#human shield

“You’ve been a pain in my side long enough,” Villain’s distorted voice rang out.

Hero screwed their eyes shut, turning their head away. They couldn’t have freed themselves if they wanted to; truthfully, the mech was probably the only thing holding them up. Gashes along their body dribbled with red, and the bruises suggested more than one broken bone.

The knife shot forward, but the stabbing never came. Hero cracked an eye open. The civilian from before stood in front of Hero with their arms out.

“What are you doing!?” Hero wheezed.

“You’ve done so much for all of us,” they said, “let me protect you this time.”

“No!”

Hero struggled with renewed fervor.

“Are you serious? Your cavalry is a grocer?” Villain’s voice boomed, “okay, Mx. Cashier, move aside before you get hurt.”

The civilian didn’t budge. Villain drew the mech’s knife arm back to strike. Hero still couldn’t get free.

“Hey!”

A flowerpot crashed against the mech’s head. It turned in the direction of a florist.

“Leave them alone!” they shouted, “nobody wants you here!”

A barrage of fruits and vegetables crashed against the mech; several civilians had taken the liberty of using a fruit stand as ammunition. A fire hose blasted into the back of the machine; the fire brigade was there, too.

A few firefighters ran out of their truck and toward the arm pinning Hero. They, along with a couple bodybuilders from the local gym, managed to get the offending arm to release its grip.

Hero slumped over; they would’ve tumbled to the ground had the firefighters not caught them.

“We need paramedics and evac over here now,” one of them said into their radio.

“N-no,” Hero mumbled, “Villain…”

A great crash that was louder than thunder shook the ground. The mech fell to the ground, its lights going out. One could faintly hear muffled cursing from inside.

Two college students with their laptops on café tables high-fived each other.

“Get better encryption, loser!” one of them shouted.

“Yeah, did your mom write that thing’s code?”

Hero let out a shaky exhale. Looks like the city had this under control; it didn’t need them right now. That being the case…

“Hey, hey, Hero!”

Hero’s head dipped to their chest; they were out before their eyes could flutter shut.

…

Steady beeping welcomed Hero back to the land of the living.

“Out! Now! And stay out!” someone shouted.

Hero’s bleary eyes blinked slowly as the world slid into focus. The chief of police stood on one side of them, while the civilian, the one that had shielded them from before, sat on their other side.

A nurse was in the process of shoving a slew of reporters out of their room and down the hall. Hero only caught snippets of their questions, but they were too tired to process them let alone answer them.

“Congratulations, Hero,” Chief said, “you managed to do in a half hour what most politicians fail to do in twenty years.”

“Chief?” Hero mumbled, “what are you talking about?”

“You unified the whole dang city,” Chief said, “Villain’s robot thing is scrap metal at this point; Villain themselves is in custody.”

Relief washed over them in a big, beautiful wave. Hero went to sit up, prompting the chief and the civilian to push them back down with a hurried string of protests.

“You’re really banged up,” the civilian said.

“Oh.”

A nurse came in with a vase of flowers; they set it next to several more bouquets, stuffed animals, cards, and other gifts from the city’s populace. The nurse left, giving Hero a gentle smile on their way out.

“Thank you,” Hero looked at the civilian.

“The flowers are from the fire department-”

“No, no. For saving me.”

The civilian beamed. The reporter that had shooed all the reporters out came back in to do the same to the civilian and the chief.

“Hero needs to sleep,” they said.

“I’m their security detail,” the chief said.

The nurse huffed, turning to the civilian. The civilian pouted, but went to leave all the same.

“Please!” Hero blurted, “…stay?”

The nurse looked like they wanted to argue, but shook their head and set about closing the blinds over the window. The gentle hum of the machines began to draw Hero back under. They just made out Civilian’s voice before settling into sleep.

“Rest, Hero, we’ve got you.”

Patreon

Ko-Fi

Redbubble

AO3

Tags:@mythixmagic@infinityshadows@fishtale88@thelazywitchphotographer@the-beasts-have-arrived @princessofonwardsworld @surplus-of-sarcasm@memepsychowhowantsuperpower-blog@electrons2006@just-a-space-rabbit @telltaletoad @bacillusinfection@noseyowes@whump-till-ya-jump@writinglittlepains@m4iloblu3@annablogsposts @alwaysstrangeanddelusional @theultimatespicysandwich@doctorsawyer@jumpywhumpywriter@stars-hide-our-fires