Heroes Fic: Exodus 1/4. Gen. PG-13.
Title: Exodus
Author: Eustacia Vye
E-Mail: eutstacia_vye28@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: Kring et al owns them all. I just like playing with other people's toys.
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers/Warnings: Post "How to Stop an Exploding Man." Eventual mentions of Sylar activities and violence. The idea for this came after the Season 1 ending, but Real Life is hectic, and it's not complete until now. No spoilers to Season 2.
Summary: The Boogeyman isn't dead, but Molly may have found someone that can help them get away from the Boogeyman.
Exodus
I know how men in exile feed on dreams of hope.
Aeschylus
"I know the way out from here," Mohinder was saying, piling up everyone into a random car that DL had managed to start. Mohinder had done his best to get the bleeding to stop, but DL still had that faint sheen of sweat that set Niki's teeth on edge.
"We need a hospital," Niki hissed, hand over DL's wound. Micah sat next to her in the backseat and watched as Molly climbed into the passenger seat and buckled herself in.
"I know where we need to go. I've found someone close that can help us."
Everyone turned to stare at Molly, who gave them all a luminous smile. "She's just over the bridge, and she'll help us all."
***
"This isn't what I meant when I said that you should visit more often," Annika said with a smile, accepting the teacup she was handed. She was nestled in her favorite armchair, a quilt over her lap. She was pushing seventy years old, but could easily pass for someone fifteen years younger if her gout didn't always start acting up. She had three Siamese cats who swished their way through the living room, casting curious glances up at their visitor, Madison Vincent.
Madison smiled at Annika. "I meant to come over anyway. This was just a great excuse." She sat down next to Annika on the couch with a cup of tea. "I've already cleared my schedule for the afternoon, just so you know."
"Oh, dear. Cassidy can't have liked that."
"I promised her two appointments next week," Madison replied with a grin. She shrugged, then sipped at her tea. She looked down at herself. She was dressed in jeans and an old T-shirt she had taken from her husband's side of the closet, and her dark brown hair was pulled back into a messy braid. She was hardly dressed to go back to work, anyway.
"You're going to make the others upset."
"Well, if Cassidy sets another building on fire..."
Annika laughed. "Good point. The poor girl is at least getting her powers under control, thanks to you." She nodded at Madison, who shrugged. "Oh, don't be modest, dear. She needed more than an ear, and you know it."
"You know how it goes. Even psychiatrists save lives," Madison said with a grin.
"Speaking of which..." Annika handed her the teacup in her hand. "Take this. I'm going to have to walk around anyway."
"Annika..."
"Hush, you. I had one of those dreams again the other night. I wrote it down, since it pertains to you and not one of your ten."
Madison's brows knitted in concern as she watched Annika awkwardly get up and move to her bookcase. "Me? Since when did you dream about me?"
"Not since you first arrived, that's for sure. You and Brian need to be careful. It deals with the two of you, specifically. Your ten will grow to twelve direct patients. They look strange, but the child and the woman need you. They'll protest, but you'll know it when you see them. The man bleeding isn't the main concern for you."
"Bleeding? What?" Madison put the teacup down on the coffee table and went to Annika's side. There was a faint sketch in the notebook, as well as a general description of the dream. "Bald but young, bleeding to save another. Tears for the girl and one not her mother." Madison made a face and shook her head. "That's even less sense than you usually get, Annika."
"Humph. It's still a Dream," Annika replied loftily. Madison could almost hear the capital D in her voice. "You'd best get to your office, just the same."
"And you..."
"Will have other cups of tea," Annika replied with a smile. She took her notebook back and waved off her friend. "You can visit me again tomorrow. Destiny awaits you."
"You know... I could've used these warnings when I was seventeen," Madison groused.
"You didn't live here yet, and you didn't need them then," Annika replied sweetly. "There now, don't make a fuss. Go help those people."
Madison shook her head and then kissed Annika's cheek. "I know, I know. Saving lives, and all that. You'd think your warning system would give a little more time to prepare..."
Annika said nothing as Madison took her leave. She flipped to the next page in her little notebook. There was a sketch of a face she didn't recognize, with hollows for eyes and a broken watch on his wrist. That dream had been full of death. She knew her time was up, and she knew that it was at least going to be for a good cause. There was a greater plan in motion, and they would all have to do their part. Madison was more than strong enough for it, even if she didn't think so just yet.
