The Logical Exception

{ Chapter 21 - Status Report }

Patton was unconscious.

Virgil was unconscious.

Logan was in pain, enough that made it hard to think, but he couldn't stop.

He needed to keep going. First, stop the bleeding. Once they were further away from the compound, and Logan felt they were safe, he could properly treat his wound. Unzipping his bag, Logan began to take out what he would need, reminding himself this was a temporary fix. He just had to survive the next hour until they were far enough away. Slowly, he took off his suit jacket, peeling off his blood-soaked shirt next. It stung trying to lift it above his head.

"Looks like you had fun." Remus chittered from his seat in the back. He was leaning over it, looking at Logan. It was obvious that wasn't where his focus wanted to be as his eyes consistently darted to Patton.

"A miscalculation on my part."

"Miscalculation, are you malfunctioning, robot?" If Logan hadn't been in so much pain, he might have been offended. Then again, he was almost expecting harsh words from the twins if they ever found out. Though, Logan had not intended for them to find out. He cared deeply for his brothers but he had burned that bridge when he had left them, and for good reason. He chose their safety over his happiness and he would easily do it again. The twins probably didn't see it like that.

Logan's hands shook, trying to force his mind back to the task at hand. It hurt less if he didn't breathe and didn't move, but logically, he knew he had to. He could try to take the edge off with his pain killers, but the only ones he had would thin his blood and he would bleed more. That wouldn't be helpful as he was already feeling light-headed. Logan would bear it, for now, his side was wrapped, hopefully, the bleeding would stop. The first item on his list was taken care of.

Patton was next.

Logan began looking over the man, who had lost more weight than was healthy, checking for other injuries.

"What's wrong with him?" Remus' voice was softer, more gentle, almost afraid. Logan had known that the two were close but he hadn't realized just how close they were.

"Dehydration, malnutrition, and I'm checking for other wounds and signs of concussions."

Remus muttered something, Logan wasn't sure if he was meant to hear it so he didn't ask. "Can you fix him?"

"I believe over time he should recover fully, but we will have to monitor him. At this time, I don't know the extent of what my parents did."

"Our parents," He muttered quietly. Did Remus really want to claim them as his own? Logan would be happy to disown his parents, to never call them his again, but they had raised him. They had fed and clothed them. He felt he owed them at least the title of parent.

Logan began to gently tap Patton's face. "Morality, I need you to wake up." He tried to keep his voice calm and gentle, but the car hit a bump and his voice shifted mid-sentence from the pain. "Morality, wake up."

The weird pitch change seemed to resonate with Patton because he moved just a little bit. "Five more minutes, Re" He muttered, voice horse, not opening his eyes.

Logan quickly grabbed a water bottle, feeling a sense of relief fill him when he heard Patton speak. "You can go back to sleep soon, I just need you to drink this."

He was compliant as Logan hooked an arm around Patton's shoulders, lifting him up slowly and putting the water bottle to his lips. He began to drink.

"Slowly,"

"You said he is dehydrated, shouldn't he be getting as much water in his system as fast as possible?" Remus' voice had an air of franticness to it and Logan slipped into a softer, more gentle tone without even realizing it. Seventeen years and the instinct to help and protect his younger brother was still strong.

"No, if he drinks too fast his body won't absorb it. It's possible that it will come back up in the form of regurgitation. A word here that means-"

"I know what it means, specs."

Logan looked up at him, blinking slowly, right, Remus wasn't 4 anymore. "Slowly is best. I also mixed nutrients into the bottles before we left. Just drinking half a bottle will help facilitate his recovery."

"You think of everything don't cha?

Logan looked back to Remus, then down to Virgil, "Apparently not."

A silence fell between the two of them and Logan could almost hear the others listening in at this point.

"You suck at protecting people."

"Yes, it would seem that is true." Logan sighed, immediately regretting the force of his breath as pain branched through his side.

"Hopefully, you are better at fixing them."

"Hopefully." Logan was thankful that Remus was the only one in the back row, Deceit and Sleep had elected to sit next to each other in the middle and Roman was upfront interrogating Emile, at least he had been. He wasn't sure he could take Deceit's snide comments or Roman's anger.

When Patton's drinking got slower, Logan pulled the bottle away and closed it. He gently set Patton back down before looking at Virgil. He was still unconscious, and Logan didn't know how to help. He wasn't even sure he could help.

Looking out the window, they were probably far enough away. "Emile, can you pull over, somewhere discreet? Deceit, can you transform back into Patton?"

"Of course!" Emile said with a cheery chirp.

"What's wrong squadless geek?"

"I need to perform a small amount of surgery, it would be helpful to have a bit of healing even if Deceit doesn't have mastery over Patton's powers."

"And why should I help?" Deceit asked calmly.

"So that Emile doesn't have to clean blood out of the carpet." That earned a chuckle from Deceit and as Emile pulled into an alleyway where they could take care of this, he slipped out of the car.

"I'm only helping because it's entertaining."

"Of course." 

AN: This was not my favorite chapter. Not a huge fan of dialogue chapters, but I felt like it gave a good look into the status of the characters and all of that so it's okay. I hope you all are having a great weekend!