Mechagogue

"Oh, you are awake," Ernesto said with a smile. He showed Milly the hospital admission form he had been trying to fill out, and the embarassingly small amount of progress he'd made.

"Is for señor Jack, but I don't know most of them."

Indeed, all he had filled out was 'Jack' for the name above a large scribble, 'Tharomar' as place of employment, 'Señor Tharomar' as insurance carrier, and the phone number of the building (with janitors office extension) for the daytime phone number.

Ernesto handed Jack over to the emergency staff, and then made a beeline for the men's room. He turned the water on full blast, both hot and cold, and tried like mad to clean the blood off his hands.

He pumped the soap dispenser several times before figuring it was empty. Insinctively, he wiped his hands on his legs and headed for the supply closet. It took a moment of staring at the door to realize he didn't have the key for it. Ernesto headed back to the faucet, rubbing his hands together for all he was worth.

Eventually he was acceptably clean, though his one-armed coverall made him look like a butcher, or maybe a psycho. He walked back out into the lobby. Going straight to the hot drinks dispenser he fished around in his pockets for some change, eventually finding enough to get coffee for himself, Milly, and Penny.

He balanced the three cups in his hands and walked out into the waiting room, it only took a second to spot Penny, and headed for her. The nurse behind the glass spotted Ernesto and called him over.

"Si?"

She slid him a clipboard with a pen tied to it.

"You need to get these filled out for us, so we can best help your friend."

"Ok," Ernesto said, switching the cups of hot coffee around in his hands so he could pick up the clipboard too. He turned and headed back to Penny and Milly.

He bent down low at the nearest end-table, pushing aside magazines and carefully redistributing everything in his hands.

"Café?" he offered them.

It seemed as though they had both fallen asleep.

Ernesto shrugged. He was used to being up at night. He took one cup of coffee, sipped it, set it down and picked up the clipboard. He looked over the form with a sigh. It was long and complicated, and he didn't know a lot of the words on it.

Name of Patient:

"Name...?" he puzzled for a moment before snapping his fingers in comprehension. "Esta es Nombré!" He quickly scrawled: Ernesto Xavier san Marcos Jimenez

He immediately knew he had made a mistake. The hospital would need to know about Jack, not him! He scribbled out his name and above it wrote: Jack

...

What was Jack's last name?

Ernesto sighed again. It was going to be a long night.

((Dude, nobody can pwn Devious... it's right there in his name! It's practically a declaration of "I Win" In fact, now that I think of it, doesn't Devious play Schwarzherz AND Acid in FF? Freakin brilliant, cause either way he wins. ))

((*The ref holds up both arms*))

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Soon, the group had pulled into the hospital, Penny screeching into the Emergency Room bay.

"Ernesto, get him outta my car!" she said with a nod. "I'll be in in a moment to get the paperwork for 'im. I mean, I do it all day, why the hell not do it at night too?"

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"Ok," he said, practically teleporting out of the car for how quickly he was out once it stopped. He jogged to the far side and helped Jack up and out, half carrying the wounded man, making sure to support him on the un-shot side.

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He coughed as Ernesto grabbed him.

"Gracias again Ernesto, you were the real hero amigo."

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The janitor smiled and shook his head.

"No, señor," he said amicably, "I did nothing special. Miss Penny drives and Miss Milly set the bandage right."

Just then Ernesto finally noticed the blood all over his hands, arms and chest. He tried rather hard to wipe the blood off his free hand onto the leg of his one-armed coverall

"De nada," Ernesto said to Jack as he tied off the bandage. he pushed himself firmly into the back seat and hastily strapped himself in, holding on to the overhead handle and the back of Millies seat.

Pennies driving scared him more than the explosions and gunfights had.

Despite the obvious peril, or perhaps because of it, Starfall facepalmed at Nena with a sad sort of laugh.

Starfall pulsed with darkness, a wave of roiling mire flowed out from him until it washed over all the nearby Hydra. The darkness not only coated them, it penetrated their essence as well. When Stelleshand gave the signal Xander recalled the mire. It returned to him quickly and violently, and with it came small chunks of the hydras lifeforce. Each small piece meant little individually, but the sum total of them boosted Starfalls power geometrically.

The Kheldian beat the Hydra ruthlessly with it's mighty fists for a moment. Then he noticed several of the Hydra advancing on Reginald and Pariku.

"No you don't, he called, bombarding them with a wave of torment guaranteed to hold their attention.

Alexander, Stelleshand prompted, altering the boys perceptions so that he noticed the Krakens. Plural.

"Uhm... guys... we have a problem here," he said gravely.

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"Hold on to your [censored]' shoes!" Penny muttered with a crazed grin.

