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<div align='center'>''Medicum Velocitic''<<set $heartrate to 89>> <<set $bloodpressure to 108>> <<set $oxygensaturation to 99>> <<set $respiration to 16>> <<set $temperature to 98.6>> <<set $condition to "">><<set $nightpoints to 0>><<set $totalpoints to 0>> <<set $status to "Online...">>
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/FOV3dH6.jpg" width="50%">
tw for : descriptions of gore, graphic violence, foul language, medical terms and descriptions.
( medical practices done in Medicum Veloctic are fiction and will not reflect properly in reality )
[[What are we if not threads of love & violence?]]</div>
<<include [[Heartrate]]>>
<div align= 'center' style='font-size:180%'>1</div>
<hr>
Your heart doesn't rest when you sleep.<<set $status to "Save?">>
[[>Your mind won't let it.]]
<div class="terminal"> <<if $status is "Online...">>$status<<endif>><<if $status isnot "Online...">>$status
<hr>
<<endif>>
<hr>
<hr>
[img[https://i.imgur.com/p4peEnl.png][Medicum Veloctic]]
</div>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"M.V! Come online!"</span> you shout, and your treatment companion program activates.
You run as fast as your feet can carry you, muttering his name under your breath; the car door hisses open as you arrive and a bloody excuse of a hero falls into your arms.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Arthur! Arthur!"</span> you shout, hoisting him as much as possible around your shoulder; your hand wrapped around his waist pincers him to you. The armor he wears makes him hard to hold, but you hold him anyway.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"You're here..."</span> the man chokes out, blood splattering on the ground. It smacks against your shoes.<<set $heartrate to 101>><<set $bloodpressure to 148>><<set $oxygensaturation to 92>><<set $respiration to 25>><<set $temperature to 65.3>><<set $condition to "Critical.">>
[[>"Of course, of course. I'll always be here."]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">"It's late, I thought you would have—"</span> another cough, <span style="color:#94B8C7">"or rather you should be asleep." </span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I was asleep—"</span> a pat from Arthur interrupts you as the man lets out a half chuckle.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"On a bed, not a—"</span> grunts of pain cause an interruption in his speech, <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Late hours are bad for your health."</span>
You have to laugh. There it is, the pot calling the kettle black. With your body pressed to his you drag him along like he's more sack than human. His blood pooling on the ground, leaking onto your clean shirt.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'll keep that in mind for next time,"</span> a bold lie. As long as he puts on the mask you're right beside him, whether you want it or not. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"What was it? What happened?"</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Police chatter went active an hour ago, talking about gang activity and gunfire. Our old friend</span> <<link 'Skull N Bones'>></span>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup('Skull N Bones - YOU WERE 26');
Dialog.wiki('Max Owens - a thug with a loud mouth and an obsession skeleton iconography, so much so that he paints his face like one. The only thing that matches his love for bones is his love for guns. Veloctic first ran into him three years ago.');
Dialog.open();<</script>><</link>><span style="color:#94B8C7"> decided to show his face again,"</span> the raw sound in his throat only makes you wonder how long has he been gargling his blood.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Right, Arthur. Don't say anything else. Your bleeding is intense. So I'm going to lay you down, get some morphine in you. Then you can talk as much as you want."</span> Arthur chuckles and lets some nods speak for him instead. So you're careful when you lay him down like he can be fragile. Like he could break. It's a foolish idea, to think the man of muscle blood and rage could break like glass. That Veloctic can break.
[[>How foolish.]]You remove the hood from his head, remove the mask from his face. The hero Veloctic unmasked before you. The midnight-armored vigilante of this city whose gone into more struggle and battles than any other soul. All thanks to his <b>power</b>. With each uninterrupted move, be it punch or kick, his power and speed increase. Before long it could be getting punched by a bullet train.
But while his lethality increases, his durability stays the same. Bullets still hurt, knives still stab, he still bleeds. Oh, how he bleeds.
The color of his blood never looks good on your hands.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'm injecting the morphine, it'll numb you out a bit then I can take a look at you."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Yes doctor,"</span> he jokes. His hand is outstretched, and it makes you want to hold it. And even though now isn't the time for that, you can't help but think that you so desperately want to.
Breathe.
[[>"Hey Arthur, okay, tell me what happened."]]
[[>Take his hand.]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">"It was a gun trade,"</span> he looks up to you and smiles despite the blood in his mouth. On his lips. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Skull was giving a lot of guns to some unknown people. Dressed in bright blue. Did what I had to do..."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Right, good that's what you do."</span> you nod. Take in a breathe. The smell of his blood makes your heart race. Breathe, breathe, breathe. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"So you fought some guys with guns what's the problem?"</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"They had more than just guns, the guys in blue—"</span> cough, cough. You lay a hand on his chest and run your hands to its side. Taking the armor off would help him breathe. So with grace, you remove the chest piece and so the symbol of Veloctic. Leaving nothing but the man underneath Arthur Lai. <<link 'The man you have been in love with for years.'>>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup('He wonders why you do.- YOU WERE 15');
Dialog.wiki('You remember, the confusion in the meeting of your lips. He was drunk and you were drunk, the music was so loud and he was in the bathroom with you. Your nerves shaking, the liquor tasted like garbage and he was calming you down with anecdotes of the various guests he barely knows. And you needed him just as much as he needed you.<br><br>Oh beautiful, your first act of bravery found at sixteen when you kissed an orphan boy.');
Dialog.open();<</script>><</link>>
Arthur is the inheritor of the Lai legacy, making the very wealthy talk and mystery of the city. For years his name passed from rumor to rumor before dying down into whispers. The Lai Family Tragedy went from a newspaper headliner to a piece of the city's history. It all faded just like everything in his life. The caretakers, the butlers, maids, friends, all fade. But not you, not Reyes Vidal. Who was there from <<link 'start'>>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup('The Lai Manor Has Always Reeked of Death. - YOU WERE 11');
Dialog.wiki('Oh how you raced, and raced to his home when the news hit. How you could not wait for mama to wake or to start the car. You did not care about the distance or the heavy rain. When you heard what had happened, you were rushing to him. You have always been rushing to him.');
Dialog.open();<</script>><</link>> to finish. <<set $gashwound to "">><<set $hyplovemic to "">>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"How bad is it..."</span> he asks, his story not yet finished. You're looking at him, exposed before you. Scars and bruises adorn his body with blood everywhere, but not just that - the sharp chin, black hair with dark brown highlights, thin red lips, he's so beautiful. Every single inch...
[[>"I'm checking now."]]
[[>"You're beautiful..."]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Damn your wound -"</span> you blame it on the gash the one you're noticing across his chest. "Let me let me take a look at this." You run a hand along the gash, it's deep, deep enough to cut beneath his ribs. Right, where his heart is.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"What did this to you?"</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"There was someone there. Someone good. They had a cane-whip that cut right through,"</span> he groans. So you finish for him.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Right through the armor,"</span> You notice something else too, blood profusely splurting from his right thigh. There are more cuts there too, though they aren't as major as the one against his chest. The one thing you do notice is the large loss of blood. It'd be enough to send him into shock.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"He was a good fight, didn't care about anything. It made him hard to predict. That's how he got that slash in."</span> Arthur coughs again.<<set $heartrate to 106>><<set $bloodpressure to 155>><<set $oxygensaturation to 90>><<set $respiration to 20>><<set $temperature to 64.2>><<set $condition to "Critical.">>
[[>"This isn't good Arthur,"]]
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"You are too,"</span> without warning, without thinking, a hand starts to move to your cheek. It's a strain and it causes him to wince, but that's not what makes it fall. It's he who does.<<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 1>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Crap your wound -"</span> you blame it on the gash the one you're noticing across his chest.<span style="color:#94B8C7"> "Let me let me take a look at this."</span> You run a hand along the gash, it's deep, deep enough to cut beneath his ribs. Right, where his heart is.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"What in the world did this?"
