'Cause We Could be Immortals

[redlightgreenlight]

Characters: Initially closed to Cain, Pepper, Tony and Valdis.
Date: January 26th 2017
Location: Tony's lab at the College
Situation: Valdis is concerned about the salt and has asked Tony for help, meanwhile, Cain is also seeking Tony’s aid. Pepper is there to supervise.
Warnings/Rating: Explosions! Fire! Chaos!...and then some death. (Not necessarily in that order)



Valdis’ curiosity and concerns over the salt had not yet been satisfied and her previous attempt to contact Tony had failed. Since then, Yunxu’s announcement had made her even more nervous, and, paired with what Yuri had told her, she knew she had to find some way to counteract the effects of the salt. Today, however, she was hesitant to go anywhere near the door to Tony’s lab. Cain’s scent drifted through the air, fresh enough for her to be certain that he was inside the room. Though she wasn’t certain how long she could wait to talk to Tony.

She took the last few steps to the door and slowly opened it.

Comments

CW: Blood

[redlightgreenlight]

"I'm a bit sturdier than you," she replied when Tony berated her for protecting him, but her relief at hearing his voice was only temporary. She heard Pepper calling back at Tony, but she couldn't see the other two through the smoke.

"You go," she wheezed, trying to keep the panic from her voice. She should have been healing by now, the pain should be fading, the metal shards being pushed out, the bone knitting itself back together. She could still feel her legs, but moving wasn't an option. The toxic smoke was getting to her, so it had to be getting to Tony as well as Pepper and Jacob.

She reached down to grasp a large piece of shrapnel that protruded from her side. It was possible that the shard was why her wounds weren't healing, this was a piece of the machine that had exploded, the machine that Tony had been testing the salt in. Taking a deep breath, she pulled it out, sobbing in pain and then horror overtook every other sense. Instead of closing, the gaping wound began to gush blood. The shard had severed an artery or pierced an organ and she had just removed the only thing stemming the blood flow.

[highprofilerichkid]

Well, okay, true. But he can look out for himself, Valdis, gosh.

Tony's heart leaps in relief when he hears Pepper's voice. "We're here!" he calls back. "Get Cain and get out!" Getting out is the priority right now - they can't waste time trying to regroup in all of this.

"Be easier if you got off me," Tony grumbles in a lower voice when Valdis tells him to go. But he's not going to wait for around for her to heal enough to be mobile again. He squirms out from under her and looks around, trying to see Pepper, or an exit, through the smoke.

Then he hears a sob of agony behind him, and looks back. "Valdis?" She... doesn't look so good. There's a gaping wound in her side that's pouring blood, and Tony doesn't see any signs of it closing up.

"Hey," he croaks, feeling a stirring of concern, "shouldn't you be healing faster?"

[lasergrenades]

It only takes a few more seconds for Pepper to wriggle free. Cain's assurances are a relief, but it doesn't prevent the mesmerized horror with which she watches his back start to repair before her eyes. She would have been dead many times over if he hadn't moved in front of her.

"We should get out of here," she says, echoing Tony's call. Pepper starts to stand, ignoring the burning in her lungs, when the world tips over. Her head is spinning and she sits down rather suddenly. "Uh. I'm not sure I can stand up. Super dizzy."

Vertigo or not, she should be able to see Tony and Valdis by now. Right?

"Something's not right," she mutters.

[insertdadjoke]

Flesh mending, wounds healing, more of a reversal than true rejuvenation. Cain coughed a few times, rolled onto his side, then pulled himself to his feet. Nerves screamed all long his body for attention but as long as he could still move and wasn't about to pass out for doing so, he was going to do whatever he wanted while making sure the others got out safely.

Cain watched Pepper topple back down and knelt beside her. His own gaze was coming back into focus after all the excitement, but he was close enough to see her clearly. With one hand, he took her face gently to turn it this way and that; his other arm raised so he could take as deep a breath he could through the filter of his sleeve.

"I'm fine! Immortal," he called for Tony and Valdis' sake. That Tony was the one speaking up and not Valdis didn't give him much confidence for her being conscious after the blast. Great. He coughed, expelled what smoke he was taking in, and kept going. "Pepper may have hit her head. Can you make it to the door, Tony?"

[redlightgreenlight]

"No shi..." She couldn't finish the sentence. Her breath rattled as she tried to focus enough to call the Void to start healing her injuries, but no matter how deep she looked, she couldn't find the dark creature anywhere and she was dying.

