Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

"Zana!" T yells at me as I run around getting ready.

"I'm ready let's go!" I yell grabbing our coats as we run out the door.

"I told you to run rounds after," she says annoyed.

"We're not going to be late, it's fine," I say as we jog down the stairs out into the cooler weather.

"You are such a pain," T says, smiling.

"You love me," I say sticking my tongue out.

"Yeah, yeah," T says, knocking into me playfully.

"You didn't even change out of your boots," T says, and I snicker.

I put on a nice blouse that magically appeared in my drawers one day along with a nice pair of slacks, but I've managed to ruin every pair of shoes I own except for these; so, I always keep the boots on anymore. It's also nice to know that I always have them in case I need to get in and out of anywhere quickly. T loops her arm with mine and we meet Greyson, Aviva, and Mason at the front of the school.

"Avi! What are you doing here?" I ask her happily.

"She's happier to see Aviva then me," Greyson mumbles to T but I hear it.

"I uh-" Aviva stutters.

"Is it about the one boot malfunctioning occasionally? I watched her nearly crash into a wall yesterday," Mason says hugging me.

"It is," Aviva says giving me a look.

"He taught me to fight and he's a good friend," I say quietly to her and she nods.

"We'll check it out once you get your award!" Aviva squeals hugging me.

"It's not a big deal, my teachers just like me because I am a hard worker," I say to them before they head into the auditorium.

The ceremony drags on forever and I can't wait for it to be over. Mounting the stage, I smile at the crowd and see my little group altogether. Greyson stands up and whistles loudly and I shake my head at him, he is something else. Shaking hands with all of the teachers and the principal I settle back in my seat and am thankful to be out of the spotlight. Meeting back up with everyone Mason hugs me before heading home to get work done. I can see the tension in his shoulders from being with Greyson and I don't blame him for his hasty retreat.

"Okay, so who's he?" Greyson asks once he's out of earshot.

"He teaches self-defense classes with his mom and when I expressed that I wanted to learn more he gave me almost one hundred lessons for free. His sister died due to domestic violence and he swore to help any woman in need after that," I say.

"Sounds familiar, doesn't it?" T asks me, nudging me.

"He's a good friend and I am thankful for the skills he has given me," I say.

"And he knows your secret?" Greyson asks and Aviva smacks him.

"Back off," she says seriously, and I can sense a little tension.

"I sense a story," I say, and Aviva turns her head away.

"Aviva found out about Alexander first and then she pieced it together than Cathleen was also one of us and I wasn't pleased," Greyson says coldly.

"There is no story," Aviva says but I know she's lying.

"Can we stop and get ice cream?" I ask T, wide-eyed, and smiling.

"Sure," she says smiling at me.

"Woo!" I say jumping up and down excited.

"Do you have a no-sugar rule or something?" Aviva asks confused.

"No, I just don't have a ton of spare cash and I spend it all on healthier options so that this one can run around the way she does," T says.

"Ice cream is on me," Aviva says smiling at me.

We stop a local ice cream parlor before heading home to eat it. We scatter around the living room and eat-in quiet. Staring at the certificate they give me a flutter of excitement courses through me as I think about graduation and going to my dream school. I couldn't be more thankful for everything that I have and have been given.

Our whole building shakes and we all jolt to our feet and Aviva catches my ice cream before it hits the ground. Glancing out the window I see smoke billowing from a building in the distance. Without even thinking I grab my clothes and dart to change, barely getting my mask on I see that Aviva is changed and Greyson is yanking on his shirt.

"Well I'll just sit here and balance my checkbook," T says plopping down on the couch.

"Don't do anything stupid!" She yells as we head out of the kitchen.

Once my feet hit the fire escape, I throw my boots in high gear and we all take off. Greyson keeps up with Aviva and me with ease and we hover in front of one of the massive apartment complexes that are brand spanking new. People spill out of the building and Aviva and I split up as Greyson goes to handle debris and the crowd.

