Cindy's Dream Chapter (4)-Battle of the Bosses

Chapter 4: Battle of the Bosses

by mabauterklamm and YamaguchiShun

Language check by @jima378

Darkness gave way to awakening, dazed awareness, and a wave of pain that washed over Cindy as if she had faced a tsunami. Before she could see clearly, she initially feared being in one of those full body casts she had ruthlessly put her enemies in. But then the pain subsided, though only mostly, and her vision cleared. Groaning, she looked around and what she saw was better than expected. However, on the other hand, in her situation, with (almost) everyone conspiring against her, it was still far too bad.

She noticed she wearing one of those standard hospital gowns with her left leg in a freshly applied bright white cast that extended from her toes to below her knee. Her big toe was stuck in a toe spica with the tip of her toe just barely peeking out. Under her plastered ankle was a sling padded with cotton that supported her broken leg in an elevated position. As she tried to move, she felt a sharp pain in her neck and right hand. Carefully, she lifted her left hand and felt a soft, large neck brace around her neck and some bandages around her forehead. She also discovered a cast from her knuckles to her elbow on her right arm, resting in an arm sling just in front of her chest.

"What... What happened?" She thoughtfully reached for her face and winced as she touched her broken nose, which had a band-aid stuck to it. "Ah... I remember! Polly and I were attacked by Wendy and Barb. And then, when we tried to escape, we were finished off by a truck. We rolled over and... and... Polly!" She winced at the memory of how she had instructed Polly to sit in the passenger seat, since she could barely drive with her broken arm.

Polly?! What was wrong with her now? Was she even still alive?

Groaning, she sank back into the pillows and only now did she realize out of the corner of her eye that she was not alone in her room. With difficulty she straightened up again and turned her whole upper body to the right side without allowing her neck to move. Her plastered foot protested painfully. But Cindy ignored the pain, and the comfort of relief took at least one worry from her heart. For beside her lay her loyal lieutenant, her friend and soul mate, Polly. And since she seemed to be breathing, she was obviously alive.

But she was not much more than being alive, because even though Polly looked like an angel as usual, this time it was due to a huge number of angelically white casts. In her hospital bed next to Cindy, Polly looked truly pitiful in a massive Minerva cast that encircled her head and neck, leaving only holes for her face and short red hair. The cast continued to encompass Polly's torso, her left shoulder, and finally her entire left arm, which had obviously taken a bad hit. In its shoulder spica cast, the arm initially protruded to the side at shoulder level and by bending the elbow at right angles, it pointed forward. Her right arm was in a long arm cast that hung in a traction device next to her bed. Her right shoulder was exposed and Polly's lightly tanned skin contrasted with the white cast.

Cindy's gaze roamed along Polly's casted body and she noticed that the Minerva shoulder cast combination did not stop at the torso, but continued to the hip, restricting the entire left leg down to the toes as a hip spica cast. Her right leg was also in a long cast that extended from the soft skin of her thigh to the base of her toes, leaving only a small margin for the toes. Polly's round hips were obviously bare, but in this condition she certainly wanted to avoid having her panties changed daily. Since Polly's right leg cast, like Cindy's, was elevated in a sling above the bed, she couldn't really move any of her joints, even though her right shoulder and hip were not immobilized by plaster.

"Oh no! Polly's casts aren't that different from Gemma's and Dr. Laura's!" Cindy was on the verge of being overcome with despair. "Polly... Gemma... Dr. Laura... They are all dependent on assistance. Now, Cindy, I'm all on my own!"

But before she could lament her fate any further, she heard muffled shouts from the hospital hallway.

"Where's Cindy, that bitch? She's not in room 411!" a determined voice groaned angrily.

"Shit! I've got to get out of here!" Abruptly, Cindy's eyes flitted around her hospital room for a way out.

Then she gritted her teeth and slowly lifted her broken arm out of the sling.

"She's not in room 410 either. What nonsense did that useless nurse tell us?" The voices were getting closer and Cindy heard them slam a door. She hurried to lift her broken leg out of the sling and contorted her face in pain as it fell onto the mattress of her bed. Fortunately, there was a crutch next to her bed, which she quickly grabbed with her healthy left hand to shakily pull herself upright.

Hearing a group of angry women storming into the room next to hers (following by shrill screams), she slipped out, thanking the goddess of crime that right next to her room was the elevator with an open door waiting for her.

Tucking the crutch under her armpit, she pushed for "6," the floor where the parking deck was located.

When the elevator door opened on the sixth floor, Cindy peered out cautiously before entering the parking garage. Relieved to find that she was alone and no one wondered about an obviously fleeing patient in a hospital gown, two casts and a neck brace, she let her practiced gaze wander over the parked cars. Surely one of them had to be easy to steal. To her chagrin, however, none was nearby, so she hobbled further along the path, leaning heavily on her crutch and careful not to put any weight on her broken foot. But no sooner had she put a few feet of distance between herself and the elevator than Barb suddenly stepped out from beside a white van and blocked her path.

