Authors note: Man. I totally tanked this chapter didn't I? I wish I had made her more beleievable. Grace doesn't feel the way I wish she did. The next few chapters will be better I promise. Much better than these parts. You'll get a better feel on Grace's character and her thoughts on being in the facility. You will also find out about what that big bruise on her back is about. For those of you who know about the bruise don't give it away. I want it to be a surprise. Also those who I told is the shooter, don't give that away either. You know who you are. Also next chapter I will promise to bring in more characters. I'll bring in the RED scout, and the others such as the soldier and demoman, and hopefully pyro in the next chapter. As for my storyline, if you die during battle you will respawn the way you do in the game,but if you die outside of the battle, you die for real, so all the bodies from the first chapter are really dead. For example the assassin can die during battle, and they'll respawn as long as they die during battle, but if you die after the battle, for example, what was about to happen to Grace, you can die for good. Sorry if you saw a dead body of your favorite character. For those of you who love the BLU team I'm sorry you had to find out now. Anyways, yes Grace's personality will be better investigated, and the bruise will be explained, and the medic's character will be more developed. Also for Grace's bruise, I didn't want it to heal, so I put it on her back, to where the medigun couldn't reach. I know that is a stupid idea, and that had it been your story, the medigun could heal it regardless, but it couldn't regrow a rib, or bring back a lost eye if you watch the clip, so what's a bruise out of all that? Alot of you asked about the respawn, and bruising stuff, so that's my answer. Hope that helped. :)
The German man sat in his chair reading the paper, his fingers shaking violently. He was having trouble reading the paper, with his hands shaking so terribly. He was trying to calm his nerves, by distracting himself with the paper, but it was far from working. It still made him nervous to the soul that he actually saved a member of the BLU team. This could not be happening! It was nearly too hard to comprehend. He glanced up from his newspaper to take another look at her. He had been doing this every three minutes as if when he looked up another time her body would magically disappear. He wouldn't complain if it really did disappear. Out of sight meant out of trouble for him. Of course that wouldn't happen. The monitor for her heart would still give off that beep, her chest slowly going up and down with each breath. Her body still alive and not in any way showing signs it would vanish off the face of the Earth. If he could he would wish it all away, but there was no sense in denying it. What was done was done. It was too late. He might as well just sit back and wait for the sedatives to wear off.
He thought of things he could do to occupy him other than the useless paper that he already read four times. He cleaned the surgical tools already once she was done being treated, and he already fed all of his doves after that. They were flying across the room occasionally, and every time one took off across the room, he jumped a mile. It just proved how nervous he was. Maybe rescueing her wasn't a really good idea. What was he thinking? Of course it wasn't a good idea! It was a BAD idea. It was a terrible idea! If he were found out about saving her, he would be as good as dead. Not only would they kill her for enemy trespassing, but also kill him for aiding the enemy. The worst thing about it was he did not have any weapons to wield against them other than perhaps a saw. All of his non personal weapons were in the weapons wing.
Glancing up, the doves flew around him as if they could feel his stress. Some of them perched on his chair, and in his lap. Archimedes perched on his shoulder cooing softly in his ear. He held his wrist up to him, as he climbed over to it. There were moments where he was glad that doves couldn't talk. He would think that they would blab everything, and that wasn't what he wanted. After all, the fact that they couldn't speak was good for keeping secrets. He stroked the birds neck sighing to himself. "Oh, Archimedes, was soll ich mit der jungen Dame zu tun? Ich kann mich nicht verstecken Mädchen in meiner medizinischen Station." He said holding him up to his cheek snuggling him close to his face. He had hoped this plan had been better thought out. He sat there thinking of what to do. Thankfully tonight nobody had been hurt, so nobody needed healing. When the superior numbers were in their favor they rarely got hurt that bad. Then again, the weekly check ups were coming soon, and he couldn't let her stay in this room. Feeling that he needed some space, he waved his hand to make them leave him alone. They all flew up high to their little perches on the hanging machinery, and surgical light. He knew it was a terrible idea, and it wasn't the smart thing to do, but he didn't regret his decision. Sure he said it, when he picked her body up from the battlefiel, but why should he regret his decision? He had the right to do what he wanted, right? She was in trouble, and about to die. He didn't care what team she was on, or even that she was a girl. He did not even care what assassin position she was. He was recruited to heal those that were near death.
