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"Hsh, fuck!"
"I would think by now you would be used to getting stitches, Ricky," Rio muttered while staring unblinkingly as she stitched together the bloody gash across her regular's brow, "What is it now, couldn't pay your debt? Bar Brawl? Or did you just piss off the wrong person?"
"You have no faith in me, do you?" Ricky asked with a wounded look in his eyes, only to find Rio's knowing and steely gaze that made him let out a long sigh, "This guy kept fouling me on the court...he was over doing it and I just told him the facts."
"Mhm, and tell me, did you use your words or your hands to tell him that?" Rio asked rhetorically, already knowing the answer by the ashamed look in Ricky's eyes, "You gotta get control of your temper, Ricardo gonna get you killed one of these days, especially with everything going on."
"Yeah, but if I do that, I won't have any excuse to come over here and visit you," Rick countered with a roguish grin as he stared into Rio's eyes, "When are you gonna let me take you out, mami?"
"Hey, just because I love you doesn't mean I like you," Rio admonished as she finished the last stitch, "Now you better drop all this nonsense or I'm gonna stop treating you for free."
"Can't blame me for trying," Ricky muttered with a helpless shrug as Rio grabbed a swab, using it to apply some antiseptic cream over his fresh wound, "You know it's in my nature."
"Even after all these years, you still haven't stopped fucking around," Rio muttered with a disapproving click of her tongue, "You'll never grow up, will you?"
Ricky shrugged, "It's worked out for me so far, why change things up now?"
"Because life ain't certain, Ricky, never know what's gonna hit you," Rio replied, a bit of melancholy creeping into her tone.
"Is that why you moved back?" Ricky asked after a pause as he looked into Rio's eyes, one of his usual swaggers that he wore like armor present, "I-I heard about Jefferson, I'm sorry I haven't, you know, offered my condolences sooner."
Rio paused for a moment before letting out a low sigh, "Thank you, Ricky, that...means a lot. I know you and Jefferson didn't get along that much-"
"Only because he made me reflect on who I was," Ricky interrupted with a sniff as he looked away from Rio, "I mean, he and his brother were notorious, but he met you and got his whole act together and even made it onto the police force. Which is admirable even if I hate the pigs."
Rio fell silent as she fought the surge of memories trying to break through, "Thank you, Ricky, that means a lot, and I know if Jefferson were still with us, he would-"
"Nah, he would still hate my ass," Ricky interrupted as he hopped off of the table, "And rightfully so, he was stubborn like that."
Rio let out a short laugh as a fond smile crossed her face, "Very stubborn, I remember when he first came in for physical therapy, he refused any help at all, even though he could barely walk to the toilet by himself."
Ricky opened his mouth to respond when the privacy screen was suddenly thrown open and Rio spun around to see her second in command, "Rio, you gotta come quick, there's-"
Anita paused mid-sentence as she looked from Rio to Ricky, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere else, "Of course you're here."
"Hey, Anita, how you doing?" Ricky asked as he rubbed the back of his neck and glanced away from Anita's piercing glare.
Closing her eyes, the nurse took a deep breath, calming herself before opening them again, "Any other day I would drag your ass through this hospital, but you're lucky cause we've got bigger problems."
"Problems, w-what problems?" Rio asked as Ricky grabbed his coat and made a hasty retreat.
"A bunch of news vans are pulling up outside, talking about some press conference, and there a bunch of people running around in the lobby talking to people, and I don't know what the fuck is going on," Anita answered as they started walking towards the front of he building, "Also, apparently the whole board was here today having some meeting that they weren't planning on saying shit about."
"Argh, those pricks," Rio cursed, "Blood sucking parasites that do nothing but sit around and care nothing about the community they're supposed to be helping."
"Well, what can you expect when their suits and high heels cost more than my rent?" Anita muttered, "But this is something else, agreeing to a press conference when we're this understaffed and overcrowded, giving us no time to prepare or even a say in the matter."
Rio shook her head, "Probably announcing another damn fundraiser that we'll never see a dime of."
"How can they keep getting away with this?" Anita asked no one in particular, "We should report them to the board."
"And do you have the thousand dollars lying around it takes to actually get your complaint seen or would you rather put it through the free option and have it be buried with a thousand other complaints," Rio asked bitterly, "The system is broken Anita, but we do what we have to."
Anita nodded and, as a united front, they stormed into the lobby ready to raise hell, only to pause as they laid eyes on the sight that awaited them.
"Anita, I thought you said there were a bunch of people running around and all hell was breaking loose," Rio asked cautiously as she looked around the room.
"Well, they were running around, but all of this wasn't set up...and I never technically said all hell was breaking loose, I just might have heavily implied it," Anita replied as she looked around, "I stepped away for one minute and they transformed the lobby into a help center?"
The previously crowded seating area that had forced people close together like sardines in a can had been transformed with neat, organized rows of foldable chairs, each leading to a temporary desk manned by a receptionist in green nurses' scrubs.
"Are they taking people's medical history and seeing them?" Rio asked in disbelief as she watched one man with a wheezing cough being led off by a woman dressed in a doctor's coat with emerald green accents, towards one of several temporary rooms created by privacy curtains, "Who are these people? Are they even certified to practice?"
"Ptss ten o'clock," Anita hissed, grabbing Rio's attention, "Isn't that the one kid everyone was talking about a month ago, the one who made that big announcement about making supes or something?"
Rio followed Anita's gaze to find a handsome young man, who couldn't be more than twenty years old, directing people in a frenzy of activity as more desks and privacy screens were set up, "Anita, what are you talking about?"
"I'm telling the truth, and now I'm for certain that's him! Never seen a pair of eyes like that on anyone else," Antia insisted, and unable to help her curiosity, Rio looked and found herself staring at two orbs of glowing honey amber that seemed to radiate an inviting warmth.
Those eyes then turned and stared directly back at her, making Rio blink and look back out to find that the young man was now giving her his full attention. Still confused by everything, Rio didn't hesitate and instead started to walk over, intent on expressing her opinion.
"Rio, what are you doing?!" Anita hissed as she tried to grab her friend's wrist, only for Rio to slip out of reach at the last second. Letting out a groan, Anita jumped to catch up with Rio, all while hoping this wouldn't end up exploding in their faces.
"You!" Rio shouted, her anger clearly directed at the young man who continued to stare at her blankly, "Are you the one in charge of all of this?"
Rio gesticulated at the hospital around them as she continued to steam forward, "This is a hospital, you can't just stroll in and have your people do what you want!"
The young man held up his hand, and for a moment, Rio's anger flared, thinking that he was trying to silence her. Fortunately, a moment before she decided to verbally attack him she noticed the two, very tall and muscular men dressed in black suits paused midstride, where they had been ready to intercept her.
"It's all good, Ms. Morales just wants to talk about what's going on in her place of work," The man explained to the two bodyguards as a brilliant smile spread across his face, "Why don't you guys take five, I think Charles and Ben are about to come back from their break."
Rio blinked at the stranger's interaction, trying to fit the richly dressed man in front of her, wondering why he didn't contain a hint of superiority she had always encountered when talking to someone in the tax bracket above her, "You know who I am?"
The man nodded and held out his hand. "Rio Morales, Head Nurse of Mercy Hospital. My name is Harry Osborn. I've been looking forward to meeting you."