He had followed the car that he saw them put Strife in as best as he could. When he lost it he cursed himself and almost gave up. He was running in the direction it went when he spotted one of the men that had taken Strife standing in an alley. He couldn't help but to toy with this ooman for a few moments. He circled him for a few moments. The ooman had drawn his weapon and was looking around. Drok'ti dropped down on the ooman. The ooman only had the chance to get off one shot before Drok'ti impaled him on his wrist blades.
Now was the time to get Strife out of there. Drok'ti ripped the door off the handles and charged into the building. Once the male oomans had seen him they started panicking and shooting everywhere except at him. He laughed at their sad attempts as he started killing them. He used his spear to pin one of them to the wall as he eviscerated another with his knife. An ooman ran at him and tried to hit him with his weapon. Drok'ti shot his arm out and knocked the ooman into the wall where he drove his spear through the ooman's head. He thought he heard Strife's screaming from another room.
He heard a shot and felt a bullet go into his shoulder. He whirled around and jammed his wrist blades through the man's ribcage. He dropped the body and blasted a hole in the wall and charged through it. He didn't want to believe what he saw. There was a man kneeling over Strife. Drok'ti could see blood pooling out from Strife's eyes, or where they had been. He ran full force at the man and slammed into him. The man went flying into the opposite wall. Drok'ti growled at the pathetic ooman. He would very much enjoy killing this one.
He stood towering over the ooman for a moment. He reached down and picked him up by his throat. He slammed him into one wall and then the next. He brought the ooman close to his face and roared as loud as he could then crushed the ooman's neck. He dropped the body and turned around. He has to help Strife now. That's all that matters. He lifted her up and carried her quickly back to his ship.
Once he got her bandaged up he stared down at her. He wanted her to wake up so he could say that he was sorry. He also wanted to know if she was angry with him for roaring at her like he did.
She didn't wake up for a long time. He caught himself pacing the length of the ship and back, glancing down at her then moving on. He did that for a long time. He heard a strange noise outside the ship and turned his head then growled. He looked out the window and saw many ooman males with guns surrounding the ship. He isn't letting them take her back. He quickly started the ship and as the oomans started firing their guns he took off for the stars.
He realized now that he had been such a fool, a cad, an idiot. He couldn't put his pride aside for just a few minutes to tell Strife why she couldn't go with him in a better way. He had to scare her into a panic. He smacked his hand against his forehead and shook his head violently. He growled and grumbled to himself for another few minutes. He heard a quiet voice a few moments later.
"Drok'ti."
He went to Strife's side and looked down at her.
"I can't see you. . ."
"You're eyes. . ."
"What about them?"
"They're gone."
"That explains a lot."
She suddenly sat up and jumped off the cot. She walked forward and tripped over a crate full of medical supplies. She went down hard on her face. Drok'ti grimaced at the noise her head made on impact. He rushed to her side and helped her up.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm fine."
"What were you doing?"
"Trying to find my eyes."
Drok'ti snorted and Strife turned her head toward him.
"What? You said they were gone, maybe I can find them."
"The ooman male that took you captive cut them out of your head."
"Oh. . .so he has them?"
"He's dead."
"You killed him?"
Drok'ti nodded, then he realized he would have to speak more to her now that she couldn't see his gestures or the movements of his head.
"Yes."
"Damn. I wanted to be the one to kill him. So my hands and wrists are still broken."
Drok'ti hadn't even thought to check anything else. He had been so busy taking care of her eye sockets. Strife held her hands up. They were both flopped over at strange angles on her wrists and her fingers were twisted around. Strife made a face.
"That's weird, they don't hurt."
"I gave you a painkiller."
"Oh. That must be why then."
She giggled and started to walk again.
"Maybe you should just sit down."
"You're probably right."
Drok'ti picked her up and carried her back to the cot. He sat her down on it and patted her on the head. He took one of her hands and looked at it.
"This is going to hurt."
"I can take it."
He started to set the bones back in place. The corner of Strife's mouth kept twitching. She was trying to act tough. In a strange way he admired her for that. He set it then put it in a cast.
"Next one."
He finished up. She looked like a wreck. He had put a bandage over her eyes so she wouldn't be able to scratch at them, but being that her hands were in one big cast from her wrist up that wasn't going to be a problem.
"I look pretty funny, don't I?"
"You look fine."
Strife smiled for a moment and then she frowned.
"Why did you come back? I thought you hated me."
Drok'ti's chest did a strange fluttering thing and he turned around to get away from . . .from what he didn't know.
"I don't hate you. I went back to say sorry for over reacting like that. It was wrong of me."
"It's ok. You're here now, so everything is cool again."
He didn't think it was cool, he thought it was temperate in the ship. He shook his head and snorted. He would either have to understand what she meant or teach her to speak in a way that wouldn't puzzle him. He looked back at Strife she yawned and flopped down on the cot.
"I think I'm tired now. I never knew getting mutilated would be so energy consuming! Wow!"
Drok'ti listened as her breathing slowed down and she became very still as she was taken into the veil of sleep. He ran his fingers through her hair and then down her back. He knew that this was all his fault. She was mutilated because of him. He grumbled at himself some more then sat down against the wall of the ship and watched Strife sleep.