Cindy growled angrily, like a cornered animal. But then she fell silent and she felt her heart break as next to Barb Lucy, the helpful nurse, was pushed in front of her in a wheelchair. She had paid dearly for her promise to look after Gemma and Dr. Laura. The poor nurse wore a restrictive Minerva cast around her head and neck, and all four of her limbs were in long casts that rendered her completely helpless. Only her shoulders and hips were plaster-free. A metallic glint between her lips told Cindy that her presumably broken jaw was hard-wired shut. Before Cindy could utter a sound, however, her heart shattered into tiny splinters. For none other than Gemma was pushing Lucy's wheelchair.

"That bitch thought she could stop me," Barb said as she stroked Lucy's head and played with her orange hair.

Cindy ignored Barb's statement and stared at Gemma in disbelief. "What... what is the meaning of this, Gemma? I saw you in that full body cast! It was your eyes and your painted fingernails and toenails, wasn't it!" As soon as she said it, she felt like a fool.

Gemma showed off her perfect set of teeth and grinned cheekily. "Yes, that was very well faked to convince you that I'm still on your side, dumb head. But now I am here again." Gemma made a circling motion with her arms and indicated a curtsy before laughing and enjoying having given Cindy's heart another stab.

Cindy suddenly felt infinitely tired. She was torn between wondering how she herself could have been so stupid and why Gemma had betrayed her so shamefully. But before she could dwell further on Gemma's confession, her former subordinate continued, "It seems that the exertions of the last few hours have clouded your otherwise excellent mind. You know, even when I was following you, at some point I didn't like what you were doing. Breaking people's bones was wrong from the start. But what made me stab you in the back was..." At that moment, her superior smile was replaced by a mask of hatred. "... that Ruby is a distant relative of mine. And family is important!"

"You... Bitch! I call it treason!" returned Cindy, with effortful control. She clutched her crutch tighter, toying with the idea of using it as a weapon at any moment.

"I warned Ruby not to mess up with you, but she didn't listen to me. After all her distraction helped us... " Gemma looked to the side and exchanged a smile with Barb. "... to build our own empire and dethrone you."

While also playing with Lucy's hair, Gemma continued, "So I tried to play the victim, disappeared from your side and decided to start my plans all over again. I had myself put in a fake full body cast and instructed my girls to take me to the hospital. Oh! Before I did that, I had to take Laura out first, or she'd realize my cast wasn't medically necessary." She smiled again and a cold shiver ran down Cindy's spine. This Gemma was completely unknown to her. "It was so easy to make Laura suffer. She doesn't know anything about fighting. Oh yes, she tried to fight back. But every punch and every kick she received broke another bone in her body with just that sound you love so much. Then when you brought that nurse near me..." She slapped Lucy on the nose and received a muffled "ouch" in response. "...who became very loyal to you, she needed a few broken bones herself to stop causing trouble."

"Enough! You seem to have a problem with me! So, come and face me alone, Gemma. Don't drag other people into this!" Cindy hobbled a step closer to Gemma, who was still smiling at her in obvious amusement, and then pointed her crutch challengingly at her face.

"No, you're going to face me!" Barb took a step forward and spread her strong arms as if for a hug.

"That's a bad challenge." Cindy spat out contemptuously. "You're twice my size and I have a broken hand and leg. Not to mention my injured neck. I consider this challenge an act of cowardice."

"Nobody calls me a coward!" roared Barb, quivering with anger from one moment to the next. "I'm gonna make this equal!"

Cindy couldn't believe her eyes as she saw Barb slam full force into the van beside her, right where the steel was sturdiest. It left a cracked windshield and a huge dent. But her right fist swelled abruptly and turned into a dark red melon. In the next moment and without batting an eye, she kicked the ground with her leg with full force and both the ground, which was concrete, and her ankle were broken. The sound of cracking made Gemma screw up her face, but Barb limped over to Cindy with determination.

"You're totally crazy! Or are you so drugged you can't feel pain?" taunted Cindy.

"I'll show you what it means to feel pain!" roared Barb, as if she had fallen into some kind of berserker frenzy.

Faster than visible to the untrained eye, Barb's fist shot toward Cindy's face. But Cindy was on guard and had managed to irritate her opponent. Despite her neck brace and battered body, she dodged and kicked Barb in the stomach with the knee of her plastered leg. The kick was quite violent, but to Cindy the pain shooting through her broken leg seemed worse than the damage she had inflicted on Barb. This beast of a woman must have abs of steel. But at least she was surprised that her crushing blow missed its target. Cindy took advantage and swung her crutch at her opponent. Being careful not to lose her balance, however, she was too slow, and Barb was able to block the blow, breaking the crutch in two. She grabbed the broken end of the crutch and knocked Cindy to the ground with such force that she slid to the edge of the parking garage, right next to a fire door.

