#tw.description.of.wounds

No Matter the Cost, Pt. 2

I gotchu! @stopstealingtomatoes

Part 1

Tw: description of wounds, knife, blood, accidental violence (marked as violence in the tags)

~~

Two cracked ribs. One fractured vertebrae. A dislocated ankle. A stab wound to the shoulder. All fresh, and the only one that had come from the fight was when the kid jumped in front of the knife to try and save their mentor. Hero was asleep, but Villain doubted they would stay that way if they started working on patching up Hero’s wounds. They needed sleep, evident by the dark circles under their eyes, but Villain needed to patch those wounds, and soon. Sleep wouldn’t help Hero if they bled out or died from an infection.

“Hero? Hero, wake up.” Villain reached for Hero’s uninjured shoulder, shaking them slowly. The kid’s eyes snapped open in an instant, their entire body going rigid when their eyes met Villain’s. “Hero, hey, you’re safe here. You’re okay.” They recoiled from Villain’s touch, but still stayed on the table. They weren’t running, which Villain perceived as miracle in itself. The kid looked around with wide eyes, no doubt taking in every detail of the place they could.

“You’re at my base Hero. You needed medical treatment, and I didn’t want to leave you where I found you after um… all that. This was the best option.” Hero took in a sharp breath. Tears formed in Hero’s eyes as they murmured the superhero’s name. They tried to sit up, but collapsed against the table with a whimper. Villain watched the irregular rise and fall of their chest speed up with a grimace. It must hurt when Hero took a breath.

“Look kid, I can’t even imagine what you’re going through right now.” They placed a hand on Hero’s shoulder and squeezed it lightly. To Hero’s credit, they didn’t shy away again. “I need you to stay still so I can get you somewhere to rest. Can you do that for me?” Hero nodded and squeezed their eyes closed. Villain picked up the hero, only for them to start squirming.

“Hey! What- let me go! I can walk!”

“Not on that ankle you can’t. It’ll have to be popped back into place before you walk anywhere.” Villain shushed their continued protests until Hero finally fell completely silent. That was, until the hero suddenly tensed in Villain’s arms. “Is… is that-”

“Villain…” Supervillain strolled down the hall towards them, looking not at the villain, but towards the hero. “I have a few plans to discuss with you. But first, why is Hero here?”

“Supervillain, I’ll explain everything in a minute. Could you get Healer for me, while I get them situated?” Supervillain— albeit confused— nodded to the other and watched as Villain carried Hero past them and stopped at the door of a small guest room.

Villain looked around at the room- just a bed and a small table off to the side. They brought Hero in the room and carefully set them on the bed. Villain moved to the table and grabbed the first aid kit. They reached in and pulled out a cold pack, holding it out to Hero.

Hero swatted the hand away, pulling themselves up to a sitting position and swinging their legs over the side of the bed before Villain could stop them.

"Hero lay down, you need to-"

"No."

"No?"

"I need to get back to them. I can't leave Superhero." They slid off the bed, failing to hide a hiss from the criminal.

“Superhero is gone, Hero. There’s nothing you can do.” They started softly. But when Hero didn’t stop, Villain stepped in front of them and tried again. “Hero, they’re dead. Now lay back down. You’re going to hurt yourself even more.”

Hero didn’t budge.

“Please let me go.” They whispered. But Villain didn’t move. “Please… Please let me go. You- you don’t know what they’re capable of. Please-

“Hey. Look at me.” Villain set a firm hand on Hero’s shoulder, and Hero looked up, eyes wide, jaw trembling, the poor thing was still afraid of-

Hero punched them square in the jaw.

Stars exploded in their vision. They barely heard the terrified apologies and questions of concern spewing from Hero’s lips as Villain stumbled back into a wall. A figure slipped past them into the room, Hero suddenly crying out in agony.

Villain honed in on the supervillain standing over the hero laying at their feet, curled up so tightly Villain couldn’t see their face. “Supervillain don’t hurt them! It was an accident!” Supervillain turned to look at Villain, their normal mask of indifference gone, replaced by something the villain couldn’t comprehend.

“Get Healer.” Villain didn’t know how they’d suddenly gotten beside the two, but they really didn’t care at this moment.

“All I did was touch them…” Supervillain gestured to the trembling human ball of limbs with a bloodied hand before turning back to Villain. “Tell me the person responsible for turning Hero into this is dead.”

First part here!

TW: description of wounds, needle, held down, explosion

All they knew for certain was their leg was in pain. No, that wasn’t the right word. Burning, aching… throbbing? Yeah, those were better descriptions. All three fit the agonizing feeling that made Hero want to scream.

They knew the walls were a dark green, the cabinets were a shiny silver color. The hero tried to focus on the things around them. It’d keep them from full blown panic.

They swallowed— though their throat was sandpaper —when they noticed a cut about mid-thigh too clean to be accident, right where the searing seemed to originate from.

Upon closer inspection it almost looked like someone slashed their suit then stabbed them. But there wasn’t blood anywhere? Just a blackish-blue bruise the size of a fist?