"That's what - there was someone there. Someone good. They had a cane-whip that cut right through,"</span> he groans. So you finish for him.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Right through the armor,"</span> You notice something else too, blood profusely splurting from his right thigh. There are more cuts there too, though they aren't as major as the one against his chest. The one thing you do notice is the large loss of blood. It'd be enough to send him into shock.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"He was a good fight, didn't care about anything. It made him hard to predict. That's how he got that slash in."</span> Arthur coughs again.<<set $heartrate to 106>><<set $bloodpressure to 155>><<set $oxygensaturation to 90>><<set $respiration to 20>><<set $temperature to 64.2>><<set $condition to "Critical.">>
[[>"This isn't good Arthur,"]] <span style="color:#94B8C7">"I thought so, you've got your 'I'm very worried about you' face on."</span><<set $shock1 to "">>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I've always got that face on. That's just my regular face. Especially when it comes to you."</span> <<if $nightpoints is 2>>You notice the way his eyes darken when you say that, but you don't have time to focus on that. Not now.<<endif>> Breathe, breathe once more. Let your chest rise and fall slowly. He needs you to be steady right now. He needs you.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"First I have to deal with the loss of blood, surprised you haven't yet, but if you keep losing blood like this you'll go into shock."
"Take it away Doc..."</span><<set $status to "Risk of Shock.">>
<div class="terminal"><div align= 'center' style='font-size:65%'> (remember if you're unsure the medicum veloctic is available to you)</div></div>
<div align='center'> <<listbox "$shock1">>
<<option "Get some more morphine" "Morphine" `$shock1 == "Get some more morphine" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Get an IV" "IV" `$shock1 == "Get an IV" ? "Get an IV" : ""`>>
<<option "Wrap him up" "Wrap" `$shock1 == "Wrap him up" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<</listbox>></div>
[[>"Here's what I'm going to do."]]<<if $shock1 is "IV">><span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'm going to hook you up with the IV."</span> you say as you quickly move to a cabinet where packs of Arthur's blood & packs of saline hang. You grab the saline and hook it up to a machine. And without even thinking you've grasped Arthur's hand.<<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 3>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Ah so the usual then,"</span><<set $heartrate to 97>><<set $bloodpressure to 134>><<set $oxygensaturation to 99>><<set $respiration to 17>><<set $temperature to 87.7>><<set $condition to "Hurt ( UNDER IV ).">><<set $status to "DISINFECT REQUIRED">>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Yes yes the usual,"</span> you stick the needle in his arm so the IVs can do their thing, dutifully standing by his side. You lay a hand on his arm and let your eyes roam from the tube to the IV, just to make sure it's all working.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Ah yes. God bless the wonderful invention of that strange clear liquid."
"It's not strange, you should know what's in it."
"No, no. I'm fine with you knowing all the medical mumbo jumbo.</span>
You laugh, before your vision lands on the larger cut across him. That'll need its own separate treatment.
<div align='center'><<listbox "$slash1">>
<<option "Disinfect the wound." "Disinfect" `$slash1 == "Disinfect the wound" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Wrap his wound. Hard." "Wrap his wound" `$slash1 == "Wrap his wound" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Give him some pain medicine." "Pain Meds" `$slash1 == "Pain Meds" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<</listbox>></div>
[[>"I have to do something though..."]]
[[>"How're you feeling?"]]
<<endif>><<if $shock1 is "Wrap">><span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'm going to wrap the bleeding up, at least in the vital areas. You'll still feel a bit weak but you won't go into shock."</span> Arthur smiles and nods before starting to set himself up, you rest a hand on his back to help him. But more importantly, you notice the strain in his muscles and the blood on his knuckles. You sigh.<<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 2>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Something wrong?"
"Cleaning up the blood is going to be a mess."</span> you stretch out the medical gauze and begin to wrap it around his thigh.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'll get the maids to clean it,"</span> he laughs.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Getting a maid to clean up your extensive amount of blood is cruel. She'll quit on the spot."
"Oh, you don't know that, maybe she'll love it."
"Doubt it." </span> he laughs after you speak, and you laugh and you tighten the wrap before moving to another place. His blood loss is more stable now but you think that something else could have assisted him there. This was all you could think of though.<<set $heartrate to 100>><<set $bloodpressure to 139>><<set $oxygensaturation to 95>><<set $respiration to 14>><<set $temperature to 80.7>><<set $condition to "Damaged.">><<set $status to "DISINFECT REQUIRED">>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Right okay now for your bigger wound..."</span>
<div align='center'><<listbox "$slash1">>
<<option "Disinfect the wound." "Disinfect" `$slash1 == "Disinfect the wound" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Wrap his wound. Hard." "Wrap his wound" `$slash1 == "Wrap his wound" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Give him some pain medicine." "Pain Meds" `$slash1 == "Pain Meds" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<</listbox>></div>
[[>"Keep it together Arthur." ->>"I have to do something though..."]]
[[>"How're you feeling?"]]<<endif>><<if $shock1 is "Morphine">>No, No... that isn't right. You're injecting more morphine but it isn't stopping the bleeding. Shit - come on Reyes this is easy. This is easy. You take a deep breath and watch as Arthur's face turns foul. Just for a second before it twists back into that same smiling grin.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Something wrong Reyes?"</span><<set $status to "IMPROPER MEDICAL TECHNIQUE DETECTED PLEASE REFER TO THE MEDICUM VELOCTIC">>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Nothing, don't worry..."</span> <<return>><<endif>><<if $slash1 is "Disinfect">><span style="color:#94B8C7">"The wound's bad, give me a second to disinfect it. Otherwise well..."
"It'll get even worse?"</span><<set $status to "Large Gash Wound Above The Chest. Near-Fatal.">>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Much worse,"</span> you take a medical rag from your kit and douse it in disinfectant. Leaning over his wound you press the rag to his cut. Arthur hisses when it makes contact but he keeps his composure. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Did you manage to get him?"</span> you ask, in an attempt to distract him from the pain that comes from disinfectant.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Skull N' Bones? Yes, he should be in police custody now. But that other one? Not yet, he managed to escape."</span> the <i>not yet</i> is what you catch. You can already imagine that Arthur is thinking of how and what to do to catch them. Not his injuries. Not the gash that bleeds his chest. You press and press and wet the rag with disinfectant again. Trying your hardest to keep the beating heart from bursting through your ribs. Scientifically impossible, sure, but the way you've seen his skin split.
God.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"At least he didn't get the guns,"</span> you breathe.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Yeah, at least,"</span> he growls looks to the side, <span style="color:#94B8C7">"What's next?"</span> <div align='center'><<listbox "$slash2">>
<<option "Wrap the wound." "Wrap2" `$slash2 == "Wrap the wound" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Carterize the Wound" "Carterize" `$slash2 == "Carterize the Wound" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Stitches." "Stitch" `$slash2 == "Stitches" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<</listbox>></div>
[[>"Keep your breathing steady Arthur."]]<<endif>><<if $slash1 is "Wrap his wound">> No, no that won't work. That won't be any good for him. It'd keep him up but it wouldn't keep him going. <<return>><<endif>><<if $slash1 is "Pain Meds">> No, no that won't work. That won't be any good for him. It'd keep him up but it wouldn't keep him going. <<return>><<endif>><<if $slash2 is "Wrap2">><span style="color:#94B8C7">"Sit up a bit,"</span> you instruct him. A pat on his shoulder as you turn to your medical kit. You rummage around for your medical gauze with Arthur's moans of struggle filling the base. Whatever you could call the basement of a mansion as a base.<<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 2>>
Stretching out the gauze as much as possible, you lean against the examination table and start to wrap the gauze as tightly as possible. Not tight enough to cause any pain, but tight enough to where it'll keep the wound from bleeding anymore as his body naturally heals.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Good?"</span> you ask.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Good."</span> he responds.<<set $heartrate to 60>><<set $bloodpressure to 125>><<set $oxygensaturation to 95>><<set $respiration to 14>><<set $temperature to 95.7>><<set $condition to "Stable">>[[>"Try not to do anything extraneous for the next twenty-four hours."]]<<endif>><<if $slash2 is "Carterize">><span style="color:#94B8C7">"Right, I'm going to carterize the wound now."
