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Mutants & Masterminds: Future Imperfect - Major-General Kevin Bridges, Ret. (Doc)


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Well, Kevin had only planned on staying in Las Vegas for around two weeks, but here it had been a little over three and he was still here. This was boardering on the longest that he had ever stayed in one location since he'd started his 'walkabout', but he couldn't help it. There were so many people, especially this time of year, who needed his help. Plus, he'd encountered at least one Mutant who, since he wasn't locked away, wasn't registered.

He'd even heard a whisper or two of other unregistered mutants in the area. Nothing specific, nothing confirmed, and possibly just idle chatter, but maybe not.

Kevin had to find out. If there were unregistered mutants out there, they'd probably need his help. He'd already had one come in with the symptoms of the virus, and if there were others, they might need his help to. They would definately need his help if they were to try and reverse the steady slide into chaos that the loss of most of the Mutants in the world had caused.

Of course, until he found them, he had duties at the clinic that he had to attend to. He might not be a regular employee, but there was a certian ammount of work that needed to be done for him to still have a place to stay when he got back.

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(( [Healthy] || 28/28 QP || 6/6 WP ))
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Vegas was virtually jingling with Christmas carols. If anything was true about this City then that everything was fake around here. Every corner had some kind of Christmas decoration and even the hookers were wearing red jelly bag hats. Red was the dominant color in general, red and the smell of cinnamon.

Even the hospital had been decorated with Christmas stuff. Mostly because of the younger patients and Miriam. She was very fond of Christmas, something about the spirit of sharing and peace in the world. An unstable illusion that was at best. The news broadcast were full of new Mutant insurrections. It seemed as if for every camp the police or military managed to put down another two started a new riot. Being a mutant in the UK or Germany was place you didn’t want to be these days.

Slowly the political pull of the European countries started to affect the US. The land of the free was not so free anymore if you happened to be a Mutant. Some states still debated the registration act but in general it was passed and more and more MICs were created in the outskirts or suburbs of any major city across the country.

Kevin found himself pulled out of his thoughts by the sudden sound of sirens. It looked like an ambulance was about to stop at the free hospital. Miriam gave him a worried look – ever since that encounter with the young man and his sister Miriam’s trust in Kevin was somewhat tarnished, though she tried very hard not to think like that. Kevin’s magic touch was spooky – almost unnatural…

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No matter how long he'd been around them, the sound of sirens always triggered something in him. Maybe it was all the sirens connected with the greusome death that his career had started around.

Kevin gave Miriam a reassuring smile. She hadn't been the same since the day he'd helped the boy with the virus, but there wasn't a whole lot that he could do about that. He had to help, it was his nature, and when it came to the virus, there was no stabalization. With most injuries he wouldn't even use his abilities, except maybe to 'super-charge' their medicine, but with emergencies, he'd use it just to stabalize the patient. But when it came to the virus, there was no middle ground... and as much as he wished he could do something about it, he couldn't.

Of course, he had done what he could to put Miriam at ease, even going a little bit deeper into his past, into his travels; but nothing had seemed to do much good.

Maybe this was his chance...

He gave Miriam a reassuring smile and said, as calmly and confidently said, "I'm sure it's not that bad, don't worry." And he approached the door to 'welcome' the ambulance.

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The doors sprung open and a team of paramedics stormed in with a blood spilled young man on a gurney. The man was looking like a typical streetganger with low raider jeans and a white shirt that had been torn opened. On his chest was a huge makeshift bandaid that was already soaking with deep red blood.

“Shot wounds, two cal .22. There’s a riot near the MIC. I suppose this won’t be the last one. Two more ambulances are en route. We had to stop here else we’d lose him.”, the man talked in a staccato and handed Kevin a clipboard. “Can’t tell his name and if he can pay, but the kid is dying.”

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Just like old times... and that is NOT a good thing Kevin's training kicked in as he looked over the wounds of the man on the gurney. Even as his mind processed exactly what he would need to do to stablize the patient, his mouth barked orders with military precision.

"Miriam! Help these guys and gather up everything we'd need for an on site triage unit that can fit in an ambulance. You have until I get this guy stablized. Then I want you to get on the horn with all the other hospitals in the area, let them know what we have, and request that they send help and supplies. With as dangerous as the people are at the MIC, more people will die if we don't get services on site. Let's save some lives!"

Even if all they did 'on the front line' were to stablize patients for transport, they would drastically reduce the ammount of DoA's.