***
There was a woman in jeans, a ratty college T shirt and a messy brown braid stepping out of a shiny car in the parking lot of the low building that Molly had insisted was their destination. Mohinder shut off the engine to his car and eyed DL in the backseat. He still had that sheen of sweat on his brow, his eyes shut in pain. It had been two and a half hours of solid driving, and he was sure that the bumps on the road hadn't felt all that good. He left the car and approached the woman getting out of the car. She looked to be in her mid to late thirties, though she could have easily passed for someone younger.
"Miss? Miss, we need some help..."
"You are?" she asked, brown eyes narrowing slightly.
"Our friend is hurt," Mohinder said in reply, pointing back to the car. "If you could help us find someone who could do something..."
She walked to the car with Mohinder, her jaw set in determination. Though Molly had never failed to find anyone before, he couldn't help but wonder if her powers were starting to fail.
The brunette looked at DL in the backseat, Niki still pressing a bloody rolled-up shirt to his wound. She looked from Niki to Mohinder. "That's possibly infected. What were you thinking?"
"You need to help him," Niki insisted, voice tight with anger and fear.
The brunette whipped her head around to give a nasty retort to Niki. DL at that moment reached up and touched Niki's arm. "Nik. Don't... I'll be all right..."
"No," Niki replied, leaning down as her eyes began to water. "You shouldn't have taken that bullet for me. That should have been me," she added in a soft whisper.
The brunette heard it, instantly going pale. She looked down at DL again, really looked, and then dug around in her jeans pocket and hitting one of the preprogrammed numbers before Mohinder could stop her. "Hey, Patty, it's Maddy. Is Brian around?"
Mohinder eyed the woman warily, aware that Molly was beaming at this point. Molly was absolutely certain this woman could help them. He still wasn't so sure.
"Bri, it's Maddy." She eyed DL and then turned to Mohinder. "Get him into my office," she hissed, handing a key ring over from her other pocket. She isolated the proper key and nodded toward the low building. "No, no, I'm all right. We need Darcy here with his kit at my office." There was a pause as her lips tightened. "Annika said so, that's why." Madison blew out a breath at whatever Brian told her. "No, not my ten. Just... No, Brian, this is not the time for that. Just get Darcy here. He'll need antibiotics and possibly an IV set for a gut infection." She watched as Mohinder went to the side door and Niki helped DL out of the back seat with some difficulty. The children followed them. "I'm going to do what I can, but we need Darcy here. I'm no surgeon." She sighed. "As soon as I know what's going on, of course. They only just arrived. Tell Darcy to go to the side entrance. I'll leave it open for him." She listened for a time and nodded, though Brian couldn't see her. "Okay, honey. Love you."
She hung up and raced into the building.
Mohinder had found the office labeled "Dr. Madison Vincent" easily enough. It was the only name that could have possibly belonged to a Maddy, since the others were decidedly not M names. He was troubled by the titles beneath her name. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Adult Psychiatry were stenciled on the opaque glass in clear print. They didn't need a psychiatrist. They needed a surgeon.
The doctor in question raced into the building and grabbed the keys from Mohinder without preamble. She opened the office and gestured inside with her head. She then headed for the reception area, where she began digging around in one of the desks. She returned with a first aid kit, and then dug around in the closet in her office. She came up with a black box that was unlabeled. In the meantime, Niki had laid DL on the floor.
"Hi. I'm Dr. Vincent," Madison said, a doctorly smile on her face. "What's your name?"
"DL," he replied, opening his eyes.
"Okay, DL. I'm actually a psychiatrist, but I'm going to play surgeon until my EMT friend can arrive. How does that sound?"
"As long as I live, sounds fine," he said, trying to smile at the woman in front of him. He was dizzy with blood loss, and normally the thought of someone digging around in his insides was enough to give him pause. Right now, he was too lightheaded to really care.
"Can you tell me what happened?" Madison asked, moving to remove the layers of cloth covering the wound.
"Got shot in the gut. Took it so Niki wouldn't get hurt."
