The day after the Kaiju Attack, Stephen takes a shift at the clinic to check on the wounded and
gets to speak with Allison.
⚠
Death, destruction, evil.
Just like how people were told to take breaks from patrols so they could rest, Stephen was helping out in the Clinic. Yes, Baymax was a robot who didn’t need to eat or sleep, but there were a lot of patients that needed attention, and he couldn’t be everywhere at once. Orlin’s shift was over, and Stephen patted him on the back as he left as he took his place.
He picked up the clipboard to read over the status of each patient as he slowly walked through the recovery room, turning the pages as he walked. He got to Allison’s record before her bed. Upon reading her name, he paused and looked across the room where she lay. Apart from a couple of awkward exchanges over the network, and her frantically asking for help after the building’s collapse, he hadn’t communicated with Allison since their breakup. She needed her space, that’s what she told him, and he tried to give it to her. He didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable, but then again he wouldn’t be speaking to her as an ex-boyfriend… this was a professional doctor/patient situation… totally okay, right?
Even though Stephen did want to know how she was doing, in general.
Not letting his emotions show, he stopped by a couple of other patients to check on them before reaching Allison. He checked her sheet again, not because he needed to… not only had he read it a few minutes before, but he had photographic memory to fall back on… he was putting on a performance since that was what doctors did. “Hey Allison,” he spoke casually, lowering the clipboard. “From Baymax’s readouts, it looks like you’re recovering well. Hang in there for a couple more days and the reset will have you right as rain.” He smirked after his small joke. “May I check your breathing?” he asked, pulling the stethoscope from his pocket and giving it a shake to show her.
Allison wasn’t sleeping and anyone could tell even with her eyes closed. She wasn’t actually avoiding catching her sort-of-but-not ex’s eye necessarily. With everything that had happened, that was low on her priority list of things to worry about. Especially with the pain of being banged up. While it was a relief to be able to breathe easier than when she first was fished out of the rubble, the broken ribs and the old puncture site still hurt.
She figured it was Stephen when she heard the footsteps approaching but she had kept her eyes closed, trying to focus away from the pain, but she opened her eyes when he called her name. At his request, she grimaced slightly. She’d already gotten the whole education on deep breathing – it’ll hurt but you have to have to do it, otherwise you’ll end up with pneumonia, she was told when she first woke up earlier, by… one of them here. Whether it was Stephen or Sam or Orlin, she couldn’t recall. She had wanted to respond with “we’re going to reset in a few days anyway” and then remembered the one time it had taken several weeks instead.
“Alright,” she mumbled, pushing her covers. When he had the stethoscope on her, she attempted a deep breath but winced, then coughed, and then winced harder. “Fuck.”
Stephen had sat down in the chair beside her bed and listened through the stethoscope during the coughing as well as the breathing. In former life, when he was a practicing surgeon, he wouldn’t have the patience for anybody and would only pretend when he knew they would either pay good money or increase his reputation. Guess he was making progress, huh? He noted what he heard in her lungs, and jotted down a note along with the time it was taken, then set the clipboard in his lap.
“You’re doing as well as can be expected. Are you in any other discomfort?” He gave Allison a serious glance over. “Has anybody told you about these badges the other side’s been trying to give us? I mean, the recent news?”
“Besides my whole body?” she grumbled, settling back into the bed. It was the trauma of part of the building falling on her, a general soreness throughout her limbs. She had a collapsed lung and rib fractures, two of which she could quite obviously feel. She knew there was more damage particularly because she could not move her legs, and felt nothing but pain from the waist down. But when she had gained consciousness, the first words to whoever was treating her was “Don’t tell me. Don’t tell me anything until after the reset.” Allison knew that Stephen would know. She was still not ready to hear it.
She shook her head, and immediately regretted it when the room spun. Squeezing her eyes shut, she said “I didn’t look at the network. I didn’t ask anyone anything either because I couldn’t before.” Allison cleared her throat slightly, her throat obviously raspy from hours of lack of use because of being knocked out. “All I know is that Eliot is here and he doesn’t look good. What else happened?”
There was a note on Allison’s chart… patient does not want to be informed about the full scale of her injuries. They had suspicion of partial paralysis, but couldn’t tell just how bad it was without her cooperation, so they just hoped it would all get better with the reset. It was Stephen’s basic attitude with all the seriously injured… making them comfortable until the end of the week and hope for the best But right now there was another, more pressing concern.
Stephen sat back in his seat and took a deep breath. “Okay. So, the other side’s goal from the beginning has been to try and switch campuses with ours. If your counterpart slaps you with a badge, they’re one step closer to that goal. But they need to get everybody to make it work, and only your counterpart can tag you, no substitution. There is no way to remove the badge, or reverse the magic, so our only hope is to prevent them from getting to those who haven’t been tagged yet.”
He paused to let that information sink in before adding. “You’re one of those that haven’t been tagged.”
