Josie had built an operating room in the hospital without realizing it. She shook her

  head when her bird pointed the space out to her. She had even built an observation

  deck which she was sure was a thing out of television instead of how real hospitals

  did things.

  The meeting had gone as well as expected. The Amazons divided themselves into

  sections. One section would stay at the House and keep it up and guard the land from

  outsiders. They would also keep watch in case the mushroom people woke up and

  wanted help.

  One section would do both where they would help clear the sleepers off the yard and

  put things up and keep the supplies going for the new facility. They formed the spine

  of the support group that both sides needed.

  The third group would be the primary caregivers for the sleepers after they wake up.

  They would operate the scanners, check for anything wrong, take care of anybody

  trying to use the hospital in the neighborhood. They would be the ones that would

  have to splint broken bones, give aspirin, test for diseases.

  Jane was going to run everything with Hilda as her number two at the house and

  running support for the House until she decided to leave or not. Jane had asked her

  to pick someone to be her number two to take over for her if she did leave.

  Madam Harp and Massa were put in charge of the Hospital, running the day to day,

  and asking Jane for important decisions. They were in charge of picking shift leaders

  to run the floors and make sure everything ran smoothly with potions, food, and

  support services.

  Josie and Elaine were the Amazons’ outside consultants, and primary clients. They

  funded everything, but they could only ask for certain things, and if the group needed

  extraordinary help, then the champion of order would have to step in.

  Jack was her number two.

  Josie had remained as quiet as possible at the meeting with Sir Harp at her side. He

  had started giving lessons to the Amazons in sword fighting since the dinner. He

  nodded at his students as they recognized him.

  “Everyone who is working here can take the tour one at a time, or as a group as we

  get set up,” said Jane. “For now, you are going to have to guard the estate, and make

  sure none of our possible plague carriers is taken from us. You are in charge, Kara.”

  “The house will still be here when you get back,” said the gate woman with a mock

  salute.

  “All right,” said Jane. “Map, please.”

  Two women hung a map of the city on the wall. They stepped back to give their

  leader room to move.

  “This is the Hospital,” said Jane. She indicated a dot in the northeast quarter of the

  city. “This is us.” It was another dot in the northwest. “Jack is going to put in doors

  to let us move across this space instantly. That way we don’t have to worry about

  traveling across the city unless we want. There will be a code on the door so that no

  one but us can use the door at either end. Even though we are helping Jack and Josie,

  we have to protect ourselves.

  “We are going to be hiring adventurers to help us. They will be acting as guards and

  orderlies. I don’t mind you getting involved with them, but if there is trouble, that

  adventurer will be kicked. I want things to run smooth so the less problems we have,

  the better I will like it.

  “If you can’t, or don’t want to do the work involved, I will grant a severance. I do not

  say this lightly. I need all the help I can get. On the other hand, dissatisfaction causes

  problems and I would rather smooth things out while we are getting started than being

  halfway into things and having a bunch of you pull out.

  “Before we move on, are there any questions?”

  “Why are we doing this?,” asked a woman in the back.

  “Josie?,” said Jane. She looked at the champion of order standing by herself.

  “I asked Jane for help,” said Josie. She looked at the woman in the back.

  “So we just stop what we are doing to help you?,” said the woman in the back.

  The crowd separated from the woman so they wouldn’t get caught in anything like

  lightning, or dragon’s breath, or anything that looked like being turned into a toad.

  “Yes,” said Josie. “There are a hundred million real reasons that you should help me.

  There are a hundred million reasons why you should help anyone. I need the help to

  move these people out of here just like I, or Jack, helped you when we didn’t have to.

  We expanded our mission statement since the Society only cares about you as a side

  issue to whatever mission they want us to do. As far as they are concerned, you could

  be on your way to anywhere in chains, waiting for something bad to happen to you.

  They could care less as long as their goals are met. What are the lives of a few women

  worth in the grand scheme of things compared to the rest of the world? If you don’t

  want to help, that is fine too. I don’t rip people’s ears off no matter what Hilda says.”

  “And Josie is paying us to do this,” said Jane. “So while she is not trying to hold that

  over our heads, she is making sure that we can stay and have enough to eat without

  having to beg in the streets, or go back to the houses, or try to find a place to live with

  no money to do that. Are there any other questions?”

  “Are we going to help people from the streets?,” asked another woman.

  “Madam Harp?,” said Jane.

  “The mission profile is help anyone we can for pay,” said Madam Harp. “Massa and

  I are hoping that we can help people and then send them on their way. We know a

  couple of alchemists that might help us with potions, and we know some healers that

  we can ask to help out. They will have to be trained like we will have to on how to

  use the tools the building has.”

  “Cleaners and scribes? Please raise your hands,” asked Massa. She nodded at the

  sections lifting their hands. “Cleaners, you will have to handle the dirty linens, and

  make sure the worst parts of things are destroyed. If someone is sick, their bedclothes

  can carry their disease to other people. You have to be careful in how you do things.

