The Sterath officer attempted to hop away from Serenity only to scream as the landing jostled the broken bones of his shoulder. His hop also seemed more off-center than before, so Serenity took a good look at the Sterath’s injured left leg while he called the ax back to his hand. The shoulder was smashed enough that the ax came free easily.

It was bleeding freely; the injury Serenity had done while the Sterath was still on the stairs must have been aggravated by all the fighting. Perhaps he hadn’t needed to take a sword to the gut after all; some patience might have been enough.

“Jones! How far away are those ambulances?” Lieutenant Smith snapped at the young policeman that was staring at the fight from the other end of the large room. Serenity heard, but didn’t pay much attention; he had a Sterath to fight, even though the others were no longer fighting.

The Sterath didn’t have a weapon and he had a damaged leg. Perhaps this wasn’t so much a fight anymore. Serenity tossed his ax at the injured leg, aiming for the same spot. He tried to throw it as hard as he could; it stressed the damaged muscles in his chest and back, but he could deal with the pain.

The ax hit less than an inch from the previous injury. This time, the bone snapped and the Sterath fell. Serenity called his ax back to himself and stowed it away in his Quick Belt; he shouldn’t need it for a while and it was safer there.

That meant it was time to do something about the sword. Unfortunately, the angle it entered his belly at was awkward; he couldn’t easily pull it out without injuring himself more. Someone else would have a much easier time.

Officer Jones finally replied to his superior’s question while Serenity was contemplating the injury. “The first one’s less than five minutes out; the others will be longer, and they’re only sending three.”

“Lieutenant Smith? Can you give me a hand here?” The Lieutenant was about the same height as the Sterath officer and was certainly strong enough to remove the sword. Officer Surrey would also have been a good choice; she was stronger, but also taller, so she’d have to be more careful.

As Serenity turned around, he realized Lieutenant Smith’s eyes were fixed squarely on the sword that Serenity was still supporting with his left hand. “I think it’d be better if you pulled it out than if I do.”

Lieutenant Smith didn’t look up from the weapon even as he answered. “You’re supposed to leave it in to contain the bleeding.”

Serenity shook his head. “I told you I have personal healing. If we don’t get it out, I’ll heal around it and it always hurts more when you have to reopen an injury.” At least, it did if you had to do it without anesthesia. It’d happened to Vengeance more than once, though never quite like this. Temporary battlefield healing often had to be followed with the real thing, especially if something was sealed inside when it healed.

Lieutenant Smith shook his head and Serenity sighed internally. It was clear that they weren’t soldiers the same way he was, but it was likely that very few people were. It was also clear that the lieutenant would have to see Serenity’s healing to believe it; that was probably more to the point for this.

Serenity gripped the hilt of the blade and pushed it away from him. It was easy as long as his arm was long enough, but even though it was a short sword, it was still long enough that the tip wiggled as he pulled and he had to take a second grip on the blade to pull it out the last few inches. Some blood followed the blade, but not much; Serenity frowned at that. It’d already mostly healed.

It wasn’t really possible to see the injury through the armor, so he couldn’t see as the injury was covered in shadows, but he could definitely feel it as the pain disappeared. He tossed the sword to the ground and felt himself relax.

“You shouldn’t have removed the sword.” Officer Surrey sounded concerned and Serenity turned to look at them. She was frowning, as was Lieutenant Smith. “The ambulance will be here soon, we should .. uh, put pressure on the wound? Oh, and what’s your blood type?”

Serenity had no idea what his blood type was now. He wasn’t certain just how human he really was; did his blood even count as having a blood type?

Serenity shook himself and focused on the important issue: he’d have to show them he was already healed or they’d send him to the hospital when he didn’t need it. Fortunately, since his armor was made to be adjustable and used by a winged humanoid, it was relatively simple to unfasten enough straps to reveal his chest; he had to do that every time he took it off anyway.

Less fortunately, the shirt he’d put on that morning to go under the armor was bloodstained and had a hole in the front. He was certain there was a matching hole in the back, too.

Under the shirt, Serenity brushed away some dried blood until he could see that his abdomen looked smooth, though the injury was still covered in dark shadows. It must not be done healing yet, even though it no longer hurt. “I told you I have self-healing. I meant it; it’s already well on its way to healing.”

“Show me your back.” Officer Surrey seemed to have taken over from Lieutenant Smith.

Serenity shook his head, but lifted his shirt and turned around anyway. He could feel it when Officer Surrey reached out and touched the injured area; it still wasn’t painful, but he was very aware that her hand was there.

The others stared at Serenity as the darkness disappeared, leaving unmarked skin. Serenity wished he’d been in his chimera form; the sword might well have skidded off his scales, and he might not have had to put up with this awkwardness.

This could all have been avoided if he had his own team. First, the police team wasn’t particularly well built; yes, they had everything vital covered, but they were missing a lot of the secondary specialties. Not only did they not have a healer, they didn’t have anyone other than Serenity who could really take control of the battlefield, and his ability was very limited.

