Hemorrhage 4.3
A massive fire raging in the distance unmistakably pointed to the scene of the incident. Wasting no time on hesitation, I got into the arriving car bearing special insignia—a minimalist drawing of a hero in a blue suit and cape flying into the sky. This was exactly how Vought vehicles were marked, dispatched only during emergencies.
As soon as I sat inside, I waved at the driver to step on it. I hadn't wasted time changing clothes and decided to do it on the way. It wasn't the easiest process, considering my whole pile of gadgets and having to attach an entire cape. Everything looked so much easier in the comic books.
Getting dressed took me five minutes. In any other situation, that would have been unforgivably long, but right now, while we were still driving, it wasn't so critical. Still, I'd need to practice later to get the hang of it and do it in under a minute. But since I had some time, I decided to call Margo and personally ask her what was going on over there...
"...absolute clusterfuck is what's going on!" the woman answered, practically screaming into the receiver. "Where are you anyway?! I'm stuck in The Seven Tower, so everything's fine here, but that whole district is on fire after that psycho blew up the gas station. Right now everyone's running around like headless chickens. The army has already been mobilized, they're calling in every supe they have, and they're trying to plug this disaster with whatever they can. And there's also another giant fuck..."
I somehow managed to make sense of the expressive torrent my acquaintance poured over me. From what I gathered, two supes who had escaped from Sage Grove had made it to the city. The first was an incredibly powerful pyromancer, but I couldn't understand a thing about the second one.
Margaret couldn't pull herself together and simply babbled incoherently that he had started a massacre, turning people into mincemeat. At any other time, I would have let it slide, but right now, it was a matter of life and death.
"You need to exhale and calm down. You're safe, and I'm already approaching the fire. We'll sort out this whole incident soon. But you have to think clearly and answer my questions. Where is Homelander? The rest of The Seven?" I asked in a firm voice.
I wasn't sure how much it helped, but Margo managed to pull herself together and began speaking at least somewhat intelligibly.
"Homelander was last seen in Los Angeles, giving a speech about the superhero regulation bill. I was told he's rushing here right now, but even he needs time to fly across the entire country," the woman began to list off, seemingly diving back into her element. "The fire bitch was spotted on the cameras, but nobody can find her right now. It seems all we know is that she hid in some burning building after running into a patrol of some unknown, weak-ass supes. Blue Hawk and someone else, I think? Who cares, a video of them turning into a pile of ash in a white flash has already gone viral online. The second psycho is much easier—if you're pulling up to the fire, you should already be able to spot him and..."
"...Yeah, I've got it. I think I'll get out here," I replied calmly, looking out the window.
The moment the car approached the scene of the incident, I immediately jumped out so as not to put the driver in danger. Judging by how sharply he sped off, the driver understood me perfectly.
Twenty meters away from me towered a colossal, bald man. His body, covered from head to toe in blood and burns, reached eight meters in height. He was clutching his eyes as if sobbing, but his whimpering sounded more like the ominous screeching of a wild beast.
The giant seemed to be lost in his own world, ignoring everything happening around him. However, my ability hinted at a very unpleasant fact. The blood didn't belong to him.
I could sense a mixture of dozens of different people, but making out the details was practically impossible. Chunks of flesh were stuck under his fingernails, and bones had dug into his skin. But the worst part was that I could sense a portion of that scarlet liquid right on his lips...
Not entirely sure what to do, I simply decided to test my power on the giant. The beating noise of his massive heart immediately began to pound in my ears like a hammer, making me squeeze my eyes shut for a moment. I had never before been faced with such a vast quantity of crimson liquid. It seemed the giant contained over a hundred liters of blood, which didn't differ in any way from the normal kind.
*How is this even possible?* At moments like these, I couldn't help but wonder about the nature of superpowers. After all, standing right in front of me was a violation of a dozen different laws of physics. And while it was obvious that we didn't know everything, things like this cast doubt on whether we knew anything at all.
I was certain that the giant possessed the ability to grow and shrink, but since even I couldn't find any side effects or anomalies in his blood, it was unlikely anyone else could either. Consequently, he could simply create matter out of nothing, which made acquiring a sample of his blood highly desirable as well.