Suddenly he heard a deep intake of breath. His gaze darted up to the young lady, to see what had happened. She let her breath out softly, and stirred a bit on the table. The sedatives must have been wearing off. Her head started leaning off to the side, as if she had just woken up from a nice little nap. She then groaned as her head went to the other side. The doctor stood up, and walked over to her, slipping on his lab coat over his waist coat. He wanted to look proffesional to her, so that she knew where she was. He grasped onto her limp hand. His fingers wrapped gently around her palm, as his thumb started sliding back and forth on the back of her hand. A few of his fellow interns at medical school often did that. It was apparently a way to let the patient know who you are if you meet them for the first time, and also a way to let them know you saved their life. The studies have shown that it made the patient feel calm, and relaxed. Normally he wouldn't listen to such rif raf, but in view of the circumstances, she needed comforting. A small smile formed on his lips, as he waited for her to wake from her sleep.
Finally her long eyelashes were batting, as she woke from her slumber. Her eyes squinted at the surgery light. She arched her back as if stretching from a long rest. The RED medic grinned at her, and his features grew warm and comforting. "I am glad to see zhat you are doing better." He whispered now holding her palm with both of his hands. His grip grew tighter when her eyes drifted around the room. When she met his eyes, he grinned in a sincere way.
Her drowsey look was not held for long. It was replaced with her dark eyes bulging in fear, and her silence turning into blood curdling scream. She screamed at the top of her lungs so loud that the shriek caused the doves to start flying around the room in a panic, being shaken up by the sudden outburst. The RED team's German man slammed his hands over his ears as she was screaming her head off, as if she was having her legs ripped off. Finally as she was flipping out on the examination table, he finally slapped his hand over her mouth, while the other hand was on the back of her head, restricting her of pulling away. So much for holding her hand to calm her down. He never took into consideration how she would react, waking up in the medical ward, next to an enemy. Now that he thought about it, her reaction wasn't that surprising.
"Qviet down, zhis instant fraulein! Do you vant to get us bose killed?" He said glaring at her annoyed by her outburst. He looked into her eyes showing that he was serious. He hated having to quiet her down like this, but he hated being caught slightly more. Her dark blackish brown eyes were frightened, and he could see that. He supposed that he should have gently calmed her down instead of just muffling her mouth with his hand. Still he wasn't going to let her go. "Please, don't scream vhen I let go, alright? I svear I vill not hurt you." She looked at his eyes, trying to see if he was telling the truth. Her eyes were reflecting nothing but fear. "Okay. I am a member of zhe RED team. I know it is frightening, but I am very friendly, and have no intention of harming you." He said keeping eye contact with her. She listened as her body was trembling, and tensed up. "Now, you must trust me. If you scream like zhat, it vill get zhe attention of zhe RED team, and if zhey find you here, odds are zhey vill vant to kill us bose. Do you understand me?" She just laid there on the examination table, as the medic kept his hand around her mouth. "Err lets try blinking. Blink once for yes, and two blinks for no." She took a deep breath trying to remain calm, and blinked once, and when her eyes opened back up she looked at the medic. "Okay zhen."
He gently pulled away from her. When he did so, her dark hair fell cascading back down her back. He then removed his hand from her mouth. When he did so, the pair sort of stared at each other for a while. Neither one spoke for a moment. She loudly swallowed as if tryng to swallow her fear. The RED medic took a deep breath, and smiled. "I guess I have a bit of explaining to do, vouldn't you say, my BLU friend?" She didn't answer him, and the RED medic didn't blame the young lady. Being in the enemies medical ward, with all of her weapons gone did seem a bit scary for anyone. She slowly got to the side of the examination table, and let her feet dangle down from the table.
