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22 | fix bullet holes

I was frozen on the ground, unable to believe what just happened.

Soler was lying on top of me, breathing heavily, and I heard another gunshot go off. After two more seconds, he rolled off on his back and sat up slowly, as did I. I saw Miranda run up to the two men, pick up the gun from where Asimov had dropped it, and then proceed to tie both of their hands behind them with the rope we'd brought with us.

She'd shot Kirk in his left leg. Good.

I turned towards the man on my right, who was currently gripping his left arm while blood was still dripping from the wound there.

"Let me see," I said, gently taking his arm so I could observe the wound more carefully.

"It's nothing serious. I've been shot before; this one just grazed my arm," he remarked, trying to play it off.

Yes, but you've never taken a bullet for me.

I ignored him and applied pressure on the wound while Miranda came sprinting back to us.

"Shit," she cursed, looking at Soler's arm.

"I'll be fine," he said, looking at her. "It'll just take a couple days."

"Yeah, couple days my ass," I replied, standing up and helping him stand up as well. "This will take at least a week, and you need your arm rested."

"I don't need a week" he argued. "This bullet just grazed my arm, it didn't even go through my arteries."

I rolled my eyes. "We'll see about how long it takes. But first this needs treating."

I applied pressure to stop his bleeding. Miranda thankfully had a handkerchief in her backpack, which we tied around his arm for the timebeing.

After that, she and I rounded up Kirk and Asimov, making sure their hands were tied securely. Soler tore off a part of his shirt, which I tied around Kirk's leg. Then all of us followed the GPS on my phone as we made our way to the main road, with the two captives in our hold and Soler gripping his arm.

We called our TIA authorised car to pick us up, as it would look weird to say the least if two people with their hands tied, two girls with guns and a guy nursing his arm all boarded the Tube together, like one big happy family.

Within a few minutes, our car reached our location and we got in. In half an hour, we were back in our safe house.

In that half hour's time, we'd called TIA to ask them to send extra reinforcements, to guard Kirk and Asimov 24/7, even when we'd be out of the house.

The reinforcements would be here by tonight, and so in the meantime, we put Kirk and Asimov in a single room and took their phones.

It'd started raining outside. The weather was gloomy, grey sky and a greyer street all merging to paint a depressing picture. I gave the two captives some food to eat, while Miranda dressed Kirk's gunshot wound.

"Eat your meals, and we'll come back later to ask you our questions. This would've been much easier for you if you'd cooperated, but no. You guys aren't fond of taking the easy way out. So there you go. We won't hurt you if you answer our questions honestly. Got it?" Miranda glared at the two men.

They stared back at us sullenly, refusing to respond. I knelt down to their level and looked them dead in the eye, pressing the barrel of my gun to Asimov's skull. "Got it?"

This time he nodded, panic flitting across his face.

Satisfied, I stood up and looked at them again. "All windows and doors have motion sensors, detectors and locks. This room has a camera from where we can see your every move. So don't try anything funny while we're gone. We promise we're not here to hurt you, if you cooperate."

Kirk glared at us. "What do you want?"

Miranda gave them a calm look. "We'll tell you when it's time for your interrogation. Now finish your meal."

Both of us exited the room and locked the door behind us. Miranda turned to look at me. "Kaia, where's Marco?"

"He's in his room. I wrapped a fresh cloth around his arm once we came back and told him I'd properly dress his wound after giving Kirk and Asimov their meals."

Miranda gave me a small smile. I frowned. "What?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. Go, you shouldn't keep his wound unattended for too long."

I nodded and rushed up the stairs, the first aid kit in my hand. After knocking on Soler's door, I went inside.

He was sitting on his bed, cradling his left arm with his right. I winced thinking back to that moment, when he'd literally jumped on top of me to stop that bullet from hitting my chest.

And his arm had taken it instead.

He looked at me. I nodded at his arm. "I'm going to change that cloth and wrap a proper bandage now, okay?"

He nodded. We went inside the attached bathroom and I stood in front of him as he sat on the toilet. I slowly unwrapped the cloth and he winced, glancing at the wound. Blood started seeping out again.

I applied pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding. Then I washed it carefully, adding some antiseptic cream. After that I started wrapping the bandage firmly.

"You're lucky it's a flesh wound. If the bullet had properly penetrated your arm, it could've damaged an artery and then you'd have lost a lot more blood," I murmured while doing my work. We'd been extensively taught these things at TIA, so that we could use our knowledge in times like this. I could practically be a paramedic at this point.

The air was becoming more and more stifling in this bathroom. I could feel his gaze on me as I worked. Finally, unable to stand the silence any longer, I met his eyes for a second and voiced the one question which had been plaguing my mind all this while.

"Why did you try to take that bullet for me?"

I watched as he looked away and sighed. After a long, tense moment, he replied, voice low. "I didn't want you to get hurt. Remember what I'd told you before we confronted those men?"

Don't get hurt. I did remember.

I cracked a small smile at him. "Since when did you start caring so much about me, Soler?"

He rolled his eyes. "I don't care about you. Now tie that bandage properly. I don't want to bleed to death because of you."

I chuckled. "There's the Soler I know and hate. Now I'll tie the bandage extra tight just so it hurts more." I added jokingly.

He grinned at me while I finished my work, securing the bandage and making sure the bleeding was stopped.

"I'll change this bandage and wash your wound every few hours, okay? It's not deep enough to need a tourniquet, although Kirk's leg needed one," I mentioned.

Soler raised his eyebrows. "How are they?"

"They're fine, eating their meals right now. Miranda applied the tourniquet on Kirk's leg and we locked them in a small guest room. We'll interrogate them once we're done eating."

He nodded and stood up. "Come on now, let's go downstairs and finish our dinner. Thanks for fixing me up, Winter." He gave me a small smile.

I looked away. This wasn't fair, I was supposed to hate him. Now how could I keep on insulting him after he took a bullet for me?

I looked back at him, unable to decide exactly what I wanted to say.

Finally I whispered, "Thanks for saving my life, Soler."

a/n: are they getting somewhere?! what do you think? don't forget to leave your votes and comments if you liked this chapter!