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There was about 45 minutes until his next meeting. Luckily, Grey had not had any interruptions today, but still the work piled up. Trade deals that kept changing, programs to possibly cut and that one raging bitch of a hero to play keep away with. The clacking of the keyboard sounded out loudly in the large office as he typed. One of the large wooden doors on the other end of the room opened and Grey groaned before looking up.
“Carol, I told you not to-“ but the man currently raising a pistol in his direction was not his receptionist. Grey didn’t have a second to think, act or even speak as the gun discharged.
It was almost in slow motion, a body appeared, twisting in front of him, grabbing Grey by the suit lapels and dragging him out of his chair and onto the ground. Shock and anger flooded his brain at the situation. The man trying to kill him, the hero manhandling him, and the lack of control that he had in the situation had him seething.
He shoved at Phase, and basically wrestled her just to push her off. Scrambling and scratching at the top of the desk he started yelling, lacing his voice with power as he tried to pull himself up.
“YOU! STOP! GET BACK HERE-“ the man had already run back out the door and it slammed behind him. If his office wasn’t soundproof he would have kept yelling after him. Phase clawed at his suit trying to drag him down.
“Get down,” she grunted out. Being unable to fully stand caused a spike in his anger. He smacked at her hands trying to dislodge them from his suit.
“Let me go, he's gone!” Her hands slipped off of him and she sank to the ground under the desk. Brushing her off, he gained his footing and punched the intercom with his finger.
“CAROL, GET SECURITY ON THAT MAN, NOW”! Grey huffed, stepped back from the desk and turned in a circle. His fists were tightly clenched as he grasped for control. Phase let out a faint groan and his focus snapped back to the stupid hero that lay at his feet.
Grey glared down at her but she didn’t move under his piercing gaze. The fact that she had been there in the first place, probably listening all morning to his meetings, spying on private information when he had checked to make sure she wasn’t there, and then having the nerve to dive in front of a bullet as if he wasn’t able to take care of himself. Now she wouldn’t even look at him, laying there as if he wasn’t a threat to her.
“And YOU! You have no right to touch me! You being here is bad enough- manhandling me crosses the damn line! You’re lucky I…don’t…” His eyes followed a dark puddle that had begun forming on the cream carpet under her. Suddenly Grey couldn’t breath, there seemed to be something choking him.
“Oh- uh-ah!,” Grey stumbled forward, his knees nearly buckled and he practically threw himself over the desktop to click on the intercom again.
“CAROL, CALL AN AMBULANCE!” He dropped to his knees next to the desk. Grey pushed and pulled at her limbs maneuvering Phase’s body to search for the source of the blood. She protested and curled into herself.
“Back off, Idiot,” Phase forced through her teeth, squirming away from his rough touches.
“Ya dumbass! Why the hell would’ja jump in front of a bullet?”
Phase hissed in pain as his hand grabbed her shoulder. Reactively, she kicked him in the thigh.
“Don’t touch it!” She propped herself up in one elbow and scooted backwards away from him. Her head bonked into the side of his desk and she practically growled. He crawled after her.
“What do you mean don't- You're- you’re bleeding all over my goddamn carpet. Ya have to stop bleeding!”
Phase panted through her nose, the material of her mask shifting with each heavy breath. She eyed Grey, looking like he had been doused in cold water, eyes wide and mouth tight.
“Stop it! Stop bleedin’.” Grey commanded her as if his power was able to stop the open wound. She pushed herself up into a sitting position with one hand to lean on the interior of his desk. Phases eyes squeezed shut as she grimaced.
“That’s not gonna work. I can't control my blood,” she huffed out in annoyance.
“Figure somethin’ out then! Do somethin’ other than sit there and bleed!” His hands waved around in the air forming out angry gestures.
“Don’t yell at me, I just saved your ass!”
Grey turned around, and started to rummage through the drawers of his desk. Looking for anything that might be useful, napkins, towels, a first aid kit.
“I didn’t fucking ask ya to.” Nothing, just papers and pens. Why the fuck was there only paper and pens? He patted his suit pockets down, there had to be something he could use. She had not opened her eyes yet, wrinkles formed at the top of her nose above the mask. He had never been shot but weren’t hero’s supposed to keep fighting through it? Where was all of her unstoppable determination now?
The blood puddle under her steadily grew wider. There had to be something. He patted his pockets. There wasn’t a hankie on him. Why would he have a hankie? He never carried a hankie. What was he doing? He hasn’t even seen the wound. Grey shuffled back over to her on his knees.
