Summary:Ranna returns to the safe house after her operation Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Ranna had refused any assistance to get back to Kian's after her surgery. She didn't think the Project Ninja would appreciate someone else knowing about his place - even if he is going to trash after when Ranna recovers enough to leave.
When she arrives, Ranna is tired and the nerve blockers Hank used are starting to wear off. Finding a glass of water, the small woman settles on the edge of the couch, and tries to meditate - leaving the pain meds that were given till later.
She can do this. She's done worse.
Kian does monitor these places and knows when someone enters them. After confirming that it was in fact Ranna in it and that she was alone he decided to drop by and see how things went. That had been a few hours back when he was at a race.
There's no noise to herald his arrival. His bike is electric and thus silent. The door opens - he has a key, naturally - and he sees the meditating woman. "You look like shit."
Mostly meditating. Just enough to manage the pain but not enough to completely block it. "Thank you …" Ranna says quietly as Kian enters. "I feel it. Almost worse than when you beat the living crap out of me." She's wrapped in bandages, Kian can see them under her t-shirt - well padded, probably with gauze at the least.
"Doctor McCoy cut me open and … fixed … the implants…" she swallows, eyes unfocussing for a moment. "It took hours and there were a few interesting minutes. Did you win?"
"Yes, I did. It was a good night." Kian goes over to the kitchen and finds some of the alcohol he'd stashed away. He comes back with one beer and a glass of whiskey for him. The beer is set down in front of Rana. Kirin.
"You may find that makes the meditating easier. When you say interesting minutes, do you mean there were complications from the surgery?" He doesn't ask how long she'll be out. He knows it'll be weeks at best.
"Good. Maybe one day you'll let me come and watch." Ranna frowns at the beer "With the medication he's given me, do you think that's wise?" It's in her bag at the moment, she should get it. "And it might. Though the meditation is supposed to help me relax and let me heal."
"Uhhh… he has a … spirit bound to him and it manifested. A Raven. It was very interested in what he was doing." Ranna had her back open at the time. "Doctor McCoy was worried she might interfere while he was making my failsafe a maybesafe. If he slipped then, it might have killed me. But that was it… really."
Regardless of the question she just asked, Ranna takes a pull on the beer. "Unless you class me being laid out on a table in nothing but a medical gown with spine exposed - then the whole four or so hours was tense." No complications though for which she was thankful.
"It's going to three or four weeks to heal. Do I need to find somewhere else while I do?" Kian hadn't asked, but she's told him anyway. "And … I'll need some help for the next week or so. My activity is to be very limited."
"Perhaps, if you'd like. Though you'll want to do so from the rooftops. Watching from the start line is not really something that is conducive to being entertained." Not unless she has access to some cameras or something. "As to the beer, I leave that up to you."
He's no doctor after all. If he had been that wouldn't have been necessary.
"I'll do what I can though I can't be around all the time." He has things to do to keep him alive and most pertinently to prevent their opponents from tracking them down. Hiding is only so effective. Killing people who have found you, that's much more effective.
"I didn't ask for you to be around all the time." Ranna answwers, the tone a little more tart than she usually uses. "I need help changing my dressings for the next few days and to wash. The first three or four will be the most difficult."
She's hurting now and turns her head to look away from Kian.
"I can find Doctor McCoy if that's too much and seek his assistance. He offered to visit to help but I didn't think you would like that."
"I can do it. We'll arrange a time for it. I would prefer not to advertise my safe places." If absolutely necessary it of course could be done but it is Kian's preference to keep such things secret. At least for now. Though the Doctor WAS something of a help.
"Washing will be trickier with the way you're cut up but we'll manage something at least so you don't gag on your own smell." It's probably too much to ask for truly clean.
"Are you completely disengaged from their protocols then? No more failsafe triggering?"
"Washing is to be sponge baths for several days." Ranna wrinkles her nose and glances at Kian. He knows how much she likes to be clean. "And thank you … This isn't ideal, I know."
Ideally, she'd have checked into a hospital and stayed a few days for the initial healing to take and then returned to the bossom of her family.
Family. Hah!
