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The Reluctant Ranger Chapter 11 - Hospital
🕑 Added 2024-11-09 07:37:29 +0000 UTCNicole looked up at the midday sun, her visor tinting itself automatically. A blade danced over her fingers, the dexterity of the Ranger transformation making the trick that once resulted in the occasional cut finger now proving trivial. Another day of training was done, at a different park than the last, and she’d just finished going over her actions with the fire department. It wasn’t a surprise that her team had seen the coverage, the apartment fire might have escaped the majority of the press, but the highrise blaze was all over the morning news.
“You want us to do what?” Devon asked, setting his helmet aside.
Kayla grinned as Nicole’s attention returned to the conversation at hand. The nature loving girl twirled through the grass before falling back into the tall flowers of the field, letting her morph drop as she did, the green motes of light drifting away into nothing as she embraced nature. “It’s just a little meet and greet at the children’s hospital. We show up, in uniform of course, meet some kids and be inspirational and make their week.”
“A PR event,” Devon said, scowling. “I don’t know how I feel about that.”
It was certainly an interesting idea, and after everything that happened with the fire department over the last two days, it wasn’t a bad idea to continue to push the whole ‘we’re here to help’ thing that Nicole had inadvertently started.
Having heard enough, Nicole stepped forward, dismissing her own morph as she did. “I think it’s a great idea.”
“Says the girl that did all that crazy shit with the fire department the other day,” Jeff said with a chuckle. “I’m certainly not opposed, but is it really a good idea to put ourselves out there like that?”
Grace shook her head. “Rangers might be protectors against the Sylan threat, but they are still a terrifying thing in the abstract for most. I remember more than a few sermons about how they might be agents of Satan.”
“Seriously?” Jeff asked. “That’s really not cool.”
Nicole laughed. “Does that actually surprise you? Have you seen how many ‘the end is nigh’ signs popped up after the Sylan invasion started? Conspiracy theories run rampant, and people look for any answer that might fit their worldview.”
“And posing with sick kids helps us?” Devon asked.
“It doesn’t hurt,” Grace said with a shrug. “These kids are fighting for their lives, and seeing some local heroes helps keep them hopeful. Trust me, I got really sick as a kid, and someone dressed up to visit the hospital at least once a week. I still remember the various heroes and movie characters fondly and I would love to pay it forward.”
Nicole bumped her hip against Grace’s, a subtle show of support for the woman she was coming to treasure. Grace hadn’t opened up about much of her past, but bits and pieces had filtered through to provide something of a picture of how messed up her life was before she escaped her old home.
“Did you have a date in mind?” Nicole asked with an encouraging smile.
Kayla grinned, practically bouncing in place. “We could do it today? I talked to someone at the hospital about it and they seemed to be really keen on the idea.”
“Then let’s go,” Jeff said cheerfully. The man really was a font of positivity, which was rather welcome in these dark times. “I am going to make sure all the kids smile!”
Coming from any other man that might have been creepy, but Nicole was starting to see that Jeff was one of those guys that was just genuinely good. She didn’t want to slap the himbo label on him since he wasn’t ‘dumb of ass’ but it was getting to be a near thing the more time she spent with the man.
“Alright everyone!” Kayla cheered, gesturing everyone back towards the trail that led to the parking area. “Everyone get in my van!”
“Statements that would be creepy coming from anyone else for five hundred,” Devon muttered.
Kayla just smiled. “Remember, I can manipulate ivy and oak, don’t tempt me.”
“Go ahead,” Devon challenged with a smirk. “I’ve never once gotten a rash from any of that stuff in my life.”
“A tricky one, then,” Kayla said, then chuckled. “Sumac it is then.”
Jeff had watched the exchange with a frown. “Why threaten poisons like that when you could provide everyone with strawberries instead?”
The group paused, blinking for a moment.
“How did I not think of using my ability for food?” Kayla said with a haunted expression. “Holy shit, I might be able to solve world hunger with some of the stuff I can do with plants.”
Right, her powers weren’t limited to just making them big and terrifying, she could also adjust different aspects of their growth as well as tweak them to be deadlier. Her comment about ivy and oak wasn’t bluster, she’d been experimenting relentlessly with her abilities, even going as far as to make a venus fly trap acid that could eat through steel like water attacked cotton candy.
Now Nicole was imagining her teammate turning deserts green with a gesture of her staff, and the image was more than a little mesmerizing, even if it was just her imagination. Shaking off that daydream, Nicole moved with the others towards the waiting van.
“Do you actually think I could make food?” Kayla asked, settling in behind the wheel.
