To yellow 14: There are dark moments in the rest of the story, but that is the most graphic.
To Lyger 0: It certainly should!
To Butterfly: I did warn you… That's the most graphic it gets though not necessarily the most intense.
To StarDaPanda225: Sorry for not responding to your previous 2 reviews; I didn't see them until today. On the bright side, Bri is still alive, at least.
The Hound got a quick glimpse of Iron Maiden's tattered clothing and dishevelled appearance, her shredded shirt blowing apart in the wind, before her knees buckled and she collapsed forward. He gasped and lunged toward her, diving across the few meters separating them to reach her side before she hit the ground. He caught her in his arms as her knees landed on the loose stones, and she grabbed the front of his suit in an iron grip, holding on for dear life. She buried her face in his chest, and a sob escaped her throat. The Hound awkwardly wrapped his arms around her, holding her to his chest protectively. "Hey, you're okay now," he soothed. "I've got you. You're safe now."
Her grip on his suit tightened and she pressed her face further into his collarbone. Her bare skin felt warm against his chest, with only his miraculous suit separating them. He grimaced and scanned the alley in both directions for any sign of her attacker. Something felt sticky against his suit; a coppery scent hung in the air, far too noticeable with his miraculous-enhanced senses. The Hound slipped his hand down to her waist, and it came away red with blood. Her body quivered – whether with the cold, the blood, or the trauma he couldn't tell.
"Damn." The Hound eased them down to the ground without releasing his hold on her, shifted to sit with his legs crossed, settled her against his chest across his lap, and de-transformed. He felt her clench her eyes tightly shut and bury her face in his shirt as the tan light washed over him and Barkk appeared next to his head. "Shh," he soothed her, rocking her gently from side to side.
"What–?" Barkk yelped, staring down at the scene in shock, unable to take her eyes off of Iron Maiden. The Kwami's mouth fell open in horror, whining softly.
"Someone attacked her," Felix reported briskly. "I need you to keep watch." The Kwami nodded, her mouth quivering, but sat down on Felix's shoulder, turning this way and that, alert for any dangers. A low growl emanated from her throat. Felix released his hold on Iron Maiden with one hand and squirmed his arm out of one of his jacket sleeves. She shivered, her grip on his front tightening. He quickly returned his hand to Iron Maiden's back and repeated the sequence with his other arm to fully remove his jacket. Wrapping it around her shoulders, he whispered, "Hey, you're okay, mon Fer. I swear, I won't let anyone hurt you anymore."
She wrapped her arms around him and hugged tightly, her sobs muffled by Felix's shirt. The warmth of her body pressed up against his brought heat to his cheeks. She was certainly an attractive girl – and he hadn't had a girlfriend since before Tibet. His gaze drifted down to her uncovered collarbone, the top of her exposed chest just visible where it pressed against his shirt – but he shook his head. This wasn't the time or place for that. He could feel something warm seeping through the front of his shirt and sticking to his own chest: blood. Gently Felix shifted his arms to ease her away from his body and inspect the injuries on her chest.
The girl hugged him tightly, her eyes clenched shut, and refused to let go.
"Hey, everything's okay now," he whispered, moving his hand in small, soothing circles on her back over his jacket. "But you're bleeding and I need to see how serious your injuries are. I promise, that's all I'm going to do."
Slowly, she eased her death-grip on his shirt and leaned away from him the slightest bit, grabbing the sides of his coat and holding it around herself, her eyes clenched shut and mouth twisted in pain. Felix stifled a gasp. Her entire chest from collarbone to waist was covered in a patchwork of cuts of varying lengths and depths, with blood still trickling from many of them and coating her chest in a thin, sticky sheen. But by far the worst injury was a stab wound in her left side that still bled freely.
"H–Hound?" When she finally spoke, her voice sounded fearful. She hugged the jacket close. Despite the dark colour of the fabric, Felix could make out darker patches in it where it had touched her bloodied chest.
"Nothing to worry about, cher," he assured her lightly, shrugging out of his bloodstained button-up shirt and wadding it up into a tight ball. He placed it against the wound in her side and applied pressure. She winced and let out a pained hiss. "I had worse after a particularly nasty rugby match! We'll get you sorted in no time." Turning to Barkk he muttered, "Check that she doesn't have any internal injuries." The Kwami nodded curtly and phased straight into the girl's chest.
"What–?" She swallowed. "What was that?"
"Just the 'Hound behind the Hound,' cher," he explained, his eyes drifting away from the injury to her side and up her bare chest to where the jacket left the centre of her chest slightly exposed before they finally snapped back up to her face. He grinned in embarrassment. "My Kwami, Barkk. She's checking to make sure we're looking at everything that's wrong – other than the bastard who did this, I mean."
She nodded and closed her eyes, resting her head against his arm, spasms of pain tracing across her forehead. A tiny whimper escaped her lips as he pressed the shirt against her side.
"Do you know who it was?" he asked quietly. Her breathing hitched. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," he rushed to add.
"It–it was the Ripper," she choked out past a sob.
Felix's heart stopped. He stared wide-eyed at her face, at the terror and pain etched into her features. A face came back to him unbidden.