Kevin rolled the man into the first ER suite, gathering several other staff doctors and nurses along the way. He briefed them on what the situation was and had them start getting the tools he would need to extract the bullets. In the hustle and bustle, there wasn't much time for Kevin to concentrate on the channeling of his power, so that he could avoid the symptoms of the virus, but he did the best that he could. That way, he could apply his healing powers even as he extracted the bullets, hopefully bringing this man back past the point of dying to the point of stable condition (even if he was still severe).

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Miriam tried her best not to panic. Even though she had quite some experience on the job this kind of accident never happened to her. It was more like straight out of Chicago Hope or Emergency Room with George Clooney back then.

The Doctor’s immediately prepared for a series of complicated Ops checking their equipment and capacities. Things weren’t looking that great. One ambulance would be ok, but two? They’d needed more supplies for that and most of all more room that could handle intensive care assuming the other two victims were as badly wounded as the latino John Doe that just got delivered.

Kevin managed to stabilize the young Hispanic and took a small break to catch his breath. He felt a slight constriction around his chest that slowly relaxed. That was close but he managed to avoid the worst. He wiped away a bead of sweat that was about to run down his forehead and turned back to re-engage with the scene. The second ambulance had just arrived. This time a young Hispanic woman was strapped to the gurney, she couldn’t have been a day older than 18 and she looked just as bad as John Doe.

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Kevin got the report on the girl from the paramedics, and rushed her into the space just vacated by John Doe. He ran and found the paramedics that had brought John Doe in and showed them where he was, "He's stabalized, for now. Get him and take him over to General or whereever you were going to take him. We're not equiped to handle more than a couple ICU cases, so we're going to need to save our space for those who can't make it elsewhere. And pass that along to the other drivers and dispatch... The Red Cross..."

Kevin's mind never stopped. Even as he finished talking to the paramedics, he had some more for Miriam. "Miriam! Get the Red Cross on the horn, they have the equipment we need for on-site triage. They know me there, tell them Dr. Kevin Bridges is heading to the edge of the riot and he's going to need a place to treat the worst cases when he gets there. GO! NOW!

He didn't know how long he could last like this; but he had to establish a medical beach head to stem the flow of critically injured. Perhaps when reinforcements came, he'd be able to take a little break, but so long as people were getting almost killed in this riot, he needed to be as close to them as possible. Every second counted when it came to trama, and those precious minutes between the riot and the saftey of the hospital could well mean the difference between life and death for somebody's son, brother, father, mother, sister, daughter, some fellow human being.

It was worth tempting fate and taunting the virus if it meant saving some people. But before he got there, he had Jane Doe to worry about. He did the same thing that he did last time, concentrating as much as he could and then subtly applying his healing energies as he worked out the bullet(s).

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(( [Healthy] || 20/28 QP || 6/6 WP ))
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„What the f**k is going on?”, yelled one of the Paramedics obviously not expecting an answer. It sounded more as if he was mad. The reason for his foul mood was his colleague, a young 20ish looking man who was holding his arm from which he was bleeding. The ambulance had several holes in its side as if it got hit by a salve of high speed bullets.

Things were getting out of control – they were getting out of control because it was Christmas, the clinic wasn’t designed and prepared for these kinds of emergencies and they were lacking everywhere.

Miriam was on the phone, frantically trying to relay all the information she could gather about their situation. When she heard Kevin speaking about leaving for the MIC she panicked. “Dr.! You can’t leave us, we need you here!”, her plea sounded more like she needed him there.

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Well, there was another one stablized. Kevin left the 'finishing touches' to the staff doctors, moving over towards the paramedic who had gotten winged. "Here, let me look at that," he said in his most soothing voice.

Yet, even as he examined this wound, he didn't stop. To Miriam he replied in the same soothing voice, "Miriam, look, the two that they've just brought in have been stablized. They're in no threat of dying any more, and I'll stay and help you deal with whatever the third ambulance brings. But, my main obligation is to the people getting hurt. I know that you need me to stay here, but there are going to be wounds that can't even make it here. I've told you how I was a combat medic in the army; I need to go where I can do the most good, and do what few if any others besides me in this area have been trained to do. That reminds me, we've got a military base not far from here, right? See if they have any medics with combat experience or equipment that they could send... we'll have to rely on their good will though... just cross your fingers and pray." Even if he was a Major-General in the military, he still had his bedside manner; and when he said 'you' he emphasized it so that she could take it to mean either her, the clinic, or both.

The discussion with Miriam finished for now, he ushered the driver into one of the exam rooms, and rolled in the carts that he would need to extract the bullet, if there still was one in there, and to clean and suture the wound. This wasn't anywhere near a big enough injury for him to use his power on, and not even enough for him to give away what were turning into very precious bottles of serum. He'd just be a regular doctor on this one, and hope that the bullet hadn't knicked the bone... that could cause serious complications.

