Pain And Criticism

Participants:

ash_icon.gif melissa3_icon.gif

Scene Title Pain and Criticism
Synopsis Melissa visits the infirmary to see if she can help, and ends up making things worse for Ash - and only semi-unintentionally.
Date July 30, 2010

Howland Hook Facility


Ash is in the infirmary, and he's covered in bandages and gauze, quite literally. His half shredded body glove is laying in a heap to the side of his bed, along with all his weapons and gear, minus one of his .45's. The man himself has his arms and legs covered in gauze, and a few strips of it across his otherwise bare chest. The thin blankets of the cot he's laying on come up to mid stomach, hiding any injuries on his lower body. There's a bag sitting next to the bed, connected to an IV in his wrist. Ash currently appears to be asleep, though the occasional groan of pain suggests he's just trying to rest.

Given how close her house is, Melissa has wandered over to the Howland Hook, then out back at the railyard. But now that a very dissatisfying conversation is over, she moves back into the building and heads to the infirmary. If she can't get information out of a jerk, maybe she can help someone there. It's the least she can do since she wasn't able to go in and help the night before.

When she walks in, she's still moving carefully, back and belly still healing, and her rainbow colored hair is pulled back into a knot which keeps most of it out of her face. A quick glance around has her sighing softly and moving over towards Ash, before she asks quietly, "Ash? You awake?"

Ash flickers his eyes a little bit when he hears footsteps in the room, one eye cracking until he sees Melissa, then closing again. "Yeah…" he croaks out, his throat rough from shouting and yelling the night before, not to mention the groan of pain that echoes his words, He doesn't move on the bed, just pops open one eye to stare over at Melissa. "Hey…" he manages, not in a weak voice, just tired and in pain, strained.

The man's eyes open, both of them and he peers over at her curiously. "You know how everyone else is? I can't get answers out of people and I want to know what happened last night after I went down." He shifts a bit before hissing loudly in pain and closing his eyes, and just laying there, no more movement for the moment.

Someone like Melissa knows full well the sounds of someone in pain, and she perches on the edge of the bed seconds before Ash's pain fades, then disappears entirely. "I don't know. I haven't gotten any details yet," she says apologetically. "Just figured I'd stop in, see who was awake and needed help. Minor patching up, pain killing, that sorta thing."

Ash pulls in a breath, only for it to hitch in his throat, and the man goes into a coughing fit before settling down, that pain easing and fading, and it brings another groan from him, but this is one of very deep and thankful relief. "Thanks?" He murmurs to her finally after enjoying it for a few seconds in silence. "Bit more than minor. They haven't gotten all the shrapnel out yet. There's some a bit too deep for first aid style help, which is all I could get last night." He's talking, breathing and doing everything easier now with that pain gone. "Yeah… that was a cluster fuck. There were two Sylars in there. I saw both of them, ours with his scarf, and another one. Reinforcements, grenades, it was a mess. Just want to know if it was successful or not."

"Welcome. Sorry, just won't be able to keep it up for too long," Melissa says with a shrug. Then she frowns. "Two Sylars? How is that even possible? Wait a sec, I've seen him do that. Once. Handy skill. Of course, he has several handy abilities." She glances down at his chest. "I might be able to get the shrapnel out. Can't be much different from bullets, just differently shaped."

Ash gives his head a slow shake to the words that come from Melissa. "Wasn't an ability. Once I told Peter there were two Sylar's he flipped, as did our Sylar. They went tearing back into the building after him. There are two separate Sylars. No idea how or why or where they came from, but there are two… and no, no thank you." he murmurs to the offer of shrapnel removal. "Uhh.. shrapnel is a whole different game. It's sharp edged, you can do more damage pulling it out than it did going in, twist or turn it just wrong and it slices arteries and veins and you bleed out internally. Thank you for the offer though Mel." He seems to be just enjoying the bliss of no pain for the moment. "And I know you can't keep it up, but thank you for this."

That has her frowning. "Our Gabriel flipped out? So it wasn't just his clone?" Melissa asks, sounding uncertain. "Damn. Gonna have to find out what's up there. And yeah, no problem. It's what I'm here for. Couldn't go in with you guys, so I'm playing walking painkiller. Doesn't aggravate my injuries."

