I couldn't do my trick with our ride again. I just couldn't, I was too tired; when we got to where the other squad was Jeeves was going to have to be the one to back them up, because I didn't have anything left. Luckily, I wasn't asked. Judge was the last to arrive, stepping up into the driver's side and starting up.

We weaved through the police cars and clean up crews in careful silence, together but alone in our thoughts. Once through though, Judge put the hammer down.

“You alright?”

I must have zoned out a bit; Sarah – no, Conners - was looking me in the eye from a foot away, and she hadn't been there a second ago.

“Just tired. I'm an idiot who used too much juice.”

“Damn it.”

If she could pace, I knew she would be. I was the teams heavy artillery; without me, they may be able to support the other team, or even get the job done on their own, but it would be next to impossible to do it bloodlessly.

Under it all I could see the gratitude, still lurking under the surface.

“Don't worry, I have prepared for this.”

I had almost said 'Grex and I prepared for this,' but that would have been a mistake. I really WAS tired. At least, I hadn't mentioned what the plans were yet; other summoners would have a collective cow over an exhausted summoner actually summoning more demons. Which was why I wouldn't do it unless Grex wasn't enough.

I could even be worrying too much, and the first team could have handled the problem already, and everything could be fine. It was standard procedure to back one team up with the other after all, and technically we were done here. Though I really wanted to investigate myself. Being the… child of a police officer had ingrained some very bad habits in me. I was pretty sure I could stand to trust more.

Since my earpiece was out, I had to rely on the comms of my team for information… which meant I was just doing a lot of staring into tight and tense faces. Things were probably going less than well then. Weapons were being checked and reloaded, gear being checked for faults caused by our earlier encounter, and ammunition restocked.

Still, when Judge altered course in a hurry, kissing our side against some small parked car with a crunch, I felt it might be time to interrupt.

“So, um, how's it going?”

Smooth Maeve, real smooth.

Conners looked over at where I was attempting to rewire my earpiece. Without some wire cutters to clean it up and electrical tape, I was stuck using my nails (which worked suspiciously well on the soft plastic) and twisting it the ends together; if it held at all, it wouldn't hold long.

“Not well. The demon is a Sucker, and suspiciously powerful. She's currently weaving her way through the cordons after sucking enough men dry to power a hundred imps for a year. There was a circle where the call was placed, and it looked like it was for reinforcements. The team doesn't know if it was used or not, but they do know the bitch is a powerful caster; she's throwing spells like water, forcing the team to keep their heads down.”

Great. Just perfect; a succubus, strong or not, would hate me for Grex alone. I could use that, but using it while I was as tired as I am would be dangerous. And any other spell-thrower (demonic or not) was better at it than I was; I just didn't know enough yet. Even with the first squad still there and active, this would be a very hard fight.

That is, unless I used my secret weapon.

But no, I should go with backup plan B first. Backup plan C could wait until there was absolutely no other choice. Conners continued, oblivious to my turmoil. Maybe all the hard work at suppressing my tells was finally paying off.

“So we're heading to cut her off. She's running, and we're playing hammer and anvil.”

That meant we would be in action first. She was already running from the other team, so if we were lucky, Judge would get us there in time to actually set up properly before she smacked into us. It also meant less time to catch our breath, as the first team would be herding her towards us. Just as I came to that conclusion, Judge pulled off into an alley with a screech; I hate it when I'm right.

“Alright, lets go. Judge, that fire escape looks like your best bet. Snow, stay inside the truck. Whatever you're going to do, do it fast. Culling, stay with Judge. Roddy, you're with me.”

She looked at me, and I knew what she wanted. Sometimes I REALLY hated being right.

“Grex, on top of the truck. Make sure you're seen by our new target.”

The truck was the most magically armored piece of real estate around, after all, I was perfectly safe inside it, right? At least safer than being outside, mobile, and able to see what was coming at me, right?

My team bailed out to their assigned positions without a backward glance, leaving me feeling a bit betrayed. The Hum-V was probably the safest for a summoner that couldn't do much more than walk, but alone it was claustrophobic in here.

The privacy did give me all the time and space I needed to easily implement plan B at least, and I wouldn't even be called on it immediately.