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Live wouldn't be a challenge if things weren't complicated. The bullet had shattered the bone and it was obviously adrenaline that kept the young paramedic on his feet and conscious. Once that ebbed off the man would be in a serious world of pain.

Kevin had to do something quickly and decided to remove the bullet right away while focusing his healing powers to mend the bone and structure around it. This would stop the bleeding and save the paramedics arm. Sweat ran down Kevin's face as he slowly felt the toll for his focused and concentrated application of his power. His capacities had limits, too.

In the meantime Solo managed to get a good assessment of the situation. There was serious business going on. Some gang shooting or even worse. He caught phrases from Miriam detailing the degree of injuries that had been brought in by the ambulances and that the victims had all been from the close surrounding of the MIC. If he waited long enough he could take more advantage of the impending chaos.

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Kevin - subtract another 4 QP for healing that poor Paramedic. I assumed you still play it safe, else it'll be just 2 QP and I get to roll damage
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Kevin, worrying now about how long he'd last, finished bandaging up the paramedic's arm and sent him out. Kevin, however, stayed in the exam room. Hopefully there'd be a couple of minutes that he could use to rest before the 'last' ambulance arrived.

He left the exam room door open, so that he could be found easily and so he could hear the pick up in commotion when the next ambulance arrived.

But until then, he sat, crossed legged, on the exam table. He closed his eyes and tried to shut everything out. He hadn't had to sleep in over a century, but he still got tired. And over the years, he'd found that meditation helped. He didn't know how much time he'd get, but anything would help, at least superficially...

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(( [Healthy] || 16/28 QP || 6/6 WP ))
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Joshua didn't like the news he heard. Gang violence wasn't new to him but it hadn't gotten this deadly before. The fact that it was by the MIC had something to do with it, Josh was sure of it. He wondered if things continued going in this direction that spelled bad news for him.

After watching the doctor treat the patient, he had a feeling that something wasn't quite right. If anyone else in the room didn't notice then maybe he could use that information. Joshua headed over to see the doc just to put that plan into action.

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People did notice Joshua, but he wasn't injured, or at least didn't seem to be needing/wanting medical attention, he was largely ignored.

When he got to the examination room where the doctor was, he would see a salt & pepper haired man, looking in his mid forties, wearing a nice tee-shirt, pants and hiking boots, under a doctor's blood stained white smock, sitting cross-legged on the exam table. His eyes were closed and his fingers were interlaced in front of him. In the midst of all this chaos his serene meditation seemed very out of place.

He did, however, seem fairly run down, as if he were running close to half-steam.

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Joshua shut the door to the office as soon as entered. He didn't want to be disturb while he had his chat with the doc. The sound of the door locking was enough to stir the doctor out of his meditation. A surprise look came across him as he stared at the disheveled and grimy face of Joshua.

Joshua spoke quickly "Sorry to intrude on you doc, just wanted to have a quick word with you about your last patient, and how in the hell were you able to fix that dude up so fast?"

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Kevin looked up from his meditation. It hadn't really been long enough to do any good, but at least he mentally felt a little better. The noise of the door locking did startle him, as he'd been listening for an increase in comotion, not the sound of him being trapped in a small exam room with a complete stranger.

That being said, Kevin was already on guard; and even if he hadn't been, the question posed by the unkempt man in front of him. He tilted his head to the right, as if making sure that he heard the question right, and looked slightly confused as he thought for a second how to answer.

I didn't think that I was that blatent with the use of my power... just enough to keep the people from dying... am I loosing my touch and being to 'flashy'? If so... I could spread myself out more if I didn't use quite as much juice per person...

He answered after only a moment's hesitation. His tone was as much a doctor as he was, decades of experience behind it. "I don't know what you're talking about, sir. The arm is mostly just tissue, no vital organs, and only a few life-threatening arteries and veins to worry about. It's actually one of the best places to get shot, just passes through the tissue, little collateral damage. All I had to do was clean out the wound and prepare it for stitching, which he should've gotten outside. That must be what you're referring to.

Now, if you would excuse me, we're expecting another ambulance any moment. Are you in need of medical attention yourself, sir?" During the entire response, Kevin did his very best (which is pretty good) to simply inform and not talk down to the man, and his question at the end was very sincere.

Joshua should get the feeling that he's just a really good Doctor who's trying to help as much as he can in a time of unusual crisis... at least that's how Kevin hopes he feels.

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