Chapter 42

"Jesus Christ, you can't just go beating up the prisoners!"

Ken recognized the voice, and got up off the floor with a groan. He'd been able to protect himself from the worst of it, although his jaw hurt and he was bleeding. That was no big deal -- he'd bled before. He could have used his energy to heal everything, but Jane needed it more than he did. If he could only touch her ... Then he looked at the new comer.

"Niki?" he asked in surprise.

"Wha... Ken?" she asked. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Resisting arrest," said one of the guards, "an' gettin' into riots down town."

"Bullshit..."

"Niki," cut in Ken, "Jane's hurt. Badly. She needs a doctor now."

Niki looked into the other cell, where the women moved out of her way. Her face paled when she saw Jane laying there, blood still slowly oozing over her face from gash in her skull.

"Open the cell," ordered Niki.

"Hey, I don't take orders..."

Niki had him up against the wall in a hold Sensei would have approved of.

"I didn't fucking ask who you take orders from!" she shouted, "I told you to fucking open the cell, now do it!"

Niki rushed to Jane's side as soon as the cell was opened, crying out in horror as she knelt over her pale form and saw what looked like a dent in the side of her head.

"Get an ambulance," she yelled, checking Jane's pulse.

"Oh, she isn't hurt that..."

Niki was up and out of the cell. The guard found himself on his ass, but he wasn't her target. She grabbed a phone on the wall, calling in an emergency. Once she hung up, she turned on the guards, intending to start yelling again, but Ken interrupted her.

"Niki, I need to get in there with her," said Ken urgently.

"Hey you just shut up, asshole," said the guard. "You're not letting him out of the cage, Patrolman, got it?"

"He's her husband you idiot," said Niki, holding her hand out for the key.

"I don't give a shit," said the guy, "he's violent."

About that time, paramedics arrived. They went into the cell, and began examining Jane, then immediately moved into high gear. In a very short time, they had her in a neck brace, put her on a stretcher, and moved her out.

"What hospital are you taking her to?" called out Ken.

He was ignored.

"I'll find out," said Niki. "Don't worry Ken, she's going to be fine."

"So let me get this straight," said David. "Your people raided a bar that my client just happened to be in..."

"A biker bar," cut in Lt. Johnson. "With a gang fight going on in it."

"Really?" commented David. "And you just happened to be there, ready to go with your whole riot squad?"

"We got a tip," was the reply.

"I see," said David, the tone of his voice completely sincere. "Where are the rival gang members?"

"They got away."

"Even though you were tipped off," said David, "and your whole squad was there and ready to go."

The man shrugged, clearly unconcerned. "It happens."

Ken had already told David what had happened during the raid, and David, already ill at ease with some of the stories coming out of the precinct, looked positively grim. Ken wished he could read the Lieutenant, but he so hostile, Ken couldn't get in.

"I'm sure that's going to come up later," David said, "just as I'm sure that the beatings my client and his wife suffered, and the fact that she was denied medical treatment, and the outrageous level the bail was set for, will be questioned in court."

"You've got no proof," said the Lieutenant.

David just smiled, aware that there was at least a possibility that there was some proof.

An officer stuck her head in the door, "Mr. Traver, your client's bail has been posted."

David didn't even look at the woman. The bail had been over a million dollars.

"Thanks, Lily," said Johnson. He looked over at Ken who was sitting in a chair, saying nothing. "You're free to go."

Ken stood up and held out his hands, which were still cuffed.

"Oh sorry," said the Lieutenant, not bothering to get out of his seat. "I don't seem to have a key. I'm sure one of the boys will be able to help you."

"Thats..."

"Fine, David," interrupted Ken. "I need to get to the hospital, now."

Eric, Sally and Arianwen were at the hospital, but of course, they hadn't been allowed in to see Jane, who was listed in critical condition in the ICU. They weren't family, and of course, it went without saying that Ari had no rights, since they couldn't be officially married. Not even Eric's size or Sally's sweet reasonableness had gotten them inside, and they were all getting frantic to get to their High Priestess. Ari could feel Jane, but only barely and she was worried sick. If Ken didn't arrive soon, things were going to get ugly because she wasn't going to wait much longer.

