M4DN3SS R3DACT3D (a sh!t madness combat story)

[[F0URTEEN]]

"Ohh, fuck, not you."

2B couldn't see the man rolling his eyes through his goggles, but he sure as hell felt it.

Hank staggered to his feet. He had momentarily forgotten about his current condition in his immediate need to show no weakness in front of the older man. To his frustration his legs gave out right away, and the doctor took Hank's free arm and swung it over his shoulder. Hank wouldn't dare admit it, but he was liking how he could now focus solely on not bleeding out rather than the former and standing up.

"I think that's enough of you pretending you don't need help." 2B then replied, getting an annoyed grunt in return. Hank begrudgingly let the doctor lead him out of the room. "Cmon, we have people to see."

"What?! Who?" Hank turned to look up at the doctor, furrowing his eyebrows. Injuries only made him slower in the head than he already was.

"The rest of your little team."

Hank rolled his eyes. "We're not-"

"How did you get split up this time?"

Hank sighed. Every thought he had slipped out of him as quick as his blood was right now.

"Long story short- possession."

"That was pretty clear from the start, Hank. Could y'give me a little more than that?"

Hank rolled their eyes in frustration, but if it distracted them from their injury, they were happy to be compliant.

"So. Auditor, right? Sent some of his lil' demons after us. Pretty big fight, everybody got hurt. Hell, even me. Didn't think anyone got infected."

"So we leave, get to the next base, 'Ford's actin' kinda.. funny I guess.. went to check on 'im and Dei after a bit.. Deimos was gone.. Sanford was going batshit. Punching shit, breaking shit, I dunno if he killed Deimos or what, but- he sure as hell killed me."

The doctor listened intently, still staying half-focused on where they were going. This was exactly what he needed to assess the situation better. Listening to the seldom-spoken murderer ramble on like he used to was also more refreshing than anything, as he didn't hear much from the mercenary these days.

"So.. what you're saying is," The doctor eventually cut in, getting Hank's partial attention, "Sanford was used as a distraction of sorts. To get you, him, and Deimos down there."

"M'guessing that's it, I dunno."

2B made to respond, but a voice could be heard from around the corner of the hall.

It sounded familiar to him and Hank, though much more frantic than usual.

"Sanford."

The two made their way over to the source of the voice, and ended up walking in on their two missing people- from what 2B was seeing, they were all in rough shape.

The two were standing a good distance from each other. Sanford was tensed, staring at Deimos with a concerned, and more or less terrified expression. Something the others rarely saw from him.

"There you two are," the doctor spoke, relieved, catching the attention of the two. "I was just-"

2B's eyes landed on Deimos. The younger man's whole lower jaw was detached and heavily bleeding. Not a sight he was unfamiliar with, but that didn't exactly mean he would've liked to see it again.

"Oh my,"

The doctor sighed. This wasn't the first time he had to deal with a ripped-off jaw, and he could only hope it'd be the last.

As he began to wonder what he should do next in their current situation, he felt Hank growing weaker. The man had gone almost completely limp in his arms and was leaning completely on the doctor for support instead of trying to hold himself up.

Deimos motioned to him frantically, and Sanford eyed him with a concerned expression.

"...Alright, here's the plan." The doctor spoke, shifting Hank around so he could put him down, "We get Hank patched up, then we all head to my base, and I'll take care of Deimos's jaw."

Deimos tried to speak, but, obviously, it was completely unintelligible.

The doctor sat Hank down against the wall. The small movement only succeeded in making him dizzier.

2B knelt down in front of Hank, hands covered in antiseptic. It was hard for the doctor to tell exactly how the mercenary was feeling, considering his eyes and mouth were covered, but his lack of reaction told him enough. He needed to work fast.

"Stay with me boy. I know you've been through worse."

A loud hiss came from above the doctor as he got to work, cleaning up the dirt and blood surrounding the wound. Hank instinctively grabbed Deimos's arm, and the younger man put his hand over Hank's and looked at him so endearingly that if Hank wasn't in so much pain, he would have pulled away in disgust.

"Deimos, I know your situation," The doctor spoke as he got to work on the stitching, attempting to make the situation less awkward. "What about you, Sanford?"

"Uh, I think m'okay for now. I didn't get hurt too bad."

Not physically, at least.

"Are you.. lying to me?"

"No! No, not this time, I promise."

The doctor narrowed his eyes, giving Sanford a quick look up and down. "Hmmm.. I'm still checking you when we get there.. by the looks of it you're fine for now."

He finally sat back from Hank, lightly poking around to make sure the stitching wasn't too loose. Hank flinched, but the stitches didn't loosen.

"Alright, Sanford, could you grab him for me? Be. Careful."

Sanford walked over to Hank and carefully lifted him up. Despite the mercenary being taller than him, and just as muscular, Sanford found it easy to pick him up- just like anything else.

"Didn't know you could do this, Sanford," Hank hissed, the familiar bite to his retorts missing with his lack of energy.

"M'pretty sure there's a lot you don't know, Hank."

2B lead the three out of the room, to a nearby exit in the building. A truck was parked right outside.

Deimos motioned to it excitedly, looking at 2B as if he wanted his attention on it.

"Wh... what, you want to drive?"

Deimos nodded.

2B sighed. "Oh, what-the-fuck-ever. Go ahead.. just.. please. Be careful."

As soon as they were all in, 2B sitting next to Deimos and Sanford in the back with Hank,

Deimos decided he was not going to be careful.