Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Categories
- 965 All Categories
- 17 Games
- 1 aw2-mapbp
- 365 Richland
- SDHSR
- 4 two-detroits
- 96 aw2e-dvfp
- 53 ISS Tsiolkovsky
- 82 Fury
- Urban Shadows
- 24 LadyB
- 11 AnR
- 4 Junk World 2.0
- 68 PnR
- 23 DRYH
- Jeffland
- The Few
- 11 Other
- 11 General
- 576 Complete
- 12 burning-empires
- 8 aota-jam
- 17 Uncharted Worlds
- Uncharted
- 23 nullptr-veil
- 9 ajax-motw
- 2 tqy-am
- 52 NOVA
- 11 Serene Apocalypse
- jenn-soti
- 63 SWAW
- 13 Blades
- 2 Fall Of Magic
- 12 Generations
- 25 LA Monsters
- tqy
- 32 nupocalypse
- 120 Snowpocalypse
- 136 Junkworld XIII
- 27 Big Maul
- 6 ESC
- 1 Murderous Ghosts
- 17 ANN_pilot
[Junk XIII] Glamours and Glimmers (K 5.3, S 5.3)
The last few minutes have been a blur. Kiddo, you remember a bloody-faced Zero gunning down the guards who shot you, then throwing you over her shoulder to carry you for help. Stitch, that very same woman, who may have broken your nose by the way, grabbed your hand and pulled you along until you seemed like you were following. Then Zero let go of your hand but ordered you to stay with her.
You came down the lift and into the infirmary, Zero yelling for Janco with near panic masked by anger. A nurse tried to run interference, but Zero stopped her short by pointing her empty gun at the woman's head. Of course, the nurse didn't know it wasn't loaded. She backed the frak off, probably going for security.
Janco rushed forward and directed you to a table, and Zero laid you down gently, Kiddo, brushing your hair back out of your face, saying, "Kiddo, baby, doc's gonna make it all okay." It's the softest voice you've heard from her since you were a child. You've finally regained some of your senses, things are finally lining up in your head, the world isn't swimming by any more.
Stitch, you're here, too, and other than that ache in your nose and watery eyes, you're feeling okay. Janco sees you there and starts asking questions, like "What happened? How many bullets? Can you assist? We need to get her sedated! Weetabix! I need your help getting her sedated!"
Kiddo, your mom pulls back now that the doctors are taking over. That all too brief connection drawn back as Zero glances down the hallway towards ICU. You see something, Kiddo. Tears. She blinks and a couple tears streak down her face. She may not even know, but you see them. She turns to head into ICU. She's already told you what she's going to do to Ollie, she won't announce it again.
What do you do?
You came down the lift and into the infirmary, Zero yelling for Janco with near panic masked by anger. A nurse tried to run interference, but Zero stopped her short by pointing her empty gun at the woman's head. Of course, the nurse didn't know it wasn't loaded. She backed the frak off, probably going for security.
Janco rushed forward and directed you to a table, and Zero laid you down gently, Kiddo, brushing your hair back out of your face, saying, "Kiddo, baby, doc's gonna make it all okay." It's the softest voice you've heard from her since you were a child. You've finally regained some of your senses, things are finally lining up in your head, the world isn't swimming by any more.
Stitch, you're here, too, and other than that ache in your nose and watery eyes, you're feeling okay. Janco sees you there and starts asking questions, like "What happened? How many bullets? Can you assist? We need to get her sedated! Weetabix! I need your help getting her sedated!"
Kiddo, your mom pulls back now that the doctors are taking over. That all too brief connection drawn back as Zero glances down the hallway towards ICU. You see something, Kiddo. Tears. She blinks and a couple tears streak down her face. She may not even know, but you see them. She turns to head into ICU. She's already told you what she's going to do to Ollie, she won't announce it again.
What do you do?
Comments
OOC: Read Zero incoming.
(Rolled: 2d6+3. Rolls: 2, 6. Total: 11)
In the hall is Humphrey, he'd stepped out into the hallway with the noise. He sees his own mother and a smile breaks onto his face. Then he sees the blood and he seems confused, but still runs forward to hug her.She catches him in a hug, helpless to stop him really. "Oh Humphrey, honey. I didn't know you were here."
Behind him, Jemma walks into the hall, too. She peers down at her daughter and grandson, smiling, but she won't interrupt their reunion.
If you had your stun gun, you could zap Zero, of course. She's afraid if she doesn't kill Ollie now, he'll do something worse to Kiddo, then she'll never see her... grandchild? She's pushing that out of her head. She doesn't want to murder Ollie in front of her son, though. He's seen so much violence in his young life, she always wanted better for him. That's your one angle.
"Baby," I whisper urgently, "please... Is my baby alright?"
