Achilles
more timeline 3 :) this snippet taking place shortly after the last one (Echo)
“Get the door.” He shifted his arm slightly, trying to make it easier for her to breathe as he cradled her against his chest.
“I’m trying!” The back door to the veterinarian office did not appear to grasp the urgency of their situation. He gritted his teeth as he felt more blood soaking into his sleeve.
“Get the fucking door, Caroline!” Finally, the door opened. Caroline held it back so that he could carry her inside.
“Set her on the table.” Caroline advised as she sealed the door behind them. He ignored her, already in the process of searching for a more suitable cot for her to rest on.
He laid her down as gently as he possibly could, overly cautious of her injuries. She lay limp on the cot, motionless in her expressionless mask.
Caroline reached across the cot, fingers ghosting over the wound in her side as she tried to examine it. He tensed as she started to tug at the malfunctioning suit material surrounding the bloody rip.
“Careful.” She gave him a look. He ignored the look in favor of wheeling over a cart of medical supplies.
“Did you call Amos?” She was eyeing the cart skeptically.
“He’ll be here as soon as he can be. We have to start without him.” He answered dismissively. He laid out the materials that he’d deemed fit for basic cleaning and debridement.
He didn’t want to fuss with her side too much. Parts of it looked incredibly deep and painful.
She began to stir before he’d made it very far, twitching on the table as a soft groan came through her mask rather garbled.
“Hey, shhhh. You’re alright.” He leaned closer so that she could see well enough to recognize him. She stilled on the cot, her body slack once more as he reached for her mask.
He activated the mechanism, then very carefully lifted it away from her face. None of it appeared to have melded with her skin, though there was a nasty gash bleeding steadily across her jawline.
He brushed a bit of blonde hair back from her bloody face. Her eyes were unfocused, half-lidded as she peered up at him. Her brow was furrowed in pain and discomfort.
Or perhaps that was just her working on her next plan.
“It’s alright, Minnie Mouse.” He whispered.
It was never easy to see her hurt. It was especially difficult to sit back uselessly and watch Amos pull jagged bits of metal out of her.
Caroline held her hand. He just sat with his head in his hands. The longer he watched, the more the bubbling rage was starting to take over. Stitches holding her chin together, blood staining the cot the longer it took to fix the damage left in one of the heroes’ wake.
Amos started stitching her side. She let out a quiet cry, just barely conscious as she squeezed Caroline’s hand.
He couldn’t take it anymore.
“Where are you going?” Caroline called as he rose from his chair and started towards the hallway.
“Which one?” He asked rather simply.
“What?” He turned to face her as he pulled his gloves back on.
“Which one of them did this?” He watched her realize what he meant in real time. Watched the understanding and then the anger and the fear.
“You are not going after any of them.” She stated. He stared at her for a moment that could have stretched for an age. The tension too thick to be cut.
“Green Guardian. Right? She’s the only one that could.” He turned away again. He was almost to the door.
“Stephen.” He didn’t stop.
“I want updates on her progress while I’m out.” She had abandoned her post at Minerva’s side to hurry after him.
“You can’t-” Stephen tensed as she caught his shoulder.
“But they can do this?” He swept an arm wide as he whirled around to face her. He stared at Minerva gasping in pain on the cot. He looked at Caroline and dared her to do the same.
“You know damn well what got her here. No one gets that close to killing Mend and just walks.” Caroline bit back. Stephen shook his head.
“It wasn’t enough to kill someone who heals so quickly. She knew that. She ran the calculations and that was her only choice.”
She finally looked as angry as he was. Just for all the wrong reasons.
“She blew him up to get you out of a situation you shouldn’t have fucking been in in the first place. So Green tracked her down. That’s how things fucking work.” She poked him in the chest for emphasis, then again for good measure.
Stephen’s jaw tightened. His fists clenched at his sides.
“That’s how things fucking work. So I’m gonna go out there and-”
“And pluck out another eye? Where does it end? With you dead? With her?” She gestured back at Minerva, wide-eyed as she shouted at him. As if the volume could permeate his thick skull and sway him to her side.
Her side, he thought.
Because she wasn’t on his. Was she? Standing before him defending the heroes that had nearly killed someone she claimed to care about time and time again.
He stared at her. And he barely recognized the little girl that he would have once called family without a moment’s hesitation.
“Which side are you on?” The question burned him as it escaped his throat. And it burned her as she heard it and its implications.
“I’m on the side of keeping you fucking assholes from killing each other.” Her voice was quieter now, as loud as she could be without breaking. Her eyes were shining with tears.
Stephen raised his hands. And he let out a cold, humorless laugh. More of a scoff. Maybe a sneer.
“Bang-up job you’ve done so far.”
She held his gaze just long enough for him to watch the first tear roll over her orange eye mask. She shook her head. And she stepped around him to reach the exit before he could.
“You’re just going to leave?” Stephen scowled as he watched her go. She swiped a sleeve across her cheek. She didn’t turn back.
“You took out a member of my team. So yeah, they need me right now.” She retorted bitterly. She didn’t look at him again until she’d composed herself.
“You keep me updated on her condition. Because you’re staying here.” She pointed an accusing finger. And she dared him to argue.
She didn’t have to worry about it. One last glance at Minerva sapped the resolve right out of him.
Caroline left and he didn’t stop her. He sank back into his chair and ignored the look Amos was giving him.
“She doesn’t understand.” Stephen muttered, his head in his hands again.
“Some of us aren’t super.” He felt so heavy. So very far out of his depth as he watched Minerva struggle through every breath.
“Some of us just fucking break.”
