Chapter 3 – Hospitals & Information
Medic booted the door to the clinic open, shifting the Girl slightly in order to get through without hitting her head. He elbowed the light on and quick stepped to the examination table off to the left of the main room. He heard boot steps behind him and glanced back as he carefully laid the girl on the examination table. Her Solder and Pyro come through the door. The Pyro was just removing his mask, something their own Pyro had done rarely, he wasn't sure about BLU's. The boy, Medic refuse to believe he was anywhere near man age, had bright blue/green eyes and close cut white blonde hair.
"Do you need assistance?" He asked, looking first to him then to the Girl. "I'm a nurse."
Medic arched an eyebrow, thinking that was quite unlikely. The boy couldn't be more than eighteen or twenty, and was ready to refuse his offer…until he saw her back.
"Take off her jacket, shirt und vest, now."
The boy gave a sharp nod, pulling off his gloves as he moved to the exam table.
"You, Soldier, come here."
The Soldier nodded and came around the side of the table as Medic pulled off the Medi-pack. He held the pack out to the soldier.
"Hold zhis… do not drop it."
The Soldier nodded, looking both determined and mildly insulted. Medic ignored the latter as he pulled an apparatus that was affixed to the ceiling, toward him. Not so long ago the item in question would have held his own Medi-gun, when it wasn't being employed on the battlefield. But that was before the incident which had rendered it useless. Now he would have to try and make the girl's medi-pack work in its place. It didn't take much fiddling to make it fit. Though her pack seemed slimmer and lighter than his own, it appeared to work the same way and needed little to keep it in place.
"Doctor?"
Medic looked up and saw that the boy had cut through her jacket, vest, and shirt and had it spread open. She had a nasty gash that started between her shoulder blades, ran down her spine for at least nine to ten inches before jerking sharply to the left, running under her ribs, and ending at her hip. It was a clean slice until the sudden pull to the left, which made the injury look ragged and torn. However, it didn't seem to be bleeding at the moment. But it was covered in dirt and he suspected dirt had been ground into the wound at some point. His eyes narrowed further as the two Dummkopfs finally stumbled into the room.
"Gloves and disinfectant are zhere." Medic inclined his head toward two large cabinets that flanked a door just to his left and behind him. "Clean the vound and let me know if it starts to bleed. You two idiots, vaht zhe hell happened to her?"
"Spy." Sniper muttered, rubbing at the back of his head. "Came up on her deaf side and she couldn't counter so she tried to dive out of the way…I didn't have a shot."
Medic nodded as he pulled off his jacket and tossed it aside on a nearby chair. The left arm was covered in blood from the girl's back and even his white dress shirt was stained. He rolled the sleeves up, quickly washed his hands, and pulled on a pair of gloves. As he stepped up to examine the extent of her injured ear, his eyes straying to the cleaning of her back for a second, he then return his attention and glare to Spy and Sniper. The latter withered a bit under his harsh gaze while the former rolled his eyes and leaned back against the wall near the door back to the hallway.
"I did try to shoot." Snipper muttered. "I yelled at her at least."
"Und zhen crashed zhrough zhey door vithout a single vord about her injury… Dummkopfs!"
"I assumed you saw it the way you were staring." Spy purred, giving Medic a smirk. "I mean…"
"Not anozher vord you." Medic snapped, feeling that now all too familiar creep of blush from his neck. "You, Soldier!"
The Soldier didn't jump at Medic's voice, but did turn his attention from the girl back to him.
"Yes."
"The…uh…just vhat is her name exactly? I cannot keep calling her girl."
"Uh…" Solder cleared his throat. "Frau."
Medic looked up from tending to the girl…Frau's wounded ear looking both puzzled and mildly irritated. No person could possible dislike their child enough to name them Frau.
"Frau…are you joking?"
"No, she uh…it's kinda complicated."
"What's the big deal?" Sniper asked looking between the two men. "Am I missing something?"
"Frau, Herr Sniper, is German." Medic said, pulling the medi-gun toward the…Frau's, damaged ear. "Zhe most literal translation is voman…she is named Voman."
"Oh."
"Oh indeed."
"If it's any consolation, she did choose it herself." Soldier muttered, drawing Medic's attention. "She doesn't like to use her given name...which is also complicated…she's very complicated."
"So it vould seem." Medic sighed. "Is zere anyzing I should know about her, medically speaking?"
The Soldier's eyes flickered to the Pyro, who was still fixated on cleaning Frau's back, then settled back to Medic.
"She had an accident when she was seven, a dislocated shoulder, lacerations, and bruising. All on her right shoulder and back. It was some time before it was treated."
Medic arched and eyebrow as the Pyro shot a glare at Soldier but said nothing. Whatever had led to some time wasn't a priority quite yet. The priority at the moment was making sure she wasn't going to spend the rest of her life deaf or with tinnitus. The medi-gun and his formula for it was a miracle of modern medicine, but it wasn't perfect. Besides it wasn't his medi-gun he was depending on right now. He sighed lightly, giving the back wound another quick glance, before shifting the medi-gun toward her ear. He was careful not to angle it so it hit her shoulder and the wounds that still held buckshot. As he let the medi-gun do its work he started to remove the buckshot carefully.
"Doctor, will she be alright?" Soldier asked, looking worried really for the first time.
Medic nodded absently. "Her ear seems fine now, zhe back wound and zhe peppering of buckshot vill scar but it von't affect her physically."
"Since that is settled." Spy said, clapping his hands to get Soldier's attention. "Just who are you three and where the hell did you come from?"