"Doctor McCoy says I am. He rewired the nodes as he found them. He said that took the longest to do. There were connections everywhere - someone really didn't want me tampered with." If they hadn't found the information on her original operation, Hank wouldn't have been able to do what he did. "So, yes. No more chance of my implants killing me. Supposedly no more triggering when you use your abilities as well…"
As to her own enhancements. Are they still in tact?
"Well that will be good." No more her being debilitated when he uses his abilities which means no more her being put in danger every time Kian tries to get himself out of danger. He does rely on his powers to even the odds and the odds are frequently not in his favor. He doesn't have the luxury of setting things up in his favor. Nor the resources to do so if even if he had the time.
"Are you going to see the doctor again?" She probably should, just to ensure there are no complications.
"Did you come by for something particularly?" Ranna finally asks, drinking the beer and not moving a lot. "I will go in for a checkup in about a week. He'll wanted to visit for the next few days… " She's already said that. "However, he was very … understanding … about my need for privacy."
It makes her wonder.
"Kian? Are you a mutant?" That's a strange question, surely and one from left field. "I mean, do you know or not? and would you pass my pack, please, I have something for you."
"A mutant? Me?" Kian looks up from his drink at Ranna. "Not that I am aware of. Allegedly the implants I have activate latent psychic potential present in most humans, though ideal in me, I suppose. But no, no mention was ever made of me being a mutant. Why?"
Either way the tech-ninja passes that pack over. "Mostly I came by to see what kind of a condition you were in. Post surgery, after all, can be quite bad.'
"I'd like to see you more often …" Ranna says quietly, rooting around in her pack for a bit before drawing out a gift wrapped box and handing it to the Project ninja.
Inside is blade with a handle in the middle, the blades themselves wicked and hooked. Kian might realise that the handle seperates to make two individual blades on their own (https://lnk2.biz/373GjhF) "I had these made for you." With some of her winnings, no doubt. Under the blade is cash as well. About $5K.
"Doctor McCoy says I'm mutant. I have a … X gene? I wonder if the Order knew that. It wasn't in any of the records we found."
"Well, you will be at least for the next little bit. I'll be around to change your bandages after all and keep you from getting too grimy."
The tech-ninja opens the box and chuckles. He recognizes the vague design. They come from similar martial traditions after all. The cash has him looking up though.
"Thank you kindly, though you know you don't have to." It will help him set up a new safe spot though when he has to 'burn' this one. Which he will. After it's been in use for as long as this one has it won't be secure anymore. Or at least he won't have any way of being sure it is secure.
And it is REALLY important he be sure of that. And she be sure of that as well.
"They may have been, even if they didn't call it that. They probably screened you for your talent specifically, though. Or if I had to guess that's what I would say."
"I'd say I was looking forward to it … but …" There's the faintest of colour o Rannas' cheeks as she laughs. It might just be the beer and the operation causing that. "Maybe they were, when I see Doctor McCoy again, I'll ask him. Maybe you would like to meet him, as well. It wouldn't harm to have a friendly healer available, would it?"
"Do you like the blades? I know you don't use blades often but I wanted to get you something useful but … nice." She actually fretted over that. As to the money, the Order Ninja waves it away "When I'm back on the circuit, I'll give you more. I gave the Doctor most of I earned and I wanted to offset your costs. I can't say …. "
Ranna shakes her head and looks away. "You didn't have to help me either, you could have killed me or left my implants to do it. Instead, you risked yourself and everything to help the person who was trying to kill you."
"Any news of Shadow or the others? They seem to have gone to ground for the moment, but it might be I've focussed on something else."
"Certainly. I'll meet him when we can." Kian says as he stands up and heads back to the kitchen to get more to drink. "I do like the blades, yes, thank you."
"You're welcome, I think. You seem to be saying thank you." The tech ninja chuckles. "I could have left you to die. There were times I thought about it. But in a way you saved yourself, seeing the truth before it was too late." He pours another drink and stops to think.
"Shadow is back in town but moving very quietly. He was in Midtown last I heard. I think he's been pulled off your case. Possibly because Midnight has taken it over. Which is not a great news, really. Especially with cyber ninja in town."
"I … am. Yes. Saying thank you. Badly." Ranna answers quietly. "You beat the crap out of me, Kian. You could have killed me then and there, but you didn't. I remember what you did - you didn't *want* to, which is far more than I would have done if our situations were reversed."