"Go." She coughed, her vision was going fuzzy. Her fingers gripped her side, as if that would stem the flow of blood. "I can't."

She couldn't die now, she had to hold on until she knew that Tony and Pepper were safe, but she didn't have the strength. She took a shuddering breath and everything went dark.

what's wrong with Valdis is that she's DEAD, TONY

[highprofilerichkid]

The dramatics are unnecessary, Valdis. "...Valdis?" The hellhound takes one shuddering breath, exhales... and then doesn't take another. She goes limp and her hand slips off of the gash in her side, which is no longer pumping blood.

"Valdis?" Tony nudges her. Oh, shit. Is this normal? Doesn't her healing magic usually kick in before she dies?

Through the smoke, Jacob helpfully informs Tony that he's immortal. That's convenient, because Tony is not, and he's quickly running out of time to figure out what is wrong with Valdis. Breathing in all this smoke is not good.

"I'm good," he replies, "But there's something wrong with Valdis. She— she didn't heal like she's supposed to." And now she's kind of dead. But only temporarily, right? She'll perk right back up any second now.

[lasergrenades]

Cain's cursory inspection would be able spot the small about of blood coming from Pepper's right ear - her eardrum ruptured in the explosion. It hasn't turned into a splitting headache yet, fortunately.

And apparently Cain is immortal. Uh. Well, that would explain the insta-heal.

"I'm okay," she says, as much for Cain's benefit as her own. The very vague description of Valdis' plight causes a sinking sensation in her stomach. Very not good. "Help Valdis," she says as firmly as she can. "I'll get out with Tony."

Pepper can't be the rescuer here, and while that rankles, she's smarter than trying to pretend otherwise.

[insertdadjoke]

It was something Cain would likely have to talk about more later. His immortality wasn't exactly a secret and there wasn't a whole lot to hide... but sometimes it didn't catch everything. Like someone else's injuries. He remembered the bauble he had been practicing with, before all this fog and interference, and now he found himself almost glad he didn't have to make the decision between someone's life or death in a place where the meaning was so obscured.

Seeing the injury for what it was, Cain automatically swiped some of the blood away before shifting to stand. "Your ear looks busted," he informed her. He'd already intended to go to Valdis while the relatively-unharmed ones got to safety, but her urging didn't hurt. "Balance is going to be the big thing, so wait for Tony and get out of here."

He turned his head and waved Tony over. There was plenty of debris in the way, but it looked like Tony was whole enough to make it if he could spot them through the smoke and dust. "Over here! We're swapping places. Get yourselves to safety, okay?" That said, he started to move, back already close to perfect with nary a drop of blood in sight, toward where Tony's voice had been originating. His own lungs could only last so long before temporarily giving out, yet he was willing to wager his endurance under such conditions would last much longer than theirs.

[highprofilerichkid]

It goes against all of Tony's instincts to leave Valdis behind - but his lungs are burning and the smoke is starting to make him light-headed. He's strong enough to carry her out, but if he passes out before they're in the clear, Jacob will just have to rescue both of them.

With one last, uncertain look at Valdis' unmoving form, Tony staggers to his feet and starts picking his way through the rubble.

The first few moments after the blast had been extremely disorienting, but now Tony has gotten his bearings back, and he makes his way for where the door should be.

He crosses paths with Cain (who looks as fresh as a spring daisy, the lucky bastard) a few moments later, and points to where he'd left Valdis. "Behind that table," he says, between coughs. "She— you'll have to carry her."

With Valdis taken care of, Tony turns his focus to Pepper. He sees her sitting on the floor, and she looks beat up but not too seriously injured. "Pepper!" He stumbles to her side, and heaves her up off the ground. "Come on, let's get out of here."

[lasergrenades]

Like Tony, Pepper is loathe to leave, but she can't exactly help Valdis if she can hardly stand up straight. That, and her lungs are informing her that she's about to lose the battle with staying conscious if she sits here any longer. Although the stinging smoke is making her eyes stream with tears, Pepper can still see that Cain's back is no longer the charred mess she had seen.

"Wha -!" Pepper catches what Tony says, and she's about to demand an explanation when he yanks her off the floor. The vertigo immediately gets worse, but having Tony next to her keeps her from falling again.

Pepper glances over her shoulder as they duck out of the flaming room, hoping against hope that Valdis and Cain are following behind them.