The Scarlet Skydiver's Story

'You will stay right here! Of course its not your fault, It was their stupid fault,' cried Scarlet almost enraged. 'You can help by being strong. Dick will need you right now to help get him out of his situation.' As time was running out, Scarlet thought it better to call the ambulance herself. Oh if only the rest of the squadron's men were there...This was just to much for two women to cope with alone, especially an expectant mother.

'Stay with these two, I'll be right back,' she ordered Karcia. Without even taking her coat and boots off, she rushed into Dick's office. Drat that desk, It was just her luck that it happened to be covered in papers and junk on that day, making it nearly impossible to locate the phone. After some frantic rooting, she finally found it and with quivering hands, called the hospital. Then she went outside again to wait with Karcia and the casualties.

Sirens wailed as the two were pulled up out of the wreckage and put on stretchers.

'Oh drat,' thought Scarlet, as she viewed the casualties. She wasnt usually caring, she was known as The Ice Queen afterall, but in this case she was even worried about Rachel. Maybe because she too was a female, or maybe it was the fact that she was in a worse state than Dick. The old dumbhead was just in shock, he'd get over it. But Rachel needed intensive care, and fast, before they...lost her.

'Karcia, go in the ambulance with Dick. He'll need you there should he come out of his shock. I'll be with Rachel,' she said, getting into the ambulance with Rachel. The two were set up quickly in their hospital beds, seems Scarlet's threatening demands helped to speed up the process. Rachel had drips inserted into her, while Dick was laid down in his bed, with Karcia next to him. Scarlet sat at Rachel's bedside. 'Come on dumbhead, pull through,' Scarlet pleaded somewhat, her hands in a prayer.

Dick was in a hospital room, still in the same position: motionless, eyes wide open, still in shock. The doctor had tried a few things to get him out of his shock, all to no avail.

'Hm, this is a serious case,' the doctor said to Karcia. 'How lucky you are here with him. What I will suggest is talk to him. Just talk. About whatever you like, as much as you possibly can. Sing to him, even. Your voice may help him come out of his coma eventually. It really does help to get patients out of their coma quicker. Otherwise it may be a while until he does. We will even give you an extra bed,' she offered Karcia.

Meanwhile, in another room, Scarlet was sitting waiting with Rachel.
'Welcome back to the land of the living,' she said when she noticed Rachel opening her eyes. 'Thirsty?' she quickly filled a cup with water and brought it over to Rachel.

'Good to have you back,' Scarlet said with a tiny smile. ' You ok? Can i get you anything?' she asked the disorientated, bewildered Rachel. 'You don't know where you are or what happened, do you?'

Suddenly her tone changed. 'If it werent for the fact that you and that lunatic were in such terrible states, I'd give you both a good shake for your foolishness. Seriously. What were you thinking? I can't even...' she trailed off. Why do I even care? She asked herself. Is this what the pregnancy is turning me into, a complete softie? She suddenly started sobbing. 'Damn hormones!' she raged through her tears and clenched teeth. The nurse came in at that moment.
'Good morning Rachel, I see you've just woken up. You were out for quite a while there. How are you feeling?' she said, changing the drips and tubes. She caught sight of Scarlet sobbing.
'There there, its alright. Your sister's had an accident, but she will pull through,' the nurse said assuringly.
Sister? Thought Scarlet, slightly amused. 'Uh yes, yes of course she will,' Scarlet said with a sheepish smile.


Another nurse went into Dick's room, where she saw Karcia lying down next to Dick.
'Good morning, how are we today?' she asked. She was big, burly female, with a a head of auburn curls and strict, deep blus eyes. Dick's situation hadnt improved at all, despite Karcia's attempts. 'Looks serious indeed,' the nurse said. 'You're going to have to keep talking to him,' she added. 'If he does show any signs of improvement, come and tell me,' she told Karcia, before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

Rachel almost wanted to tear out the tubes and rampage through the hospital to find out just what the hell was going on, but the sensible side of her brain was screaming at her to stay put. She had no idea what sort of injuries she had and the cast on her arm could just be the beginning.

She gave the nurse a cold stare as she waffled on to Scarlet, but all Rachel wanted to do was yell at her. She bit her lip, her face an odd pinkish colour. "Sister? Well, maybe we could have been... Hmph."

