Broken Hero

Chapter 9

“Is someone there?” Volt jumps, looking around the empty room.

The voice speaks again, but this time she realizes it's using telepathy. “You have to help her.”

“Who? Eclipse?” Volt glances towards her.

The voice becomes excited, “Yes! Help Eclipse!”

“Who are you? And how do I help her?” She moves closer to Eclipse.

It hums as if thinking before replying. “The doctor called me a crystal. I do what Eclipse asks, but she needs help. I will take you to speak with her.”

“Take me to her... can you do that?” Volt stares at her incredulously.

The crystal gets excited again, “Yes! You come to mind. She trusts you only. But change clothes first. Clothes smell like the woman. Bring new clothes and I will put them on her, then bring you to her.”

The way it said woman with disgust was a pretty good indicator of who it meant.

“Ok. I’ll go get new clothes and bring them back.” She runs down the corridor, passing a confused Doc as he returns to the room.

Warfalcon was just returning, exiting the elevator garage, and turning to go into the main Academy building.

“Warfalcon!” He turns as she yells his name, his face turning hopeful.

He waits until she gets closer before speaking. “Is she awake? What's going on?”

“No... well, not yet. Her crystal... it spoke to me. Told me to get some different clothes.” She pants for breath as she stops beside him.

He looks confused for a moment before recognition dawns on his face. When they had found her, she’d been changed into a pair of grey sweatpants and a white T-shirt. Neither of them had thought too much about it till now.

“Come with me, she still has a dorm here. We can find some clothes there, and you can tell me more on the way.” He motioned for her to follow.

She explains what had happened as they walk through the dormitory until they reach a room at the far end of the hall. Warfalcon types a code on the keypad and then places his thumb on the print scanner, unlocking the door and opening it for her. Most dorms were personalized for their owner, but Eclipse’s was bare. Only the essentials and a black bedspread that was made up tightly. Volt notices Warfalcon’s face fall slightly, but he quickly covers it up as he walks to the closet.

“Let's see... black T-shirt and black gym shorts.” He mumbled to himself as he grabbed the clothing out of her dresser and then a bottle that was sitting on top of it.

“What’s that?” Volt looks at the bottle curiously.

He holds it out to her. “A bottle of her cologne. I don’t know if it’s still her favorite, but it can mask any lingering smells that might bother her.”

She nods in agreement as he lightly sprays a bit on the clothing. He leads her back to her hospital room, where the doctor is writing something down.

“Is everything OK? The way Volt ran out of here, I half expected the room to be on fire.” He looks up as they walk in.

The clothes in Warfalcon’s hands and the clothes on Eclipse’s body shimmer and glow, and then the light fades away to show they had switched places.

“Much better! Now I bring you to her!” The crystal exclaims. Warfalcon looks at her curiously. “The crystal wants to take me to her now.”

“Yes, yes, take you to her. Lie down first. Don’t want to hurt a friend.” The crystal speaks once more, and Volt could almost picture it jumping up and down.

“It says I need to lie down, or I could get hurt...” She almost giggles at the childlike characteristics of the crystal.

Warfalcon looks towards Doc, who nods, “I can easily bring in another bed.” He motions towards the door, and some nurses help him quickly move another bed into the room.

“I’m going to hook you up to another heart monitor so we can make sure you’re safe.” Doc motions for her to sit down and hooks her up to the machine. “Alright, go in, do what you need, and get out. The less time you spend inside, the better.”

She nods as she lies down. “Alright, crystal, take me to Eclipse.” She closed her eyes, and the next time she opened them, she was surrounded by black fog.

“Find Eclipse, follow memory.” The childish voice echoes around her as the fog moves, revealing the bedroom they had found Eclipse in.

This time, Eclipse is sitting up with her hands tied behind her back. Volt watches as she looks around before settling on something behind her. A figure walks through Volt, revealing a smirking Lindsey. She watches Lindsey try to remove Eclipse’s shirt and get bitten, and then she injects the control serum into her neck. Once Volt realizes what’s happening, she turns away. Her gaze falls on a figure curled in the corner as the scene fades away behind her.

“Eclipse?” She whispers as she approaches her.

Eclipse looks up, startled, her red eyes glowing in the dark. “Volt? What are you doing here?”

“I think the better question is, what are you doing here?” She answers softly as she sits beside her.

Eclipse looks away, staring into the dark. “You saw what happened?” Volt didn’t answer, but Eclipse didn’t seem to need one as she sighed. “I don’t know. I just couldn’t face Warfalcon yet. So, I put myself into a deep sleep while I think it over.”

Lindsey’s parting words echoed from the darkness, making Eclipse flinch.

“You don’t believe her, do you?” Volt asks gently.

She sighs, her face hardening just a bit, as if showing any emotion could break her. “Not really. At least not all of it. If I told Warfalcon outright about what she did, he’d believe me since he knows I can’t lie. The issue is that her words held a command in them. I can’t tell him because she gave me the order not to. I can break the command, but....”

“You needed some time.” Volt finished for her.

Eclipse nodded, and silence stretched between them for a moment before she spoke again. “So Warfalcon told you my name, huh?”

Volt felt her cheeks flush as she stammered, causing Eclipse to chuckle. “You know, I think that’s the first time you ever showed any actual emotion around me.”

“Is that so? I guess I didn’t think about it. Keeping my emotions to myself became a habit of mine, unfortunately.” Eclipse offers a weak smile.

Volt smiles back, “That’s alright. If you want to make it fair, then I can tell you what my name is.”

“No need, Anna, but thank you for the offer.” Eclipse chuckles again as Anna looks at her in surprise.

“How...” Anna pouts slightly.

Eclipse stands up, holding out her hand to help Anna up. “I kept an eye on the records. Felt I should be up to speed when I inevitably returned.” She taps Anna's nose. “Wipe the pout away before it gets stuck.”

Anna laughs. “Yeah, OK. But it’s pronounced Ah-na, not An-na.”

“My apologies, Ah-na.” Eclipse chuckles for a moment before turning serious. “My crystal will get you out, and I’ll join you shortly. I think it’s time I talked with Warfalcon.”

Anna nods, closing her eyes. She suddenly feels the weight of her body and opens her eyes again, almost blinded by the hospital lights.

“Here, let me get that.” A nurse speaks up, and the lights dim as she sits up to find Warfalcon and Doc looking at her expectantly while a nurse unhooks her from the monitors.

“She was using her powers to keep herself asleep, but she should be waking up soon.” Anna rubs her eyes.

“Did she say why?” Warfalcon asks, his voice tinted with worry.

Anna bites her lip for a second before answering. “I think that’s something she should tell you herself. This is something you two need to work out. So, I am going to go to my room.”

She closes the door behind her, leaning against the wall with relief.