Chapter Two
Lin refused medical attention immediately after the explosion. She hadn't told Bumi when he was there, but she had been in the truck to lead the team personally when the explosion happened. She knew exactly how bad it was, the two officers closest to the wall were killed outright, and a third had died of his injuries after the medical team had retrieved them from the wreck. When the blast happened, a small piece of metal from the doors had shot towards her and pierced through and through her side. A simple wound, but nevertheless painful. Lin had metalbent her armor back into shape to hide it from the medical team, and when she was able to sneak away she had wrapped it in a makeshift bandage to stifle the bleeding. Not but two minutes after she had was when Bumi showed up.
After the civilian hostages in the bank had been cared for and the robbers booked downtown, she allowed herself to leave work a generous half hour earlier than normal. Then again, her normal was getting earlier and earlier since she married Bumi. She took a patrol car home, parking it at the curb and heading to the door. She took her keys out and went to unlock it, but the shooting pain in her side when she extended her arm caused her to drop them. She clutched her side, the pain having gotten worse and worse since the injury happened.
Using her other hand, she metalbent them back up, taking them and slowly putting the key into the lock and turning. She stepped inside, moving gingerly into the hall to set her keys aside and lock the door back up. She had forgotten to get dinner – and not for the first time. Apparently Bumi had expected this, as she could smell whatever it was that he was cooking.
She briskly walked through the hall, trying to avoid Bumi. He was standing in the kitchen with the radio on, and hadn't heard the door when she came in. He was humming along to some tune that was playing and she sneaked into the bedroom and closed the door. Lin made her way to the bed and bent off her armor, a sliver of light shining through where the wound was. She had bent it back into place, but it was an imperfect fix. She noted the dried crimson color of her blood that was on the inside near the holes and a tiny amount on the outsides as well.
She shrugged her shoulders to loosen up as she normally did after removing her armor and immediately regretted it. Her armor piece crashed to the floor as she doubled over onto her side in pain. The wound had partially closed during the day, but when she shrugged like that, she had reopened it. Her bandage was completely red as it was and was in dire need of replacement.
Bumi heard the noise and shut off the radio, realizing Lin must have gotten home. He moved from the kitchen into the hall and noted the door was closed to the bedroom. He remembered leaving it open and determined she had to have went in to change after work. He approached the door and knocked, "Lin? You ok?" he asked through the door.
Her eyes went wide, even though she should have expected that he would have heard the heavy metal armor crashing to the floor. "Ye- yes!" she called back to him. "I'm… going to draw a bath." she added, hoping that his cooking would provide enough time for her to care for herself without any suspicion.
"Oh… ok. Dinner'll be ready in ten or fifteen minutes." He turned to the kitchen but stopped for a second. He wanted to give her a hug and a kiss at the very least. Returning to the door he opened it, seeing a very much in distress Lin on the bed, a bright red stain on her undershirt. "Lin…?" he asked.