The crutch had hit Cindy in the front of her neck brace. And although the soft collar had absorbed part of the impact, Cindy gasped for air. Stars twinkled before her eyes and she felt paralyzed for a moment. Hopping restlessly on one leg, Barb circled the grounded Cindy, undecided whether or how to proceed. Gemma watched from a distance, still playing with Lucy's hair, lost in thought.

Finally, Barb seemed to have come to a decision. She hobbled over to Cindy and stomped her broken foot with full force on Cindy's right shin.

"Ahhhhh..." Cindy yelped in pain, unable to believe what Barb was doing to her own broken body parts. Her right leg was burning with pain and Cindy was sure it was now broken.

"Shhhh, your screaming hurts my ears," Barb said in a frighteningly cold and calm voice. And then she grinned diabolically. "Oh, sorry! That was my mistake, because I forgot to break your jaw first." Barb grabbed Cindy by her hospital gown with her healthy hand and pulled her roughly upward. While holding Cindy in the air with Cindy's broken legs hanging uselessly in the air, she lashed out with her broken fist to deliver a crushing blow to her face.

Cindy had no chance to dodge this blow, so she covered her face with her remaining healthy limb. When Barb's fist hit her like a sledgehammer, Barb finally seemed to feel pain herself. Groaning, she dropped Cindy to the floor and rubbed her injured hand with her healthy one. The hand swelled even more, turning darker as Cindy saw even more twinkling stars in a blood-red sky all around her. The pain in her face, her broken nose and nearly broken jaw, was greater than that of her freshly broken hand.

"I'm going to finish you off once and for all," Barb whispered menacingly. With her healthy hand she grasped Cindy's plastered ankle, lifted her up and feasted on her helpless moans for two seconds. Then she slammed her face-first to the floor.

Cindy reflexively raised her hands protectively in front of her face, and the crack of her forearm bones drowned out the sound of the impact. Her whole body seemed to be on fire from the pain.

Knowing no mercy, Barb bent down, flipped Cindy onto her back, pulled her back up with her healthy hand, and delivered another blow to her face with her broken hand. This time she noticed with satisfaction the cracking of Cindy's jaw. However, she paid for this triumph with some more broken bones of her own hand.

"You thought you could win?" sneered Barb, pushing any sign of pain from her face. The grin she displayed was terrifying.

"No...." Cindy's reply was barely intelligible through her broken jaw. To her own surprise, she still felt some fighting spirit inside her. " I... I don't need to win. We... we just both need to lose."

With her penultimate strength, Cindy fell around Barb's neck and clasped her newly broken arm around the strong woman's body. Then she dropped her plastered arm onto the switch that operated the mechanism of the fire door. The sturdy door swung open, slamming into Barb's back and sweeping them both off the sixth floor of the parking deck.

Screaming, they disappeared into the tall trees next to the parking garage, but their cries of pain were clearly heard as they fell like pachinko balls through the branches toward the ground. Finally, two muffled thuds were heard, followed by a two-voiced groan.

Gemma stepped to the edge of the parking deck and peered down cautiously.

"Ouch! That must have hurt a lot! I'm sorry for my friend, Barb. But on the other hand, I'm glad Barb represented me in the fight. I can well do without that pain." The hint of a satisfied grin crept onto her face. "But the plan was successful, now. Cindy is just a pile of bruised flesh and broken bones. After all, we've become the new queens of crime."

Behind her, Lucy let out an astonished sigh, and the next moment Gemma saw a shadow looming behind her out of the corner of her eye.

"Only in your dreams," a feminine voice said, just before Gemma was also pushed off the parking deck.

Gemma followed her friend and foe through the branches of the trees with a loud scream and spread out arms and legs. Finally there was another loud thud and three women simultaneously groaned in pain. Apparently Gemma had managed to fall on top of Barb and Cindy.

"Wait for me, Sherry!" Another female voice was heard from behind.

The girl who had pushed Gemma turned and smiled at the newly arriving woman, who was struggling with a pink long leg walking cast on her right leg. "Sorry, I forgot you can't walk too fast with your long cast leg like I can with my short one, Millie!" Sherry smiled, stroking Millie's cheeks and kissing her on the forehead, as soon as she was next to her.

Millie lifted her hands to Sherry's face and pulled her mouth down to her own. For seconds, all that could be heard was smacking as they both hugged each other tightly, trying to keep their balance on their casted legs.

Finally, the two were able to separate and nothing but love spoke from their eyes.

"So, now we go get the boss" said Millie. "And please, Sherry, next time be careful not to push anyone on her! I suspect she has enough broken bones to be put in a full body cast twice. Too bad, we hadn't arrive five minutes earlier."

"Oh! You're right. I'm sorry." Guiltily, Sherry looked down at her wiggling toes, poking out of her dark blue short leg walking cast.

"And don't forget the poor nurse," Millie pointed to Lucy in the wheelchair. "She's one of us now!"