Something all summoners could do, was summon more than one demon. Our familiar was the one we could summon easiest, having forged shortcuts into our contract (which made it exclusive), but theoretically a summoner could summon any number of demons. Well, provided their sanity held out, that is.

I didn't have to worry about any of that. According to Grex my contract included being able to summon any demon he used to be able to command, and the ability to do it the same way I could with him, provided I knew their names. So far, I knew the names of two. Two demons that he highly recommended as being willing to help me should I need it. And since the other part of my contract included either greatly reduced stress or none at all involved in summoning Grex, I was willing to take the chance that it included other demons as well. Even if I was wrong, then the stress involved couldn't be as bad as dealing with it as a normal summoner, as Grex wouldn't be adding to it.

I can't believe I just thought of such a thing as a 'normal' summoner. The fact that I also didn't include myself in what was normal for a summoner was probably also telling. I'd worry about it later.

“Abnex, veni huc! Sarex, Veni huc!”

Grex had been very adamant that if I summoned them at all, I was to summon them together. He painted a horrifying picture of one left alone to their own devices.

They appeared simultaneously, a boy and a girl with night black wings and matching wide grins revealing needle teeth. They had matching cruel expressions, which smoothed upon seeing me. One wore a blood-spattered and ragged yellow peasant dress with holes cut in to allow her wings freedom, and the other wore a blood-spattered dingy white shirt and black dress pants. I couldn't for the life of me tell which was supposed to be which.

I straightened up; showing weakness would be a death sentence here. I hadn't even drawn a hasty protection circle. I was counting on Grex's word alone that they would be friendly. Their grins widened as they realized who I was.

“Well, it's about time!” the girl said.

“We've been waiting for ages to meet you!” The boy said.

They crowded in and before I could move, the girl hopped up and pulled my hood down. I had my knife out ready to cut, but they stopped.

I heard a twin gasp of awe.

“…so beautiful….”

“Sorry, milady, my sister is an idiot. I'm Abnex, and she's Sarex. So, how can we humble servants help you today?”

There was nothing. I had felt the power drain, which was not insubstantial in my current condition, but the pressure that every summoner I had ever talked to had described to me? It was negligible. I could feel it, but I had just summoned two noble (after a fashion) demons at once without any sort of buffer at all, and barely felt what should have been a hand squeezing into a fist around my gray matter.

It just wasn't.

It felt as if another presence was sharing a portion of my head with me, and it wasn't a bad feeling at all. Odd yes, but not bad. It also seemed as if the twins counted as one presence; something that also struck me as a little odd. But compared to myself 'a little odd' was normal.

The twins had backed off, and were staring at me intently. Well, perhaps some name dropping would help.

“Grex suggested I call you if I needed help, and I do. How good are both of you at sorcery?”

They shared a look and Abnex spoke.

“Well, I'm better at it. What spells do you need cast?”

Sarex leaned forward eagerly and timed her interruption perfectly in that way twins had.

“Do you finally need us to help you take over the world?”

Her brother punched her without missing a beat.

“Um… no? I need help with corralling a Succubus.”

Way to go, idiot. Sound more hesitant and confused; that's a perfect way to end up dead. Grex was too far away to help me if these two decided I was a snack. I could get one with my knife if I struck fast, but the other would easily gut me. Maybe both would.

But instead of murderous, they looked disappointed. And chimed together, in perfect chorus:

“Oh, is that all?”

Somehow that made me even more uneasy.

“She's... supposed to be really good with spells?”

Abnex took charge again.

“Alright. So the plan is I go and back Grex up, right? And Sarex stays here and guards you?”

I nodded. It might already be too late, but I wasn't going to show any more weakness.

“Alright, that's how we'll play it then. Sis, behave. I mean it. Milady, by your leave.”

And he bowed low and left, not bothering with the door; just phasing through it. Sarex took advantage of the distraction and sat down next to me, uncomfortably close, in Conners chair. Her perfume was the salty copper of old blood and mixed with some kind of oil or incense I couldn't place. I blinked as her side pressed into mine, and looked over.

