Chapter Text
Sterling groaned as he stirred, his head pounding painfully. He could feel his helmet digging into the side of his head painfully. A concerning sensation, but the more concerning sensation he could, or more accurately, couldn’t feel, was his legs.
His breath caught in his throat as he tried to move his head to look over himself on instinct. A blinding pain stabbed from his neck to his forehead at the slightest movement and he let out a sharp gasp of pain, feeling something shift above him.
He blinked, waiting for the pain to recede and his vision to return, until a few heartbeats passed and he still couldn’t see much. He squinted through the dark and felt his heart skip a beat as he realised he was staring up at concrete. He was under debris.
Shit.
He’d saved people from ruined buildings, it came with the whole agent job, but seeing the damage and being the damaged were very different. He felt sick as his eyes darted around, trying to see as much as he could without moving his head. The slab covering him was less than five inches from his face, and tilted down below his vision to where he assumed it lay over his hips, given the sharp pains that shot from his core whenever he tried to move his legs.
This… this wasn’t good.
“A-” A cough ripped itself from his mouth as he tried to speak into his comms. If his helmet detected damage, it should have immediately triggered his comms, so the radio silence was terrifying. If his communication was cut off, how would they find him? Panic crawled through him before escaping in a shuddering breath out his dry and sore throat and mouth. Everything hurt, stars bursting in his vision with every movement. This was really bad.
“Alec-” He choked on the harsh consonant, the sharp taste of blood filling his mouth as he whined. No response. He really had no comms, didn’t he?
He tried to relax, only to tense as soon as he felt movement in the debris surrounding (crushing) him. He wasn’t planning on moving, but the fear that spiked his heart rate just reinforced the feeling. He knew his friends would be looking for him- they had to. They wouldn’t just leave him. Alexis and Diamos would be scrounging the area for him as soon as they realised he wasn’t responding. Hell, he didn’t know how long he’d been out for, so they might already be looking for him.
The thought helped calm his racing pulse, even if just a little. His friends were there for him. He trusted them. They’d find him. A soft breath passed his lips as he tried to ignore the pain and dust encasing him. Right now, he just needed to stay alive and avoid injuring himself any more than he was already hurt. Stay alert and stay alive. He could do that.
He swallowed painfully, sucking in as deep a breath as he could, scanning his body as he did. He definitely had some sort of head trauma, probably a concussion. He didn’t like how hard it was to breathe, he really hoped it was just a broken rib or two, not a punctured or collapsed lung, or a pierced diaphragm. The thought of that, the lasting damage he knew came from those sorts of injuries made his heart pound harder. Well, at least he still had a pulse.
A pained laugh left his chest at the thought. At least he had a pulse. God, that was a thought. He let his eyes slip shut as he focused on the pain in the lower half of his body. He’d be surprised if he didn’t have broken ribs, but he really hoped he only had broken bones and no internal bleeding. He had a bad feeling about the numbness below his hips. Maybe there was nerve damage, or a shattered pelvis, or he’d been cut in half like the man he’d read the story about after a horrific car accident-
Okay, enough injury intrigue, that train of thought was just going to leave him a mess. He forced his eyes back open. He scanned the concrete above him. A crack ran along his vision, and he couldn’t tell if it was his helmet or the rubble. He hoped the rubble. Dust particles floated down around him, settling around his face, blocking some of his view. It was cold under the broken building. How had he even gotten there?
A frown tugged at his face as he tried to think. They had to have been on a mission, but what had they been doing? Damaged buildings meant a demon attack, right? But… he couldn’t remember. That was bad. That was very bad. His head pounded harder as he fought to grasp at the memories dancing away from his conscious. If he couldn’t remember, then he probably had a brain injury. He decided against groaning again, his throat already complaining without him trying to force a sound from it.
More dust began to fall around him and he closed his eyes as tight as his headache allowed. He knew he had to stay completely still while he waited for rescue, he was sure he hadn’t shifted. Was this help arriving, or… no, it had to be help.
“Lexi?” He whispered, blood bitter on his tongue. More dust. He felt something warm drop into his ear. At this point he wasn’t sure if it was blood or tears. He’d definitely been crying, his face sticky from the salty tracks. He didn’t bother opening his eyes. His head hurt. If this was help arriving, staying still was the most helpful thing he could do. If it wasn’t, immobility was still probably the best course of action.
Something knocked against his helmet and if it weren’t for his injuries, he’d probably have flinched. Instead, his eyes fluttered open. His half-lidded gaze caught red and grey. Blood and dust. Except… the wrong colour of red. Too bright, and too big. His gaze flicked up to warm amber eyes, and short black hair.
“Hey.” Her voice was soft as gentle hands pulled rebar away from his body. Sterling watched her as best he could without moving. A smile tugged painfully at his lips as fresh tears blurred his vision.
“Hey.”