Entropic Invigoration

@"King"

Murphy stifled a yawn as the professor droned on and on, trying to instill an apparent passion for partial differential equations. Outside the sun was still approaching its zenith shedding its harsh,summer light on the courtyard where tardy students rushed to make it to their classes. Across the way he could see the medical wing, and even the window to the room where Milk was being kept. She'd been on his mind a lot recently, though after an encounter like the last one they'd had it was hard to forget the monotonous woman with a small but fierce fire burning in her heart.

After he'd snuck into her hospital room they'd told him that they'd contact him when she was awake, though they'd also said that they expected her to be conscious three days ago. With every day that passed and she remained comatose, Murphy found himself sleeping less and less. Initially they'd given him some pills to knock him out for eight hours, though it was quickly discovered that he reacted very poorly when under the influence of the drugs. After that they'd tried therapy, but after the first session he hadn't bothered going back. He no longer was haunted by dreams of a monsterous Milk, but rather he would lay down and a cold grip of guilt and worry would keep him from sleep entirely.

He became aware of being called on by the teacher to answer something, but shook his head. “Sorry sir but I'm having a hard time understanding the material, could you say that again?” As the professor nodded and launched back into his lecture Murphy grimaced, that should buy him enough time for class to end without being bothered again. He looked back up at the hospital, as if trying to will Milk to awaken.

@"King"

After what seemed like an eternity the bell rang and the students rose as one, shuffling out of the classroom into the hallway. Murphy lingered for a bit, reaching into his pocket and toying with his coin again. He'd thought about giving it a name, if for no other reason than it felt right. It had some sort of power, supposedly to balance out his luck by flipping it around. If there was any truth to it the silver coin could be an incredible tool.

He gave it a flick and cursed as he botched the toss and sent it bouncing out of the open window and rolling over into the bushes next to the hospital building. Well, guess I was heading over there anyways. He quickly packed and hurried out of the room, weaving between other students and out the door into the courtyard. Squinting into the sun he followed the path of the wayward coin and began to root around the hedges next to the brickwork. Well, he supposed he hadn't had much bad luck recently, maybe it generated bad luck when he was experiencing good?

@"King"

"Where are you ya little- ah! There we go." he held up the coin to the light, watching the light glint off the scales like- WHUMP! He clutched his head in a panic, but realized that he was more stunned than actually hurt. Kneeling again he looked at his assailant, a light jar of cotton balls, where had they come from? He looked up again and noted the open window several stories up... Milk's room. "Yeah, yeah, I know... I'll go visit her in a..." he listened, at first he assumed it was the wind, but the deafening crash of something metal being knocked over made his heart jump. Milk was either awake or under attack... maybe even both.

He slipped the coin into his pocket and sprinted into the building, skipping the elevator entirely and taking the stairs three at a time in leaps and bounds. Shouldering open the door to the intensive care unit he was greeted with a scene of minor mayhem. He could see several large orderlies hustling into Milk's room where all of the commotion seemed to be happening. "The fuck is going- fuck it, I'll see for myself."

He set his bag down and slid into the room, narrowly avoiding one of the large men staggering back away from a very awake and very unhappy Milk. "Oi, everyone calm down!" He called over the din, "She's panicking, just... just back off, give her some space." Murphy doubted they'd listen to him, they so rarely did. They didn't seem to understand that some people objected to waking up in strange rooms with odd tubes and wires connected to them. He reached for a bottle labeled CHCl3, hoped it was what he thought it was, and prepared to toss it if things didn't calm down.

@"King"

As expected, no one listened to the guy who actually KNEW the woman freaking out. Instead they kept trying to hold her down and inject her with whatever tranq they handed out like candy around here. Well, he doubted it would actually work on Milk, she had the constitution of a rhino when agitated. Speaking of Milk, he looked up at her and suddenly felt another pang of fear for another reason entirely.

For those who were unfamiliar with the girl, she would probably seem like an emotionless, monotone robot with how she went about things with such regularity. What they wouldn't know, then, was that when pissed she... changed. He'd survived a close encounter with her like that, and knew that if something wasn't done quickly everyone in the room was probably screwed. The easiest answer would be to get that needle into her, but he'd seen her take on a demonic bear, with only scratches. Admittedly, deep scratches that almost killed her, but scratches nonetheless.

He looked at the jar in his hand and began to calculate in the midst of the mayhem. It would take less than an eighth of the bottle to knock someone out for a very long time, it could probably knock Milk out if she was taking a deep breath the moment it burst. If she was already pissed and angry it would be only a matter of time before she let out that inhuman roar of hers... he'd have to hit her then. Better he do it than let these idiots traumatize her.

Murphy tightened his grip on the jar when he heard her begin to growl, shifting his weight in preparation to move quickly. He couldn't afford to hit any of the nurses, he had to hit her square in the face... and probably apologize later. When she began to draw in a deep breath to roar he sprung. Sliding between two of them he vaulted himself into the air, making full use of his height and long arms to angle himself just above her. For one brief moment he could see the burning in her eyes, feel the rage that lay just below the surface of his friend's otherwise placid demeanor... and then he smashed the jar into her face. And despite the seriousness of the situation, a small gleeful voice in the back of his head whispered, Boom, headshot.

@"King"

The jar connected perfectly, much to the surprise of the thrower. He hadn't used the coin nor was he really suppressing his powers... so why were things going so well? The answer came to him very quickly as he tried to land, twisting to avoid the throng of bodies now trying to evacuate the room. He botched, of course, but the severity of his fuck up was surprising, even to him. He landed on his heel on a gauze bandage, causing him to slip backwards over the toppled card. This in turn caused him to smash his head on the linoleum flooring... sorry, the linoleum flooring that was now covered in glass shards.

Trails of pain and fire seared across his head and he made the error of gasping in pain, which of course meant he got a lungful of the potentially toxic fumes he'd just detonated in the room. Colors swam, the world shifted and tilted as he tried to rise. He sliced his hands on the glass but managed to get to a crouch before losing motor capability. He tumbled forward into the blissful grip of immanent dreamless sleep over the edge of Milk's bed. Issaright, power's not gunna lemme die...'ight? he thought blurrily before slipping out of consciousness.