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Summary: Rocket brings Tabitha's favorite food to her in the Med Bay.
Date: October 21, 2012
Log Title: Bed And Burger
Rating: PG-13.
Barnes Academy - Medical Center
The name medical 'office' rather undersells what his, in essence, a state of the art, high-tech and extremely well stocked medical bay and treatment center. There are always orderlies and nurses in attendance to handle minor injuries and a doctor is always on call for more serious problems. In addition to a locked medicine storage facility, there are modules for isolating patients, a (hopefully never used) cryogenic storage and stasis module for preserving life (or bodies) when the local team can't stabilize a patient and a pair of ten bed infirmary modules attached to the main area. Each bed and exam table is equipped with the latest Stark-tech diagnostics gear.
There is a bit of a commotion at the entrance to the med bay, the nurse stationed there seemingly arguing with someone at the entrance. After a few minutes the voices die down and the sound of footsteps comes into the room. Rocket glances around quickly, his eyes reflecting slightly in the dim light of the room before he sees the student he came to see. After one more glance back toward the entrance, the raccoon makes his way over to Tabitha's bed. He sits in a chair nearby and looks the apparently sleeping girl over, not wanting to wake her yet.
Tabitha's ears twitch, and the rat girl stirs as Rocket sits down nearby. The rat girl is clad in a hospital gown; the blanket has slipped off of her for the most part, showing where her fur has been shaved and she's been stitched up from shrapnel and knife wounds, and there's damage to one of her ears to boot. She lays on her side, but doesn't move to roll onto her back, or face towards Rocket. "Hi," she mumbles at last, signalling that she's awake. "Is it AM or PM?"
Rocket shakes his head as he sees the damage to the student. "AM. Almost five to be precise. I would have come down sooner, but I just got back in the city an hour ago. And well…You know how long fur takes to dry after a shower." He checks to make ssure the nurse is not looking into the room before speaking again. "I know they serve bad food here. The nurse took the soda, but I've got a burger and fries if you're interested?"
The rat girl's ears prick up, and she does now finally shift, with a soft groan, to face Rocket; and then to sit up. "Hells yeah," she replies, rubbing at her head. "…I mean, yes, sir." She has the good grace to blush lightly, as she arranges her pillow so she can sit reasonably comfortably. "Five AM, hunh? I've been out for a while, then. Hurts like a bitch all over, too."
Rocket opens a briefcase and chuckles, pulling out a paper bag. "Nah, no reason to be so formal here." he hands the bag to the girl. "Just…Try to unwrap it quiet like, I don't want to have to fight off the doctors." He pauses and shakes his head again, "Yeah well I'd rather hear "Hurts like a bitch" than find you dead. And it looks like you got those other mutants out of there with minimum casualties. No one on our side at least. No one we're going to miss. Hell of a job, my dear. You should be proud."
Tabitha takes a rather large, ravnous bite out of the burger, after tearing it out of the wrapper as quietly as possible. She gets mustard on the corner of her mouth, as she gnaws off fully one quarter of the burger in one go. As Rocket is speaking though, she swallows, and at least momentarily forgets the burger. "…Really?" She pauses, and tilts her eyebrows upwards. "I… brought firearms that I'm licensed to own, but not to bear," she murmurs, "And I wounded one person with them and fatally wounded another. I…" She pauses, and drops her voice to a whisper. "I was rather under the impression that I was in trouble, and then some."
Rocket chuckles and glances around the room, "Oh you very likely are. But sometimes doing the right thing means getting yourself in trouble." He waves a paw dismissively, "This place. They're all so worried about taking direct action. They'll play the part of the pissed off parent, but in my eyes you did the right thing." There's a short pause. "Don't tell them I said that of course." A small smirk. "So I hear there was a Sentinel there? I didn't see any pieces in what was recovered by our team. Did it leave the area? That seems unlikely."
"Thanks." Tabitha bobs her head, though her ears flatten when Rocket confirms she's probably in some hot water. "I mean… I wish I wasn't going to be in for it, but… I couldn't sit by and do nothing, in good conscience." She pauses, taking a bite from her burger; a more modest bite, this time. "Yeah, there was a sentinel. I shot at it to get its attention, so it'd focus on me instead of the people trying to save the four guys. But then this dweeb in red armor showed up, and it fought him instead." She shrugs her shoulders lightly, and immediately winces for having done so. "Anyway, no, it got destroyed."
Rocket chuckles again. "Not Tony I suppose? I'm sure I'd hear about it if he was back in town. And be glad that thing DIDN'T focus of you. Those machines are dangerous. DESIGNED to kill mutants. Looks like it managed to take down one or two of them at that ralley. The fact that they have access to weapons like that concerns me." He scratches his chin idly. "I think we may need be in for some shit before this is all said and done. None of the upper tier Purifiers were picked up by our agents. Looks like they're still around."
Tabitha shakes her head quickly. "No, not him," she replies. "He sounded Russian and his armor looked like a junkyard version of the Ironman suit. I don't think Tony would get caught dead in it." She munches on a handful of fries, and mmms softly. "This is the best," she murmurs. "Anyway, I can dodge bullets, I figured I'd be okay for a little while against it. …Turns out I can't dodge grenades though, at least not when I'm protecting other people, and I can't dodge getting knived in the back." She glances down at her knees, and sighs softly. "That was the guy I killed. He threw a knife at my back, it hurt like a bitch, especially after the grenade… so I just turned around and lit him up. I don't feel good about it."
Rocket ponders, "Russian Iron Man, eh? Well I'm sure someone around here knows who he is." The raccoon sighs, "Look, that man did not hesitate to literally stab you in the back. And he was there to watch four…Mostly innocent mutants get killed without trial or due process. I doubt the world will be worse off without him. Who else might you have saved by killing him now. maybe tomorrow he'd go off and blow up the embassy. You can't dwell in the past. And you have to act quickly and decisively on the battlefield. There is no room for second guessing."
"I know. They teach that in the tactics classes." She pauses. "Which I'll probably get in shit for, for ignoring. One of the purifiers shot at me with an assault rifle, and I shot him in the knees to take him down without killing him. …Except then he threw a grenade at me. If I'd answered lethal force with lethal force like they say you should, I wouldn't have shrapnel wounds." She sighs softly, and reaches up to rub at her forehead. "I'm not gonna get expelled, am I? I s'pose they'll probably order me to turn over my guns."
Rocket shakes hbis head. "They're not going to expell you. If they expelled every student who went on a heroic crusade…Well…We wouldn't have many students, now would we?" The Raccoon stands and stretches. "I'm not sure how they'll react to be honest. I'm not one to decide such things. But remember, you helped save those who needed saving and you got away with your life. Don't stress over it so much. It could have turned out a lot worse." He bends down and picks up his things. "I should let you sleep. If you need anything just call my office."
Tabitha bobs her head once, and hurriedly stuffs the rest of the burger in her mouth, to chew it up quickly and gulp it down. "Right," she replies. "Yeah, sleep would be good right now. I need to call my girl in the morning, she's probably worried." The rat girl repeats the act of hurried eating upon her fries, before carefully scrunching the burger wrapper into the little cardboard pouch that the immitation-potatoe products came in. She tosses the lot to Rocket, and coughs softly. "Better uhm… take those," she mumbles, conspiratorially. "Thanks for bringing them, that was awesome."
The raccoon catches the paper bundle and stuffs it in his pocket. "Yeah actually taking these with me might not be a bad idea. If you're in here too long I'll grab you something else later on. Rest up." He offers a quick wave before heading out of the room.
