2012-07-01 The Next Step

Gotham City, Sunday night. Most cities are nice and quiet on a Sunday night. But in Gotham, even the criminals don't rest. One of the busiest places on a night like this is the Thompkins Clinic in Old Gotham. Doctor Leslie Thompkins caters to those who have difficulty being treated in the better hospitals. Criminals and the uninsured are her most frequent patients, but she treats them all with the same cool, composed bedside manner. She doesn't believe anyone should go untreated.

She received the call from Oracle half an hour ago. There was a young girl shot at the Stark Expo in New York who might have mutant or metahuman abilities. She's been asked to take a look at her on Oracle's behalf. Since the mysterious information broker has saved her own bacon a time or two, Leslie is more than willing, doubly so when she learns the girl is a governor's daughter who might have just disowned her for possibly being different.

She is waiting at the back door, alley entrance of the clinic where she instructed Pepper Potts to bring Marissa. This ensures no snoops see her entering the place or leaving it. She's an older woman, with grey hair and a pristine white lab coat.

A StarkTech ambulance arrives just about perfectly on time, turning into the alleyway and stopping at the back door. The driver quickly opens the back doors and Pepper Potts climbs out first before turning to help a very bloodied young lady out as well.

Marissa Sometimes accepts the help out. Despite the blood, she doesn't move at all as if she's hurt. Just like any other teenager...she really does look like an extra from a horror movie more than anything else. The clothes are certainly a dead loss. "Thanks," she whispers to Pepper, glancing around nervously.

Oracle's voice is in Leslie's ear, via the commlink the hacker has provided her. ||Your patient is Marissa Sometimes - daughter of Arizona Governor, Charles Sometimes. She accidentally stepped into the path of a bullet meant for her father at the Stark Expo, suffering a gunshot wound to the throat. She lost a large amount of blood and was pronounced dead by EMTs at the scene. Then her wound closed on its own and she woke up. Daddy, who has been trying to pass laws to put mutants in the equivalent of concentration camps, had a freak out. Stark Industries is going to assist in emancipating the girl.||

Leslie listens patiently, not giving away that she is doing so to her guests. She has her hands tucked in the pockets of her lab coat, her glasses perched on her nose, and sensible shoes on. She looks like someone's sweet grandma. She gives Pepper a grim nod before she offers a hand to help Marissa into the clinic. "I'm Doctor Leslie Thompkins. You must be Marissa. What do you remember about the incident at the Expo?" she asks in a kindly voice.

Pepper Potts nods hello to Dr. Thompkins then turns to give the driver a last instruction or two before he closes the vehicle's doors and leaves again. She stays by the girl's side, apparently ready to shoulder the responsibilities the Governor felt he couldn't handle.

Marissa Sometimes lets out a breath. "I...I'm not sure. One moment I was looking at the cool flying car, then *everything* hurt and I passed out...and then I woke up feeling all tingly. And covered in blood." Her own blood...which she probably needs to recoup somehow. But she's clearly more shaken than anything else. No sign of injury.

Leslie leads them inside, to a back treatment room that she uses for her patients who do not want to be seen, such as the Bat family. "Well, we'll figure this all out dear. Please get into the hospital gown and have a seat on the table. Push the button beside the table when you're ready." She steps back out, beckoning Pepper with her so they can talk. "Miss Potts, what can you tell me about the incident and the injury Miss Sometimes sustained?" she asks.


 * It was bad, Leslie. She lost a lot of blood. She shouldn't be alive, let along walking and talking.|| Oracle can't make her mechanized voice sound grim, or she would.

Leslie leads them inside, to a back treatment room that she uses for her patients who do not want to be seen, such as the Bat family. "Well, we'll figure this all out dear. Please get into the hospital gown and have a seat on the table. Push the button beside the table when you're ready." She steps back out, beckoning Pepper with her so they can talk.

"Miss Potts, what can you tell me about the incident and the injury Miss Sometimes sustained?" she asks.

Pepper Potts sets her tablet aside on a table to help Marissa with the hospital gown annoyance. "It reminded me of a sniper shot but I didn't hear anything, and the injury seemed to be around here." She indicates the approximate area of the jugular on her own neck. "Oh, and I requested changes of clothing for both Marissa and myself. Have they arrived yet?"

Marissa Sometimes strips off the ruined clothing and tosses it in the corner. No way is she putting that back on. As horribly uncomfortable as hospital gowns are, they beat bloodstains. Which, no doubt, is about how most doctors feel about scrubs.

"Yes, they're here in the closet in the examination room," Leslie assure her. When the button is pressed, she heads back into the room and pulls on a pair of Nitrile gloves. She turns on a moveable light and begins gently cleaning the blood off of Marissa with alcohol wipes, tossing the dirtied ones into a bio-hazard lockbox. "Would you mind if I take X-rays and do some blood tests, dear?" she asks the girl.


 * I can have the samples DNA tested.||

Leslie adds at Oracle's prompting, "I can get some DNA testing done if you wish, to see what it is that kept you alive."

"...go ahead." She's afraid of what a DNA test might reveal, but she's not her father. She's going to face this right down the throat, find out the truth and *then* work out how to deal with it. Running away is not her thing.