Her face was inches away, looking up at mine, lips parted slightly to allow her fevered pants to escape. She looked for all the world like a love struck pre-teen… with very sharp needle like teeth. I was about to edge away when she leaned into me with a contented sigh, resting her head on my breast of all things and tightening her little arms around me. She was much stronger than her frame suggested.

I rubbed her hair and she relaxed as the noise outside started. The explosions and shouting didn't seem to phase her at all. Her hair was soft and clean, with feathers worked into it… and she was snotting up my robe.

“Conners come in. Conners, come in.”

Great, my radio hadn't survived the tackle; I could feel my earpiece free of all wirey constraint.

And of course, Sarex had to make it even more awkward.

“You smell nice. What sort of perfume do you use? Do you use shampoo for your hair? How did you get your boobs so big? I want boobs this big too. Well, if I ever grow; otherwise I wouldn't be able to walk. And I'd trip and fall over all the time. Do you wear makeup?”

“Uh… sometimes?”

It was a mistake. I knew it was a mistake the moment I said it, but it was already too late to take it back.

“Oh really?!? What kinds? I like to use the old school stuff, you know, Kohl and Henna, but I've been looking at the modern stuff, you know, ground up animals and rust, and it seems to work better. But I'm really kind of jealous because besides looking paler than a bled corpse your skin is amazing! Totally flawless. The hair is a nice touch too; you could probably steal Helen of Troy's act if you wanted, even if everyone knew you were a summoner. After all, there are cults for those kinds of things, and who are we to judge, eh?”

And she planted a sharp elbow in my side in conspiratorial fashion… then went back to nuzzling me. She was still talking of course, but with her face shoved where it was, I couldn't understand a thing. It was a good thing my robes had protections, or she'd probably be biting me somewhere sensitive.

The Hum-V chose that moment to chime like a gong and rock as if it didn't weigh three tons. Sarex looked up from where she'd been drooling on my robe, seeming to look through the roof of the vehicle itself.

“That Succubus is a dumb one. Seems to think she can actually take on my Grex and my brother.”

“You can see through the car?”

She sniffed.

“Hardly, but that was an offensive spell. You don't throw around something like that while running away. Well I suppose you could, but it would be a tragic waste of power. Likely she just saw what kind of demons we were and thought she could overpower us. Succubi are arrogant like that.”

I thought it more likely the demon in question was feeling the heat from being pinched between forces, but I wasn't going to say anything. If I did she might stop talking sense and go back to drooling on me. Or maybe she would anyway, and I was just doomed. Quick, think of something!

“Either her aim was off, or she was aiming for me.”

Sarex didn't look away.

“What makes you say that?”

Grex wouldn't put himself in front of me, placing me in the line of fire, and then dodge. So she wasn't aiming at him, he would be somewhere else making a show. Your brother would likely be following Grex's lead, so the Succubus probably suspects where I am, and took a shot at me.”

Which meant Grex would do his best to destroy her utterly; something I'd dearly like to see and confirm. But looking out the windows was dangerous; as it was, the demon only suspected I was there. If I confirmed it by showing my face….

I really felt too tired to move right now, or I'd already be outside. Another blast shook the Hum-V. What was even going on out there? What was taking so long?

I was half up before I realized it. I only realized it when I was gently pushed back down.

“Don't worry about it, Milady, Grex and my bothersome brother have things under control. They won't be overcome by some silly sow of a succubus.”

Sarex was one of those word player type demons, it seemed. She was also stronger than she looked, but I was wise to that. The real issue was she seemed to have more weight backing her at the moment than it appeared, so I wasn't really going anywhere.

Seeing as I was good and stymied, I decided to get some reading in. I couldn't read work related stuff on my pad since that would be a major security breach, but regular novels and technical manuals I could do. I settled on a book I'd downloaded and hadn't really had time to read… a fantasy thing.

I'd read the first page four times when the door to the Hum-V was wrenched open.

Sarex was there in an instant, a knife almost as large as she was (or was that a short sword?) in her hand. It settled around the neck of Conners, who stared at it in slack astonishment.

“Hm, a human, or at least she appears so. One of yours, Milady?”

I nodded in a hurry.

“Yes, she's my boss.”