She tried stepping down from the examination table and nearly fell to the floor when she tried to stand up straight. Luckily the doctor caught her as she was falling. He wrapped a large arm around her waist keeping her up. She clutched onto his lab coat with one hand and wrapped the other one around his neck. "Whoops! Careful now. You might vant to refrain from stepping down yet. I have a few tests zhat I need to run on you before you are able to valk around on your own." He said trying to get her up to her feet. When she wasn't showing any strength, he put her back on the table. "You are still a bit feeble. Vhen I found you, you vere loosing qvite a bit of blood. I'm actually qvite surprised you made it zhrough. You vill be a bit woozey if you try to valk, and might seriously get hurt if nobody is zhere to catch you" He said motioning to her weak legs.
She glanced down with a loud sigh, and looked down to her feet. "Well, I suppose that foils my plans on running away." She said, her voice reflecting a bit of a cherokee dialect. "I will tell you the truth." She said looking at him in a serious way. "If I could walk, I would have darted out of here by now." She said in an uncaring tone.
The German man found humor in her confidence. He grabbed her ankles and pulled them back up to the examination table, signalling with his hand for her to lay back. "Vell, trust me. Even if you could run, I vould scoop you up before you even reached zhe door." He said with the a chuckle. He then took his middle and index finger, and pressed hard on her body, right where her lowest rib was. "Do you feel any tenderness?" She shook her head no. "Alright, vell if you do, zhen tell me vhere." He resumed checking her torso.
She layed there as he checked her for any bruises, or torn muscles. Her body didn't feel any pain yet. She figured he did a good job healing her. She raised a brow, as she looked at him. "If I was fit to run at my average speed, do you honestly think you would be able to catch me before I reached the door?"
The medicine man cocked a brow right back at her, mirroring her face. He then looked back at her stomach right above her naval. "I don't know. Maybe." He said. Scouts were know for their speed, but maybe he could catch her. He had been able to get her here after all. "Besides, zhe door is jammed anyvay. You vould have to pull zhe saw out of zhe doors, and unlock it in order to get out." He said poking a strange spot. "I locked zhe doors and put tissue paper over zhe wondows. Not to keep you in, but to keep my team out. I knew you vould not be able to leave, so zhere vas no point in strapping you down. I could say differently for your mouzh" He was obviously reffering to her screams. Suddenly when he went to the left, she hissed is pain. She had to hold her hands over her mouth to keep from screaming. "Does zhat hurt?" Her eyes were squeezed shut, and her mouth was covered, but she nodded yes. "Hmm, you probably got some torn muscle. It's normal during zhe pulling out of zhe bullets." He said to her politely. "In a couple of days you vill be just fine."
She stared at the RED medic. "A couple of days? Well, I am surprised. I did not think you would let me live. Then again, you probably would not have rescued me, had you just wanted to kill me afterward. Which makes me think . . . " Her soft glance turned to a squint. "Why did you bring me here?" She said to the medic. "You could have killed me when you had the chance, but you did not." She said coldly. "Now, while one would normaly be grateful, Lord knows I am, do not get me wrong, I cannot help but think why." She said looking down at herself. "My medic could have healed me. I'm sure he could have taken great care of me, yet you intervien." She said tilting her head apathetically. Her stare then returned to him. "So what do you get out of it?" She said her face getting suspicious.
