Chapter Text
Hyperlaser huffed out another weak breath, struggling to even breathe as each of his breaths were all weak and frail, leaving him breathless. Thunder continued to roar in the distance, the loud pattering of the rain, and how it drenched his hair into an uncomfortable mess that left his neck constantly itchy from how it kept getting swept back onto his neck by the strong winds but as the hair tie he usually used to tie his hair up was already long gone during the tough fight with his target, he was pretty sure that problem wasn't gonna be solved at the moment.
His clothes were drenched in the rainwater that continued to heavily pour down, making them way too heavy on him, he was barely even able to stand up properly.
He was considering just taking them off, not even caring about where they were gonna end up in the end as their original function of keeping him warm wasn't even functioning anymore as he was even colder from the rain drenching both his clothes and himself completely, now that he was thinking about it, he'd much rather be running around half naked than have more than 3 layers of heavy clothing absolutely drenched with rainwater, his own blood and his opponent's blood alongside being practically covered in dirt and mud, weighing him down.
Hyperlaser was also constantly being knocked off his prosthetic legs either by the strong winds making him loose his balance or the feeling of vertigo effecting his balance, which were already a struggle to walk in let alone try to constantly get up in, and the mud and dirt below him that he constantly landed on wasn't making getting up any easier. Due to the lack of quality and effort that was put into his prosthetics, it was always a beyond exhausting struggle to get back up or even walk, sometimes painful, especially when severely injured. Just another reminder why he hates Subspace.
Subspace the " oh so great and amazing scientist !!! " didn't even bother to put even a drop more of effort into making Hyperlaser's prosthetics, only wanting the mercenary to get back onto the battlefield and leave him alone as fast as possible as he only got even more frustrated thinking about the ever so narcissistic scientist.
His entire right sleeve of his clothes was also torn off completely by his opponent's weapon, it was supposed to cut off his arm entirely but the thick layers of clothing had luckily stopped the blade just enough so Hyperlaser would be able to keep his arm and push off his target with the other arm but it had still left the entire right sleeve of his clothes dangling only on a mere few threads before the sleeve had fallen off completely, the blood dripping from his wounds drenched his clothes as they continued to bleed out and stain the green grass he sat on that was barely even green anymore alongside it. Though the colour wasn't even really that visible through the heavy rain and mud was it.
Hyperlaser weakly huffed out a pained breath once again as he slowly got back up and onto his feet with much effort, once he finally stood up, he leaned onto his railgun for support but it wasn't long before he was already losing his balance, and his lightheadedness wasn't making any part of the situation he was in better at all either.
His helmet was shattered beyond repair, covered in dirt and other filth that was heavily obstructing his vision and didn't make his already impaired sight any better, peices of metal were even dangling from some parts of the helmet from how damaged it was.
He'd definitely have to ask a biograft to make another for him when he returned to Blackrock no matter how much he hated the thought of it.
If he was gonna even return that is.
Hyperlaser wasn't the one to get scared, not all all, not even to the scariest of horror movies wether if it was happening on a simple screen or to himself as he was fighting a tougher battle than his usual ones with a stronger assassination target that had unfortunately caught him in the act, but despite all the times that that has happened to him, even he himself could feel his very own body trembling in fear for his own life right at this very moment even if his own life didn't matter much to him in the first place, he couldn't help but worry about his pet cat, Princess, back at home and what'd she'd do without him and how'd she live as he struggled to reload his gun with what little strength he had left in his body alongside whatever mere hints of determination he had, most of it only existing because of Princess. Hyperlaser's despair continued to grow heavier and heavier like a weight he couldn't carry despite always lugging around a heavy railgun over his shoulder almost daily to earn his bux as he heaved out more and more pained breaths, struggling to even stay concious as he reloaded his railgun, his eyelids growing heavier by each passing second.
From the far distance, his target used their free arm, as the other was trapped under a boulder that had lost it's balance during their fight between the Blackrock mercenary that had come to assasinate them, Hyperlaser saw the opportunity to trap his target during the fight as he aimed directly for the larger boulder above a mountainside, shooting it with his railgun as it broke apart upon the piercing impact of the gun's ray, shattering into peices before one of the rocks above fell onto his target's arm, trapping them and leaving them mostly immobilized, they slowly crawled their way to their weapon with their free hand while rotating their body to get farther, no matter how badly it pained them from underneath the boulder crushing them, to their kunai that was dropped and abandoned during their battle with the merciless Blackrock mercenary.