"I don't have an ACLS kit here, so I don't have any lidocaine. It's going to hurt while I take a look at the wound," Madison said, opening the black box. Inside was a small zippered leather case, a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, alcohol swabs and a box of scalpel blades. Mohinder started at the sight of it; what psychiatrist kept scalpels in her office?
"As long as it gets out, s'okay with me."
"Spectacular," Madison replied with a falsely bright smile. Niki hovered on the other side of DL, clutching his hand. She eyed Niki as she took out the zippered case. "It won't be pretty."
"It never is," Niki replied in a low tone. Something flickered in her eyes, and Madison nodded.
The case was a dissection kit. She prodded the wound with one of the probes, pulling the edges slightly apart. She was just inserting long handled tweezers when the side door to the building banged open. Madison pulled the bullet out as a man ran into the office, a large bag in hand.
"Maddy, only you..." the blonde man began. "Well, shit, what the hell happened here?"
"Got shot," DL supplied helpfully. Niki glared at him, and then at the blonde man.
Unperturbed, he moved to Niki's side. "Well, that looks nasty. It'll stain your carpet."
Madison snorted. "Business expense, Darcy. I didn't dig that far, though."
"Well, on the bright side, that means we won't have to hit up the emergency room for bowel repair," Darcy replied. He opened up his bag as Madison started to reach for the bottle of hydrogen peroxide. "Don't even. I brought antibiotic wash."
The tightness that had been in Madison's face throughout all of this vanished. She grinned at Darcy. "Good man. You take over, then."
"Still remember how to insert an IV?" Darcy laughed at Madison's expression. "Can you at least start the set?"
"That, I can do." She rummaged around in his bag for the proper tubing and pulled out a bag of solution. "Will Ringer's do?" Darcy nodded as he washed out the wound and took a look at the extent of it for himself. "What?" she asked when he whistled.
"Pretty neat entry, didn't go too far... Glancing shot?" he asked, looking over at DL. DL shook his head and then closed his eyes. "Well, it'll be a pain, but we definitely don't need to visit the ER today. At least, I don't think so. I brought IV antibiotics just in case." He watched Madison run the solution through the tubing. "Hey, you actually do remember how to start a set."
Madison stuck her tongue out at Darcy. "Shut up," she said affectionately. She waited until all the bubbles were out of the tubing before stopping the flow. She handed the IV needle to Darcy, holding the bag aloft in her left hand. "Here."
Everyone watched as Darcy started the line and the IV began. He dug around in the bag next, getting out sterile packing material and sterile gauze to bind the wound. Madison played assistant as best as she could with one hand, and after a while Niki helped as well.
"You do know how to throw a party, Maddy," Darcy joked as he injected the antibiotic into the IV line. "You should invite me sooner next time." He laughed when Madison made a face at him. "You know, when Brian called, I thought it was Cassidy again."
Madison groaned. "Don't remind me. No, I canceled all my appointments today."
"Annika?"
"Annika."
The others watched the conversation in confusion. Molly was the only one that looked even halfway confident.
"Is the colchicine working out?"
"She stopped taking it." Madison shook her head. "She said it was interfering with the early alert system we have going."
Darcy clucked his tongue sympathetically. "That sucks. I'll head on over, then. My shift doesn't start until five today."
"That'll be good. She was still hobbling around the house when I left."
"You're good here, then?"
Madison made a face as she looked from the IV bag she was still holding to the stained bandage on DL's abdomen. "As good as this can possibly get."
"You're such a bleeding heart," Darcy teased. "Call Brian. He sounded pissed."
"It's Annika's fault. Tell her that when you see her, will you? I got all of twenty minutes' lead time on this." Madison sounded annoyed, but it only made Darcy smile.
"What? Did you think destiny would mark itself on your desk calendar?"
Madison stuck her tongue out at him again. "Oh, get out, you. I think we'll be okay for now. I'll call Brian. Tell Annika that today's disaster is dealt with. Well, hopefully." She looked around, eyeing the two children and three adults.
"Hey, call me if anything happens."
"Will do," Madison promised, nodding. She waited until Darcy left the building to look around at everyone. "Do I get any kind of explanation here?"
"Do this often?" Niki asked, a snide edge to her tone. She blinked in surprise when the fear that had been choking her fell away and she was calm again.
"Let's just say that emergencies can happen, and we prepare for it."
"You said you have an early alert system," Mohinder noted.
