<<< If You Need Me, Tag // Doreen

[Sarah Vale]

May 24th, After Sins of Men and Angels
Infirmary

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Sarah had spent more time in Shoe today than she ever had in the past; the robot had been her saving grace, saving her from the pain of the transformation that everyone else had gone through. Instead of her body tearing itself into a bug-like form, she’d been translated into binary, safe from the infection. After the battle, so many of her friends were on the ground, the transformation back into themselves just as painful. They were tired, some were injured – and Sarah was a mechanical powerhouse, feeling no exhaustion within her android form. She’d flown through the field with blankets, making sure that those who needed help got to the infirmary safely.

A few minutes ago, Sarah had entered the infirmary, the seven foot purple and silver robot ducking through the doorway. Standing in a corner near the bed holding Doreen, Network finally disengaged from Shoe, her non-corporeal form flowing out from the glowing chest of the robot. The translation back into flesh and blood was painful, like needles prickling her body, and once she was whole, she straightened up with a slight grimace. The infection of the Brood was already gone from her body, and despite having been in motion within Shoe for so long, she felt no physical exhaustion.

Her mind was still linked with Shoe, running bioscans on those in the infirmary – temperatures, heart rates, checking for lingering Brood infections. Leaving Shoe in the corner, Sarah stepped over to the bed where Doreen was, pulling a stool over so she could sit next to the injured girl. She could see the cuts, bruises, and scrapes all over the parts of Dory not covered with the blanket, the worst being her arm. It looked like a burn, and Sarah balanced a first aid kit on her knees, peeking through Shoe’s eyes for a moment.

“Geez, Dory, you did a number on yourself.” Network murmured quietly, reaching out to gently place the back of her hand against the other girl’s forehead. Elevated temperature was expected, the body’s way of fighting infection. Pulling out gauze squares and antiseptic, Sarah began gently cleaning some of the worst scrapes and cuts that she could see. The burn was bad, and it needed to be cleaned. Sterile saline flush and a bowl were the best she could do, pouring the saline over Dory’s wrist slowly, trying to flush any dirt out of the wound.

“I always knew those first aid classes would turn out handy,” She muttered to the unconscious girl, mainly because if Doreen woke up, she wanted to keep her calm. Having the girl freak out would undoubtedly end in more injuries, so Network kept her voice low and calm.

[Squirrel Girl]

Flying dreams. These were Doreen's favorite. Soaring over a field of fluffy white clouds, blushing with rosy and golden hues by a perfectly angled sunset, Doreen laughed freely as she burst through another column of fluff. Arms held out at her sides, the bright yellow and black fabric of her wing suit fluttered as she rode the winds, soaring into the skies as the Amazing Squirrel Girl caught an updraft and spiraled on high. The smile on her face was of pure glee, sweet and innocent, and grew wider and happier as a weight landed lightly on her shoulder and chittered into her ear.

"Monkey Joe!" she squealed, nuzzling back her little friend in this airy dreamscape. The insect-like transformation, the blood and the snarls and the fighting, it was as distant as the ground below. All that mattered was this limitless sky and her closest friend in the world. There wasn't a place on Earth they couldn't face together, no monster big and mean and scary. The squirrel chittered encouragingly, echoing her thoughts as it climbed and clung to the top of her head, where a gray aviator hat sat snugly. Doreen lowered down her aviator goggles, and Monkey Joe did the same with the tiny replica on his squirrelly head.

"I'm glad you're not mad at me, Monkey Joe. I promise I tried, I did," she said, pausing her acrobatic twirls and somersaults to hover.

"Not hard enough!"

Doreen whirled around at the booming, gravelly voice, just in time to catch a flash of angry amber eyes and blackened reptilian hide, something hitting her hard and swatting her out of the air. She screamed in pain, then howled as her little red-orange companion flew in a parabolic arch away from her, Monkey Joe squeaking in terror as he careened towards the earth.

"NO! MONKEY JOE!" Doreen cried, but was helpless in her own free fall. She looked at her arms, no longer clothed in her fantastic super hero suit but instead covered in that yellow and black exoskeleton. The wings at her back, which hadn't been there a few moments ago, grew hard and brittle as frost danced along iridescent veins and membranes until they cracked and crumbled.

Monkey Joe had vanished somewhere beneath her, a little black dot that grew fainter with each second... wait, it was coming back. He was coming back for her!

"You failed again, Rodent."

The voice was back. The Brood's voice. And before she knew it, the Broododactyl was in her face, gargantuan beak wide open, teeth gleaming, salivating, bubbling acid.