“Only one way to find out,” Jeff said, though Nicole could tell he was just giddy about the idea of unlimited strawberries and other assorted fruits and vegetables. Admittedly Nicole was also excited by the idea and would be eager to help with the testing. “I can see it now, strawberries the size of watermelons, all the potatoes I can eat… Truly a dream.”
“I can’t tell if he’s flirting,” Kayla stage whispered, but Jeff was too caught up in his fantasy to have caught it. “Like, it’s neat that he’s so interested and all, but it is a bit different.”
Grace shrugged. “Just roll with it?”
“Yeah, like I’m taking romantic advice from you,” Kayla teased. “Get back with me once you’ve done something about your crush.”
With those words, Nicole’s stomach dropped. Of course Grace had a crush on someone, she was just amazing and Nicole was this disgusting mess of muscle that nobody would be able to look at without a curl of the lip. Grace especially was making a rather obvious point of looking away from Nicole’s grotesque muscles that made Nicole wish it was cool enough out to justify a hoodie, or at least long sleeves.
The discussion stayed centered on the new potential of Kayla’s power, and Nicole was trying to let it distract her, but all she could see was how Grace would take one look at her, then pointedly ignore her for several moments after. The thought of the woman being so repulsed by Nicole’s physical form had her stomach roiling, and it was with a sigh of relief that Nicole hopped out of the van the moment it parked.
Looking up at the skyline, Nicole was surprised to see Sinclair Industries visible, construction crews already at work repairing the structure. Checking her phone, Nicole saw that they were still a few blocks out from the nearest hospital, which did indeed have a children’s ward. That would give the Rangers plenty of deniability for them to go for a walk, transform, then make their way to the hospital from a slightly different direction.
Stretching, Nicole relished as her joints popped. She was glad to be back on her feet after the ride over, and briefly forgot herself until the breeze rolled over her stomach as her shirt rode up. She barely had a moment to panic and pull it down, but the damage was done.
A soft sound drew her eye, the source of which was Grace who was once again rather pointedly looking away from her. Pushing the shame aside, Nicole started walking before the rest of the team had a chance to finish disembarking from the vehicle. Her issues were cropping up more than usual and she was simply eager to get to the hospital and hopefully bury her insecurities behind the smiling faces of children.
Something told her it wouldn’t be that simple.
***
Opening the door to the children’s ward, the Ranger team was greeted by nearly two dozen cheering children in hospital gowns. Several moved to swarm them, but others weren’t able to match their enthusiasm. Nicole caught sight of more than a few in wheelchairs, and still others were no doubt bedridden and unable to get up to meet the Rangers.
Nicole couldn’t help but smile as Grace hoisted two boys from their wheelchairs and onto her shoulders. The pair introduced themselves as brothers and started gushing about how Grace had rescued them at the Renfaire. Looking at them, Nicole didn’t miss how each of them were going to need new prosthetic limbs by the time they were discharged. With how quickly Grace had moved to their side, Nicole had a feeling that Grace had witnessed their maiming first hand.
“Hey kids, want to see a magic trick?” Jeff asked. His spear vanished and in its place was a bundle of purple flowers. Nicole blinked, wondering how the hell the man could manage that. “That’s right, stick around for more, because I’ve got all sorts of tricks up my proverbial sleeves!”
Even as he said that, a mess of cards fell to the floor. The kids all laughed and that was when Nicole realized that Kayla was standing just behind him, making more flowers grow for a group of girls that were mesmerized by the twisting plants coming from her staff. The assorted colors were gorgeous.
Even Devon had gathered several of the boys to his side, posing heroically with shield and blade for them. She might not have liked how he always had to be the center of attention, but she couldn’t begrudge him of playing it up for the kids.
“You’re the Ranger from the fire!”
Despite the helmet preventing the little girl from seeing, Nicole smiled wide at the excited exclamation and turned to face her fully. She was stick thin, and bald. One of the doctors must have picked up on her hesitation as they leaned in.
“She has an aggressive cancer. We’re hopeful, but the odds aren’t good.”
It was like a knife to the heart to hear, but that was why they had come to visit, to lift the spirits of the children that life had decided to fuck over for no damned reason.
“I suppose I am. I take it you saw me on TV helping save people?”
“I did!” the girl confirmed with much enthusiasm. “You were so cool jumping from that building! It was like you could fly.”
Chuckling, Nicole allowed herself to be more animated than usual given the kid couldn’t see her face. “I can’t really fly, but I can fake it pretty well. Wanna see something cool?”
The little girl nodded so fast that Nicole was worried she might get whiplash.
“Now, don’t try this yourself, I’m using my special Ranger powers to do this,” Nicole said, stepping over to the window.