  “Scribes, you will be responsible for making sure to keep records of all of our bills

  that are sent out, what we did for each patient, the patient’s name, any taxes for the

  city and duchy, expenses. I know that it is normal to skim some of the coins moving

  around, try to keep that to the minimum. Understood?”

  Some of the faces looked indignant at either the implication they were thieves, or that

  they should be called out in front of everyone else.

  “Nurses?,” asked Madam Harp. She looked at the women who raised their hands.

  “The hospital is equipped with the body scanner. We will have codebooks for you.

  We hope that you will go from taking care of people in their rooms to directing new

  people according to the tools we can give you at the moment. You may have to learn

  things about potions, healing bone breaks, stitching up injuries, and so forth. Massa

  and I will be learning right beside you so don’t be afraid to ask questions about

  things.”

  “Is there anything else?,” asked Jane.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  The women reacted in the negative.

  “Step forward, Marla,” said Jane. The slight woman did so. “We’re going to operate

  today. We’re going to try to save your twins.”

  A hum went through the crowd. There were some comments that made Marla cringe.

  “So everyone on duty is going to go to the hospital right now,” said Jane. “We are

  going to look everything over, check everything. Cleaners, scribes, nurses, general

  support, I need you to look over your stations, figure out what you need to operate,

  and then put together a list of things. As soon as we can get the alchemists, we can

  dispense potions to people who need them. Marla is going to be the first patient. Then

  everyone who has the growths will be next until they are clear. Then we will start

  waking up our sleepers. Once we clear the lawn, Jack is holding more victims in cold

  storage that have to be worked on and moved out. Either these new women join us

  after we get them back on their feet, or they are moved out to wherever they want to

  go. Once we are done with this giant task, we will decide if we should close the

  Hospital and disperse everything. Josie, start moving us so we can walk around and

  figure out what we are going to do.”

  Josie nodded. She called on Zatanna. She hooked all the women helping her to fire

  birds that she sent across the city. The hospital staff burst on the manor grounds one

  by one as each bird reached its destination, the lobby area with its information desk.

  Josie and Sir Harp were the last to disappear from the lawn.

  Madam Harp and Massa led the crowd through the ground floor. A cafeteria, offices

  for the scribes and administration, a set of rooms marked Emergency, and another set

  marked Operating Rooms were at the end of the long hall. Portable scanners were on

  the walls, lines indicating direction were on the floor. A picture of Steve Austin’s

  profile caught Josie’s eye as she walked at the back of the crowd.

  One of the cooks broke off and checked the kitchen. She shook her head at the lack

  of ingredients. The first thing they would need was supplies so the Amazons could

  eat.

  “What is the Emergency section for?,” asked one of the nurses.

  “If we have someone hurt from the street, we bring them in, and tell them what’s

  wrong,” said Madam Harp. “If we can fix their problem, we do that. Scribes will have

  to get their name and home so we can collect our due from them.”

  “If they have to stay, we move them into a room until they can move out on their

  own,” said Massa. She pointed at the elevators.

  “Operating Rooms?,” said another woman.

  “They are for taking things out of people that shouldn’t be in them without killing

  them,” said Madam Harp. “We might not be successful, but we are going to try.”

  “This is where we are going to work on Marla,” said Josie from the back. “Let’s see

  the room.”

  The crowd filed into the room, circling the sunken area where the bed would be rolled

  in. A scanner and an equipment rack stood to one side. Space for more equipment was

  marked by spaces in the floor.

  “We’re going to need disposable gowns too,” said Josie. “That way we can dress our

  patients in things we can burn when we don’t need them.”

  “I’ll put it on the list,” said Hilda. She brushed her mane from her face.

  “Marla, we’re going to get you a bed,” said Josie. “Then we’re going to get started.”

  She looked around. She pulled out a piece of paper, and pen. She wrote down what

  an artificial womb should have in it with the help of Supergirl. She made it big

  enough for growing twins. They were going to be very premature, and she hoped this

  would be enough to do the job.

  Elaine and Massa came in with a rolling bed. They locked the wheels in place when

  the thing was under the scanner’s awning.

  Josie turned into Zatanna and wished for the artificial womb to build itself from the

  paper and idea of a machine. She made sure to add whatever coins she had in her

  pocket to add to the material.

  She didn’t want the thing to collapse if the mana fled the air.

  She changed back as soon as the spell finished.

  “Get up on the bed,” said Josie. “This isn’t how I would like to do things, but

  everyone is going to want to know that I didn’t turn you into a puppet and send you

  back to them.”

  “I understand,” said Marla. She climbed on the bed.

  Josie turned on the scanner, checked the equipment rack. She could do the job if she

  knew how to use the equipment. There were no pain blockers, or any drugs. She

  would have to make her own with Doctor Occult.