Behind Conners I heard Abnex; he sounded vaguely exasperated.

“See I told you, you should have let me go in first! My sister is in there, I said. She's crazy, I said….”

Sarex grinned sweetly as she put the knife… somewhere. I didn't pay too much attention where, for my own sanity. One minute it was there, the next it was gone. There was still more than a hint of menace in that smile, directed at her brother. She opened her mouth and Conners voice cut through the noise.

“Snow.”

“Yes, Conners?”

“These two with you? That one said they were, and Grex wouldn't attack him. We couldn't contact you.”

Oh, crap. This was beyond bad.

“Yes, they are with me. I summoned them as back up through a preexisting contract.”

Technically it WAS preexisting, and in their minds it would be a good excuse as to why there were no circles or blood around; I'd already done that part. After all, summoners did this sort of thing all the time. Summon a demon and set up a contract for later emergency use, then call them as you would your own. It was pretty draining, but some summoners were able to do it without going insane. A few.

“Meet Abnex, and Sarex. They came highly recommended.”

I pointed to each in turn. Behind Conners and Culling, Behind Abnex, I could see Grex holding up a small… flash card? It said:

“Abnex did not reveal himself to the mortals until after your vehicle was hit.”

It gave me enough information to lie on. Knowing that I could say I summoned both in fear of my life after the Hum-v was nailed with… whatever it was. Doing so would avoid any kind of trouble.

I shook my head at Grex, just a little wiggle but Culling picked it up and profiled around until my demon was in sight, hand not quite on his weapons. He was very jumpy. Grex's hands were empty, and he raised them along with an eyebrow. The flash card had disappeared.

“Look, I'm sorry. I should have warned you all about these two, but….”

This wasn't easy to say; I took a deep breath and plunged onward.

“I'm crazy, and paranoid. So I took the chance and summoned them. I didn't want any of us to get hurt, and backup is always good, and they were under my complete control the entire time, and….”

Conners waved me down.

“It's fine, It's fine, I get it. It's just, it would have been less of a heart attack to us all if that one hadn't just appeared out of nowhere. If not for the fact that he hit the target, we would have lit him up to.”

Without backup, they wouldn't have gotten far with that, and they knew it. It was then I noticed the demon behind them; an imp, low power, and contracted to someone… I couldn't remember the imps name, or the owners right offhand. The guy we were sent to relieve. I was too tired to deal with this, really; I could barely remember my own name by this point. I held up my earpiece and comms unit, still in two pieces.

“I probably would have done better at it, but apparently I suck at wiring.”

I didn't tell her it was broken by a demonic tackle hug. It was bad enough that by the looks on their faces, both Grex and Abnex suspected; I wouldn't be confirming to anyone.

“Noted. And I did order you to stay put and out of sight. But for next time, you're getting training on how to use the Hum-V radio.”

I had a thought, rattling around my empty head-space.

“That would be a good idea, yes. Maybe requisition a few replacements for all the Hum-V's?”

Conners shook her head.

“We used to do that, but then someone broke into one of the Hum-V's and stole a few. Used them to listen in to our orders and movements, and held an ambush for a couple summoners.”

None of the team would meet my eyes. So, it hadn't been long, and I had likely been the replacement for that summoner. A moment of respect for whoever it had been and I spoiled it with a yawn.

“Sorry! Sorry, I….”

Conners used the excuse to change the subject, raising her hands. Unnoticed by anyone else Sarex's arms tightened on me a little.

“No, it's fine, it's fine. You have three demons summoned at the same time, and you were tired before. Add in the post fight stress, and it's a wonder you're still awake. Send the minions back where they came and take a load off; first round of whatever you want is on me.”

That sounded like a good idea.

“Abnex, Sarex, vade in domum tuam.”

“Roger boss. Don't be a stranger.”

Again, they tag teamed the sentence. It was weird, I'd never actually known twins to do that before.

And of course without the support Sarex had been giving me I staggered a bit before getting back to my seat. At least I managed to wave Grex off before he went through everyone to get to me. Conners was the first one there.

“You alright, Snow?”

I gave her a thumbs up.

“Just tired. Moving seems optional right now.”