They reached out their fingers as far as possible, the kunai was right in their reach as they slowly pulled the weapon closer and closer towards them with the tips of their fingers before they could finally grab it with their hand.
Once the weapon was in their hands, they gripped it tightly without having another thought if the weapon was even held correctly or if they were using the right technique or not as they aimed directly for Hyperlaser's head, or at the very least, his neck, they inhaled sharply before throwing the blade as far as they could. Thunder roared in the distance as the heavy rain continued to pour heavily from the skies above them, the kunai flew a far distance, the Blackrock mercenary being too lightheaded and unaware of his surroundings to notice the blade flying right towards his head before it had already hit him.
Even more glass shattered as Hyperlaser was knocked off his feet and right onto the ground, the heavy fall knocking the air right out of his lungs as the sharp pain in his chest erupted once again, causing him to choke as blood was choked out from his mouth and onto his torso, his body hit the ground with a thud onto the mud, splashing even more rainwater and mud across the battlefield and drenching his clothes even more as the blade just barely missed his head, stabbing into the top of his helmet before falling off to the ground alongside Hyperlaser's railgun as Hyperlaser struggled to get back up from the ground, he clenched his teeth, blood dripping from his mouth as he tried to kick his weapon back over to him despite the wet mud making it even harder to do so, the case to the railgun was already long gone during the heat of the battle, looking for it after the battle would be practically pointless, he thought to himself.
With whatever was left of his strength and sight, Hyperlaser rolled and then sat up from the ground with some struggle as he kicked the railgun back over to him, as the weapon slided over to him, even more mud splashed onto him and his pants, but that didn't matter to him anymore as he quickly picked up his railgun and quickly reloaded it with trembling hands.
He positioned his railgun on his knees, not even bothering to stand up anymore as that'd only lead to him falling right back down again, Hyperlaser squinted his eyes as rain blurred the entire area into nothing but shades of gray, aiming at what he could only assume was his target from how blurry his vision was as thunder roared from afar and Hyperlaser could feel the ground shake ever so slightly from beneath him from it, he pulled the trigger.
" I'll see you in Hell. "
The ray pierced through the air, sending a large gust of wind to come his way as the ray glowed brightly in the large blurs from the rain, but it didn't knock him down this time, a screech was immediately cut off before a second ray exploded after the first, finishing off his target.
Hyperlaser sighed out in relief as his target was sure to no longer be alive from how the far away blur no longer moved, he looked around the battlefield again, checking for any other potential threats while panting heavily from exhaustion if not the many injuries scattered all across his body that were still bleeding out, he wondered if he was gonna die from blood loss, seeing that blood was splattered almost everywhere wether if it was his or his target's, torn peices of clothing from clothes he was unsure of which were his and which were the other's anymore as he crossed his arms on his knees and rested his head on them, but that did nothing to soothe the vertigo the battle had inflicted onto him as it only got even worse the more the rain continued to patter onto his helmet, causing uncomfortable vibrations that annoyed Hyperlaser as he contemplated wether or not to just give up on the helmet and take it off.
Though, thinking back, he had no other choice but to take the assasination offer anyway, no matter how dangerous it was.
Living in Blackrock was a struggle in of itself, with the constantly rising rent despite how horrible living conditions were and having to also ( willingly ) take care of a pet and keep it healthy with heavily overpriced healthcare that wasn't even proper healthcare and exorted as much money from desprate people possible, Hyperlaser couldn't pass up on the offer when that much bux was involved, no, it didn't even matter how dangerous or how many signs told him not to do it, he needed the job.
Hyperlaser panted despite the sharp pain in his chest every time he dared to even inhale the smallest amount of air before shuffling in his pocket for his phone, once he found his phone, he brushed off the small glass shards from the practically shattered device as he stared at his home screen picture after turning it on which was set as his ever so beloved cat, Princess.
Her black fur glistened beautifully in the lighting of the picture despite the low quality of the picture and how he could quite literally see every single pixel if he focussed on them enough, but it didn't matter, he wouldn't have enough to ever buy a better quality phone even if he wanted to anyway, but what really mattered to him was the valuable memory itself the picture held.
It was an older picture he took of her once when Princess had leaped onto him the second he opened the door to his home and entered after being gone from the house a bit longer than usual, he had originally thought that he had probably forgot to turn on the automatic cat feeder he'd bought for her before leaving and that she was starving but his thoughts were then proven incorrect after he hurriedly walked over to a very working and turned on automatic cat feeder that still dispensed food after he held his hand underneath the sensor, he sighed in relief at that and after that, he found the memory of Princess worrying for him quite cute and decided to take a picture of his feline friend resting peacefully on his chest as the two laid on the couch together.