Slipping into one of the smash windows I start removing people from the building but there are over twenty floors and it is too time-consuming to take everyone two at a time. Communicating with Greyson he starts catching people from lower floors and Aviva helps me on the upper levels. Clearing the top five floors, I know the bottom levels are cleared. Smashing into another door, I am thrown back by another explosion that shakes the whole building.

When the smoke clears, I am under a couple of hundred pounds of cement and ceiling tiles, looking up I see that I went through the floor. The chatter in the earpiece becomes background noise as my body tries to expel some energy. Climbing back up, I see that the whole apartment was rigged to explode. Everything on that floor has been leveled, tears burn in my eyes as I see a few charred bodies in the rubble. Resisting the urge to grab them I continue to search for survivors and eventually tune in to what is being said.

"I think she lost her earpiece if she isn't responding," Greyson says.

"Sorry, I am here," I say choking on smoke and grabbing a young couple and their child and taking them to the ground.

"What happened?"

"I smashed into a door to try and get people up and the whole floor blew up," I say.

"Are you alright?" Aviva asks and my hand rests on my side, the internal crystallization has expanded.

"I'll be okay," I say lying and that silences them.

"The whole building is going to come down soon, it's leaning, what's your status?" Greyson asks.

"Bottom twelve floors have been cleared," Aviva says.

"Top eight have been cleared," I say.

"Four more to go, get moving," Greyson says, and I work harder clearing rooms, grabbing more people, and moving as fast as I can.

"That building is going to crumble, I'm moving people as far away as possible, but Alpha I could use you to contain debris," Greyson says.

"On my way, do you have the last floor Aegis?"

"Got it," I say flying back in carefully.

I drop off a few more people and they sprint towards the crowd that is now a few blocks away. Something itches within me and I do one more sweep of the floor and I know someone is still here.

"Aegis, you need to get out of there!"

"Why?"

The building starts to shake under my feet and running into the last apartment at the end of the hall. I see an uninjured little girl, no older than three, surrounded by her dead parents. Grabbing her from the floor and pulling her into my arms, the ground lurches under my feet and I spin the boots on and hover. Trying to navigate the falling debris, a massive metal pipe sends me flying into the ground and I see a crack in the bracelet. The building continues to crumble around me, and I just pull the child closer and curl around her as my body is pummeled by falling beams and drywall.

"Aegis!" Two voices scream in my ear.

A massive metal beam smashes into me and pushes me further into the pile of rubble. Feeling for a pulse on the child, I found a weak one and that renews my sense of faith. Trying to move, I am pressed so tightly in-between two beams I can't even move my legs. Somehow the child still has all four of her limbs and is breathing.

"G, what do we do? She's not answering!"

"I don't know what to do, do we have a reading on her?"

"Invi says that she is still registering a heartbeat," Aviva says.

"We can't get a location though because of all of the rubble, I don't want to start moving things and risk hurting her," Greyson says.

"We need a sign Aegis, if you can hear us, just give us something, anything," Aviva's strained voice says.

The energy building within me is desperate to come out, but my body is so weak from the beating that I don't know if I can release it properly. I try to move my legs but there is no moving a six-thousand-pound hunk of metal off of me. Tears blur my vision and I bury my face into the little girl's hair which is covered in blood. A sob wracks through my chest as I pull her closer.

"Aegis?"

"Aegis please, I can't tell Thalia that you... please Z," Greyson whispers into his headset. The pain in his voice is startling and alarming, Greyson never shows emotion in such a strong magnitude.

I manage a small grunt and start to thrash around in the rubble, hurting myself further. My rock-hard skin threatens to burst but I force it to harden further, nearly breaking something in my arm. Pulling the little girl closer, the explosion that happens only happens on my back and in my legs. The debris clears for a second and I touch the partially cracked bracelet and shoot through some of the falling rubble before breaking the surface barely.

"Aegis, turn them off!" Aviva screams and I smash the bracelet into something, and it kicks off.