He wasn't going to inform her of her medic's death. He didn't know their relationship. He didn't know if they were friends, or if she was romantically involved with him. Considering the way she spoke to him, he was very certain that she did not feel any soft spots for medics, so it was safe to say that she was just a friend of his. Still he would keep quiet about it for now. He was shot after the battle was done, so there was no chance for him to respawn. Once he was killed after the battle, he was gone for good. The thought of seeing his counterpart was grizzley. Just remembering it sent shivers down his spine. "Your medic vas in no position to be helping you." He said taking off his lab coat. Coldfront was known for it's harsh weather, so most of the time, the base's interior was quite warm. He took it off revealing his waist coat underneath, and hung it in a nearby closet. "You vere laying zhere unconscious. You vere even zhere after zhe battle vas over. Had I not come as soon as I did, you might have died."
While picking out a few antibiotics for her torn muscle, he closed the closet door, and looked back a her. Her face was giving off a blank look like she was not fooled by whatever it was she thought the medic was trying to pull. "None of those are answers for my question." She said pulling her knees up to her face. She hooked both arms around her legs, and leaned her head on her knees. "Why would you take in somebody that is trained to murder you? Somebody that has hurt your teammates? Somebody that does not even like you!" That last sentance felt very stingy. He knew they were enemies, but the way she said it! He would have thought she would have said it trying to sound gentle, or even saying with an attitude, but she said it with no emotion at all. Even negative emotion would have been better than no emotion at all. Still she was probably trying to be more truthful then insultive.
As if the words came normal for him, he answered with honest opinion. "I don't know vhy I saved you. Maybe I did it for myself, for . . . personal reasons. I honestly can't tell you vhy. All zhat I can say it zhat you vere lucky." He said tossing her the bottle of pills. "Take vone of zhose tvice a day, till zhe bottle is empty." He said apathetically. "If zhe pain increases, or does not go avay tell me." She caught them, and looked at the label.
"Pain killers?" She said confused.
The German man rolled his eyes. "If you don't like zhem, give zhem back. I'll be happy to find somebody else zhat needs zhem more zhan you do." She pulled her hands away slightly signalling that indeed she wanted them. The RED medic grinned to her showing that he knew what was best. "You vill need zhem. You got shot with buckshot, by somebody. Who zhat is, I do not know." His eyes locked into hers. "Did you catch sight of who it vas zhat shot you?"
She looked off to the left side, as if she was trying to replay the battle in her head. "No. I don't remember seeing who it was that shot me. Let's see. Well, I remember I was chasing after the RED Demoman with my bat in my hand. All of a sudden I was blown backwards by a gun, that I didn't recognize. I landed on my back, and was in alot of pain. It felt like a million needles inside my chest. And it didn't kill me right away, or send me to be respawned. I just couldn't move. I was in far too much pain. So instinctively I called out for the medic's help. Hearing his voice over my head, he pulled me away from the open, and into a safer spot. I couldn't really move much, but it felt like he was dragging me through the snow. He said something about fixing me up as soon as he could. He laid me against a big tree, and tried to take care of me. I must have been in far too much pain, because as soon as he laid me against the tree, I just blacked out. The last thing I saw was him pulling out some gauze. Then everything sort of went black." She said shaking her head. Suddenly she glanced up. "Buckshot is illegal on the battlefield isn't it?" The medic nodded his head. "Well, I guess we can say which team plays fair." She grumbled.
The RED medic wouldn't take it personally. After all, he played fair. It was just some idiot on his team. He never did get along with anybody on his team anyway, so he wouldn't have any trouble in turning them in. "Don't vorry." He said laying a hand on her shoulder. "I vill find who did it." She nodded, looking down at the floor. "Now, I have a few clothes zhat you can wear if you vant to change." He showed her a simple black tee shirt with nearly white jean capris. The fabric was soft and comforting. "I couldn't let you have your shirt back. It vas blood soaked, and if it vas to be found by a teammate of mine, many people vould be suspicious."
She weaved her fingers slowly through the clothes, and at that, he left them in her hands. "Do you have a bathroom?" She asked in an innocent kind of way. The way she said it made her sound like a young child.
Quickly shaking his head no the medic had a blank glance, and crossed his arms. "No, zhere is one outside zhe door, but God forbid I vould risk my neck just for your privacy. Just change clothes here. I vill turn around if you don't vant me to peek."
