Hellbent: Recovery

Angel Falls Regional Hospital. It had been nearly seven hours since the heroine Kai Steel had fallen almost 50 stories to the streets below. Angelina had seen a short blurb about the incident, as she happened to be walking through the waiting room at the Kinder Care pediatric hospital. Standing outside the ER entrance, Angelina noticed a handful of people protesting near the ambulance ramp. They must be some of the people outraged by the affair with Melinda Crane and who had no idea where Mrs. Crane was being hospitalized. Paying them little heed, as she felt the need to be expedient, Angelina merely walked passed the crowd. She could hear the shouts begin to die down, the prejudicial hatred becoming nearly silent. Two-thirds of the protesters dropped their slander-filled signs and fell to their knees begging forgiveness for allowing hatred to claim their hearts. They prayed to God, to Jesus, to Angelina. It was not for her to forgive them, as Angelina did not begrudge them their opinions. She wished they could all find understanding and love in their hearts, but she knew that they were not bad people. Smiling warmly to the protesters, Angelina entered the ER. The sounds of joyful weeping were cut off as the glass doors slid shut behind her.

“Excuse me, miss. I am looking for the patient who was brought in a few hours ago. The woman who fell from the Meta Life building.” Angelina says to the nurse on duty, as she approaches the receptionist’s desk.

Without looking up, the nurse continues jotting down schedules. “If you are family or a friend, you may go to the waiting room in G and have a seat. She is currently in surgery and… Oh!” The nurse looks up and stares at Angelina in surprise. “Miss Angelina, I’m so sorry! I did not know it was you!” Before Angelina can even utter a reply, the nurse, a large black woman named Monique, stands up and walks around the desk. “You just follow me, and I will take you right to her.”

“Thank you, Monique.” Angelina falls into step behind the nurse as she briskly walks down the corridors with an air of authority that seems to part the people before her with an invisible hand.

They walk into wing G and Angelina notices there is only one person there, a small woman with strawberry blonde hair in her mid-twenties. She is lying across a couch sleeping, a book sitting face down on her chest. The two women finally come to a stop at room G104.

“This should be the one you are looking for, honey.” Nurse Monique picks up the clipboard on the door and reads over the patient information. “Kaitlyn O’Hern. Wow, if she ain’t a big girl. Poor thing has sustained massive internal injuries. Looks like she just got out of surgery a few moments ago. Looks like you got some good timin’. Sounds like Dr. Faust and Dr. Linkmen are both inside. I’ll leave you to it.” Nurse Monique smiles and walks back in the direction they came from.

Angelina opens the door and quietly walks inside. The two doctors appear to be looking over Kaitlyn’s surgery synopsis while prepping her for, what appears to be, extensive cast work. Angelina is about to introduce herself when the door clicks shut behind her. Both doctors turn around and Angelina takes note of their name tags. Dr. Faust is an older man, obviously the senior doctor. Dr. Linkmen looks to be in his early fourties, his face very kind in appearance.

Dr. Faust is the first to respond at Angelina’s intrusion. Looking her up and down, he gruffly says, “You can’t be in here, and Halloween is still a few months away, girl. Go sit in the waiting room.” Dr. Linkmen looks over at him and frowns, but remains silent.

“I am not here as a visitor, Dr. Faust. I am here to help this woman,” Angelina plainly states, as she indicates the naked woman on the hospital bed.

“Is that so?” Dr. Faust asks, clearly becoming more agitated. “Well we don’t need help from the likes of you. What? It isn’t enough that your kind are trying to take over the city by running for Mayor? Now you want to take away all of our jobs too?”

“Larry, hold on a minute now!” Dr. Linkmen says, as he steps between Angelina and Dr. Faust.

“You want something to hold on to? How about your job, or do you want this freak to do it for you? She’s not even a damned doctor! Don’t you ever listen to Ben Trek? It’s all a conspiracy, and gullible fools like you are allowing it to happen! Why don’t we just make one of them President for Christ’s sake!”

