Patrick Bleakley
Location: 27th floor, Biology and Medical Lab
Interacting with: Himself & Ryan Kurhajetz (NPC/Friend)
He was tired, that was the only thought he could coherently make at the moment. It had been a week since the event, since they were shown that they were not as super as they thought. In all that time he had barely slept, at first because there wasn’t time. Every member of The Coalition left the fight, no the slaughter, with some of the worst injuries he had ever seen any of them carry. And then he had to feel them. There wasn’t enough time for him to heal them one by one with the slower rejuvenation of Healing Hands. Their presence would be required in the public and it wouldn’t have done any good for them if they were seen limping through the streets. So, he did what he had to, he took their wounds upon himself. He couldn’t heal all of them completely, but he did the best he could and then made follow-up visits throughout the week to continue damage control.
With all the work that had to be done on his fellows, the people he had come to care for over their time together, he didn’t have time to focus on healing the injuries he had taken from them. While the surface damage had closed due to his Regenerative abilities, the damage beneath the skin remained severe, which added to his lack of sleep. Broken and fractured bones, internal bleeding, and torn muscles continued to plague him.
A soft sigh parted Patrick’s lips before he opened his eyes, he had put off fixing himself up for as long as possible. While he would prefer to let it remain a secondary concern he knew that he needed to return to his previous condition just like the others. When they had to go to the field once more it would be on him to keep them in the fight, and to do that he would have to be able to sustain their injuries again. With a tremendous amount of effort, he slowly sat up, legs hanging off the edge of the hospital like cot.
’I need to start with my muscles, they remain in critical condition. The others can wait until after.’ Even his thoughts felt slow and sluggish, likely caused by the lack of sleep. Patrick tested each arm by lifting them up slightly. Deciding that his right shoulder was in better condition he allowed his power to flow down it until his hand lit up with a soft glow. With a slow movement, he pressed it against his left shoulder, a content sigh leaving his lips as he felt the muscles stitching themselves back together. It was a curious sensation despite the numerous times he had performed on himself. Moving on from one location he repeated the gesture all over his body. He wasn’t healing the muscles completely, to prevent the risk of being too tired to heal the others if need be, but enough that he could move without too much trouble.
Just as quickly as it had come the glow that encompassed his hand faded away. He went through a quick diagnostic test, flexing his various muscles to ensure that they were in the condition he desired for the time. Satisfied Patrick pushed himself the rest of the way off the cot and made his way over to his main computer. Each step still brought a grimace to his lips from the remaining internal damage and when he finally dropped into the spinning chair he took a moment to compose himself before turning on the monitor and tower.
He needed to contact one of the people in charge of the day to day functioning of the medical practice he had set up several years ago. Looking down at his watch he knew that Ellan would be busy and thus decided to send Ryan a video call request. It only took a couple of minutes before he saw the face of his longtime friend pop up on his screen. The sight was almost enough to bring a smile, if it weren’t for the fact that the other man’s mouth was in a remarkably straight line.
“Is it true? Is there another Enhanced out there like you? And if so are you guys allied with him in any way?” Ryan’s voice was cold and direct, demanding to be answered.
”I know that you have to ask, I will not hold it against you Ryan. We have too much history for that. To answer your questions yes, it is true that there is another Enhanced out there. No, they are nothing like me or the rest of the team. They are…something else entirely. We stood no chance against him. And no, there is no way in hell that we would align ourselves with a monster such as this man. You saw what he was capable of.”They stared at one another through the screen for what felt like minutes before Ryan finally gave a firm nod and the corners of his lips lifted. “I am glad that you seem to be doing alright Patrick. All of us here were concerned when the news first broke.” He paused for a moment, shoulders moving in a manner that suggested he was shuffling around papers. “As expected the negative publicity associated with all of this has hit us. We lost several donators and even a few of our patients left our care. However, your sister, bless her heart, has increased her own donations to help make up the difference created in the wake of losing so many. Ellan has been doing her best to counter the publicity and reached limited success. She will be continuing her efforts in the coming days.”
While most of this information should have caused a frown, Patrick couldn’t help but smile as he was told just how hard they were working to keep everything up and running.
”Thank you Ryan, you have gone above and beyond anything I ever expected you to. I hate to cut this call short but I just wanted to get an update and make sure you guys knew I was alright. Tell Ellan and your wife I said hello. If I ever get any free time I will make sure to stop by and visit again.” With a final wave he ended the call, relaxing further into the chair for the time. From what he knew there was nothing on his agenda today, though he knew that could change at any moment. He should make the effort to visit the two doctors on the floors below him, but he was not going to turn away from the brief respite he was given.