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Greaseball hated cement.
For one It’s absolutely horrible to race on, its surface is uneven and there was somehow, always a crack somewhere waiting to trip you. Not to mention that it heats up to about a bazillion degrees in the summertime, so it burns you every time you go to sit on it. Not that Greaseball did a whole lot of sitting on cement but still.
Greaseball's point was practically proving itself as she skated along the walkway adjacent to the track she was set to race on that day. She could feel the heat coming off of it, and she had just witnessed a child trip over a large infilled gap in the path.
Scrunching her eyebrows to try to block out at least a little bit of sun, Greaseball turned her attention back to the track.
Much to her dismay, the track was also made out of cement. Which didn’t come as much of a surprise seeing that most if not all of the outdoor tracks she had raced on were made of the rocky mixture. Her eyes skimmed over its surface looking for anything that would cause her or Dinah even a slight problem.
Greaseball’s mind wandered a little at the thought of the sweet dining car. They had been dating for a little less than a year now and Greaseball was head over heels for her. She fell in love with her laugh, her face, her personality- Greaseball cut herself off, blush creeping onto her face. She needed to finish looking over the course so she could go find Dinah.
With that thought Greaseball smiled a little bit to herself and set back off on her
*
In the end it had only taken Greaseball a few more minutes to finish her initial scan of the course, the only thing of particular bother being a moving bridge pretty close to the end.
The bridge would connect to two different parts of the track, so once all the racers got over the first one it would rotate to connect to a second piece of track. It really added nothing to the difficulty of the course so Greaseball wasn’t sure what its purpose was.
It was definitely very flashy so maybe the officials thought they could get more spectators using it. Greaseball however, was not particularly amazed by this marketing skeme.
Her eyes searched the dense crowd of people and tents for the one that was bright orange. According to the slip of paper she had been given when she registered, that is where she was supposed to put her stuff.
It took her an embarrassing amount of time to spot it once she did, she set off dodging the crowd of spectators, her wheels making a grinding sound on the ground as she went. Greaseball slowed to a stop just in front of the tent's flap, pushing it back; she entered, finding an empty spot on a bench to put her stuff down. She removed her various pieces of safety gear from her bag, putting them on as she went. About halfway through she got out her water bottle to take a drink. Being in that sun was drying her up like a prune.
It was covered in colorful stickers with various sayings on them, like “Believe in yourself” and “You need to calm down” in rainbow swirly text. The stickers had been Dinah’s doing, deeming Greaseballs mat black water bottle “Too depressing.”
It also had a sticker of the yards logo, that one had been Momma's contribution after everyone had vetoed the hat idea. Greaseball hated to say no to Momma's idea, but do bucket hats really look good on anyone?
Well, maybe Dinah. She has one that looks like a frog. Dinah would wear it on some of the longer hauls they did. Greaseball thought it looked very cute on her, although she thought anting Dinah wore was cute.
“Greaseball!” Dinah’s voice sung from behind her.
Hands wrapped around her from behind, and Greaseball could feel the presence of Dinah’s body behind her.
“Hi doll.” Greaseball replied smiling. She turned on her toe stops, facing Dinah, leaning down to give a quick peck on the cheek. Dinah smiled, giggling a little bit. Dinah was dressed in her usual racing attire featuring her signature colors of pick checkers and teal.
“Are you ready to get warmed up?” Dinah asked, readjusting her helmet.
“Just about, I just need to put on my fricken wrist guards.” Greaseball murmured, already struggling with the straps.
Greaseball finished attaching all of her safety gear and moved to open the tent flap for Dinah. Dinah grabbed her own bright pink water bottle and skated through the tent door. Once they were both outside Dinah took a hold of Greaseballs couplers and they were off to find the warm up area.
*
“Two minutes till race time, I repeat two minutes till race time all racers to the starting block.” A voice loudly proclaimed through the loudspeakers. Greaseball hummed, the last few minutes before a race always made her jittery.
Nevertheless, she put on a smile as her and Dinah made their way to their starting place. It was about six months to the championship, so news crews were starting to pay attention to the racing scene again. Meaning there was bound to be pictures.
“One minute, I repeat ONE MINUTE.” The same voice said.
Well, gee, they didn’t have to yell about it.
Greaseball exchanged a final look with Dinah, before turning forward again and readjusting, tightening the back of her helmet.
“Ten, nine, eight, seven.” Greaseball leaned forward into her starting position.
“Six, five, four, three.” She moved her feet into a ready position.
“Two, one, go!” Greaseball shot from the starting block, easily passing the other pairs.
She could feel Dinah grip her couplers a little harder as they prepared for the descent for the first hill in the course. Greaseball was going fast, only slowing so as not to flip over when making sharp turns.