"We do," Madison agreed. She made no further comment.
Niki grabbed Madison's arm in a crushingly tight grip. "Tell me."
Madison looked Niki in the eye, and Niki could feel her prior fear crash down over her. Not knowing why, she let go of Madison and scuttled back a bit. "It's safer if you don't know."
Molly came to sit down next to Madison. "I knew you would help us," she said brightly, ignoring the warning looks Mohinder was sending her.
"Really? How did you know that?"
"I find people," Molly admitted, a soft smile on her face. "I knew I would find someone who could help us."
Madison blinked in surprise, then smiled just as softly. Her entire demeanor seemed to shift ever so slightly. "Something happened, didn't it?"
Molly nodded. "The Boogeyman. He's still alive," she added, looking up at Mohinder with fear in her eyes. "The man with the sword didn't kill him."
Madison's eyebrows crawled up toward her hairline. "The Boogeyman. Killed with a sword?"
"The Boogeyman killed my parents. And he shot Officer Parkman with his own bullets," Molly added, her lower lip trembling. "He's after us. He's after all of us."
"How do you shoot someone with their own bullets?" Madison asked, brows furrowing.
"He stopped them with his mind," Molly answered, even thought Niki and Mohinder were obviously trying to shush her. "And then he threw them back with his mind. Officer Parkman is one of my heroes," Molly whispered, eyes watering. "He saved me from the Boogeyman when he came to get my parents."
"Did he save you this time, too?" Madison asked, voice soft, almost lilting. Molly nodded. "Then he's doubly a hero, isn't he?" Molly nodded again. "He's a police officer," Madison guessed. Molly nodded, biting her lip. "It's what they do. When they put on the uniform and get their badge, they take an oath to serve and protect. They save lives."
"Like doctors do," the boy piped up from where he was sitting on the floor behind the girl.
Madison nodded, smiling. "Like doctors do. You know we take an oath, too?" Molly shook her head. "We do. We take an oath when we graduate and get our white coats. We promise to save lives, too. Maybe he's okay. DL here was shot, and he should be okay."
Molly shook her head. "There were six bullets. At once. I counted."
Mohinder looked away, as if he wished she hadn't said that. Madison caught it and looked up sharply. "What happened?"
"There's... There's a man named Sylar..." Madison's mouth opened in recognition. "You've heard of him?" Mohinder asked, surprised.
"My husband's the Sheriff here. Of course I've heard of him."
"That's not something that would be general knowledge," Mohinder replied.
"We keep an eye on things like that."
Mohinder and Madison eyed each other, trying to judge how much to tell each other.
"We need help," Molly said, breaking the silence. "The Boogeyman is still alive. And he's going to be really mad when he finds us."
Madison looked at the girl, lips pursed as she thought. Finally, she came to a decision. "Don't worry, honey. We have an alert system for something like this. Anything that could hurt people like us... It won't happen."
"Like us?" Niki asked, curious.
The brunette's lips quirked sardonically. "There's an underground around these parts. So I guess you really did find someone who could help you," Madison said, looking at Molly. "There's others here, and we have a system to protect them. You just got enrolled."
Molly smiled. "My name is Molly."
"Hi, Molly. I'm Dr. Vincent. Nice to meet you." She smiled when Molly giggled, and she looked over at Niki. "And you are?"
"Niki," she replied. "DL's my husband, and that's my son Micah."
"Mohinder Suresh," Mohinder added.
"We'll have to find a place for you to stay the night," Madison said with a nod. She thought for a moment, then shook her head. "I'll ask Brian when I call him. We'll figure something out."
"What do you do?" Micah asked, curious.
Madison's lips quirked. "I'm a psychiatrist."
"No, I mean powers."
She smiled indulgently. "You don't have to worry about that, okay? It's nothing big."
"So, you're also gifted?" Mohinder asked, his voice almost eager. His researcher's mind was already starting to whirr with questions.
"I'm a doctor," Madison replied, a slight edge to her voice. Mohinder instantly knew he had overstepped an invisible boundary. "In any case, you hold this. I have phone calls to make."
He took the IV bag and watched as she left the room. "Are you sure this was the right place to go, Molly?" he asked uncertainly.
She smiled brilliantly, nodding. "She'll save us from the Boogeyman. She's another hero."