Hey, wait a minute, that was the same mark an epipen would leave. Wait a minute, did an epipen do that? Did their epipen do that?

It was at that moment the door swung open. The hero froze as two people walked in. Lab coats, one in a turtleneck, the other in a set of off-blue colored scrubs.

They immediately categorized them as civilians, medical workers. The two kept their heads buried in their tablets, effectively not noticing the hero’s awakened state. That was until one of them pulled out a needle and reached for the IV.

The only way Hero could describe what happened when they grabbed the medic’s arm as pure chaos. The medic shrieked, scaring the other nurse who in turn tossed their tablet. The scream apparently alerted others, and now there were more people flooding through the door.

The command for someone to hold Hero down came from the first nurse, and moments later their arms, legs, and shoulders were pinned down. They couldn’t get up. They couldn’t fight them. No, nononono.

“Getoffgetoffgetoff. Get off me!”

“Let them alone,” A new voice rang, calm, but yet still commanding. It was enough that the nurses backed off, thank goodness.

“Its morphine, if that’s what you were so dearly frightened about. You were afraid of it being poison?”

Did they just-? How did they know that?

“Or was it something else entirely … You’ve been quite on edge, even before the doctors arrived…” Oh, they’re a mind reader. Great, just what Hero needed.

“Now now, that’s no way to greet your savior,”

Who is this, who do they think they are?

“You’ll call me a concerned party. If I may ask, do you remember what happened that landed you here?”

Hero couldn’t seem to remember anything. The last thing they could remember was sprinting across rooftop after rooftops towards a bank vault heist in progress. They could see a figure in the distance, but Hero was too far away yet to see who. Was it Supervillain or Thief, perhaps?

No, it was someone they’d never seen before. Hero made note of the stormy grey body suit, a deep green glow illuminating from lines carved into their suit. They couldn’t tell for certain, but it looked like the suit was the expensive stuff— fireproof, bulletproof, the works.

Whoever this was, they had deep connections. And money. Lots of money.

Hero made their presence known as they approached. The figure swiveled, eyes wide. They took a step back. And another. Then they were running into the bank? Despite the questionable action, Hero gave chase.

When the person took a left turn down a corridor, Hero didn’t expect them to come barreling back at an inhuman speed. Hero crashed into the figure, falling face first to the ground. They looked up.

Oh, so that’s why they were running like they saw a demon. That’s a bomb.

Well, it was close enough to a demon.

The last thing they could remember was running. The other person was nowhere in sight, so they must have already made it out, right?

“Hey.” Someone shook Hero’s shoulder, effectively bringing them back to reality. But what about the epipen bruise? They couldn’t explain where the mark came from.

Their savior chuckled. “I’ll let you alone for a moment. There’s someone waiting, they can clarify I do believe.” And without answering Hero’s question, they left.

The next person to enter the room sent Hero’s heart in a frenzy.

“I’m told you recognized me,” They held out a hand to shake. It was them. They were alive! “I’m Villain. And I believe we have a few things to discuss.”

Taglist: @chaoticgoodandi , @dovahcourts

TW: description of wounds, use of medical equipment

“As fascinated as I am watching you work with this kind of expertise, I am curious as to how you know to stich someone up so professionally. Do you work for Hero, or Superhero perhaps?”

’Twas but an awkward situation, that one. Supervillain had been in the process of fleeing leaving a fight downtown between a few of the city’s biggest and brightest supers on both sides. When they had taken to the air, they didn’t realize how bad their injuries had been. Their vision turned black within moments- and miraculously -Supervillain crash landed on a balcony instead of plummeting to their untimely demise. When they came to hours later, they had been brought indoors and set on a couch, apparently owned by this civilian.

The supervillain had been surprised. This person had an opportunity to do anything. Call the cops, flag down a hero, even unmask them. But they hadn’t. And since Supervillain considered themself as a slow-to-destruction kind of person, the civilian wouldn’t be killed on sight.

Then Supervillain noticed their injuries, treated and either bandaged or stitched, save one rather nasty gash over their ribs.

And it was only after that did they noticed the civilian crouched on the floor. Frozen in place, holding a string-like fiber and a hooked needle in their clutches. This civilian was not normal, that was for certain.

Said civilian, now, shrugged and continued their work. “I don’t work for any super in this city. Maybe once however, I was a super living in a different city. It would have been years ago, obviously. I would have learned how to use sutures to patch myself up because it was the only way I could survive, because there was no one I could go to for help,” They paused to look them in the eye.

Or maybe,” They tugged the thread a little too harshly, getting a hiss out of the supervillain. “I’m a paramedic who does this kind of procedure nearly every day, because ya’know, it’s my job.” They tied the last knot and set the hook-like needle down.

“Speaking of going to some one for help, stitches should come out in two weeks. I assume one of your villain friends can help you with that?” The civilian helped Supervillain to their feet before leaving them in favor of cleaning their equipment.

Supervillain didn’t acknowledge them as they made their way to the balcony, testing their flight abilities and then leaping off the fourteen-story balcony ledge. Today must’ve been their lucky day.