"C-Carterize? Are you sure?"</span><<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 1>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Which one of us is the medical professional here?"</span> you laugh. Your eyes scour your medical kit for the two items you need. First, something for him to bite on. Second, a cleaned piece of metal to run along with the flames. You place the item in Arthur's mouth and he instinctively bites down. You turn on the nearby lighter and as the gas sparks, you run the flame through it.
What follows next are muffled screams.
Arthur takes it as well as he could, and when all is said and done the wound is properly sealed. No more blood, just the smell of burned flesh. Which is good. Just this once burned flesh is good. You sigh and take out the piece from Arthur's mouth and though he's sweating he's smiling. Smiling and looking at you.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"How does it look?"</span> he jokes a strained expression on his face. You run your hand against his cheek, your thumb under his chin.
You almost want to say ugly, as a joke, but this close to him you can't lie. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Amazing."</span><<set $heartrate to 62>><<set $bloodpressure to 127>><<set $oxygensaturation to 95>><<set $respiration to 15>><<set $temperature to 99.7>><<set $condition to "OK">>
[[>"Try not to do anything extraneous for the next twenty-four hours."]]<<endif>><<if $slash2 is "Stitch">><span style="color:#94B8C7">"Keep lying down. I'm going to stitch you up,"</span> you instruct him. A pat on his shoulder as you turn to your medical kit. You rummage around for the surgical suture until it pokes you. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Tah! There it is,"</span> you grab it before grabbing your gloves as well. There's a smack as you put them on and stand over Arthur.<<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 3>>
The process of stitching the skin together through all the blood is messy, but the mess is something you're willing to do. Even if you'd laugh to yourself at one point for thinking so.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"That cane is something you'll have to look out for next time, this cut is deep."
"I'm already planning on how to avoid it, or better yet enhance the suit's defenses to take the hit."
"Don't -"</span> and so comes the exhausted sigh, <span style="color:#94B8C7">"<i>Dodge it</i> Arthur, you don't want to get hit." </span>
The roof of his mouth meets his tongue making a clicking noise, "<span style="color:#94B8C7">You don't know that."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I do,"</span> you hold him down and continue to close his open wound. At least you can do this, at least you can close this.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"There, you're better. That should stop the bleeding and well you're dying. But you're going back on the pain pills."
"Can you get the cherry ones this time? They just taste the best."</span> he laughs, you roll your eyes.<<set $heartrate to 55>><<set $bloodpressure to 120>><<set $oxygensaturation to 90>><<set $respiration to 10>><<set $temperature to 96.5>><<set $condition to "Healed">>
[[>"Try not to do anything extraneous for the next twenty-four hours."]]<<endif>>
[[>"I would tell you to take it easy, but I'm sure you wouldn't listen."]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Would you still love me if I tried?"</span><<set $status to "Online...">>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Arthur—"</span> he starts to set himself up, interrupting you.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"There's an unknown element running around in ''my'' city. I can't have that. Especially if he's out looking for guns, associating with men like Max."</span> you step back as he strains himself to stand. You hate to see him push his body this way. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"I got in contact with the police before I got here.</span> <<link 'Detective Oak'>>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup('She is an addict yet another victim of the city. - YOU WERE 25');
Dialog.wiki('Detective Allison Oak, whose love of alcohol does not pair well with her self-imposed "no guns" rule, but it does make her a welcome ally in all things. Even if she annoys you, and can not tell a good beer from gas station trash. You all became allies two years ago.');
Dialog.open();<</script>><</link>> <span style="color:#94B8C7">is letting me speak to the men arrested tomorrow morning."</span>
You sigh, rub your hand through your hair and rest it on your forehead. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Right, right, of course, she has. I still think you should rest,"</span> Arthur limps from the medical table to the large computer chair and falls into it.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"When this is over and the maniac with the cane is behind bars I'll make sure to sleep another day. Just for you."</span> he turns in his chair and turns on the monitors. And right on there is the one email you didn't want him to see. An email from <<link 'WHO'>>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup('Who? You know who they are Reyes. - YOU ARE 27');
Dialog.wiki('The World Health Organization, this is their fifth email now. Asking for you to join them. They sent their first email three months ago.');
Dialog.open();<</script>><</link>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Ah!"</span>
[[>"Wait, don't click on the email please."]]
[[>"Arthur, not now."->>"Wait, don't click on the email please."]]
<div align='center'><img src="https://i.imgur.com/x95TQcT.png" width="50%"></div>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Dear Reyes Vidal,"</span> Arthur reads, his voice lost the cadence - the joking tone you are familiar with. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"In regards to our last email that you've ignored, we would like to yet again formally invite you to join our organization. Your experience and intelligence would greatly be useful in helping with -"</span> you cut him off, rushing to the keyboard and closing out the window.
Silence.
Dripping silence.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Reyes,"
"I've already told you, Arthur." </span>you aren't going, you can't go. If you go, who will be here for him? <span style="color:#94B8C7">"They don't ''need'' me."
"You've patched ''me'' up love, they would only benefit by having you. Plus it'd get you out of my mansion, and I can have the fridge all to myself."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"So what? So you can not cook and order from that same pizza place time and time again. I've already told you no."</span> you don't know why he's pushed this. You leaving him. Abandoning him. He's said because this crusade is his. Not yours.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Yes, that's true but,"</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"No, you know how you're stubborn about not resting? I'm going to be stubborn about this."</span> you won't leave him. You hover over him. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Now let's focus on this new villain of yours hm?"</span>
Arthur sighs and leans back.<span style="color:#94B8C7"> "Right, right."</span>
[[>Pull up the suit's camera footage.]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">"M.V Offline!"</span> you shout turning the system offline.
<<if $nightpoints >= 5>>You observe the fight through the footage. Every swing, kick, and bone break. You watch as from Arthur's point of view he takes the arm of another and slams his knee into it. You hear the bone shatter, the scream of a man in pain. You watch Arthur grab him by his neck, squeeze and squeeze just a bit before slamming him into the ground. It makes you sick. You have to look away. But Arthur doesn't. He's leaned in with his hands crossed, analyzing his very movements, any mistake he'd make. You are grateful for once that the conversation is back on his vigilantism rather than you.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"You don't have to look,"</span> he mentions.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'll live,"</span> you say he gives you a touch of reaffirmation. A tight grip on your arm. Before returning to the monitor.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"It's that cane, I need to figure out where they got that cane. Technology like that..."
"So... so what he's got a benefactor?"
"That or he's smarter than we think. If we meet again I'll see if I can take a piece of it, grab a sample."</span> he keeps watching, pausing on a shot of the whip when it impacts. Cuts across the suit like it's paper rather than fined kevlar. You can see the veins in his hands when he grips them.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"You'll get them, next time love."
"The bastard got lucky that's all. Next time, I'll break him,"</span> he says the last words like it's a threat. With a pain in his expression. There is so much pain in every expression and it's sinking. You want to pull him out of it, by the shoulders. [[He needs to be grounded again.]]
