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sardonic-sprite · 2 years

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Again

Whumptober Day 14 and Day 12 Alt. 1

Batman Fandom, 2k words, Tw: bombs, panic attacks, temporary hearing loss

Ao3 Summary:

"R-red Hood to bats."

It was strange and frightening, to know he was speaking, know what words he said, and yet not hear his own voice. The piercing ring drowned out anything the others might have said in answer.

"Please, I, I need an assist. Bo-... B-bomb. Warehouse District. I'm... I'm stuck."

Jason crept silently through the warehouse, its emptiness setting him on edge. The arms dealers he'd been tracking had hastily abandoned the place two nights ago, and though Jason was investigating to find out why, he didn't want the answer to spring out at him or erupt in his face.

They'd cleaned up remarkably well for such a quick exit, Jason had to admit. No weapons or papers or miscellaneous had been left behind, even in the office. If Jason hadn't been staking the place out for a week preparing his attack, he would have thought it had been abandoned for years. Most areas were even still dusty, despite recent activity.

Thr first floor held no sign of why the dealers would have left. No toxins or structural damage, no indication of a turf fight, but Jason knew they hadn't delivered the shipment yet. He headed upstairs, not expecting to find any information, but hoping to nonetheless.

The first door he opened was to a supply closet with a mouse nest in the corner. The mouse skittered out and ran between his boots, squeaking, and Jason narrowly avoided crushing it as he jumped.

His heart was beating much too fast for a confrontation with a goddamn rodent. He assured himself it was only surprise, and he'd just been jarred to see something alive where everything else was dead and creepy.

He moved on, opening the next door to reveal a nicer office than the one downstairs, clearly meant for a senior manager or someone else more powerful than the floor supervisor. At last, this room held evidence of people's presence: several crates stacked behind the desk in neat piles.

Jason rounded the desk to inspect the crates closer. There were no markings on them, not that anyone was dumb enough to Sharpie illegal weapons on their merchandise. He grabbed one of the knives at his waist and used it to pry up the lid of the nearest crate.

Bright red numbers flashed from 1:00 to 0:59, 0:58, 0:57... and Jason stumbled back, catching his foot on the desk and falling.

Jason, the bomb! Diffuse it!

Tell the big man I said 'hello.'

It's locked!

Hahahahahahahahaha--

He scrambled back to his feet and ran, banging off the doorway in his haste.

0:50, 0:49...

Wait right here, Jason, I'm coming back.

It's ok, dear, he's gone.

Well, lookie here! Seems we've caught a lost little bird, haven't we?

He took the stairs two at a time, eyes on the door, promising himself it wasn't locked. He could make it. He'd be fine.

Then there was only air under his foot and he pitched forward, crying out. He managed to snatch the railing, but felt his ankle snap.

Which hurts more?

0:35, 0:34, 0:33...

0:32...

Or B?

0:31...

"Dad! Dad, help, please, I'm sorry, I can't..."

"Jason?"

He clung to the railing and tried to brace his weight on it, gasping and yelping each time he set down his right foot. Tears spilled down his cheeks, from panic or pain he didn't know.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please, I need you--"

0:24...

"Jason--"

"Hood, where are you?"

He reached the bottom of the stairs. The door was only fifty feet away, but he couldn't run.

0:21, 0:20...

Jason hobbled two steps away from the railing before his ankle gave out. He toppled over, crying out. Voices clamored in his ears and his brain, but he couldn't tell who any of them belonged to, let alone what they said.

0:18...

He wasn't getting out. Couldn't run, couldn't walk, and couldn't crawl fast enough to get out of range. All he could do was drag himself to the space under the stairs and pray they would protect him long enough to be dug out, and not just prolong his death.

0:11...

He curled around himself as tight as his limbs would let him, panting and hiccuping and trying not to completely break down in sobs.

0:06...

"I love you," he whispered, because he couldn't say it last time. Hadn't said it even when he'd gotten the chance back. Knew he might never be able to say it again.

0:02, 0:01...

"Jason!"

All Jason could hear was a shrill shriek, seeming to come more from his head than his surroundings. He thought he might've moaned, but the sound was deafened.

BOOM.

Every part of him was throbbing, but his ankle was the worst of it. It burned so bad he thought his foot might just fall off.

He wondered if that would make it hurt less.

Something wet was all over his face and running down his neck. He thought it might be tears.

But he wasn't dead.

Jason wasn't dead, and he could deal with anything so long as he knew that was true.

He could feel his breath shuddering and stuttering, but couldn't hear it. Couldn't hear anything above that shriek, like the world's highest-pitched bells playing a concert right next to his head. He pressed a hand to his comm, praying it was the source of the noise.

Even if it was, nothing changed.

Jason finally dared to open his eyes. The world was completely black until the nightvision in his helmet came online. All it illuminated was mangled steel and concrete half a foot from his face.

The view was the same in every direction, a tomb of wreckage enclosing him, barely prevented from crushing him by the stairs. He could see no openings for escape, and there wasn't enough room to sit up to try to shift things, either.

Not that he could have anyway.

Jason swallowed tightly, forcibly slowing his breaths at the sight of twisted metal pinning his broken foot to the ground. It looked to be part of the catwalk, but that didn't really matter. His nerves screamed at him just for twitching. There was no way he'd be able to pull himself free.

His hand shook as he pressed his comm again, praying the rubble wasn't deep enough to block the signal.

"R-red Hood to bats."

It was strange and frightening, to know he was speaking, know what words he said, and yet not hear his own voice. The piercing ring drowned out anything the others might have said in answer.

"Please, I, I need an assist. Bo-... B-bomb. Warehouse District. I'm... I'm stuck."

He wanted to believe they heard him. That Bruce had fucked codenames and was calling him Jaylad and promising to come. That Dick was panting over the line as he ran, and Barbara was calling out directions and ETAs. That Tim was demanding a status report and Damian was swearing to murder him if he died.

But with nothing but the shrieking in his ears, it was easier to believe that they didn't know. That he'd die again, slow and alone, and by the time they found him, he'd be nothing more than a body to bury.

"Hood to bats, can anyone hear me? My... I can't... My hearing is compromised, please, can you signal in any other way if you're there?"

Again.

"It was a trap, it was a goddamn trap, and I keep fucking falling for them-- I'm sorry, Dad. God, I'm such an idiot, I'm so... sorry."

"I'm... I'm just... I'm gonna keep, keep talking, if, if that's ok. I just... If I pretend you can hear me, I... it's better. It's... it's just really dark down here, and cramped, and I can't move, and it feels like I'm back in my coffin but I can't dig out this time and..."

A sob.

"I'm scared."

He didn't want to admit it, but he couldn't deny it. There was no sign of rescue. If they'd even acknowledged him, Jason had no way of knowing. And the darkest parts of his mind whispered that they simply may not care. The murderous family black sheep, little better than a traitor, fading away in a grave he'd dug for himself? Mm, such a tragedy. Better worth the time to go save someone without all that blood on their hands.

"I'm scared, Dad." To his throat it felt like a whisper, but for all Jason could hear, he'd screamed. "I don't wanna die again. Not like this. Not before... not before I can, I can fix things. I want to fix things."