Janco's eyes widen for a second, like she was in a zone, focused on the bullet wounds. She puts a hand on your arm, and says, "Kiddo, just let me help you. I will do everything I possibly can to make sure you and your baby are alright. This is the best hospital on the planet. It's going to be alright."
"Thank you..."
OOC: What does Zero intend to do?
Hump has buried his face against his mom's chest, holding onto her like he never wants to let go again. Jemma is still by the door to Ollie's room. She looks up at you and nods. Her arms are crossed, she's not in a forgiving mood and you've heard her opinions on Branigans over the last two weeks. They aren't very positive.
Right before you go, Stitch, you catch something unexpected. Zero kisses the top of Hump's head, she glances over to her mother. Then she looks into Ollie's room. She sees him lying there, and his eyes are open. He's looking right at her with calm eyes of hope. If he didn't have a breathing tube in, he'd be smiling. Through all this pain and loss, he still loves her. He's happy to see her, not knowing she's here to kill him.
And in that moment, the scales fall from her eyes. It might have been Branigan's death releasing some of the hold on her fractured mind, or it might be the strength of love in Oliver's eyes, but somehow, Zero sees him for who he really is. She whispers, "Oh... oh gods. What have I done?"
Right now, Stitch? Right now, Zero intends to try and figure out what's real and what's not. Because it's obvious to her that the man in that bed is really Oliver, that he was never cured of the lung cancer, that Kiddo isn't the victim of Branigan's mind games. She is.
The only reason I went over to Zero is because I was confident that Janco could start working on Kiddo- and that if I didn't stop Zero, no one would- but I practically run back.
Zero nods once, but she barely hears you. No way she's going to kill anyone right now. Hump hears it though, he looks up with shock, "What?" But you're already through the doors back into the ER.
Janco's got Kiddo calmed down, but here's the deal. Stitch, you need to pull that bullet out of Kiddo's hip, and it would be pretty easily done if you bliss her out. But that might affect the baby. If that bullet shattered when it hit bone, which is likely, then you're going to end up digging around in there, which could open her up or cause undue stress on the baby. To pull this off, you'll need to be lucky or really good. Maybe both.
Janco is going to assist. What do you do?
-------
You've been in surgery for half an hour now, Stitch. Kiddo's shoulder is good, just some soreness. You've got a nice sterile gauze laid out on her thigh where you are carefully laying pieces of the bullet fragments, one at a time as you pull them out. You're up to seventeen so far.
Kiddo, I'm curious how you're holding up here. Give me an Act Under Fire. I mean, unless you demanded some drugs and Stitch gave them to you. That's your call.
The curtain that seals off the room is pulled back. You'd heard some arguing outside. Weetabix, one of the nurses tried to run interference, but evidently, she was trumped.
Nezzy is there, with her big-ass hand cannon in a holster. du Maurier and Santiba are behind her. She says, "Janco, come here."
Janco looks up at you, Stitch. She's got a clamp on an artery right now. It is not wise to do this alone.
(Rolled: 2d6+3. Rolls: 3, 4. Total: 10)
Janco nods quietly to you, Stitch. She will hold on. She's as good as Lever said, she's a good doctor, just ignorant of many technological advances.
Nezzy says, her hand hovering near her gun, "You think I give one frak about that girl on your table? No, scratch that, JANCO'S table? You, Kiddo and Zero are the only three survivors in a bloodbath upstairs that involved the assassination of the leader of this entire frakking hold."
"Tell me what happened, Stitch. Since you were there. You tell me your side of the story, and maybe I'll let you finish."
... Gods is it over yet?
I'm pretty sure I zoned out there for a minute or two when Nezzy came into the room, 'cause I could have sworn Rinny was holding my hand when they started the incision on my hip. Stitch's forceful voice pulls me out of it. I look over at her, impressed. Did she just chew out Nezzy?
That's frakking awesome!
A moment later, Janco, sweat beading on her forehead, says quietly, "Oh gods, Stitch. That was... amazing."
I feel this weird, deja vu moment. I've been here before. Not in this hospital, not on this planet, but this moment. I've performed surgery before. On the moon. I'm not just a washout med student who ran from her abusive boyfriend. I'm not nothing. I'm frakking Stitch and I'm going to pull this bullet out of Kiddo and her baby's going to be just fine. I giggle a bit and keep pulling bits out. I got this!
How many bullet fragments did you get up to?
Janco asks quietly, "Well, we're done. They're probably outside, at least one of them. What do you want to do, Stitch?"
I look down at the little lump in my belly, and a weak smile spreads across my lips... See what mommy does for you?
I guess we're facing the music now...
I dab a piece of gauze on her forehead. "You're welcome, sweetie." I reply.
I look over to the waiting area. I have no idea how we're going to deal with Nezzy. If she's already got Zero in the brig, I'll probably get locked up, too. Then what? They don't have a leader. It might all descend into chaos, unless someone from the community speaks up for us- and I haven't the foggiest idea who would do that. I sigh.