It had been four days since Arlo took down Azazel and Vritra, Elaine still had to work overtime because of those two. Rushing through corridor after corridor, acting as a war-medic to heal all these people who she barely knew. The doc barely had time to sleep, and if she stopped the amount of victims would simply pile up, and she would find a mountain of e-mails, letters, and possibly fax somehow at her door begging her to come back and help him.
She cursed herself for showing him she could help out. It was meant to be a small group of elites taken out through deceptive tactics, then it turned into twenty low-tiers who didn't respect the hierarchy, and now it was more injured than a war.
She'd gotten so used to checking pulses, and corneas, she had to stop herself from lunging her delicate fingers into someone's eye during a greeting. It gnawed at her during after-school as well, not letting her go shopping, or coffee shops. It loomed over her like a sadistic ghost, telling her there was one more person she had to help today.
The night before, her mother called to ask how school was, and when she said tiring, her mother insisted in giving her a sermon that slacking off was unacceptable.
But today would be her last day, it didn't matter what tactic the Doc used to get her on his side today! She would announce to him that she was out of time for studies, and had to leave all the healing to him.
She stood behind the door of the infirmary, with lines of injured people being carried, or walking in make-shift crutches to ask for help. Their eyes lit up to her appearance, it almost made her heart feel heavy. But she'd steeled herself for this moment. So she opened the door.
She wasn't sure what she expected on the other side. Maybe messy papers everywhere, a panicking Doc scrounging for chemicals to heal the children. Patients everywhere, almost piled. Last time she was there, the beds were gone and patients were on futons, laid down on parallel.
Doc, shaved, shining, almost sat down on his chair, with one leg on top of his knee, with a stethoscope as he looked at an adult in the room with him. It was a tall woman with Aqua blue hair. She nodded while sitting down in front of him as Doc let one of the kids into the room. He looked far more handsome than normal, as if he was trying hard to keep his face in one particular shape. This had to be some kind of dream, or illusion, or an ability at play.
"Oh Elaine, you didn't tell me you were acting as an apprentice to this brilliant doctor." The woman with aqua blue hair turned around, it wasn't an illusion, or a dream… that was her mother inside the infirmary.
"Oh yes, she's been so incredibly helpful these past few days. Volunteering to help the students that get hurt oh so often. I think it's great for her experience, and for her future."
"You don't say! I thought you were slacking off when we talked on the phone yesterday, but you were just helping the staff. Why didn't you tell me?"
"N-no, wait –" Elaine was cut off immediately.
"I hope you don't mind me keeping her from class here and there, I'll make sure she keeps up by having other students bring her notes, and helping her with homework." Doc bandaged a student and sealed her fate simultaneously, all while staring at her with a smile that could only belong to the devil himself, the incarnation of evil, the lord of slave labour.
"Wonderful! Wonderful! Good luck Elaine, I'll be back home, text me if you need anything! And don't slack off! You have a wonderful superior!" Elaine's mother left like a hurricane, and Elaine was left there, mouth agape.
Doc put a stethoscope, and a first aid kit in her hands.
"Welcome to the team, my young apprentice!"
"NOOOOOO!" Elaine was trapped, like a mouse in a cage. She felt less royal, and more like a servant. Running back and forth in the infirmary to grab him things, bandage people, use her ability to heal them.
Once the first round of injuries was over, she sat down on her little stool with no backrest, or armrest and stared at her worst enemy in the eyes. She very rarely hoped something bad would happen to others, but in that instance, if the Doc could suddenly collapse so she could slack off, it would be a gift from heaven.
Three knocks on the door told her god was dead, and she worked for the devil. She put her forehead against both her hands and wondered, why had she let it come to this?
Then the door opened ajar, and she saw her second mortal enemy be dragged in. With bruises, cuts, and a bone puncturing through his arm. Crimson eyes, out of it and staring at the ceiling as a hoard of low-tiers preciously put him on a bed. Black hair, soaked in blood, and a tall posture that didn't fit the bed in the infirmary. Her worst nightmare, the maker of her hell. The demon torturer of purgatory.
