Russian Roulette

Chapter Sixty-Eight: Locating Godzilla

---Isador---

Isador held Aurora close, gently rubbing her back. He question caught him a bit off guard. *Whom she helps him catch... Oh the unneeded guilt she must feel right now Isa...* He lowered his voice to a whisper now that she was closer to him. "From what I've seen, yeah... But don't put anything on you. You did not know the extent... You just thought you were being helpful..." Isador was unsure if those words would really be helpful to her, but he said them anyways. *Can't count how many times as a child I wanted to be more helpful. Just wanted to help...* He could feel her relaxing into him, and he smiled a little. Not very long ago she was a bit hostile towards Isador, and very untrusting of him. He didn't blame her, either.

"I promise I will do my best to make sure Aleksei never goes that far again." Oh a hopeless promise, he already felt like he'd broken it. He knew one thing for damn sure though--that was his new goal. Screw his federal given assignment. In this moment in time he felt more of a need to stop Aleksei from descending deep into a type of darkness he could be swallowed by... a Darkness that could steal him away... One Isador knew on a very personal and intimate level. But truly first, he felt the need to just be there, for Aurora. *Just take a moment, relax with her... she needs that small safety net of someone who isn't burning men's faces off* He held her close, keeping his eyes on the door as he gently rubbed her back some more. Isador also begin to very, very quietly hum a lullaby. That was his way of calming himself down. A lullaby from a distant day in his past that he could no longer remember the words too, only the melody that danced behind them.

"If you're doing to address me anything besides Doc, it should be ma'am, not miss." Doc slipped off her backpack and got down on the floor with Kyle. She smiled a little when Ghost whacked Eko, and she didn't hide it either. She found their behaviors amusing. She scoffed at Aodhan's question though.

"Well... ya both not that wrong." Aodhan gave a bit of a laugh. These two acted like brothers, it brought fond memories back in Aodan's mind. He smiled at the two of them before he spoke again. "One answer is simple, a doctor works in a hospital... While a medic works out with the soldiers, moving along with'em, treating wounds as they appear...Another answer, one a wee bit more darker..." He paused, debating whether or not he should say it. Oh how much this part of the answer bothered Doc, and Aodhan knew it. "A doctor cures people... while medic just makes them more comfortable while they die."

"Very untrue statement, Aodhan. Doctor's do no harm." Doc quipped from the floor, shooting a glare at Aodhan that had it been able to it would've killed him. She did not want that in the head of the man whose face looked like a melted statue. "Medics do no harm either, but they don't take shit. They have the tactical ability to keep people alive to get them home. Even if we die trying." Doc did look over at Eko and Ghost for a quick moment, and spoke quickly as she unpacked some of her equipment. "Doctors and Medics both can have degrees, medics tend to have more of a military training. A doctor can be a medic, and a medic can be a doctor. Our 'other sources', tend to be other fully trained medics or base doctors."

Aodhan gave a light laugh and looked directly at Eko."See? Ya basically got it right... even being a high school dropout... But ya got to be careful, she'll eat you alive."

Doc rolled her eyes at Aodhan, pushing her attention back to Kyle. "Alright, I'm going to start a morphine drip, to ease you out of the pain..." She spoke quite clearly to Kyle, keeping him informed about every little thing she did. Doc had been in combat before, she was a field medic after all. This was however, in the top ten of worst wounds she had seen in her years. This man was passing the point of critical condition. He'd need more than what she could provide in this cursed black market building. And still, she opened up her duffel bag and started the morphine drip, giving it time to take effect. She very gently touched where Kyle's cheek should have been. "I will be as gentle as possible, but can you feel this? I ask to not assume that the morphine has begun to do its job...If it hurts, make any type of noise. If it does not, or you don't think I'm touching you, remain quiet." Doc knew she had to work fast, get him numb so she can semi-sculpt his face into something that could breath and at the very least drink.

---Aurora/Ghost---

Aurora felt satisfied with that answer, he may have sounded a bit unsure of it himself but at least he would try, that's all she could ask for at this point. The lullaby he sung was gorgeous, at least to her anyways but it did remind her of when Aleksei tried to sing to her while he was still learning English himself, a very broken accent while quickly trying to pronounce the words to 'A sailor went to sea'. She let out a small laugh at the memory, oh they were good memories. Very good memories.

