[b]Scene Title: Distorted Realities

Characters: First Lieutenant Keira Stokes, Sergeant Manuel "Manny" Morales, and Sergeant Azumi Ian. References made to Sergeant Michael Becket, Alma Wade, and President Genevieve Aristide of the Armacham Technological Corporation.

Situation (Context): In a variation on the ending scene to F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, Azumi saves a life, but becomes stranded as a result.[/b]

[i]Still Island Nuclear Facility, Fairport[/i]


Manny Morales leaned back against the Dark Signal team's armored personnel carrier. He was here to deliver what remained of his team, First Lieutenant Stokes and Sergeant Michael Becket, to the reactor, perhaps to follow through on Terry "Snake Fist" Halford's data and make Becket capable of destroying that crazy ghost, Alma Wade.

Some quick footsteps were coming, on the way back out. Someone was returning. Was it Aristide? Had she helped? It was hard to tell, what with no actual activity he could see going on in there. Not to mention, he had decided to hole up inside the APC just in case of a quick exit, though he had seen the Armacham president go in.

No, no. The dark armor was different, not their standard gear, and she held another of their non-helmeted operatives in her arms, stomping by.

"Get in," Azumi Ian spat at him, a more than a little stressed.

"What's going on? Where's Becket?" he asked, reaching for the car door after opening up the back of the APC to allow her inside.

The scowl was not quite visible, but rather felt. "Stokes has been shot, so get in the damned APC, damn it!"

No other answers but a soft swear, and he jumped in as she helped the groaning, half-conscious woman in her arms in. She was lain out on the ground of the car as the doors were shut, and Azumi called over at him.

"Drive!"

"Explanation!" he shouted back.

"Later! Do your f***ing job, soldier!" The car started to drive, and she shouted again. "Emergency med supplies!"

"Under the seat!" he shouted back as they turned a sharp turn.

The ODST kept her hands on the shoulders of the communications liaison and officer, watching as her blue eyes snapped open suddenly in a shout of pain. The Interference tried to keep a calm attitude outwardly, but it was hard. "LT, I'm going to have to take off your vest for this one. You are going to be just fine."

"Be...Beck..." She was slipping out of consciousness again. Some phrases flashed through Azumi's mind as she laid the materials out for use, chucked what she didn't need under the nearest chair again to keep it from rolling around. Herself, Aristide, the First Lieutenant here. Aside from Aristide, the comments blurred as to who said what. It all was the same in any case, didn't matter.

"What the f*** is wrong with you?! Why are you doing this?!"

"Without Alma, I don't have any leverage. Without leverage I don't have a FUTURE."

"I can't believe this. The city's a smoldering ruin and you're worried about your f***ing resumé."

"Listen--"

"No, you listen! We're doing this Halford's way. We're going to kill this b****."

At least they'd shot her a few times before they had to get out, kept he from closing the amplifier or getting out without any problems. That, and Azumi's armor was full-body, unlike Stokes' vest, which didn't cover her midriff quite enough. That Rakow AT-14 pistol had done a quite a bit of damage here. "We can't go back for him, not now. She's too strong. Stay with me, Keira, it's going to be fine."

She reached over, taking the red first aid kit from under one of the chairs, sitting it down next to her charge. She opened it... okay, some stuff she recognized, some things she had only recently seen, but a lot she could use here.

She put her hand behind the back of the woman with her dirty blonde hair, pulling her up into a sitting position as she unzipped the bulletproof vest, took it off and laid her down again, her Seegart pistol and Andra FD-99 submachine gun down as well. Underneath was a dark, short-sleeved T-shirt with circular patch signifying her unit on her right sleeve, nothing on her left. The shirt didn't quite come down to her dark fatigues, the bullet wound in her gut through near the bottom of the shirt, having bypassed the protection.

The Interference peeled up the shirt a few inches so as to get a good look at the wound. Her entire chest was slick and red by now, the hole a few inches to the left and above her navel. They needed to stop the bleeding.

Focus, detach yourself, think, think... She worked methodically, putting a thick, knotted rope in Stokes' mouth to keep her from biting her tongue in pain, also making sure to put a high dose of sedative on it, a form akin to chloroform. Sure that she was out, she began to operate.

Using her knife, she cut the opening a bit larger, making sure she didn't hit anything vital in the process by going carefully. Her hands became increasingly bloodied, the blade not much better...and it was ready. Fingers reached into the slippery surfaces of her insides...and pulled out the bullet, a .40 caliber by a glance, knowing the type of gun that had fired, it, the one that should have done the same damage to Azumi herself if she hadn't been properly shielded from it.

Enough of that. She dropped it to her side, taking out the next device. It was a five inch needle, a mixture of a jet injector and a medical syringe. There was a black handle with a red trigger, a gray barrel with a red tube sticking out of the top with the substance to put. Not wasting a second, she jammed it into Stokes' abdomen, forcing the healing liquid in.

Immediately, she could see the wound she had made stopped bleeding, the thing acting sort of like biofoam for her. Good enough, enough to survive.

A sigh of relief, and she went, using a cloth within to wipe off the wound, to clean it for the last step. Reaching into the medkit, she pulled out the bandages. Wrap around once, twice, three time, four, five, six, seven for a finale, the disinfectant in the bandage probably enough. The bleeding had stopped, and...

She checked quickly. Feel her wrist... pulse. Breath... good. Okay, she was alive. It had worked. She didn't have anything else in that kit, so it would have to do.

They kept moving....finally coming to a stop. She walked to the front of the car, leaving Stokes there unconscious. "...she's fine. Sorry about that."

Morales took a deep breath. "What a f***ing day..."

"I know, right?" She patted him on the shoulder, going back to the back door, picking up Stokes and putting her on one of the benches. "You did good under pressure, Manny."

"Thanks. You too. You a medic?"

"No, I... I got lucky." She never did anything on that level before. It was mostly luck, having operated on herself before, though.

"Well... good to know we have some luck," he said. He looked over behind him, to his unconscious apparent CO. "When she wakes up, I gotta ask her."

"Ask what?"

"If bullets taste like chicken."

A nervous laugh was all she could manage at that point. Normally she would have told him to be serious, but... it was really stressful. "Where are we?"

"Best Save Co. Department store. Some kind of ship crashed through the ceiling early today. Safest place I can find. No Armacham, no Replicas, no freaks."

"..." She paused. That was her ship. Her ticket out. She had to stay, to find the materials to survive. "This is my stop."

"...you nuts?" He paused, looking ahead again, sighing. "Stupid question. You gonna be alright?"

"Another stupid question," she said. "But this is... I'm only gonna get one chance to get out, and it's not by car. Just...make sure she gets to a doctor. That was a temporary measure."

He nodded. Doors opened to the bright sky beyond, and she stepped out. "And Manny?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for the help. You deserve a medal. The whole damned unit does."

A nod. "But who would believe us?"

"Someone. It's hard to explain Fairport's activity any other way. Now go."

He paused. Didn't want to leave her, to leave and have her stay to the freaks and killers. That was no way to live.

"Go! I'll keep them off your tail so you can go. Feet first into hell, right?"

"...I'll see you." The doors closed.

She gave a salute. She probably wouldn't see him again, but she had to show respect for the people she had worked with today, through all of this hell. With that, she turned back to the store.

Time to start repairs.