He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling tears leaking down his cheeks.

"I wanna go home."

Jason felt his voice break on the word, and he couldn't speak anymore for the sobs wracking his body. He knew it was using up too much air, knew it was useless, knew that if the bats didn't already pity him, it wouldn't change their minds.

But he couldn't stop. He could only wrap his own arms around himself and try to imagine they were Dick's, and close his eyes against the concrete and metal and pretend it was a blanket fort, and cry and cry like he was still a child and his family would come and make everything alright.

Soon enough the world began to spin around him, swirls drilling a hole in his head and making it pound. Something was crushing his ribs, and he couldn't get air. The awful bells were still ringing.

The shrill shrieking was still there, but it had dulled just a little. There was another low hum with it now, but it felt more like a lullaby than an alarm, so Jason was glad to hear it.

And finally, everything went silent.

He could tell he was surrounded by softness and warmth, even the throbbing in his ankle a mere distant annoyance. The most immediate sensation was one he quite liked: a hand stroking carefully over his hair.

Light shone on his eyelids, making them glow a faint red. They felt like they weighed a ton each as he blinked them open to look around.

The room was one he knew well. Creamy walls with earthy green curtains drawn not fully over the window. Oakwood trim all around it, a warm and homey color. A forest landscape painting on one side of the fireplace and a pencil sketch of a Gotham skyline on the other, with a row of framed photographs on the mantle.

And a kind face with weary eyes leaning over him.

"B," he murmured. "You came."

Jason saw the man's lips move, but heard no more than a gentle rumble, like summer thunder.

"I can't hear you," he tried to say.

Bruce's face pinched. He held up his hands where Jason could see them and signed, still speaking, Of course I came, Jason. You're my son.

Jason blinked very rapidly, but it didn't stop the tears. He didn't need sign language to know that Bruce said, Oh, my Jaylad, as bent down to kiss his forehead. He cupped Jason's face in one hand and brushed the tears away with his thumb. Finger spelling with one hand, he swore, I will always come for you, Jason.

"I didn't know if you heard me."

Bruce nodded. It was all he did, but Jason understood it to mean they had heard him. Heard him crying and frightened and falling apart, and he felt his cheeks heating up, because he hadn't meant for anyone to really hear all that he'd said.

But they had heard. And Bruce had come. And Jason was alive and safe and warm and home now.

"Where is everyone?"

Sleeping. It took us several hours to get you out.

"I'm sorry."

"I'd have been dead."

Bruce shook his head, squeezing both Jason's hands before letting go to say, We would have dug for days if we needed to.

Bruce only shook his head again, tears in his eyes. It was startling. Jason couldn't remember ever seeing Bruce cry.

"Shitty. High. I don't know."

How are you feeling? he asked.

Can you hear anything?

Bruce shook his head emphatically. His sign language got a little sloppy in his haste for reassurance, but Jason understood that Leslie had seen him, and his hearing wasn't totally damaged. Thanks to his helmet, he guessed.

"I know that you're talking." Jason swallowed tightly. "Why? Am I..." Going deaf? "Is it gonna be like this forever?"

He sighed in relief and muttered, "Thank God."

Bruce offered him a smile.

You're going to be ok, Jason, he promised.

And Jason believed him.

#whumptober 2022 #day 14 #failed escape #alt prompt 1 #ringing ears #batman #fic #panic attack #bomb #jason todd #bruce wayne

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amusingelf · 2 years

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Lovingly lied to myself and said that I would make 4 of these and it’s already week 2... Arrogance is clearly my folly😂

Anyway, whumptober prompts; shaking hands, ringing ears, tears, whimpering (it’s there, I promise), and the big one, sensory overload.

#arcane #silco #young silco #whumptober #sensory overload #tears #whimpering #ringing ears #shaking hands #amusingelf #my art

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pegasister60 · 2 years

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ALT NO.1

| Ringing Ears |

The room’s gone quiet but your heartbeat’s so loud. You let go of Diana and get off your chair.

You don’t regret grabbing her. You don’t even regret doing it in front of your coworkers. But you did it in front of your coworkers.

The ones you were trying very hard to seem well-behaved and responsible for (you're both those things, but this isn't a good look for you). The ones that are looking at you with that sad understanding that you didn’t want.

Because they don’t understand. They don’t know you at all. They’re never going to see you for the whole you’re a part of ever again. You’ve botched this majorly.

You should leave.

You don't need the Wisdom to know that your patrons wouldn't fucking hesitate to sling the lightning bolt through the watchtower's windows. Big form is an option but it really isn't. Why did you let them take you to a secondary location?

Whumptober: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, ALT 12, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, ALT 1, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31.

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echoing--stars · 2 years

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Whumptober Day 1: Ringing Ears

Hello! I decided to attempt Whumptober this year and I have no self control, so some of them are getting pretty long. Instead of posting the full things on tumblr, I'm going to post WIP snippets - proofread, but not beta'd - and then post them a few at a time over on Ao3 throughout the next two months.

So without further ado, here's day 1! CW: minor injuries, aftermath of explosions

The smoke was already clearing by the time he reached the champion. Warriors dropped to his knees next to where Wild lay on the ground, unmoving. He was covered in ash, but Warriors couldn’t see any burns. There was, however, a trickle of blood running down his temple.

Warriors swore under his breath. They shouldn’t move Wild, but it wasn’t safe to leave him here either. Before he could make up his mind, Hyrule ran towards him.

“Twilight and Time are mostly fine, just disoriented. The rancher can’t walk in a straight line.”

Hyrule knelt beside Wild and started assessing his condition. Warriors recognized the process from his own first aid training, though he hadn’t realized Hyrule used the same methods.

From further into the clearing, closer to where the bombs had exploded, Warriors heard the sounds of weapons clanking and heavy footsteps. He stood, drawing his sword. “I’ll hold them off and send Sky to help you as soon as I find him. You’ll be okay?”

“Aye, captain.” Hyrule glanced up just long enough to shoot him a smirk

Warriors smiled in response, grateful for the traveler’s attempt to lighten the mood, in spite of the dire situation.

He turned to face the monsters. He had plenty of experience with fighting while outnumbered, and besides, the rest of the heroes would join him soon.

#lu warriors #lu hyrule #lu wild #whumptober2022 #no.1 #ringing ears #linked universe #fanfic #minor injuries #Worm Writes #altprompt

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mnmovdoom · 2 years

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DAY 2 - Ringing Ears (SW: Luke Skywalker & Darth Vader)

Finding a new lightsaber was proving to be quite hard - not that Luke would admit it aloud.

His last Force-provided errand resulted in nothing. The woman from the vision didn’t have a lightsaber for him, nor training, nor encouragement to offer. Luke guesses he’s just glad to walk away with his life and with the knowledge that drowning is indeed a very unpleasant thing.

So maybe this planet will have what he’s looking for. It better have, because Luke is reaching the middle of his list and… he really doesn’t want to go back to the Rebellion empty-handed. He can’t .

