Summer of Whump #19: Fear
Warnings: death mention, pills, fever, injured, thermometer
Hero found Villain in a cellar, severely injured. His ribcage was close to crushed and blood was gushing out of mulitple wounds. He was only just conscious, but his breaths were ragged and strained.
"Villain," Hero said, even though she knew that he wouldn't be able to recognize her presence in his state.
She crouched next to him and ran her hand through his sweaty hair. Villain mumbled something that sounded like garbled nonsense than something of actual intellect.
"Shh," she soothed and wrapped Villain into her arms. Without a second thought, she whisked them away to her home using her teleporting powers.
Even as they were still in the tornado of color, Hero was already rushing to her first air kit to stop the blood flow. That nasty Supervillain...
When Hero returned, Villain was awake and pressed against the wall, breathing hysterically.
"Get away from me!" He yelled, defensively. Hero immediately put the first aid kit down and approached Villain with lowered hands.
"I will," she promised, only to say right after, "only if you let me clean you up."
"Never," Villain snapped and lunged forward. He tripped and nearly landed face first, but Hero caught him.
His body convulsed which made Hero's heart lurch in worry. But then he relaxed, melting into Hero's arms. She began to rock him back and forth while very slowly inching towards the first aid kit. Up close, she noticed that many of the wounds had shrapnel stuck in them. She sighed, this was going to hurt.
The first one would've came out easy if it weren't for the fact that Villain pulled out of the way rather quickly. Hero sighed again. Villain had super-strength and speed.
"S-stay away-way," He slurred, but maintained a steady posture.
"I can't do that, you need help," Hero tried to reason, but the villain wouldn't listen. He shook his head wildly.
"Don't, don't, don't," Villain mumbled and put his hands on his forehead, clutching it and swaying. Hero started forward, only to hesitate.
Without another word, Villain ran forward and pushed past Hero. He went over to the door, fumbled with the doorknob and then ran outside.
Hero, shocked, shook the daze out of her eyes. Villain hit her hard. But she wasn't worried about a little bump while Villain was bleeding out on the streets, so she followed him out the door.
She first assumed that he wouldn't be able to get too far, but she was wrong. A mixture of super-strength, speed, adrenaline and fear must've fueled him to get out of there. Hero groaned in annoyance as she teleported around, trying to latch onto Villain. Being able to teleport also granted her the ability to teleport by feeling anyone's emotions and thoughts of those emotions.
Only that wasn't easy when Villain was running around one hundred miles per hour.
Hero squeezed her eyes shut and traveled throughout the city, dipping her hand down into puddles of people's thoughts as she searched for pain and fear, likely the only thoughts running through his head.
Hero squeezed her eyes even harder and concentrated on as a wave of emotions entered her brain and fueled the powerful blood that coursed through her veins.
She could feel her eyes dart around in their sockets as she searched. Searched for two emotions that were tied together that would mean Villain.
Keep on moving, keep on... the thought trailed off, leaving Hero in the dust, but she knew that it was Villain.
Keep on going, gosh this hurts. Pain, pain, pain. Rest, just rest. Who cares if she finds me. I need her help. I am tired, done. Legs, just give up already- the thought was cut off by a loud ringing noise.
Hero's mind threatened to pull away from Villain's, but she held on. Villain had collapsed, she knew this. She also knew that she desperately needed to grasp onto that last straw of consciousness to teleport successfully.
Sleep... let go Villain, let go...
Hero grabbed onto that thought and teleported. She landed on top of a dumpster with a painful thud.
But her determination to find Villain covered the pain. She jumped up and searched frantically around until she spotted a lump next to a pile of cardboard.
"Villain!'" Hero exclaimed, not taking any precautions to make her appearance less threatening. She rushed over to Villain's side and without thought, checked for his pulse.
Her heart started to race when she didn't find it. Maybe she sucked at searching for one? She didn't know, so she reached downwards and put her cheek to Villain's nose.
Soft air blew against her sweaty cheek, cooling it. Hero almost let out a cry in relief until she remembered that Villain was currently bleeding out on her lap.