Preparing to fall back onto the top of the pile, my body is suspended in air and I am slowly moved away from the pile and put onto the ground. A familiar set of grey eyes meet my own as he checks my pupils and grabs my one arm and puts the child onto his side. Helping me to my feet, my one leg is completely stiff, and I only have one boot. A flash goes off and I am blinded momentarily.

"You okay?" Greyson asks.

"Not yet," I say softly.

"Let's get you home," Greyson says quietly.

I can't go to school the next day, which is fine by me because it is senior ditch day anyway. My body took too much of a beating the night before and I will take a verbal beating from Greyson and T once I am feeling better. The little girl I went back for, is safe, except for a broken arm and some nasty cuts, but overall completely healthy. Aviva, Greyson, and I are all over the news, The Mavericks save hundreds from a domestic terrorist attack. Yes, the bombings were planned and considered a terroristic attack. I would be at a rally in a few days to officially and public introduce me as a member of the Mavericks.

"Zana?"

"What's up Cathleen?" I grumble lifting my head from the couch.

"Have you eaten?" She asks me quietly and I grunt.

"I don't know what that means," she says.

"I had oatmeal earlier," I say.

"How's your leg?"

"Releasing slowly, I'm more worried about this thing inside my side," I say honestly.

"Has G looked at it?"

"I don't know," I grumble.

"Somebody is grumpy," Cathleen states tapping on her phone. Of course, I am grumpy, I nearly died and am still in a lot of pain.

"I had a building fall on me!" I exclaim.

"I know, I will have Aviva and Greyson stop by in a little bit to check on you consider I am not of much use," Cathleen says.

"Whatever," I mumble before dozing off again.

"Zana it's Grey, please don't punch me in the face," a soft voice says.

"Now I am tempted to just do it for shits," I mumble into the pillow. I hear Aviva snicker in the background.

"Rollover," Greyson says rolling me onto my back.

"I'm going to pull your shirt up so I can check out your side, okay?"

I just grunt in response, I feel an external probing and an internal one to my side. I know Aviva is analyzing it to see what the mass is, and Greyson is looking for exterior signs of trauma. Slowly the prodding stops and I open my eyes tired.

"What's the prognosis?"

"I have no clue," Greyson says looking at Aviva.

"It's an internal crystallization like you're predicted a few weeks ago, it has an identical makeup to what is left on your leg. How do you get rid of that build up?" Aviva says gesturing to my leg which is almost back to normal.

Looking down at my foot, I focus on the energy that is being held within the crystals, forcing the energy to move quickly, there is a gust of air and the skin on my leg reappears as the crystal dissolves into nothingness. Aviva looks at me shocked.

"Where are you from?" Aviva asks me, confusing me.

"No clue, I just know I ended up here," I say.

"Careful, you don't want to aggravate that," Greyson says.

"I need to go do back to work, let me know if you need anything else," Aviva says before disappearing.

"I will stay here until T gets home," Greyson says leaning against the far end of the couch.

"You called her T," I say amused.

"It's weird to call her that because my superhero name is G," Greyson admits.

"That makes sense, I have always just known her as T and it would be weird to call her Thalia or Tali," I say.

"You need to be careful Zana, if that continues to grow, we are going to have a problem," Greyson says.

"I'm not going to start rounds until after the publicity stunt in a few days," I say frustrated.

"You won't be able to save anyone if you don't take care of yourself," Grey says.

"I know!" I exclaim and he shuts up.

"Sorry," I say a few moments later.

"It's okay Zana, this is frustrating, everyone in the Mavericks understands that all too well, including me. But just know that you will heal, with time," Greyson says. There is a knowing look in his eyes that tells me that a lot of the team has been severely injured before, and as the residential doctor, he was the one who had to deal with it.

What's everyone's favorite number? Mine is 8, so I like when my chapter have an 8 in them :) I'm sorry if there's more typos then normal, I am really tired today. My allergies were murdering me for most of the afternoon.

Don't forget to vote and comment!

XX Cc