Everyone else piled in. Grex curled up beside me since he didn't have a seat. I should probably send him home too, but he really wasn't draining any power to stay. I felt more safe with him here, in any case. I leaned close to Conners, who was still eying me.

“The other team?”

“There were… casualties. No deaths.”

My next breath was sharper than I'd intended.

“Who?”

“Dolph, West, and Charlie. Charlie is expected to be fine, West is bad but expected to make a full recovery, and Dolph is critical.”

Well, shit.

“Any other demons sighted?”

In a day with two in the same hour, I wouldn't put anything past today. Conners made sure we were all strapped in.

“Only ours. You going to be alright? We still have a job to do, and a patrol to finish.”

Of course, the standby team was screwed, so right now the higher ups would be calling in off duty personnel to pick up the slack; meanwhile we were still on the clock. Whether I was up to it or not.

“Right. Can you keep me updated on how they are? Dolph and the others, I mean?”

She nodded, sinking back with a sigh in her own seat, and beginning to check her gear for the second time in a half-hour. The others followed suit, leaving Judge to drive; when Conners was done with hers, she checked his weapons too.

Kind of surprised me, actually; I didn't think Judge was the type to let someone else do that for him. But I guess since it was still in sight and he was watching in the rear-view mirror, it was fine by him.

We drove for some distance before I felt up to paying attention to my surroundings again, and by the time I recognized where we were, the Hum-V was pulling into the Hister memorial hospital. Hister was an old Senator, and the lone reason we should remember him was he secured the funding for the hospital.

The hospital itself was just run of the mill standard architecture for hospitals; at least it matched the facade and plan of all other hospitals I'd seen or been to. There weren't even any gargoyles out front or anything; no color to the place at all.

Maybe I was a bit spoiled by where I lived now. Maybe I should run down those thoughts, and cage them or something. And maybe I should wonder why we are at the nearest hospital.

Conners answered before I could ask… with a wink.

“Our patrol route just happened to take us by the hospital our team was taken to. Not our fault at all that our poor battered transport finally chose this moment to break down, right?”

“Nope, not at all!”

We all piled in the hospital, silent but obvious. People gave us a wide berth, and some ran away flat out. They had heard the sirens earlier; I would guess. Of course, the runners were the stupid ones; they could be running right into the situation they feared. The smarter thing to do would be to stay in an open area with a good field of view, and as close to us as possible. Oh well, any panic caused here was on Conners head, not mine; she had made the call.

At least I had recovered enough to walk now; I swear, I was never slowing time like that again. At least not until the next time I needed to. Definitely not for as long as I had, or as often. Enough, whatever; right now wasn't about me.

“Looking for a few police officers, just brought in.”

The nurse on duty looked just as weary as I felt, and not nearly as shocked as the would be patients around us. She just answered us with a halfhearted glare, probably because we chased a few people out of line without trying. She spent me a special glare with more heat in it.

“Fourth floor, rooms 416, 420, and 422. Please be quiet, people are resting.”

Yeah, I could feel the love.

Conners gave her a glare in return before leading us all off. While I was silent, my team was anything but, stomping around without a visible care in the world. I was a little touched by the show, and not fooled at all by the nonchalant faces. We rode the elevator up alone; listening to the muzak. Judge even tapped his foot to it; I didn't recognize it myself.

The fourth floor was full of cops. Scratch that, the fourth floor was absolutely packed full of them, leaving maybe a two feet strip in the center of the hall to navigate in. The ones on the outer edges of the people ball had assault weapons out and hard eyes, scanning the stairs, the elevators, and the windows. I was the only summoner present, which made me a little… tense? Why should I feel tense, surrounded by my peers?

Room 416 held Dolph, and he was by far the worst off. The police were being kept out of the room by a very large and very irate nurse, who looked able to throw a healthy Dolph around. I couldn't see much because if all the machines in the way. The captain wasn't here yet, which probably shouldn't have surprised me, but did. I had absolutely no doubt that he was on his way. I turned to Pearce.

“How is he?”

“Well, hes missing his spleen, some of his intestines, and they aren't sure they can save his arm. So… about that good.”

