damned_institute | Nightshift 39: M31-40 Hallway

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Nightshift 39: M31-40 Hallway

Along with giving him an idea for a good cover story, Scourge's conversation with the soldier-human on the bulletin board had made the tracker stop and think about his place in the Decepticon hierarchy. More specifically, the fact that he didn't have one. Galvatron wasn't here anymore, there was no one who he was obligated to by virtue of creation. He was a free agent for the first time in his life, and it wasn't as scary as he thought it'd be.

Lugnut and Blitzwing probably wouldn't be too happy with him thinking like this, but who cared? They were both crazy, Blitzwing random and Lugnut stubborn, and without a stabilizing Cyclonus-like influence Scourge suspected they wouldn't get very far. Better to get himself a better footing with someone saner and just give lip service to "mighty Megatron" when it was convenient.

In the meantime, Scourge had to see a Superboy about a virginity. What exactly that would entail he wasn't really sure, but it sounded a lot more fun than raiding the kitchen with pointless idiots who seemed to be liking him less and less as things went on.

The tracker took out the wooden cooking spoon he'd found last night, set it on the floor with his foot on the scoop end, and yanked upwards. The spoon cracked and left him with a long rod with a dangerously pointy and splintered end that would probably at least distract anything with a squishy place to stick it in. Better than nothing. The makeshift wooden shiv went in one pocket, the flashlight in the other--with his eyes he wouldn't need it for anything but small details and it would be easier to hide in the dark. The handle of the pan went in his hand and the tracker cautiously went out into the hallway. Let him be a force to be reckoned with.

Or at least one that made the other guy look like a tastier option.

[To here.]

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"Oy..." he started, but then the magician was gone. In a better condition Kurogane would have been able to stop him or would have at least gone after the man, but not now. Not tonight.

Kurogane had no choice but to let it go and finally laid back on the bed that wasn't his. That idiot better not get himself into trouble.

[[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/582753.html?thread=49014881#t49014881)]]

As expected, it didn't take long before he returned with help. He reached the door and held it open for the two women.

"Kuro-ruu, I brought some friends to help you," he called out brightly. Kurogane would probably be anything but pleased, but at least now he'd be free to go look for Ururu. Who knew what might've happened to the girl by now.

"I'm a healer," Raine said, walking over to the bed to examine the man; his arm... worried her. The neat row of stitches around it made her wonder... at which point she tried not to wince. She was a healer through and through, but she couldn't think about mutilating the bodies of still-living beings without feeling a little sick.

"What happened here?" She needed to know where he was hurt the worst to direct her spell there, and just because his shirt wasn't drenched in blood didn't mean she could assume the arm was the only thing. He didn't look good, that was for certain.

If he was taken for experiments... Raine couldn't hold back a shiver. THAT was one of her worst nightmares here.

So the man was in one of the patients' rooms, not the halls... had his friend brought him here first before going to get help? That made sense...

But, Raine was already asking the relevant questions, so her speculation wasn't needed. She posted herself by the door, acting the guard while they were away as she'd intended... but she couldn't help but cast an eye towards her charge and her patient, too. She wanted to see this magic of Raine's, and a good outcome here.

The magician's trip out hadn't been long, so Kurogane hadn't been able to rest much before the man returned. He didn't welcome the voice echoing in the room, and would have been content to leave him ignored if he was just going to babble, but the words spoken caught his attention. "Friends", he'd said, and then after the word help, Kurogane was quickly back to a sitting position, glaring towards the door.

Maybe had he recognized the people there with Fai Kurogane wouldn't have minded so much, but they were strangers, and one admitted to being a healer. Had that idiot just gone and gotten someone from the clinic?!

"You bastard..." Kurogane growled low towards Fai, all but ignoring the two people, women as he could not tell, there with them. There were reasons why he hadn't gone to the clinic, so why the hell did Fai have to go and bring some of it here?! He didn't want their help!

"Kuro-tan sounds gruff, but he's just a squishy marshmallow on the inside," Yuuhi assured them once they were inside. The ninja's greeting was met with a smile and a wave as if the man had greeted him like a housewife after a long day at work and not with all the contempt he could muster.

"Unfortunately, I really have to get going," he told the two ladies, looking apologetic. "But I'm sure Kuro-san will behave himself like a good boy."

He didn't wait to hear the man's angry reply and hurried back out the door.

[[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/577452.html?thread=49064108#t49064108)]]

Apparently the patient was not going to be cooperative. Raine stepped enough away from Reinforce so the other would have a good view and simply started the spell. It would be difficult to cast if she was interrupted by, say, Kurogane throwing something at her, but she could always start over.