He later then set the picture as both his home and lock screen to forever keep his beloved feline friend with him even if she wasn't physically by his side.
Tears threatened to strain from his eyes as he stared at the home screen, picture barely intelligible from the shattered screen not even a screen protector could protect it from cracking so badly.
Though, as of now, no matter how heartwarming the story was nor how much he'd cry, he only worried for his pet's sake as he wondered if this was gonna be the last day he ever saw his beloved pet.
He didn't even get to say a genuine goodbye to her before exiting the apartment like he usually did, he was in too much a rush. Looking back, he remembered how Princess rushed to the door in worry but the door had already slammed shut before she could even reach the door, oh how much he regretted that decision, the slam of the door probably scared her too.
Hyperlaser quickly unlocked his phone as a tear dripped down from his face onto his phone before sliding down onto the ground below, he quickly checked his current location, figuring out that he was at somewhere near the outskirts of Thieve's Den at a mountainside, looking back at the limp corpse, he decided it was pointless to hide it now and thought that it would easily be mistaken for a hiking incident as he propped up his gun up and used it to help him get up, the immense pain in his thighs from his prosthetics jamming into the flesh a bit too much was already enough of a sign that his prosthetics were also nearing their end just the same way he and his clothes were.
Starting to walk over to the only place he knew he could go to, as going back to Blackrock would be pointless and even possibly fatal from how much blood he'd lost and was still losing from how far away it was, he picked up his railgun and held it at his side as he set off, hopelessly wiping off his tears with whatever was left of his sleeve.
Off to Katana's house.
Atleast it'd be better than being back at Blackrock.
-
Blood trailed all the way from the empty streets to a stone trail leading up to a house atop a hill, the all the dark crimson red staining left behind on the ground that the mercenary walked on were all slowly washed away by the heavy rain as Hyperlaser continued to walk, he could feel the air being taken away from his lungs and the sharp pain in his chest arising again and again as if he were being stabbed in his chest every time he inhaled and with every step up the hill until he had reached the very top, almost tripping on an unseen rock but still managed to keep his balance, he heaved out a sigh of relief, almost falling onto the door as he immediately rang the doorbell, practically slamming his entire fist onto the device as he heard a ring from the other side of the door.
Katana, who was originally in a deep slumber, wakes up from a loud ring from downstairs as he slowly arises from his sleep, blinking a few times while laying on his bed before removing his blanket and slowly sitting up, he stretched as he noticed the pitch black sky with not a drop light in sight aside from a few shining stars outside the windows, wondering who would even be outside at his house at such an ungodly hour, he rubs his eyes for a bit to regain a bit more of his surroundings before turning to pick up his phone to check the time, avoiding his reflection on the glass screen, he pauses at seeing his home screen for a moment, said home screen being the first picture of Hyperlaser he ever took of him, he liked to keep it as his home screen to keep the memories of Hyperlaser as a memento, even if he didn't like using these.. glowing rectangles? Ah, right. Phones.
Shuriken originally laughed at him for it but then remembered his own home screen was a funny picture of him and Vine Staff he took of them eating tri-colour dango together when Vine Staff had absentmindedly bit the empty stick, orignally thinking there was dango there when there wasn't in which Shuriken found funny so he took a picture of his sister's suprised face and her mouth biting an empty stick and set it as his home screen to constantly tease his sister about it much to her displeasure, so then he later ignored Katana's home screen picture.
Brushing aside old memories, Katana swipes upwards and checks the time as the clock displayed " 2:53 A.M. ", he wondered who'd be awake at such an hour as he sighed and took his mask from his bedside drawer, putting it on and descended downstairs. Luckily for him, he didn't have to worry about waking up any of his housemates as they were all out for a phight for a week or two as he walked downstairs.
Upon reaching the lower floor, he opened the door and immediately almost jumped in shock.
His face fell in shock underneath the mask, stood right in front of him, swaying from left to right from his lightheadedness, barely even able to stand upright as he struggled to balance himself and keep himself still, was Hyperlaser.
He was absolutely drenched head to toe in rainwater and blood wether it be his or someone else's as his helmet was also destroyed beyond repair with peices of broken metal dangling and threatening to fall at the slightest movement, he was also covered in dirt that was mostly washed off by the rain but still stained his clothes with a dark brown colour and left a lot of remaining dirt and debris on him.