<<endif>>
<<if $nightpoints <= 4>>
You observe the fight through the footage. Every swing, kick, and bone break. Blood spilled and spit. You watch as from Arthur's point of view he strikes against another man's chest, then slams his fist into his chin over and over and over again. Not a single moment is wasted as the man is tossed into another. You hear the bones ''break''. It makes you sick. You have to look away. But Arthur doesn't. He's leaned in with his hands crossed, analyzing his very movements, any mistake he'd make. You are grateful for once that the conversation is back on his vigilantism rather than you.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"It's that cane, I need to figure out where they got that cane. Technology like that...it's too dangerous."
"So... so what he's got a benefactor?"</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"That or he's smarter than we think. If we meet again I'll see if I can take a piece of it, grab a sample."</span> he keeps watching, pausing on a shot of the whip when it impacts. Cuts across the suit like it's paper rather than fined kevlar. You can see the veins in his hands when he grips them. Then you can see the wince in his expression as he hisses. He brings a hand to his side and leans back. He clicks his tongue and sighs.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"This whole getting injured thing never gets better."</span> a joke, always a joke. You smack his shoulder and he laughs again. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Isn't you hitting me making it worse?!" </span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I made sure to slap the part of your body that didn't have to be in the ICU."
"Ah my generous angel,"</span> your hands meet his and you run your hands along his scars. He leans forward again. To the monitor.
[[He needs to be grounded again.]]
<<endif>>
<<if $nightpoints <= 2>>
You observe the fight through the footage. Every swing, kick, and bone break. Blood spilled and spit. You watch as from Arthur's point of view he strikes against another man's chest, then slams his fist into his chin over and over and over again. Not a single moment is wasted as the man is tossed into another. You hear the bones ''break''. It makes you sick. You have to look away. But Arthur doesn't. He's leaned in with his hands crossed, analyzing his very movements, any mistake he'd make. You are grateful for once that the conversation is back on his vigilantism rather than you.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"It's that cane, I need to figure out where they got that cane. Technology like that...it's too dangerous."
"So... so what he's got a benefactor?"
"That or he's smarter than we think. If we meet again I'll see if I can take a piece of it, grab a sample."</span> he keeps watching, pausing on a shot of the whip when it impacts. Cuts across the suit like it's paper rather than fined kevlar. You can see the veins in his hands when he grips them. And the sharp cry of pain when his body reminds him that there's a human there not a god.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Fuck!"</span> he lets it slip, and it echoes.
echoes.
echoes.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Arthur let me look at it!"</span> you cry back and kneel at his side, the scar in his chest is starting to bleed again. So soon, oh unholy blood spills so easily. Your father always warned you to be careful of the blood that bleeds so easily.
And yet you find yourself hands deep in it.
Would he be rolling in his grave if he saw you now?
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Reyes,"
"Don't speak. Don't worry. I can fix this again."</span> you can always fix it. You can always fix it.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Reyes - I'm going to beat him."</span> it's a promise. Not to the world but to you. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'm going to make him hurt."</span> you know he can, you know he can.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I believe you."</span> he is looking at you, and his face would scare the cherubs.<<set $totalpoints to $totalpoints + 0>>
[[>...]]
<<endif>><<include [[Heartrate]]>>
<div align= 'center' style='font-size:180%'>2</div>
<hr>
<div align='center'>You feel your heartrate increasing watching Arthur fight. [[>Your heart can't take it.]]</div><<set $status to "Save?">><div class="terminal">MEDICUM VELOCTIC ACCESSED:
<div align='center'>
<<return [img[https://i.imgur.com/p4peEnl.png]]>>
</div>
<div align= 'center' style='font-size:65%'> (click the icon to return)</div>
<div align='center' style='font-size:150%'>\
Arthur Lai:
</div>
Alias: Veloctic
Age: 27
Blood Type: AB-
Height: 6ft 7in.
Weight: 190 lbs.
Next of Kin: None.
Medical History: SCARS LIST NOT FOUND
The following were collected by Veloctic Doctor: Reyes Vidal.
<table style="width:100%">
<tr>
<th>Condition</th>
<th>Description</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Hypovolemic Shock</td>
<td>If Arthur loses a lot of blood take that as a bad sign. Seriously this is life-threatening...<<linkreplace "<span style=color:#FFFFFF>READ MORE></span>">>What you’ll notice is that he’s dizzy and sweaty. His heart rate will increase and he might be spitting out blood. But don’t worry, Arthur’s powers also give his body a lot more time before any major organs start to shut down. What you need to do is lay him flat on his back, hold his hand (no matter how childish it sounds), and get the IV’s in him. He needs one of saline and another of a receptive blood type.<</linkreplace>> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>GUNSHOT WOUND non-arterial bleed</td>
<td>Arthur’s armor is strong, bullet-resistant but not bullet-proof he <i>claims</i> bulletproof armor is heavier and harder to move around in <<linkreplace "<span style=color:#FFFFFF>READ MORE></span>">>
If a shot is close enough or lucky enough it can pierce the armor. There’ll be light blood when this happens, and obviously pain. Arthur will take it like a champion though and most likely won’t complain about it. Cabrón.
For something like this, take the bullet out if it’s still in there and disinfect the area. Stopping the bleeding is next.<</linkreplace>>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>GUNSHOT WOUND - Arterial bleed
</td>
<td>On the top of gunshot wounds, there’s one scenario we really have to take care of...<<linkreplace "<span style=color:#FFFFFF>READ MORE></span>">> If a bullet hit an artery Arthur is going to be bleeding like crazy. The immediate action is to place a tourniquet above the wound and tighten it until the blood flow is cut off. As fast as possible, seriously because if you don’t he’ll be in serious trouble. There is tourniquet equipment readily available in the base but if you can’t use that use anything that’ll be tight enough to stop the bleeding. Then let the antibiotics and pain medicine do their job.<</linkreplace>>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>LARGE GASHES
</td>
<td>This should rarely happen, but just in case it does...<<linkreplace "<span style=color:#FFFFFF>READ MORE></span>">> Make sure to disinfect and clean the wound. Anesthetic if available would be a good thing but Arthur will grit his teeth and hold it in if he needs to. Once you do that the next step would be to stitch it together. There’s a surgical thread in the base obviously but any kind of sanitized thread can skin the tissue back together. Until it heals.<</linkreplace>>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>DISLOCATION
</td>
<td>If he’s in the middle of a fight...<<linkreplace "<span style=color:#FFFFFF>READ MORE></span>">> pop the bone back in place and pray he doesn’t need more. If he’s not in a battle pop the shoulder anyways and apply an ice-pack to the area.<</linkreplace>>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HEART FAILURE
</td>
<td>
This is serious...<<linkreplace "<span style=color:#FFFFFF>READ MORE></span>">> It's never happened luckily, but in the off chance that it does. A defibrillator is your best option. Compressions can also work, but a defibrillator is quick - immediate - and Arthur is <b>dying</b>. So we want to be quick. Please be quick.
Please.<</linkreplace>>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>BURNS
</td>
<td>
Flame-throwers are unbelievably common and sadly the suit isn’t as flame-proof as we want it yet... <<linkreplace "<span style=color:#FFFFFF>READ MORE></span>">>Even if Arthur swears on his mother it’ll get there soon. For burns especially the higher degrees you run the risk of serious damage. Third-degree burns can leave a scar but Arthur’s got a lot of them so what are a few more
Use an IV to prevent serious dehydration. The base has high-end burn ointment. Apply it gently to the area after that. Gently now, do it with care. <</linkreplace>>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>BLACK EYE
</td>
<td>
The funniest things about black eyes are hearing all of Arthur's excuses for them...<<linkreplace "<span style=color:#FFFFFF>READ MORE></span>">> Seeing people's faces when he tries to make them buy that he's tripped, or hurt himself doing some activity. It's funny even if it shouldn't be. Depending on how long he has the black eye there are two things you can do. A warm compress when it's been there for longer than a day will ease the pain and reduce swelling, but if it's the first day of the black eye it's best to use an ice pack. <</linkreplace>>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>STAB WOUNDS
</td>
<td>
Check if the wound is in any actual organ. If that’s the case no matter how badly he complains, take him to an actual surgeon... <<linkreplace "<span style=color:#FFFFFF>READ MORE></span>">>We want him to live.
