Sorry, The Only Power Left Is Alteration.

You will struggle.

Stubby fingers reached forward to close those eyes, which he swore could still see him. A hand fell upon his shoulder and gripped tightly. Tearful eyes looked upward along the vine tattooed arm to see a stern face looking back at him. She tossed a crumpled doctor’s coat to the other side of Circe.

“You want this woman to have a chance? Then do as I say. Get your palm in the center of her chest. Right between her breasts. You know what those are right? I want you to put pressure on her sternum.”

She put a palm on top of a palm to show him and quickly guided him to the right spot. He became hesitant and lowered his positioning a bit closer to her liver. Ebony smacked his arms back in place and set him in position.

“There’s a small bone there. You break it and she’s as good as gone. You gotta do this right so I can concentrate on using these powers. Push down like you were doing before, not too much force but not too little, just enough to force her heart to move. Thirty times. Fast.”

Alfredo did as instructed, though a little hesitantly. He didn’t look at all sure of what he was doing.

“You’re not depressing the chest cavity far enough! Now, a little more force, if you bruise her ribs, I’ll heal them! Go thirty times and then check for breath.”

Ebony moved to the other side so as not to be in the way of Alfredo as he gave CPR. She took a deep breath and tried using her skill for the first time. Once a day, she could diagnose any patient with one hundred percent accuracy.

Diagnosis 01: Can diagnose one patient with one hundred percent accuracy for a few minutes once a day.

The life lines of Circe’s body came to her as if she was viewing multiple scans at the same time. A huge alert surrounded her lungs and heart. She could see the break in the tibia and flesh injury around it from being stomped.

“Clean fracture of the tibia, pulmonary embolism, shock leading to cardiac arrest,” she said under her breath, then she looked at Alfredo and spoke authoritatively, “She’s still in there, I can see her brain activity. She’s not breathing, you need to stop pushing her heart and give her a breath.”

“I can’t breathe for somebody!”

“Observe and do!”

Ebony braced Circe’s neck slightly, it wasn’t broken and there was no danger of breaking it. Pale nostrils were pinched shut as she took the deepest breath she could manage before sealing her lips against the other woman’s. The breath did not stop until Ebony had poured the contents of her lungs into Circe. Ebony took another deep breath, sealed Circe’s lips to her own, and repeated the process.

“Just like that! Thirty compressions, two breaths, go!”

Alfredo jerked his head about for a moment before gathering his resolve. Ebony leaned over the body in deep concentration. If he just knelt there staring like a lump Circe was gonna die. She had a chance, was he going to throw that away?

“ONE! Mississippi… TWO! Mississippi… THREE! Mississippi….”

“That’s too slow! Pick up the pace. Make sure you’re depressing her chest a good inch and a half.”

Sweat dropped over Circe’s shirt, “Doc, I’m gonna break her if I go that hard. She’s got glass bones.”

“She’s gonna die if you don’t do compressions and breaths so I can do my job!”

Alfredo bit down and muttered an apology before he started doing acceptable compressions, still being careful not break the girl. Ebony didn’t complain, as she could sense the woman’s heart fluttering and moving blood around.

“Administering altepase to the clot site, direct transmission,” she muttered to herself while pressing a finger over Circe’s chest.

Direct Prescription 01: Can manifest a small dose of medicine into the patient’s body once per day. Can manifest a toxin into a patient’s body once per day.

The power of her diagnosis faded. In a few minutes she’d be working with information that wasn’t essentially a live diagram of Circe’s body in her head. She saw air flowing into Circe’s lungs and looked down to Alfredo, whose lips were sealed as a rather mighty breath lifted Circe’s chest, followed by him pulling back, keeping her nose pinched, and sealing her mouth to send in another. Then he returned to compressions. His palm was straight over her sternum and the compressions couldn’t be executed more perfectly considering the situation.

The clot shrunk and blood flowed through her system. Though the information from diagnosis faded to nothing. Her perfect attunement in sensing Circe’s body left her mind to become nothing more than memory. Hopefully she had been able to do enough to completely break up the clot.

