trans_9 | Down Too Deep [open]

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Down Too Deep [open]

Nura's not going to wake up anytime soon, is what has been determined.

She's not going to move from her bed in the Med Bay for some time.

She's not going to.

But the heart monitor that she's connected to says there's definitely hope, as the machines that she's been connected to help keep her breathing and functioning. She lays in the Med Bay bed, unmoving, looking so silent, almost as if she's just sleeping and will soon awake and be laughing and moving again.

But unfortunately, that is not the case.

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For all of the injuries they suffered, Jeka's Legion hadn't had too many comas. Cosmic Boy had been in a coma when he'd been trapped in the twentieth century, but she hadn't known him then. So seeing Nura lying there without knowing when (or maybe if?) she'd wake up was...

Well, Jeka didn't care for it.

She settled down on her coils beside Nura's bed and reached out to squeeze her hand, in the half-hopes that the alternate-universe Legionnaire would be able to feel it and follow the sensation back to her body.

If Nura was awake, she'd tell Jeka to not worry.

If Nura was awake, she'd say that things would be "fine".

If Nura was awake, she'd squeeze Jeka's hand back.

But Nura lies still, her head upon the pillow, her arms at her side, and the large mark upon her head where Devlin had hit her in his rage-induced state.

"Sprock, but I wish Mr. Brande was here," Jeka said aloud. "Or Imra. Your Imra or mine, although you'd probably prefer your own poking around in your head. I wish there was something I could do, but I can't go in far enough to try and wake you up. I hope you wake up, Nura."

Devlin sneaked into Medbay--it had become a bit of a habit lately, trying not to be seen. But when he saw Jeka there, he stumbled in shock, knocking over a tray of equipment he hoped wasn't needed, and generally making a lot of noise.

Jeka looked up from Nura at the startled (and noisy!) human boy.

"Yes?" she asked, raising hairless eyebrows at him.

"Um...I...uh..."

Internally, Devlin was panicking. What could he do? What could he say? 'Sorry, I'm the one who did this?' Yeah, that would be smart.

"...I'll go," he offered weakly. If Jeka wanted to be alone, and to be quite honest, he didn't think he'd want to be in the same room with the person who did this.

Jeka didn't even need her mentalism to tell her how guilty this boy felt. It was rolling off him in waves. It looked to her like someone needed to set him straight, and apparently that someone was her.

"I think not," she said crisply, half-rising from her coils in case she needed to physically cut off his escape. She gestured to the chair-like object on the other side of Nura's bed. "Sit."

No one had been that direct with Devlin yet, but he had spent most of his time hiding. Caught off-guard, all he could do was do what Jeka said, scuffing his shoes against the floor as he sat. His eyes were downcast, and he couldn't seem to bring himself to look directly at her.

Jeka sighed and settled back down on her coils. She'd used to be good at this, before her transformation. She could still do this.

"My name is Jeka. I assume you're also a friend of Nura's, since you're here and feeling as guilty as you are. What's your name?"

After a moment of hesitance, he answered, "I'm Devlin." So far, it didn't look like Jeka knew that he was the one who'd hurt Nura, so he just had to hope that nobody had said anything specific about him.

"Is she going to be okay?"

"I don't know," Jeka said. "I'm a mentalist, not a psychic or a precog; and I never studied medicine." She brushed her hair back over her shoulder. "Were you ill recently yourself?"

Devlin started at the question before he nodded.

"Yeah. The virus that went around."

Quieter, he admitted, "I'm the one who attacked her."

"I thought as much."

Jeka slithered around the bed to put a hand on his shoulder. "Devlin, this is not your fault."

"Yeah, but..."

It was hard to put into words. Devlin could hear people say that it wasn't his fault, but at the same time, he did it. Control or not, they were his actions.

"But you still feel responsible," Jeka finished. She was familiar with a hyperactive sense of responsibility. She had one herself, and so did all her friends. A hyperactive sense of responsibility was practically a Legion 'thing'.

"How old are you, Devlin?"

He nodded. He was used to feeling responsible--it's the kind of thing that happens when your dad manipulates you into breaking him out of jail so he can kill his archenemy.

"Eleven," he answered. Young but far too experienced in things like these.

Grife, he really was just a little kid.

"Nura and I are from different universes, but we're part of the same organization. The Legion of Super-Heroes." Jeka held up her hand to show Devlin her flight ring. "We often find ourselves in very dangerous battles, occasionally against people who are blameless in the actions that their bodies are taking. We've even had to fight each other on occasion." The Emerald Eye, COMPUTO in his original form, the Blight, 'Starfinger', what had become of poor Jan...

"This Nura isn't the same as the one I know from my universe," Jeka said, shaking off her dark memories. "But I know that she wouldn't want you to blame yourself for this."

"It's hard," he admitted. "I remember doing it, feeling so angry and just wanting to hurt someone..."