Allison hadn’t spoken as Stephen explained and her silence continued, processing what she had been told. “Are you… fucking kidding me?” she said in a low harsh tone. Not directed at Stephen, of course. “So all this about badges… protecting us from the monolith, saving us from really bad situations, keeping our Derleth from becoming theirs… wow,” she paused as she had to catch a breath, letting her head fall back on the pillow. Even talking seemed laborious. “What… fucking assholes!”
She blinked then as his last sentence sunk in, and she lifted her head again. “I barely went near her. I wasn’t at the party.” Her eyes went to the door to the clinic. She knew some of the doubles had been helping them out, but was that safe for anyone in the clinic right now?
“I wish I was kidding you. In a way, I can understand their desperation. Without even knowing what they’ve been through, you look across at their campus and see what a pit of despair it is. I’d want to get out of there too. It doesn’t excuse their actions, however. I certainly don’t want to trade places.”
Stephen noticed the direction in which Allison looked and guessed her concern. “We’re placing magical wards around the clinic as well as the safe areas we’ve set up. It’s not 100% foolproof, but… it’s something.” Honestly, all it would take was Allison’s counterpart to walk up to somebody and say, “I heard a rumor…” and circumstances would go from bad to worse really quickly.
It was a start, at least, but there were people on that side of the campus that could have potential to be desperate and perhaps already were incredibly strong, strong enough to break through any wards. But it was still something.
“Have you, um…” she licked her lips again, and then gestured at the pitcher of water on the side table. The pain medication at least helped her breathe easier but they left a person mostly parched. “Have you seen her? Talked to her?” She wouldn’t blame him if he kept a distance because of what happened between her and this Stephen, but clearly, that wouldn’t be the same case on this other Derleth, right?
Given the context, Stephen know exactly who Allison was talking about. “Saw her, yes. At that party thrown by Hugh. Looks identical to you, I almost couldn’t tell the difference.” It was probably a good idea not to tell her what tipped him off was the way she’d given him the ol’ bedroom eyes while walking past - their Allison and him were barely on speaking terms, what to speak of flirting.
“Talked to her? No. If she has the same powers as you, I didn’t want to stay anywhere nearby lest I heard a rumor that I’d regret. I was suspicious of the other Derleth from the get-go, and finding out about this plot was just confirmation.”
Allison nodded slowly. “Yeah, that’s probably for the best. I mean. It seems like we’ve all been through some shit and I guess if my campus looked like theirs, I’d be ruthless at getting what we have here.” She had to wonder though… did she at one point have all of her siblings there? They had been on that campus for five years. Was she alone the entire time or did she have her siblings around for some time too? And if she did, when had they left?
She gave her a few seconds of silence before quietly asking Stephen, “Are you doing okay?”
In the silence, Stephen let his gaze drift away to some nondescript corner of the room, along with his thoughts. This alternative Stephen Strange from the evil campus was a lot like the version of him that came with his memory update… corrupted by dark magic and turned wicked, obsessed with power. He liked to think he was above temptations that he had the strength of character to be better… but looked like that seed was inside him, and he would need to guard against falling deep into darkness, himself.
It was a grim prospect, and when Allison spoke, she brought him back to the here and now. Forcing a smile, he told her, “I’m alright.” Then confessed, “ It’s just been… a lot. I’m tired, physically and mentally.” Another smile. “But I’ll make it through.” He placed his hand over hers, a little reassuring gesture that was out of habit. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
Allison nodded, her eyes drifting down to their hands together. A lump formed in her throat but she forced it down - she was done crying. It didn’t work out, things got messy, and she was done moping around over him and anything else she might have lost. He really hadn’t made her any promises, and she had already felt the pain of losing someone who had. But right now, she wasn’t going to think of her actual husband from the sixties either.
She did turn her hand over though and squeeze his fingers between hers, as she settled her head back into the pillow. “Not yet. Not till the reset and everything is back to working order in this body.”
Like Stephen said, he was tired, and he hadn’t realized what he’d done with his hand until Allison looked. Startled, he nearly gasped and was about to pull it away, but then Allison reciprocated. He wanted to apologize, take his hand away, but seeing how she seemed comforted, at least a little, he kept it there, releasing his breath in a slow, drawn out sigh. She once asked him if he hadn’t felt anything more toward her… to say he felt nothing was a lie, but he wasn’t ready for the commitment she hoped for.
A few moments passed, and Stephen gently asked, “Can I get you anything? A glass of water, maybe?” A pause. “I… really ought to check on the other patients,” he added, apologetically.
“I’m okay,” Allison said with a shake of her head. She slowly let go of his hand and tucked them back into her lap. “Go. I’m going to try and get some rest.” For more emphasis, she let her eyes close. Whether she really would manage to get any with the dull ache in her entire body was a different story. But at least the pain was less debilitating than it had been.
Just a few days more, she told herself. Then it’ll be like a distant memory.