If the stab wound hasn’t hit any major organ make sure it hasn’t hit an actual artery. If it did just repeat the same process you would do for a gunshot artery. Blood loss is what we have to worry about, it’s always what we have to worry about. And always make sure that whatever stabbed him is gone. The best way to cease the bleeding is with a tourniquet.<</linkreplace>>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>OXYGEN DEPRIVATION
</td>
<td>
Drowning or choking is mostly how this happens...<<linkreplace "<span style=color:#FFFFFF>READ MORE></span>">> Hope that there’s a way you can get oxygen into him, the base has a mask and tank that you can attach to him. If not CPR is the best procedure. Remember mouth-to-mouth isn’t a viable method of CPR. It’s all in the compressions ok?<</linkreplace>>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HEART INJURIES
</td>
<td>
Some injuries can cause various heart related problems...<<linkreplace "<span style=color:#FFFFFF>READ MORE></span>">> These injuries are ones that directly mess with Arthur's heart. Ruptures, artery clogs, anything that isn't directly failure. If he won't go to the hospital here are some things that can save his life. For artery-related issues like Angina, it would be best to use blockers. Ruptures would need open-heart surgery. Which you'll have to perform on your own. It'll be bloody and you'll be wrist-deep in his organs but it'll be okay. I've done it on a dummy - and I would <b>gladly</b> do it for him. Patching the rupture when you're in his heart is the best solution. <</linkreplace>>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>CONCUSSION
</td>
<td>
Thankfully these have become less worrisome since the headpiece upgrade...<<linkreplace "<span style=color:#FFFFFF>READ MORE></span>">> There’s a lot more resistant and padding in that area. If Arthur does show signs of confession get some pain medicine in him ASAP. Make him lie down. Make him rest. It’s the best medicine for something like that.<</linkreplace>>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SOFT TISSUE IMAPLEMENT
</td>
<td>
Rarely anything but sharp heavy objects should pierce the armor...<<linkreplace "<span style=color:#FFFFFF>READ MORE></span>">> If something does impale the armor that hits the soft tissue don't remove the object immediately. There's a chance it'll just bleed him out more. It's not worth the risk. What you're going to want to do is stabilize the object as much as possible and make sure any access bleeding stops. It'll probably be a good idea to get any disinfectant around the wound itself even if it stings. Once that's done make sure to administer high concentration oxygen - that way Arthur won't go into immediate shock. Then you can remove the object. <</linkreplace>>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>You turn the phone away and close your eyes, the stress of the battle seeped its way into you. You feel ill watching Arthur do his job, and yet... you watched anyways. Watched every second, slowed down, and repeated just to make sure. You feel a shiver up your spine. You desperately don't want to think about how Veloctic has most likely paralyzed a man today.
<span style="color:#5F96AB">"Reyes,"</span> Arthur's voice is welcomed. Very much welcomed. You avert your eyes to the driver's seat of the car where Arthur is leaning in from the outside. He's wearing the Veloctic suit so you can barely see his face, the only thing you <b>can</b> see is his sharp jaw and the cut that bloodies his lip. <span style="color:#5F96AB">"No cameras, no traps, the place is cleared. You can come in now."</span>
<span style="color:#5F96AB">"Ah good, because the tripwire at the door was clearly the problem."</span> you laugh before opening the door and stepping out of the tank, your medical kit held firmly...
<span style="color:#5F96AB">"What? You mean you don't want to see where the city's newest supervillain lives?"</span> he chuckles. You smack the hood of the tank and take in the sight. A normal house. That's all it was. A normal house. A normal house where a madman grew up.
<span style="color:#5F96AB">"Not at all, in fact, the less of breaking into a madman's home I can do in my life, the better."</span> you find it strange how the two of you can laugh when in the face of something like this. But Arthur is a joker, always has been.
<span style="color:#5F96AB">"Noted, I'll cancel out on our next date then."</span>And of course you play along with him.
[[>Follow after him.]]
The house smells like it hasn't been dusted, mopped, cleaned, or aired out in weeks. Dishes fill the sink, it makes you cover your nose in disgust. You look around taking the whole environment in and even though he already surveyed the environment Arthur keeps looking around just to make sure.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Sorry, I should have told you this place reeks."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"You should have! Jesus! Next time we investigate a decrepit house I'm calling ahead to get someone to clean it! "</span> your complaint makes Arthur chuckle.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Your</span> <<link 'mother'>>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup('Mother I am Sorry. YOU WERE 7');
Dialog.wiki('You remember your mom watching you and Arthur scrub at the kitchen after you made a mess. She was not lenient despite Arthur not being her child. She yelled and yelled and scolded and scolded and scolded. And Arthur learned that day how important it was to keep a place clean. But that did not stop you from not regretting making a cake that was bigger than both of you. ');
Dialog.open();<</script>><</link>><span style="color:#94B8C7"> would hate this place." </span> he steps forward and runs his fingers along the table letting dust collect. He gives it a brief glance before blowing it off his fingers. <span style="color:#94B8C7">" This is a big place for one man." </span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"And you're sure this is their home?"</span> you're behind him. With each step you're behind him.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Got to be. Remember the cane?"</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Right! Right! The cane."</span> you remember when Arthur came to you this morning, with a folder of pictures all relating to the Licentia case. At first, you couldn't see anything of importance, but then Arthur pointed out the most important detail. The logo is engraved into the cane. <i>Ben's Pharmeceutical</i>. A multi-location pharmacy all around the city, but because of that clue Arthur could narrow it down.
He starts to go upstairs, his and your boots creak against the staircase.<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Having a cane from a pharmaceutical doesn't make any sense unless you needed it, or -"</span> he turns to you and you catch the smile on his face. He always loved solving <<link 'mysteries'>>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup('What a mystery why he loves you. YOU WERE 18');
Dialog.wiki('You and he are eighteen. And this is how you are spending your prom. Much to the disappointment of girls at the prestigious school he goes to, he will not be arriving in a tuxedo. With a pretty young thing on his arm. Instead, he will be wearing a turtleneck and hosting a Sherlock Holmes watch along for three. You, him, and the only other friend the two of you have had. Oh, Sarai, it has been far too long.<br><br> He is proclaiming loud and proud how he is solving the mystery before Holmes. And she is telling him to be quiet and watch. You are encouraging as always and laughing as Sarai rolls her eyes. Asking him to tell how he is a much better detective than the mighty Sherlock Holmes. He would be on a winning streak, and then he would lose by getting the culprit wrong. And you would laugh. And Sarai would roll her eyes. <br><br> And he would kiss you out of annoyance. And Sarai would gag saying she can not believe she is spending her prom night with two love birds. And you would kiss him back. And the night would become day and nobody would go home. Those days are so sweetly wrapped in nostalgia you could gift them to God and he would smile. ');
Dialog.open();<</script>><</link>>. Or maybe he enjoyed seeing your response. You raise your eyebrow and cock a grin:
[[>"Or what Veloctic?"]]
[[>"Or it meant something to you."]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">"It means it's got to be important to them! Almost like it's a memento of a father. So cross-checking every fact we can only come to one conclusion. Our villain Licentia is none other than - "</span> you follow him down a hallway until you get to a room with a large <b><span style="color:yellow">"KEEP OUT"</span></b> sign. "The son of the founder of Ben's Pharmacy. <b>Reed Jeckins</b>. Combine that with the fact that Reed hasn't shown up for his construction job in weeks and closely matching body types through pictures. The facts have led us here."