“Let’s see if we can find something in here, R2,” Luke says absentmindedly as his X-wing enters atmosphere, breaking through a veil of dark, ominous clouds. It’s not raining yet, and the closer Luke gets to the surface, the more grateful he is for that: this planet seems to be a vast, endless prairie of undulating grass. There are no settlements, abandoned temples, shelters in sight… which is very disheartening. In theory, there should be at least ruins of a Jedi temple, that’s why this planet is on the list.

So Luke keeps flying, not too high as to not miss anything, but even with R2’s aid in scanning their surroundings, a whole planet is too vast to be combed through like this by a lone X-wing.

To make things brighter, it starts raining.

“Great…” Luke grumbles, lifting his eyes to the sky to scowl at the clouds.

Seemingly taking offence for being scowled at, the clouds roar and unleash thunder and lightning. Quickly diverting his gaze from the searing flash of light, Luke shrinks a little into his flight suit and decides that flying lower is safer.

I think we should leave… says his navicomputer, translating R2’s worried beeps.

“I want to see what else there is on this planet, R2… If it’s on the list, it’s because-” The last of his words are lost in a curse as lightning strikes the X-wing. Communication between him and R2 is immediately dead, and so is the navicomputer. Momentarily blind from the flash of light, Luke panics and forgets to use the Force to guide himself, instead piloting manually in what he frantically hopes is still a straight horizontal course parallel to the ground.

He blinks once, he blinks twice, and just as the white burned into his retinas begins to fade, he has the impression that the vast green prairie below his ship is approaching him. The Force wails in warning, but in his distress, Luke fumbles with it like it’s foreign to him. Even so, he manages a crash landing instead of a complete nose-dive, and even though he hits his head so hard his helmet cracks and his vision goes black for a couple of seconds, Luke thinks he did a pretty good job.

Though, he could do without the headache. And without the insistent, loud ringing in his ears. It’s like pressure is building inside his skull, just under his brain, and threatening to explode. It simmers and throbs and stings, forcing Luke to screw his eyes shut for a moment longer. Groaning, he pulls out his helmet with shaky hands and presses his hands to each side of his head, cradling it as he slumps forward miserably.

“Kark…” he grunts, rubbing his hands in circles, but the pressure keeps building, keeps throbbing, and the ringing in his ears makes him sluggish, clumsy, disoriented. “Kark… R2?!”

If there’s an answer, the ringing in Luke’s ears mutes it. It even seems to muffle the rain. With another groan, Luke forces his eyes open and raises his head slowly, to look through the front shield - cracked at the bottom - and find that the socket where R2 should be nestled is empty. The sudden panic pumps enough adrenaline into his system to make him fumble to unstrap himself, but when he tries to open the cockpit canopy he finds out he can’t - not manually, at least. In a surge of annoyance, Luke raises a hand abruptly and the canopy skyrockets like it was never stuck in the first place. Shaking, Luke then hoists himself out of the cockpit and tumbles gracelessly onto the ground, falling face-first on the wet, long grass.

The fall only jostles his head some more, increasing his headache and the ringing to such a point that, for a few moments, Luke is too stunned to do as much as pushing himself up. The cold rain pelts his body with sharp stings, and it won’t take long for his flight suit to get soaked.

I could really use a hand right now… Luke thinks miserably, the thought going in circles in his mind. He needs to find R2 and then shelter, because with the canopy gone to kark knows where, the X-wing is no longer a proper shelter. Oh kriff, the cockpit is going to be ruined under all the rain, how will Luke even manage to fix it and-

Luke?

The booming, too familiar voice echoes in Luke’s mind, momentarily muting the ringing in Luke’s ears. It startles him so much that Luke finds himself on his feet, shaking and looking around with wide eyes.

I can feel your distress. I felt your call for help.

“Get off my head…” Luke mutters weakly, slapping the side of his head like it will solve his problem. It just increases his headache, it just makes him stagger and lean on his charred X-wing for support.

I will find you, my son.

No no no, this is bad, very bad. Luke shakes his head, trying to dismiss the voice of his fath- of Vader , but it only makes him feel dizzy and he can’t push himself away from his X-wing. The ringing in his ears seems to get worse too, and without even realising, Luke is on his knees, having the faint impression the planet he’s on is a bit… unsteady right now.

Kark, he has to find R2 and they need to get out of this place!! Forcing himself to breathe, Luke scrambles to his feet and trudges away from the crashed X-wing, looking around. The torrential rain seems to form a wall that conceals his surroundings wherever he looks, and all around him, the prairie stretches on endlessly. The ringing in his ears keeps pestering him, muffling the sound of the rain and even his own voice as he calls for R2. Figuring his astromech must’ve fallen when the ship first hit the ground, Luke stumbles in the opposite direction, following the shallow trench dug by his ship after it hit the ground and continued to slide through the grass. It’s a few metres, and when Luke reaches the first place of impact, the pounding and throbbing inside his skull is so much that he needs to crouch down to steady himself.

“R2!” he calls out, looking around. But the rain keeps hammering him down, the elastic grass continues to undulate peacefully… except… there, to the right, there’s R2’s bottom sticking out of the grass! He must have fallen dome-first on the ground. With a fond chuckle, Luke reaches out with a hand and, closing his eyes to focus, he plucks R2 out of the ground and makes him float towards him.

Of course, R2 isn’t too happy about floating through the air, neither about the mud covering his dome and photoreceptor. Gently, Luke sets him down, grabs a handful of wet grass, and tries to wipe R2 as best as he can.

“We need to get out of here, R2. Vader said he was coming-” A very worried beep. “-I’ll tell you about it later! We need to fix my ship… and I need to find the cockpit canopy, it can’t be that far…”

