Upon appearing, Daria immedialtly called for the doc prof. He saw the wounded men and quickly had them put on cots. "What happened?" he asked and Daria tried frantically to explain.

As she did though, the events filled her head. Why had the soldiers been so intent on grabbing her? How had she moved that bullet? And why had she lost control? her head swooned and she collapsed on a cot.

THe Doc prof quickly had his assistants lay all three of them on cots. It took no examination to see that Daria wasn't hurt, only fainted. He turned his attention to Michael and his grandfather.

Of the two of them, only the older Asters was conscious. He waved away the Doc as he tried to examine him.

"My... boy."

The Doc turned to Michael then. His wounds were serious, but his blood loss was much slower than it should have been. Were it not for that, he already would have been dead.

"Oh, you poor headstrong boy," he whispered, his glowing hands held over Michael's wounds.

"Sir! He needs help!" One of his assistants cried from Mr. Asters' cot. His one well-placed bullet had hit several organs, and had already caused serious damage.

The doc hesitated, but Mr. Asters shook his head emphatically. "No, don't stop. Save my... boy..." His voice was growing weaker from the pain, but he smiled up at the Doc. "I've lived seventy years, time enough to make my own mistakes and fix them again. My grandson needs his time much more than I need mine."

The doc kept his powers focused on Michael, as his wounds slowly stablized. He heard a commotion from the cot behind him, but tried not to pay any attention to it. It was no different, he tried to tell himself, than a patient who had a DNR order. If they refuse care, making their wishes known, he had to obey... and Mr. Asters seemed nothing if not lucid.

It seemed to take longer than it truly did, but finally Michael had healed sufficiently enough that he would be able to survive on his own. Despite his exhaustion from the exhertion, the Doc turned around, hurrying to Mr. Asters' cot. His assistants were busy working on their own, trying to save the patient long enough for the Doc to make it over.

Even as he hurried over, he could hear Mr. Asters' voice. "Tell my grandson... I love him."

As he reached the side of the bed, the Doc's assistant looked sadly at the Doc, then shook his head slowly.

Daria tossed in her cot. The sounds around her swirled into a twisted, hazy dreamlike symphony of noise which seeped into her ears llike warm honey. She was regaining conciousness and stretched and yawned out of habit. She propped herself up and blinked away the blurriness from her eyes. For a moment she thought perhaps she was in the infirmary still with Mike right after battling Kage, but she had no banadages on her jaw, she was in a different cot and the Doc and his assistant hovered over Mike and ...Pops.

Daria tooka deep breath as she quickly rose to her knees. The smell of blood filled her nostrils as she looked at her hands. They were stained and heavy with memories of a battle that happened just moments before. The blood sent Daria into a frenzy on another plane of thought that was more animalistic than human.

She licked her hands clean.

The assistant turned to her fearfully. "Are you alright, Daria? you're tired you should get some rest."

The sound of his voice, and the disgusted fear that lied beneath it brought Daria back into conciosness. She shook her head, her eyes focused on Mike. "Is he alright?"

"He'll pull through" the Doc answered.

Daria jumped from the cot. "And..Mr.Asters?" she asked eaerly but she could already smell death in the air. The Doc and his assisstant were silent. Daria hissed loudly, the hiss that she had hissed out side, the hiss mixed with a growl and anger. The general had never been a welcome entity in the presence of the school but Daria had felt every good needed a counterpart. This, on the other hand was a bit too far.

She hissed and backed awa, readying herself to teleport.

"Daria, sit back down you're not thinking" The doc ordered. He'd given her an examination when she arrived and he knew how her powers worked. He also knew that much of it stemmed from her emotions and that her instincts teneded to take over in the worst of times.

"I don't have time to think" she said slightly tearfully as she dissappeared.

The Doc shook his head in dissapointment when he saw Daria's state. She was dazed and jumping in and out of conciousness.

"I didn't kill them...they're my parents.." she was saying to the boy who carried her in. "I didn't ..." she trailed off as she was put on the cot. Doc could see that there were no injuries from her fall but she was just in shock.

"Daria, Daria, Daria. We talked about this didn't we?" he mumbled. "You know about your condition and your 'frenzies'..you know that that wasn't a good idea"

"He shot...Mike- MIke?!" she screamed suddenly as the assistant and the students rushed to pin her down. She unsheathed her claws. "Let me go! Let me go! I want him DEAD!" she screamed. "I'm going to kill him, he hurt Mike!" soon her speech slurred and became an undecipherable hiss as she remembered what had happened to "Pops" She waved her arms frantically threatening to scratch everything she could reach....that would've met immediate death for what her claws came in contact with.

They sedated her, a light sedation so that she wouldn't be knocke unconcious-she just wouldn't be able to move.

It had been a while since Mike had been brought into the infirmary, but the signs of his consciousness began to show. He slowly tried to sit up, but a nearby assistant of the Doc's pushed him back down, ordering him to relax.

"I... can't see," he said, his voice hoarse from both his earlier screaming, and then its lack of use in the infirmary.