***
***
Author: Eustacia Vye
E-Mail: eutstacia_vye28@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: Kring et al owns them all. I just like playing with other people's toys.
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers/Warnings: Post "How to Stop an Exploding Man." Eventual mentions of Sylar activities and violence. The idea for this came after the Season 1 ending, but Real Life is hectic, and it's not complete until now. No spoilers to Season 2.
Summary: The Boogeyman isn't dead, but Molly may have found someone that can help them get away from the Boogeyman.
Exodus
I know how men in exile feed on dreams of hope.
Aeschylus
"I know the way out from here," Mohinder was saying, piling up everyone into a random car that DL had managed to start. Mohinder had done his best to get the bleeding to stop, but DL still had that faint sheen of sweat that set Niki's teeth on edge.
"We need a hospital," Niki hissed, hand over DL's wound. Micah sat next to her in the backseat and watched as Molly climbed into the passenger seat and buckled herself in.
"I know where we need to go. I've found someone close that can help us."
Everyone turned to stare at Molly, who gave them all a luminous smile. "She's just over the bridge, and she'll help us all."
***
"This isn't what I meant when I said that you should visit more often," Annika said with a smile, accepting the teacup she was handed. She was nestled in her favorite armchair, a quilt over her lap. She was pushing seventy years old, but could easily pass for someone fifteen years younger if her gout didn't always start acting up. She had three Siamese cats who swished their way through the living room, casting curious glances up at their visitor, Madison Vincent.
Madison smiled at Annika. "I meant to come over anyway. This was just a great excuse." She sat down next to Annika on the couch with a cup of tea. "I've already cleared my schedule for the afternoon, just so you know."
"Oh, dear. Cassidy can't have liked that."
"I promised her two appointments next week," Madison replied with a grin. She shrugged, then sipped at her tea. She looked down at herself. She was dressed in jeans and an old T-shirt she had taken from her husband's side of the closet, and her dark brown hair was pulled back into a messy braid. She was hardly dressed to go back to work, anyway.
"You're going to make the others upset."
"Well, if Cassidy sets another building on fire..."
Annika laughed. "Good point. The poor girl is at least getting her powers under control, thanks to you." She nodded at Madison, who shrugged. "Oh, don't be modest, dear. She needed more than an ear, and you know it."
"You know how it goes. Even psychiatrists save lives," Madison said with a grin.
"Speaking of which..." Annika handed her the teacup in her hand. "Take this. I'm going to have to walk around anyway."
"Annika..."
"Hush, you. I had one of those dreams again the other night. I wrote it down, since it pertains to you and not one of your ten."
Madison's brows knitted in concern as she watched Annika awkwardly get up and move to her bookcase. "Me? Since when did you dream about me?"
"Not since you first arrived, that's for sure. You and Brian need to be careful. It deals with the two of you, specifically. Your ten will grow to twelve direct patients. They look strange, but the child and the woman need you. They'll protest, but you'll know it when you see them. The man bleeding isn't the main concern for you."
"Bleeding? What?" Madison put the teacup down on the coffee table and went to Annika's side. There was a faint sketch in the notebook, as well as a general description of the dream. "Bald but young, bleeding to save another. Tears for the girl and one not her mother." Madison made a face and shook her head. "That's even less sense than you usually get, Annika."
"Humph. It's still a Dream," Annika replied loftily. Madison could almost hear the capital D in her voice. "You'd best get to your office, just the same."
"And you..."
"Will have other cups of tea," Annika replied with a smile. She took her notebook back and waved off her friend. "You can visit me again tomorrow. Destiny awaits you."
"You know... I could've used these warnings when I was seventeen," Madison groused.
"You didn't live here yet, and you didn't need them then," Annika replied sweetly. "There now, don't make a fuss. Go help those people."
Madison shook her head and then kissed Annika's cheek. "I know, I know. Saving lives, and all that. You'd think your warning system would give a little more time to prepare..."
Annika said nothing as Madison took her leave. She flipped to the next page in her little notebook. There was a sketch of a face she didn't recognize, with hollows for eyes and a broken watch on his wrist. That dream had been full of death. She knew her time was up, and she knew that it was at least going to be for a good cause. There was a greater plan in motion, and they would all have to do their part. Madison was more than strong enough for it, even if she didn't think so just yet.