Wow. At least Pearce didn't sugar coat anything. He was still in shock it seemed, and I didn't blame him. Conners was beyond any such thing now.

“So what happened?”

Technically Pearce was Conners senior, and didn't have to answer here. He did anyway, loudly enough for all of us to hear.

“Dolph was covering Aims. They set up on a rooftop, with Aims covering Charlie as he went in. The target managed to figure out what Charlie was up to, and where Aims was. She just ran to the roof up the fire escape, and Dolph engaged while Aims repositioned.”

Which meant Aims ran like hell.

“He got a few good licks in but came up short. Charlie managed to drive her off, and we sent your team to intercept while Charlie's imp followed. I made the decision to get our wounded medical attention, so we taped them up and brought them here.”

It sounded almost as if he were rehearsing; he probably was. The captain would want to hear this, in detail.

Conners wasn't happy with the confession; it could be because of the injuries, but it was more likely because Pearce's actions left her team out to dry. And that after we had fought a demon already ourselves.

As for me, since I couldn't get any closer to Dolph, I decided to go one room down.

West didn't have any strong nurses in her room; she did have more than a few watchful cops in it, but they let me right through. The general atmosphere of the room seemed different, but I wasn't sure what it was. A few of the cops were less than composed, however, and weren't looking at West as she lay in the bed, cussing. A large cast was around her leg, still glistening a little in the bright lighting. I couldn't help myself; she seemed so… annoyed.

“What happened to you?”

She looked up, finally noticing me for the first time.

“Oh nothing, I just broke my damn leg is all.”

Wait a minute.

“You broke your leg? Not the demon?”

She sighed and shook her head, glaring at the cops backs as they started to shake.

“Yes, I broke my damn leg. I was with Charlie, opening the doors he needed to bypass in order to do his thing. We managed to sneak around and were heading up the stairs when she came down to us. Charlie and I jumped out a hall window, and while Charlie hit the dumpster at the bottom, I missed it. The target breezed right past us, and just left us there.”

Well, that was lucky, if odd. Should I just sit on my next question, or ask away? A person who wasn't worried about appearances would ask.

“What do you think the demon was after?”

West looked up and frowned.

“Us. Or at least, Charlie's demon, specifically. She had caused a mess in an office building, just enough to get a call, then waited. She didn't move until we got there, and when she did move it was straight at Charlie and me. We dove, she took a swipe at Charlie as she went by, but she didn't slow at all, just chased the imp towards Aims. Dolph held her while Aims got out, I guess. Not sure why she left, unless it was to chase the imp again.”

That… was a little disturbing. Usually, the demons who showed up had clear goals or mayhem on their mind; this one's goal seemed to be the ADTF itself. So had the one we faced directly, possibly. I hadn't given it time to bunker up, after all, but it might have if we hadn't surprised it.

But why would a demon care specifically about another demon? And an imp, no less? Imps were the weakest of demons most of the time, and couldn't offer a Succubus anything at all. Charlie's demon friend was a perfect example of the breed in fact. Even putting aside the first response of most demons when they spotted ADTF (run or attack, according to the manual), this just didn't make any sense at all.

And while I could see deferring to wiser heads than mine to solve the mystery, it was clear West was just as confused as I was. She was pretty experienced, and if she hadn't seen or heard of it before, the behavior was new.

“Well, Get better soon.”

It sounded lame to me as soon as I said it, but my people skills were never that good to begin with; we both knew it would take her months to recover from a break as bad as this one seemed to be, at least fully.

A room over Charlie lay, bandages around his chest. He was conscious and reading, take it easy with only the occasional wince as he turned a page. With his robe off he looked normal enough; just a young dark skinned man with dark hair and bad acne. There wasn't a single cop or anyone else in the room with him.

“So… how are you?”

He carefully looked over, and his face brightened.

“Perforated. The bitch slashed me good as she went by, chasing Yansen. Went through all the skin, but didn't go through anything else, so some stitches, and I get some cool scars to tell the ladies about.”

Yansen was the name of his imp, I remember now. With those kinds of injuries he was looking at weeks to heal, but that wasn't too bad.

“Good.”

“So, what brings you here? Get the bitch?”