Now it wasn't the first time Katana has seen Hyperlaser in an injured state as the mercenary had went to his house a few times before with a bit more than just a few scratches and bruises, but this, this was the first time he's ever seen Hyperlaser in such a state that his brain took a few more seconds to process the sight in front of him.
" Hi Katannuhh-.. " Hyperlaser barely managed to muster out, his voice hoarse and dry and before he even knew it, his vision was only getting darker and darker, sounds were slowly becoming just mere muffles before there was nothing but silence and his body collapsed and went completely limp, Katana immediately stopping all his ongoing thoughts as he rushed out to catch his friend, holding the man in his arms in a tight hold as to prevent him from falling onto the ground and possibly rolling all the way down back down the hill as he watched the unconcious man rest their head on the crook of the taller's neck, the other simply standing as they looked down at the one they held in their arms, still in shock.
" Hyperlaser-? " Katana spoke, returning to his senses.
Ignoring how the glass shards of Hyperlaser's shattered helmet cut through his skin, making him bleed ever so slightly, the only thing that occupied his mind right at this very moment was to help the Blackrock mercenary, any and all other thoughts being thrown out the window.
Hyperlaser was out cold and trembling in his arms, his skin freezing to the touch from being drenched in the heavy rain. Luckily enough, he was still breathing but his breaths were unstable and shaky as Katana hurried to bring the poor man into his home to shelter him from the thundering storm outside.
Katana carried Hyperlaser into his house, hurriedly walking over to his couch as he carefully laid the man onto the soft cushion of the couch, if Shuriken and his other housemates were home, they'd immediately scream in absolute horror at the sight, no matter how much they'd try to hold it back, even if Illumina had cursed them to never be able to scream, their screams of horror at how much filth was practically being smothered all over their soft silk cushions made from the finest of silk threads and cotton fabric would be very loud and very clear to anyone and everyone around, maybe even loud enough for other factions to hear. Katana didn't even have to think for more than two seconds to imagine the expressions on their faces if they were here to witness such a sight right now, but none of that mattered now.
Not to Katana.
After all, it'd be him washing them afterwards anyways.
Katana made sure Hyperlaser sat in a comfortable position so that just in case anything was still stabbed into him, it wouldn't go even deeper into the wound, making it worse, as he went to back to the doorway of his house and closed back the doors, making a mental note to mop the bloody, muddy rainwater at the entrance later on as he walked back over to Hyperlaser who was hardly even breathing.
Once he glanced back at the wounds and actually processed the actual severely of the wounds, he quickly got to work as he rushed over to the kitchen where the first aid kit was stored, if he could, he'd call an ambulance but knowing how far his home was located from the closest hospital and how the medics would also have to hurry up a tall hill while carrying many heavy medical supplies, it'd probably be better to just treat him at home and take him to an actual hospital when the man wakes up.
Or maybe Medkit could help too, even if he rarely spoke with the medic nor was he close with him in any way, Katana still knew quite a lot about Medkit and his healing abilities from being on the same team as him during phights from time to time.
With every step Katana took, he couldn't help but to start doubting his own abilities at helping the mercenary. He was no medic, not at all, but seeing Hyperlaser coming to Katana for help and trusting nobody else but him when he is in such a state, bleeding out and looking as if he were on his last breath, instead of seeking out an actual professional for help really showed how much trust he put into Katana.
And Katana didn't want to waste his trust
Grabbing the medkit from the kitchen cabinet, he quickly rushed back to Hyperlaser, not even bothering to close back the sliding doors behind him as he crouched down to the Blackrock mercenary who was hardly even breathing, every breath he took already looked painful enough as Katana opened the medkit with a click of the lid.
-
Taking off Hyperlaser's jacket and other clothes that were layered underneath the top jacket, his clothes being absolutely destroyed beyond repair as deep gashes were scattered almost everywhere on both his clothes and body. His helmet was the same as the rest of his clothing, destroyed beyond repair, the tinted black glass no longer hid anything at all as the only glass left from whatever battle Hyperlaser had went through was the glass on the edges of the helmet where it connected to the metal parts of the helmet, leaving his face completely revealed from the shattered glass as Katana carefully removed the helmet, being gentle with it as to not hurt the man even more than he already is by accidentally cutting him with the remaining shattered glass of the helmet.