Once Ken arrived, he was immediately greeted with requests for proof of insurance by the staff. He had insurance, of course, even though he'd never expected to need it. After all, the Circle was supposed to heal very quickly and never got sick. He realized that there were some things he needed to take care of as soon as this crises was over with.

"I want to see her now," said Ken.

"Well we really need to get all this paperwork sorted out..."

Ken leaned over the desk and the clerk eyed the broken chains dangling off the handcuffs nervously. That was nothing compared to the look David had given Ken when he'd snapped the chain as they walked out to the car. The motion had been so casual, David had almost missed it, but Ken was livid and barely controlling himself at that point. When they got to the hospital, Ken had David drop him off.

"If you wouldn't mind, I need two things from you," he'd said. "The first is to ask if you'll consider helping out the rest of the people back there. They're going to get railroaded if they end up with a public defender. I'll cover the costs, of course. The second is longer term, and we can talk about it later. But for now, I think we're gonna need an actual legal team for this one. If you have recommendations, I'd love to hear them."

"I can do that," David replied. "You going to be alright?"

"I'll be fine, but I need to see Jane."

"One last thing Ken," David had said. "This might sound a little cold blooded, but well, we're gonna need Jane's medical records. If they really did hurt her that bad, we'll need them for court evidence."

"You've got as much information as you're going to get," said Ken to the more than officious person. "I'm going in now, and I'm bringing them with me."

"Sir, you can't do that!"

She was ignored. Ken, Sally and Ari went into the curtained off area, but Eric stayed outside to help keep others away.

Ken's eyes filled with tears, seeing Jane laying there, her skin so pale. Her pulse, at least according to the machines, was slow, and she had all kinds of monitors hooked up to her, as well as an IV drip. The curtain was pulled back and a young doctor entered.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded. "Can't you see this woman is injured?"

"She's my wife," said Ken, "now get out."

"Excuse me? You can't..."

Ken looked away from Jane and in a very quiet voice he cut the man off.

"Get. Out. Now."

The man paled and backed out of the area.

Ari of course, had had her arms around Ken from the moment he'd shown up. She was crying, and had been since they'd arrived. Sally had held it together until she'd actually seen Jane. Now tears were running down her face.

"Who did this to her?" she whispered, her voice husky with pain.

"We'll worry about that later," said Ken. "Now we need to heal her. Give me your hand ... just like we did with Fionna."

Ken touched Jane, flinching with confusion. Her body seemed filled with chaos, and he could 'see' a number of dull red areas that were obviously damaged. Her skull wasn't dull red, but bright red. There was no sense of 'Jane' in there at all, which was odd because he could feel her. Not as the bright spot she usually appeared to be in his mind, but as something he couldn't actually get a 'direction' on. Then he felt a tug and suddenly he was in Lea's realm.

Lea was sitting on the soft grass holding Jane in Her lap. She was stroking Her Priestess' forehead as She whispered soft words. Jane's face was peaceful, and Ken's 'sense' of his wife returned with full force.

"They're here for you now my love," She said. "It's time to go back."

"Yes Mistress," murmured Jane, still without opening her eyes.

Her body faded, and Ken could feel himself being pulled away. Before he faded out completely, Lea stood and looked at him. Her beautiful face was filled with rage.

"You will find who did this," She said, "and you will kill them."

With a flick of Her hand, Ken found himself back in his own body, pouring energy into Jane. He quickly got the sense that Sally had only just started to heal Jane and then he joined her, coupling Ari's power with his own and feeding it to Sally, who, he was sure, would have drained herself completely if that's what it would have taken. Fortunately, while many the wounds were quite bad, they weren't actually all that difficult to heal. The brain trauma was a different story. Ken had no idea just how bad it was because Sally zeroed in on it, then he felt Lea join them, or rather join Sally, and all traces of damage quickly disappeared.

Ken was surprised by how tired he was when he finally opened his eyes. Eric was arguing quietly with someone on the other side of the curtain, but Jane's eyes were opened and she no longer looked pale.

"Hi," she said with a smile.

Getting Jane out of the hospital wasn't easy. The doctor wasn't buying Ken's explanation that she was being moved to a private facility. It went without saying that there was no way the doctor could be allowed to examine her now. They'd left much of the bruising, but her skull was healed, as was the damage to her brain. Ken had repaired the damage to her kidneys as well. It hadn't been too bad, but the blood in her urine had been noticed when they catheterized her.