Pepper Potts checks the closet and sure enough the clothes are there. She takes one of the two dresses out and with a small smile to Marissa, indicates that's she just going down the hall to the rest room to change clothes. She'll be back in less than five minutes.

Leslie continues her work, and settles Marissa into a lying down position on the table with her hands. She puts an apron over the girl to shield her torso and sets a magnetic film plate under the back of her neck. She pulls an X-Ray machine arm over to settle against the young woman's throat, over the location her injury was indicated. She snaps off a shot then lets her back up again. She puts the plate into a light-tight vault for processing, then strips off her gloves to put on a fresh pair before preparing a needle and two empty vials.

"From a simple physical examination you look completely fine, Miss Sometimes," Leslie notes.

Oracle is patched into the security cameras in the clinic and has been watching on a monitor with a concerned frown. She doesn't add to the commentary, just continues to watch and listen.

Leslie ties an elastic band around Marissa's upper arm then swabs inside her elbow with an alcohol wipe. "This might sting a little bit." She draws two vials of blood with an uncommonly gentle hand and labels them carefully. "Just to be safe, I'm going to put you on a saline IV and give you an iron supplement. If you lost as much blood as I suspect you did, you might be a bit shocky. I'm going to go develop the X-ray and make sure there isn't any bullet shrapnel in your neck, all right?" She hooks up the IV in a matter of moments and then gives Marissa a small paper cup with an iron pill in it, and a glass of water.

"...Okay." There's a horrible thought. Would she know if there was anything like that in there? "I feel fine. Hungry, though. Very hungry." Which...hopefully taking the pill will help with. Although what she's really craving is a nice steak.

"I can have a pizza delivered if you'd like. Anything you want on it?" Leslie asks. She's fairly sure Stark can pay for a pizza. She adds a few other electronic monitors to Marissa at temples and chest so she can get a readout on her vitals.

Pepper Potts returns in time to hear the offer of the pizza. "I'll call it in if you like, Dr. Thompkins." Clearly, as the dresses indicate, she has no qualms about tossing Tony's money about. Tony himself would likely be doing far more money-tossing if he were here.

"Pepperoni and sausage," Marissa supplies. A pause. "And extra cheese." Governor's daughter has simple tastes in pizza. Vitals? Slightly elevated, but that's probably stress as much as anything else. Stable, otherwise. She seems to be mostly just very shaken up.

"Thank you, Miss Potts." Leslie puts a blanket fresh from the warmer over Marissa and pats her hand lightly. "I'll be back in a bit. You just rest and we'll have some basic results soon. The DNA test will take a few days to a week, depending on how backed up the lab is."

With luck, I'll have results back in 48 hours... Oracle informs Leslie. It depends on whether or not Bruce will let her use the Batcomputer, or if she'll have to ping another contact somewhere.

Pepper Potts picks up her tablet and starts the umpteenth phone call she's placed since this whole mess began. Good thing she's got unlimited minutes. Nodding to Marissa and Leslie, she places the order, adding a request for a pasta dish and some salad. "...I'll send Happy to pick it up. Thank you again." Funny how she orders things but doesn't seem to ever actually share payment information.

"Okay..." A few days to a week. Great. She wishes it could be done instantly, so she would know, so she would have...some certainty. Pepper not sharing payment information? Marissa doesn't even really notice *that*.

Leslie heads out to go get the X-Ray in order, leaving the ladies alone for the moment. Except for Oracle watching and listening of course.

Pepper Potts steps over to lean against the side of Marissa's bed. "Are you starting to feel a little better?"

"A little. I don't know what to do, though." She lets out a breath. "I just hope he'll come round. Realize none of this was my fault." Except she doesn't really believe it. He hates mutants and he's none too keen on metas.

Pepper Potts says, "Well, I think you're allowed at least one good night's rest before you have to start thinking about it. And if your father hasn't come around by then..." She leaves the rest unsaid. "We'll figure things out as we come across them, okay?"

"Well, maybe...maybe I can convince him I didn't do it, that it was somebody in the crowd." Does she really want to add another lie to the ones she tells him? If the alternative is him not speaking to her, though...

Pepper Potts isn't really a mind reader, honest. "Do really want to create a lie like that? It would be easier, I know, but, easier for how long?"

Marissa Sometimes sighs. "It might get me through college. He's going to cut me off at the very least."

Pepper Potts nods slowly. "Well, let's see how it goes, hm?"

Leslie returns and she slaps the X-Ray up onto a backlit board. "There doesn't appear to be any shrapnel, Miss Sometimes. As far as I can tell, you are all right. Your body has repaired any damage that was done to it. I'm going to give you some more iron supplements to take one a day going forward. It's good for women's health regardless, but it should boost your blood supply. I will call as soon as I have the DNA results."

Marissa Sometimes looks at the X-ray. Just kinda stares at it for a moment. Then she nods. "Iron supplements." Call? That might...no, Pepper has something arranged, she remembers that.

Pepper Potts steps otu of the way when Leslie returns. "That's good news at least." The poor kid's had enough bad news already