QUANTUM~Billy Butcher

Healing

Athena was still unconscious by the time Butcher had pulled unto Mallorys estate, after an unfortunate run in with a civilian, curtsey of Annie they now had a car, but they couldn't risk using its power to heal Athena when they need it for their drive. "Alright Hughie grab the door." Billy ordered, hoisting Athenas limp body out of the car in bridal style, trying to ignore how blood stained the back seats were, Annies clothes weren't spared either from the blood shed. He carried her in gently, giving Mallory a look as she watched him carry a passed out Supe into her house. "William Butcher why the hell are you bringing a bloodied up Quantum into my house?" the older woman followed him through the house as he pushed open doors with his foot trying to find an empty bedroom to put her. He eventually found one, wasting no time in placing her down on the bed before turning back to Mallory. "She's too passed out to heal herself, I need whatever medical equipment you have in this place right now." Annie and Hughie lingered by the door, taking Billy's request upon themselves and going to hunt around the house.

"Where are the others?"  Mallory folded her arms, watching intently as the man fussed, carefully ripping open the woman's clothes around the wound to see how it was doing, the bleeding had slowed down, her body trying to fight against its own injuries, but it was futile without Athena physically drawing energy to heal herself, and they needed her to wake up because non of them were doctors. "They'll be fine, they always are." He answered briefly, turning his attention to the two who had just returned with an IV and some bandages, "Get those over here, we need to hook her up, get some fluids in her and she should wake up."  The trio worked to try and get the needle into Athenas skin, it took a few tries but they eventually managed, "I don't think a normal IV is going to fix her." Mallory stated, but she gestured to something that was now poking out of Athenas pockets, a small blue vile, without a doubt that was compound V. "Is that...?" Annie asked, taking the vile from her sisters pocket to confirm it was indeed what she thought it was. "We need to use it." Hughie nodded, "Surely it'll heal her?" Butcher shook his head at the vile, the hatred for supes bubbling in his chest, "Or maybe she'll become an addict like A-train or Popclaw!" he waved his arms, but Annie took no notice, looking between the blue liquid and her sister.

She ignored everyones arguments over the matter and quickly made a dash past Butcher to the IV, pouring the blue liquid into the bag and closing it up. The clear liquid turning a light shade of blue as it went down the tube and into her system. "There. Now we wait." They looked at Annie in shock, but she had no choice, she wasn't going to wait around while her sister was bleeding out.  The sound of another vehicle pulling into the drive way drew Annie and Hughie outside while they met up with the others, but Billy stayed by Athenas side every so often taking a moment to glare at the blue liquid entering her system.. "You know..." Mallory started, leaning against the door frame, "I haven't seen you look like this in a long time." Butcher didn't bother to look up "Like what?"

"Like you care."

It was true, she hadn't seen this much of a sensitive side from Butcher since she approached him that day with a photograph of Becca, "You care about her don't you?" he sighed, taking Athenas hand into his, "Too fuckin much." Mallory took his silence after that as her cue to exit, leaving Butcher alone with Athena. He gently ran his thumb over her knuckles as he held her hand, waiting for any sign of her waking up as the IV dripped Compound V into her system. It was at least an hour before there was any movement from Athena, and by then he had found out the the others had Brough Lamplighter back from Sage Grove where he was hiding and working for Stormfront, and Congresswoman Neuman was on her way with her security detail to interview him, they needed his testimony at trial to bring Vought down. 

"Butcher?" A knock on the door from Annie drew him away from his trance on Athena, watching every eye flicker and finger twitch "My Mom just called...she wants to meet." he knew what she was asking and he nodded, "I'll keep an eye on her don't worry." Annie nodded thankfully and was about to leave when she saw how concerned he was as to why Athena wasn't awake yet. "I think maybe 'Thena would need more than your regular amount of V to get a high unlike A-train and what not." He furrowed his brows, not understanding why Athena was any different as a supe. "Do you even know what her powers are?" Butcher shook his head slowly, embarrassingly he only knew the basics of what she could actually do "Her ability is to manipulate aspects of reality on a fundamental scale, she can bend the elements to her needs, she can change the very atoms that make up her body. Athena has so much power already in her body it's like one vial of Compound V is the equivalent of taking two painkillers for a headache. Butcher had never really thought about it, Supes were so common and he never took the time to take an interest, the only interest he had was getting rid of them, and now here he was, waiting for one to heal.

Annie left, and Butcher continued to watch over Athena, her small movement becoming more frequent. "I'm so sorry 'Thena" he started, "I'm so sorry for how I've acted, I've had you running round after me since the bloody start, and I don't know how I'll ever be able to thank you, but if you wake up right now, I promise I'll start doing right by you. Just please, wake up." there was silence for a few moment, until a weak answer came from Athenas mouth, it was hoarse from the dehydration, but he knew what she said, "Took you long enough." she tried to laugh but it just came out as a dry cough. Butcher smiled in relief, bringing her hand to his lips and kissing it lightly, a weight being lifted off his shoulders now that she was awake.

"What did I miss?" Athena asked looking around her new surroundings, "We took you back to Mallorys, the boys are back and they brought Lamplighter with them, Annie went to go see her mum, and we've got a congresswoman on the way." He paused, "And we also found the V in your pocket and Annie put it in your IV" the woman looked up at the bag, seeing the small amount of blue liquid that was left in it, "oh..." she muttered, looking back at Billy who had a concerned face, "What were you even doing with a bottle of that shit anyway?" She didn't want to tell him that Edgar gave It to her, but she didn't want to lie to him. "Edgar gave it to me after I had to deal with the wound from you stabbing me in the back. I didn't think I'd ever need it, but I guess I did huh?" Billy nodded in agreement, standing up and kissing her forehead lightly before going to the main room to tell them that Athena had woken up.