Then she shifted herself out of the physical world and jumped backwards through the window. The little girl had run up to the glass just in time to see Nicole waving back from the other side, her feet firmly planted on the ledge. She wasn’t about to do the full swan dive for an impressionable girl, but she could at least do a little trick like that.
“That was so awesome!” the girl said.
Nicole took the opportunity to step back inside and kneeled down to be closer to eye level with the child. She was positively beaming and Nicole wished she had something more interesting to show her, especially with some of the stuff Kayla was doing with flowers for the girls across the room, or how Grace was letting the two brothers ride on her shoulders as she ran up and down the halls.
The biggest surprise was Jeff knowing dozens of inane magic tricks that the kids were eating up. He was probably the coolest magician in the city at the moment and those kids were getting the show of a lifetime that would only be comparable to the Vegas team and their weekly shows they organized on The Strip.
Shaking thoughts of Sin City from her mind, Nicole returned her full attention to the little girl that had all but latched onto her. It didn’t make much sense, but her suit didn’t show off her body nearly as much as some others tended to. To a child’s eyes she was just a dark suited Ranger with a penchant for cloak and shadow.
Not the best role model, but then again, few things were these days.
“Shifting myself like that makes me light as the air, and slippery as the shadows,” Nicole said, playing up her ability. “I can soar on the wind if I try, which is pretty close to flying if you ask me.”
“So awesome,” the girl said, her eyes sparkling with joy.
That look right there made Nicole’s breath hitch. This child was shit upon by life in so many ways, but she still had that spark. It was something Nicole had lost the day her parents died, and even then it had only been hanging on by a thread. Years of bullying that went ignored by the school would do that to anyone.
If someone who had such a slim chance of survival could still see something worthwhile in the world, then why did Nicole struggle to do the same? It was a heavy question, and one that Nicole wasn’t truly ready to tackle, but she also understood that she couldn’t run from it forever.
“Never let anyone take that smile from you,” Nicole said, trying to keep her voice from breaking. “It’s the most precious thing in the world.”
Ignoring the puzzled look from the girl, Nicole stood. Thoughts of Grace were floating through her mind at that same moment, a smiling face framed with blonde hair. Nicole’s own smile might be forced, but she could take some joy in Grace’s, even if the woman would never direct it at her the way she hoped.
Not wanting to disappoint the girl that was still standing on somewhat shaky legs, an idea came to mind as Nicole summoned her energy blades. Rather than throw them, she began to juggle with them. They wouldn’t detonate unless she willed it, which made them surprisingly safe, especially with her ability to dismiss them at will.
Nicole quickly drew a crowd of cheering children, and she couldn’t help the smile under her helm as she let the enhanced dexterity of her transformed state assist her with cheating at the task. She’d barely had any passing skill with juggling, having picked it up early in her gymnastics career on a lark. Now she could perform with the best of them.
With a final flourish, Nicole tossed all the daggers into the air, then rather than detonate, had them dissolve into a shower of sparkles of inverted light. The kids clapped and cheered, and for once Nicole found her heart light.
Behind the kids, Grace was clapping too, the boys still on her shoulders holding tight to the brim of the hat that was built into her helmet. Nicole took a deep bow, then in an added flourish, she allowed herself to drop through the floor.
She touched down in an empty room, the lights were off and the curtains shut. It was clear the room was just waiting to be filled, which made it the perfect place to take a moment to herself. With a shaky breath, Nicole took a seat on the bed, then pulled her legs up and close to her chest. Her head was jumbled, and she needed to get her thoughts in order before she rejoined the others. She considered dismissing her power completely for a moment, but it was like a warm blanket and she needed the comfort and security it brought.
Nicole didn’t notice the door opening until someone was sitting down next to her and pulling her close. If not for catching the stark red in her periphery, she might have pulled away, or worse, lashed out. Instead she just collapsed against the woman who was quickly coming to mean far too much to her. Nicole’s power shattered like her resolve and she wrapped herself around Grace’s strong form.
Red light shattered as well, and the pair sat in silence. Nicole hadn’t meant to fall apart, but that didn’t change the reality of it. She was someone barely hanging in there because of the expectations on her shoulders, but explaining that to others would only bring them down to her level. No, she needed to keep it to herself rather than foist her burdens upon others.
That wouldn’t stop her from taking solace in a quiet moment with her friend, one of the few who truly knew what she was going through, even if she didn’t know the full weight of it.
“Thanks,” Nicole whispered, leaving it at that.
Grace didn’t answer, just pulled her in a bit tighter. It wasn’t what she needed, but it would have to be enough to get her through the day. Nicole would endure, one day at a time, right up until death came for her, and she would die proud that she had made a difference with her time on earth.
Even if it only amounted to one single person.
