fandomtownies | Fandom, early morning

Fandom, early morning

It was still early morning, the town of Fandom was half asleep and there was a mist rising from the ocean that made for a grateful cover. Tex moved slowly through the streets, concentrating hard as she put one foot in front of the other. The shielding on her armour was out of control. It shimmered, died down, send sparks flying and died down again.

Concentrate.

She closed her eyes and tried to find the connection, be one with it, stay in control or the weight would take her down. It took all of her energy to keep the connection and she could feel the blood trickling down the back of her neck.

A dirty move. Hit just right and severe the node from the helmet. Leave your target with an armour that's a burden instead of protection. She knew all the dirty moves. So did they. Four of them, elite spartans. Ohio, Mississipi, Nebraska. She didn't get to see the fourth one. The one that hit from behind. Wyoming, maybe. It'd been a trick. She'd been set on getting the training equipment, never saw the trap they had set up for her. Sloppy.

Her knee gave out and she sagged through it. The metal clanging as it hit the pavement and she braced herself trying not to go down entirely. She gasped as the fall jarred her body. Cracked rib, no doubt. The connection to her armour was gone again and she closed her eyes trying to find it.

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After last night's conversation with CJ, Kawalsky hadn't slept much. The alcohol had done a little as a muscle relaxant, but that was it. He gave up on sleep around 4:30am and crept out of the dorms. Since then he'd been walking the streets of Fandom, looking at places he hadn't seen before, just because they were there.

The clang caught his attention. He probably wouldn't have seen her if it wasn't for the noise. Frowning, Kawalsky started up the street towards Tex. "Hey," he called. "You okay?"

She'd just found it again when the voice cut through her thoughts. The shielding on the armour came on again, sparked where she had been hit too badly and died. There were stains on the armour, possibly blood but not hers.

"Yeah, kid. Just fine," she replied, trying to keep her voice neutral and not let him hear the pain.

"Yeah, you look it." He sized up the situation. "C'mon. Your place isn't far. Let's get you off the street before someone starts asking questions. I'm gonna get you to put your arm around my shoulders and then I'm gonna carry some of your weight. You can kick my ass for it later, okay?"

Tex laughed, but there was definitey pain in the sound as she looked at Kawalsky. "That I got to see," she tried to reach out with her mind for the armour again, but she got nothing.

"Won't know until I try. And if I pull a muscle, at least I can say I tried to be a good samaritan, yadda yadda, whatever. You gonna do this or should I leave you here for a whiney brat to find you and call the whole town to come and look while you're hauled off?"

She looked up at Kawalsky, grudgingly admitting in her mind that he was right.

"Have it your way," she nodded and straightened up as best as she could.

Kawalsky let out a long breath, then got into position. The armor *looked* heavy, so there was no telling how much effort this was going to take. He put his arm around Tex as best he could, and then grabbed hold of her arm over his shoulders. "Gonna have to get this right the first try. On three. One.. two.. THREE."

There was a stream of curses coming from Tex as she managed to get back to her feet with Kawalsky's help. For a moment most of her weight was on him, but she remembered in time to shift most of it back on herself.

Kawalsky struggled. The armor was a lot heavier than he could've guessed just by looking at it, and he wasn't the big guy he used to be. Nevertheless, he stayed upright. Movement was slow so neither of them toppled over, but as they neared Tex's place, Kawalsky's body was screaming in protest. He'd be fine once the weight was off, but for now he had to focus solely on the task at hand just to keep going.

They finally reached the door of the shop, not any time too soon. Tex could feel the kid struggling to keep her up and she couldn't but quietly respect him for taking her this far. She reached for the wall, leaning her weight on it and let go of Kawalsky.

She reached into a pocket to the side of her holster and after some fumbling managed to get out the keys. Wordlessly, she handed them to Kawalsky.

He took the keys and flicked through them. It took him two attempts before he got the right one for this door. He pocketed the keys and pushed the door open, then waved at Tex to lean towards him again so they could get inside.

She definitely hated this, but she was too tired to protest as she put her arm over Kawalsky's shoulder again. "You wouldn't make a bad spartan, kid."

"I'm gonna take that as a compliment." He clenched his jaw and hauled her inside as best he could. She needed to sit down so she could take that armor off.

