Burt nodded.
“Good. Can I get you something for pain?” she asked.
“No, Mike gave me something while you were gone.”
“I hear he passed the bucket too.”
Burt laughed. “Leave it to a farm boy to think of everything.”
“That’s funny. I keep forgetting he grew up on a farm. He’s so posh.”
“I think he got that from reading books,” Burt said.
“Maybe,” Mia replied. “How are the nerds holding up? They’re both going to lie to me when I ask.”
“Cid’s in considerable pain. He won’t take anything for it. Says it will dull his mega brain.”
“I gave Ted something before I left, but I can’t tell if he’s in pain. He’s behaving rather odd.”
“How can you tell?”
This caused Mia to laugh.
“Mia, all of us feel guilty. We fear that our situation has forced your hand, or wings.”
“Burt, I appreciate your concern, but if I have the ability to help you, to start your healing, I’m going to take advantage of it. If I need to deal with the crap that goes with it, I will. It’s the way I roll. No one forced my hand. It was my choice.”
“Thank you, Mia.”
“You’re welcome,” she said. The lightning flashed, immediately followed by a loud crash. She moved quickly over to Ted and slid in beside him.
Ted put his arm around her. “My brave little warrior who’s afraid of lightning.”
Mia inched closer and put her hand on his wounded leg. She used the situation to pull the poison out of his leg. She visualized the clean tissue knitting together and new cells forming where the corrupted cells had been removed.
“Mia,” Ted said gently. “Are you awake?”
“Mmmm,” she said. “Sorry, I must have fallen asleep. What did I miss?”
“Nothing, you just went all silent for a moment. And my leg got really warm… Hey! You did that on purpose. Mia, you have to stop. You’ll wear yourself out.”
“Tell me about those wormy things Cid and Jake came up with?” she requested.
“They call them Oculars. They’re small, mobile robots that can slide under doors and crawl up the frames to give us a better view of what is going on. Curly is great but hardly stealthy. Watch.” Ted typed a few commands into the program. “Hold your hand this far off the table.”
Mia held it a half inch. The three robots slinked over, each with their lens held high, until they got to Mia’s hand. All lowered their lens so it was flat and slid it under her hand, popping it up on the other side.
“Whoa, that’s cool. And they send a signal back?” she asked.
Ted turned the monitor, and Mia watched the exercise from the worm’s-eye-view, so to speak.
“That is so cool. Congrats, guys,” she said.
“But it’s not a gun,” Cid mumbled.
“No, but they have uses. Curly can provide a charge of electricity. He’s a weapon. The Oculars give us good intel, so Murphy can concentrate on fighting,” Mia said. “Mike wasn’t being critical, Cid. He’s just a bit overwhelmed.”
The thunder crashed again nearby. The room lit up, and Mia observed all the normally dark corners and was pleased to only see Murphy lurking around. They had been rationing the light discs. They would need electricity soon. Mia needed to find out where the main was and get them some power. If she could just get them a half-an-hour, they could store enough in the generators to get them through another night.
Mia got up, moved around to the other side of the table, and slid over next to Cid. She could feel the heat even before she touched his forehead. “Baby, you’re burning up,” she said, concerned. She motioned for Mike to come over.
He was there in seconds. “What’s up?”
“Cid’s in trouble. Can you help get him to the table so I can examine him?”
“Sure, Mia. You crawl under and get behind him, and we’ll slide him until we run out of bench.”
Mia did as instructed, and soon, the two of them were carrying the tech to the banquette table. Mia took off Cid’s shirt and looked at his ribs. She ran her hand around until she found a missing piece. “Damn it, how did I miss this?”
“What?”
“There’s a piece of detached rib, and I fear that it has become lodged in his liver or spleen. I’m not sure which at this point. All I know is, I have to get it out. But I can’t, not even under the control of a mage, do that kind of operation to remove the piece.”
“I can,” Murphy said behind her. If I can start your heart, I can remove a splinter,” he reasoned.
“Oh my god, he’s right,” Mia said. “But the bleeding, how do I control the bleeding?”
“I’ll do it with my other hand,” he said.
“Ted, how long would Murphy have to apply pressure to form a clot?”
“It depends on the size of the tear. A few minutes.”
“I may be able to start the healing at this point,” Mia said. “I can’t guarantee it, but I don’t think we have much of a choice.”
“Do it, Mia,” Cid said.
Mia nodded to Murphy.
“Mike, you need to hold Cid still. Audrey, hold his legs. There isn’t any anesthetic for what we’re about to do.”
Audrey understood.
Mia once again called for the mages.
Murphy studied Cid’s chest and pushed through it and found the piece. He pulled it out and slid it back into place while he held back the flow of blood with his other hand.
“I got this, Murph. You can let go,” Mia said in an odd voice. It sounded like she was talking from far away. She held on to the two pieces with her mind, and they started to bind. Next, she concentrated on the injury to his liver. She called upon the old ones to help her. Soon the blood stopped. She placed a napkin on top of Cid’s chest and pulled the bad blood through his skin and onto the cloth. When it could hold no more, she used another cloth until