"Azazel" She whispered with venom. The doc looked at him, closed his eyes and took a sigh.
"That one's all yours!" Doc shoved the bed on wheels her way, and opened the door for another patient. He'd given up on Azazel entirely. He'd been in the infirmary every single day since he lost to Arlo. So for three days, four with today – and sometimes twice a day. He was the most frequent visitor. An unrelenting idiot.
She grabbed his arm and set the bone in place, then used her ability on him. She could only really heal most surface wounds, any deeper and she would exhaust herself… Besides, it served him right for constantly getting himself in this position. If she didn't know any better she'd think that he was trying to reinforce his skeleton by breaking it, then healing it repeatedly.
She shoved him to the back of the room in case elites came by. If they did, all they would do would be an attempted assasination. That would cause ruckus, and ruckus means Elaine has to break up fights, and yelling matches… This must be why all doctors go to heaven, or at the least don't care if they don't. They're already used to hell. The door was banged on, and Elaine's attention shifted to it. That was a violent way of asking to come in.
"Great, an asshole… come in!" Before she could take a seat, the doctor told the next person to come in. "What is it?"
A loud crash followed by a blur that went past Elaine and the Doc made her eyes Widen. Something crashed through the door, breaking it down and leaving only a hole in return as a person tumbled back into a resting position. From the smoke, a tall imposing figure walked in… Her second worst enemy's twin – Vritra.
"You're kidding me! Vritra! You know the rules of this place!" The doc yelled out, and before he could activate his ability, Vritra used both of his feet, while half of his body was covered in scales, and drop-kicked her into the wall next-door, interrupting the chess-club's activities.
"..." Elaine took a deep breath of despair as yelling and wailing drowned out her sanity, with motes of collective rainbow hair making their escape from Vritra who grew taller as numerous lacerations on his back, chest and arms healed themselves.
"That's for Ventus!" The blur that had crashed through two walls stood up with a broken arm. Her burgundy mop of hair, now a mess with its tips scorched – not from fire, just the friction of her face being dragged through the floor mind you – made itself visible.
"So… Arlo sent you to finish the Job." Slowly cracking his neck, green scales began to slowly creep across face before receding, his eyes flashing gold but just as quickly returning to their usual red.
Elaine sighed, bandaging another patient… What Vritra just said was unlikely to say the least. Arlo had his hands full dealing with the numerous rebellions on campus. Even Zeke was helping, and he barely ever does anything productive.
With a stomp of his foot, ice began trailing behind Vritra's form. Wind lashed through the infirmary, knocking bandages, stools and some patients alike into disarray. Meili's knees buckled as the gust lifted her off her greet, dragging her across the floor tiles.
Vritra's eyes glinted as he crouched, letting the storm settle briefly, then surge again around Meili's head. Each breath he took seemed to pull more of hers away. His scales began to spread further across his arms and chest, red and black crawling up his neck and face, faint embers of flame escaping through his nose.
"You really think you alone can challenge me?" Vritra's voice was low and questioning as he looked at the girl gasping for air she could not get. Ice gathered around his finger tip creating a sharp nail that he trailed across her cheek. "Why do you all keep testing me? Why do you make me do this?"
With no warning, the giant slammed his fist down at the girl's head, before beginning to yell. "WHY DO YOU KEEP TRYING TO TAKE WHAT IS MINE!?" He all but roared, picking the girl up by the throat and throwing her across the room. The effect of his wind dissipating, along with the large inhale from Meili. "Arlo, Isen, BLYKE! CREIG! ABEL! YOU! FUCKING VENTUS!" With every name, he took a step, until he stood in front of the gasping girl. The large man held his head as he roared. "FIRST YOU TAKE JIN! YOU TRY TO TAKE ROLLAND FROM ME! THEN YOU TRY TO TAKE AZAZEL!?"