Not everyone she treated was grateful for it, and some of those who were couldn't admit it. So, it looked like this man was going to be another one; that was fine with her. His friend seemed sincere enough, so she would trust him.

The spell only took a few seconds, but anybody could tell what she was doing; even if she'd only mouthed the chant, which she didn't, the white glowing glyph around her feet gave away what she was doing long before the white sparkle appeared over her ~~victim~~ ~~target~~ patient.

Raine needn't have bothered; Rein's focus had shifted to their would-be patient when he'd responded with hostility to the one who'd brought them. She didn't know whether it was shame for his injuries or at their help or some more obscure reaction, but it gave her reason to be wary of him. The reassurances of the one who'd brought them weren't very, well, reassuring when he rushed off like that as soon as he'd made them. Even she felt that way...

It looked like Raine wasn't going to wait to try to convince him to take their help, so she settled for giving him a warning look. He could dislike it all he wanted, but she wouldn't go easy on him if he attacked Raine just because he was injured...

"Wait you idiot...!" he yelled after Fai, but again he vanished before Kurogane could do anything. He snorted, then leaned forward a bit, cringing. Dammit, he'd gotten up too fast. Now he wished that Fai had just stayed gone the first time he'd left the room. If he had, Kurogane wouldn't have been dealing with two girls who thought he needed some kind of help.

Swearing again at Fai, this time mentally, Kurogane brought his head back up to look at the one he could see best - the one sending him a glare of her own. He sneered to it and nearly barked that they leave, but then came the sound of a chant and the light of some kind of magic. His attention turned towards the other girl on the other side of the room, glare persisting. What was she doing?

"I don't care what he told you," he hissed, angry but not necessarily at them, "but I don't need your help. Go... see to someone else." All Kurogane needed or wanted was to be left alone and rest. These two could help someone else who was hurt more than him and not waste their powers.

He continued the stubborn streak when the white light appeared at his left shoulder, the ninja trying to pull away from... whatever it was but failing to do so. Again he swore, but this time the girls would be able to hear it quite clearly.

"I'm sure," Raine replied, not remotely bothered. "Does anything still hurt more than it should?" She came over to look more closely, doubting he would do more than shove her away irritably even at the worst.

She honestly didn't want to look at his arm, but as a healer it was her job. She could handle injuries, but deliberate mutilation of an unwilling subject went far, far over her comfort level.

Rein shook her head. If he was stronger tomorrow for this, they would have helped others... he had too much pride, to refuse their aid simply because he could live without it. It was not a foreign notion to one who dealt with knights, but she was still hesitant to speak, having so recently arrived. A very human reaction, but she'd always been tight-lipped...

Still, her glare faded when he didn't interfere with Raine.

"Please answer her honestly," she added to Raine's question. "We can return to our post fastest if you help us."

At the very least, if he was truly concerned for others and not simply his own pride he should recognize that much...

"Che..."

Stubborn brats! But what had Kurogane really expected? Most of the healers he'd dealt with here had been the same - stubborn and, for some reason, female. It was like they all had some thing about making sure Kurogane had to accept their help no matter how much he didn't want it. Like Princess Tomoyo, only the "help" wasn't banishing him to another dimension! That made things more tolerable, but still just as annoying regardless.

His head turned away from them both as some act of defiance. He'd been forced to just accept what was going on around him all night long, and they wanted him to continue doing so without any say! There was only so much Kurogane's pride could allow for in one day.

He remained silent for a good while, at least until some anger faded, before answering with a simple, "It's the same," despite knowing they wouldn't accept it. "More than it should" could be taken a lot of ways, but if she was asking if anything was feeling better then he'd answered truthfully. He still felt as bad as before the magic, so whatever she'd done hadn't helped.

If they understood that, then they could go use that spell on someone it could work for.

"All right," Raine nodded. She didn't see any wounds that definitely required care, but she still asked, "Would you like anything looked at?" There wasn't much point in asking if he needed it; she probably wouldn't have much luck getting him to answer truthfully. So, she settled on seeing if he would cooperate at least a little.

If he didn't, as much as it bugged her she had no right to force him, and she and Reinforce would just go back to M35 for the remainder of the night.

...at least now she had something to look forward to!

Rein nodded. Perhaps it was foolish of her, but she was prepared to take him at his word. Dealing with knights also taught one to trust in the strictures pride supported.

The same partial inverted unison she used to absorb magic might have told her more about why Raine's hadn't worked... but also wasn't something she wanted to lightly use, now, and it put enough stress on the body that she certainly shouldn't be using it to diagnose someone who'd been injured. That, and she wasn't sure what she could and couldn't do here, beyond that the expression of her magic was limited so much as to be all but useless...