A new contender approached. Adonis had fallen moments ago, but Fedor needed a healer. Mark just happened to spot one giving instructions on CPR to the old man. He smirked. They were trying to save that useless scrap of a woman who had tried to act like such a big deal earlier.

“Hey, we need a healer. Leave this useless trash to die and get over here to help someone useful.”

Thirty compressions and two breaths. He was in the middle of thirty compressions and didn’t have time to acknowledge the cop. Ebony growled as she kneeled over her patient.

“I’ll get to him when I’m finished here.”

"The useless runt is just going to die anyway, so how about I do you all a favor and speed things along!"

The baton lifted so that the tip rested on Mark’s shoulder. He raised his knee. Alfredo sensed the attack; he’d been attacked from behind too many times not too. But this attack wasn’t meant for him, and that’s what really ground his gears.

Skill Level Up

Oni Form Novice 03 Acquired

The compressions stopped at thirty. Alfredo slid around with a rumbling bloodthirsty growl. His left foot stomped forward as his right arched to lift his body. A strong back coiled as the chest pushed out. A fist arched back as if on a coil. Biceps flexed as Alfredo’s right fist slammed into Mark’s stomach before the stomp could even be executed. The officer felt the wind leave his lungs in a rush as he got pushed back.

There was something more than Alfredo contesting him. The monster stood up. His eyes narrowed as they glowed with crackling red light; horns pushed up from his forehead to break the dry cracking skin. His hands grew longer as his fingers extended with sickening pops of each joint. Fingernails sharpened and pushed out into long black claws. He reached a longer arm forward to grab the winded officer by the head.

Instead of having his head ripped from his shoulders, Mark felt himself kicked in the hip with enough force to slide him out of harms reach. A roundhouse from Nickey saved his life. And she remained just out of attack reach herself. Strings of paper wrapped the officer's torso to encourage him backwards.

Nickey put out her arms.

The oni lunged forward with a lurching heavy stomp that would have made a less sturdy floor shudder and break. The swipe of his claws swished through the air but failed to hit Nickey as she dodged backwards just out of reach.

“We won’t interfere anymore; don’t you have a friend to shave! You proved your point! She’s gonna die if ya keep this up!”

The oni stopped and took a threatening huff through its nostrils. Then it took another step back. The claws and horns retracted as arms shrunk to their original length. The glow faded from Alfredo’s eyes. Muscles relaxed from their overcharge. As he returned to his normal pudgy shape, he looked at Nickey and then looked around as if confused until he saw Circe on the floor. Without a word he returned to her side and took over compressions and breaths.

“If she lives, don’t tell her we pressed face, kay?”

Two more sets of thirty compressions, two more sets of breaths. He sealed his lips over Circe’s and refused to think of the implications. He glanced at Ebony as he continued compressions and sweat even more when he saw her concerned expression.

“I’m not sure if this will work, but these powers seem to mostly operate as described,” Ebony said, “Consider it a last shot in the dark. Administer adrenaline.”

Ebony pointed and concentrated on Circe’s heart. Circe heaved and her back jerked a little as she spit up and coughed. Ebony grabbed Circe’s wrist.

“Stop compressions!”

She leaned in to push at Alfredo, as he was in automatic mode. He opened his eyes wide and looked to the doctor for further instruction. He heard Circe suddenly cough and saw her blink, even wince. She took a few gasps before her breath returned to a more normal rhythm. Ebony tilted her to the side to help her spit out anything that might get sucked into her lungs. Then let her rest on her back as she remained unconscious.

A pulse had returned and her breathing stabilized. Hopefully that meant the clot had been dissolved. Ebony pulled tongue depressors from the pocket of her medical coat. She tossed the coat to Alfredo.

“I want you to tear that into long bandage width strips that I can tie. I’m going to set her leg as best I can. You’re going to help me make an improvised splint. We’re going to get this done before she wakes up. And you’re going to stay with her to make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid to mess up our hard work.”

Alfredo began tearing strips of cloth from the medical coat as Ebony checked the damage to the right leg and began to plan how to gently set the bone and best use her healing powers to give it a better chance.

“Her? Do somethin' stupid? Never.”