She shrugged. "Thank you." She said as he did a complete turn. "You know I should not be so insecure infront of you considering you have probably already seen me naked anyways." She said trying to untie the back of her hospital gown.
"Vhat?" He said confused. Did she not speak clearly?
An eyebrow raised which of course he did not see since he was not facing her. She was unbuttoning the buttons from the front of the gown carefullly. "Well, you did . . . you know . . . operate on me, right? I mean I hear that people that are operated on, especially in the torso area have . . . " She placed a finger on the bridge of her bra. " . . . all their garments removed." She tried to maneuver out of the gown on the table. She was afraid of falling down if she were to step down.
He chuckled a few times, which in return made the young Cherokee girl give off an angry glare, that could burn a hole in the back of his head. "OH! Oh, no, fraulein. Don't vorry about zhat." He said smirking to himself. "You vere shot in a few places, but novhere near your breast, or lower regions. I left your bra and undervear on during zhe proceedure. I simply vorked around it." She had stopped right after her gown was pulled off completely. Was he really so kind? She always figured that all RED team members were rotten to the core. From the slimy scumball RED spies, to their precision shooting evil brained RED snipers. He did not hear the ruffling or flutter of clothes, so he must have surprised her. "Vhat? Did you zhink zhat us RED team members vere all barbaric? Just because I am a man doesn't mean I vant to stare at naked vomen while zhey are unconcious." He said prideful. "I am a gentleman, and vould do nosing of zhe sort."
Upon hearing this she would have said something friendly, but for all that's happened, she wasn't about to try to talk to this enemy. She had just found out that she cannot leave, and that if she does, she will die, along with him as well. She could care less about his German butt, but she wanted to stay alive for her team, and for herself. Had he just let her medic take care of things, she wouldn't have been dragged into this mess. She had already convinced herself that this was her prison. So instead of simple thank you, she responded with a sharp tongue. "You better not have, if you know what's best for yourself." She snarled. She watched him as he stood still, his arms crossed, his vest going up and down slightly from every breath.
Quickly reaching for the capris she looked at their size, and sure enough they were a great deal bigger, and wouldn't fit her. She would need a belt or rope to keep them up. Luckily she had some spare rope in her backpack, and tied her new jeans up. They must have been from their scout. As she tried to maneuver them around her legs on the table, she saw the medic slowly peek his head, and look over his shoulder at her. "Hey!" She shouted as she tossed her backpack at his head. "Stop watching!"
"Sorry, fraulein." He said holding his arms in defensive matter "I vas just making sure you didn't have any bruises or other cuts that I could have missed." He said trying to plead his case. "Nossing personal!" This young lady was certainly a scout, and had a defensive attitude around her. Then again, he assumed that she deserved to be. She was in an unfamiliar place, with a stranger she knew nothing of. He would let such things slide. He would probably act pretty sour had somebody shot him with an unauthorized gun, or had somebody shot him at all.
A glare answered the apology. "Sure." She turned around so her back was now facing his back, rolling her eyes at the answer he gave. Neither could see the other. Quickly she reached for the black tee shirt, and the shirt was bigger than she was just like the capris were, but she would manage. "Are these your scout's clothes? They don't seem like they would fit you." She asked clearly noticing the man's girth surpassed the clothes protection.
