#andre rescue

Trust. That was hilarious.

Aloka spoke of trust as if Corva gave it away freely, rather than like a miser spends coin: rarely, and only when proven necessary.

Spend long enough having everyone you give even the slightest bit of trust using it against you? It becomes a scarce resource.

With Aloka gone and the room quiet, Corva was stuck there with just her thoughts and memories. She took a deep breath through her nose to steady herself, and immediately regretted it.

The room stank of disinfectant. Of cleaning chemicals, and underneath it all, the faintest hint of blood. The mixture was as potent as it was familiar.

I am not there. This is not— I am not there. I have grown. I have learned. I will not be trapped.

She dug her nails in where her hands rested on her knees. The small pain cascaded into larger ones as the movement pulled at the wounds in her arms. It helped her remember where she was and stay in the present.

Aloka hurried away other ducking out of the way.

She got the IV bag filled with Magic Energy Solution and a drip and hurried back.

Corva trusts you...gods know why...

At least she trusted you enough to be the one to give orders to. That had to count for something right?

She considered knocking but thought better of touching the door.

She said it herself she didn't want scraps but that could mean anything from letting them go to killing them quick without doing anything.

Then there was Andre. The one that got away. The reason she'd had to flee her theater.

He wasn't a scrap...

Masterlist

CW: blood, injuries, self-inflicted injuries to escape

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Corva took one more deep breath in before sitting up. Immediately, the room started to swim and twist before her eyes as vertigo took hold. She slowly let out the breath and waited for the worst to subside.

This... Angel, this killer, changed her plans. She no longer had time to fully stabilize herself before getting the brothers free. With the threat of the Angel coming back at any moment, she needed to get them out now.

Erebus help me, because I am about to do something very stupid.

She gathered up every shred of magic she had at her disposal, and hoped it would be enough.

First things first: get out of the restraints.

V had used cuffs on her, rather than a collar. Amateur.

With half-numb fingers, Corva grabbed her left thumb and dislocated it. The cuff was still a tight fit, but the blood from her injuries helped her slip it off.

She spoke to Andre as she began the process of removing the second cuff. "You are going to have to inform the authorities of what happened. Atlas is in shock, and once we get out, I won't be in any state to give information. You need to tell them about Astra and V, and the injuries the two have. Tell them that Astra is most likely at the hospital, and V is being pursued by the Angel."

Both cuffs were off. Corva slowly rose to her feet, using the wall to keep her balance. She kept her footing through sheer stubbornness as she approached Andre.

Corva woke feeling the effects of blood loss and magical exhaustion.

What had she... why was her magic so low? What had happened to her?

Before opening her eyes, she took stock of herself. Blood loss and magical exhaustion, check. Her magic wasn't counteracting the blood loss, meaning... yes, there it was. Meaning there was a bigger problem her magic focused on first.

She'd been stabbed, and very thoroughly, too. Her magic was already patching the ruptured organs and preventing sepsis, but with the low levels, that was all she was capable of at the moment.

Okay, now for the rest of her self assessment...

She was wearing far fewer clothes than she would like to be, was the next thing she realized. Instead of the clothing she preferred, which covered as much skin as possible, she was instead wearing some shapeless... gown. Like a hospital....

Oh no. No, no no no, she had to get out of here. She couldn't be in a hospital, no matter where it was. If this was there, they would send her right back to where she'd escaped from. If it was anywhere else, they would find a different lab to stick her in just as soon as they realized how strange she was compared to any sort of baseline.

Did she have enough magic to escape, though?

A couple people in scrubs were looking over some paperwork

"Is there anything we can fill in now, make everyone's lives easier?"

"Well she's obviously a witch I mean look at her tattoos."

"Really? They don't look like any magical symbol I've seen."

"Well me either but I don't know every symbol in existence Tasha."

"Touche. Where'd the new girl go?"

"Don't know, don't care. Bish got shoved out because it was looking like she might attack the patient."

"Yeah that's fair....Any idea why the cops are here?"

".....Did you not see the big shadow step into the center of the hospital?!"