inhotwater | BORDERLANDS AU 1

[And it is going to be a lot of work. There's the blood transfusion, doing something about those bleeding wounds, of course, and... well. The eye is a no-go, already far too damaged, there's nothing really left to save. The burns around his shoulder and along the side of his abdomen are going to need treatment, as well, though they haven't spread very far. Small mercies.

Several of his ribs are definitely broken and he's having some trouble breathing, still, even now that he's out of the rubble.

It's mainly those things that are the highest priority. He seems to have been lucky enough to avoid any serious internal damage, for a... given definition of lucky, anyhow. It's going to be close, everything, but at least none of his organs have been ruptured by anything.

...He's not okay, by any means. But he might just make it...]

[despite how all the Gentoos have scattered, they eventually all crowd back up together to await whatever verdict Lee is going to bring them. They're all sitting on various bits of rubble or the ground, all clumped together, quite like their namesake. Selena's gone and fallen asleep on Bridget, who is sitting next to Victor, the two of them doing some calculations for the shield. Ivy is between Selena and Oswald, and Butch has settled behind them on a chunk of concrete. Oswald is, for once in his life, quiet. Almost too quiet. He stares blankly at the closed curtain to the operation area, hands fisted in his lap, clenched on each other, surrounded by the ruins of his metaphorical kingdom.

This is his fault. All of it. It's his own hubris that lead to this, thinking he knew better, thinking he knew Pandora better--and now look where he is, where they are, where Edward is.

This is the cost of his arrogance, and Edward, more than anyone, has had to pay the price. Not to mention the damage to everyone's research labs, what might've been lost. The injured Icicles. His Citadel may have become a target of Handsome Jack eventually but...Oswald just sped the process along. He should be in the one in there, not Edward.

...finally, Lee emerges. She looks tired, because she is tired--and Oswald is scrambling to his feet anyway, the others quickly following suit. Oswald feels like his heart is in his throat and he's strangled, unable to speak. Fortunately, Lee's already doing so even as he starts to open his mouth to try anyway.]

"He'll live. He's in pretty bad shape, but as long as we keep an eye on him, he'll recover eventually."[she presses her lips together] "We should get him back to my hospital, though. He needs another blood transfusion and a lot of the drugs he'll need are there." [at Oswald's numb nod, she continues] "His right arm...it's gone. I wasn't able to salvage his eye, either. He has extensive burns on his right side and some broken ribs from the rubble, not to mention the dust and dirt he's breathed in. But...no punctures. Despite the fractures, he managed to avoid pretty much almost all internal bleeding. So there's that. I do want to take him back to the hospital right away, though."

[she pauses, narrowing her eyes at Oswald]"But before I do...you wanna tell me why the hell you guys got hit by moonshots?"

[Oswald's mouth presses into a thin line] What does that matter, exactly?! He needs help--

"Because I should know what I'm getting my hospital full of doctors, nurses, and a lot of sick people into!"[snapped back, interrupting him--she's not about to have any of that horseshit] "I'm not saying I won't treat him or take him there, Oswald, but I need to know what to be prepared for."[her voice is low, stepping in so she's almost nose to nose with him. Oswald's jaw works, clenching, that anger still boiling blow the surface]

....he used to work for Handsome Jack. He found out some information Jack doesn't want to share, and now he wants him dead.

[At that, Lee leans back with a small huff.]

"...right. So probably better to pretend that he's dead for now, while he's recovering."

[Oswald blinks at that] Ah....yes?

"Yes. This isn't my first rodeo, Oswald." [drlyly] "Put out some kind of bounty or something. A prize for Jack's head. Make an angry, tearful announcement. Sell it like I know you can." [she reaches out to put a hand on his shoulder] "You take care of that, and stay here and start to rebuild. In the mean time, we can say someone else is in the hospital, in order to have a reason for all of you to visit."

[her eyes flick over the rest of the Gentoos]

"Who wants to volunteer?" [there's a brief hesitance, because being laid up like that means that no research is getting done--but after a moment, Selena just raises her hand]

"Sure, why not. I could use a break of sitting around and doing nothing."

"Good." [and with that, Lee's stepping back]"You're coming in the transport with us, then. Let's go." [and she's turning to walk towards the large transporter van that they all came in, and Selena moves to follow, turning to salute them]

"See ya, nerds." [and with that, she's hurrying after Lee.

And there's a silence that settles over them for a moment. And Oswald wants to scream. He wants to throw things and tear something apart and probably cry but

None of that would do Edward any good. So he swallows, hard, before clapping his hands together]

Well! It seems we have a job to do and a video to record. Butch! Come help me with this! Ivy, Victor, Bridget, get some rest.

[there's a moment--a flicker of uncertainty among them--]

Now! Let's go! [snapped--and that's enough to jolt them out of it. Ivy reaches out to squeeze Oswald's arm before she's being ushered away by Bridget, Victor bringing up the rear. Oswald turns, starting to walk towards the technicals. He can hear Butch's footsteps start to follow him, quickly catching up. ]

"....where're we gonna film?"

[Oswald hums in his throat] In front of the wreckage, I think. For maximum impact.

"Right. I'll hold the light and the camera, you ham it up?"

Exactly. Though I don't know how much hamming will be necessary. [there's a dark color to his voice, guilt and regret, horror, anger, rage. Butch glances down at him...before he nods]

"You got it, boss."

[Edward isn't expecting to wake up again.