Peeling out of the parking space in with a sharp whine as the tires skidded on the pavement in reverse, Penny threw the car into drive and blasted forward.

"Seatbelts please." she said calmly. There was a little light in each of her eyes, as if she had always wanted to do this.

Her torn-stockinged foot slammed down on the accelerator.

VREEEEEEE!!

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Ernesto boggled the utility knife as he was slammed first into the front seat, then into the back seat. He got the blade under control and tucked it quickly away, imagining how bad it might become if it got away from him.

He finished ripping the bandages by hand and quickly started wrapping Jack's shoulder, tightly. So tight, in fact, that he was not only sopping up the blood, but cutting off the circulation as well.

Starfall nodded at Nena, sidestepping into the sewer entrance and warping his massive-looking bulk several yards forward, directly into the center of the blubbery sea of walking blobs. As he reappeared he slammed his fist down on the nearest Hydra Spawn, his other hand snatching another firmly by the top of its head.

"Hey Nena," he called to make sure he had her attention, "Batter up!"

He hurled the Hydra into her 'strike zone,' ((oooh, the puns)) chuckling smugly to himself as it tumbled end-over-end.

Keep yourself focused on your task, came the thoughts of Stelleshand, Your form is durable, -not- invincible. Rememer to use your foes strength against them.

"Oh, right," he said.

"Try not to talk, señor," Ernesto said. He hoped he sounded calm.

Though he didn't know the first thing about gunshot wounds, he did know that he had to try and stop, or at least slow, the bleeding. Ernesto slipped a utility knife from his tool belt, gingerly slicing Jacks shirt open around the wound.

"Wow," he said quietly. Growing up he had seen several bodies with gunshot wounds, however, it was entirely different when the person was alive and bleeding.

He slipped the hammer out of his belt and gave it to Jack. It had a soft rubber grip.

"You might want to bite this," he said as he took Jacks opposite hand and pressed it to the wounded shoulder. "Hold as hard as you can, señor."


Ernesto tore one sleeve of his overall and started cutting it into long strips with the utility knife.

I've killed a few characters "permanently," just remember that anything you do to your character is up to you in the end. What would be the most fun for you?

It seemed like things might work out alright, but as he knew they would, all the armed men started shooting. As bullets filled the air Ernesto made the sign of the cross, then crouched low and ran back to Penny and Milly.

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Penny suddenly straightened, facepalming.

"That's my [censored] car, [censored]!" she yelled, forgetting herself in anger at the moment.

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As for Jack, several bullets streaked for him.

But instead of saving himself he motioned for Penny to run.

Suddenly two bullets slammed into his shoulder, knocking him down. The good thing was this saved him from the other bullets that quickly hit the car.

"Me and saving freaking damsels in distress *cough*"

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"Dios mio!" the night janitor called out as Jack was shot twice in rapid succession, falling to the ground. He thrust his hand through the shattered drivers-side window, hitting the switch that unlocked all the doors, throwing open the front and rear doors a moment later.

"Drive now!" he called out to Penny and Milly as he scooped up Jack and dragged the bleeding man into the back seat.

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As the gate came off, so did a bunch of Hellions - but they seemed to have no interest in fighting, fleeing for their lives from very familiar roars of, "GLOOOORBLE!!!"

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((Murlocs? Ok, I will slap myself for that one... later))

Starfall was beaming with pride. He was getting plenty of attention from people who weren't correcting or protecting him for a change, and he kinda liked it.

Xander, look out! Stelleshand warned, and the Dwarf turned to see a stampede of Hellions pour out the open gate just in the nick of time to teleport to the side without getting trampled.

"I thought crap was supposed to run into the sewer," he quipped.

The young hero nodded, feeling somewhat vindicated that someone else agreed with him. Even if only halfway. But, like it or not, they were a team now, and needed to act like one. Paragons Sewers were far too dangerous to enter with a team divided against itself.

Xander seemed to swell and grow. His skin became noticably darker and his body faded more and more into transparency until it exploded in a blast of shadow. When the darkness settled down Starfall's ironically large "Dwarf" form stood at the gate of the sewer system.

"Let's get busy getting some answers then," he said in a somewhat deeper and more distant version of his own voice, one large claw-like hand yanking open the entrance.

"Tell him to stop it, then," Xander said angrily, pointing at Ryuji. "Every god damn thing I say he corrects, and it's pissing me off!"

"Nobody asked you," the boy snapped back.

The radio in Jon's cruiser hummed to life with a twittering beep. The calm, professional voice of the dispatcher formed in the air.

"Car 2249, be advised: Fire and EMS are currently busy. Additional units en route. ETA 40 seconds."