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Excellent work detective. So was his father an expert in making enhanced canes?"
"No, no. The cane he has must have been an invention all on its own. Used the cane for the casing is all. Fancywork. Work that would need a pretty high engineering degree."
"So he <i>is</i> smart!"
"Not smart enough."</span>
You take this opportunity to smile before looking at the door to Licentia's room once again.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Do you, know what's in there?"</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Not yet. Just scanned it for traps. Came out negative."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"He blew up banks today. People died today. This can seriously be some sort of freak."</span> there's a clench in Arthur's jaw. You shouldn't have reminded him. Of his failure.
Your failure?
[[>Does it matter?]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Yes! I - look at <i>you</i> taking away my moment."</span> he laughs. He stops at the top of the staircase and crosses his arms.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Had to, just this once."</span> you respond, leaning opposite of him. He nods and smiles biting his lip at you.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Well then - since you're so very smart. You should know that by going off of that logic, it's possible that Licentia was the son of the deceased owner of Ben's Pharmacy: <b>Reed Jeckins</b>. Combine that with the fact that Reed hasn't shown up for his construction job in weeks and closely matching body types through pictures. The facts have led us here. The cane he has must have been an invention all on its own. Used the cane for the casing is all. Fancywork. Work that would need a pretty high engineering degree"</span> he strikes a bow, which you meet with rolling your eyes at him.
<span style="color:#94B8C7"> "Do you know what's in that room then?"</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Not yet, I scanned it for traps but I didn't walk in."</span>, the smile of the mystery solved starts to go fade away. And oh how his face turns fowl. He's thinking exactly what you are:
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Could be anything. This man blew up banks today."</span> you didn't see Arthur's face when the explosions went off but you saw the calamity. The buildings were destroyed from the inside out.
But you can imagine. You can imagine what Arthur's face looked like. And how he raged from his mistake.
His mistake? Or is it your mistake too?
[[>Does it matter?]]<<link 'You were in this together right?'>>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup('I promise, he said locked in your embrace. -YOU WERE 24');
Dialog.wiki('First nights of vigilantism. Nobody knows what they are doing. There are no guidelines. There are no answers. There is only Arthur Lai in a hoodie and black mask beating down a group of men so bloody and raw that they still might have the scars of the night. Breaking bones that might have never healed. They deserved it after the murders they did. The people they killed. Arthur made them regret it with blood and tears. And then he cried. He cried because he was not fast enough in catching them. And people died because of it. <br><br><br> So he promised, with gritted teeth that he would try harder. He would never let the fight up. And the way he held you was not the way you were familiar with. The way he held you was the way he holds himself. Filled and bleeding <br><br> with <b>hate</b>.');
Dialog.open();<</script>><</link>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Licentia will pay."</span> he swears it. And the door creaks as it's opened.<<set $status to "Online">>
The room was filled with posters of historical events galore, a desk nearby with two monitors laid out before a dusty keyboard, crumpled paper, and empty bags of chips littered the place everywhere, and worst of all the bed was a mess.
You sigh,<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Will you ever fight a villain that has class? Maybe a nice pool?"</span>
Arthur leans over the computer desk and examines it slowly, before bending down to start it up. You hear him grunt as he does it. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Technically Sarai."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"<i>Not</i> her."</span> you look over him as he stands up and the computer boots up. He's holding his left side. Like he's trying to hold something in. Trying to hide something from you - jesus. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Arthur what the hell!"</span>
He chuckles.<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Sorry, thought well I could hide it a bit. Something in my body is <i>really fucked up</i>"</span>.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Arthur..."</span>
[[>"I should be more upset at you."]]
[[>"I'm going to kill you"]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">"M.V Online!"</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Fair,"</span> he starts to turn around to the computer though and you shake your head.<<set $status to "Bone Dislocation">><<set $heartrate to 97>><<set $bloodpressure to 134>><<set $oxygensaturation to 99>><<set $respiration to 17>><<set $temperature to 87.7>><<set $condition to "Hurt">><<set $nightpoints to 0>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"No come on I have to check what's <i>wrong</i> with you."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Check it while I check the computer. Use the M.V."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"That-"</span> he stops you by pushing the chair that Licentia might have sat in. It scratches against the floor and shuts you up.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"The computer's password-protected I'm going to break into it."</span> he sits down. And that's the end of that. He has to get more information. You have to make sure that he can get it without keeling over.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Christ..."</span> you lean in looking to see what's wrong with him. You know the Medicum will give you a better idea but you'll have to figure out what's going on.
<div align='center'> <<listbox "$dislocation">>
<<option "Pop the left shoulder." "Left Shoulder" `$dislocation == "Pop the left shoulder." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Pop the right shoulder" "Right Shoulder" `$dislocation == "Pop the left shoulder." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Give him some pain medicine" "Pain Medicine" `$dislocation == "Medicine" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Blood Transfusion" "Blood Transfusion" `$dislocation == "Blood Transfusion" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<</listbox>></div>
[[>"Right okay..."]]<<if $dislocation is "Left Shoulder">><span style="color:#94B8C7">"Don't yell."</span> you quickly position yourself behind him, placing your hands on his shoulders.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Wh-Oh wait!"</span>
<i>SNAP!</i>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Gah!"</span> you can tell he wants to curse but holds it in. You almost feel bad, causing him a brief amount of pain. But you keep yourself composed because you know that if he wants to ever use that bone again you have to do this.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"You alright?"</span><<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 2>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"You're the worst villain I've ever fought."</span> others would get tired of his jokes. But not you, never you.
You move his shoulder on its own to make sure nothing's entirely bruised or still broken. It goes easily and there are no overt sounds of discomfort, which means he's fine. Another breathe, another sigh of relief. You grab the ice pack in your kit and lay it against Arthur's shoulder. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'm only the worst because you keep fucking up your shoulder."</span>
He grunts and goes back to typing. Before <b>ding</b>! <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Got it!"</span> he cries the login screen of the computer fades away and starts to load the desktop of Licentia. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Right, let's see what we can learn."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Did you have any other injuries?" </span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"You know I don't check if I do." </span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I can't strip you bare in a criminal's room, so I'm going to have to just pray you've got nothing super deep."</spaN> you pull on the chair scooting him back so you can get a better look at him. He's entirely focused on the computer, opening files after files.
[[>Take a breathe and look closer.]]
<<endif>><<if $dislocation is "Right Shoulder">>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Don't yell."</span> you quickly position yourself behind him, placing your hands on his shoulders.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Wh-Oh wait!"</span><<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 0>>
<i>SNAP!</i><<set $status to "UPDATE: NEW BONE DISLOCATED">>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Gah! Gah! Gah!"</span> his shout kicks you back and he clutches at his right shoulder.<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Shit, gah!"</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Shit, Shit! Fuck my bad! Hold on hold on." </span>his groan of pain makes your heart <i>race</i>. How could you mess this up? You can't <<link 'make a mistake with him.'>>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup('gunpowder and blood makes you sick.- YOU WERE 25');
Dialog.wiki('You are throwing up. Losing your entire dinner. But who can blame you? Arthurs body is lying still, <i>barely</i> saved from a gunshot wound. A gunshot wound you did not know how to save him from. At first. There was so much blood, and his eyes were rolling back. He was going to die. <br>But you saved him. You took the bullet out of him and patched him up. You <b>saved</b> him. <br><br> And yet you felt terrible. He was dying, for two minutes he was dying. And in his near-death state, he whispered the name of his father.');
Dialog.open();<</script>><</link>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'm going to pop, both your shoulders back into place. Okay?"</span> Arthur nods, and you can tell from the tightening of his jaw he's biting his cheek.