***
There was a woman in jeans, a ratty college T shirt and a messy brown braid stepping out of a shiny car in the parking lot of the low building that Molly had insisted was their destination. Mohinder shut off the engine to his car and eyed DL in the backseat. He still had that sheen of sweat on his brow, his eyes shut in pain. It had been two and a half hours of solid driving, and he was sure that the bumps on the road hadn't felt all that good. He left the car and approached the woman getting out of the car. She looked to be in her mid to late thirties, though she could have easily passed for someone younger.
"Miss? Miss, we need some help..."
"You are?" she asked, brown eyes narrowing slightly.
"Our friend is hurt," Mohinder said in reply, pointing back to the car. "If you could help us find someone who could do something..."
She walked to the car with Mohinder, her jaw set in determination. Though Molly had never failed to find anyone before, he couldn't help but wonder if her powers were starting to fail.
The brunette looked at DL in the backseat, Niki still pressing a bloody rolled-up shirt to his wound. She looked from Niki to Mohinder. "That's possibly infected. What were you thinking?"
"You need to help him," Niki insisted, voice tight with anger and fear.
The brunette whipped her head around to give a nasty retort to Niki. DL at that moment reached up and touched Niki's arm. "Nik. Don't... I'll be all right..."
"No," Niki replied, leaning down as her eyes began to water. "You shouldn't have taken that bullet for me. That should have been me," she added in a soft whisper.
The brunette heard it, instantly going pale. She looked down at DL again, really looked, and then dug around in her jeans pocket and hitting one of the preprogrammed numbers before Mohinder could stop her. "Hey, Patty, it's Maddy. Is Brian around?"
Mohinder eyed the woman warily, aware that Molly was beaming at this point. Molly was absolutely certain this woman could help them. He still wasn't so sure.
"Bri, it's Maddy." She eyed DL and then turned to Mohinder. "Get him into my office," she hissed, handing a key ring over from her other pocket. She isolated the proper key and nodded toward the low building. "No, no, I'm all right. We need Darcy here with his kit at my office." There was a pause as her lips tightened. "Annika said so, that's why." Madison blew out a breath at whatever Brian told her. "No, not my ten. Just... No, Brian, this is not the time for that. Just get Darcy here. He'll need antibiotics and possibly an IV set for a gut infection." She watched as Mohinder went to the side door and Niki helped DL out of the back seat with some difficulty. The children followed them. "I'm going to do what I can, but we need Darcy here. I'm no surgeon." She sighed. "As soon as I know what's going on, of course. They only just arrived. Tell Darcy to go to the side entrance. I'll leave it open for him." She listened for a time and nodded, though Brian couldn't see her. "Okay, honey. Love you."
She hung up and raced into the building.
Mohinder had found the office labeled "Dr. Madison Vincent" easily enough. It was the only name that could have possibly belonged to a Maddy, since the others were decidedly not M names. He was troubled by the titles beneath her name. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Adult Psychiatry were stenciled on the opaque glass in clear print. They didn't need a psychiatrist. They needed a surgeon.
The doctor in question raced into the building and grabbed the keys from Mohinder without preamble. She opened the office and gestured inside with her head. She then headed for the reception area, where she began digging around in one of the desks. She returned with a first aid kit, and then dug around in the closet in her office. She came up with a black box that was unlabeled. In the meantime, Niki had laid DL on the floor.
"Hi. I'm Dr. Vincent," Madison said, a doctorly smile on her face. "What's your name?"
"DL," he replied, opening his eyes.
"Okay, DL. I'm actually a psychiatrist, but I'm going to play surgeon until my EMT friend can arrive. How does that sound?"
"As long as I live, sounds fine," he said, trying to smile at the woman in front of him. He was dizzy with blood loss, and normally the thought of someone digging around in his insides was enough to give him pause. Right now, he was too lightheaded to really care.
"Can you tell me what happened?" Madison asked, moving to remove the layers of cloth covering the wound.
"Got shot in the gut. Took it so Niki wouldn't get hurt."
"I don't have an ACLS kit here, so I don't have any lidocaine. It's going to hurt while I take a look at the wound," Madison said, opening the black box. Inside was a small zippered leather case, a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, alcohol swabs and a box of scalpel blades. Mohinder started at the sight of it; what psychiatrist kept scalpels in her office?