But maybe, he should wait until it stops raining. And resting will certainly fix the ringing in his ears, that’s slowly yet steadily driving him mad. Hopefully, the headache will disappear as well… The way his X-wing crashed, Luke can get a little cover from the rain - it won’t keep him dry, even because he’s soaked already, but at least he won’t be constantly pelted down by the rain…

~~~

The rain doesn’t stop.

Luke is soaked to the marrow and shivering and the ringing in his ears has become a steady, infuriating buzzing that Luke has failed to ignore by focusing on the sound of rain and by meditating. His headache has dulled a little, but Luke is still sluggish and moving too much makes him sick, so he’s been sitting on the wet grass under the humble protection of his ship for hours now. He’s starving and freezing, the rations he salvaged from a closed compartment in the cockpit are now as soaked as he is, and R2, working alone, hasn’t finished repairs.

Not that a repaired ship can leave atmo without the cockpit canopy… which Luke would gladly go look for, if only he got a break from the rain and the headache and the buzzing in his ears.

“I should’ve listened to you…” Luke laments when R2 trudges by, having trouble with moving about in the rain and tall grass. The astromech makes a reproachful beep that makes Luke sigh tiredly. “I’ll listen next time… As soon as it stops raining, I’ll go look for the canopy and-” The rest of the sentence is lost in a gasp.

The buzzing in Luke’s ears is suddenly, brutally muffled by the Force thrumming in expectation. It reverberates through Luke’s skull, soothing his headache momentarily and dissolving in his bloodstream.

The Force only acts like this when…

“R2, we need to go!!” Hurriedly, Luke scrambles to his feet and stumbles out of shelter. The sudden commotion intensifies his headache and his vision swims for a second.

Still, too close to comfort, Luke sees the black void in the shape of his father walking towards him.

And the buzzing in his ears vanishes, replaced by the haunting kish-kosh of Vader’s breathing.

#whumptober2022 #no.2 #ringing ears #altprompt #Star Wars #fic #Darth Vader #Luke Skywalker #my writing

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kbandtrash · 1 year

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we did it.

We saw N.Flying? We met them? They’re real? It wasn’t an elaborate prank?

#hearing damage #ringing ears #back pain #legs dead #but we are blessed #so very blessed #golly gee #n.flying #nflying concert #AAAAAHHHHHHH #this is Megan by the way Rachel had to delete tumblr for video space

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not-your-housekeeper98 · 2 years

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Whumptober Day 26

Ringing Ears (Alt Prompt 1)

Superman and Lois: Season 1 Episode 4

#whumptober 2022 #no.26 #ringing ears #altprompt #superman and lois #gif #whumpedit

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mysticdragon3md3 · 1 year

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youtube

"What’s that ringing in your ears? - Marc Fagelson" by TED-Ed

#hearing #ears #tinitus #sound #ringing ears #science #anatomy #analysis #Youtube

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fox-the-artist-fruit-canid · 2 years

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Whumptober Writing

day{dia} 1 + day{dia} 6

Prompts: 'this wasn´t supose to happen' & 'i got a pulse'

Alt prompt:ringing ears

Posible trigers: explosion mention-explosion injurys mention-burns mention-blood mention-posible character dead mention-lost eye mention-slight insult mention

characters:mis the irken-saeri the defective-onyx the irken(+extras)

fandom:invader zim

au:defective lotus ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

His head hurted like hell...

In fact his whole body hurted like hell,like if he just got hit by a voot crusier at max speed.

The only thing he could hear was an horrible and strong ringing in his ears,that seemed to increase as he tried to open his eyes,said eyes feelt heavy and were hard to open.

And still if he opened his eyes his vision was almost completly blurry becoming more clear at times but becoming blurry again,till afther a time he was able to see almost correctly with his vision blurryng a bit from time to time.

He looked as much as he could to his surroundings still confused and in pain,triying to help his head to remember what left him in this situacion.

Or that was until his eyes localized a familiar green skined figure in the ground,laying facing up in an very uncomfterble position in betwen some rocks,surrounded by an brihgt fucsia like splat he fastly recognized as blood. same blood he could see coming from him.

'what happened...?' thougt to himself as he tried to remember what happened in that place but the none stop now a bit lower ringing wasn't helping.

As he was triying to remember he capted an disgusting smell that was a mix in bettwen burned meat and overly melted plastic,to wich he frowned in disgust before noticing it was coming from him and the other body not so far from him.

Said smell was coming from the burn injurys both had and he could see in his own arm wich...well...loocked like an very burned stick of meat but somehow was still functional as he moved his fingers sligtly,an horrible descision,as inmediatly afther an shock of absolute pain,letting out an short agony and pained scream he almost didn't heard.

But the other one was in a way worse condition than him to the point he doubted the other was still alive...

Then someting clicked in his mind,suddenly remembering what happend and why they were here.

It was all the fault of an idiot who tought was a good idea throwing an 'unactive' strong explosive,aka a fucking 25 meters range plasma granade,wich throw him and his partner fliying arround 8 or more meters away afther the explosion leaving both of them severaly injured.

And more taking in count they were way to close to the explosive,being that the reason he was here exactely,afther all he's team partner and who he called a friend,was just left to die in the most close place posible in the explosives devasting range without warning or time to leave for being shoved multiple times by the panicked irkens who run far away of the explosive.

He tried to get her away or at least cover her of the explosion as well but aparently he failed as he could wach in an now growing horror to his friend's aparently lifeless corpse surrounded in blood and heavily burned...

He's stomach did a flip,as his breathing went heavier and he started to shake in a mix from strong emotions of anger,sadness,worry,guilt and impotence he felt right now adding to tha some sort of start of a panick attack or mental breakdown for not being able to help in the less minimun.

By now hiss vision started to become blurrier with the now forming tears in his eyes and the ringing in his ears that started to become louder and louder until at some point his body weakend and his eyes were starting to shut as he felt sick and an overwhelming dizziness before everything went dark.

His eyes tried to open up again as lazy as before but not as forced,his head and his whole body still hurted like hell,he looked arround avoiding the rock were his partner was.

He's not sure how much time passed since he fainted,but the ringing isn't as louder as before and his vision is less blurry.

Now being abble to hear sligtly fast foot steps and a bit muffled voices he couldn't reconice well coming closer,seing blurred like figures come in of wich one went directly for his friends to check her.

He saw at the other figure came closer now being able to recognize it,or better said her,she was in join with his partner a close friend of his,and as well his other teammate,she as well was an irken still if she didn't look like one and resembled more an giant amber eyed lizard.

She is an defective afther all,saeri was her name,but one thing was concerning him afther all she used to have both eyes opened and the obvious streak of dried pink blood under her rigt was saying much.

He couldn't understand well what she was saying but sure thing she was very worried,one of his antenae was making the mision of hearing her even more hard,becuse it wasn't responsive almost at all to any sound and if it did,it sounded heavily distorted,this including his internal ear.

The ringing to this point was practicaly not there but everything sounded muffled,especially the most and surely more damaged side of his body,being the left side and said side was the same of his low to no responding antenae.