<i>SNAP!</i>
Another grunt.
<i>SNAP!</i>
You feel like such a fool.
He slowly rotates his shoulders, to make sure everything is okay. There's still some pain but it looks better. You reach for the ice packs in your medical kit and rest them against his shoulders. But despite whatever pain Arthur felt, he lurched forward and goes back to typing.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Got it,"</span> he whispers. And you watch as the login screen of the computer fades away and starts to load the desktop of Licentia.<span style="color:#94B8C7"> "Okay, let's see what we can learn."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Your shoulders are better, or better after I messed it up. I'm sorry by the way."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Reyes, love you're fine. But this makes up for me not knowing if I have any other injuries." </span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Arthur-"</span> a sigh and then barely a smirk, <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Well I can't strip you in a criminal's room. So here let me take as much of a look as possible."</span> you pull on the chair scooting him back so you can get a better look at him. He's entirely focused on the computer, opening files after files.
[[>Take a breathe and look closer.]]
<<endif>><<if $dislocation is "Pain Medicine">>
You take out a bottle of pills and divvy out the proper amount. Three because it's recommended, and one more because it's Arthur.<<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 1>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Do you want water or?" </span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"It'd be nice but, I don't fancy tasting the water here."</span> you take his hand and give him the pills. With a clear of his throat and a roll of his shoulder Arthur downs the four pills in quick succession.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"That should make it so your shoulder isn't in too much pain, but you should definitely <i>not</i> put any more strain on it.</span> you lay your hands on his shoulders and try to massage them to the best of your ability. It's harder with the padded armor and it's probably doing nothing, but it's better than doing nothing.
Arthur smiles when you do it. And you smile too.
<b>Ding</b>!<span style="color:#94B8C7"> "Ha! Ha! Got it!"</span> he cries the login screen of the computer fades away and starts to load the desktop of Licentia. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Right, let's see what we can learn."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Did you have any other injuries?"</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"You know I don't check if I do." </span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I can't strip you bare in a criminal's room, so I'm going to have to just hope you've got nothing super deep. But if you start bleeding let me know." </span>you pull on the chair scooting him back so you can get a better look at him. He's entirely focused on the computer, opening files after files.
[[>Take a breathe and look closer.]]
<<endif>><<if $dislocation is "Blood Transfusion">>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Right, going to perform a very unsanitary and barely controlled blood transfusion."</span><<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 1>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Yes, the wonderful blood tranfusion technique,"</span> he nods, types and types some more.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"So just try and not move too much while I attach this to you."</span> you strap on your gloves and start to steady your breathing. You take the needle of the blood pack and place it into his exposed skin. You watch the blood flow into him, making sure to pay as much attention in case anything spills or if there's some negative reaction. There shouldn't be, but you always have to be sure.
You can tell some of the strain Arthur was putting dissipates but not entirely. But it's what you can manage considering the situation. Once the bag's emptied you give Arthur some affectionate pats with your thumb gently running across his neck. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Hmm...Got it!"</span> he cries the login screen of the computer fades away and starts to load the desktop of Licentia. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Right, let's see what we he's hiding."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Did you have any other injuries?"</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Babe, you know I love you. But you know I don't check if I do."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I can't strip you bare in a criminal's room, so I'm going to have to just pray you've got nothing super deep. Let me know if anything seriously hurts okay?" </span>you pull on the chair scooting him back so you can get a better look at him. He's entirely focused on the computer, opening files after files.
[[>Take a breathe and look closer.]]
<<endif>><span style="color:#94B8C7">"You can tell a lot of a man from his bookmarks."</span> Arthur whispers. You look up from his neck to see the various windows he's pulled up. Browswers filled with tabs, documents and pictures. He's running through them quickly trying to gain as much information as possible.<<set $status to "Searching...">><<set $heartrate to 97>><<set $bloodpressure to 134>><<set $oxygensaturation to 99>><<set $respiration to 17>><<set $temperature to 87.7>><<set $condition to "Hurt">>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Tons of forums, imageboard sites, he isn't someone whose staying un-active."</span>
You move to Arthur's right and hold up his arm. But you're nodding along as you listen.<span style="color:#94B8C7">"So he spends a lot of time on the internet what does that connect us to?"</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"It's not how long he spends, but where he spends. His bookmarks, they're filled with <b>hate</b>."</span>
You notice damp parts on his lower right. His thigh to be exact. That worries you. That very greatly worries you, you ask him to hold his leg out so you can get a better look at it. He complies, he doesn't have a choice.
[[>Examine his right thigh.]]<<set $status to "Stab Potential Muscle Pierce">><<set $heartrate to 97>><<set $bloodpressure to 134>><<set $oxygensaturation to 99>><<set $respiration to 17>><<set $temperature to 87.7>><<set $condition to "Hurt">> <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Damn it."</span> you whisper to yourself bur Arthur doesn't pay attention. He instead leans back as he focuses on the ink blot paintings that fill a monitor.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"He picked Licientia because it's Latin. It's old. It's got history, but his voice didn't sound like he spoke it. I bet if I ran through his history I'd find a translator and "liberty" right on it."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"This stab wound is bad Arthur."</span> you tell him.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"How bad?"</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"<i>Very</i> bad. It probably pierced a muscle. I should get you to a hospital before this gets worse—" </span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"No."</span> he cuts you off without looking at you.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"How are you even able to keep <b>moving</b>?! Arthur - "</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I have to figure out what his next move is. People died today."</span> his expression. The same expression he wore when he told you why his <<link 'father died'>>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup('billionaire boys without fathers.- YOU WERE 11');
Dialog.wiki('You never understood any rumor or speculation on how the Lai family died. You just know your mother said not to pry. Never to pry. Even when you sit in the room of the only remaining Lai she wants you to ask nothing. <br><br> To Arthur you were all he had left. When the godfathers and godmothers left and the family friends shut him out. Maybe that is why in the middle of the most agonizing chess game, you were besting him over and over, he told you. He told you that he killed his father.<br> You ask him if he is joking.z<br> He is not.<br><br> You were scared of his face then. When he tells you how he did it. A shaking gunshot, well placed in the heart of his father. You were scared until he broke down. Tears hitting the king piece and knocking it down.<br><br> He told you two years later why he <b>had</b> to do it. ');
Dialog.open();<</script>><</link>>. His face darkens when he talks about death and yet he surrounds himself in it so easily. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Got to lay a trap for him. Before more die."</span>
He must be going off of willpower alone.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Okay,"</span> you breathe, your heart is racing. It's always racing. When you're this close to him, no matter the context. It's always racing.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Don't worry I won't get blood on your nice shirt."</span> Liar. You move as much of the leg-armor as you can just to expose the wound ( even if you had to tear into the padding ). It's bad, really bad. And you still can't believe he didn't notice it. The bleeding hasn't stopped yet, evident by the way it starts to pool against the ground.
Drip.
<div align='center'>Drip.</div>
<div align='right'>Drip.</div>
<div align='center'> <<listbox "$thighstab">>
<<option "Surgical Wrap" "Wrap" `$thighstab == "Surgical Wrap" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Surgical Stitching" "Stitching" `$thighstab == "Surgical Stitching" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Use a Tourniquet" "Torniquet" `$thighstab == "Use a Torniquet" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Blood Transfusion" "Blood Transfusion" `$thighstab == "Blood Transfusion" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<</listbox>></div>
[[>"You better not."]]
[[>"It's fine if it's your blood."]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'm rich! Remember? I can buy you a new shirt."
"It's not the same."