"As long as it gets out, s'okay with me."
"Spectacular," Madison replied with a falsely bright smile. Niki hovered on the other side of DL, clutching his hand. She eyed Niki as she took out the zippered case. "It won't be pretty."
"It never is," Niki replied in a low tone. Something flickered in her eyes, and Madison nodded.
The case was a dissection kit. She prodded the wound with one of the probes, pulling the edges slightly apart. She was just inserting long handled tweezers when the side door to the building banged open. Madison pulled the bullet out as a man ran into the office, a large bag in hand.
"Maddy, only you..." the blonde man began. "Well, shit, what the hell happened here?"
"Got shot," DL supplied helpfully. Niki glared at him, and then at the blonde man.
Unperturbed, he moved to Niki's side. "Well, that looks nasty. It'll stain your carpet."
Madison snorted. "Business expense, Darcy. I didn't dig that far, though."
"Well, on the bright side, that means we won't have to hit up the emergency room for bowel repair," Darcy replied. He opened up his bag as Madison started to reach for the bottle of hydrogen peroxide. "Don't even. I brought antibiotic wash."
The tightness that had been in Madison's face throughout all of this vanished. She grinned at Darcy. "Good man. You take over, then."
"Still remember how to insert an IV?" Darcy laughed at Madison's expression. "Can you at least start the set?"
"That, I can do." She rummaged around in his bag for the proper tubing and pulled out a bag of solution. "Will Ringer's do?" Darcy nodded as he washed out the wound and took a look at the extent of it for himself. "What?" she asked when he whistled.
"Pretty neat entry, didn't go too far... Glancing shot?" he asked, looking over at DL. DL shook his head and then closed his eyes. "Well, it'll be a pain, but we definitely don't need to visit the ER today. At least, I don't think so. I brought IV antibiotics just in case." He watched Madison run the solution through the tubing. "Hey, you actually do remember how to start a set."
Madison stuck her tongue out at Darcy. "Shut up," she said affectionately. She waited until all the bubbles were out of the tubing before stopping the flow. She handed the IV needle to Darcy, holding the bag aloft in her left hand. "Here."
Everyone watched as Darcy started the line and the IV began. He dug around in the bag next, getting out sterile packing material and sterile gauze to bind the wound. Madison played assistant as best as she could with one hand, and after a while Niki helped as well.
"You do know how to throw a party, Maddy," Darcy joked as he injected the antibiotic into the IV line. "You should invite me sooner next time." He laughed when Madison made a face at him. "You know, when Brian called, I thought it was Cassidy again."
Madison groaned. "Don't remind me. No, I canceled all my appointments today."
"Annika?"
"Annika."
The others watched the conversation in confusion. Molly was the only one that looked even halfway confident.
"Is the colchicine working out?"
"She stopped taking it." Madison shook her head. "She said it was interfering with the early alert system we have going."
Darcy clucked his tongue sympathetically. "That sucks. I'll head on over, then. My shift doesn't start until five today."
"That'll be good. She was still hobbling around the house when I left."
"You're good here, then?"
Madison made a face as she looked from the IV bag she was still holding to the stained bandage on DL's abdomen. "As good as this can possibly get."
"You're such a bleeding heart," Darcy teased. "Call Brian. He sounded pissed."
"It's Annika's fault. Tell her that when you see her, will you? I got all of twenty minutes' lead time on this." Madison sounded annoyed, but it only made Darcy smile.
"What? Did you think destiny would mark itself on your desk calendar?"
Madison stuck her tongue out at him again. "Oh, get out, you. I think we'll be okay for now. I'll call Brian. Tell Annika that today's disaster is dealt with. Well, hopefully." She looked around, eyeing the two children and three adults.
"Hey, call me if anything happens."
"Will do," Madison promised, nodding. She waited until Darcy left the building to look around at everyone. "Do I get any kind of explanation here?"
"Do this often?" Niki asked, a snide edge to her tone. She blinked in surprise when the fear that had been choking her fell away and she was calm again.
"Let's just say that emergencies can happen, and we prepare for it."
"You said you have an early alert system," Mohinder noted.