But he could hear her better now,as well as to the medic irken that was looking at onix his other injured teammate,both him and saeri now loocked in the same direction...

Meanwhile the medical irken still was examining their other teammate worried about her almost mortal injuries.

Silence,silence and more silence before one of them decided to speak.

"how bad is the damage...?" an fourth irken asked surely another medic that was waiting instructions to act.

He remained silence still searching for a proof of life till he recived one "critical still...she's alive...i got a pulse...it's light and soft but is a very slow one..." said the medic looking at his medical partner "help me take her out,once you finish come back and give a hand to the cadets" he said imponent and demanding to the other one.

"yes,sir! " the answer was short an clear as he in join with the leader were prepearing to take the other.

The high range medic looked at her and calmly said "afther all he may be injured but at least he is awake" he was looking with a questioning glance at the defective almost like asking her if she could try to at least lift his teammate to move him out of his own blood and as far from the explosion zone as posible.

She noded a few times with the head as the other two carefully taked her other teammate body and retired with it going to the mobile medbay they had,to give her a well conditioned first aid so later they could transfer her to a better location and to preserve her life.

She loocked at her partner direction not sure if she could move him without hurting him or if she could lift him especialy when he clearly seemed not able to move well by his own.

But afther some hesitation she decided to do it hearing him groan clearly in agony,maybe he didn't weight more than when he was younger but still this wasn't easy especialy since he was almost completly dead weigth.

And being blinded of one eye wasn't helpfull at all either to find the way to the med bay by her own,and still her partner wasn't going to be helpful in that afther all he was more unconsious than awake in this moments...

Hours may passed since he last blacked out and now he recognized an completly different enviroment that was very familiar afther all it was the base med bay,as best as his still lazy eyes could recognize,afther all it havent pass much since he was awake.

How he got there was confusing and very blurred in his memories afther all he can remember was seing the medical irkens and his other partner,not much later the medics taking onix corpse and from there are only blurred images.

"finally you are awake...i was starting to think you were in coma or something" he heard a familiar voice coming from his side in a relived and kinda sarcastic tone mostly in the last sentence.

He growled at the person a bit while he looked at her "is not the time for joking saeri..." he said with a tiredly tone and a very serious and cold voice.

"ohhh! i'm sorry for being worried about you! Mr bitter wassp..." she said a bit angry with a sarcastic,false apologetic tone,acting a bit ofended for the other words,when in reality even if in fact she was mad at him she was also very worried for his friend.

"..."he didn't said anything closing a bit his eyes at the hidden insult he could notice she trown at him,he tried to move but he not much later he let out a hiss of pain slip from his mouth at a almost electrical shock that came from his most damaged arm "fuck!...arg..."he growled in agony as the other looked at him more worried that before.

"don't move that arm you idiot! or you would reopen your injuries! " she said in a mix of worry and nerves as ahe looked at him hearing a very tired sigh come from him.

"uhg...alright....any notice of onyx? " he asked more than worried for their other friend,she remained silence as he looked at her noticing a bandage covering a big portion of her face in the left side.

Wich bandage was almost completly covering her eye wich judding for the big pink plaster of almost neon pink-magenta blood in the bandages,said eye was no longer there.

"...i...they didn't say anything yet...but...i'm starting to think she didn't make it..." she said with all the honesty she had being met with silence.

"...."he remained silent for a bit longer before taking a deep breathe as he closed his eyes "this wasn't supossed to happend...not like this..." he said as he used his good arm to cover his eyes.

"especialy not to her over all irkens..." she compleated as she left out a heavy and sad sight "your brother will come to see you later...in the meantime ill stay arround..." she said as he make a noise of agrement,as to wich she just stayed on the chair as both waited for some notice of their friend or the brother of the taller one to arrive. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- i finally finished this...dear god....

also sorry if you notice any tipo or my writing is strange to look at is becuse inglish isn't my born lenguage and i'm not very fluid with this kind of writing.

oh and one last thing this is my firts time doing or participaing on something as big as an event like this,and into writing this kind of things in general,so i hope you enjoy my work.

i hope you a very pleasant morning,evening or nigth.

made by:crow the bird made out of cactus.

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honmyoseagull · 2 years

Link

Chapters: 2/2 Characters: Daken Akihiro, Lester | Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter

Here we are, last prompt of whumptober 2002 !!! Don't expect much depth this time.

Summary: They’re Dark Avengers. ‘Peace and quiet’ is probably not their forte. But ‘kill and noise’? That, Bullseye and Daken can deal with. Well… probably.

#whumptober2022 #no.25 #silence is golden #duct tape #you better start talking #alt prompt 1 #ringing ears #marvel #fanfic #daken #daken akihiro #bullseye #mild bullsnikt #gratuitous whump

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lizzyverydizzyyo · 2 years

Text

D.E.A.N | Chapter 21 - Race

Masterlist and overall summary of the whole novel is here. | Prompt on trope-appreciation-tuesdays that inspired this is here. | @whumptober-archive

Fandom : Original Work

(I) (II) (III) (IV) (V) (VI) (VII) (VIII) (IX) (X) (XI) (XII) (XIII) (XIV) (XV) (XVI) (XVII) (XVIII) (XIX) (XX) (XXI) (XXII) (XXIII) (XXIV) (XXV) (XXVI) (XXVII) (XXVIII) (XXIX) (XXX) (XXXI - END)

AO3

A/N 16/11/23: Anyway, out of concern for people who can't stomach medical procedures, especially ones that are so gory and bloody, you can skip the rest of the chapter to the bottom notes, like the previous chapter.

Wordcount: ± 4665

TW: Graphic Depiction of Medical Procedure, Blood and Gore, Graphic Depiction of Suicide Attempt Aftermath, Weapon, Knife, Fire, Cauterization

There is a very small window of time before their charge’s injury is going to kill him, and Mark and the others have to move fast before it’s too late.

Whumptober 2022 Tropes:

Day 5 — Every Whumpee’s Needs | Blood Loss

Day 7 — The Way You Shake and Shiver | Shaking Hands + Silent Panic Attack

Day 7 Alt. — Tears

Day 8 — Everything Hurts and I’m Dying | Stomach Pain

Day 8 Alt. — Whimpering

Day 11— “911, What’s Your Emergency?” | Sloppy Bandages

Day 12 Alt. — Adrenaline Crash

Day 14 — Die A Hero or Live Long Enough to Become a Villain | Desperate Measures

Day 19 — Enough Is Enough | Knees Buckling

Day 24 — Fight, Flight or Freeze | Blood Covered Hands

Day 26 Alt. — Ringing Ears

Day 27 — Pushed to the Limit | Muffled Screams

Day 29 Alt. — Emergency Blanket

-----

Marcus bodily slams into the med bay door with his back, thundering heartbeat and sense of urgency giving him unprecedented strength. The sound is loud, but he supposes with everything happening, no one really cares enough to be irritated or inclined to scold him.

Angie is walking behind him, and as he turns slightly to the left, she immediately swoops in with body slightly turned to the side so she can enter the doorway alongside Mark. She immediately goes to the corner of the room where a cart full of their medical supplies is located.

Her steps and gait are sure without being forceful, unlike Mark who, besides carrying Nick, is blundering through everything loudly and forcefully. If he isn’t so focused on carrying Nick and looking at his face, he would probably ponder the fact that Angie used to be EMS before going to police academy, which is why her moves and footing are firm and measured without sacrificing speed.

She opens the drawer quickly, throwing over her shoulder, "Lay him down on the bed," then she quickly turns to Mark, "don't put his legs higher than his body."