“YOU DIDN'T HAVE TIME! Thank me, that your head’s not blown clean off”. Phases left arm was pulled close to her chest. Grey reached out and took her wrist firmly, pulling her forward to get a look at her shoulder. She let out a small cry of pain and kicked at him again. “Don’t touch me!” Her body flickered in and out of focus, never fully dematerializing.
“Oh yea, thank ya for bleeding all over my goddamn office.” She protested as he pushed her head to force her to turn slightly. Searching the dark bloody mess of her back, he saw that the bullet had hit the edge of her armor plating pushing the metal into her skin with it, right at the edge of her shoulder blade. She yanked her arm away from him with a grunt and pushed her back against the underside of the desk again. Raising her leg up she put her boot on his chest and pushed him back to sit on his feet.
“You know what? Next time I’ll just let them kill you.” They stared at each other, both breathing heavily for different reasons. She lowered her boot. If looks could kill then the glare that bore into him would have eviscerated Grey on the spot. She had no right to be angry at him. This was her fault! She did this to herself, but he couldn’t get over the fact that she had saved him.
"Why didn’t ‘cha? You hate me.” He tried to control his breathing as warm liquid seeped into the knees of his pantsuit, Grey didn’t want to look down. Confusion flashed in her eyes and her pained gaze dragged over him, it was like she was finally coming to understand what she had actually done. She grew angry again.
“I save people! It’s -it’s a fucking reflex!” She pushed her good shoulder harder against the desk like a pouting child and cradled her arm again. There wasn’t time to deal with her attitude. Grey scanned the front of her chest and shoulder, there wasn’t an exit wound. The bullet was still inside.
“Yea, well you're not a good hero!” He felt like he was choking. Duncan pulled at the knot of his tie. He loosened the knot and pulled the tie from around his neck, twisting it in his hands nervously. He looked down at the material. Ties were cloth.
“Fuck you! You wouldn’t be alive right now if it wasn’t for me! Just leave me alone.” If she couldn’t phase through the desk or the floor then she was trapped. In the position she was in, huddled against the underside of the desk, she looked like a caged animal. Each time he scooted closer she would kick out, not letting him get close enough.
“Have some kind of self preservation for fuck sakes!" He grabbed her by the boot and pulled her towards him.
“You're the one- stop it- getting shot at- don’t touch me! ” Pushing against the ground with her other foot she tried to keep her back against the desk.
"Then do me a fucking favor." He layered the power in his voice to the best of his abilities hoping for lasting effects. "Don't save me next time." Her eyes glazed over as the command set in and he was able to scoot next to her without an attack. She blinked, trying to clear away the fog in her head.
“Don’t-“ Phase lightly slapped his arm with her bad hand. “Don’t use that on me, it hurts to much to fuckin’ listen to you.”
"Will ya' shut the hell up already... I need ta concentrate." He looked at the tie in his hand and the seeping bloody hole in her shoulder. Grey bunched the tie up into a wad and placed it firmly against the wound.
“JESUS CHRIST,” she jolted forward, away from his touch. “DON’T TOUCH IT!”
“Well, what else am I supposed to do?” She squirmed, trying to twist in a way he couldn’t touch her shoulder as his hand followed her trying to keep pressure on it.
“I could break all your bones, I could-AH!” Phase started to flicker, parts of her becoming see through. She cried out, cringing and curling in on herself once again. That was right, he’s seen what she’s done to men twice his size, but she was still in the room with him and he was still conscious.
“Stop trying to phase,” he commanded. It was pointless because she had already stopped. Sweat glistened on her forehead. The black greasepaint around her eyes beaded up and it became cracked with how much she was grimacing.
“ ‘m trying to get the bullet out,” she panted. The way she was starting to pale was not comforting, but he tried to pay attention to her masked face and not the blood he was currently sitting in.
“Oh good, so if I ever need you to sit the fuck still,aparently I just have to shoot ya.” She puffed air out her nose in an almost laugh.
“You are a natural Texan aren’t you, solving all your problems with guns.” He rolled his eyes. When would that ambulance get here?
“At least I’m using my head, don’t you have something in your utility belt, hero? Bullet healin’ pills or some shit?” He reached for her belt. She pushed his hand away.
