"We have witnessed a great tragedy today. Over a hundred casualties have been reported with more than a thousand people currently in intensive care after the catastrophic bombing at Stacy Industries' headquarters in Manhattan that resulted in the entire skyscraper being reduced to rubble. The explosion occurred just an hour ago and has left the city in shock and mourning."
George looked at the news with a frown on his face, worried about Gwen's status.
"Despite the heavy casualties, eyewitness reports have placed Spider-Woman at the scene. In an almost supernatural turn of events, she singlehandedly pulled out upwards of ten thousand people who were stuck in the collapsing building…"
Just as he decided to make a call to some people from the department to inquire about the whereabouts of Spider-Woman, he heard a knock on his door.
"Who is it?" He asked while getting up from his couch.
"It's me, Alex, Mr. Stacy." He heard Alex's voice from through the door, "Please open up quickly."
George frowned but still opened his door, his eyes widened just as he opened the door since he saw his unconscious daughter in Alex's arms. She had her mask off and most of her body was covered by a long trench coat that was wrapped around her, "Can I come in?" Alex asked with a slightly hurried tone.
"Hm …" George nodded and stepped aside. Alex quickly entered and set Gwen down on the couch, "What happened?" George asked from the side.
"I don't know," Alex said, "I heard a knock on my window and lo-and-behold, a Spider-Woman was found fainted on my fire escape. I think she got hurt in that building," He looked at her concernedly.
"She doesn't look injured," George came up beside Alex and said with a sigh as he put his hand on her forehead.
"Well, she's fainted, presumably in a coma, so there's got to be some injury, plus, her suit was all torn up," Alex remarked dryly, making George cough as he stood up, "Come here, help me bring her to her room."
George led Alex to Gwen's bedroom and helped him settle Gwen on her bed. When he removed the coat that was on her, he almost gasped but noticed that it was merely her suit that was damaged. There was no blood to speak of and she didn't seem injured.
"I'll call a doctor for a house call …" George said.
"Allow me," Alex stopped the man and said, "I work in the prosthetics industry, I have some trusted contacts who can help her out."
…
Cindy's eyes slowly fluttered open to get used to the brightness of the room.
Moments later, she shot up with widened eyes while looking around, "Easy there…" She heard a familiar voice say to her as a man's arm wrapped around her shoulder.
"Apex," She whispered, recalling what had happened, "I messed up … I—" Her choked voice came out as Alex hushed her while patting her shoulder.
"It's okay. Gwen and I mitigated the damage as much as necessary." He told her, "Our building is in complete ruins though. Whatever happened, it was more than just that single bomb. Something like that can't destroy an entire skyscraper's foundation and make it collapse. There had to be internal sabotaging."
Cindy took a few seconds to calm down as she took a few deep breaths, "I'll get on top of everything." She said with determination, "I'll find out who caused this."
"Good," Alex patted her head, "For now, you can rest. You took almost a ton of TNT right to your face. I kept you safe, but the blast impact shattered a lot of the bones in your spine and back. The pillar you collided with was the first to collapse, actually." He chuckled.
"My spine's broken?" Cindy widened her eyes and instinctively turned her head a little to see the state of her back. That was when she saw multiple tubes going directly into her spine along with a slightly thinner tube going directly into the back of her neck. She was still in her Silk suit and the tubes seemed to be attached to her spine through the suit.
"Why can't I feel anything..." She mumbled, "I feel completely normal."
"That's because I have completely cut off your body's connection with your brain. I'm intercepting those signals and making your body move without letting you feel any sort of uncomfortable." Alex said.
"I'm so confused right now…" She said, not really getting what Apex was talking about.
"Body broken. I fix broken body," Alex treated her as if she had some kind of mental illness, "I help use broken body while fixing broken body."
Cindy's brow twitched, "Got it…" She said dryly before asking, "Can I get back to work?"
"No." Alex refused, "I can help you move a bit, but that doesn't mean I want you moving right now. You can do whatever work you want to do from right here."
Cindy nodded before realizing something. She opened her mouth to speak but hesitantly closed it back.
"Speak," Alex said.
"I goofed up about another thing," She gulped and said, "One of our employees saw me jumping out of the window with my suit on. I didn't have time to do anything about it and he just…" She trailed off.
"It's fine, it doesn't matter." Alex didn't care much, "Give me his name."
"Hans Zimmel." She said, "He was the head of the department that is … well, was in talks with the military."
"I'll take care of it, your identity will be safe." Alex nodded before standing up.
"That's it?" Cindy asked with widened eyes, "I thought you'd punish me or something …"
"You've already been through hell and considering how heroically you sacrificed yourself for this …" Alex's little smile made Cindy look away in embarrassment, "I appreciate your dedication toward this. Your body will fully heal sometime after midnight. I'll give you a little reward then, okay?"
As Alex showed Cindy his appreciation with a gentle caress on her head, she developed a happy smile on her face, "Thanks…"
"I'll be off, take care," Alex said, "Call out my name if you need to talk to me." As he said those words, Cindy felt her throat being constricted for a moment before the choker was loosened. It reminded her of its presence.
…
"I don't see any visible injuries or trauma that could have led to internal bleeding. The signs just point to her being exhausted." A woman said while standing in front of Alex and George in the living room of Gwen's apartment.
"Oh, that's good…" George put his hand on his chest and took a calming breath. His nerves had been frayed from the moment Alex had brought Gwen back.
"It shouldn't take her more than a week to wake up. You could either get her admitted or get a nurse to administer an IV." She said with a professional tone.
"What do you suggest?" George asked her, "I'm fine with either option."
"It's a simple case of overexhaustion. Getting her to and from the hospital would be an unnecessary process. My recommendation is to keep her in her home and let her recover peacefully in a comfortable environment. Hospital environments have a tendency to make these kinds of cases worse than they already are." She said.
"I understand." George nodded, "Do you have a recommendation for a nurse who can administer the IV?"
"I'll send you some of the contacts over text." She said.
"Thank you so much." George said, "What of your consultation fees?"
"Please, sir. My boss is the one who called me." She smiled and politely refused, "I couldn't possibly charge you for this."
"Thanks, Amanda." Alex smiled and intervened before George could insist on paying, "I'll show you out."
When Alex returned, George gave him a complicated look, "I'm grateful for your help."
"Please, sir." Alex stopped him, "Gwen's my girlfriend. She's very important to me."
"Right …" George smiled, "You can stay for a while if you want." He said.
"I'll take you up on that offer." Alex smiled before turning to Gwen, "I'll sit with her."
George nodded and sat down on the couch, intending to continue watching the broadcast of the incident.
It was then that the TV turned to a different view automatically, George frowned, "Is there an emergency broadcast?"
"People of New York." A muffled-sounding voice spoke from the TV as a hooded figure slowly appeared in front of a black background, "You must've seen what happened in Manhattan today. I want you to know who did this. And know that there's more coming. We have stayed in the shadows for far too long. The people in authority are constantly ignoring the looming Sword of Damocles above our heads. Aliens can invade at any moment and the people are treating it as if nothing is happening." The voice seemed agitated.
As the speech from the evident terrorist continued, Alex also came out of the room, looking at the TV with a frown. However, his frown was more about the identity of this organization.
"No more will we be passive!" The man continued, "We will unite the world under a single banner and bring about a new age of unity and world peace! And our first targets will be the largest conglomerates. All hail the Mandarin!"
***
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