"We do," Madison agreed. She made no further comment.
Niki grabbed Madison's arm in a crushingly tight grip. "Tell me."
Madison looked Niki in the eye, and Niki could feel her prior fear crash down over her. Not knowing why, she let go of Madison and scuttled back a bit. "It's safer if you don't know."
Molly came to sit down next to Madison. "I knew you would help us," she said brightly, ignoring the warning looks Mohinder was sending her.
"Really? How did you know that?"
"I find people," Molly admitted, a soft smile on her face. "I knew I would find someone who could help us."
Madison blinked in surprise, then smiled just as softly. Her entire demeanor seemed to shift ever so slightly. "Something happened, didn't it?"
Molly nodded. "The Boogeyman. He's still alive," she added, looking up at Mohinder with fear in her eyes. "The man with the sword didn't kill him."
Madison's eyebrows crawled up toward her hairline. "The Boogeyman. Killed with a sword?"
"The Boogeyman killed my parents. And he shot Officer Parkman with his own bullets," Molly added, her lower lip trembling. "He's after us. He's after all of us."
"How do you shoot someone with their own bullets?" Madison asked, brows furrowing.
"He stopped them with his mind," Molly answered, even thought Niki and Mohinder were obviously trying to shush her. "And then he threw them back with his mind. Officer Parkman is one of my heroes," Molly whispered, eyes watering. "He saved me from the Boogeyman when he came to get my parents."
"Did he save you this time, too?" Madison asked, voice soft, almost lilting. Molly nodded. "Then he's doubly a hero, isn't he?" Molly nodded again. "He's a police officer," Madison guessed. Molly nodded, biting her lip. "It's what they do. When they put on the uniform and get their badge, they take an oath to serve and protect. They save lives."
"Like doctors do," the boy piped up from where he was sitting on the floor behind the girl.
Madison nodded, smiling. "Like doctors do. You know we take an oath, too?" Molly shook her head. "We do. We take an oath when we graduate and get our white coats. We promise to save lives, too. Maybe he's okay. DL here was shot, and he should be okay."
Molly shook her head. "There were six bullets. At once. I counted."
Mohinder looked away, as if he wished she hadn't said that. Madison caught it and looked up sharply. "What happened?"
"There's... There's a man named Sylar..." Madison's mouth opened in recognition. "You've heard of him?" Mohinder asked, surprised.
"My husband's the Sheriff here. Of course I've heard of him."
"That's not something that would be general knowledge," Mohinder replied.
"We keep an eye on things like that."
Mohinder and Madison eyed each other, trying to judge how much to tell each other.
"We need help," Molly said, breaking the silence. "The Boogeyman is still alive. And he's going to be really mad when he finds us."
Madison looked at the girl, lips pursed as she thought. Finally, she came to a decision. "Don't worry, honey. We have an alert system for something like this. Anything that could hurt people like us... It won't happen."
"Like us?" Niki asked, curious.
The brunette's lips quirked sardonically. "There's an underground around these parts. So I guess you really did find someone who could help you," Madison said, looking at Molly. "There's others here, and we have a system to protect them. You just got enrolled."
Molly smiled. "My name is Molly."
"Hi, Molly. I'm Dr. Vincent. Nice to meet you." She smiled when Molly giggled, and she looked over at Niki. "And you are?"
"Niki," she replied. "DL's my husband, and that's my son Micah."
"Mohinder Suresh," Mohinder added.
"We'll have to find a place for you to stay the night," Madison said with a nod. She thought for a moment, then shook her head. "I'll ask Brian when I call him. We'll figure something out."
"What do you do?" Micah asked, curious.
Madison's lips quirked. "I'm a psychiatrist."
"No, I mean powers."
She smiled indulgently. "You don't have to worry about that, okay? It's nothing big."
"So, you're also gifted?" Mohinder asked, his voice almost eager. His researcher's mind was already starting to whirr with questions.
"I'm a doctor," Madison replied, a slight edge to her voice. Mohinder instantly knew he had overstepped an invisible boundary. "In any case, you hold this. I have phone calls to make."
He took the IV bag and watched as she left the room. "Are you sure this was the right place to go, Molly?" he asked uncertainly.
She smiled brilliantly, nodding. "She'll save us from the Boogeyman. She's another hero."
***
***