A House Divided [Part 3]

[cityship]

[Instructions: Here.]

Despite a few tricks up their sleeves, the Conspirators hardly stood a chance. It's all or nothing as they make a few last ditch attempts to kill the Yeerk, and as the fight grinds to a screeching halt.

Will they kill the Yeerk?

Will someone other than the Yeerk get killed in the crossfire?

Comments

Re: And the medic has arrived!

[staturity]

As bad as Cassie felt, she suddenly got a whole lot worse. What little color was in her skin faded rapidly. And then the overwhelming feeling of dread hit.

"I don't-" Her words were interrupted as she sucked in as much air as she could as fast as she could. "Want to die. Don't let me die."

Re: And the medic has arrived!

[vision-ya.livejournal.com]

"[Yes, she needs a medic,]" Jonas said, making note of the green sparks. "[Magic, I assume? Her lung has collapsed, bullet wound. What do you need me to do?]"

He stroked Cassie's hair with his free hand, turning back to her. "[You are not going to die, Cassie.]"

[notastaffchick.livejournal.com]

"Set her down, but keep talking to her, if you could. I'd put her under, but she's lost a lot of blood and she could use something to focus on while I start." Hunter says, giving the wound a critical look. "And no one is going to die."

[staturity]

The bullet hole itself was somewhat misshapen and larger than if she had been hit directly. The blood around and inside the wound was frothing. And there was the constant, sucking sound of air being drawn into the chest cavity.

"Please..." Cassie moved her attention to Hunter and then back to Jonas. Her pupils were dilated and a layer of sweat was forming across her face.

[vision-ya.livejournal.com]

Jonas nodded once and resumed stroking Cassie's hair.

"[It is going to be all right, Cassie. You heard him, you are not going to die. And when you get better, we will go on another date. We could watch a movie or something in the Media Library, or go for another walk here in the City.]"

He was rambling a little, but he felt it was better than repeating himself, which had been his first impulse.

[notastaffchick.livejournal.com]

Oh, good. A pneumothorax, and Hunter doesn't have any plastic wrap or duct tape. Really, that's all he needed today. He applies pressure to the wound with both hands, hoping that he can keep too much air from entering the cavity that way. Green sparks surge from his hands and into the chest cavity, quickly seeking out damaged areas.

[staturity]

In a way it was good that Cassie had only one working lung at the moment. It meant that her scream could only be so loud and last so long. Her first instinct was to try to move away but she was too weak to do more than dig her fingernails into Jonas's skin and try to turn away.

[vision-ya.livejournal.com]

Jonas quickly extracted his hand from her hair and pressed it into her grip/

"[Hold tight, Cassie, it is going to be all right. You are going to be okay.]" He glanced up at Hunter. "[Is there anything else I can do? Extract the air from her chest cavity or something?]"

He was not going to let her die. He could not let her die.

[notastaffchick.livejournal.com]

"If you could... um, just let the air flow out, but don't let it back in." Hunter says absently, still keeping as much pressure as he could on the bullet wound. "If you can do that." The cavity has already started to visibly heal, but there's no reason to refuse the help if he can get it.

[vision-ya.livejournal.com]

"[I can do that,]" Jonas said, shape shifting his free hand to form a pump. He'd be able to control the direction of the airflow -- out only.

"[Cassie, I need you to concentrate on the sound of my voice, all right? Just concentrate. You are going to be all right.]"

[staturity]

There were tears streaking down Cassie's face. She grit her teeth together and tried hard not to scream, not to cry, just to endure the pain. She didn't know how she could.

They said that most wounded soldiers cried for their mothers. Cassie's quiet call was not too different. "Daddy..."

And then the pain faded, not dying away completely, but at least it was bearable.

[notastaffchick.livejournal.com]

"I'm sorry." Hunter mutters, sounding well and truly miserable. The wound was healing nicely, though, and so was the plantsuit. (He believes in being thorough.)

[staturity]

"Ahh..." Cassie gasped. Her chest still hurt, oh did it hurt, but she felt better. Between the Hunter's healing touch and Jonas making some weird pump, nearly all of the air was out of her chest, now it was just blood. A lot of blood, actually.

"What did-" O.K., talking still hurt. "What did you do?"

[vision-ya.livejournal.com]

"[Magic, from what it looks like,]" Jonas said, sounding relieved. He looked over at Hunter. "[Would you like me to pump the blood out as well, or do you need it to remain inside her body?]"

Cassie was going to be all right. He could not even articulate how relieved that made him.

[notastaffchick.livejournal.com]

"Um... it should get redirected as the blood vessels keep healing, so you can leave it, if you don't mind." Hunter says, frowning slightly. It's a bit soon for him to feel relieved per se, but he thinks the rest of the process will go fairly well.

"And please try not to talk?" he continues to Cassie.

[staturity]

"Sorry." Oops. Cassie quickly shut her mouth to keep from saying anything more, which wasn't too bad considering how much her chest still hurt.

[nothawkingbird.livejournal.com]

She hated bullets. She REALLY hated bullets. It was almost like that warehouse again, only they weren't targeting her deliberately this time. Probably why Kate didn't get a chance to dodge this time with the random gunfire ricocheting every which way.

She took at least a shot to her left leg, hence why she was limping with blood trailing down to her feet. Still a little dizzy from getting knocked out. She couldn't even see where Cassie and Jonas went to now. Where are they? Her blue eyes blinked as her surroundings swam before her eyes.

"Stature? Vision?"

[staturity]

"Kate!" Oops, she was doing that talking thing. That was bad.

[vision-ya.livejournal.com]

Jonas squeezed Cassie's hand.

"[Hawkeye!]" he called out, hoping to attract her attention without having to either let go of Cassie's hand or detach the pump. "[We are over here!]"

And she was injured too. He looked over at the magical medic again. "[Do you still need me?]"

He did not want to leave Cassie, but neither did he want to see Kate get more hurt if Cassie was going to be all right.

[notastaffchick.livejournal.com]

Hunter shook his head quickly. "Go help your friend. I can be over there in a minute if you need me to." He looks tired, and he is, but right now making sure everyone was all right is more important.

[nothawkingbird.livejournal.com]

Kate took another tentative step, and then started to run. Though that made her stumble, and have to fight the urge to throw up.

"Cassie? Oh god what happened?" Her expression became more stricken as she got a better view of her wounded friend.

[staturity]

"Same that happened to you." Cassie pointed at Kate's leg. "Don't worry about me." O.K. she was going to stop talking now, really. For about five seconds.

[vision-ya.livejournal.com]

Jonas gently extracted the air-suction tube from Cassie's chest and moved to collect Kate and bring her over to where Cassie lay.

"[Running on that leg is not going to do anything good for it, or for you,]" he reminded her gently. "[Let me help.]"

[nothawkingbird.livejournal.com]

She would protest, but everything was tilting to the side and spinning again. Kate allowed herself to be brought closer to sit. And it just pained her more as she realized that Cassie nearly died.

And where was she to offer backup?

Nowhere near.

"Oh Cassie sweetie, I am so sorry. I didn't know where you two went, and I..." She trailed off as her head lolled slightly. Trying to stay conscious.

[notastaffchick.livejournal.com]

"If the people who have been shot could please try to stop talking." That's about as assertive as Hunter gets, and it's not going to stop anyone. Glancing over at Kate for a moment, he tries to get a sense of how bad her injuries were. It didn't look too bad; the bullet appeared to have missed all the major arteries in her leg, and if she could walk it probably meant no bones were broken.