Indeed, sirens could be heard at the edges of perception. MacMaetor didn't register the good news though.

"Busy?! How the hell are they BUSY?!" he screamed into the radio.

"Multiple instances of arson are currently being responded to," was the only answer dispatch gave. It was a pretty good one.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Xander slouched as he waked, shrinking his profile even more. He couldn't imagine why anyone would go near the stupid sewers. If you ignored the bad guys that lived in them they were still damp, dark, deep, full of rats and bugs, slippery, and, worst of all, they smelled like [censored].

But, apparently, everyone was smarter than him.

"Perez Park isn't gonna be good enough for us," he complained to Stelleshand, "Noooooooooo.... We have to find the really stanky skanky skeevy Lost, so we're going to wade hip-deep through throw-up and fuggin dead goldfish."

Doing the right thing isn't always glamorous, the entity said to him.

"Well, it should be," the boy retorted.

As they gathered behind the gates of the main access pipe Xander chimed in.

"AT-less Park Sue-AHHHs!" he called out in the style of a railroad usher, "First stop, Hellions and pet alligators. Enjoy your trip, please stand clear of the floor, as it had been known to eat people and misplace luggage."

Ernesto glanced up at the security force, but it wasn't an even remotely encouraging sight. Now there were two sets of people with guns, and that made shooting almost inevitable: as of that moment he, Penny, and Milly were all snugly cradled in every single one of those guns firing arcs.

For some reason Ernesto remembered the time one of his ammonia bottles had sprung a leak while underneath a rag. When he lifted the rag the smell of ammonia was so strong it had made him fall over backwards, leaving him light-headed for several minutes thereafter. If only he had something like that at this very moment! Ernesto could simply put everyone to sleep, and then nobody would have to be hurt!

But he didn't have ammonia. All he had was his faith.

Ernesto recited the Lords Prayer quietly, and very very slowly stepped back towards the ladies.

Ernesto dove between the gunmen and the ladies without thinking, spreading his arms out wide as if it could shield Penny and Milly from harm.

"¡No! Pistoleros, ustedes no dañará estas mujeres!" he said forcefully. It occured to him they probably had no idea what he just said.

"Leave them be. I will go," he said, stepping forward and putting his hands behind his head. Ernesto hoped that these men were in enough of a hurry that they would take only him because he put up no struggle. At least Penny would be safe... and she would be more than capable to take care of Milly.

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Yay, another fan! Hermod introduced me to RBF with "Turn the Radio Off", a theme I've taken on for Dr. Phillis and one that inspired a wonderful music video in my head about Radio Free Opportunity! I love the guys so much, so many of their songs fit my characters!

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Turn the Radio Off is in my CD player right now! lol

YeaY! Reel Big Fish! I haven't heard these guys in forever! =p

Also:

I thought of Toy on Keyboards cause he's alwas pressing the keypad on his wrist. I know, doesn't really equate to musical talent, but that's why I thought it.

The aging detective gaped in slack-jawed horror at Guapo, looking back and forth from the hero to the pile of rubble. He put a hand to his temple, trying to think. Several times his mouth opened and closed in failed attempts at speaking, and his breath moved faster in his chest.

"This...?"

He pulled his hand away from his temple and made a loose fist, as if trying to grasp a thought, then opened his fingers again as it flitted away.

"That...?"

Jon pointed at the remains of the building and stared at El Guapo Grande in mute stupefication, tapping his foot and thrusting his open palm towards the rubble.

"This...?"

MacMaetor stormed back to his car, which the young cop had now pulled up to the front of the former building. The young man dug through the trunk to get some police tape to cordon off the area while Jon wheeled around halfway to his car and pointed incredulously at Guapo, shaking his finger in dumbstruck admonishment.

The Detective wrenched the door of the cruiser open so violently it bounced back and smacked him hard in the back of the thigh, he stumbled a bit as he grabbed the radio handset.

Jon cleared his throat.

"Dispatch," he said in a clear, calm voice, "This is 2249 over at the former Hellion hideout. Could you do me a favor and call up MAGI? Have them send one of their magic item locater people, please. Cause that'd be great. Thanks."

MacMaetor dropped the radio back into the car, and just kept staring at Guapo in utter disbelief.

Great song, I like it. It really does sound like it's written for Hal & Essex.

And as for the band... *silly boy giggle*

That puts a great image in my head of Rosie singing, with Archlich on guitar and Ghoul on bass, Kreigg doing drums while Toy gets the keyboards.... with all the bots dancing in the background.

EDIT: And Leeni can be the manager.

If there was one thing Ernesto had learned growing up in Mexico it was that you do what the man with the gun says when he says it and you don't ask questions.