Vritra's size surged as he began kicking and stomping Meili down, Ice encasing and shattering in quick successions. Wind lacerating the girl, as she could do nothing but sit there and curl up in a sad attempt at protecting herself. "WHY DID YOU HAVE TO ATTACK ME! HUH!? WHY DID YOU TRY TO DO THIS BULLSHIT! WHY DO ALL OF YOU MAKE ME HURT YOU!?"
Vritra raised his fist, then waited for a second. Elaine wondered what he was waiting for – but hoped someone would step in to stop him. She turned around, and there was no one to do so. The Doc was too busy helping people out of the rubble. Elaine wasn't going to risk it either.
Something brushed against her, and the shadow of a barely alive Azazel appeared next to Vritra, putting his left hand on his forearm. His right arm was inside his pocket, despite not bleeding, or having anything outwardly wrong with him, Azazel still had several broken bones and moving should be agonizing. He tapped Vritra's forearm twice again, then used his hand to put his index finger on his lips.
Vritra stopped and lowered his own arm as Meili's arms fell next to her with her face down. She collapsed from blood loss. Elaine moved quickly and recovered her body from the ground. She was cold to the touch, and had several lacerations and cuts all over her body. It wasn't life endangering with her around, but if there were no capable medics in the school… Elaine doubted she could make it.
Simultaneously, Vritra helped Azazel get back to his bed. That's when Elaine realized she hadn't heard him move. She knew he did, because he brushed against her, but to move without making a sound… it sent a chill down her spine.
Elaine went back to healing people. She spent the entire day healing people as a matter of fact. Until sun-down. She was tired, exhausted, and out of aura or energy. When she got home, she would love nothing but to collapse.
If she was thankful for something, it would be the grateful low-tiers that offered her their homework for helping them out first. As a capitalist-blooded medic, Elaine took their prioritization in stride. Vritra didn't leave Azazel's side during the after-math of his fight. The Doc was so mad, he made Vritra apologize with his head down, and it was such a rare sight, she doubted she'd ever see it again. A positive of Vritra being there would have to be how quiet the infirmary was afterward.
"Welp, I'll wrap up here. Finish up with your last patient, then go home!" Doc grabbed a couple of papers and a pen-drive, then disappeared home. He moved faster than a lot of Elite tiers with speed-based abilities. A blue-blured speedster. Elaine on the other hand, turned her head at her last patient.
Azazel Wodime. With more injuries than any single person in the infirmary, healing all at once was practically impossible. It made the fact he stood up to stop Vritra all the more impressive… Even more impressive than that was him – she looked at the taller twin – he was able to survive several stab-wounds to the chest, and seemed to heal extremely fast.
As if he'd noticed her staring, Vritra turned his head at her.
"No one left." If anyone else said it, Elaine would have taken that statement as, 'there's no one else in the room'. But because Vritra is the one who said it, it felt more like 'You're next' and she tensed up thinking about it.
The Giant put one arm forward, positioning it to the middle of Azazel's chest. Closing his eyes, Elaine saw him take a deep breath before relaxing into his seat, his aura now visible and glowing a bright gold. A pillar of white gold light slammed onto Azazel.
Elaine was blinded at first, she rushed to Azazel's side and examined him. His ribs, his femur, his fore-arm and fingers. His entire body had been healed in one fell swoop. It wasn't an attack, but rather, another one of his ever-growing sub-abilities. Most people would most likely feel terrified of Vritra, an amalgamation of abilities and ever-growing potential. Instead, all Elaine could feel was rage. Her head slowly turned toward Vritra as her eyes stared at him with barely any light or color. The eyes of a soulless woman, the eyes of your average customer service provider.
"You could heal this whole time?"
"You can go and tell someone, but no one will believe you." That giant bastard had the gall to put a finger in front of his mouth.
"IT'S NOT FAIR! IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN HIM! NOT ME! HIM!" She fell to her knees and slammed her fists against the ground as tears rolled down her cheek. How many hours did she spend healing people, and this tall draconic asshole could have done it this whole time with more efficiency. The world was unfair, she wanted a refund! Couldn't she have had a defensive ability instead? The ability to conjure clothing, or cloth, or smoothies! Anything but healing! ANYTHING BUT HEALING!