When he does... he almost expects to still be stuck in the same place, stuck underneath rubble. Back to the agonizing slow wait until his body finally gets with the program and shuts down.

The first thing that clues him in that something's off is the lack of pain. Well. No, not quite the lack of it, entirely, but it's all drowned out. It feels more numb than anything and it's... a relief. Enough of one that he drifts off again, for a little longer.

When he snaps back to consciousness, he tries to open his eyes. Only one actually does. He doesn't quite... wonder about that, yet, mind still catching up with everything happening. And he blinks a little, blearily. Trying to take in what he's seeing.]

[it's...a hospital room. White walls, no windows, a curtain pulled. There's a bedside table, and a chair next to his bedside.

And sitting in that chair, reading a book, one of her feet propped up on the steel frame, leaning the chair back on two legs is...Selena.

It's been a couple days, so she's cleaned up now and back in her casual clothes. There isn't much to do other than hang out and keep an eye on Edward, which is kind of boring, but it definitely gives her time to just...relax.

So that's what she's doing. Relaxing.]

[It takes a bit, before his mind is awake enough to actually start connecting any dots. He's not... entirely there, yet, but after a slight delay he squints a little, to focus his vision.

Which isn't much, but even blurry, he recognizes that person.]

...Cat?

[His voice is quiet, kind of hoarse. But he manages to force the word out, at least.]

[it takes a moment--a pause in her reading, a frown, glancing up--and then her eyes widen, almost comically.]

"Holy shit, you're awake." [she lets the chair drop back down onto four legs, closing the book and dropping it on the chair as she pushes to her feet. Selena leans on the railing of the bed, smirking down at him] "Welcome back to the land of the living, Eddie."

[Edward blinks a few more times, just... tiredly shifting his head a little so he's got a better view of her. That's... harder than it should be. He hasn't put together why yet.]

Kinda... didn't see that one coming...

[Kind of a wry sarcastic comment there, but honestly, he was fully expecting to be dead by now.]

[yeah, Selena's gonna just arch an eyebrow at that one]

"What, the moonshot? Or you being in the land of the living?"

The latter, mostly...

[He thinks that over for a moment.]

...I guess both, technically.

[He's... feeling a little sluggish, here, so the response is a bit slow. There's a lot of drugs in his system, right now, which is helping him not be in horrible agony.]

"I mean, technically you are kinda dead officially. I'm your injured stand-in. Hence why I'm stuck hanging out here." [she sounds more dryly amused than put out, though]

"But hey! Actually, you're not dead. So that's a bonus. And whatever you did with the shield saved, like, half the Citadel and Ivy and Victor so good job there."

[He squints... more, at that. Selina, please, he's far too out of it to follow along with all of this.]

I'm... huh?

[He's very confused. Selina. Why.]

[yeah he looks very confused. She just huffs a bit, and waves a hand]

"Don't worry about it. Hold on, though, I gotta let Dr. Thompkins know you're awake--"[Selina leans over, pushing a button on the side of his bed, and there's a low buzzer noise] "There. Fulfilled my civic duty."

Oh... okay...

[He keeps trying to focus his vision, but she's just a little too far away for that to work, really, without his glasses. And--

He blinks, suddenly realizing part of the problem. It feels like... there's something over his other eye. A bandage, maybe? He tries to touch it to confirm, except... one of his arms feels a little stuck. IV drip... oh. Hospital. That makes sense.

And... no response on his other side.

...If he was just a little less awake, he'd wonder about that more. Right now, it's really just... one step at a time.]

[which is about the time that Lee comes in--and Selina's backing up to get out of her way as she leans into Edward's field of vision. She smiles a little, gently]

"Hi Edward. I'm Doctor Leslie Thompkins. I'm taking care of you for now. Are you in any pain?"

[He blinks, at Lee's appearance, and it... takes a few moments for her words to register properly.]

No, I... I don't think so...

[Very numb, maybe. Weird. Not... good, really, but no pain that he's noticed.]

"Okay. That's a good start. Can you tell me what you last remember?"

Mostly I remember... being stuck under a bunch of debris, after part of the Citadel collapsed...

[He remembers that pretty clearly, in fact. It felt like it was forever.]

"Yes, that certainly happened. You were dug out and then transferred to my hospital."

Mhm, I think I... I kind of figured out that part...

Got that far...

[But that's... good. Not dead. He's not stuck anymore, he can breathe again, all good things.]

"That's good. Your cognitive abilities seem intact so far, so that's a good sign. You need to heal a bit longer before we talk about other issues, so for now I'm going to put you back under so you can sleep a bit longer, alright?"

[Honestly... he can feel himself almost starting to zone out again anyway, so he can't exactly argue with that. More sleep... doesn't sound so bad.

He just exhales.]

Oh, um... O-Okay... sure...

"Okay. Just rest, Edward. That's the best thing you can do for yourself, now."

Alright...

[He'll... do his best, sure. Who's he to argue, right now?]

[when Edward wakes up again, he'll find himself marginally more lucid. Marginally being the key word--there's still painkillers in his system, though they've started weaning him off them a bit.

Dr. Thompkins is currently taking his blood pressure. Selena is fiddling with an ECHO device, propped up with her legs on the bed]

[Edward blinks, as he wakes up again. Shifting slightly, without really thinking about it. His head still feels... kind of fuzzy, so it takes him a few moments to realize what Dr. Thompkins is doing.

Waking up is kind of a slow process, so for the moment he finds himself just sort of watching, as his mind tries to wake up more.]

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