Maybe she'd saved herself. Ranna isn't going to argue. She winces and her face pales, causing the woman to take some deep breaths and center herself.
"The cyber ninja … I just hope they find me before I can sufficiently. Are … are you safe, Kian? Midnight - he might be after me, but it has to be known by now that I'm working with you and who you are." beat "What do we know of the cyber ninja at the moment?"
"No. I am not safe. I've not been safe for years. But I'm not any more in danger at the moment than I have been for some time. So I think we can call that a win."
Kian takes a drink and takes a deep breath. "Not much. I know that there's a group of them in town that was brought in from China and a second group that came in from somewhere in Western Europe. I'm not sure if they have the same mission or how many were in those groups. What I do know is that they're concentrating outside the areas that the Hand and the Order control. So they might be here to expand their grip or they might be here to remove critical targets." Which is al ot of uncertainty but that's really all he's got.
"You know what I mean …" Ranna says tiredly. She sighs. He's not safe and she's just making things worse. Once she's healed, maybe she can move on and draw them off him. Let Kian get on and live a bit.
"It's possible they're trying to expand the grip, but it could just as easily be a rival faction. They came after us, easily enough though."
"How do we find out? There must be something I can do while I'm healing. I can't fight and for the next week, I shouldn't be moving much either - after the week, I can do more. But … is there any research or something I can do?"
"Not that especially comes to mind unless you have talents you havent told me about. I do most of my research on site or by giving things to people with more expeetise than I. i dont suppose you know how to crack hard drives?" Because if not there isnt anything useful she might do that he can think of. Fighters get hurt, Kian knows. The best thing she can probably do is get better.
"I might have been a target of opportunity for the Ninja. There is just no way to know until they come at me again. If they come at me again."
"No. I can't. But I can read data and extrapolate." Ranna answers. It's going to be a very long couple of weeks - she's never really had a day out since she turned sixteen. "I wonder if my Mother …. " she shakes her head. "… nevermind. Until I'm healed, I don't want to go near that."
But she might in the future. Her mother is unknown quantity.
"If they come at you again, then it's likely you more than just a target of opportunity." Ranna shakes her head and lets out a sigh.
"I'm … sorry, Kian."
Kian gives Ranna an arch look. "I know." That is in fact what he had been saying. If they fo out of their way to hunt him down then it was more than a chance meeting. Which wouod mean theyd sent a team to replace Ranna and whatever other assassins they had i. the area. It would make sense but Kian isnt sure he rates that kind of resource expenditure.
"Just dont drink all the coke. You'll have trouble making food the first few days so I will stop by and make sure there are things to eat. If I don't come back for a few days go to your doctor and get him to hide you. Dont bother looking for me. I am probably dead if that happens."
Ranna just sighs, looking away from Kian's arch look. "Thank you for coming by. Are you staying or going?" It's quiet and resigned. Why? Kian might only guess at the moment. Ranna has to be in pain at the very least.
"If you don't come by, I'll go to Doctor McCoy but I *will* come looking for you. I won't believe your dead until I see your corpse. I'm not leaving you behind, Kian."
He can argue with her. It won't do any good. Ranna owes Kian way to much to let him just disappear.
"Going but I will be back in a while to check on you and change your bandages. I've got an apartment and in any case I have some mysteries to see to. Not your problem at the moment though. You focus on not being quite so filleted and I will let you know if anything interesting turns up."
As for her coming to look for him if he goes missing, he doesn't argue to the point. If he does get killed he isn't going to be in much of a position to know or care what she does and if it makes her feel better to look for him then so be it.
"Feel free to drink whatever is in the refrigerator. There's more beer. And scotch whiskey in one of the cabinets. Don't over do it, though. Your doc might get upset."
"Alright. I won't and I'll replace what I do drink." It's all Ranna says. She's already said thank you after all. She starts her meditation again as Kian leaves.
It's not until he leaves and she's sure he's some distance from the door that Ranna swallows and lets tears fall, sobbing softly as she tries to get centre herself and clamp down on the uncharacteristic display of emotion.
Her Mother, her teachers would be extremely disappointed in her right now.