Medic saw the Soldier flinch slightly and once again glance first toward his Pyro, before settling his gaze back on Spy and shrugging.
"Your guess is as good as mine. All this…" The Soldier waved a hand absently at the room. "…doesn't exist where we come from, it's a game.
"Don't take that as an insult." The Pyro quickly added, side-eyeing Sniper. "He's being literal."
"A game?" You could just here the smirk in Spy's voice. "How exactly does that work?"
Medic tuned out as Soldier began to explain how this game was played. Instead he shifted the medi-gun to Frau's shoulder and turned his attention to her back. The Pyro had done a fine job of cleaning the wound and it looked as if Medic could go forward with the med-gun. His only concern was the jagged tear at the base of he wound. It was still seeping blood, though Pyro was keeping it contained fairly well.
"Ve vill need to butterfly zhis long enough to aid zhe healing." Medic muttered digging through a medical cabinet below the exam table. "Othervise ve take zhe chance of a vorse scar."
"So the healing isn't complete?"
"In vhat vay?" Medic asked, sounding slightly perturbed.
"I mean there will be evidence she was injured, it's not just instantaneous and poof nothing happened?" The Pyro wagged his fingers as if performing a magic trick. "I'm not insulting your creation, I'm curious to know the difference between real life and the game."
Medic nodded, pulling steri strips and placing them carefully along the jagged section of Frau's injury. Under normal circumstances, say the absence of a medi-gun, such an injury would require stitches. His creation eliminated that need, not to mention would save lives in a combat situation. It did have its drawbacks though.
"Zhough healing is instantaneous, scaring can occur if zhe vound is left too long."
"Like hers."
"Indeed. On the battlefield I heal as needed, vounds don't vait. Vhich means anyzhing zhat occurred vith you and your soldier vill not have a trace. Vith Frau, her vounds have remained too long and so she vill scare. Vith zhe condition of zhe debris and dirt in her back zhis is possibly a blessing."
"Would the wound have healed over that if she'd been in the field?" Pyro asked watching intently as Medic moved the medi-gun into position over her back. "It doesn't clean that when it heals?"
"It's…complicated." Medic sighed, shifting the gun up to cover more area. "To an extent, yes it vill clean zhe vound. But, to be blunt, I have had issues perfecting it to take care of more extreme circumstances. If I had healed her in the field, vith her back zhe vay it vas, I vould have had to operate on it here to remove some of zhe larger debris. Zhe same vith the buckshot and bullets, zhey have to be removed at a later date or risk infection and complications. However in zhe heat of battle one does not vorry about a stray bullet now and again."
Medic glanced at Pyro, who seemed to be lost in thought and nodding silently to himself. Medic was about to ask him just what his thoughts were, when Sniper pulled his attention back to the original conversation.
"And you three play this?" Sniper asked gesturing first to Soldier, then to Pyro, and finally to Frau. "As a job?"
"She does." Soldier said, flicking his eyes toward Frau. "She's a top ranked player."
"That seems pretty evident." Spy muttered. "For a game you gentlemen…and lady…seem fairly proficient in real life."
"Well…"Soldier trailed off his eyes straying to Frau then to Pyro. "We, um…"
"You can just tell them…I'm not…ashamed of my…parentage…"
Medic flicked his gaze down at Frau, who was trying to roll over. She seemed unfocused and her voice was groggy and barely above a whisper. She was far to strained from blood loss and the earlier fight and was in no condition to be answering questions. He laid a hand gently on her shoulder, as he pushed through the drawer. His eyes flicked toward Pyro, then to the bottle of alcohol by his hand, then to her arm, and finally back to his face. Pyro seemed to understand, gave a short nod, and came around the side of the table where Medic was standing.
"I believe you need rest at zhe moment." He smiled down at her as Pyro finished cleaning the inside of Frau's arm. "Ve can talk more later."
Frau started to protest, but Medic had already given her the sedative, and she trailed off even before she could formulate a coherent thought. He then turned his attention to Soldier.
"Before ve start to go over our family trees, perhaps a rest is in order." His eyes flicked first to Sniper and then to Spy, who seemed ready to argue. "Ve vould not have made it back vizhout them and I'm not have an interrogation in my infirmary. Zhese gentleman aren't going to leave vizhout zheir friend and she isn't going to leave this room any time soon…agreed."
The Pyro and Soldier both nodded and as Medic glanced back to Spy he saw him give a slow nod then smirk to himself.
"Vell zhen all of you out, shoo." Medic pushed both Pyro and Soldier toward Sniper and the door. Spy had already disappeared. "Go get some food, drink, rest, or vhatever it is you need. Just do it elsewhere."
"But…"
Soldier started to protest, but was cut off as Medic pushed the three men out the door and shut it in their faces. Medic could hear Sniper on the other side, suggesting the three of them get some food and they could explain more about this game. Medic turned his attentions back to Frau, his mind turning back to Soldier's words…
She's a top ranked player…
Of that he had little doubt. She seemed proficient with a weapon and moved with a grace that seemed taught yet somehow still natural. She hadn't hesitated in the face of the onslaught and hadn't batted an eye when it came to protecting her friends.
Geh weg von meinem Sanitäter, du mechanischer Bastard
"Get avay from my Medic you mechanical bastard…" He muttered, carefully picking her up from the exam table and carrying her to a nearby bed.
He began to blush yet again as he removed the soiled jacket, vest, and shirt from her and replaced it with one of his own shirts he kept in the infirmary. She stirred only once, as he accidentally brushed the scars on her right shoulder blade, whimpering slightly before settling back into a sound sleep.
"Complicated indeed…"