CHOMP.

Doreen jolted awake with a gasp, eyes snapping wide open in sheer terror, limbs flailing for that split second, imagining the impact. A few racing heartbeats later and she realized that she wasn't looking at smoking jungle skies or the frigid blizzard winds of the antarctic, but a ceiling. Somewhere. She could smell chemicals, alcohol, like a hospital... Chipped claws and battered knuckle spikes slowly slipped back into the natural housings in her hands. Every nerve in her body cried out in aches and pains, and her arm felt like it was thrust into a furnace.

"Oh... oh my gosh... Owwww." Hopefully Sarah hadn't been expecting anything insightful, but at least Doreen's first words were coherent.

"Is... it's dead, right?" Doreen asked, trying to lift herself from her cot. She needed to see for herself. She needed to make sure that those things, the ones that took Monkey Joe, would never take anyone else again. "We won, right?"

She looked up to Sarah plaintively, then down to her hands, where the technopath held a bottle of saline solution and had previously been pouring it on the raw and red skin that was her arm.

"... Owww!" she whined belatedly. Oh, Doreen. How you weren't eaten out there is a miracle in itself.

[Rusty Collins]

Standing at the large double-sink, Rusty wrinkled his face up in disgust as he rinsed out a hand towel in a steady stream of lukewarm water pouring out of the faucet. Wringing the towel out caused a mixture of brown and yellow to swirl around in the bottom of the sink before disappearing down the drain. He honestly didn’t want to know what the snotty substance was that covered most of his body. One thing was for sure-it was flat out disgusting.

Eventually the water ran clear. He’d been using this towel to clean Doreen’s face and arms, and even some of the blood away from the wounds she had. He hoped someone would show up soon to handle the dressing of the wounds. If not…he’d do his best.

Setting the towel aside he splashed some water on his own face, running it through his hair and trying once again to revive himself. He was exhausted, and he had a feeling that this was going to be a very long morning. No use in thinking about it right now. He’d rest later.

Steeling himself up a little, he grabbed the warm towel and headed back over to her side. When he saw Sarah sitting there without her metallic suit of armor it surprised him a little…but not nearly as much as when he realized that Doreen was awake. Despite his exhaustion he smiled as he stepped up.

“We won,” he confirmed warmly and then glanced at Sarah with a slight bit of awkwardness. Then he glanced down at the balled up terry cloth and cleared his throat. “I saw what you did out there. And then you fell…” Rusty looked up at her with concern. She was grimacing from the pain of the saline wash. “And I think I realized something in that moment,” he said it with utter sincerity and what followed was a long and dramatic pause.

Then he grinned again-just a little.

“I never want to get on your bad side.”

[Sarah Vale]

When Doreen suddenly jumped into wakefulness, Sarah nearly toppled over backwards, splashing a bit of the saline solution as she jerked away for a moment, startled. Instantly, she placed a calm hand against Doreen’s arm, away from any injuries, until the girl realized where she was. When the injured girl tried to sit up, Sarah put gentle pressure on her arm, just enough to let Dory know that she wasn’t going anywhere. Smiling slightly at the expression of pain, and looking up to smile at Rusty when he walked over, she nodded.

“Yeah, it’s over. It’s dead, we’re not. So we won.” Network grinned, not bothering to point out the fact that, if they hadn’t won, none of them would be alive right now, since the biosphere would have frozen. Fortunately, Rusty had cleaned the majority of Doreen’s obvious wounds, making it easier for Sarah to see what still needed to be treated. Gripping the girl’s hand, she began slowly running the saline over the burn once more. Once it was as clean as it could get, she put the saline aside, her lips twitching in a hidden smile as Dory whined about the pain. Rusty’s comment, so serious as first, made Sarah glance up, before she tried to stifle her giggles.

She didn’t say anything, smoothing a burn salve on the injured girl’s arm, hopefully cooling some of the burning sensation. Gauze pads were laid across it, and an ace bandage wrapped and secured around the arm. “I have to say, I agree with that sentiment.” She grinned at both of them, checking to make sure that the bandage wasn’t too tight.

“You did amazing, Dory. Cyclops took out the Brood Queen, and Marrow…Well, she’s changed. But she’s alive. The cure worked, on everyone, as far as I know.” Sarah had gone around scanning, checking people she found. As far as she knew, they hadn’t truly lost anyone, although everyone was somewhat scarred from the experience. Pulling out an antiseptic cream similar to Neosporin, Network arched a brow.

“You got pretty banged up though. Don’t sit up, you may have injured your ribs. You fell a pretty long way.”