The words spilled out of her mouth without stopping. "I was on my way back to my room when I heard him behind me. I–I tried to fight –I tried so hard – but he was too strong! I couldn't do anything! Then I wanted him to just end it already! I'm a goddamn superhero, and this… monster was going to–was going to–" Her chest heaved with sobs and she threw herself back into his embrace, squeezing his chest so tightly he could barely breathe.
"Hey–hey–shh," Felix soothed, holding her close and gently rubbing her back. He moved one of his hands up to hold the back of her head, and she flinched. A sticky substance in her hair stuck to his hand. Felix glared at the blood sticking to his fingertips and moved his hand away. "He's gone. You fought him off. You're alive. You're safe. You don't need to be afraid. I've got you now."
"H–how did you know?" she mumbled into his shoulder.
He chuckled quietly. "You let us know, mon Fer," he explained. "When you connected your bracelets into the Heroes of Paris alert system, Pegasus uploaded his emergency program, the same one on all of our phones that will send an automatic alert and location if it went offline under certain circumstances. Turing tried contacting you through the other bracelet, but you didn't answer. Pegasus wasn't available to portal someone in, but I was still near the ring in my dorm room, so I'm here."
"'m glad you're here," she murmured into his chest. "Don' know what'd happen if you didn' come 'n he came back 'n…"
Felix smirked. "I'm pretty sure if he returned, you would blast him to kingdom come like you almost did to me!" he replied wryly.
She hummed weakly as Barkk phased back out of her chest. "All her wounds are superficial but that one," she squeaked, pointing to the girl's side. "It's deep, but at least it only hit muscle."
Felix nodded, and Barkk flitted down the alley into the fog, darting around them in tight circles and barely visible through the mist. Feeling only marginally safer, Felix looked back down at Iron Maiden's face. Her eyes were closed, her forehead knotted in pain. Blood and dirt mingled on her cheek. As she pulled in a shuddering breath, her grip on his shirt tightened involuntarily. He didn't know where she actually lived, or how her flatmate would react to him carrying her back in this condition. The nearest hospital was on the college campus, but would she want anyone on campus to see her like this? He sure wouldn't if the roles were reversed. And what questions might be asked that he couldn't answer and she wouldn't want to answer? She should talk to the police, but she wasn't in any shape to do it now, and he wouldn't make that call for her – after this he wouldn't try to force anything on her. He sighed heavily: he didn't have any other options. His decision made, Felix shifted one of her hands to hold the shirt in place over her wound, slipped his arm under her knees, and lifted her up.
Her eyes opened in surprise, staring up into his face, pain still twisting her features. "What're you doing, Mutt?" she yelped.
"I've got to get you somewhere safe – unless you'd prefer to stay here all night." He raised an eyebrow.
She shivered and grabbed a bunch of his undershirt with her free hand. "I didn't realize you could pick me up so easily without your miraculous."
Felix bit back his first response and told her, "After sparring with you for a few months, you'd be surprised how strong I've gotten!"
She nodded and settled her head against his shoulder. His eyes darting up and down the alley, hyper-alert to danger, he whistled for Barkk to return. The Kwami flew just in front of them as Felix quickly carried Iron Maiden back to the workshop. He'd left the door open in his haste; the moment he was through he hit the control on the inside to shut it. Felix shifted his grip on her so he could hold her with one arm and pressed his free palm against the reader on the portal ring before selecting the correct destination. The ring whirred to life, white energy swirling in the centre, and the familiar sight of the "Hero Study" at the Manor appeared through the portal. He stepped through sideways, careful not to hit Iron Maiden's head or feet against the ring's frame, as soon as the portal was fully open, and he immediately turned to lay her down gently on the couch opposite the desk with his mother's computer. The girl shifted slightly as Felix adjusted his jacket to cover her chest better. The blood that had pooled on her stomach trailed down her side beneath the jacket to seep into the upholstery. The door on the far side of the room opened.
"Felix, sweetie, what's–" His mother gasped in shock, her hand flying to her mouth.
"It was the Ripper," he told her, unable to turn away from the look of pain and terror on his partner's face. He had put that there! If he had just stopped the Ripper when he'd had the chance, almost three full months ago… "I–I wasn't sure where else to bring her."
"No, you did the right thing," she answered comfortingly.
"That's a first," he muttered darkly to himself. Barkk put her paw on the back of his hand. The girl's chest rose and fell slowly; from what he could tell she had finally passed out, though whether from pain, blood loss, or adrenaline crash he couldn't tell for certain. He knelt next to the couch and carefully lifted the jacket to expose her bloodied torso. Most of the cuts had already stopped bleeding, though blood still oozed sluggishly from several, including the deeper cut in her side. Wordlessly his mother pressed a damp cloth into his hand and pointed to her stomach before she started dabbing the girl's forehead and cheek with a cloth of her own. Barkk flew across the room to collect the first aid kit from the desk drawer, which she placed on the floor next to the couch before withdrawing a pair of tweezers to start picking gravel out of Iron Maiden's knee. Still holding pressure on the wound to Iron Maiden's side, Felix sighed and started dabbing at the sticky blood covering her abdomen and caked inside her navel.
This was going to be a long night.