On a straight stretch of track she looked back for a second to see how close her competition was, much to her relief all of them were about fifty yards away. The next part of the course was the stupid bridge part. It was uphill and then to the straight area that was the bridge. I can do this. Greaseball thought as she was trying to convince herself. Which was strange because she didn’t think she was scared.
Most of the spectators were by the bridge. I guess the flashy spectacle worked after all. Greaseball thought angrily. This group included Momma, who came to every race she could. Even the ones that didn’t have one of her adopted children in it. Now that she thought about it, Momma kinda thought she was everyone’s Mom no matter what, her name didn’t help with this fact. If you did something stupid Momma was always there to scold you after she made sure you were okay. She even had a shirt that said “Proud mother to a few dumbass kids.”
Greaseball and Dinah flew up hill skating effortlessly over the bridge, Greaseball had to lean a bit to make the turn that followed going down the hill. It was sharp and she had fallen on these several times in practice before. Now for the second time, she thought. Greaseball pushed her skates hard against the ground, trying to gain some distance on her competition before the bridge. Her plan worked as Her and Dinah gained even more of a lead. Greaseball looked forward, planning the transition between the concrete and whatever the bridge was made of.
But the bridge wasn’t connected to the track, it was stuck halfway through the movement it was supposed to make. Dinah and her were only 70 feet away, at the rate they were going to crash and it was going to be awful. Greaseball thought fast, she reached behind her and tore Dinah’s hands off her couplers, sending Dinah sprawling behind her. Dinah screamed. She was only 20 feet away now, she tipped her toes forward to her toe stoppers. But it was no use, Greaseball had already tripped falling off the edge.
For a second she didn’t know what had happened, one second she was teetering near the edge and now she was plummeting towards the ground. It was like being on the world's shittiest roller coaster.
She braced herself for the inevitable pain that was waiting for her when she hit the ground. Smack! Greaseball’s body hit the ground. First her shoulders and then the rest of her body. She gasped, the fall had knocked the air out of her.
For a second she was surprised, she couldn’t feel any pain. It was as if she had been completely numbed. Her eyes closed as she tried to figure out what happened. She heard another scream that sounded scarily like the one Dinah had emitted. Had Dinah fallen with her? Greaseball’s eyes shoot open at that. She had to find Dinah, she had to make sure she was okay.
The light was far too bright. Had it been this bright when she had closed them just seconds ago? It was invading her eyes, it felt as if it was burning her retinas to crisps. So she closed her eyes again.
Right, she needed to find Dinah, find her girlfriend. She moved just slightly, aiming to push herself up. So she opened her eyes once more, this time black stops came into view as she tried to move.
She wasn’t in pain. Why were there black spots? Maybe it was the shock, she thought she remembered reading that somewhere. In some magazine Dinah probably had. Or maybe it had been a medical drama she liked watching, Greaseball couldn't remember.
She could sense someone skating by her head, she couldn’t tell who it was though. The person kneeled down by Greaseball head, touching her face with a worn, calloused hand. Maybe it was Dinah, she couldn’t tell for sure though.
The face came into focus, it was Momma. That made sense, Dinah's hands were soft and silky. A big difference from Momma's hands, worn from many years of hard work.
“ -aseball, kiddo.” Mommas srcunched her eyes in concern, “Can you hear me?”
The pain had started to come, the adrenaline that had once kept it at bay had started to wear off. Greaseball groaned, the pain in her neck and shoulders has become almost unbearable. Momma (thankfully) seemed to get what she meant.
“Does your neck hurt? Don’t move your neck, just make some kind of sound.”
Momma was looking at her, surveying her body.
Greaseball tried to find the energy to say that it did hurt quite a bit, but her vocal cords weren’t obeying her at that moment. So, she settled for another groan. That made Momma's eyebrows scrunch even more. She placed her hands on either side of Greaseball's head, keeping in one place. This made absolutely no sense whatsoever to Greaseball, she was pretty sure that wasn’t how you checked a pulse.
Greaseball could feel the burn on her legs now, she must have scraped them when she fell. There was something she was supposed to be doing, she couldn’t quite remember what though.
Dinah.
She was trying to find Dinah. She tried to sit up but Momma's hands on her head stopped her.
“Woah, you need to stop moving, we don't want to risk doing any damage to your spine. There are repair people on their way, you just lay still for me ok?”
Greaseball did not want a damaged spine but she had to go find Dinah. Momma really was not seeing the bigger picture, why did she not understand?
“I need,” she sucked in some air, “find Dinah.”
Momma looked her in the eye’s, her face softening.
“I saw you uncouple her before the crash, I'm sure she’s ok. Once we get you help we can find Dinah ok?”
