AN: Thanks to all the reviewers and all the people who favorited and followed this story, I am so glad the first chapter got such a positive response. I don't want to mention you all here for fear of accidently leaving someone out, but yeah. You guys are awesome. Anyway, I hope ya'll love this chapter, I had a blast writing it and its nearly twice as long as the last one :). Next chapter will be in mercy's perspective. As always, reviews are appreciated but in no way mandatory, plot questions will be answered with infuriating vagueness, ideas will be credited if used. Peace out girlscouts.
Do No Harm
"Devil's are not the failure of men, but of angels"
Morrison knew he had to make the first move. Before Winston could react, He leveled his pulse rifle and fired his helix rockets directly into Winston's face, using the blowback to propel himself away from the now enraged gorilla. Winston followed him with a roar, dropping his cannon and swinging away with his massive fists. Morrison knew he couldn't win this fight, but maybe he could find a way out if he could weather the storm.
He started dodging and weaving around Winston's swings, taking pot shots with his rifle whenever he could. His visor's readings said he needed about 2 more minutes. Surely he could do that? He narrowly avoided a massive uppercut, sidestepping to the left and countering with two shots from his rifle. He was running low on ammo, and he didn't have time to reload. At this rate is was only a matter of time before CRACK. Jack's vision went black as a massive burning pain lit up his entire left side and he felt his body fly through the air before hitting a wall and crashing to the ground.
Shattered all three major arm bones shattered, 4 ribs pulverized. Severe internal bleeding, major concussion, large impact laceration above left temple. As his visor continued to list his injuries, Jack immediately started the pain suppression protocols he'd learned back in his special operations training. Mental gymnastics, mathematics, refocus. He checked the all important number in the top left of his HUD. still a minute and 30 seconds. He sighed and began the long, painful process of getting to his feet. He heard Angela calling to him.
"Stay still, you'll just make it worse."
Through the blood in his eyes, he could see them both approaching, and he chuckled. Angela was chastising Winston. Even when faced with an enemy, she was still too good for her own work. He finally struggled to his feet, gritting his teeth against the pain and wrapping one arm around his waist. Come on, just a little closer. Ignoring the agony in his arm, he ripped hs biotic field off his belt and activated. Before they could act, he was back to fighting shape and sprinting towards Winston. Silently apologizing to the scientist, he slammed his steel covered shin into his feet as he hurdled over him and dashed behind Angela, skidding and slamming his prosthetic into the ground to slow his momentum before turning and wrapping his human arm around her throat before she could react, using his robotic arm to draw and press his pistol to her temple.
"Don't move a muscle Winston."His visor flashed a warning,"Mrs. Oxton, front and center."
She had been sneaking up on him. Lena moved slowly, glaring at him the entire time as she walked over to Winston and stood next to him.
"Drop your pistols and kick them to the side."
She did as he asked begrudgingly, but then again he knew from experience she took all orders begrudgingly. His Visor flashed again and directed him to Angela's hand reaching for her small weapon.
"I wouldn't Angela. No matter how fast you can unholster that pistol, I promise I can pull my trigger faster."
The threat seemed to do the trick, thankfully no one seemed to notice that his safety was on. He would sooner put a bullet in his own head than one of theirs, but they didn't need to know that. Now, how the hell was he going to make it out of this?As he slowly started backing up, his visor scanned through plans as fast as he could think of them, highlighting one in particular. He frowned and kept looking. There had to be a way. Faster than he thought possible, the visor ran out of possibilities other than the one on the HUD. He sighed.
"I am leaving, Dr. Zeigler is coming with me. I will not harm her, and she will return to you safely."
Winston glared.
"And what makes you think you can outrun me?"
Jack silently activated his visor's targeting function.
"Because your mobile lab is 2 miles in the opposite direction."
Faster than any human could move, he removed his pistol from Angela's head and fired a single round. Directly into Tracer's chronal accelerator.
Tracer screamed as the blue light began flickering. Winston immediately rushed to her side. And Jack had already jumped off the building, knowing mercy's wings would cushion the fall. He hit the ground running, Angela firmly in hand, and sprinted into the nearest alley he could find. Angela was struggling, but his robotic arm hardly registered the force she was exerting. Thankfully she knew better than to be a woman screaming in the Dorado slums at night. They moved quickly, darting through alleys and hopping fences until they arrived at an abandoned apartment complex, fenced off with a large yellow "condemned" sign on the front gate. Jack quickly dragged Angela to a hole in the fencing and led her through it. He looked at her.
"Can you get us to the 10th floor?"
Her incredulous stare was all the answer he needed. He sighed.
"Fine, We'll walk." He let go of her and started moving, grimacing as shooting pains shot up his left leg, "Trust me when I say you don't want to be out here alone doctor. You're free to leave in the morning."
He turned to continue towards the stairs, but paused when she replied.
"What makes you think I won't go inform the police on your location?"
