Vulture Squadron HQ

'Oh yeah?' Dick retorted. 'No more mister nice-guy. Sed you at the finish line, looser!' He added with a nasty cackle.
He got into his car and the race began. At first, it looked like Rachel would win, the Harlequin Star was doing well, he had to admit. But suddenly. ...

Rachel had started off slow and was keeping up perfectly fine. She almost became nostalgic remembering the very firsat race with him. However, her silent reverie was ended as the Harlequin Star collided with something hard on the road and came to an abrupt halt. "Waaargh!" She almost face-planted her dashboard and was very glad she had her belt on. "What the hell!?"

Dick turned for a moment to see Rachel having some problems. Ehehehe, Its pretty obvious who will be the winner here, he smirked to himself in glee. He was doing very well and approaching the finish line, he only had a little way to go. Checking his mirror, his grinning expression lowly changed when he caught sight of Karcia's reflection: she looked sad and worried.

'What am I doing?' He suddenly had a revelation. Had being with Karcia all this time meant nothing to him at all that he was foolishly risking his life? Especially since he was always worried about her whenever she ran away or was being kidnapped. Did he really want to make her feel the same way she'd made him feel? His hard exterior prevented him from stopping his foolishness. He was a villain, after all. And he had worked hard to earn that reputation. And yet...he'd recently become somewhat of a softie. And that was in many ways, his downfall. 'Drat,' he said to himself. And then, he did something he wouldnt normally do, least of all while trying to win a race. He decided he'd go all cowardly Zilly-like, even if it would mean costing him his reputation and having Rachel ridicule him for the rest of his life. Oh well, tough.

He opened the driver's seat and jumped out shielding his head, rolling about for a while until he reached Karcia and Scarlet. He looked up into her sad worried face.

'Karcia...' he smiled gently at her. He got no further, as suddenly there was a loud BOOM behind him.The Mean Machine had been going at high speed, and with no one to control it, it spiraled out of control and hit some rocks, where it had exploded. Debris flew everywhere from the blast, Scarlet and Karcia shielding their eyes. Dick stared in horror.

'Nooooooooooooooooooooo!' he yelled in a mix of disbelief and despair, then covering his face he stood sobbing like a big baby. 'My machine, my beautiful machine!'

'Oh my god! 'Cried looking at what happened.

Unfortunately for Rachel, the Mean Machine had rolled right into her stationary car, as it had travelled past the finish line and across the courtyard. She was busy trying to tear off her airbags when she heard an odd sound. And there it was. The Mean Machine, driverless, running straight towards her. Rachel froze to the spot, gulped and braced for imapct.

When Dick is still mourning the loss of The Mean Machine, Karcia hugs him and calms' Just be glad you nothing happened. If you died in the explosion, I would kill, because I wouldn't have to live for '

'What the hell?' Seeing Rachel's car roll into the Mean Machine made Scarlet turn around in horror. It seemed that Rachel and the Harlequin Star were in a pretty bad state. 'Come on you dumbhead, she needs help!' she yelled at the officer, who oblivious to the whole thing was still sobbing his eyes out for his beloved car. She grabbed him by the hand and with Karcia still holding onto him, he was dragged to the scene of the wreckage.

'Oh my goodness, are you alright Rachel? Can you hear me?' She sounded concerned. When Dick got there, he just froze. Something about seeing his beloved Mean Machine in flames and his old flame in trouble just threw him into a state of shock. He stood there, rooted to where he stood, his eyes wide, unblinking.

'Well don't just stand there you dumbhead, help her.....' Scarlet stopped short when she saw the state he was in. Drat, he's really flipped his lid now, she muttered to herself. 'Karcia, stay here with these two, while I call an ambulance. Seems we have two very serious cases here,' she ordered, a tone of urgency in her voice.

'It's all my fault! If I hadn't come here, it's Rachel nothing would have happened! ' laments.

'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.

Rachel was currently unconscious and was not aware of anything that was going on. The Harlequinb Star had been hit on it's side by the Mean Machine and had caught fire. It was slowly spreading from the fuel leaking under the car to the back seat and the compartment was filling with acrid, black smoke.

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.

Karcia was still at Dick. The poor man. He lost his car, in which he put a lot of manpower and blood to build it on a powerful machine. The girl normally would run away, because blame for it all, but it will be the villain in order to look after him.

Rachel slowly opened her eyes. She didn't know it yet, but she had been out cold for 7 hours. Her vision was blurred and her mouth felt like sandpaper. She smacked her lips and turned her head to try and make sense of her surroundings. All she could hear was a constant beeping sound.

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.

Rachel let out an unimpressed groan. "The heck happened?" She tried to reach a hand to her face to rub her eyes, but found that she was being hindered by a multitude of wires and tubes. She winced as the cannula in the back of her hand was tugged by the movement.

At this time, when Rachel woke up, Karcia over to talk to Dick, who is in shock. Girl yawning with fatigue and lies next to Dick, laying her head on his chest. 'I love you, Dick' she kissed him on the lips, and fell asleep.

'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.

The girl left the room, again blames himself for the accident. Suddenly she bursts into tears and runs to the door that is closed and falls into it, cutting her forehead. Karcia loses a lot of blood and begins to lose consciousness. Fortunately, the nurse noticed it and took to the room where he was Dick. The dark blonde was close to death, but the nurse quickly clog bleeding and connect it to drip.

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."

After 2 hours, Karcia wakes up, but is still weak. Turns to the side and sees Dick, who is still in shock. Girl detaches from the drip and walks over to him. 'Dick ...' she whispers and hugs him close and kisses him on the head.

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.