It was not a good feeling at all, and just the memory of it made him shudder. He never wanted to feel that enraged again.

"It is hard," Jeka agreed. "But this was an outside force acting on you, not something dark or evil within you."

In some ways, this was worse than the Blight had been. At least with the Blight, one could point at the outside influence and the control, and even then it was hard. Viruses, though...

Poor kid.

"Yeah," Devlin answered, nodding reluctantly. But the problem when it was something that increased your aggression and anger? It had a base to start with. And it was hard to cope with knowing that even a little bit of annoyance had snowballed into something so horrible.

"Is there anyone that you feel comfortable talking to about this?" Jeka asked after a moment's silence. As a self-identified friend of Nura's, there was only so much that she could do to comfort Devlin. Talking to the friends and family of the injured when you felt guilty for it was always difficult. "I believe that a psychiatrist recently woke up in the Pod Caverns, if you'd prefer a professional."

Devlin shrugged. He'd mostly tried to hide his issues, not wanting to bother anyone too much...and partly out of fear that if anyone knew what he'd gone through, they might not trust him not to go evil like his father had.

"I don't know," he confessed. "Do you think it'll help?"

"It helps some people," Jeka said. "It's not a fix-all by any means, but I think it would be a wonderful thing for Nura to wake up and find that you're not blaming yourself for something that's not your fault."

Slowly, Devlin nodded.

"Maybe it would be a good idea," he admitted. He could think about it, at least.

"It can't hurt," Jeka said, patting his hand. "If there's anything that I can do to help, just tell me, all right?"

"Okay," Devlin answered, managing to take comfort in the small gesture. "Thanks."

"You're welcome, Devlin," Jeka said, smiling a little. "And you and I can keep our fingers crossed for Nura."

Devlin nodded, crossing his fingers. He had to hope she'd wake up soon, that everything would be okay.

And Katara, after a day of training with the Outsiders, rushed here when she heard the news. She was getting to the point where she was a little annoyed with the way random catastrophe happened on this ship, especially when it came to her friends.

She already knew Ben was worried, and now she was too. Would Nura be okay? Would she wake up from this? The questions piled themselves on in her head, and she just wanted her to be ok.

So she was here, arranging the bedding and generally anxious, looking over her friend.

If Nura was awake, she'd teasingly ask Katara why she looked so anxious.

If Nura was awake, she'd pull her surrogate-sister into a comforting hug.

If Nura was awake, she'd tell Katara that everything would be "all right". She'd smile sweetly and console her friend.

But according to the machines the Nura is connected to, she's not awake, and her closed eyes, limp body and motionless form is evidence to that.

She didn't like seeing Nura like this, and she wasn't shamed to admit it. It was too easy to see how things like this had a way of weighing down on her, and strengthened her resolve to make sure this didn't happen too much. She had no idea how this had happened, but she had to make sure she could do what she could to make sure it didn't happen again.

"I'm sorry Nura, I didn't know you were hurt. I guess that's one of the limitations of this ship: its too big, people get hurt all over the place. When you get out of this, I swear, we'll hang out more. Trust me, I have a LOT to tell you when you wake up. You have no idea how bad I need a girl friend right now."

The Overlord appeared in the hands of his minion, as usual, frowning over the scene. Less usual was the other minion by his side, carrying a sign.

The second minion hung up the sign over the bed, after which the Overlord and his company departed in grim silence.

In neat block letters, it read:

BY ORDER OF OVERLORD ZETTA, THIS ORACLE IS NOT TO BE HARMED NOR CAUSED GRIEF.

Below that, and slightly smaller, it clarified:

IF YOU WANT TO MESS WITH HER, YOU JUST BOUGHT YOURSELF A FIRST CLASS TICKET TO PAIN WITH A LAYOVER IN INJURY, NORTH HURTYOUKOTA.

Beneath that? A crayon-styling picture of a maniacally laughing book, with an arrow clearly labeling it as 'badass freakin' Overlord (will kick your ass)'.

Either Zetta or his minions probably should have stopped with the first sentence...

Gwen made her way into the room slowly, partly wondering why she was there to begin with since she didn't know this girl. Another part reminded her exactly why she was there.

Always gotta fall for one of Ben's tricks! she thought angrily, letting out a sigh of disbelief while approaching the bed and ignoring the signs - though she did glance at them for the most part. He SO didn't have anything special to do and couldn't come by to visit Nura! Still...she has looked out for him since he arrived...

Ben wandered in after Gwen, sighing. "So that's her, Nura. She's been in a coma for a while now Gwen. I was hoping you could check her out, y'know, anodyte style."

"...Ben, it's not like my Anodite side is a switch I can turn on and off." Gwen replied but nevertheless she did initiate most of her powers to scan Nura's body.

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Down Too Deep [open]

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