Within the Apple Chapter 7B

*****

It was dark.

Taylor didn’t remember how she got home, but she curled up in the blankets as she closed her eyes again and tried to ignore the sound of a truck backing up in the distance. The beeping was annoying, but she expected it would stop shortly.

It didn’t.

After a few minutes she opened her eyes again and looked around, recognizing that the beeping was a lot closer than she’d thought in her blearily barely cognizant mind.

She wasn’t in her own bed.

It was a hospital room, she realized as she sat up and looked around. The sky outside the window was dark, the city lights visible but she could see it was starting to lighten up.

Almost morning? But… how, I… I was…

The beeping sped up as Taylor started to hyperventilate, remembering the last thing she could before the gap in her memories. The locker, the smell, banging on the door… begging to be let out. Scratching at the door, tearing her…

She looked down at her hands, seeing her jagged fingernails where they’d been torn, but there was no blood. She didn’t feel bruised or aching either, though she remembered her head slamming into the back of her locker, and limbs being banged around.

How long? How long have I been here?

The beeping was becoming urgently fast, but Taylor ignored it and the distant commotion that seemed to erupt around her.

Hands grabbed her by the shoulder, pushing her back into the bed, but she was still staring at her hands.

The device at her side exploded, and the beeping finally stopped.

*****

The sound of the explosion froze almost everyone into their place, looking around in confusion and panic as they tried to locate the source.

Miss Militia and Alexander Magus, however, were different.

They both spun on their heels, eyes locking on the same direction, and were moving before the first echo of the blast rolled over the area. Magus took the lead, a stick appearing in his hand as he flew down the hall at startling speeds, somehow shoving the Doctors, Nurses, Orderlies, Patients, and everyone else out of the way as he did… and putting the back after he’d passed.

Miss Militia was hot on his heels, sprinting fast to catch up when she realized what he was doing, if not how, and using his movement as a way of clearing the road for herself.

“It came from this way,” She called, pointing down a corridor to where wisps of smoke could be seen coming from an open door.

“I see it,” Magus said slowing to a landing as he approached the door, coming up beside it with his back to the wall before he briefly exposed himself to look in.

He relaxed quickly, which caught Miss Militia off guard, his stick vanishing as he stepped into the doorway.

“It’s alright, looks like an accident,” He said as he cautiously stepped into the room. “It’s Taylor’s room, though.”

Miss Militia felt a cool chill run down her spine as she adjusted her power back from the MP-5 to her customary Berretta 93-R, keeping the muzzle down and her finger well clear of the trigger as she stepped into the room.

An orderly was on the ground, bleeding from the looks of it, but it didn’t seem too serious at the glance. Magus stepped over him, eyes fixated on the girl, who was rocking and shaking in the bed, her eyes wide but unfocused as she stared off into… nothing.

“It’s alright,” He said softly, “everything’s fine. You’re in the hospital, but you’re going to be fine.”

The girl snapped to look at him, eyes focusing sharply, “How long?”

“What?” Magus was confused.

“How long… how long was I?”

“In the locker…?” Magus asked hesitantly, “I don’t know. A few hours maybe? Do you…”

“No! How long was I unconscious?” She demanded, holding up her hands. “I was hurt! I know I was… Now I…”

“Panacea looked after you,” Miss Militia soothed her, stepping into sight. “You’ve only been out a few hours.”

“P… P… Panacea?” She stammered out, looking disbelieving.

“Yes, Panacea,” Miss Militia assured her. “Now, your father is here… chances are he’s trying to get here as we speak, but we didn’t expect you to be awake so soon.”

“Dad?”

Her voice was so plaintive that it hurt to hear.

“Yes, your father…” Miss Militia assured her again. “I’m going to step out and see if I can get him here, alright?”

She nodded silently, eyes not leaving the super hero until she was out of sight.

*****

Xander examined the destroyed machine by the girl’s bed.

Definitely looks like accidental magic, and not exactly low powered stuff either.He noted as he looked over the machinery with interest.

He knew a fair bit about electronics, at least in general, but nothing at all about this particular piece of kit. What he did know, however, was that it hadn’t exploded in the conventional sense of the word.

No burning, no sign of a specific origin point, none of the normal signs that he’d associate with something actually exploding.

Exactly what you’d expect from a surge of accidental magic brought on by stress in an untrained user, He thought, casting a look over to the girl, who was largely ignoring him.

Xander waved his hands over the magic, channeling magic through his carbon tribal marks. Burns appeared in the machinery, and he destroyed a fuse that had survived the event, making sure to apply burns to the plug in the wall and around it as well.

Then he turned and gestured again, sending a confundus at the orderly and others still in the room.

“A power surge blew out the fuse in the machine,” He told them. “It must have jumped the circuit and overloaded the capacitors. They blew up as a result.”

Everyone looked slackly at him briefly before they nodded and slowly became more animated as they told each other the story, growing in confidence with each retelling.

Xander glanced aside at the girl, who was now staring at him with wide eyes and shock clearly marked across her face. He just smiled, winked, and held his finger up to his lips.

“Shhh…”

*****