"There's so many..."
Bruce didn't voice his agreement with the sentiment. He just stepped forward, starting with the patient closest to him.
Calls to the hospital had spiked around noon, and the emergency room was overwhelmed. There weren't enough ambulance teams for all the injured people from the battles around the city, so Bruce was accompanying one to try and lessen the burden. His Miracle had fixed several raygun burns already, saving them from having to cart the victims back to the hospital for serious treatment.
Right now, they were at the scene of one of Cold Snap's rampages. Melting ice covered the sidewalk, forcing them to watch their steps. Several bodies littered the area, some half frozen. They had to check each one to see if any were alive.
Bruce knelt down beside an older woman, taking her wrist in his hand. Her skin was cold, but a faint pulse was coming through.
"Got a live one!" he called, tapping her shoulder. "Ma'am, can you hear me?"
She didn't respond, but the stretcher team came over to take a closer look. When they pulled her sleeve up slightly, the skin was discoloured. Her breathing was shallow as well.
"Let me try," Bruce said when the head of the team shook his head in defeat.
He took her hand again and focused on his Miracle, which had seen so much use over the past twenty minutes. From what he'd heard, Ferry had emptied the prisons and every Miracle powered villain in existence was wreaking havoc. The aftermath made him likely to believe it.
Even as he focused on healing the woman, Bruce could feel her life and energy fading away. If she made it at all, it would be slim. She just didn't have enough energy for it. Finally, he let go with a sigh.
"If there's any chance she'll make it, I've done everything I can," he said softly.
"Let's focus on the ones we can save," the head said, placing a hand on his shoulder. Bruce nodded and moved to the next patient. A little boy, frozen stiff and shivering uncontrollably.
He wailed, apparently having just woken up when a nurse had picked him up. His mother was missing, and they weren't sure if she was among the bodies on the ground or if she'd escaped. The nurse gave him a warm drink while Bruce checked on a young man nearby. His leg had been frozen solid, but by pushing his Miracle a bit, he was able to restore it to a mostly functional state.
The young man wouldn't be able to walk on it for a while, but with a nurse's help, he could limp to the hospital. The boy went with them, seeming to have mostly recovered from the hot chocolate the nurse had given him. As for the older woman, she was gone by the time the two they'd saved were able to leave.
The rest were corpses. Bruce took a breath, fighting the exhaustion from pushing his Miracle so hard, and pressed on.
"You doing okay, Bruce?" the team head asked.
"Fine," he replied, smiling even though he was obviously panting and tired.
"Don't push yourself. You can't help anyone if you collapse. And then we have to treat you too."
"I know," Bruce replied. He'd never pushed himself so far in his life, but if his exertion could save one more life he'd do it without a second thought. Even so, he couldn't afford to collapse and worry his teammates.
He grabbed some of the food they had on hand and ate as they walked. Had to keep his energy up. Couldn't save anyone if he collapsed.
Just had to focus on the next person he could save.
Light Master ran towards the front of the city, determined to find one of the villains who were wreaking havoc across the city. He'd split up with Achilles, who'd started looking for Knight Errant. They had the group chat to talk with, so they would easily be able to stay in contact with each other.
Really, it would have been best to have comms like in the movies, but not everyone had a pair of headphones that would work for that. Barrier Maiden in particular had refused to even entertain the idea.
Foolish lady. He was starting to wonder what Achilles saw in her. She was always grouchy lately, and he was sure it wasn't his imagination that she'd glared at him on multiple occasions.
Noises coming from a level or two up brought Light Master to the stairs, which he bolted up two at a time. At the top, he took a left and frowned at how deserted the streets were. Everyone had apparently run away.
Then he found him. Whiplash. He'd been a big problem for them, and now was the perfect chance to take him down with his superior powerset.
"Well, well, well," Light Master said with a grin, walking forward. "What do we have here? A lonely Whiplash."
"I always hated that name," Whiplash replied, a sour look on his face. "What do you want, kid? I've got adult things to do."
"Like what?"
"Look for a certain little girl and put her out of her misery."
"That sounds an awful lot like murder. I can't allow it!" Light Master shot off a couple lasers, and Whiplash narrowly dodged one, but was scratched by the other.
"Trust me, this girl would be better off dead. You'd probably agree if you met her. She's one of your favourite villains. Mist?"
Light Master frowned. Yeah, she was a problem, but why was Whiplash after her? Weren't all villains on the same team?
It didn't matter. He'd take Whiplash down here and restore the Legion's honour.
"Don't care. I'm taking you down here and now. Then I'll take Mist down too."
Just had to tackle each problem as it came.
Sergeant Henry Griffin ran through the streets, his squad of specialized anti-Miracle personnel behind him. They'd gotten the message that the prison had been completely emptied, and those convicts were causing trouble outside, along with the members of Team Chaos and Achilles' Legion.
His heart pounded in his ears as he listened to the chatter over the comms. Every military officer on duty had been deployed, and reports came in from all over the city of various incidents.
Henry, however, was keeping an ear out for one in particular.
Corrosion.
The heinous criminal he'd once called a brother, who would surely be out here too. As soon as he got any report about him, Henry would book it over there. Someone had to stop Cole. And it may as well be him.
He'd confront the one person who so thoroughly terrified him that the thought of fighting him was enough to almost make Henry freeze. And he'd win with his Miracle, thus proving to himself that Cole was nothing to be scared of anymore.
Until Corrosion showed up, he'd do his best with what was in front of him. General Evans had given him permission to beeline for Corrosion when he appeared, agreeing that Cole Griffin was perhaps the most dangerous of these Miracle criminals. As the only one in the military with a Miracle, Henry was an indispensable member of the response force.
He would absolutely not let General Evans or the city down.
