From bad to worse (Tal)

[Anonymous]

Alaric nodded, pale skin even paler, clutching the arm in one hand, the other hand pressed into his shoulder. He then blinked down at the arm, as if remembering it was there and he dropped it with a slight curl of his lip.

"What a great fucking day off. We better get medals for this." He then winced, "Fuck. The bullet is still in there." And blood was seeping through his fingers. At least it hadn't broken the bone. That was always a plus.

He kept scanning the area though, alert for enemies. It wasn't time to relax just yet.

[Tally]

The terrorist cell's leader was still screaming on the floor, so Cross kicked him in the head.  It knocked him out and without the noise Cross could make out the sound of many pounding footsteps headed their way.  A few moments later, the place was overrun with officers.

Cross let them handle the scene.  He was more worried about Alaric just then.  "Bus is late getting here, stuck in damn traffic.  Com on, let's go meet it.  You can make it to the entrance?  It's close."

[Anonymous]

Alaric nodded, still staying on high alert. It helped keep the adrenaline flowing and he knew when he came off that high, things were gonna hurt, "Sounds good. I can walk, I'm just bleeding like a stuck pig."

He moved through the bustle, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his arm, "This was one of my favorite shirts too!"

[Tally]

Cross gave the shirt a dubious look.  "That one?  Really?"

One of the entrances lay pretty close to their location, and Cross led the way there, but stopped some distance from the doors.  The doors and the whole wall on that side was floor to ceiling windows, and the bus hadn't gotten there yet.

"Fuck, how long does it take?  Let me see what that looks like.  Move your hand."

[Anonymous]

"What? I happen to be a fan of the Pirates of Blackwater. It was an awesome-sonofabitch!" Alaric had dropped his hand away and moved his arm very wrong, "Shiiiit. I think the bullet is still in there."

[Tally]

"Let me see."  He pulled Alaric's shirt open and peeled it away from the bullet wound.

"Yep, that's one hell of a mess.  Well, since the shirt's ruined anyway."  He got it the rest of the way off and wadded it up to press it firmly against the wound.  "Not feeling faint are you?"

[Anonymous]

He wasn't feeling faint, but Alaric was feeling really uncomfortable being shirtless in front of Cross. He knew it was needed, but he didn't really...get naked around people. Ever. His free hand came up, awkwardly covering his rather small breasts and shook his head, "I can take it."

[Tally]

"Sit down if you need to—gods, finally!  There they are!"

The bus had pulled up at last.  There hadn't been anyone outside the windows before, but a few curious passersby had paused to watch the ambulance.  The EMTs ran in with their kits and fussed over Alaric.  They got a compress on and draped a blanket over his shoulders for modesty.

"I'll ride with you," Cross said.

[Anonymous]

"Awesome." He was shot, half naked and now got to spend even more time with Cross. Wow, today was the best day ever!

Alaric climbed into the ambulance, refusing to let them stick him on one of those carts. He was shot, not useless. He settled back, all three eyes closed, "Well, this has been one of the more exciting days off I've had in a while. I wonder if we'll make the news."

[Tally]

Cross climbed in after, and the ambulance hovered up and took off for the Citadel hospital.  No sirens, as Alaric wasn't about to die or anything, but at least the medic in the back with them was getting him what looked like some pretty hefty pain killers in a syringe.

"Duh.  Of course it will!  I just hope whatever story they concoct is a good one.  Makes us look good."  You never knew sometimes.  The Citadel rarely put out the real story on anything.

[Anonymous]

"I got shot, they better make it good." Alaric winced when his arm got injected, but then slowly relaxed as the drugs took effect, the tense lines easing from his face.

"We did pretty good though, huh? Man, that was like Escape, only way more badass." That was one of the many games he and Gabe played together.

[Tally]

"Like what?"  Whatever the EMT gave Alaric, it must have been some pretty good stuff.  He could practically see the pain leave the other Pilot's face.  He couldn't help thinking Alaric was getting the better deal here, even with getting shot and all.  Alaric would get to lay up in the hospital for a day or two, while Cross was almost certainly going to be called for a debriefing within minutes.  He'd rather be on the other side of this right now.

[Anonymous]

"Oh, uh, it's a..." Alaric blinked, feeling foggy from the drugs and he gave Cross a dopy grin, "a game. Where you shoot shit. And stuff. And there was this annoying chick who keeps talking and...yeah."