[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/klHHPfB.png?1[/img][/center]
[center][b]Christopher Arthur III | Maya Hoffman[/b][/center]
[center][b]A hospital in Virginia[/b][/center]
	Maya sat in a chair beside Chris’ hospital bed, clinching his hand. Although Chris had survived the Judicator’s attack on his mansion, he did not walk away without a scratch. In fact, he did not walk out of the burning ruins of his Virginian home, since the medical response team had to cart him out. Even though he was able to survive orbital blast by using some nearby tech, Chris was rendered unconscious by the attack, leaving him in a coma.

	Unlike the average citizen of the United States, Chris had the best doctors, the best facilities, and the cutting edge medical technology at his disposal. While the medical team had not quite figured out this problem yet, it would only be a matter of time before the doctors had sorted it out, or at least that is what Chris’ loved ones believed. But at the moment, no one had answers.

	When she had heard what had happened at Chris’ mansion, Maya dropped everything and rushed over the hospital. Even after Chris’ butler departed with Veronica, Maya still remained behind into the twilight hours of the night. In fact, most of the hospital staff had gone home before Maya was ready to leave. While he appeared to be sleeping peacefully, Maya wished she could do something to help.

	“Sorry, but visiting hours are almost closed.” One of the nightshift hospital staff peaked his head into Chris’ room, alerting her to the hospital’s hours policy.

	Maya nodded to acknowledge what the man told her. She then started to gather up her belongings and planted one last kiss on Chris’ forehead before turning to leave. However, as she headed for the door, a male nurse walked in with a bag of medicine that was for Chris’ IV.

	“I think Chris already received his last dose,” Maya told the nurse who had just entered the room.

	“That must be a mistake,” the nurse defended his reason why he was giving more medication to Chris.

	“Could you just get the doctor or check his chart first?” Maya insisted, for the well-being of her boyfriend.

	“If you don’t turn around and walk away, people will think that [b]you[/b] knocked off the sleeping genius,” the nurse threatened once he pulled out his pistol from behind his back and pointed it at Maya.

	[i]Had the Hounds returned to finish the job?[/i] Maya thought as she backed away far enough where the nurse was comfortable to turn his back to her once more. What could she do? She probably could stop him if she were to revert back to her Nagini form, but that would also cause her to oust herself as not being human. What would Chris think? Would the fact that she saved him trump the shock of the fact that she had a serpentine body?

	There was no other choice in Maya’s mind. She had to act. No matter how Chris would react to the truth, Maya knew that saving the man she loved would be worthwhile. Therefore, she yanked off her necklace that repressed her Nagini characteristics and made her move. She launched her snaky tail forward and wrapped the man’s hands, preventing him to connect what she assumed was poison to Chris’ IV. She then began to constrict her tail around his arms so that he might drop what he was holding.

	“Drop it,” Maya commanded.

	“You’re a meta,” The Hound goon disguised as a nurse gasped. He dropped both his gun and the bag of poison because the crushing pressure of Maya’s constricting tail caused excruciating pain. A chill shot down his spine when he saw that Maya was then wrapping her tail around his body, just like a python would do to its prey.

	“You’re staying here with me until the cops show up.” Maya told him while she pulled out her cell phone and started to dial 9-1-1. However, the Hound goon would not allow himself not to have the last word.

	“Never,” he barked before he started to crunch on something that had been hidden in his cheek. After a moment or two passed, white foam poured out of his mouth and his lifeless body tumbled to the ground.

	Maya was shaken by what the man had just done. Instead of being incarcerated, he would rather take his own life for the cause of the Hounds. She immediately released her snaky grip on the man’s corpse and slid her necklace back around her neck, returning her human form. Once she looked normal again, she rushed out of the room and tried to find someone to report what had happened. Minus the part where she turned into a Nagini, of course.