The nurse noticed Rachel's stare on her, and quickly sobered up.
'You were lucky this time Rachel, all you got was a broken arm. So I heard you are a racer? Well, I'm afraid that will be out of the question for a while, your arm needs to get better.' Picking up her forms, she left the room.
'Sister, eh? Hee-hee-hee, this is gonna kill me!' Scarlet couldn't help herself and broke into fits of hysterical cackles. They were similar to those of her brother, but a little more ladylike. You could tell she was every bit a Dastardly.'Hee-hee-hee, we don't even look alike! I don't even look like that dunderhead, for that matter. I wonder how he's doing?' Her cackles ran through the whole hospital, unfortunately even they weren't enough to get Dick out of his coma. He was still the same, hadn't even noticed the poor girl's embrace. The nurse came in again to check on the two of them.
'Don't give up hope, dear,' she said kindly to Karcia, feeling sorry for the poor girl in her sad state.

Rachel just sat there and watched as Scarlet burst into mass hysterics, an eyebrow raised. After a while she decided enough was enough and broke her silence.

"If that nurse thinks I won't be racing again, she has another thing coming!" She looked down at her cast and gave it a bitter sneer. "I can still drive in this condition! I've had worse."

She looked at Scarlet again and then around the room. It was just the two of them. "Is it... Just you?" Her voice cracked with a tone of disappointment in not seeing any sign of her former racing partner.

Scarlet pulled herself together and looked serious. 'Afraid so,' she replied nonchalantly, 'you're stuck with me.'

'Of course, you probably arent aware of the grave situation, so let me enlighten you.' She cleared her throat and paused for a few seconds, trying to collect her thoughts. A little bit like an actor on stage, trying to remember their lines before a show.

'Ok, here goes. Basically, after your crash, the chief went into...shock. A coma, so to speak. No idea whether it was to do with seeing his beloved vehicle smashed to pieces, or seeing you, his old love in an accident or what, but he went into shock. Completely frozen on the spot. Dumb as a doornail. They had him wheeled into another room for observation. I wonder how he's doing. I don't suppose,' she said as an after thought, ' you'd like to go and see him, would you? That is, if you're up to it of course,' she said, giving Rachel a knowing look, the same as that of her brother.

During the explanation her facial expressions covered the whole range. Anger, sadness, shock, the works. Facial somersaults, if you will. Upon hearing the suggestion of visiting Dick, Rachel instantly tried to get up from her bed, the tubes tugging as she moved. "NGH! STUPID THINGS!"

She managed to shuffle round so that her drip was just behind her and slid off the bed onto her weak legs. "We doin' this then, or not?"

'Sure,' Scarlet replied, reaching out a hand. With her other arm around her back, she managed to get her out of bed, almost falling over. Drat! she cursed herself. Its ok, I'm only pregnant, not ill, pregnant, not ill..... She steered her towards the door, quietly opening it and cautiously looking around in case a nurse or an orderly was there and tried to stop them.
'Now, you've got to remember, we dont want anyone to catch us, so be as quiet as you possible can, ok? Pretend...pretend we are a couple of thieves trying to sneak in unnoticed,' she said, lowering her voice and really getting into character as a sneaky thief. Quietly they made their way across the hall. Meanwhile, in the other room, soemthing was happening. Dick was very slowly starting to get out of his frozen phase. He looked a little like a prehistoric animal which had been suspended in animation and was starting to wake up. It took maybe a good 10 minutes. First he stirred for a while. Then, he finally opened his eyes, blinking into the light above him a couple of times.
'Where...where...am I?' he uttered in confusion.

Rachel was sore. Each step pulled on her tendons and muscles. It felt as if they were on fire. What on earth had happened to her? She could barely remember what had happened after starting the race. She cringed with every step and simply couldn't crouch to sneak as she wished to. "How far is the room?"

Scarlet realised Rachel seemed to be havign difficulty walking, like she was in a lit of pain. I knew this wasnt such a good idea, she frowned. 'We are near room 4 now, its room 2. Are you alright? You can take a rest on this chair right here if you feel you need to, ' she said, a little concerned.

Meanwhile, Dick, still dazed and confused, looked around the room. The first person he saw was Karcia.

'Who.....who...who are you?'

Rachel shook her head. She was a stubborn fool. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Just don't rush me, 'kay?" She braced herself with one hand on the wall, while the one in the cast awkwardly dragged her drip behind her.

After a few moments of trundling along, she reached room 3 with no issues.

'Ok, ok, just trying to help, but you're just as stubborn as that dumbhead,' grumbled Scarlet, annoyed at not being appreciated. They got to the door and peeked in through. Abandoning Rachel for a minute, she walked over to Dick's bed.

'Hey dumbhead, how you feeling?' she grinned cheekily. He stared at her long and hard, his mouth agape and eyes wide open. If he couldnt recognise Karcia, would he recognise his flesh and blood?

'M-mother?'

'Eh?' Scarlet almost shrieked in shock and confusion.

'Mother, what am I doing in this place? And who are these girls, what are they doing here?', he said, suddenly catching sight of Rachel too, his eyes vacillating from her to Karcia.

Drat! Not again, thought Scarlet in annoyance.

