"I hate the hole you made, I hate the way you left, I hate each single dying breath coming out your lips, hate was the only thing that you left with me."
With that, the night was over; exhausted, Leo lay in his bed and tried to sleep earlier than normal. However, the boy only managed to sleep for four hours before something woke him up.
Tap, tap, tap.
Leo's eyes snapped open, and he rushed toward the window from where the sound was coming. ("We are on the seventh floor . . .") Nigredo pointed to the obvious as he pulled the curtain aside, and a familiar face greeted him.
"Fuck! Mila!" He yelled the second his eyes managed to recognize the woman clinging to his window with multiple black snakes made of smoke working as ropes biting on the building facade.
The same height as him, with long dreadlocks decorated with orange highlights, the dark-skinned girl was in her hero outfit. A pair of orange goggles that blocked her amber eyes, a black and orange spandex outfit that covered her whole body, combat boots, tactical belts with all her needs, and an ebony cape for extra style points. Her face was covered with the same snakes that her power summoned, coiled around her lips and neck working as some kind of smokey/reptile bandana.
In terms of body, she was a moderate in between Barbara and Sarah. Normal tits and an athletic ass. A modest build that, even while wearing that outfit that hugged her form, didn't make her look as erotic as what Sarah used to wear.
"Mila!" He yelled again as she rushed to help her. The boy almost fumbled the old window latch but opened it without wasting much time as it was clear that the girl was on the point of collapsing. When he shoved the window up, Mila fell forward and landed on his bed without saying a single word. Her smoke snakes gave up and disappeared, leaving her completely helpless.
Leo grabbed her and almost fell to the floor. Less from her being heavy and more for her being just dead weight in his arms. The boy only moved her a few inches as he gently lowered her onto his bed.
The heroine, now with her face exposed, was breathing fast. Not a single visible wound, but she reeked of sweat and dust; on closer inspection, her body was soiled, mixed with grime and some dry blood.
"Mila!? Mila! Are you alright?!" Leo yelled at her while sensing her pulse and checking for any open wounds. Then the communicator in her ear chirped to life.
"Apophis, are you there?" A voice from that tiny black plastic device said while Leo grabbed it.
"Blackjack here; I just found her! What is her status?" He asked, his heart beating faster and faster inside his chest.
"Blackjack? Excellent, her vitals are stable; she is just completely exhausted. Are you two in a safe zone?" The female dispatcher muttered and let out a sigh of relief.
He nodded. "Yes," Leo muttered as they were completely safe in here, and it was also not the first time she had spent the night in his place.
"Great! Can you stay there until she recovers, or do you need us to send someone to pick her up?" The woman asked, giving the boy a chance to get rid of her.
Leo froze for a second and then shook his head. ("No . . . the second they get her up, she will jump out the hospital window and get back to work . . . I know because I would do that," he thought. It was a shitty and egoistic thing to do, but . . . if you are working to the point of collapsing, you should take a break.
Most importantly, Dispatch had told him that they weren't in an "end of the world" crisis where they needed her to get up asap to save humanity.
"No need unless there is a medical emergency," Leo finally said, calming himself a little while thinking what to do next.
"We will keep monitoring her vitals; we will let you know if something changes," the dispatcher finally said as the wristband on her hand was shining a dim yellow light indicating her current status.
With that done, Leo was completely flabbergasted, not really knowing what to do next. Just feeling lucky that he was here to open the window for her and be on her side when she needed it. However, for an instant, he felt . . . angry, the same kind of anger that Nigredo felt when he wanted to overwork himself to the bone.
"So . . . can you heal her?" the redhead begged to his alien companion.
"Sorry, I am still not strong enough to interface with other humans," Nigredo apologized. If she could change the biology of other people, things would go a lot smoother than currently.
He took a deep breath and grabbed a chair, sitting right next to her and watching his friend completely unconscious. "Why do you do this? . . ." He asked the unconscious Mila. Leo knew she was doing the right thing but then . . . why did he feel so angry? So frustrated?
"Yeah, someone needs to keep the status quo, that wonderful state of the world that doesn't have any problem at all," Nigredo chimed in on his shoulder.
"This isn't the time to be sarcastic," Leo answered, clearly not in the mood for her shenanigans.
"I mean, isn't this what you wanted? Being a hero to protect this city? Punching criminals, killing monsters, stopping super villains . . . it is clear that things are not going to change. Politics will be corrupt, the justice system will still be shit . . . I mean, they legally kidnapped you when you were 14, remember that?" She spat sweet poison right next to his ear.
Leo shook his head, his heart beat raising for a second. "And that is why my parents are dead to me, but . . ." he managed to say before getting interrupted.
"You don't care about yourself, I know, but what about her? Do you care for her?" Nigredo added and pointed to the girl in his bed with a tentacle.