"Ja" He said as he was turned away. "I keep an extra set of each individuals clothes just in case zhey get torn, or something like zhat . . . or in case I'm illegally smuggling a BLU Scout into my medical ward." He giggled. He heard a single chuckle from her, so apparently he made a joke she liked. Maybe she wasn't so bad after all. Feeling brave he turned around once more. Her skin was much better looking now that her body heat had returned. Her skin a copper like color. She had a much healthier glow. The strap going across her back from her bra showed alot of blood. It was impossible to tell what the fabrics origonal color was. He would have to find a way to get some more. As he glanced at her back, his eyes darted a bit down south, to her lower back. What he saw made him shiver. A large bruise was on her lower right back, right in the middle of where her ribs stopped. It was pink and purple. Alot of it was a little swollen up, and the shape was an unmistakable shape of a fist. The knuckle grooves, and the thumb was clearly visible. Before she got the chance to cover it with the shirt, the medic spoke. "Heilige Scheiße!" He gasped as he put a hand over his mouth. She did not stop unfolding the shirt. "Does zhat not hurt you?" He asked raising a trembling finger pointing to her ginormous bruise. He knew it had to. There was no way she could ignore such pain.
A single sigh escaped her mouth. She slowly turned around and stared at him in the eye. "Will you continue to stare at my body, or will I have to poke your eyes out while you sleep?" She asked starting to loose her patience. She raised an eyebrow in his direction. He looked away not wanting to cause more trouble than he already did. He didn't know for sure, but he assumed that the bruise did not happen on the battlefield. It didn't look right. It looked far to brutal. Like she was holding still for it. The way it looked seemed like whoever hit her was really putting their back into it. What kind of Hell did this girl go through? First he finds out that she was shot and left to die a slow and painful death, and now he finds out that somebody had battered her? Now he REALLY wanted to keep her safe. At least knowing that she was being watched under his eye, meant that whoever hit her could not reach her now. He felt that if this was really something personal that he had to deal with more than one person, but she was not willing to tell apparently. She pulled the shirt down past her belly, to hide her skin.
Well, the big thing on his mind was trying to find a place to put her, so for now she would have to stay in the medical ward until he found a way to put her someplace less conspicuous. The safest place to keep her would be in his bedroom, where nobody dared to go into. The other assassins tended to stay out of his quarters, probably fearing to find something strange. He could only assume that they were afraid to find something science fiction like, such as a rat human hybrid, or a fetus in a jar. Of course which he had nothing of the sort. He was a doctor, not a monster maker. Once he got the chance to sneak her out, he would then be able to sort out this mess, and try to find out who the killer was. Or at least who the almost killer was. He looked at his pocket watch. Nine o clock already?
He grabbed a pillow, from the closet and carried it over to her, along with a blanket. "You vill have to rest here for zhe night." He said to her putting a pillow near the end of the examination table. "I vill be back in zhe morning, to check up on you. If you hear anybody trying to get in, do not vorry. I will keep zhe door under lock and key. Here is a bed pan in case you have to go." He said holding the steel up near her. "Tomorrow I vill bring you breakfast. I vill try to make it before anybody else vakes up." He started to unjam the door, yanking the saw out of the splintered doors. As he walked through the door way, ready to go to his room, he looked back at her on the table.
She was laying her head down on the pillow, staring down at the floor. Such a poor young lady. He felt almost required to be in the room with her for emotional support, but he wouldn't want to crowd her. She acted stressed enough changing in the same room as him. It was best to let her sleep in solitude. He knew in her condition, he figured it best to not get on her that meant no touching her even for medical reasons, not telling her that her entire team was dead, and especially no backtalk to her. At least not until she warmed up to him. He didn't know how long it would take, but considering her ups and downs talking to her in a single day, it wouldn't take too long for her, or too quickly. Probably in between. He also took into consideration other factors. He didn't entirely know about her attitude towards caucasians, but if there was one thing he heard often, it was that Americans did not like Germans. Of course that was just what he heard. Was it true with her? He didn't know, but considered it rude to ask. As far as his gender, he was determined to show her that he was a respectable kind man, and had no intention of hurting her. So with that he sent some kind words her way.
"Good night Grace." He smiled kindly.
Her eyes darted up his way. "Wait!" She said as he turned his direction towards the hallway. "How did you know my name?" She said curiously.
He rolled his eyes. "Your name was printed on your dog tags." He laughed heartedly. She looked down clutching her tags between her index and thumb. She smirked realizing how obvious it was now that she thought about it.