Ash nods his head a little bit. "Peter flipped out more, and then Gabriel was right on his heals. There was definitely something up with that. Not sure what but… something. I got nailed by grenade shrapnel, then rode Harrison out piggy back style to save Peter and Gabriel from the gunmen trying to kill them both. With that accomplished, I promptly began to pass out and sparkles saved my ass. Right before passing out I told Peter that there was another Sylar inside." He rolls his shoulders, then settles back down onto the bed. "What the fuck was that about by the way? What rescue mission?"

"What? My injuries?" Melissa shrugs slightly. "I led a small team to hit an Institute truck transporting a prisoner. Kozlow, or Sasha, whatever you wanna call him. We got the truck stopped and opened, then the driver hit the gas in reverse, and I ended up getting shot then going tumbling down an embankment. Sprained my back and got a concussion. Tons of fun," she says dryly.

Ash frowns, clearly not happy about not being able to be in on this rescue mission, but he doesn't mention that to Melissa, that will be something to yell at Peter and Rupert for. SO, for Melissa, he nods his head slightly. "I see. Yeah, that would be problematic I suppose. That was some rough shit in that gym though. I heard Claire die at least twice. I nearly bought it. Rickham covered a grenade… it was a bloody mess in there."

There's a slow blink. "What? Claire died twice? How is that possible?" Melissa asks, clearly not having been informed of Claire's ability yet. "And yeah, it was. Ling got a broken leg, and I think Faron got hurt, but we got Sasha out without injury, so all in all, it was a success. No matter what that jackass said."

Ash blinks a few times before a soft chuckle emanates from him. "Claire regenerates. Coulda sworn I told you that awhile back, but…" He shrugs his shoulders some and smiles, his eyes closing as he relaxes. "Should have gone in with more. Sounds like a poorly planned mission. Should have killed the driver… sorry.." he murmurs. "I'll leave it alone."

Ash opens his eyes again and peers up at Melissa. "I'm sorry you got hurt."

Melissa's eyes narrow and she rises to her feet, taking a step back, and either her control on her ability wavers, or she lets her ability waver, because the pain flickers back into existence. "I'm getting really tired of people criticizing my planning on that mission. I had someone on the driver, who was supposed to take care of him," she says, clearly irritated, then she simply…turns around to start walking off.

Ash grits his teeth hard as the pain pops back into existence like that, his back arching with shock at the sudden flood of it right back into him with no warning, an almost pitiful sob coming from the big man befor ehe finally gets a grip on himself and forces himself to relax back down into the cot. "Then you didn't choose very well." he states simply, not bothering to apologize for his statements, especially with the way she let her ability drop. There's a strangled noise of pain from him though, and what almost sounds like another sob from the normally stoic individual.

Melissa pauses and glances back to Ash, her expression bland, though the irritation shows in her eyes. "Do you want to hurt more than you already are? Because I could arrange that. I'm really sick of men, and right now, you're at the top of my list," she says, before she continues on. And, like a child, slams the door behind her.

"It's a war Melissa. People suffer when you fuck up. If you can't handle it then let someone that can handle it do it." Yep, she threatened him with pain, and yes, he still came back with his statement. He closes his eyes again, tears running down into his pillow as his body slowly adjusts back to the pain, a few more soft pitiful noises coming from him before he manages to silence himself. Unless of course Melissa comes back.

Unfortunately for Ash, Melissa doesn't need to come back. He's within her range, so, for a brief moment, the already present pain flares, much brighter and more intense than it was just a moment before. Fortunately, it doesn't last long, as Melissa soon moves out of range. Her point was made though, clearly.

She doesn't appreciate his opinion.

Ash screams, and he screams loud, his cry echoing beyond the range of the infirmary. After a few moments it breaks down into sobs again, that kind of pain causes muscles to clench and tighten, which will cause shrapnel that's embedded to slice muscle and tissue even more, worsening the wounds. Mel probably did quite a bit more damage to Ash with that little stunt.


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