Dr. Linkmen begins walking the older doctor out of the room. “Well that could only improve things, don’t you think Larry? Why don’t we step out of the room and quit disturbing the patient.” Dr. Linkmen gently pushes Dr. Faust outside the door and closes it behind him. “I’m sorry, ma’am. He’s a wonderful doctor, but he’s set in his ways.”

“Please don’t trouble yourself over it. I have heard much worse,” Angela states with a warm smile. What was Ms. O’Hern in surgery for that took six hours?”

“Well, she had massive internal hemorrhaging, both lungs collapsed. We got one of them working under machines now, but the other was too badly punctured. Her head had suffered severe trauma and had caused Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension. We had to drill a few holes through the skull to alleviate some of the cerebrospinal fluid pressure. I would go through the list of broken bones, but I’ll just say she has quite a few, primarily in the torso and right arm. We were just about to start casting her and slinging her up.”

“Okay, thank you, Doctor. If you could please, allow me to tend to her. I would prefer not to be disturbed, if it can be helped, and it may take some time.” Angelina begins walking over to Kaitlyn’s bedside.

“Yes, of course. Please have me paged if you require anything at all.” With that, Dr. Linkmen steps out of the room, intercepting Dr. Faust just before he can storm back in.

Angelina looks down at the woman know as Kai Steel. How different she looked as flesh and blood. Angelina had never met her personally, but she was familiar with a few of Kai’s brave acts. Pulling the sheets up over Kaitlyn’s exposed body, Angelina saw a number of the scars covering her dark skin. Angelina gently pulled the IV out of Kaitlyn’s arm and moved the cart aside. Bringing up a chair, Angelina sat down next to the bed. Kaitlyn’s face was flitting through emotions, but seemed to be settling on anguish. Tears ran down her cheeks. Angelina wiped the tears from Kaitlyn’s face and brushed her hair aside with a gentle hand. Kai’s expression seemed to immediately soften and relax. Angelina wondered what thoughts troubled this woman, as she lay there trapped in her mind.

“It’s time for you to return to this world, Kaitlyn,” whispered Angelina as she began the task of healing this heroine’s grievous wounds.

* * * * *

It had been another long day of classes, and an even longer evening of working. Kai walked up the stairwell to the apartment she and Neamia, her roommate, shared. The front door was ajar. Neamia, being a petite girl, was very uptight about safety and security and always locked the door. This put Kai immediately on edge. Quietly setting down her coat and purse, Kai opened the door further and walked into the foyer. She could hear voices coming from the bedroom, down the hall to her right. It sounded like two men and their voices were unfamiliar. Grabbing a knife from the kitchen, Kai moved down the hallway as silently as she could towards Neamia’s room. Standing just inside the room were two men, their backs to the door. Neamia was on the floor at their feet, her face battered and tear stained. She was practically naked, wearing only her modest undergarments. Seeing this, and hearing what the two men were saying to Neamia, Kai understood their intentions all too well – and her body began to shake in fear. What was she supposed to do? It was then that Neamia noticed Kai in the hallway and looked right at her. Kai froze in horror, for now both of the men turned around to look at the new arrival as well. Kai recognized them both as the creepy guys who liked to watch her from an alley as she would head home from gymnastics training.

One of them walked right up to Kai and made a point of ignoring the knife, staring down at her chest and leering. The other pointed to the gun in his waistband and warned her to lose the knife. Kai heard the loud thunk of the knife hitting the hardwood floor before she realized it was no longer in her hand. The man directly in front of Kai motioned with his hand and the knife floated up off the floor and sliced through the front of Kai’s shirt, leaving her feeling exposed and horribly afraid. This was the first time Kai had run into another human with abilities since she met Emmy, and it frightened her to the core. Seeing the fear plainly evident on Kai’s face, the telekinetic thug grinned wickedly. He reached a hand out and groped her body, and Kai screwed her eyes shut, a tear running down her face.

