A nurse was desperately trying to wrangle everyone out of the room to no avail. Suddenly strong female voice cut through the noise.
"HEY! FUCK NUGGETS! THIS IS A HOSPITAL, NOT A RAVE! IF YOU AIN'T RELATED TO HIM OR MARRIED TO HIM, GET YOUR ASS OUT OF HERE BEFORE I SHOW YOU TO YOUR OWN ROOM, MYSELF!"
The room went silent and they all turned to the woman in the doorway. She was a very fair skinned woman in her early thirties, standing about six and a half feet tall, her height accentuated with a pair of heels. She wore a white lab coat with a tight black sequined dress beneath it. Her blond hair was down her back, accentuating her black lipstick. The whole room looked confused and the nurse who'd been trying to help looked terrified.
"Who are you?" A reporter asked, in a standoffish tone.
"Me?! I'm this kid's doctor. Who the fuck are you?!
"I'm…Anght!" He was interrupted as the doctor grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up.
"Nurse, please get a room ready for Mr. 'Anght', as far away from this one as possible, if you could."
"Umm… y-yes doctor!" She scurried away.
The doctor then dropped the man, who quickly ran from the room. "Now, anyone else want to get between this doctor and her patient?"
The room cleared.
She cracked her neck as she approached Daniel's bed with a stern look. "Unfortunate. I was hoping to fill a few rooms for the doctors here."
Who is this woman? Thea was terrified.
"Hello Doc." Daniel weakly moved his good arm to wave, causing her to crack a smile.
Daniel had spoken about his doctor to Thea once or twice, but she was so much scarier than he'd described. Behind the sexy outfit, (Why is she wearing that in a hospital?) the woman had an absolutely terrifying aura to her. Her piercing green eyes seemed to suffocate the whole room.
She looked at either side of the bed causing Thea to flinch. "Unless you started a harem, at least one of these two have got to go." She pointed at Thea and Charlotte. "So, who's the lucky bride?"
Thea glanced at Charlotte, who was as beet red as she was, then at Daniel. He gave her a weak smile. She was unable to say a word.
"Out. Both of you. You can see him when I'm finished with him."
The girls stood up and silently began to leave the room, both downtrodden, but also incapable of objecting.
"Don't worry girls," she called to them, "I won't leave any marks in places you should be seeing." And she gave a wicked smile to them as they walked out the door.
"Don't tease them like… ah…" Daniel's wince of pain was the last thing they heard as the door shut.
Left in the hall, Thea took a seat next to the door. Charlotte stayed standing and kept her distance.
"Are you going to tell him?" Thea eventually asked.
"I…N…not now." She weakly stuttered. "I promise."
"Good." Thea coldly responded. "He's dealt with enough tonight."
"Yeah…"
The wait was almost unbearable. The girl she hated the most, standing right in front of her, acting as concerned as her about Daniel. Thea began tapping her foot, occasionally checking her phone. All the news was about the Grey Knight being real. Evidently, the Counsel had claimed he was a copy-cat, but that didn't matter to her. She was still trying to process everything from the night. Masuyo was getting fluids but seemed fine otherwise. Nephele was not as lucky. After another hero group showed up for clean up, Lailah rushed to the hospital to be with Nephele and give the others updates on her condition. According to what Lailah reported, the doctors discovered heavy remnants of mind controlling magic and, 'somethings' Lailah was too uncomfortable with to send via text message. Thea had noticed something was up but never took the steps to fix it. She felt like crap. For Daniel, for Nephele, and Masuyo, for Charlotte. She put her head between her knees and just stayed there.
A while later, the doctor opened the door and peeked out. "Don't worry girls, he's alive." Thea and Charlotte rushed to Daniel. The annoyance the doctor gave off at their urgency was almost palpable. She shook her head and walked out of the room, and no one else bothered them. Daniel had much more color to his face than when they'd left so seemed like the doctor had done a pretty good job.
A while later, Kevin, Hana, and Noriko arrived. After checking his chart and looking over his injuries to verifying he was going to be fine, Hana left for Masuyo's room. Noriko decided to stay with Daniel.
"Aren't you going to check on your sister?" Kevin asked.
"Na," she bluntly answered, "she's strong and a really good healer. Bro needs more of the help and support."
Thea smiled. That girl doesn't have an ounce of tact, but she's always honest.
"How kind, but incredibly painful. I'm going to be fine. So, you can go see her." Daniel assured her.
She stubbornly refused and only left when Kevin said it was time to go home. As he was getting ready, he looked over at Charlotte and Thea.
