Bring The Heat

21. Behind The Scenes

Cece sighed to herself, making another trip between the kitchen and her bed. There was no avoiding it, she was sad - and too tired to weld, which is what always made her feel better. She just wanted to eat, sleep, and then die or something.

'I'm so useless...' she thought to herself. Rebound and BM had gone off to go investigate an especially powerful reading. At least, she assumed so - BM only went on the particularly troublesome cases, and bringing his trusty ol sidekick Rebound? A sure sign that they were rolling out to something big. And she wasn't there.

Cece felt cursed; she held the responsibility of having a power, and yet had no power to wield. In the first field case she'd been on, not only was she only acting as a babysitter for Wren and Tenson, who were actually meant to do the work, she couldn't even keep them safe. And her only fight other than that? She nearly killed Dominic with her power.

The worst part was how excited she was when she found out she had it. "Space Girl!" she had said, no, insisted that her superhero name would be.

Naive.

In her mind it was so commercialized - she envisioned herself on posters, moving gracefully through the air, beating up bad guys effortlessly and floatily.

But that's not what it was like at all, huh? What an idiot she was. After it all, she was isolated, just like an astronaut. And with how her power was? She always would be.

"What's up?"

Cece was pulled back to reality by the concerned voice. She looked up to see Wren, and put on a quick little smile.

"Nothing! Just getting... breakfast?" she responded, unsure of the time because she was, uh, 'hibernating'.

"It's 6PM, Cece. I'm here for you, tell me what's wrong!"

She was so insistent and aggressive on her caringness that Cece felt compelled to open up, but not before letting out a long, dreary sigh.

"I wish I had a good power... one that could actually help people, or hurt them. I can't do anything, so now I'm staying back here forever... I'm a liabilty."

Wren wanted to say something about how great Cece's power really was but realized she actually didn't know Cece's power at all. She also didn't know what a liability was, but it sounded kinda like 'lazy' which made sense with context.

"Look, I kinda get what you mean. Bending down to touch the ground every time, and sometimes I get fucked up anyway - it's tiring... but you're, like, really smart! I... I don't actually know what your power is, I'm gonna be upfront on that. But you should use it more, and I'm sure you'll find a way to use it that'll be really great!"

"Oh... well, y'know how magnets push away from each other?" Cece asked. Wren did not know this. Cece continued: "Well, I do that to air when I use my power. That means stuff floats, and... people can't breathe. And my ribs... it hurts a lot to use. My ribs still hurt from when Dom attacked!"

Even though she thought Cece's power sounded really cool, Wren didn't want to invalidate her insecurities, so she just gave her a hug.

Getting a hug from Wren was... nice. The kind of nice that is actually really really good and made Cece feel warm inside, but could only be described as 'nice'.

"Oh, you could probably get something off of Lewis for the pain."

The moment was ruined. Cece pulled away, scoffing passive-aggressively. But Wren was... serious!?

-(LATER THAT EVENING)-

Cece crept up to the doorway of the medbay. Inside, Lewis was typing away on her terminal. God, it was like she never left... reluctantly, but forced spiritually by Wren's hopefulness, Cece knocked on the medbay door.

"Oh. You." Lewis said, swivelling around in her chair.

"Great to see you too, asshole." Cece shot back sarcastically.

"Look, I've moved on, from you at least. I don't care anymore, so if you're just here to complain, you can go."

Cece grunted at the idea. Lewis was expectedly cold, but Cece had to try to get this over and done with.

"Ok, whatever. It's... more than that, though."

"Then come in and tell me about it."

And Cece felt it again; the thing that she hadn't felt in so long. Lewis was quite robotic, in a sense, but if you followed her logic and code, there was a strange warm feeling to being around her. Cece went at sat at the edge of the hospital bed.

"It's my ribs. I had to use my power, and I think it messed them up."

"You used your power? How did it go?"

And again. Something about her delivery made it feel like she actually cared quite a lot, and was always interested in what you had to say so long as she actually was. That, or Cece just got attached to people and the way they were very easily.

"Yeah. I had to - there was a kid with wings. Actually, it was Dom, but I'm sure BM's filled you in on the whole mind control deal. And, well, it's like we predicted. I nearly killed some people because I can't control it."

"Well, of course you can't control it. It's a field, a bubble. What if you just kept everyone out of your bubble?"

"Cos of the ribs."

"Ah, yeh. Let's do some X-rays then."

"What? No, I just need something for the pain."

"Wow, so you're always gonna be all 'lone wolf' huh? That hasn't changed? Look, I just wanna do em to see what's up with your ribs."

"Fine then."

-(AFTER THE X-RAY)-

After examining the X-rays on her terminal for a bit, Lewis swiveled around to face Cece.

"So, you were wrong. If it was over exertion from your power, it'd look different - this is an impact break. Oh, yeah. You have three broken ribs. You've just been walking around with these? No wonder you've been eating and sleeping so much."

"Oh..." Cece muttered. She thought back to when Dom's wing had struck her in the chest, and how the adrenaline probably held off most of the pain until she began to tense.

"In all honesty, eating and sleeping was the right idea, though. I'll give you something for the pain, and a couple other things to take. But you've been going around like this? You do realize there's nothing wrong with staying back and resting, right?"

"Well... that's not why I've been staying back. I'm... scared. And I guess that makes me a coward..."

"That makes you smart, dumbass. I'm glad you're not trying to get yourself killed. I wish Rebound was the same... and hey, you've got nothing to prove, ok? Hell, I plan on staying back till I can go back home. That doesn't make me a coward, does it?"

"Do you honestly want me to answer that?" Cece responded jokingly. Lewis chuckled, and Cece remembered how rewarding she was to get a laugh out of.

It was so strange, to think that they were friends a some point...

"Anyway, what's the deal with 'Lewis'?"

"Oh... well... it might not be my name, but... I didn't like who Robin was. I just wanted to be a different person this time."

"You can be a different person without changing your name."

"Not when you're like me."

Cece sighed. She was... right...

"When are you gonna treat yourself like a normal girl?"

"I don't know. If you want a convenient routine, I'd recommend taking the first of those antibiotics in about 5 minutes. That'll leave you to take one at 8 tomorrow, when you should be awake. Same with the painkillers."

"Ok... see ya, thanks, Robin."

"It's Lewis."

"It's not though, is it?"