Lightning Seeker

Collection

Vale woke with a start. Someone was close by, making her hair stand on end in warning. Sitting up, Vale tried to move into a crouch but suddenly remembered her injured leg as pain flared up. She gasped through clenched teeth, her body hitting the bed again.

A face came into view as she pushed herself up on her elbows. "Take it easy Raven. You can't be running around on that leg of yours." Dash helped her to a sitting position on the bed and moved to lean against the wall nearby. He crossed his arms, taking her in. "I should have let you sleep longer." 

"How long have I been out?" she asked rubbing her eyes.

"Six hours," Dash said running his fingers through his hair. 

"What?!? You promised-."

"I just finished," he said irritation coloring his tone. 

"Oh," she rubbed the back of her neck. "How is he?"

"Alive," Dash said, pushing off the wall. 

Vale scooted to the edge of the bed and then gingerly stood up. "I want to see him." 

Dash glanced down at her leg. "We should get that taken care of first." 

"No." She wanted to see him. To make sure he was alive. To make sure he was okay. Sky told her not to trust this ship and until she had more information, she was going to be cautious.

He sighed. "I'd really prefer to not fight you on this if you don't mind. Don't get me wrong, a little irritation makes banter more interesting, but I'm getting to the end of my energy here."

"And I am not going anywhere with you unless it's to see my friend," Vale responded, standing to her full height.

Dash rubbed his eyes, deflating slightly. "Okay. Come on." 

He scooped up her fallen crutch and handed it to her. They left the room and moved down the hall, Vale moving as fast as she could to keep up with his brisk pace. Dash reached an elevator at the end of the hall and waited for Vale to catch up. "Ready?" 

She nodded, a bit out of breath from the exertion. "Good." Dash stepped away from the elevator and shoved open the stairs next to it. "Elevator's broken. Not to worry though, he's only fifteen flights up." He held the door open so she could walk passed him. "You wanted to see him right? Ready to go?" He leaned against the door, "Unless you want to change plans and have me look at your leg first?"

Vale shot him a glare when he started to laugh. "This should be interesting," he said giving her a lopsided grin. She wobbled past him, intent on going up the stairs. But before she could make it up the first step, he scooped her up into his arms and walked off in the opposite direction.

"Let me go!" she bellowed. 

"Nope. Like I said earlier. Didn't want to fight you on this but the longer it takes to fix this leg of yours, the longer the healing time and the worse the damage will be." He laughed when she tried to get free. But her energy was fried. "See? Too tired to fight. Come on." 

"At least let me walk," Vale said, glaring up at him. 

"And take a THOUSAND YEARS to get to the observation room, pass." He walked in silence. They reached the observation room and Dash gently dropped her on the observation table that Sky had been on not long before. 

He lifted her leg gently sending another wave of pain up her leg. "I take it you have some experience with the medical basics." 

Vale closed her eyes waiting for the pain to pass. "Yes." 

"It's a good temporary fix. I'm impressed." Vale opened her eyes, surprised by the compliment. 

"Thanks." She watched him analyze her makeshift brace. "Where'd you learn to be a doctor? I've never met a human one before."

He gave her a dangerous grin. "A rare breed." He walked over to a table and picked up a small scanner. "Especially since it's illegal for me to even be in this profession." He held the scanner over her leg, the blue hue scanning her bones. 

"You're really young for a doctor." 

He laughed, his eyes smiling at the thought. "Yeah, I guess seventeen is pretty young." 

The scanner beeped, pulling his eyes to the results. "Wow. What happened? Your bone is almost completely shattered." 

Vale's mouth went dry, concerned by his reaction. "An AI."

He let out a low whistle. "And here I thought your leg was going to be the easy job." 

"What does that mean?" 

"Care for a metal leg to add to your collection?"