I nodded. Now really wasn't the time to chide him for his use of language, no matter how much I wanted to. Even though he was being loud in general, no nurses came in to check.

“Yeah, we got her. I managed to pull a twofer.”

His smile was genuine, and so was the grimace after.

“Not bad for a rookie.”

“Maybe, just don't ask for the hat trick; I'm wiped, here. You look to be in pain, need some meds?”

His response angered me.

“Nah, they won't give us anything but locals if we get shredded, and I've already had that. The powers that be don't want us becoming addicts.”

“Well that's just stupid. You're in pain. Do they pull this sort of crap in the army?”

“No actually, just here. Ir's fine, I'd rather be awake and in full command of my senses anyway.”

It took me awhile to get it; this was THAT hospital. The one where the last summoner to die, died. It had to be, given the way he was looking around, taking everything in. Hm, how to fix this… I opened one of the pockets in my robe; if his was missing, then perhaps he didn't have the piece of chalk I tossed at him.

“Hey, thanks. My stuff got wrecked in the attack.”

I made good my escape before the hero worship, or awe, or whatever it was got too strong for me to handle.

“Well, got to go, stay safe.”

I waved and managed to suppress the shudder until I got outside; I wasn't sure what his eyes had been doing there, but undressing me seemed to be the least of it. Luckily no one else noticed; they were too bust staring at the Captain, who had a good head of steam, coming down the hall. The first words he said were directed at us, with an absolutely bright and sunny yet heart-stoppingly terrifying smile.

“Patrolling the hospital, right? You're done with the rounds here, now. Get going.”

We got going.

On the elevator down I realized something though; we were missing Conners.

“Where's Conners?”

Judge answered first; I guess rank had it's privileges.

“She's downstairs; she'll be waiting for us in the lobby.”

Since he seemed to be more predisposed to speak than Roddy or Culling, I asked him directly.

“That go about how you expected it to?”

“What, you mean upstairs, with the Captain? Yeah, pretty much. We technically did have a reason to patrol here, after all. We had wounded too; ours were just able to walk in.”

The elevator doors opened and as if to punctuate his words, Conners was there, sporting a few new bandages. She also had someone next to her, dressed in scrubs. She wasted no time invading my personal space and dragging me into a room.

“Whoa, lady, not that kind of girl!”

Conners looked way to amused for this. At least the door stayed open.

“Shut up and hold still.”

She pulled my robe back from my face, then my throat, then my hands.

“No aches or pains anywhere?”

“No, ma'am; I'm just tired.”

“About that; any uncomfortable sensations, like headaches or joint issues? Head wrapped in wool?”

Instantly I flashed back to my dream after my date, when I got my last earring.

“No ma'am, nothing like that.”

“Don't ma'am me, my names Judy.”

She looked up, staring into my eyes for what seemed forever. Then she shook, once, like a wet dog.

“Your check up is now complete. She's fine Conners.”

Judy all but shoved me out of the room.

“Any problems, you call me. Or better yes, call Karen or Conners, and they will call me. Enjoy your day.”

She slammed the door in my face.

Wait a minute, this sort of behavior was sort of predictable… I turned to my team, already walking out.

“Former summoner?”

Conners nodded with a grin.

“Yep, and a world class medic. She got a sort of diagnosis power from her pact. It's spotty as all hell, but when it works it does the job. It just worked, and she pronounced you fit for duty. Odd, really; it seems to work for summoners more often than normal people. But gift horses and all that.”

“So, she kept the power?”

No way would she be posted in a hospital with her contract still up.

“Yep, no one really knows why, and she isn't saying, but she kept that power, and only that power. No one knows for sure, but probably the Corps didn't really know what to do with her, so they kept her enlisted but stationed her here.”

“Well, she has crazy down. With her bedside manner, it's amazing she's still employed.”

Culling, of all people, spoke for her.

“She's good at her job. Many things can be forgiven if you are.”

Truer words.

We made it to the car and I poured myself into my seat. Any longer and I'd have probably sat down on the sidewalk. When I looked at my pad, a new show was downloaded on it. Conners looked at me with another grin. I rolled my eyes and hit play.