Healing and Restructuring

When I woke up I was in much better shape. I looked around with my one remaining eye and asked Reina, the woman with Thou Shalt Not Die ability, "Is everyone alive."

She nodded, "Melissa is just giving them a few more kisses just in case. I'm surprised you're awake though even though I healed you quickly, wounds like that leave most people out of commission for at least a day."

I sighed and said, "I am sadly used to waking up from devastating wounds like this from my mission. So everyone is alright?"

Reina hesitated, "We managed to heal up everyone but I'm sorry to say Mary has both her eyes. We can't heal it, at least considering our skill level."

I nodded my face covered by both my hands, "Ok, I've got it. Leave me."

She hesitated for a moment before leaving to my thoughts. I was stupid, stupid, stupid! I knew that sorcerer could only make a portal to where she had been.

I hadn't been much of a problem in Brecksville since she seemed to only have been to a small part of it but I should have known she would have been on the highway.

How else would she have gone to Torres? But I hadn't really thought about it and we walked straight to an ambush. She could open portals all over the place and we had no way to retaliate.

If we had taken a longer but less well-traveled road back to Brecksville that she wouldn't have had that ability at all. I need to think about this kind of stuff.

I have been getting too arrogant recently. My single-handed victory against the New Imperium had made me too lax, thinking I was the strongest.

I was probably one of the strongest but I had forgotten the lessons I had learned in the world of One Piece, even a small child could take on a massive organization if they were smart enough.

Now I had lost the use of my left eye permanently. I sighed no, we had crafters that could probably make a replacement after only a few days of work.

Looked at my left hand, the burn scars that I expected to be there were missing. I guess while they can't heal crippling injuries like this they don't leave scars.

I grabbed the left side of my face feeling my empty eye socket and missing ear. This would be the same for Mary then. At least she would be able to see using her bugs.

I got up I still had things to do. I looked at a nearby lock it was 4:00 pm, I had only been out for 2 hours. I sighed and then walked out of the hospital.

People tried to stop me but I ignored them, I still had to fetch my tech-priests. I jumped up into the air and rushed back to where I had met them.

It only took an hour this time as I was no longer injured and was carrying no baggage. I saw that they were exactly where I had left them.

They looked at me surprised no doubt by my seemingly instant recovery. I mean for them I left the battlefield missing a missing eye heavily injured and came back healed after only 5 hours.

Their leader stepped forward, "Hello Marcus, it is good to see that you have recovered too quickly from your wounds."

I nodded, "We have some pretty good doctors back home. So ready to continue our trek there?"

He nodded lowering his head in submission. I ignored him and cleared the road. We continued back to base and after 4 more hours of driving, we were back in Brecksville.

I saw people pointing at our odd procession but when they saw me at the helm they seemed reassured and went back to their business.

I drove our cars to the factory part of town. I stopped our cars in front of a particularly big factory and motioned the others to do the same.

We all got off and I yelled, "Wilbur! Get your ass out here!"

After a few minutes, the door opened and old grumpy Wilbur walked through the door, he said, "What's going on here? What do you want?"

I said, "Remember that we were raiding the remnants of the New Imperium. Well, we managed to scavenge some of their mechanics. They are pretty good so got a need for them?"

Wilbur looked at the 25-odd tech-priest behind me and said, "Yeah could always use more train hands. The others would also love some extra help as well."

I nodded but warned, "They're still on probation though. I don't know how loyal they are. So keep an eye on them and don't let them near anything sensitive."

He nodded and I felt the tech-priests behind me flinch at my frank statement of how much I trusted them, which was not at all.

Leaving them to be dealt with by Wilbur for the moment I walked back to Militia headquarters and meet with Micheal and Dustin to update them on the situation only giving the bare basics.

I then went back to the hospital and slept in the lobby waiting till Mary and Katy woke up from their wounds. Harriet was already back home from what I heard from the nurses.

The next day when I was prodded awake by one of the staff members, "Mary would like to see you as soon possible Mister Fulbright."

I nodded and headed to her room. I saw her closed eyes facing me and she used her bugs to see me. I sat down in the chair next to her.