He turned to face her, her arms crossed and a stern glare on her face. It was a stance he was familiar with, the one she used when she was ready to argue.
"Because you know I'm listed as 'shoot on sight' and you wouldn't cause anyone's death on purpose, even mine. It's the same reason your plasma caster is set to non lethal. Now if you're done making empty threats, it's going to take long enough for me to get up the stairs as it is, I want to get a head start."
Satisfied with the flabbergasted offense on her face, he started to turn and walk away but felt a stern hand on his shoulder. He turned again to see Angela's still furious face.
"You're limping, your leg is broken. I'll fly us up and take a look."
Before Jack could say a thing, she had hooked her arms under him and started gliding upward. They reached the top relatively quickly and zipped through the broken window he directed her to. Inside the room was a single stained torn mattress on a steel frame, a dilapidated coffee table he had turned into a gunsmithing station, and a half rotted dest holding a silver laptop. He heard her disapproving tch behind him.
"This is not how a human being should live." She motioned to a countertop in what remained of the kitchen. "Get on the counter and I'll take a look."
Jack smiled under the visor in spite of himself. Still such a mother hen. The only one worse than her was Ana. He shuddered to think what she would say. He did as Angela said quickly, limping over to the counter and boosting himself up. She brushed off a spot on the ground and knelt down before rolling unbuckling his steel shin guard and rolling up the pants leg. She pursed her lips.
"Who did the stitches on your calf where this scar is?"
Jack couldn't very well tell her it had been tracer during one of their forays into omnic POW camps in the aftermath of the war where a stray piece of shrapnel had sliced into his leg.
"An old friend."
She tsked again.
"Well, whoever this 'old friend' was had the medical competence of a squirrel. The way the wound closed, I imagine it pulls whenever you extend your foot. As for the fracture, it seems to be a compression break, probably from when you dragged me off the roof." He winced a little at the wording. It hadn't been that rough had it? "I have no supplies here, so you'll just have to stay off it. We'll take you to a hospital in the morning."
Jack immediately shook his head.
"No hospitals. I can't be seen in public."
She looked at him in irritation.
"Then take the mask off and dress like a normal human being. You can't just ignore this fracture, you'll need a cane to walk if you do."
"Can't do that either. No offense doctor, but we aren't exactly friends. I don't trust you not to tell the people hunting me exactly what I look like, and I cannot afford to go to jail."
She growled in frustration and stood up.
"You cannot ignore an injury like this. Even If I did set the bone, it would take days for it to heal even for someone like you, and I do not trust you to stay off it that long. Now stop being a child."
Jack was glad his face was hidden so she couldn't see the blanket shock on his face.
"Someone like me?"
She shrugged and glared at him.
"Im a doctor, I can put two and two together. You kept up with Lena, you Knocked out a gorilla, and crossed a rooftop to take me hostage in 6 seconds. You obviously have advanced military training as well. If I had to guess, I'd say you were one of the candidates for the super soldier program. I've...had experiences with you people before, and I'll tell you what I used to tell them: Being superhuman does not make you immune to the limits of the human body, it just raises them.
Jack was struck by a sense of nostalgia. She used to shout at him like this all the time. Every time he got injured and refused to take meds or stay still, she would threaten to have someone hold him down. He would always calm her down eventually, find ways to placate her. But those options were unfortunately off the table.
"Set the bone. I'll stay off it."
She raised her brow. Another thing she used on him all the time.
"Swear it. On something that means something to you."
Jack nodded. How to skate past that?
"I swear on my life."
She scoffed.
"Please, I care more about your life than you do and you held a gun to my head. Try again."
He sighed. No getting out of it.
"I swear as a soldier I will stay off the leg until it's healed."
Angela pursed her lips for a second, obviously deciding whether or not she believed him, before nodding.
"Good enough. Lie down on the counter. Do you have something to bite down on? This is going to hurt."
He lied down flat on the counter.
"I've had worse. Just get it over with."
Angela shrugged.
"If you say so."
Before he could really react, she had taken his foot in her hands and used all her body weight to push it back into place. He grunted as the pain shot up his leg, but other than that he didn't make a sound. Like he'd told her, he'd had much worse. He sat up.
"Thanks doc. You take the mattress, I'll sleep on the floor. Least I can do."
She looked like she was about to accept the offer, then begrudgingly shook her head.
"You need the rest more. I'll sleep" she looked around until she saw what remained of a stained fabric couch, "There I suppose."
Jack knew from experience there was no arguing with Angela when it came to patient's well being so he did as she said. He used his rifle as a crutch to keep himself off the leg, but he would have fallen had Angela not wrapped his arm around her shoulders and helped him hobble to the bed. She eased him down, and after taking another disapproving look at the filthy mattress, muttered something along the lines of "stubborn mule" and moved over to the couch. Jack would have found this funny, but he was out like a light almost as soon as his head hit the mattress. Little did he know, Mercy was not.