Dick stared wide eyed at the angry woman in front of him.

'I don't like this, mother, she's scaring me!!' he squealed, trying to climb onto Scarlet's knee like a child who had been scared and was looking for the protection and comfort of his mother. Scarlet rolled her eyes, before pushing him off her knee in annoyance.

'Stop that, you big cry-baby, I'm NOT your mother! Well, its true I will be a mother, but not yours!' Scarlet said reproachfully. And that girl you 'dont know', happens to be your former colleague and old flame. You know? From your racing days. R-A-C-I-N-G D-A-Y-S!!' she spelt it out loud and clear to him, as if she were talking to a child, which in his case, was more or less appropriate.

Having been pushed onto the floor, Dick started bawling his eyes out. Scarlet wondered whether she should reproach him further, to get him to stop making a fool of himself and embarrassing her in public, when she heard a thud. She turned round to see Karcia fainted on the floor. Oh drat, not again! Now I have an extra casualty to take care of. Shaking her head, she pressed the buzzer for the nurse to come and pick up Karcia and another one for Rachel. Two nurses came almost immediately, one of them put Karcia up on the bed, the other adjusted Rachel's drip.

'Oops, I do apologise for your discomfort,' the nurse grinned sheepishly.
Dick stopped crying and turned to look at the lady who had spoken to him.
'Dick? Is...is that my name?'
'Yes it is, you dumbhead,' Scarlet said rolling her eyes like a parent who was tired of their child's shenanigans.
'Oh boy oh boy!' his face lit up in joy at Rachel, and he clasped his hands together gushing, like an excited little boy on Christmas morning. His face changed though when he saw Karcia lying down on the next bed.
'What happened to her?' he wondered. He went over to her and stared into her face in wonder, as if he'd never seen something like this before. Then he reached out a finger cautiously and touched her on the cheek, uttering a little giggle in surprise.
'Don't worry about that now Dickie, you're still too young to understand.' Might as well play along to his silliness, thought Scarlet glumly.

'Ah yes,' the nurse said. 'Well, he has come out of his coma, at least. The hard part will be trying to get him to remember who he is. I would suggest a therapist or a hypnotist. If he's lucky, he could get back to normal pretty quickly. But it could also take ages.' She left the room.
Scarlet sat with one eyebrow raised in disbelief.
'Ages? I wonder if we could speed up the process, maybe by giving him a blow to the head?' At this moment Dick, completely oblivious, had left Karcia's bedside and walked over to Rachel, where he watched her with a huge grin.
Suddenly Scarlet came up behind him and bopped him hard on the head.
'Ow! that smarts!!' he yelped, rubbing his sore head for a while, looking dazed. He looked up at Rachel, who was in front of him. His face suddenly changed from a dazed one to a flirtatious, lecherous grin.
'Well hello there, gorgeous!' he said, and before waiting for an answer from her he scooped her up in his arms, his tongue and eye balls popped out like a cartoon love-sick wolf.
Great!' muttered Scarlet. 'He's no better. All I did was change him from a bawling child into a lovesick teenager/lecherous dude.'

'Oh, excuse me, gorgeous,' he said, putting her down carefully. Even though he was acting like such a sleaze, he knew better than to be too rough. He cackled wickedly as she tweaked his nose, then pinched her cheek playfully. He took her hand from his nose and like a proper gentleman, placed a smacker on it.
Just then the nurse came in to check up on Karcia, but it didnt stop Dick from taking Rachel's face in his hands and kissing her passionately. Though he stopped when he saw the nurse, turning his attentions to her.
'HELLOOOO NURSE!'

'What did you say?' He turned around angry faced, exactly the same way he always did when Muttley muttered angrilly under his breath at him.

'You DARE speak to me, Dick Dastardly like this? And you, what are you doing here, arent patients allowed any privacy to rest and recuperate?' Embarassed, the nurse left as quickly as she could.

'Hallelujah, he's cured! Back to his normal, mean self again,' cheered Scarlet, sarcastically.

'Ssh, not in front of her Scarlet!' he tried to shush her gently, almost imploringly. 'And besides, don't you think I could have changed my view on that in the meantime?'

'What 'not in front of Scarlet?' his sister wondered, raising an eyebrow. It wasnt like the fearless squadron leader to look so uncomfortable, especially not in front of women.

'Thats it!' he said finally. 'Im going out for some fresh air, the canned air in here is giving me a headache and making me feel dizzy!' He walked over to the door, still limping and wobbling quite a bit. He nearly fell over so had to grab onto a rail. Drat! he muttered gloomily to himself. He would have wanted to go further, but in his state he could only get as far as the window in the corridor, not too far from the room. He stood glumly by the huge window, thinking his own dark thoughts