I sensed that the giant was just your standard superhuman, albeit magnified tenfold. Yes, like other supes, he seemed unusually durable and strong, but physics still shouldn't have allowed such an obscenity.
But this was actually better for me, as I was well-versed in the standard human body. The main question was how to incapacitate him without causing any further collateral damage. Cutting off the blood flow to a brain that massive wasn't going to be easy...
While I was pondering how to neutralize the giant, new actors appeared beside him. Flying in at breakneck speed, they slammed into the giant with such force that he crashed to the ground, beginning to sob and moan even louder. The pair of flying supes stopped mid-air, staring down at the fallen behemoth with a clear look of superiority. Oddly enough, I recognized them.
A tall black man in gray-and-red spandex with a large lightning bolt on his chest, Nubian Prince crossed his arms, starting to survey the scene as if cameras were currently filming him. He tried to look epic and "cool," but to me, he looked more like some clown oblivious to the disaster right before his eyes.
As if serving as his exact opposite, Nubia—dressed in a blue-and-yellow suit adorned with small lightning bolts—looked serious, sternly tracking every movement of the crying giant. Judging by the way her gaze darted around and her facial expressions shifted, she had also realized that the blood didn't belong to the giant. An expression of anger and disgust instantly appeared on her face.
For the record, they were some of the most famous supes not affiliated with The Seven. In fact, they were the most famous black supes on the entire planet, surpassing even old-timers like Polarity and Black Noir. It was just that, personally, I never liked their brand; it reeked too much of falsehood and theatricality.
The Prince built his persona around supposedly being the descendant of some African king, which was why he spoke with a thick accent. This was despite the fact that he was actually born in Detroit and had lived there for practically his entire life.
He had only achieved success because he was strong enough to stand out from the general crowd, and he managed to ride the wave of the mass fight against racism. Physical strength, speed, durability, and flight—a beautiful package that practically guaranteed a successful superhero career.
Nubia was far more interesting than her husband. First of all, she simply had more interesting powers. Aside from flight and physical resilience, she could also manipulate electricity and conjure entire storms and hurricanes.
I had no idea about the specifics, but she frequently performed at the Super Bowl and various holidays, putting on a show with weather and lightning. Her backstory was intriguing, too—supposedly a hereditary witch from Africa who channeled the power of ancestral spirits and nature. It was a lie, of course, but at least a more creative one.
They even had their very own "archvillain," who, naturally, was just a hired actor staging robberies at fake banks and department stores. Except it was all a complete sham that they didn't even try particularly hard to hide. The guy just got paid to smash Vought sets on camera before getting driven into the dirt by the couple.
Oh, and the CGI during the final battle of their shared movie was absolutely atrocious. That was my own personal reason for disliking them.
They hovered in the air for a while, surveying the situation and chatting about something. I utilized the time, gaining greater control over the giant's blood with every passing second, but no one stopped me from eavesdropping on them.
"And he's the one who caused this whole mess?" Nubia said, a hint of doubt in her voice. "It's a bit hard to believe, to be honest. Although the giant looks tough, I'll admit that, but he's just too... pathetic."
Nubia possessed a deep, commanding voice that seemed better suited for performing in an opera or some kind of theater. But it was still quite beautiful and melodic.
Right then, I also realized that I strongly disliked their deliberate theatricality. Their behavior was far too unnatural, even compared to other supes. But obviously, that was just their brand, and as far as I knew, they were an ordinary, perfectly healthy couple raising a little daughter in their everyday lives.
"It does not matter who committed these atrocities, my queen," the Prince answered, squeezing his wife's hands. "We are together, and nothing can... wait, who is that?"
I simply waved a hand at them, keeping my eyes on the giant the whole time. Even though the behemoth had taken a serious hit from the duo, he recovered from it fairly quickly and snapped back to his senses. I had no idea what specific mental disorder he suffered from to get locked up in Sage Grove, but he clearly deserved to be there.
The giant roared at the top of his lungs and scrambled to his feet with incredible speed. He began wildly flailing his arms, trying to hit the pair that had wounded him. Nubia, caught by a tailwind, quickly dodged him, but the Prince turned out to be far less agile. He didn't even try to dodge at all; he was just showing off, standing in a true superhero pose with a dazzling smile, preparing to take the giant's blow.