No, Greaseball needed to find her now, she desperately craved the gentleness of her girlfriends voice. She could really use an awful analogy about uncles at family gatherings right about now. There was a scuffling of wheels again near her head. This time there were multiple people.
She attempted to look to see who it was but the black stops had returned to her vision, when had that happened? Breathing was becoming harder too, maybe it would be easier if Momma would just let her move her damn head.
The people came into view as they got nearer to her head, their faces looking down onto hers. Oh, these must have been the repair trucks Momma had been talking about. They all had different coloring, one was green, one was brown and the other had a mix between orange and yellow. Greaseball could now feel the pain in all of her body, there wasn’t a single bit that wasn’t in at least a little bit agony.
The green one spoke, “I’m Hex, this Hammer and Mallet.” Hex was making eye contact with Greaseball now. “We’re going to help you, what’s your name?” She didn’t wait for an answer before she gestured for the other two to start moving. They were all giving her the same once over with their eyes that Momma had given her.
“Greaseball.” She choked out, she let out a gasp as one of sets of hands had touched a bit of her neck and it had let out a bolt of pain. She needed more air, there was not enough. Everyone else, it seemed, was stealing it.
Momma had taken her hands off Greaseball's head, they were replaced by cold, gloved ones. The sound around her was becoming one big mess of words and noises, someone had lifted up her neck, sliding a piece of hard plastic underneath. It strapped around her neck with Velcro, the movement made even more pain cours through her neck.
It didn’t help her breathing either, breathes came in short gasps.
Some one must have noticed this struggle because a scratchy plastic oxygen mask had been put on her face. This made it a bit easier to breathe but it was still not very easy.
Everything was blending, nothing was quite its own shape of sound, they were all one big entity.
Greaseball could be the occasional piece of something but other than that, nothing.
Hands carefully rolled her to her side, sliding a hard plastic board under her. This came with even more Velcro straps to keep her in place. Which made it feel even harder to breathe.
There the tell tale poke of a needle being inserted into her arm. And the feeling of gauze being put on her mutilated knee caps.
She just needed more air.
There wasn’t enough air.
“ -not protecting her airway.” Someone called “… need to intubate.”
Greaseball's mind was too groggy now to even think about what that meant. All that was left was a distant feeling of things around her body and pain. The thing on her face was removed, a piece of metal was in her mouth holding down her tongue. So close to making her gag.
It was all floating for a bit, then she could feel a tube sliding down her throat. Then, suddenly, there was enough air again. She could breathe now, Greaseball let herself relax.
*
From that point on, time became more of a concept rather than a reality to her.
She was floating in a realm of grayness. Sometimes, she would get flashes of what was maybe reality. But it never made any sense.
She heard loud noises, like people yelling things or orders. She felt the sensations of pain and people touching her. But she could never quite put a finger on one thing in particular.
Greaseball could also see faces from time to time. She saw Momma, Dinah, and the three repair trucks - whatever their names were, she couldn’t remember.
She saw Dinah the most, her face in varied states of worry. She didn’t like to make her worry, she wanted to say something but as quick as it came the moment of lucidity would be gone.
She didn’t know how long she had been floating when her longest and clearest moment came.
It felt as if she had left her body and then came back to it. When she came back the pain was still very much present but not nearly as bad as before. She could think a little clearer without it but her mind was still foggy.
Greaseball's eyes were closed but she could feel herself being propped up on a pillow or two, which was weird because she couldn’t remember the last time she slept on her back. She opened her eyes confused, she squinted trying to block out a little light. She wasn’t in the bed she shared with Dinah, she was in the one small separate room attached to the repair shed.
She’d been in it before, but only to visit other people. The room was saved for when someone was in particularly bad shape, and needed some more privacy. Most of the support equipment was in there.
For the first time Greaseball moved her eyes down at her hands. Much to her surprise, was a tube taped to either one. She tried to move her head but she couldn't. It was struck, there was a thick plastic brace keeping it in place.
Panicked, she aimlessly swung a hand up at it, but missed hitting something else. It was a tube coming out of her mouth held in place with a piece of plastic that had a strap that went around her head. How in the Starlight had she not noticed that soner. If she was panicking before, she got ten times worse. She heaved her chest trying to fight the tube the best she could.
She had to get that tube out, she would be just fine on her own; she just needed to get the tube out. It was obstructing her ability to breathe.
“Greaseball?”
Someone had entered the room, Greaseball’s eyes frantically searched for who it was, maybe they could get this pesky tube out. Her eyes finally landed on Dinah who was standing, wide eyed by the door. Her eyes were red and bloodshot and she wasn't wearing her usual light dusting of makeup. She had a cup of a hot drink and a blueberry muffin, and look utterly miserable.