“You’ll get electrocuted. And do you ever shut up? Do me a favor and next time, use your fuckin head and block the bullet.” She unclipped a pouch and pulled out what looked like an epi-pen.
“You got yourself shot, I would’ve been fine.” He watched as she bit the cap off and stabbed it into her thigh, wincing.
“Right, like how I'm totally fine right now?” She spat out. Whatever it was, at least she was doing something. He leaned back against the desk finally letting himself breathe.
“Could have fuckin’ fooled me, you’re still a massive pain in the ass”. Her chest rose and fell heavily. She reached her hand out and motioned for him to give her the tie. He obliged.
“You are… the worst person… I’ve ever met.” She grunted as she flattened the tie out, wrapped it around her shoulder, under her armpit and tied it off in front of her.
“And you’re the worst fuckin hero I’ve ever met”. He cracked a small smile and crawled out from under the desk.
“Apparently… because I shouldn't have saved your …ungrateful ass”. Phase used her good arm to push against the desk, heaving herself up to stand.
“Once again, I never asked you too.” He followed her as she slowly walked to the door. Her boots left a few bloody footprints as she walked. He would have to replace this carpet. Grey didn’t even want to look under his desk or at his pants.
“Then it's agreed, I won't be doing this again,” she grumbled. The large wooden door swung open and the two stepped into the hall. Phase stopped.
“Carol, how long- fuck,“ as he cleared the door, he saw Carol limp in her chair. The wall behind her was splattered red and pink. That’s a shame. She was nice. He turned to look at Phase, who was frozen, staring at the scene.
“Come on, you need to get downstairs”. He stepped forward and reached his hand up to guide her. With the time they had known each other he learned to read her expressions just from her eyes. He watched as the shock and sadness melted away and her pupils dilated.
“Phase?” She shook her head, blinking. Her fist clenched and unclenched, then she finally looked down at his hand on her arm. Phase took a step back. Grey took out his cellphone. Carol wouldn’t have been able to call 911. He spoke into the receptor, staring at the hole through her head.
“I have an emergency at the Inova Tech Building on 5th street, top floor, a shooting.” He didn’t let the dispatcher talk, just let his arm fall to his side. When he looked up, Phase was already on the elevator. She leaned against the mirrored wall. He could have gone after her but the doors were already closing.
“You’re paying for my carpet,” he called out.
“You wish.” He caught the faint way her eyes squinted as she smiled before the doors closed.
———
Phase pushed her way out of the elevator and through the back emergency exit of the building. Her heart was beating heavily in her chest cavity, threatening to break through it. The adrenaline she had taken was giving her a boost but there were still spots forming in front of her eyes. She limped to the parking garage down through the side streets, her legs heavy and her body growing cold in the hot June sun. Pulling the phone from her pocket she held one for speed dial as she rode up the elevator to the top floor.
“Sol, I’ve pinged my location. I need evac and medical.” Phase huffed, dragging her feet from the elevator and plopped down in the sun of the roof, watching the open sky while listening to the sounds of sirens grow over the panicked voice of her friend.
“I’m not dying… yet. But I will need blood. I’m on the roof.” There was a crack in the distance as Solstice broke the sound barrier.
“No it’s not bad, I just didn’t want to-” Solstice appeared in the sky above, scanning at the building below. “-pass out.” Phase let the phone slip from her fingers as the blue sky went black.
—-------
Dr. Kennedy had her awake, patched up and filled back up with blood two hours laters.
“- and desk duty for at least a week. Do you hear me?
Least
. That means I know you won’t listen to my recommended 2 weeks so if you pop those stitches in the next week I’m letting you heal the old fashion way.” He tightened the bandage on her healing shoulder. “You lost a lot of blood in a short time… or you didn’t call for help fast enough. Which was it?”
Phase tossed him a dirty look then focused her gaze on the trash can in the corner.
“Don’t give me that, it was a nasty little hole with your armor jamming into it, but you had to have waited for several minutes before wrapping it to have lost that much blood.” Kennedy snapped off his gloves and dropped them in the trash. “A simple robber put up that much trouble for yah?”
She rolled her eyes.
“I’m not a drongo, Phase. I don’t know what’s got you distracted but I haven’t seen you pull something this stupid in years.”
“I’m not here for a lecture, Kennedy.” Phase stood up and walked to the door. The doctor called out after her.
“Rack off with your attitude! Remember I’m here to keep ya kickin’.” Then he grumbled to himself. “Mighty deathwish on that one.”