The giant forcefully swatted Nubian Prince away like an annoying fly, sending him hurtling toward the ground. And even though he was a supe—a highly durable hero—meeting the asphalt headfirst at that speed was too much even for him.
A sharp, horrified scream from Nubia immediately pierced my ears as she watched her husband abruptly turn into a bloody pile of meat on the asphalt. He was instantly covered in blood, his limbs twisted in unnatural directions, and fluid began leaking from his cracked skull. However, I could sense that he was still alive. Supes are a tough breed; we can survive far worse than that.
The woman immediately directed her fury at the giant. Bringing her palms together, she unleashed a blinding blue stream of energy that pierced straight through the giant's chest, before she began descending toward the half-corpse of her husband. The massive psycho started howling even louder than before, but he didn't look like he was dying.
Roaring, he spread his arms wide with a clear desire to crush the heroine as well. Fortunately for her, I had finally finished prepping my power. Working with this much blood was unfamiliar territory, but I learn quickly.
The main problem was stopping him without the fall of his giant body destroying a few more buildings or crushing the poor couple. Therefore, I decided to be a bit more clever about it, utilizing my medical knowledge. As I clenched my hands, the blood began to move according to my will.
I struck his nervous system, purposefully blocking the spinal cord—or, more accurately, severing the connection between the spinal canal and the nerves. Direct the blood to the right spot, change its shape, form a sharp and solid clot, and...
The giant began to convulse, entirely unable to move. Nubia successfully reached her husband, beginning to inspect his body. Using my speed, I appeared next to them in a matter of seconds. I could see the pure despair in the woman's eyes as she looked at her husband, but I needed to act quickly.
"I'm a healer, and I will do everything I can to help him," I addressed Nubia, immediately starting to examine his wounds. "However, we need a safer place without any distracting factors. I don't know how much longer the giant will be reeling from your attack, so we need to neutralize him so that..."
"Understood," she replied curtly, not even listening to the rest as she simply launched herself into the sky.
In the blink of an eye, she soared into the sky, wreathed in a vortex of wind. A powerful hurricane began to swirl around her, and a web of electrical discharges raced down the woman's arms. Her eyes shone with a bright light as she glared at the giant with absolute hatred. Amusingly enough, the smell of ozone filled the air.
A stream of charged particles formed in her hands, and a second later, it blasted through the giant's skull, punching a hole in it nearly a meter wide. The giant body could not withstand it and began to crash to the ground with a thunderous roar. Fortunately, I managed to subtly tilt the giant's body so that he fell onto the road, ensuring no one was hurt and only the asphalt was left covered in cracks.
It was a very curious spectacle, but I had no time for it. Right now, it was far more important to prevent the fallen hero from losing too much blood and dying for good. And even though I didn't have a license legally permitting me to do this, I believed Vought would always be happy to issue me one.
I could only imagine what level the wave of rumors would reach if I officially became the first healer supe. And it was time to prove that I was worthy of it.
An effort of will, and the blood stopped leaking from his body. Another thought, and his heart began beating at a normal rhythm, supplying his organs with oxygen despite his wounds. Just like that, and the blood rose from his lungs on its own, allowing him to breathe normally.
After that, I lifted the body and carried it to a place far more suited for an operation. I had to break into the nearest closed comic book shop, where I laid the wounded man's body down on a table.
When working with supes, you always have to keep their supernatural regeneration in mind. That's why it is critically important to set their bones back in the right places as quickly as possible, so that their inhuman recovery brings the body back to normal. Although, doing something about a hole in the skull would be much harder...
I began tearing away the pieces of clothing that were getting in the way of the examination. Several compound fractures, four cracked ribs, a practically ruptured spleen, left lung trauma, internal trauma to the intestines and liver...
"I'll be honest, I thought you were stronger..."
Exhaling, I stretched my hands and set to work. I hope Homelander and The Seven manage to reach this place fast enough. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to help deal with the pyromancer—this operation was going to take hours. But this way, I'd at least be able to save one life.
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