ways_infirmary | (no subject)

The alarms slam through the Infirmary like a sirena nd Hank litterally bounds up and over intervening tables and down again to the side of Zuko's bed. His hands snatch at paddles as he charges them and scans him simulatenously.

"Hang on, kid!"

Then the paddles press against the boy's chest and shock hits the body, attempting to restart the heart. As soon as the shock is gone, he is at the head, giving breaths.

Zuko bucks again; another application with the paddles and he's got heart function again, but there's -- not a whole lot going on inside.

He's been pushed to the limits, and then just jumped beyond them.

Lily's up, startled into wakefulness by the shrillness of the alarms; a moment of shock and then she's beside Hank, wand pressed to Zuko's temples again, eyes closed in concentration.

"He's so tired," she murmurs, and she wishes she could send the kid a boost of energy, like she'd always dreamed magic healers would be able to do. He's just - flat. "Everything's worn out."

Hank, you're in charge - do something, she asks wordlessly, looking up at him.

Hank snatches up a vial of red medicine and slots it into the hypospray, looking unhappy and then nods.

"I hope you are listening, whatever deities there may be, bnecause this is a longsthot..."

He plunges the medicine into Zuko's system, sending energy coursing into his body. Whether or not it will respond, and rally, that is anyone's guess...

Are you really sure you wanted to supercharge a tapped out firebender? Who'd been repeatedly electrocuted, and then crashed out by a massive outlet of power?

Really, really sure, Hank?

There is a miserable peak in energy; he heats abruptly; his chi is out of line -- it blocks in points and heat comes from them, and the scent of burning cloth, the sheets of the bed, the plastic of various bits of equipment, metal, begins to ... cook.

Maaaybe that wasn't such a good idea. He's not in fear of another crash, but his system is out of whack.

"Muggles," Lily swears quietly, and then has no more breath for talking; stabilising spells are hard, harder when the patient isn't strictly human, and it takes all her concentration to try to shift the spell sideways, force it to adapt to Zuko's shape, pull everything back and hold him steady.

It's hard; she isn't sure it's working. A trickle of sweat runs down her face.

He glances at her and at the sensors and nods.

"Good... you're doing good. I am going to use a device that should help your efforts. But your senses are stronger than mine or these sensors, so I need you to feel for me... and let me know if his system varies at all."

He gently places a rhythm meter on Zuko's chest and gentle waves of soothing energy flow forth from it, energy designed to slow processes and even out the body's energy levels. Hank glances at the sensors ans watches anxiously. he has dealt with mutants and aliens and Gods, but every patient is different.

The machine helps; Zuko stablizes slowly, and the burning stops. But he is not well -- this is artificial and it will be some time before his body can do it on it's own.

In the mean time -- changing his sheets might be a good idea. They've gone crispy in places.

Lily's on it already. Or would be, if she knew where fresh sheets were.

"Hank, he's not coping."

She will not see any more children die.

"Can we leave that - thing - on long-term? And keep him here - constant monitoring?"

He nods, slowly.

"We can, for now."

He sighs.

"Even with the sensors, I dont know enough about his physiology. I can give him standard medicines and feed him intravenously, and try to get his strength up, but that will only work so well."

He glances at her.

"I dont know anything about your abilities... if his body gets stronger, little by little, can you help him?"

There is hope in Hank's eyes, and the dark feeling of someone who hates losing anyone, ever.

"I can."

And will.

Hi, infirmary. You've just gained a new staff member. Lily: not leaving until there's no more use for her.

Relief washes over him and he nods.

"Good... would you mind helping me change his sheets? There are some more in the cainet just a few feet away..."

He gently, gently, lifts Zuko, careful not to tangle any of his lines. The young man seems almost lighgter than air in his eyes and Hank feels himself almost growl. He has watched too many of his friends and students die and so help him, if he can help, there wont be another.

He gently sets Zuko aside and begins stripping the sheets carefully and methodically.

"Once he is more stable, perhaps I can give you a more formal tour and show you where some of our more mundane equipment and medicines are. If you are going to be around here, you might as well know the lay of it..."

Zuko is disturbingly thin; the hardness of the road has eaten away at him, and it might explain why he was not at top form. Sure he was starting to eat better (with a nosy girlfriend feeding him) but...

...he is fragile and small now, easily lifted and easily moved.

The bed is blackened in spot where he's unconsciously burned it; small little burns are on his skin, too -- where he's burned himself. Not that they're out of place with the burns Billy gave him...

Lily sighs. Muggles.

It's much easier and simpler to direct the sheets to change themselves; she'd lift Zuko on a conjured stretcher, if Hank hadn't been there first. There's a quick flow of white linen whisking itself out of Hank's hands; it's not very long before the bed's ready again.

"Have you any sort of salve for his burns?"

She can't spare the effort to heal them all, not and keep his temperature steady and his body functioning at the same time.

"And - what prompted that, do you know? The girl seems fine..."

He blinks.

"That is rather useful."

Then he nods.

"There is an ungent in the locker where I got the device I just used, back behind you. Label reads Coricellitin."

He shakes his head.

"I dont know. My ears rang something fierce right before the alarm went off. Only thing I can think of is maybe something on a higher plane or dimension."

"And I thought Hogwarts was a strange place," Lily mutters, Accioing the salve and moving to Zuko's side. "Can you check the vitals of all the other patients here? I don't want to risk anything."

Yeah, she's going to be bossy now that she's officially In.

"And - thank you. A guided tour would be very helpful. Once this has settled."

He nods, and steps to a tall machine. As he begins pushing buttons, he speaks.

"This is a Monitor. From them we can check the vitals of each patient in the entire ward. If something happens emergency wise, the alarms will go off, but..."

He punches some buttons and nods, then turns back to her.

"... it is always good to be careful."

He watches her and nods.

"I also would like to sit down with you sometime and find out the range of your powers. That way we each know what the other can do and what is avbailable during emergencies or regular situations."

"I'll leave the technology to you," she says, looking up from Zuko's burns with a quick smile. "Magic doesn't mix well with tech. Nothing electrical even works around areas where there's a high concentration of magic."

The boy's too thin and too weak; unless they can find out what that surge was and ascertain that it won't happen again, she's going to move in here and keep an eye on him and the girl both.

It's not that she doesn't trust Hank and his machines ... it's just that she doesn't trust tech in general, when it comes to Healing. How can a machine feel out where a patient's hurting?

"And yes, certainly, at some stage I think that would be wise."

He nods, thinking along similar lines. The scanner finally beeps back, reporting all clear for now and he nods.

"Do you know of anything from your world that can act as a shielding agent? I know we dont know what it was, other thahn some kind of energy, but..."

He lifts his hands helplessly.

"If it was energy, the kind usually bandied about here is magic and that is completely out of my league."

"I could put up wards, but I couldn't guarantee they'd fix anything if I don't know what I'm warding against," she says, shrugging. "And they might well knock your machines out of commission. I think we're best off waiting and watching."

He nods, then and glances around.

"I'll get you a better chair then. And you are welcome to use the office if you need to nap. There is a couch in there."

He smiles a lopsided smile.

"It is a pleasure meeting you, even under these circumstances."