Which meant that basically, so was she, for now. It was bothersome to think... but she couldn't do much but follow Raine.

Neither girl tried any more magic, but neither did they move to leave as Kurogane had hoped they would. He grunted out more annoyance, but surprisingly did think on the first girl's question. An answer would have to be given before he could again hope they would leave.

After some thought, he did find that he had an answer, or more a question of his own that could be taken as an answer of sorts. He did not have anything that needed looked at - and even if he had he wouldn't have wanted them looking - but the ninja did want to know one thing. If they knew.

"Tell me," he started, letting his eyes only slide back to look at the girls, "is this... thing..." he hissed out the best word he could manage for the arm now attached to him, "permanent?"

Raine was starting to feel sick; her suspicions were correct, weren't they? "If you mean your arm, I'm not certain. Can you tell me what they did?"

She had to nerve herself just a little to do it, but she touched Kurogane's arm, first above the stitches and then below, to see if either was overly warm or cool to the touch. If so, she was going to really start worrying.

She was very careful to be gentle, murmuring "Sorry," the first time he hissed in pain, but her touch lingered below the stitches for a moment. Not just cool, but cold to the touch. Not good.

"Let me see something," she said, moving to take him by the wrist carefully. She needed to look at his fingertips, to check his circulation.

He watched her carefully when she moved closer and braced before her hands got close. If she could figure something out, then he was fine to allow the contact and bear with the pain it caused. He was used to it by now. The sore ache had been with him since the experiment had ended, and the flashes of pain here and there were just as much a part of the whole damn experience.

His back teeth ground to hold back any yelps, but it was easier to tell his discomfort by his face, particularly in his half-closed eyes. One closed tightly while he forced the other to remain open to watch her. Healers thought the two may have been, he did not know them and was not so trusting as to take his eyes from them for too long, not with one so close.

As for what had been done to him... retelling had not been something he'd thought on at all. The magician would have never asked, and Kurogane would have rather kept the whole shameful happening as his own burden. Still...

"It's not mine," was the best he could think to say. He didn't know exactly what they had done, or the how of it either, but that was the one thing he knew for certain. "This thing..." is my father's. He didn't say it. He still didn't know that it was, but his reasons for stopping were different than just being unaware. Both eyes closed and he allowed a hiss of pain to escape thanks to her work at his hand. Apparently he wasn't as used to the pain as he thought.

Raine bit her lip; she was afraid of that. "Damn them all."

She lowered the arm back to the bed, gently, so as not to hurt him, then stepped back and tried to think about something, anything other than the details of that surgery. The last thing she wanted was to throw up in front of Reinforce again.

Finally, she said, "I don't think I can do anything for the healing process, and more than that, it's too early to say anything about rejection. Your body might perceive the arm as a foreign object, and I don't have the slightest idea how to prevent it.

"On the plus side, if there is any, blood is circulating in the... new limb so far."

"There are drugs to suppress immune response, on the Earth I know... and more advanced techniques elsewhere," Rein said.

She shook her head sadly. "If they do not intend it to cause more harm, it most likely will not. But I doubt we can change anything with our powers.

He had been right after all, pride or not...

They were talking about things Kurogane didn't have any prior knowledge of, so he was more or less lost save for the first girl's initial sentiment. Kurogane was, however, able to understand that neither one had an idea for what could be done - he saw as much in the shaken head of the other girl, but her last words sealed it.

There was an urge to lash out and strike the wall beside him, but it remained just an urge. The action would change nothing, and that bastard Landel would still be somewhere out of reach, laughing for what he'd done.

Kurogane gave his head a shake, trying to clear some thoughts and pain alike, then set his eyes on the closer girl once again. He didn't know what to say to her pointing out of a "plus side", but since she had at least tried to help he was not beyond thanking her. Or at the very least trying to. The word was somehow a hard one for him, but eventually he managed after turning his eyes back down and forcing it through pressed lips. "Thanks..."

Raine smiled faintly in response. "Of course."

To be honest, she wanted to get out of there... there was nothing more she could so, and she wasn't going to feel any better until she did.

"You're stable, for now," she said. "Since your friend said he'll be back, we should return to the clinic."

She should offer to give him painkillers, but there was almost no way he would say yes and she just couldn't stay in there much longer. She looked at Reinforce in a silent are you coming? and then slipped out the door.

[[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/578425.html?thread=49109113#t49109113).]]

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Nightshift 39: M31-40 Hallway

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