Light A Way

55

Within the basement of the manor, amongst the white brightly lit corridors was a large expanse of a room which Hank had taken over as his laboratory, as well as a partial infirmary for when the school was still running. The room was divided by a wall which needed a code to get through the door to the lab part, but even still it did the job of being able to split between both necessities. It was within this room, brightly illuminated and with all machines he could possibly ever need and then some that he looked down at Elsie. She had rather promptly fallen unconscious again during the plane journey home. Though Charles worriedly and rather quickly exclaimed at him about it all, he did his best to reassure the older male that she was fine and it was perhaps a mixture of things which led to her passing out.

Could be the pain, could be the painkillers maybe working quicker and more effectively on her worn down state. Or it could be a mixture of the painkillers mixing with the lone drink she had. And then of course her exhaustion on top wouldn't have stood in the way of any of these. She had become minutely aware when she was being carried into the building by Logan. Out of the three of them he seemed the more able to carry her with ease. He seemed to easily carry her through the door and down to the basement lab without any troubles.

"You know you don't have to be here?" Hank thought he would state while looking up and over to the wall. 

Charles stood leaning against it, one arm around his waist and the other leaning against it by the elbow. He placed his hand over his mouth and shook his head firmly. Rubbing a hand along his stubbled jawline he looked at Hank sadly. "I don't intend on leaving her again."

Hank looked at him and slowly nodded, "Very well. If you intend to stay, would you perhaps like to sit? You standing there is off putting." He watched as a slight smile appeared on his friend's face before relenting and moving over to a seat near a desk. It was naturally scattered with textbooks of medical knowhow and notebooks with Hank's quickly scrawled writing within the pages.

Opting not to be in the room, yet look on from the doorway, Logan leaned against the frame with his arms crossed. He watched while Hank commenced unwrapping one of Elsie's arms. Honestly, it seemed the damage may not have been as great as originally thought. Logan could only surmise this because a rather pleased sigh seemed to come from Hank, like he was holding in his reservations and now that it didn't seem as bad as he presumed he seemed to relax somewhat. Charles looked at him expectedly, clearly noticing the sudden change in him too. Hank never said anything, he took to removing shrapnel from her arms. Some pieces were imbedded rather deeply. He was really quite glad neither himself nor her tried to pull any pieces out.

The burns that had been adorning her skin had seemed to dissipate. The harsh red of the skin had returned to its almost natural colour, yet with a slight tint of pink. Hank frowned, it could be because of her fire mutation that she recovered from burns quicker than most. But he couldn't help but find that intriguing from a scientific stand point. Her hands weren't as easily dealt with unlike her arms. These did have some pieces of metal literally glued on in some places. With painfully slow motions, Hank managed to tease each and every little piece off and out of her skin. At times he had to check with a standing magnifying glass. But he was certain all was out. Roughly it took him two hours and a bit to deal with her injuries. And all through that time neither Logan nor Charles spoke a word and allowed him to just work. He was grateful, hugely grateful. He didn't want to keep having distractions that would lead to him having to tell them both to leave.

"When will she wake up?" Charles asked after a few moments of silence to let Hank recover from this. Begrudgingly she had allowed herself to be put to sleep, it didn't stem well. The mere suggestion caused her to freak out and lash out, rather pathetically. She couldn't have stayed awake through this. It would've been agony for her.