The lieutenant had chosen to leave two people out of the last battle. Yes, it was important to watch over the downed Sterath to make sure none got away, but Serenity had the feeling that was more because they weren’t really combatants than because they needed a minder. Jones hadn’t done much in the first fight, after all, even though he was supposed to be fast; Serenity didn’t know how much Nguyen did, but it wouldn’t be surprising to have a stealth specialist that wasn’t as good in a stand-up fight.

Serenity didn’t have a better team right now, but he knew he could build one with time.

With his own team, he’d be more comfortable starting combat as something other than a human - and his own team would believe him when he said he was healed.

Yes, it was definitely time to put that at the top of his list. He’d work with Task Force Kangaroo to deal with the Sterath, since he was already here and they were involved, but after that he wouldn’t go alone.

Serenity’s armor was still tied around his waist when the paramedics arrived. They looked around trying to determine where to begin until Officer Surrey called them over to where Serenity stood. “Over here! You have to check Serenity first.”

“Where is the injury? Can you lift your shirt and show me?”

Serenity ostentatiously shrugged. “I can show you where it was, but it’s already healed. You really should check the Sterath first.”

The paramedic glanced at the alien bodies on the floor, then turned back to Serenity. “If it’s already healed, this’ll be quick and there’s only so much we can do for them anyway. Where was it?”

Serenity lifted his shirt again and pointed out the spot where the sword had penetrated. The paramedic looked at the area, then rubbed it. “Any pain?”

Serenity shook his head. “No, it’s healed.”

“No other injuries?” At Serenity’s headshake, the EMT seemed satisfied. “Keep an eye on it in case you sealed something inside when you healed it; we’ve been getting cases of that lately. If there are any complications, see your personal physician or go to a hospital, especially if there are any signs of internal bleeding, red or black in the area, swelling, or pain. Constipation or blood in your stool are both worth seeking medical advice for after this sort of injury. Understood?”

At least the paramedic was willing to accept “it’s healed,” and Serenity had to admit that if his healing was more normal, that list of symptoms might be very relevant. “Yeah.”

“That’s it?” Officer Surrey stared at the paramedic.

“Yep. No injury left, so there’s nothing for us to do as long as he healed it correctly.” The paramedic turned back to Serenity. “And you’re not at all interested in getting some scans done to make sure you did it right, are you?”

Serenity shook his head. “No, not at all. It’s fine.” On top of that, he didn’t need scans that showed just how inhuman even his human form was floating around. Yes, they were supposed to be confidential - but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t somehow leak. It might cost someone their ability to work in a medical field if they were found out, but that wouldn’t fix anything.

The paramedic nodded. “Thought so. Now-” he stepped over to one of the worst-injured Sterath and seemed to try to find a pulse. “Dammit, no pulse. Do these things even have a pulse?”

“They do.” Serenity called on his Life-Sight, then remembered that he’d stashed a pair of sunglasses in his Quick Belt just in case he had to use something that messed with his eyes. He put them on while he looked at the bodies. “That Sterath’s dead, though. The one next to him’s still alive.”

All that the paramedics could really do for the Sterath was first aid, but that was enough to keep the ones who had survived alive while they were transported to the hospital, where they were met by people with Healing spells.

An hour later, they were still at the same house. The living Sterath were all gone, but the dead Sterath hadn’t been removed yet. The police seemed to be treating the scene as something that had to be meticulously documented, especially the upstairs areas that either had bodies or had evidence of violence.

Serenity wished he were back in the old days somehow, where he could deal with a situation and let others clean up the mess. Why weren’t they doing that here? Wasn’t that what the task force was for?

Serenity still hadn’t heard anything about moving on to the next location when he finally got tired of waiting and approached Lieutenant Smith. “So, what’s next?”

“Paperwork.” Lieutenant Smith grumbled. “Especially for me and Officer Surrey, since we used our firearms. Officers Jones and Nguyen didn’t, so they’ll have less. You - well, for you I imagine it won’t be more than giving a statement to whoever ends up investigating this house.”

Investigating the house? Wait, what? “Are you actually going to try to - what, press charges against the Sterath? And go through normal procedures for this? What about the other locations?”

“There should be other groups, but there aren’t.” Lieutenant Smith turned away from Serenity, as though he were talking to someone else, but no one was there. “We’re limited by the rules; we can’t deviate from them without inviting questions. Sometimes I envy civilians.”

Even Serenity could recognize that big a hint.

Well, he’d been thinking about getting a real team together. This seemed like the perfect time.

There was one question he wanted to ask, but he wasn’t certain how to say it. He’d just have to do the best he could. “Did you expect all this?”

Lieutenant Smith shook his head. “Honestly? I thought this was probably a waste of time. Intelligent kangaroos invading the city? It was just too far out there.”