"You better. I don't give many of those," Tex sounded out of breath. She stumbled to the counter, the side was still up so it was easier for her to move around it with Kawalsky's help and plop down in the chair. Gratefully, she closed her eyes.

"You should probably get that armor off. Give your body a chance to, y'know, not lug around a ton of weight."

"My body's made for it, kid." Tex laughed. She really had to stop doing that as it hurt like a bitch.

With unsteady hands she reached up to undo the helmet. The neural link didn't pull back as the node was too damaged. Gritting her teeth, she pulled it off regardlessly, unable to keep herself from grunting in pain. The blood at the back of her neck, soaking into the bodysuit was definitely hers.

Slowly, methodically, she started to take off the rest of her armour, seemingly forgotten about Kawalsky watching her. Her arms felt heavy, but it was a routine.

Kawalsky stood there silently as she took off the armor. He was ready to help if she needed it, but she seemed to manage just fine. He craned his neck to look at the blood, but didn't move to help her. "Should probably put something on that wound."

She looked up as she let the plates fall to the ground, her eyes not quite focussing on him.

"Yes," she finally agreed. She just hoped the healing process wouldn't mess up with the cybernetics. She started loosening up the breastplate, ignore the sharp pain in her chest. "You don't have to stick around, kid. You did good."

"Yeah, well, I'll feel guilty if you turn up dead because of the bleeding thing. Anything else? Not my responsibility. But the bleeding?" He shrugged. "You got a medical kit around here? Or at least a towel?"

"Headwound, looks more impressive than it is." Tex said with a grimace as she janked at the breastplate and finally got it loose.

She sighed as she realised Kawalsky wasn't leaving. "Upstairs, there's a medkit in the bathroom." She motioned to the stairs leading up to her apartment at the back of the store.

He headed upstairs to look for the medical kit.

Tex slowly continued taking off her armour. She'd knew that in a few hours she'd be covered in bruises. That was the least of her worries, though, she pulled down the zipper to her jumpsuit and carefully felt her ribs. Cracked. Great, how many times was that now?

"Stupid cockbiting fucktards."

Kawalsky grabbed the medical kit, once he finally found it, and came back downstairs. He set the medical kit down and opened it, then started looking through it for the equipment he needed. He was no Janet Fraiser, but he had first aid training. "Lean your head forward so I can get a better look."

Tex leaned her head forward and pulled her hair aside, exposing her neck. "You need to make sure the interface is clean."

"Okay." He leaned closer to get a better look and started mopping up the blood with the gauze pads. "You gotta tell me if there's something I shouldn't touch." He continued to clean around the interface first to get a clear picture of what he was dealing with. "And I know you'll probably say no, but you might wanna see a doc about getting this stitched up so you don't go bleeding everywhere all week."

Tex sat absolutely still as Kawalsky cleaned up the wound. It hurt, but her chest hurt worse.

"It will heal, just patch it up." She reached for the helmet that was lying beside her and looked at the connection. It seemed intact, luckily enough, there was no easy way to replace this.

"I can't just patch it up," Kawalsky muttered. "I can clean it up and slap a wound dressing on it, but it looks pretty deep. That kind of thing won't heal unless you try to pull the skin together with stitches or sutures or whatever they use." He let out a long breath through his nose. "I know someone who'll do the job, no questions asked if you want it. Free of charge."

"Why?" Tex frowned at the offer and shook her head. "It will be fine."

"Yeah, sure it will. I've seen something this deep before. Guy didn't think it needed any medical attention and ended up bleeding to death, slowly."

"Trust me, I'm not some guy." Tex said, getting slightly annoyed. "Now either put bandage on it or I'll do it."

Kawalsky shrugged. As long as she was aware of the consequences, it was her decision. He couldn't do much else. He cleaned out the interface, flushed it with saline, wiped up the mess and put a wound dressing on it, taping it up as best he could. "You'll have to change that tonight."

Tex gritted her teeth together as he cleaned it. "I know the drill," she nodded and carefully felt the bandage. It will do."

"Okay." He packed up the medical kit and put it on the nearest counter. "I'm gonna go." Tomorrow, he would stop by and give the convenient excuse of wanting access to his storage locker. For now, she was sitting upright and patched up as much as he could do with limited skills.

Tex nodded and carefully stood up from her chair. "Alright," she said with a nod that might be interpreted as a thanks.

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Fandom, early morning

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