Mark dutifully follows her instruction and walks to the bed quickly, depositing Nikolai carefully then holds the back of black-haired head to let it down gently.

Nick blinks up groggily and squeezes his eyes towards the neon light. On the other side, the other agents file in gravely and quickly. Their eyes are wide and scared, almost. Mark only throws a millisecond look at them before looking down at Nick again.

His hands go towards Nick's wound with knife still protruding from it, fingers going to the part where the fabric is torn, gingerly putting his two index fingers on both sides of the opening.

"Don't touch the wound!"

Mark whips his head towards Angie who is still quickly rummaging through the cart.

"Come here," she then calls to him, hand holding a bottle of disinfectant liquid.

Marcus walks to her quickly, giving out his hands as Angie presses the pump of the bottle and it squirts the transparent liquid onto his palms. He immediately rubs it all over his palms just as Angie squirts some onto her own hands and rubbing it in.

He walks back to Nick, still with others just standing around, not knowing what to do.

He supposes, just like Anderson who is still miles more skilled than any of them with his expertise in cybersecurity and system penetration, Angie is more skilled than any of them in emergency first aid despite their standard intermediate first aid training. It's no wonder she moves quickly and fluidly when it comes to what to do now.

"Did any of you call Doctor Lowe?" she asks with irritated voice when she sees them all crowding the room while looking like deer in headlight.

Luke, who is unknowingly outside all this time, immediately steps in while jogging, saying, "Yes, yes, I did. I don't know how long he will arrive. He just said to us to make sure he breathes normally and put pressure on the wound."

"No shit," she mumbles to no one in particular, hands full with gauze and bottles and—

He doesn't know. He can't think. He is just going to trust her to direct him.

"Rip his clothes," she firmly tells him as she approaches the bed.

He hooks his now disinfected index fingers again to the ripped part of Nick's shirt and puts all of his strength to rip it even more, the sound loud and grounding to his scrambling mind. Unfortunately, the sleeves of the shirt prevent the clothes from being ripped completely from Nick's body, but at least they have enough area to work with the wound.

Nick's hand shakily rises up to touch his forearm, pushing gently.

"Just.... just—" he whispers, eyes squeezed again with tears falling to his temples, "...let me go."

He then stares at Mark with a surprisingly firm and steady gaze, even if the eyes look pleading and devastated.

"No," Mark quickly says, "I'm not fucking doing that."

Nick chokes out a sob then turns back to look at the light above him. His face is paler now.

Angie plops the stuff she is carrying to the small space next to Nick's arm on the bed. "We're gonna help you, okay, honey?" she says to Nick with an uncharacteristically motherly and personal voice.

"No," Nick whispers again, "no, please."

Angie looks at Nick's face with her own sad eyes, saying, "We're really sorry we didn't do our job well. But give us a chance to do better. Don't give up yet."

She then pulls the gauze from the pile she just took, not caring about how much she grabs, then puts it around the knife to push still at Nick's thin abdomen.

Nick whimpers and squeezes his eyes again.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry," she says again to Nick as he looks visibly more in pain at the pressure.

"What... what do we do?" Mark hears Don's shaky voice.

Mark is about to scream at him to get out, but Angie beats him to it.

"Get the fuck out of here," she hisses without looking up, " you too, Anna. He definitely doesn't want you both here."

Angry looks pass through their faces momentarily, before changing back into regretful faces. They probably realize they don't deserve to be personally offended as they're being singled out. Eventually, they walk backwards towards the door then turn around to walk out as they throw another pained look at Nick.

"All of you, stop blocking the door! Stand somewhere else!"

The remaining agents then hurriedly walk to the walls and the corners of the room at Angie's command where they're not crowding Mark and Angie.

"What do I do?" Mark now asks urgently at her.

Angie lets go of her hold against the gauze to grab the bottle of disinfectant she grabbed, tilting her chin towards the area. Mark just takes it to mean that he should replace her hands for putting pressure on the wound while Angie is busy with the bottle.

She presses the disinfectant pump, smearing blood onto it, to squirt quite a lot of the liquid into a new layer of gauze. She then pulls Mark's hands away slightly so that the gauze already there spread out from the protruding knife. She puts the new disinfected gauze closer to the wound opening inside the circle of gauze she placed previously.

"Help me hold the gauze around it," she points around the disinfected gauze she is currently pushing.

Nick whimpers again, louder this time with gritted teeth.

"Get a fabric, give him something to bite."

Mark just whips his head around, panic filling his mind when he can't find anything to use.

"Just get more gauze," she hisses irritably at him.

He pulls up his arm, which is then immediately replaced by Angie's so that she fully pushes the gauzes by herself. Mark then walks to the cart, opening the drawers urgently while trying to ignore the blood on his fingers. He finds more gauze and grabs only the corner so that there is non-bloody part Nick can bite.

"Here," he says to Nick. Nick responds by opening his eyes and turning his head slightly to face him, parting his lips only very slightly.

That's good. That's really good. He seems like he is starting to let them help him.

Mark puts the fabric between Nick's teeth, then he bites down, his lips slightly trembling.

Angie's left fingers are still in the form of circle around the knife while pushing down on the first layer of crumpled gauze to put pressure. As Mark watches on, Angie starts to pull away her right hand while still gripping the second layer of gauze with disinfectant in it.

When Angie starts to rub the wound opening quite close to the knife with the soaked gauze, Nick immediately squeezes his eyes again with a surprisingly loud scream and back arching from the bed.

Angie automatically flings one forearm towards Nick's chest to push him down, while Mark instinctively grabs his knees and pushes down at them too.

"No, no, don't move, the knife is still there," she tells him with steady voice and gaze.

She tsks worriedly then looks up at the other agents around the room. Her gaze immediately falls on Lena.

"Lena!"

The aforementioned agent looks up to Angie's face.

"Come here, calm him down," Angie says to them, "he's most comfortable with you." She then throws a look to her left where Mark is standing while she's still holding down the gauze around the knife. "Aside, from you, I guess."

Lena walks unsurely, probably not confident that they're not going to make things worse.

"Come here!" Angie calls out more, and Lena immediately strides towards the bed to the top of Nick's head.

Lena puts their arms gently to the bed with palms touching and slightly squeezing Nick's shoulders. They murmur things softly to Nick, something along the lines of, it's okay, everything's gonna be okay, yeah? Just hold on. They then reach an arm towards Nick's on the bed, but jerkily stops to look at Angie.

"Can I hold his hand?"

Angie throws a slight look at Lena then nods. "Probably a good idea to make sure his hands don't touch the knife."

Lena quickly reaches out to Nick's arms and holds the palms, pulling them up so that they bend at the elbows, while Lena's own elbows are pressed on the side of the pillow to support their leaning body. They continue murmuring soothingly to Nick.

"Mark, get more gauze," Angie commands curtly again.

Mark stares at the wound with gauze getting more and more swallowed by red. There is plenty already there around the knife.

"Quickly!"

Mark jolts and immediately strides towards the cart again, grabbing more gauze as much as he can from the open drawer haphazardly. He brings it to Angie who receives it with one hand without looking. She quickly but gently stuffs it again around the knife, almost making a mount around the weapon.

"I need to stabilize the knife so that it doesn't move around," she explains at Mark's questioning look.

A few minutes later after that, the red still spreads out quickly, soaking the gauze, even as Nick doesn't move around anymore at the pressure put on his abdomen.