Time seemed to slow down. Kai watched, feeling detached, as the knife blade began to turn into mist. The gun in the other man’s waistband began to do the same, along with nearly all of the other metal objects in the apartment. Looking down, Kai saw both thugs had the dumbest look of shock on their faces. She now towered over both of the men and easily outweighed all three of the room’s other occupants, to which the floorboards protested. Screaming as much in anger as pain, Kai grabbed both of the bastards by their jackets, and threw the gunman into the far wall. His head went through the drywall, shoulders hitting the studs breaking both collarbones. The telekinetic responded almost immediately, likely in a panic to save his own life. Kai felt a pressure build against her chest, pushing her back. It didn’t seem like much at first, but it suddenly snapped like a rubber band and she was thrown back through the wall, outside the bedroom, into the kitchen. Roaring in fury, Kai jumped to her feet. The telekinetic had the presence of mind to grab Neamia with his power and place her between Kai and himself. Kai charged and wrapped a protective arm about Neamia, while reaching past her to grab the super human by the head. She threw him face-first against Neamia’s dresser, which shattered. Kai set Neamia down, almost absently, and pounced on the telekinetic. He was groaning in pain until he felt Kai standing over him. He shouted and tried to unleash his power upon her, but Kai grabbed his hands in one massive fist and picked him up off of the floor. She swung him like a rag doll into an adjacent wall, his legs snapping and shoulders both dislocating. The man passed out from the pain, his face bleeding and body ruined. Seeing how badly she had hurt him, Kai was immediately taken aback. As a wave of guilt and shock washed over her, Kai’s abilities once again went into dormancy.

The police had come with paramedics and had taken both men. The telekinetic had been connected to a number of other crimes. His name was Jaren Lawrence. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Kai and Neamia never told the authorities of Jaren’s abilities, fearing the need to also explain that Kai was a meta human as well. Both girls were just relieved that it was all over.

* * * * *

Kaitlyn’s eyes fluttered open. She tried to focus on the person next to her, but it took a few moments for her eyes to adjust. There was an angel sitting next to her bed. Looking around, Kai saw that she was in a hospital room and suddenly everything came flooding back into her memory. Jaren! She bolted upright, a look of panic on her face.

“Oh God! No!” Kai began to pull the sheets away and fell back to the bed. “I’m not ready to die yet… Please. I have to protect my friend. He’ll kill-“ Kai starts saying, her voice becoming unsteady before Angelina cuts off the panic attack.

“You are not dying. Please lie down and relax. You have been through a lot, Kaitlyn.” Angelina speaks soothingly to the panicked woman, who visibly calms down before lying back against the bed.

Kai looks at Angelina inquisitively, her face then lighting up with sudden recognition. “Oh, I’m sorry. I have heard about you, but I thought they were just stories. You, umm came to help me?”

“Yes.” Angelina smiles.

“Thank-thank you. I…” Kai’s voice trails off.

“Please, don’t worry over it. I am very happy that I was able to help you. Knowing that you are well is thanks enough for me.”

“Well, thanks all the same. Have you, maybe, seen…”

“…A small strawberry blonde woman who likes to read books that seem far too technical for most people?”

Kai nods, smiling.

“She is in the waiting room. I will let her know that you are awake.” Angelina gets up and walks to the door. “Please do me a favor, Kaitlyn.”

“Anything just, well, nobody calls me Kaitlyn.”

At this, Angelina chuckles and turns to face Kai. “Next time you face him, Kai, be careful.”

Kai’s face blanches and she looks down at the sheets. “You can see the future as well?”

“No.” She smiles sadly. “He left you a calling card.” Angelina nods slightly at the folded remains of Kai’s costume. A small card sits face down atop the pile. “I will go get your friend. Please remember what I said, and take care of yourself, Kai.”

Kai almost doesn’t hear her, as she stares at the white card. She hesitantly reaches out and picks it up. Flipping it over, she reads the short message written on the other side.

I hope you had a blast catching up with Jaren.

Love Always,

Dr. H



In Order of Appearance
Angelina ©
Mindy Marvel and Ben Trek ©
Kai Steel and Blind Sight ©
Dr. Hellbender ©

This took about 6 hours in Adobe after the initial sketch. I'm not entiely sure I am happy with Angelina or her wings. I spent too much time playing with trying to make wings, and not only did they not turn out quite like I hoped, but they look like I spent too much time on them... I mean, I did, but now they don't mesh with poor Angelina as well as they should. Guess I need more wings practice!

Part 1:[link]

Part 3:[link]