"She wants to leave," insisted Ken.

"She shouldn't even be conscious!" exclaimed Dr. Waters.

"Well I am," said Jane, her voice barely a whisper, "and I want to leave."

"We have a private clinic that will see to her," insisted Ken for about the third time.

"You can't move her," argued the doctor. "Don't you understand you could cause irreversible brain damage? There was massive trauma where she was hit -- her skull was fractured, in case you didn't know, and the CAT and MRI scans showed other damage as well."

More arguments ensued, but Ken was adamant, and since he was Jane's husband and signed the releases, there was nothing they could do. The ride home was quiet, Ken and Ari clinging to Jane as Eric drove. Ken closed his eyes, drinking in his wife's presence. Ari was occasionally broke out in tears and Jane would shush her and kiss her, telling her she was all right.

Rage burned in Ken, but he hid it. Lea's words echoed in his mind.

Friday morning dawned far differently than anyone would have imagined. Everyone was subdued as they sat down around the table for breakfast. Gary was standing though, and Annette was looking at him.

"Those fuckers," he said. "I wanna kill every one of them."

"Gary..." started Annette.

"No!" he said. "This is bullshit. I don't know what those fuckers are doing, but it's obviously not 'keeping the piece'!"

"Well, at least we have the video," said Bill. "Or most of it."

"What are you going to do with it?" asked Gary, turning to face Ken.

"I don't know yet," he replied. "It'll be weeks, I think, before this all gets sorted out. We'll have to see if they want to press charges first."

"You can't let them get away with this," said Eric. "Even if they let you walk, you know what happened. They could have -- would have -- killed someone. They're lucky it was Jane."

Ken thought about Lea's words, and wondered how 'lucky' the attackers would be when all was said and done. He knew that he and his Goddess would be talking soon about her command to kill the man responsible. It was not going to be a comfortable conversation.

"We don't have all the information yet," said Ken, leaning forward. "I need to talk to Knife. I'm sure there'll be enough time to stir the pot, if that's what's needed."

"An' they call this th' Land of the Free!" snorted Fionna.

Everyone had been upset over what had happened, but Fionna had been frantic when she discovered that Jane had been badly hurt. Then she'd been furious, not that she'd been alone in that.

"It is the Land of the Free," said Ken, "but some folks are getting out of hand. The police, not to mention most other enforcement agencies, have forgotten they're supposed to be public servants." He leaned back in his chair with a sigh. "It's also clear that I've overlooked a few things, and those omissions need be rectified ASAP. However, I'm not going to attack police personnel without more information than I have now. Something is telling me this wasn't all that random a happening."

"What do you mean?" asked Bill.

Ken looked at him. "I don't suppose you could get into the department's computers."

"Was that a joke?" asked Bill.

"No," smiled Ken. He was quite sure Bill would find a way into computers.

"What am I supposed to be looking for?"

"I have no idea," said Ken. "Poke around and see what you can find."

"Don't they have those cell things under surveillance?" asked Ari.

"Probably," said Ken.

"We could be in luck then, if they store the video on their computers," said Bill. "I'll get on it."

"Thanks," smiled Ken. "Well, I need to get down to the station."

David was as good as his word, and found two other lawyers to provide services for the people who'd been taken in the raid, although it was going to take all day to get them through the system. Once Ken and Jane had been let out on bail, the police had denied letting anyone else go. Once Ken got there, he asked David to ensure that Knife ad Rodger had been the first two sprung. They had no idea how many other people David's group was going to be able to get out on bail. Knife and his friends weren't angles, and while Knife had never been arrested for anything serious, several of the guys had, and it was proving to be difficult to get them out on bail. Ken provided the money for all of them, but instructed David to keep it close to the chest where it was coming from. He knew that was a losing battle, but he wanted to try.

Rodger closed his cell phone, his face a mask of rage.

"What?" asked Ken.

"They burned it," he replied. "The fuckers burned my fucking bar!"

"Who?" asked Ken.

"The Tankers," growled Rodger.

Ken could only assume the 'Tankers' were the rival gang that had set up Knife's folks.

"I'll call an' get us a cab," said Knife, also obviously upset.