Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.

[ngm_miscellaneous]

Marcelo Alencar da Silva had been in surgery for a few hours. He had been completely unaware of law enforcement locking down the city block his building was on. He had not been aware of much outside of trying to stay awake until some doctor like person told him it was okay to sleep.

The doctors had worked hard. As precisely as the sword had been impaled into their patient, they had to be just as precise to make sure he did not bleed out all over the operating table. Those doctors lived and worked in New York, home of the Avengers and Fantastic Four. Yet, they were never quite prepared for people stabbed with swords.

Even with a very close call, the Brazilian patient was rolled out to recovery. As the nurses and doctors monitored him, the surgeon went out to explain to his fiancee how things went. When the medical personnel were sure he was stable enough, he was sent to his own private room and allowed to have visitors.

Comments

[pyroprincess]

When Stephanie had come in with him, they'd insisted that she get looked at too. Bumps and bruises, really, nothing serious. She'd had fresh clothes delivered for her and she'd spent the rest of the time waiting. Marcelo had been in surgery for a long time, and for a longer time afterwards being stabilized. From what she'd been told, his prospects were pretty good, that he'd been very fortunate indeed.

But that didn't remove the overwhelming feeling of fear for him, of guilt over her role in the whole affair, of wondering what happened next. She was quite certain that Luiz would want to take his son home. And Marcelo himself might not disagree, considering what had happened, not just to him, but to his employees.

Nineteen of them were dead on arrival. Three more were in the intensive care unit, in critical condition. Another fifteen were in the hospital for injuries of various severity and another twenty-seven had been treated and released. There were also three dead Purifiers and another fifteen or so in the hospital, to be released into the care of law enforcement. Millions of dollars in damage.

It had been a bloodbath.

But right now, Stephanie's concern was focused, laser-like, on Marcelo. She walked into the room. The bruise had started to go down already, though it was still quite visible, as well as some of the little cuts and scratches on her face and arms. She'd got herself washed up and in new clothes at least, though.

"Hey." She said softly as she walked over to him. "How are you feeling?"

[ngm_parents]

Luíz had finally managed to track down where his son was after dealing with law enforcement and getting his own nerves back together. He let out a slow breath outside of the door to his son's hospital room. He looked upward and hoped Letícia had kept an eye on their boy.

He turned lifted the door handle and walked in.

Sometime, in the middle of the night...

[hellkitten]

Liza crouched on top of the hospital parking garage, scanning the hospital grounds with the night vision feature in her spiffy new costume's mask. She could see far better in the dark than most people unaided... something to do with that family adaptation for functioning in Stygian blackness. The technology in the mask elevated that to "might as well be daylight".

She could see private guards as well as law enforcement patrolling. Some out in the open, the obvious deterrents, and some less obvious. There were more than a few of them, not surprising, given such a spectacular and bloody assault on one of the biggest business interests in the world. Quite a force, professionals all, but they weren't ready for the likes of her.

At least, she really, really hoped not. Otherwise, this was going to be embarrassing as all Home.

Liza watched, waited, picked her moment, then flicked her wrist, and the line in her glove shot out across the space between the garage and the main building. She swung across and sunk her claws into the side of it, the heating elements in them melting into the brick and giving her extra purchase. She scuttled down the wall, pausing at one certain window, the top of her head barely peeking down over the frame to check on who was inside. Two people in a hospital bed, one the man she was looking for, the other, Liza guessed, his fiancee. No guards in the room.

Her new costume was packed with all sorts of handy features, but the item strapped on her back was definitely non-standard equipment. Still hanging upside down, she unhooked it, took a marker out of a pouch hidden under her sash, and began writing.

Liza wasn't stupid, although sometimes she pretended to be less astute and observant than she really was. And she was pretty good at telling when someone was trying to hide something... that came with the territory when your father was the Prince of Lies.

Done with her message, she held the whiteboard up to the window.

[ngm_adults]

When the news got to Helena about Marcelo, she knew she had to do something. Though she suspected his... fiancee might be around in the hospital room. Rather than deal with the interloping woman, the Brazilian supermodel sent the best get well flower arrangement with Marcelo's favorite colors she could find.

The handwritten note said:
Tchelo,
Please get well soon. The world needs more men like you in it.
♥

Though Helena wasn't aware of it, she would have been pleased the billboard facing his room in the hospital was a men's shirt ad with her wearing little more than one of the advertised button up shirts.