  “There is a reading from the scanner up here,” reported one of the nurses. She pointed

  at a screen that popped out of the front of the theater to show what was going on with

  Marla, and her kids.

  “Codebook?,” asked Massa.

  The nurses looked around. One of them found one. Then another.

  “All right,” said Massa.

  “Marla,” said Josie. “This is going to be easy, because I am going to be using Doctor

  Occult. Ordinary healers won’t have it as easy as I am going to make it look.

  Everybody ready? I want to make this fast. The twins will need to be put in the false

  womb as soon as we can so they don’t die during the operation. I don’t want you to

  be scared.”

  “Just don’t rip my ear off,” said Marla. She smiled.

  “I’ll do my best,” said Josie. “Everyone wash your hands. We don’t have latex gloves

  to cover them, but we can at least wash up first. Clean hands will help keep germs

  from making Marla sick after we are done.”

  The ladies washed their hands in the ready room just outside the operating theater.

  Josie hoped this wasn’t a big mistake. They reentered the area. She spotted the future

  nurses going over the codebook for the scanner.

  “All right,” said Josie. “The first thing we are going to do is put Marla asleep and

  numb any pain she might feel. Then we are going to operate and take the twins out.

  Once we have them safe in the womb, we will reverse everything and make sure that

  she comes out all right. Marla, there is going to be a small risk to you and the babies,

  but we will do what we can to save all three of you. I want you to close your eyes and

  start counting.”

  Josie checked the area one more time. She preferred blowing people up over trying

  to do medical procedures. Madam Harp and Massa stood on the other side of the

  table. Madam Harp nodded that they were ready. Jane and Elaine stood on her side,

  ready to help where they could.

  She listened to Marla counting.

  She hoped she was doing the right thing. She called on Doctor Occult.

  Josie extended her scan to overlap what the machine was doing. She picked out a

  thousand spots that needed to be fixed. She didn’t have time to do all of them. She

  had to concentrate on the babies so they didn’t kill their mother trying to get out of

  her womb.

  She put Marla to sleep, and shut down the pain receptors in her head. She nodded

  when the scanner agreed with her assessment. She pulled Marla’s tunic out of the way

  before she took a bottle of iodine from the equipment rack and covered the sleeping

  woman’s stomach to kill any surface germs. She pulled a scalpel from the rack and

  cut the skin where her scan said she had to. She frowned as she asked for Madam

  Harp to help her hold the skin back.

  The scanner gave a lot of recommendations on what should be going on. It had

  detected the magic in use with the results, but not the actual cause. Some of the

  crosses turned to checks as Josie, Madam Harp, and Massa worked.

  “We’re going to need the life support womb, Elaine,” said Josie. “Open the door for

  me. I will have to put each girl in its place so it can grow big enough not to need it

  any more.”

  “Ready,” said Elaine. She stood beside the door, ready to close it when the babies

  were put in.

  “We’re ready to cut and clamp everything,” said Madam Harp. Massa nodded at her

  side.

  “I’m never having children,” said Jane.

  “I don’t have a lot of time,” said Josie. “Let’s see what we can do before I time out.”

  The women worked as quickly as they could to take the twins from the womb. Josie

  used Doctor Occult to keep them safe until she had them put in their protective

  place. The scanner in the machine gave codes on the girls as they floated in its care.

  Elaine nodded as she looked at the codes.

  Josie and her assistants put Marla back together as rapidly as possible. She kept an

  eye on the watch as she worked to make sure her patient didn’t bleed out. They made

  the last stitch just as her persona wore off.

  “The scanner is not quite saying she is clear, but there are a lot less codes present,”

  said Massa. “You saved her life.”

  “You did that,” said Josie. She took a breath. “We need to clean up. Marla and her

  girls need to be wheeled to a room. I don’t remember if we set aside room for babies

  here. Massa, the machine has to be plugged into the wall of her room. I gave it a

  battery charge, but if the power goes out, it will kill the twins.”

  “Any volunteers to take Marla and the babies up to her room?,” said Jane. “Someone

  will have to sit with her, and we are going to start our paperwork with her. Cooks and

  support, make sure we can start feeding people in the next few days. I doubt we will

  need more than soup at first.”

  “She is going to need a change of clothes for when she wakes up,” said Elaine.

  “I will handle it,” said Madam Harp. “Before we break up, do any of you think you

  can copy what we did? Do any of you want to work on learning how?”

  Three women stepped to the front of the overhead deck.

  “You are our new midwives,” said Madam Harp. “We expect you to serve in rotation

  when we don’t have any mothers present. Until then, I want you to take care of Marla

  and make sure her life supporting machine for her twins is plugged in. You might as

  well think about what you need for the hall while you are there. I am going to let you

  make up your schedule right now until Marla is back on her feet. I will ask Josie to

  get you some material to help with your training. The midwives will need a dedicated

  scribe. I need a volunteer.”