"Hold on bud," she whispered into Villain's ear. She didn't care that he was incapable of hearing, but it made her feel better about the situation.
The next morning, Villain regained consciousness with a scream, loud and agonizing. It shook Hero, who was drowsily reading a book by his side, to the core.
"Are you okay?" Hero asked, yawning. Villain's pale, ghost-like face was clammy and covered in a thick layer of sweat. Hero looked away, slightly embarrassed to see him look like this. Weak and helpless, completely at the mercy of Hero. Not that she would hurt him. No, she would never to that. She always looked up to him with admiring eyes, as hard as it was to admit it. Seeing him like this was like witnessing your parents cry. It was unnatural and something that she hated.
Villain squinted his eyes and furrowed his forehead. Only that effort seemed to waste too much energy because he relaxed his face and sagged into the pillow again and shivered.
Hero fought the urge to use her hand to check his temperature. It would be a kind gesture- maybe even soothing and would make him feel safe- but Hero knew that Villain would take it the wrong way. She could just imagine extending her hand to him and him freaking out and hurting himself-
A soft whimper drew Hero out of her thoughts. She glanced down at the villain with pity. His eyes seemed to get more and more unfocused as the seconds ticked by. Hero put her hand half-way out. It wouldn't hurt would it?
She place her hand on his burning forehead.
Villain's eyes widened and focused as he tried to pull away, rubbing the cuts on his back. Hero had to face the choice of laying him on his stomach, which would aggravate his ribs, or lay him on his back, which could rip the stitches that Hero spent hours on. He was too weak to lie on his side. She ended up choosing the back for breathing purposes.
But now she really regretted that decision as she heard stitches tear and Villain cry out. Blood started dripping again and all Hero could do was grab Villain's flailing wrists and hold them tightly.
"Stop this," she pleaded with her delirious patient. His gaze flickered to her and watched her movements with suspicion. Hero deftly pushed his arms to his sides and clicked them into the handcuffs. This wasn't the first time that she had cared for an injured person.
Her mind briefly flickered to Sidekick's last week alive. How she struggled and struggled to live, but the deep abdomen wound that... Hero glanced down at the writhing Villain. That Supervillain caused, just like what he did to Villain.
Maybe it would be better to let him suffer. Hero contemplated the idea, weighing the pros and cons (cons being much more) about letting Villain live. Less civilian deaths, less destruction, avenge Sidekick with a fellow villain's death...
But Hero couldn't let someone in pain suffer as they die. She knew how traumatizing it would be for him if he linked Hero's face to this excruciating pain if he indeed lived.
Hero left the scene momentarily to grab a thermometer and tylenol to kick the fever. Her hand lingered over a painkiller too before grabbing that bottle as well.
Villain's eyes were half-lidded by the time Hero returned, but his mouth was clamped shut. She gently opened his lip with the thermometer, but wasn't as successful with slipping it through his clenched teeth.
She sighed and grabbed his jaw, pressing her fingers into his cheek to pry his mouth open. He obeyed, and Hero placed the thermometer under his tongue. Villain's eyes widened at the sudden discomfort, before drooping again. He weakly swallowed the saliva that built up. Hero gingerly rubbed his throat.
The thermometer beeped: 103.9, almost 104. Hero gulped, she needed to lower this fever as soon as possible before it got out of hand. She gently placed the tylenol on Villain's slightly sticking out tongue and dumped some water down his mouth. Villain sputtered and coughed, unable to swallow. His eyes widened in panic and he started writhing around again, pulling against the restraints.
Hero dipped his head back and rubbed his throat.
"Swallow. You can do this," she murmured softly. She wanted to give him the pain meds too, but seeing his inability to do a simple task like swallow, she would have to revert to other means of pain control.
Villain ended up swallowing. His body instantly relaxed as his eyes finished closing. Hero grabbed onto his hand and rubbed in slow, circular motions until his breathing slowed. She smiled, at least alseep he wouldn't hurt.