I said, "How are you doing?"

She said, "Fine how about you?"

I smiled, "Sad to say that I'm pretty used to these kinds of situations."

She nodded and I stayed beside her. She started to cry and I held her as she did so. She blubbered out between her tears, "I was so scared, Marcus. This was the first time I thought could die."

"I lost my eyes and Ian is dead. I know that these kinds of things happen on the frontline but I didn't think it would happen to me."

"I was paralyzed in fear. If I couldn't offload my fear into my bugs then I don't know how I could function. How do you deal with his Marcus day in and day out."

"Well," I said, "I am willing to die for my goals. I have also been in more situations like this. It was hard for me the first time I faced death but it get better with time."

She said, "I don't want to get used to this. My friends dying and my life hanging on a thread. I don't know if I can handle it."

I soothed her, "It will get better with time, and if you want to never fight on the frontlines again, no problem you can still be an effective force from the backlines and as a scout."

She nodded her head and continued sobbing, "You know logically I know losing my eyes isn't too bad. I mean ever since I got my power I haven't needed them but losing them it's terrible."

"I know." Touching my missing left eye, "Don't worry you're allowed to feel sadness and pain at even illogical things, that's the beauty of being human."

She nodded and then said, "Thanks, Marcus."

We stayed like that for a few more minutes before I said, "I'm about to go to the meeting updating everyone on what's going on. You want to join."

She agreed and we walked into our meeting hall. I walked in noticing Katy was there at more energetic than I thought she would be. Seems like she is made of tougher stuff than I thought.

We started the meeting with Katy, Mary, and I discussing the mission. Harriet was missing but that was to be expected.

Once we were done catching everyone up I asked an important question, "Should we expand out of Brecksville?"

"Torres is pretty much lawless the cops are in shambles after their bloody fights and the New Imperium is basically a memory at this point."

"A lot of places around us are like this and I am pretty sure that if we expand we would be able to do a lot of good."

Laurance, the police captain, who I had recently started joining our meetings said, "Isn't that a little hasty. You are overstepping your authority."

Dustin shot back, "Yes but then should we just abandon those crime-ridden cities? You saw what we did in Brecksville don't you think the rest of the area deserve the same?"

Wilbur spoke up, "Can we even do this? I mean we only have 150 members and half of them are non-combatants."

I spoke up this time, "It shouldn't be a problem, we are much stronger than any of the remaining forces around us. We can also recruit to fill any missing personnel."

"We have a great reputation and I know that a bunch of people would want to join our group. I would just be a problem managing all the new people."

Wilbur shot back, "How would we do that exactly. It's not like any of us here has any real organizing cross-city organizations?"

I smiled, "Funny you should say that. Our mayor here volunteered to act in that role. He knows how to manage people and is friends with many of the government heads in the other cities."

While Mayor Frank did not have many impressive skills he did have connections. He was also so afraid of my power that he wouldn't do anything behind my back.

I guess that is the plus of having a cowardly subordinate. With his help, I think that other mayors will quickly accept our offers.

Laurance asked, "Really Frank, you approve of this?"

Frank said, "Why of course. Since the Brecksville Militia has done so well here I think that they should expand their influence."

"I know that many mayors have already discreetly asked for my help to deal with their gang issues. This is just me helping accelerate their acceptance."

Laurance nodded shutting his mouth. "So," I asked, "Is anyone opposed to us expanding our reach and helping out nearby cities?"

Katy raised her hand, "Isn't an objection but then shouldn't we change our name. I mean the Brecksville Militia won't really fit us once we head to other cities."

I smiled, "Do you have a suggestion?"

She said, "How about The Heralds of Order? You know cause we want to bring order to his chaotic cities and heralds usually have a pretty good connotation."

I shrugged and asked, "Anyone against it?"

No one spoke up, so I said, "Ok from now on we are no longer the Brecksville Militia but the Heralds of Order. We will make sure that law and order will prevail everywhere we go."

With that I dismissed the meeting, planning out my next steps in cementing my legacy.