"The Doc says that it's because of the scrambler. He could have fixed it, but he said it'd be better for your mind to fix itself. It'll go away, probably won't take more than a day or so."

"Scrambler?" Mike asked, confused. Slowly, the scene began to come back to him, up to the point where he was lying on the ground, his mind on fire. Suddenly, he tried to jerk upright again. He felt a very familiar presence next to him... my God, if she was hurt...

"Michael, lie down, you need to relax!"

"Daria!" he protested weakly.

"She's fine, she's fine... just a little out of sorts. We had to sedate her, but she's fine."

Mike seemed to relax at that, though he really didn't have much choice. "My phone... God, if it's still in one piece, someone call my grandfather," he rasped. "Tell him I'm all right, he was leaving town today. Tell... hell, what DID happen to me?"

There was a silence. "You... were shot three times. Your grandfather was, too."

More silence. "I... don't feel his mind anywhere in here..."

The silence that followed told Mike everything he wanted to know.

"Michael, we're sorry..."

His sightless eyes glowed a painful pale blue as he bit back an anguished sob. On the lawn, he'd been ready to crush everything that threatened him. Now... he had nothing. No will to fight it anymore.

Rolling onto his side, his blind eyes coincidentally staring straight through the window just past Daria's cot, he slowly let go, sobbing quietly.

And across the mansion, for at least a few moments, everything seemed to take a more mournful tone as the psychic vibrations of each tear washed across it, like ripples in a pond.

Daria could still hear what was happening but she was still in her animalistic frenzy mode. What she did feel was something she didn't know she could feel.

Perhaps it was because she had been so close to Mike, she could feel him let go a bit. Let go of something that is vital in evry human; their will to fight. She couldn't move her neck and struggled to speak.
The drug was affecting her vocal cords too.

Mike, I'm alright. she siad struggling to get over the blood lust in her mind.

Mike's eyes focused on her, even though he couldn't see her. His mind latched onto hers, almost desperately. He didn't think the "thank God," but he might as well have.

I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you, too...

Besides kill him, of course. After that, I don't know.

Oh...I feel the same way...I actually went back she said, slightly humorously. But she didn't want to worry him.

I'm fine though. Just kinda..freaked out I guess she didn't want to explain all of the tests she'd gone through when sh first got here. She didn't feel like burdening Mike with yet another one of her problems, telling him about her issues with her cat instincts, blood and her powrs in general.

That's why I'm here, fell off the copter she said non chalantly

Neither of them could move... it was honestly amusing in a very sad, morbid sort of way. Still, Mike's mind was free, and Daria could feel his... presence wrapping around hers, both protectively and vulnerably. "I think I fucked up..."

She leaned into him mentally as well, getting as close as possible and letting him surround her mind.

What do you mean?

I... I don't know... I could have killed them all if I'd been faster, hadn't given them a chance to run... none of this would have happened...

Or I could have just disarmed them... thrown them all back in the helicopter, but I didn't think... I just saw them grab you, and... I just snapped...

Daria didn't want to mention her own little 'snap'. She knew Mike would understand but even she herself wasnt comfortable or accepting of it. Perhaps, when she really gave it some thought, it wasn't the ears and tail she was so upset about; but the animalistic craving for raw meat...and the thrill of a hunt.

Everyone lets their emotions get the best of them sometimes Mike. We all screw up. But you weren't the only one fighting out there, remember? We are all responsible.

Michael closed his eyes... again, even though there wasn't a need to. I love you...

He was trying to think of anything except his grandfather... so far he was marginally successful.

I love you too, Mike

She looked at his eyes for a moment thinking about his blindness. She wondered what life would be like for him if perhaps his sight never came back.But the doc said it would, and the doc knew best. She hoped he was right, for Mike's sake.

It was funny not being able to feel the rest of her body...she missed her tail; she felt incomplete without it.

"When is this tranq gonna wear off, Doc?" she asked.

"It will last for another thirty minutes or so. It was a small dosage just until you get over your fre-" he cut short as her eyes narrowed signaling for him to watch his words. "Until you calmed down. Perhaps you should take a nap, it will get you mind off of it."

"I don't want to sleep, thank you" she said through gritted teeth. What she wanted to do was teleport, rip the general's vital organs out and eat them-but that wasn't classy. She pushed the thought out of her mind again. It wasn't safe for her to fight and there were bigger things to worry about. Like Judge Asters...

She was cursed, she had to be. Evryone close to her always got hurt, her parents...

The sound of metal being crushed filled her ears and she cringed.

Mike felt the minds of the Doc's assistants, busy doing their own thing, and probed the space between their cots with his telekinesis. He wasn't hooked up to any machinery, nor was his bed, and Daria didn't seem to be either.

There were probably rules against it, but at the moment he had never been in more of a 'fuck the rules' mood.

With a flick of his mind, he pushed his bed and sent it rolling on its wheels across the gap. He slid Daria to the edge of her bed, now technically the 'middle' since he'd pushed their beds together, and put an arm over her.

This is my karma... he thought sadly.