"Fuck," Angie hisses, "it's not slowing down."

Mark can also notice that as he stares at the wound. When he looks at Nick's face, his eyes are half-lidded, and his consciousness seems to be dwindling fast.

Angie looks at Nick with face betraying her fear. Even she is starting to panic.

She squeezes her eyes, gears visibly turning in her head as she is thinking of something. At one point, she opens her eyes wide then looks at Luke, who is standing in her direct line of vision next to the doorway.

"Get me our blowtorch. And two small steel bars—or any metal that's sturdy and long but thin. We have some, right? For building rack or awning and stuff?" she says quickly and almost frantically.

Luke furrows his eyebrows, visibly confused by her barrage of requests.

"I don't—we don't have—I mean do we have some—"

"Just find some!" she yells again.

Luke immediately moves his legs to run out.

"At least 2 and a half feet long and 2 inches wide at most!" she yells out as Luke is just out of the doorway.

He pauses a little and yells back, "Okay!" before running again.

Angie looks towards Anderson this time, who for once is looking like he is panicking and heavily affected, unlike his usual breezy attitude.

"Get me duct tape and as many towels as you can find, or any fabric thick and big."

Anderson reacts faster than Luke before, immediately running out without questioning her.

"Oh fuck," she exclaims now, closing her eyes in frustration.

Mark looks worriedly at her, as Lena does.

At everyone's seemingly panicked looks at her exclamation, Angie schools her expression and says with steady voice, "I just forgot to ask for cutter."

"We have scissors here," Mark tells her, furrowing his eyebrows.

Angie widens her eyes almost excitedly.

"Yeah, shit, I'm so dumb. Of course, we have scissors here," she quickly responds.

"I'll get it."

Mark walks back to the cart, absently thinking about how many times he went back and forth between the cart and the bed. He rummages through the contents of the drawer again and finds stainless steel medical grade scissors then brings them back to Angie.

When she receives it, she just puts it on the bed. Mark looks questioningly at her again.

"For the duct tape later. I can't rip it. It's gonna disturb the knife."

Another few minutes pass, and they all hear running steps closing in on the med bay. Then Luke and Anderson poke into the room. Luke is holding the long steel bars on one hand and blowtorch on the other hand that he hangs down. Anderson is carrying mounds of blankets and towels on his forearm with duct tape on top. They approach the bed across Mark and Angie while holding on to the stuff they grabbed.

"Two small steel bars, thin and only 2 inches wide. They're 3 feet long," Luke says, adding unsurely, "I think."

Angie throws a look at the stuff Luke is bringing.

"Good enough. The blowtorch?"

Luke raises his other hand, presenting the item.

"Blankets, fabric, whatever, and duct tape." Anderson informs this time.

"Thanks," Angie throws in absently.

She takes a deep breath then lets it out, looking at the things they both brought, seemingly arranging her mind on how to execute her plan, whatever it is.

Nick looks down on her weakly, still with the gauze in his mouth but not bitten. It looks wet with his saliva that the blood on the corner of the gauze is spreading into faded red close to his lips.

"Okay," she eventually says, holding out her hands as Mark immediately replaces them again with his own to keep putting pressure on the still bleeding wound. Luke slowly turns his palm to make the metals horizontal, giving it to her.

Angie holds both of them tight, hands slowly sliding towards the two ends.

"Anderson, put down your stuff and walk here."

He complies quickly, bending down to put his items on the floor next to him then straightening up in quick succession. He walks around the bed to Nick's right where Mark and Angie are standing.

"You too, Luke. Walk here behind me."

Luke then jogs to stand behind three of them.

"Hold them down on this end," she says, pointing to the metals’ end closest to Anderson. He complies quickly again.

Angie slides her hands again carefully to the other end, separating the two metals slightly then pushing them down slowly. Anderson simply follows her movement while holding his steel end together, leaving some space to slide the blade of the dagger in-between.

Angie holds the ends of the two metal bars, putting the dagger's blade gently in the middle, leaving only a few inches beside the sharp side where Anderson is still holding them together. She leaves the other end that she is holding at over two feet in length.

"What are you doing?" Mark asks suspiciously, worried that whatever Angie is doing is going to injure Nick more.

She doesn't heed him, focusing on placing the steel carefully.

The ends of the steels she is holding are still separated, as opposed to Anderson's. He doesn't dare to change his hold without command from Angie.

"Okay, I'm gonna pull these up so it's pointing up. Hold your end steady," she says to Anderson. He nods, and Mark is still clueless.

Angie pulls the other ends of the metal with everyone in the room watching raptly, making sure to do it carefully so that it doesn't actually touch or move the knife on Nikolai's torso.

Once the steel bars are roughly at 45 degree above Nick, she holds both steels’ ends together again really tight, making sure the knife is stuck between them.

"Mark, get the duct tape."

He doesn't waste time following her command, glad to have something to do.

"Okay, where do I stick it?"

Angie points to the end that Anderson is still holding, then she points at the end she is holding as she says, "And this.”

Mark pulls out the end of the duct tape to cut half a foot piece, and then cuts another with the same length.

Anderson moves his hands one by one to change his hold to beside the dull side of the knife so that Mark can duct tape the spot he held before. After that, Anderson goes back to holding the end that's now securely stuck together.

Mark does the same thing with Angie's end.

"Okay, now the blanket."

Mark goes around the bed again to where Anderson put the fabrics before since the other man is occupied.

"Wrap one around your end," pointing at Anderson's hold, "then hold the bottom of it so the weight isn't on his stomach."

Even compliant, Anderson and the others all still look confused at Angie's commands.

Angie seems to not care, reaching out one hand to Mark to ask for another fabric without looking. Mark just gives one to her, quiet despite his continual puzzlement. She now wraps the towel around her end then steps to the side a little bit so that there is a space for Mark to stand.

"Luke," she calls out to behind her, "give the blowtorch to Mark and prepare to hold Nick's leg."

Mark receives it with his right hand, palm instinctively wrapping around the hold with index finger at the trigger.

"Keep away from Nick's left side, all right?"

Everyone nods at her loud warning.

She inhales deeply again, looking like even she is unsure about this.

"I'm going to cauterize his wound with the knife, and I can't do it directly because it's too close to his body. So I'm heating it up through these two metals."

There is understanding in everyone's face now that she explains why she is telling everyone to do what she asked before.

She then turns towards Nick's face with an apologetic expression.

"I'm really sorry, bud."

Nick just blinks blearily. Mark doesn't think he is even cognizant enough to know what she is saying.

"Don't touch the knife or the metal," she warns Anderson then nods at Mark.

With some remaining doubt in his mind, Mark eventually presses the blowtorch trigger and everyone near the bed leans away to the side. Mark steps back slightly so that only his right hand holding the blowtorch is close. He fires the twin steels in the middle, away from Anderson's and Angie's holds.

The fire burning is loud, even though it still doesn't rival his thundering heartbeats in his eardrums, and the four people around him are visibly trying hard to hold their position steady.

The rest of them just watch carefully.

After a few minutes, he can tell that the air is hot with the dancing transparent heat around the blowtorch, yet neither metal bar hasn't changed color to tell them that it's heating up enough, let alone for the knife. Five of them look at the gauze on the wound, and the red is still spreading and darkening.

"Fuck, it doesn't heat up fast enough," Angie hisses again as she is firmly holding her hands' position.

