From Yesterday (Young Justice/ X-Men Evolution Fiction)

Chapter Sixteen

The two paramedics in back of the ambulance bark orders at each other while hooking Pietro up to different bags. An EKG beeps slowly, and seeming like it's getting slower and weaker by the second. Pietro's jeans are cut off under the belt line and his legs are bloody messes.

"What the hell did this? These aren't normal bullet wounds. This one almost looks like a... a fork tore through the tendon here..."

The EKG shrills an alarm. Beep.... beep....beep-beep-beep-beep-beepbeepbeepbeep...

"His heart's going crazy! Blood pressure's through the roof! Is he waking up? Get him under!"

My stomach leaps into my throat. Shit. Are his powers coming back—and going nuts? Alfred takes my hand and squeezes it.

"The kid's a mutant; power's super speed, like the Flash. His heart's fine," Wolverine grunts.

"Holy shit! Look at that! That fork wound is trying to close up!" one of the paramedics shouts.

"Clamp it open! There's still metal in that one! What do we do, Mister?"

"What you're doing, but faster!" Wolverine growls.

I stare through the back window, watching the paramedics scrambling to keep Pietro's wounds open and splinting broken bones before they try to snap back together.

The EKG stops beeping and I swear my heart stops. I press my face against the glass to see the EMT's still working on Pietro. Alfred's hand is on my back now, rubbing it in small circles. The face of the EKG is black, the power cut.

"He's okay," I whisper, glancing over at Alfie. "They just turned the machine off."

Alfred gives me a smile. His face has a few new lines in it today, but he's still the strong and steady Alfred I need. I squeeze his shoulder.

"Hospital's five minutes away," the driver says, eyes never leaving the road. "Sure hope that specialist guy is already there."

"Me, too," I say.

The rest of the ride is bumpy. The sirens scream and the driver blows the horn as the ambulance runs red lights and weaves through traffic. We fly into the parking lot of Gotham General, heading for the ER trauma entrance, and I see a group of people in green scrubs with a gurney and a crash cart. A very large man in a white coat stands with them...and I gawk.

The man's covered in blue fur, like a huge gorilla. His arms are long and his hands are as huge and clawed as his feet. I'm gonna take a lucky guess and say that's Dr. McCoy, and you know what else I guess?--he's a mutant. I even think I've seen him on TV before.

The ambulance parks and the back doors fly open. The paramedics work on getting Pietro out of their care and into the care of the doctors and nurses. Once my cousin's transferred from the ambulance gurney to the ER gurney, he and the doctors vanish through the trauma entrance.

I get out of the ambulance, my knees quaking as my feet hit the pavement, and feel Alfred get out behind me. His white shirt and hands are stained with Pietro's blood. I grip his elbow and the man hugs me to his chest. I don't care that crusty blood on his shirt is scratching my cheek, I need this damn hug.

Wolverine walks by us, straight into the ER, and I hope he's gonna answer questions about Pietro, because... I pull away from Alfred, but keep hold of his elbow. My tummy has been a good boy this morning, but now that the fight's over and Pietro's being operated on, "I'm gonna throw up."