She groaned, talking was near impossible with the tube. So she made as many frustrated sounds as she could to try to get the message to Dinah.
Dinah sprinted across the room, setting her food down on a bedside table.
“Hey, you're ok.” Her voice was shaking. “You gotta calm down, ok?”
Greaseball looked her in the eyes as best she could. She wanted to calm down but there was a tube in her throat, she needed it out.
Then she could calm down.
She couldn’t breathe.
She needed more air
Her vision was going dark and sounds and sights were starting to morph again. She heard Dinah call out for somebody. She heaved some more trying to push it out.
People came rushing into the room, telling her to come down just like Dinah had. She kept on squirming. She could still hear Dinah, she was holding her hand and whispering something to Greaseball. She strained her ears to hear it but she couldn’t.
Hands messed with the thing on her right arm, inserting a thing into it. Suddenly, things were getting much calmer in her head.
All of her thoughts were diluted. She suddenly had the very very strong urge to take a nap.
*
When she opened her eyes for a second time the tube had been removed. She guessed a fair bit of time had passed since the sun coming in from the window was in a different place.
Without the tube down her throat she could think a whole lot more clearly, there was pain all over her body but it was muted. They must have given her something really good.
Dinah sat knees to chest on one of the plastic chairs that were by her bed, clutching Greaseball's hand like her life depended on it, her eyes closed. This made her smile a little bit to herself, she looked unhurt which meant her last minute thinking had not gone too awful.
Man, she knew that bridge was an awful design, maybe her second career was going to be course design or racing safety.
Dinah let out a sigh, opening her eyes to look straight at hers. Dinah shot up from where she was engulfing Greaseball in a very gentle hug.
“I am so glad you're ok.” She sounded like she had been crying.
“Glad to be ok.” Greaseball answered grinning slightly, her voice equally as rockey.
They didn’t say anything for a while, they just stood there holding each other.
“Damn, I have no idea how I got such a pretty girlfriend.” Greaseball thought out loud.
This made Dinah chuckle, pulling from the embrace.
“Wow, they must have given you some good drugs if you're being upfront about your feelings.”
“I like to think I’m very open about my feelings.” She retorted.
“You're really not.” Dinah said with a giggle, plopping herself back down into her chair, crossing her legs.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, enjoying each other's company. Dinah looked tired, her eyes were hollow like she had been crying for quite some time, and her race makeup had been hastily scrubbed off. Leaving patches of pink and blue all over her face. She was in a pair of yoga pants and a tee shirt from the first race the two had won together.
It was a small race, one of Greaseballs first. She had signed up with a second hand helmet and a dream. At those smaller races you could get a partner to race with, at the higher level events they expected you to have a buddy. So, as it happens, Dinah was one of those trains. They were matched just a few minutes before the race, giving them virtually no time to get acquainted.
Coupling for a race was a complicated thing, you didn’t couple with some random person whose name got drawn out of a hat. You had to have a good chat, get to know the other person. This made Greaseball's first few races very interesting.
But it was different with her and Dinah, the two had clicked instantly. After about a minute of an awkward staring contest, Dinah had made a joke breaking the silence. Before they knew it they had won the race, hugged and made it to a small cafe close to the track. They had talked for almost three hours nonstop. Dinah has a fantastic personality but would also listen to the more serious part of her life. When they left that night they had exchanged numbers, so they could talk some more. Somewhere in there she had admitted her love to the coach, that night they shared their first kiss.
And every race since then they had been a team, working in tandem.
They were still staring at each other by the time Greaseball had finished taking her trip down memory lane.
Dinah spoke, her voice still shakin despite the comical interaction that had just had. “Do… you know what happened?”
She furrowed her eyebrows, did she remember what happened?
“It’s fuzzy. I know the flipping bridge didn’t do its job.” Greaseball replied angrily.
Dinah sighed, “You uncoupled me, you fell off the edge, it made the most awful sound ever. Then you - you screamed, it was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever heard hun.”
That was definitely much worse than she had thought.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be, I doubt you wanted that to happen.” Dinah replied, both her face and her eyes were heavy looking.
Dinah continued. “The repair trucks came - Momma was with you by then…” She took a breath. “You weren’t breathing well on your own, they put a tube down your throat.” At that statement Dinah's eyes took on a look like they had seen something awful.
“It took them awhile but they fixed the damage in your neck and shoulders, there were about a bazillion things broken. They said you are going to be fine though.” At that Dinah looked much happier.
There was a knock on the door, and both Hydra and Tassita’s faces peeked through. Hydra looked very proud and Tassita was somewhere between flustered and annoyed.
This was going to be interesting.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”