"You think it's safe if I get another one?" their commanding officer asks this time.

"Okay, just get another."

Horace then steps out of the room at Angie's response.

There is a distant clanking sound before Horace shows up again with another blowtorch. He walks around the bed with a wide berth and gives it to Mark. He takes it then fires it to the steels alongside the first one promptly.

After a while, they finally see a change of color on the part that Mark is heating up. Another minute goes on, and Nick starts to turn his head again with eyes gaining back some of their clarity.

Lena and Luke brace to hold him down.

Few seconds later, Nick starts whimpering again, teeth biting the gauze in his mouth, and Lena is tightening their hold on Nick's hands and chest. On the other side, Luke is pushing his palms down Nick's thighs.

After a few moments, they start hearing slight sizzling coming from the wound, and now Nick's whimpering gets louder and louder until he screams and trashes around.

"I'm sorry, fuck, I'm really sorry," he hears Lena says softly this time, gasping tightly in time with their hold as they try to keep Nick steady against his wrangling.

He screams so loudly now and chokes out sobs, turning his head side to side as he tries to fight the hold on his body.

"Stoooop! Please, please stop!" he begs now as he wails, letting go of the gauze in his mouth. He is still trying to escape the tight grips on his body.

"Okay, Mark, you can stop now, it’s heated enough," Angie says shakily as she stares at Nick's extremely pale and agonized face with tears splotchy all over it. Mark immediately stops firing both blowtorches.

Nikolai sobs again, squeezing his eyes in pain, and Mark doesn't have the heart to keep seeing him like that, knowing that he is part of Nick's misery even if it's needed to save him.

"We gotta take away the metal, otherwise it's gonna keep heating up the knife," she says shakily.

They all keep whipping their heads around, panicked and confused about how to do it with Nick's wailing and sobs accompanying them.

Eventually Horace initiates it by going around the bed to get another thick fabric, another blanket this time, and wraps it around the middle part of the metal thickly.

Angie and Anderson use the opportunity to let go of their own hold with Anderson reaching for the scissors to cut the duct tape on his end.

"Quickly!" they all yell at him.

"Yeah, I'm trying," he yells back as he shakily cuts the duct tape, eventually cutting it loose after few seconds of struggling.

He hands it to Angie this time, who is quicker and steadier in her cutting.

Horace quickly pulls apart the two metals and walks back away from Nick.

"Okay, we need to cool down the knife now," Horace says this time after throwing the metals to the floor away from them with loud clanking.

Mark just quickly grabs the blanket that Anderson held before and runs to the corner of the room where a stainless-steel sink is located. He runs the blanket under the cold water on the sink, then immediately runs back to the bed.

"Okay, okay, it's okay, it's over now," he says hurriedly but gently to Nick as he carefully wraps the wet blanket around the knife, holding it there. He tries to hold his gaze, hoping that it looks comforting to the heterochromatic-eyed boy.

Slowly, Nick's pinched face goes slack, his breathing labored with inhales and exhales more and more apart. The clarity and desperate look before start to fade again from the swirly blue-brown eyes.

Mark doesn't know whether the cauterization works, or there are just too many layers of fabric around Nick's stab wound that he can't see the still spreading blood. He braves himself to pull away the wet blanket, now uncomfortably warm in his hand, and looks at the gauzes below.

"I think... I think it slows down… a bit," Lena breaks the silence quietly.

Eventually, as they keep holding their position and staring at Nick—even Don and Anna from the doorway—they start to notice Nick's eyes getting less and less alert until they roll back into the skull.

"Fuck."

Mark starts to panic again at Angie's cry.

But before they have too much time pondering and letting their minds wander morbidly, they hear loud banging from the outside. Anna turns away to presumably check who is at their front door.

Familiar yelling voice is heard with Anna's nervous and hurried voice responding, interrupted repeatedly by the masculine yelling voice. They both get closer and closer, followed by clanking of what sounds like a toolbox and hard, angry stomping.

Eventually, they see Doctor Lowe on the doorway with three nurses holding tubes, medical pouches, medical toolbox, IV poles, and whatever else is brought with them. The surgeon's face is slightly red with enraged expression, while the two male and one female nurses look disappointed at them. Anna is peeking around behind them, with a slightly scared face after what Mark assumes was angry scolding.

Doctor Lowe bares his teeth before tightly spitting, "You idiot fucks can't be trusted to keep that poor kid alive even for a second, huh?"

They all look down, reminding him of children being scolded by their disappointed parents, which the surgeon might as well be in this situation.

"OUT!" he bellows, some of Mark's teammates jumping in fright.

Still, they dutifully walk away from the bed, filing out of the door one by one with hunched shoulders as Doctor Lowe's angry eyes stare them down one by one.

Mark still stares at Nick's unconscious face, prompting Lena to pull his hand and whispers, "Marcus, come on."

He eventually steps aside shakily, almost stumbling as he walks away while still looking at Nikolai. The further he walks, the less alive the younger man looks.

Once he is outside after getting similar treatment from their surgeon, he finally feels a wave of shakiness, hot and cold all over his body. He slides down, all energy depleted from his body that he can't keep himself up.

He doesn't quite hear what their senior surgeon says before the door is slammed closed. He can't—he doesn't understand. His mind is too loud.

There is ringing in his ears, uncomfortably loud and dominating his heartbeat now. He supposes after all the frantic and chaotic moments before when they were all trying to stop Nick's bleeding, he finally runs out of adrenaline and is now experiencing the crash, making him weak and lightheaded.

The others turn to him, slightly worried expression as they look at his face. He feels cold there too, blood drained from his face. He probably looks really pale.

Now that the chaos is over, he looks around at the other agents. Several of them have blotchy spots of deep red all over them. He then looks down as he pulls up his trembling hands with the palms up.

So much blood. So much fucking blood.

His hands are bathed in it, up to his wrists.

Fuck. Oh, fuck.

He starts to shake, then chokes out sobs while looking at the blood that still feels wet and sticky all over his fingers. He feels faint. He feels overcharged. He feels numb. He feels agitated. He feels warm. He feels freezing.

He feels—he doesn't—

Oh, god. Oh, fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

"Hey," he hears Lena's voice penetrating the loud ringing in his ears.

When he turns to them, they appear to have been calling to him for a while and only just now manage to catch his attention. Lena’s face looks worried and sympathetic, while others look at him with expressions ranging from sad, pitying, regretful, and afraid.

Lena wraps their arms around Mark's much wider shoulder, his hands now squeezed between both of their bodies. He can still feel the trembles in his fingers, crimson wetness all over them even if he can’t see it. He even feels some dripping down his pants.

"He's gonna be okay," he hears Lena say, "he's gonna be okay."

Somewhere distant in his mind he realizes that they're saying it more for themself than for Mark.

***

To staunch Nick's bleeding before Doctor Lowe comes to properly operate on Nick, Angie tells several agents to bring stuff for impromptu cauterization by heating up the dagger through other metal bars put around the blade. Luke and Lena hold Nick down so that he doesn't wriggle around. Mark heats up the metal bars with blowtorch. Angie and Anderson hold the metal bars steady. Anna and Don are told to get out, then Doctor Lowe arrives while angry at the team for getting Nick injured again.

***

(I) (II) (III) (IV) (V) (VI) (VII) (VIII) (IX) (X) (XI) (XII) (XIII) (XIV) (XV) (XVI) (XVII) (XVIII) (XIX) (XX) (XXI) (XXII) (XXIII) (XXIV) (XXV) (XXVI) (XXVII) (XXVIII) (XXIX) (XXX) (XXXI - END)

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