Gabrielle Ivanovitch floated in an out of consciousness to the soft music of hushed, whispery voices speaking somewhere just out of reach. She recognized words, tones, but something kept her at a careful, comfortable distance from the actual meanings.

”… punctured lung… reinflated… Lucky the internal bleeding wasn’t worse… hit her? Liver was bruised…. Not counting broken bones…”

Interspersed with those voices and overlaid was the flame-haired woman’s mocking voice.

“Worthless. You’ll never beat us. Coward.”

Finally, the mental cushioning faded, allowing those voices to reach a feverish crescendo. Coupled with her guilt-ridden nightmares of black sharks, zombie Negaverse officers and drowning, it was finally enough to send her shooting bolt upright from her hospital bed, screaming. Strong arms caught her shoulders, forced her back down while a white suited nurse injected her with a tranquilizer. As forced calm sped through her veins, she felt herself relax against the supporting arm of a strange man dressed in normal everyday clothing. As she blinked blearily at him, he smiled and sat in the chair beside her bed and reached for the small water pitcher.

“Well, Ms. Ivanovitch, you gave us quite a scare. Now, can I offer you some water? Ice? Jello? No? If you’re certain. Now. We have taken the liberty of calling your Aunt. She’ll be flying in later tonight. Now, mind telling me what and who happened to you out there?”

Gabbie watched him with some bemusement. No uniform, had to be a detective and since he was speaking so calmly, she doubted that he was there to place her under arrest for terrorism. And that was when she glanced down at her be-gowned self and shuddered at the IV lines hooked to her arms. Reached up and felt the tiny row of stitches on her cheek where the Mirror From Hell had cut her. ********, she HURT. But then, she’d been slammed up against a wall by her own attack. Idiot. Of course she hurt. Fortunately though, she still had enough presence of mind to lie.

“Got dared to go in the warehouse. Got attacked, didn’t see who. Christ, I feel like a car ran over me. What happened?”

The detective didn’t look entirely convinced, but was apparently willing to let it go for now and instead pulled out her chart.

“Says here you were brought in with a badly broken leg; you’ll be in a cast for quite some time. You also had broken ribs, one of which punctured your left lung. You’re a very lucky girl since the puncture was so small and the paramedics got you here right away. They’ve set your ribs and there’s a brace you’ll need to wear. They also report some internal bruising and bleeding. Specifically your liver and kidneys. To be crude, Ms. Ivanovtich, you’ll be pissing blood for some time until they heal. Some superficial damage; minor cuts and bruises. Frankly, I’m surprised that you can’t remember more. They found you sitting against a wall with a decent sized impact crater on it.”

Gabbie stared at him, eyes wide as she frantically tried to think of some explanation, any explanation. However, it seemed that the Patron Saint of Senshi was looking out for her because the next words from the man’s mouth were:

“Now, given some of the reports we’ve been getting down at headquarters about monsters and terrorists attacking innocents, that’s what we’re going to file this under. But, if you remember any details, I want to hear about it, understand?”

Oh, she understood all right. Nodding, she felt a surge of relief as he stood and left the room. Sinking back into her pillows, she closed her eyes. She was going to be here for a while. Might as well use the time to try and figure out what to do from here. <********>