Part 14 - Tad Fight Aftermath

The doctors came and went from Christie's cubicle between working on Valerie and Tad but did not make any apparent move to admit or release her. They'd just listen to her breathing, check her eyes, ask her how she felt, and then scurry off to work some more on their more seriously injured patients again.

"I'm really starting to feel the love here, Mom," Christie complained after the fourth or fifth flying visit - she really had lost count!

"I suspect they'd like to keep you at least overnight for observation, dear, for the hospital protocol's sake if nothing else." Amanda soothed. "You have quite the technicolor neck collar where that thug tried to choke you. I know there's no long-term damage or blood-deprived tissue problems, but those folks are merely doctors, not sorceresses."

"I really would rather just go home, Mom."

"I know, Christie, but we have to keep up appearances. Trust me! if I didn't have my gifts, I wouldn't let you out of this hospital until I had blood oaths that you were not at risk." Amanda paused for a moment, her lips pursing in concentration. "I most likely should have been more demanding and frantic about this and their current level of inattention to you. Oh well, too late now. It would just cause more scrutiny now, and besides, they have their hands more than full with Valerie and the thug."

"Well, don't waste any power helping Tad! Not before Val is heading for recovery."

"Oh, trust me, child, I wouldn't, and I won't! Heavens, at full power, and with all the goodwill in the world, I couldn't do much for him in any case, Christie. I briefly checked on him after checking Valerie? I gave his knee a quick scan, and frankly, I never imagined that a knee could just disintegrate like that. The knee cap is broken, all the major tendons are torn, and the knee is barely holding together with bits of cartilage and skin. Knees just don't move like that! There's nothing in that leg that is fixable, at least to someone with my ability level. The surgeons might be able to replace the entire joint, but more likely, they'll have to fuse it. He'll be lucky to walk again."

"And that, Jeja, is something we need to speak about. There is simply no way that you should have been able to cause that severe an injury in that precise manner. You're simply aren't strong enough, nor are you yet skilled enough in your current body to cause that much damage without a weapon."

"Sa Bum Nim, Charlie wasn't skilled or strong enough, either. I was hoping I'd catch Tad on the side of his knee with that kick. I put everything I had into it because I wanted him down on the ground and in no condition to chase Valerie and me. It . . . Papa Kim, his knee. . . it just folded backward underneath my strike, and, oh god, the sound it made. Like when Donnie does his breaking routines, only louder and sharper! It was awful, but I had to get to Val. And then I saw her, just collapsed on the ground in a heap. She couldn't have run! Grandfather . . . Sa Bum Nim, if Tad had tried to get back to his feet? If he'd even looked like he was still a threat? I'd have . . .I would have . . . Oh GOD!! MOM!"

Amanda rushed to her daughter and cradled the suddenly sobbing girl in her arms, rocking her and murmuring soothing sounds as she tried to calm her.

Grandfather Kim moved to the other side of the bed and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "It is all right, Jeja. I know what you would have had to do. You would have had to remove him as a threat to protect your friend and yourself. He was bigger and stronger than you, and you would have had to strike your hardest. And it would have been in defense of the defenseless and in self-defense. There would have been no shame in that act. Do you understand me, child?"

As she heard the old teacher's words, Christie had begun to calm, but the tears kept streaming. "I had already decided to ax-kick him in the head," she admitted quietly. "I couldn't let him get up before help got there. He could have killed Valerie!"

"Well, given the result of your back kick, it is as well you didn't have to respond to that. An ax kick delivered to the head with the same force as your earlier strike would have been deadly. I can only surmise that, during a fight or flight situation, when you focused for that kick, you somehow augmented its power with . . .your other gifts."

Amanda looked up from cradling her daughter at the Papa Kim. Quietly she said, "You think she unconsciously used her magic when she struck at him? That's why the blow was so devastating?"

"I cannot think of any other way it could have occurred, Amanda. Even with my long experience, skill and technique, I highly doubt I could have caused similar damage with the same move."

Amanda nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, well, let's just look and see, shall we?" Christie's Mom's eyes went blank, then focused wholly on her daughter's body. Moving slowly around the bed, she seemed to examine Christie in minute detail, her lips moving with no sound coming forth. Finally, Amanda's eyes returned to normal, and she looked over at her daughter's teacher. "Papa Kim? Her aura is sparking and fizzing like a witch's brew on an old-fashioned fantasy horror movie. Her power is smoldering in her, just beneath the surface."

"Power, Momma? I'm manifesting again," Christie asked with concern in her voice."

"Indeed you are, dear. So, yet another little spark of power. Heavens, more than just a little spark this time, too." Amanda said softly. "First precognition, then fire, then healing and now augmenting yourself physically. Your next birthday is less than three weeks away, and you are starting to sparkle with power. I think, my dear one, that your transformation decision is upon us. Everything I have read in our family archives, and all of my Mother's and my personal experiences, indicate you will be ready. You will know how to accomplish your trial's last challenge on your birthday."

"But I don't know enough yet, Mom!" The words started as a yell and finished as a frantic, hissing whisper.

"If you don't know enough, you won't be able to accomplish the transformation, but everything I've seen? You will have the ability. So, I think you'd better decide what you want to do when the decision is forced upon you."

"And in the meantime, Jeja," Papa Kim put in, "I believe you would be best served to practice your poomsae, help train the lower belts and work with the heavy bag. Until we are more certain of your control of this. . . augmentation effect, you will not be sparring with anyone not named Kim."

Christie only nodded and began to relax. "Okay, Sa Bum Nim. In the meantime, how about using your Jedi-Mind trick on these doctors to let me go home? I think I need my own space to come to terms with all of this, and so does my Mom."

"Now, Christie, stop it! Any competent doctor should keep you overnight for observation based on your symptoms. If anyone not affected by Papa's 'mind-trick' reviews the records of your time in the ER? Trust me that someone will. There will be questions asked by those higher-ups in the hospital as to why you were released. Tonight's staff won't have any acceptable answers. Remember what I told you about keeping our abilities under wraps and not coming to the attention of outsiders."

"But, Moooommmm. . ."

A single eyebrow disappeared into Amanda's tousled hairline. All she said was, "Chris - tie!" but she still brought to bear the full power of the dreaded Mother's Voice (TM) all moms have, no magic required. "I'll see about getting them moving about a room for you."

"I guess Val will be in the ICU, Mom?"

"I expect so. The doctors will be worried about her brain swelling and other such issues should the damage spread. I think I've stopped the spread, but I am not sure of that. Besides, the doctors have no way of knowing what I've done. They'll want to be able to respond quickly if they need to operate or some such thing."

"Okay, I guess. But, Mom?" Amanda's chin lifted in response, "I want out of here as soon as possible tomorrow, and then? I want to go to the range and perforate some targets. I think I need that discipline and routine."

Amanda smiled. "I'll see what I can do. But no painting Tad's face on any of those bulls eyes, young lady."

"Came too close to doing something like that already. Once was enough. I don't even want silhouette targets, just nice, harmless concentric circles."

Pleased by her daughter's response, Amanda gave her a quick kiss before hustling off to get the hospital bureaucracy in motion.

"And I am an old man, Jeja, and it is approaching my bedtime. I will see you, probably tomorrow. Let me know how you do at the firing range, eh?"

"Sure thing, Sa Bum Nim. Rest well. Thank you for being here for Mom and me. Good night."

"Good night, Christie."

~-~