Then, setting aside Hyperlaser's clothes and helmet for him to deal with later, Katana looked over new and old injuries scattered all across Hyperlaser's face and body before turning around, standing up to head back to the kitchen to wash his hands and grabbing a towel from the hanger on the wall as he soaked it under the running water, making sure it was warm enough before hurrying back over to Hyperlaser and crouching back down to him as he carefully and gently wiped at Hyperlaser's injuries, wiping away any dry or wet blood alongside any dirt and debris that could get into any wounds, leading to an infection in which Katana did not want at all and probably neither did Hyperlaser.
Shifting Hyperlaser's position, Katana moved the unconcious man into a position where his head was leaning on the crook of his neck and his back was revealed to show his other injuries, then tending to them as he did the same with the others, cleaning, disinfecting and applying antibiotics before shifting his body back into place to then bandaging up the wounds.
Despite the late and ever so ungodly hour, Katana showed not a single sign of giving up as he continued to tend to Hyperlaser's wounds no matter how tedious others would've found it and would've probably given up on the poor man, he only took small breaks every so often to only get nothing more but a drink of water or a bite of a snack before immediately going back to bandaging up another wound.
Some time later, probabaly longer than Katana would've expected but it wasn't like he minded much anyways, he was finished with tending to Hyperlaser who suprizingly stayed unconcious the whole time, so much so that Katana had to check his pulse and breaths a lot more often than he'd like in fear of losing his dear friend mid-way. He later dressed Hyperlaser in one of his yukatas, then lifted the man up into his arms.
Katana didn't take long in carrying Hyperlaser back to his room bridal style, using the other's tail as a replacement for their legs as the tiredness of being up at such an ungodly hour ended up finally catching up to him as he set Hyperlaser down onto the bed before laying down himself. Taking off his mask and putting it back into his drawer as he closes it with a slight nudge of his arm, but then he hears Hyperlaser mumble something under his breath in his sleep.
Katana turns over to face the other, thinking he had woken up and was calling for him as the slurred words he'd heard from the other seemed to somewhat resemble his name.
" Hyperlaser, are you up? "
-
Hyperlaser was awoken up in the morning by the sun's sunlight seeping through the windows alongside a very unpleasant splitting headache that felt like it was tearing apart his skull, nuzzling his head back into his pillow as he hugged it tightly to bring it closer to him as a useless attempt to try to avoid the unavoidable sunlight, that was, until he realized something wasn't right. This was off.
Way off.
The bed was too soft, even if it was a good thing, the pillow he rested his head on didn't feel like the one he usually rested ever so uncomfortably on back at his excuse of a house either.
Oh. This wasn't his house was it.
Hyperlaser's eyes immediately shot open at the realization that he wasn't in his own house, not at all, as the memories from last night came flooding back into his mind like a wave crashing down onto him and drowning him, he quickly pulled away from the " pillow " he originally hugged, the splitting headache following along as his head that ached like hell didn't make any of his sudden and quick movements any better for him as he realized that was no pillow but actually Katana, Katana himself, who was wide awake the entire time and watched the whole thing unfold.
" Goodmorning, Hyperlaser. It seems you slept quite well, how was your rest? " Katana spoke up with a small smile after a moment of awkward silence between the two, Hyperlaser didn't respond nor move an inch as he was still in pure shock, only panting and feeling the feeling of blood quickly rushing to his face as his cheeks turned a bright cerulean blue hue from embarrassment as he rushed a hand up to cover his face, gripping it tightly. His shoulder and elbow stung in pain from the injuries underneath the bandages as he held back a hiss from the pain shutting his eyes tightly, the pain shot through his entire arm as he bit the inside of his lip to keep himself silent.
" Hyperlaser? Are you alright? " Katana worriedly questioned as he tilted his head and tried to place his hand on the other's shoulder before immediately pulling back once remembering the many injuries and seeing the bandages on Hyperlaser's body that wouldn't really be the best to touch.
" Ah- No.. No.. I'm. fine.. " Hyperlaser sighed as he replied, slowly removing his hand from his face to lessen the pain and turned to face the wall, but then noticed the his prosthetics placed at the door.
" Ah, my prosthetics.. " Hyperlaser said as Katana turned to look at where Hyperlaser was looking before turning to look back at Hyperlaser. Despite Katana already knowing of Hyperlaser's need to use prosthetic legs, and it wasn't the first time he'd seen them either, but it was definitely the first time Katana has seen the other without them.
" Ah I took them off so you could rest more comfortably, my apologies if you didn't like that or was uncomfortable with me doing so without your consent. I will be more mindful next time. "
" No no it's not that.. it's just that- My pants would need to be taken off entirely to take them off due to their difficult design.. "
" ... I didn't look I swear. "