Eko had to take a moment to compose himself, gosh this woman is something else. "Yes, Ma'am." He sounded like a teenager who had got into trouble with a very attractive teacher. Ghost cringed; this was disgusting to watch. Yuck. Plus, let's not forget that Kyle probably didn't want to listen to his smitten self while his face was melted off.

Both men listened to Aodhan, clearly intrigued, that was until he mentioned the 'while they die' part, that made them look at Kyle and Ghost sighed, "If that ever happened to me..just end it for me man, I don't want that." Ghost refused to look at Doc while she handled Kyle, he was very face sensitive and the sight of this made his skin crawl. Poor bastard.

Eko's head snapped towards the direction of Doc when she spoke, now she had his full...undivided attention. Ghost seemed to lose his focus on the conversation though, he just turned his head away from the scene. "He only got it somewhat right because he actually used to work with medics, he's playing stupid." Ghost then huffed and Kyle who smiled a toothy grin.

"Working with them and being educated on the topic are two different things. You just mad." Eko said before looking at Aodhan, his bit his lip as he took a glance at Doc, "Honestly man, she can eat me alive at any time of the day. I'm ready..." he whispered it to himself mostly, but it was still audible. Kyle responded with silence and Ghost at this point has had enough, "I'm going to go find Godzilla. I'm outa here." Ghost said before marching away from the scene, he quickly went outside of the warehouse and look at that, it was snowing ash. "Beautiful." Ghost mocked the situation as he made his way down the street, first he checked some liquor shops because everyone knew how bad Aleksei's drinking could get but...he could admit that he has never actually seen Aleksei pick up a bottle recently, clearly someone had changed his bad habits, at least temporarily. Finally, he found the man next to a dumpster and surprisingly, he wasn't unconscious.

"You shouldn't be out here alone." Ghost kneeled down to Aleksei who scoffed, "It's far better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone." Aleksei said as he numbly tried to get another bottle, but Ghost took it from him, "You're talking about Isador." Ghost questioned. With his hand still in the air as if he was holding a bottle, Aleksei nodded, "he hates me. Should have seen the way he looked at me." Aleksei reached for the bottle in Ghost's hand, but Ghost threw it to the ground, causing the glass to shatter angrily and the content in the bottle to become wasted. Aleksei let out a deep sigh as Ghost tried to help him to his feet, "Yeah, burning a man's face off in front of him probably cause some...negative emotions but what do I know? I have never been a relationship before." Ghost shrugged as he helped get Aleksei back to the warehouse, for now he would keep him away from everyone, so he began to lead Aleksei to the armory...actually no that was a bad idea. To the bathroom instead. Ghost put Aleksei down in the bathroom and left him there, "I'm going to go get your animals." Ghost nodded towards him before leaving, after a bit of time he came back with Ms. Kitty and Little Piggy, they seemed very happy to see him again. At least that made two people. Ms. Kitty rubbed her gigantic head against Aleksei's as the pig ran between her legs and onto his chest.

"Hello, you beautiful beast and bacon." Aleksei sighed as he petted both of them, as Ghost seen that he was distracted enough he eventually left Aleksei in the bathroom. He'll be fine.

Eko on the other hand was interested in the process, he leaned down next to Doc while also giving her a respectable amount of space as he watched her get to work.

As the day dragged on, Ghost stayed in the kitchen as he tried to find things to do. Eko stayed with Doc the entire time, sometimes he would ask medical questions but mostly he tried to respect her space. Aurora at this point was asleep and so was Aleksei in the bathroom, with the pig in his lap and the tiger in the tub. And as for Kyle...well...Kyle was no longer a living person. He succumbed to extensive injuries despite Doc's best efforts. Eko slowly pulled away from the scene and went to go break the news to Ghost, "hey...uh Kyle he..." Eko trailed on, and Ghost nodded, "Yeah...yeah I hear you." Ghost said, he didn't want to force Eko into having to finish. Ghost stood up and went to go find Isador, regardless if he liked Kyle or not a death is a death. It should be announced to everyone.

"Isador...Kyle is dead...friendly fire went a bit too far." Ghost sighed before finding a place to sit down and just relax himself.