"Do either of you want a ride home? It is getting pretty late."
"No, thank you, sir." Charlotte almost whispered.
"Thank you for the offer, Kevin, but I'm fine." Thea made sure to assert over Charlotte that she knew Daniel's father.
Evening came. An exhausted Daniel rested his eyes and found a little sleep but was awakened when he felt movement in his room. He opened his eyes to see Thea asleep on his right, drooping over his bed. Charlotte was holding his hand and looking at him. Her eyes and face still seemed puffy.
"Are you okay?" He whispered to her.
"I am now that I'm here with you." She whispered back. She smiled, kissed his cheek softly. Her eyes became heavy, and she soon fell asleep in her chair. Daniel was now wide awake, his heart beating like a drum. He was a bit surprised it didn't wake either of the girls. He starting to think about what had happened that evening, when a whisper came from behind Charlotte.
"You're playing a dangerous game, Daniel." Carol cautiously said. "Two girlfriends at once would be a bad idea for a normal guy, much less you."
"They're not my girlfriends." He whispered back. "And you shouldn't be saying things like that right in front of them."
"Come on," she rolled her eyes, "my senses of the human body are second to none. They're both out like logs." She slightly poked Charlotte's cheek, healing it. "I can also tell, by their hormones when they're around you, that they're both very into you."
"I…No… I mean."
"Oh, 'you know'?" She turned her head and melodramatically continued. "And here I thought you only spurned my advances." Turning back to him, she showed a wicked grin.
He exhaled.
"Okay, okay." Her grin dropped. "I know you're not leading them on. Just make sure you're not the one being led."
She left the room while he thought on her words. Eventually, his exhaustion got the better of him and he fell asleep.
+++
The light from a floor of a building shown bright in the dead of night. Inside, a large round table, 30 feet in diameter with 5 large, occupied chairs evenly spaced. One chair was occupied by a large man who was looked impatiently around and drinking from a large glass. Beside him, a slimmer man with gaunt features sipped from a fluted glass. Also at the table was a fit woman in a crimson dress holding a highball glass filled with an amber colored liquid, a buff man in a barely held together suit and a wistful smile, and a dignified woman wearing an elegant bronze blouse with an untouched cup of tea beside her.
"My condolences for your 8th son, Marcus" The woman in the red dress began.
"While he was the weakest of your children, it is still unfortunate when family blood is spilled." The gaunt man added in a scaly voice.
"Thank you both". The large man replied, bowing slightly.
"So, what 'er we gunna do bout ta' Grey Knight?" The buff man asked with a thick accent.
"His existence is public knowledge now. The Council failed their job, so we should let the public destroy him." The woman in bronze suggested nonchalantly.
"We should attempt to turn him. His strength has been a thorn in our side for a while, but we should use him. He's already shown to be on par with at least our weaker children." The gaunt man coldly countered.
"If that gilded armor…, the armor that fool was borrowing, couldn't turn him, I doubt any magical means could reliably control him." Marcus mused.
"Speaking of," the woman in bronze interjected, "were you able to recover that important resource from your son?
Marcus hung his head. "No. That's yet another shame that brat's death has brought to my name."
"So, ta' Knight took is life ann de artifact? Ow unfortunate fur you dis evening, ol' chum." The buff man took a large drink to emphasize the point.
"This does put a smudge on our reputations…Perhaps we should get a few others involved and finally get rid of that nuisance." The woman in red offered.
"If you're offering to put your name and blood on the line, please feel free." Marcus shot back.
"Then I will. But using other assets at my disposal. A hero perhaps. We'll see how cunning he really is. I do hope he doesn't break so easily." She smiled. "Though, if you want you get even, you're welcome to send one of your own, Marcus."
"Why not." Marcus grumbled.
"It is settled then. On to other news." The woman in bronze changed the topic. "I have received word that 'she' plans to send her speaker soon."
"What?!"
"Really?!"
"When?!" The others were in shock, as Marcus dropped his head.
"All I have heard is that there is a plan to send her speaker. Even that information was a gift to us, so we should prepare."
"If it's not one headache it's another" Marcus grumbled.
"By da way Marcus, yu should probably offer 'er' somein' important awfter losing da gift she gave ya." The buff man taunted.
"I'll be sure to do that. Thanks, Jacob." Marcus sneered.
"Unless you have anything relevant to discuss, I believe we're done here." The woman in bronze interjected.
All five stood, raised their glasses and drank.