"Ah of course, of course."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Blue imagery out the ass, dark blue. It's ugly it's...colonial. Right?"</span> he clicks his tongue and types, <span style="color:#94B8C7">"I don't know why I'm asking you, you suck at history."</span>
You kiss your teeth.<<if $thighstab is "Wrap">><<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 2>>And roll your neck as you stretch the medical gauze. Following the procedure you wrap the gauze around his wound, watching with fear as the blood seeps through the white roll. You keep wrapping and wrapping, just until you stop seeing the damp spot of blood.<<endif>><<if $thighstab is "Stitching">><span style="color:#94B8C7">"Keep still,"</span><<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 1>>you tell him with an annoyed sigh. With needle and thread in hand, you knit the wound close, ceasing any bleeding or infection that could come from it. You hate how the room is silent now, except for the sound of skin being stitched together.<<endif>><<if $thighstab is "Torniquet">><<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 3>>Filled with the small intention to smack him upside the head. But you don't, instead, you grab the equipment you need. You're grateful that your kit comes with almost every medical treatment money could buy, but especially that it comes with medical tourniquets. This is another practiced procedure so you place the tourniquet in its proper place; several inches above the injury - three inches in this case. No trouble no worry. Once it's in place you tighten, and <i>keep tightening</i>. You can tell it gives Arthur some discomfort, but for a stab wound like this. The tourniquet was the best option.<<endif>><<if $thighstab is "Blood Transfusion">> <<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 0>>And then you kiss your teeth again. You know this is going to get your shirt bloody. You grab the proper blood pack and place the needle right above where the injury is. It doesn't look right; it looks terribly <b>wrong</b> but the more that Arthur's blood drips on the ground the more you fear that if you don't move now he'll go into shock right here. Die right here. <br><br> You take a breath. Just keep <b>going</b>. The blood transfers into him, and some of it leaks onto your hands, down to the sleeves of your white shirt. You have to stop wearing white.<<endif>>
You brush your hands and look at the blood that pools under the chair. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"You think it'd be bad if Licentia found your blood in his house?"</span> there's sweat on your brow, and you take a wipe from your kit to start cleaning it up.
Arthur laughs, and your heart skips!
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"It'd be embarassing but <i>bad?</i> I'm not sure about that. Besides I don't think he's been home in weeks." </span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Weeks?"
"I think he's been planning this for weeks. At least a month by now."
"Planning what exactly?"
"His revolution."</span>
[[>Sigh. That's all you can do.]]
[[>"His what?"->>Sigh. That's all you can do.]]<<set $status to "Searching...">><span style="color:#94B8C7">"All these image board sites, all his posts, all his downloads, everything - it's all about a revolution that apparently <b>needs</b> to happen."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"A revolution against <i>who</i>?"
"Upper class."</span> Arthur leans back as the revelation hits you, but you don't have much time to process it. Because you notice a wince in Arthur's expression. A wince that worries you. You take his head in your hands and slowly move it from side to side.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Where else did you get hurt?"
"Reyes listen to me, this is important."
"Where else Arthur?"</span> and then you remember, the way the cane <i><b>smacked</b></i> against his face during the battle. No warning, no asking you to remove the hood from his face. And once again Arthur Lai is before you. Black eye, bloody lip, and a noticeable swell on his left cheek. It could swell if left alone. Swell bad.
You sigh, and you're about to say more but you notice there's another damp spot on his left side. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"What is it?"</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Gunshot, probably. One of Licentia's goons got a lucky shot. Compression pads in the suit should have stopped the bleeding. Thought it wouldn't be so much."</span>
[[>You hate seeing him hurt.]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Okay, okay. Let me fix you up." </span> you move to his side, and bend down to his left.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Thank you,"</span> his expression is dark again. Pained again. And he makes sure to lean back more to let you have more room.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"He picked those banks because they were on the higher-income districts. He's targeting. He's going to keep targeting."
"So he's a revolutionist like he claims? <i>Great</i>."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"A revolutionist, with a mob and tons of explosives behind him. One whose hatred he's directing. He got these people's anger so he's got their violence. He's directing it towards what he wants. But..."</span>
The gunshot wound didn't pierce an artery from the way that the blood's stopped. You breathe a sigh of relief and start to fish into your medical kit for the item you'd need to handle this problem.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"But it doesn't make sense."
"What doesn't? Is this not a case of a working-class man wanting revenge?"
"It would be if his attacks made sense. The banks weren't all on the upper west side, where folks of richer income go. Some were on the lower-end side. Why? Hell Licentia couldn't even be low enough of a class to warrant connecting with the people he's radicalizing. "</span> you'll let him detect, you'll focus on the gunshot.<<set $status to "Gunshot">>
<div align='center'> <<listbox "$gunshot">>
<<option "Surgical Stitching" "Stitching" `$gunshot == "Stitching" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Surgical Wrap" "Wrap" `$gunshot == "Surgical Wrap" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Use a Torniquet" "Torniquet" `$gunshot == "Use a Torniquet" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<</listbox>></div>
[[>Arthur's hum is gentle.]]
[[>"Maybe he's just insane?"]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">" You aren't going to ask?"</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Sorry, I'm focused on your injuries."</span>
Arthur smiles at you, before focusing back on his detective work. Focusing back on Licentia. Then his eyes open in surprise.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I don't think it mattered to him."
"Mattered to him?"
"I don't think it mattered where the bombs went, where the guns go, where the bodies pile up. None of it matters."
"What are you talking about?"
"He wants violence. To any degree."</span>
<<if $gunshot is "Stitching">><span style="color:#94B8C7">"To any degree? What're you talking about?"</span><<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 1>> you grab the medical thread and your needle. You aren't sure if threading his gunshot wound is the best idea but it'd cease the bleeding. You hate that more of the body you sleep next to is becoming so much medical string. <br><br>You pool more blood on the computer chair by squeezing the wound to sew it shut. <<endif>><<if $gunshot is "Wrap">><span style="color:#94B8C7">"To any degree? What're you talking about?"</span><<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 1>> you sit him up as you stretch the medical gauze. Wrapping around his chest. It'd stop the bleeding, and since it didn't hit an artery there won't be more you have to do besides keep it clean and full of antibodies. You've clean <<link 'bullet wounds'>>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup('he came home with a bullet wounds ');
Dialog.wiki('there were holes in his body blood in every wound. you held it in. but you sobbed against his sleeping body. he comforted you. ');
Dialog.open();<</script>><</link>> before.<<endif>><<if $gunshot is "Torniquet">><span style="color:#94B8C7"><<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 2>>"To any degree? What're you talking about?"</span> you grab the torniquet and raise it a few inches above the bullet-wound. For something this small you know the exact distance to place it. Arthur lifts himself to let you do it easier. This should stop the bleeding, but you worry that it might have been <i>too</i> much.<<endif>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I think to him, all that mattered was the pain that he could cause."</span> Arthur leans forward and points at a notepad document. You want to look at him rather than the file but you let your eyes slowly follow his pointed finger to the names. Locations, hundreds of them, were listed on the notepad. And next to locations? Numbers. 50, 150, 300.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"What is this Arthur?"</span> you ask. A fear sparks in you from Arthur's tone. From his expression.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Estimated body counts. He's counting them all. Every single person."</span> he says it so quickly. So easily. His brows are furrowed, and his knuckles white. There is silence again. Dripping silence as the reality of the monstrosity that lived in this very place sinks in.
Arthur lets out a breath. You find it hard to breathe.
So you go to the easier thing - holding Arthur, fixing Arthur. You twist his gaze to you and you focus on the forming black eye. <<set $status to "Eye Bruising">>
<div align='center'> <<listbox "$blackeye">>
<<option "Ice Pack" "Ice" `$blackeye == "Ice" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Warm Compress" "Warm" `$blackeye == "Warm" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Massage" "Massage" `$blackeye == "Massage" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<</listbox>></div>
[[>Kiss your teeth]]
[[>Rest your forehead against his.]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">"You're upset."</span> he says.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Of course I am, aren't you?"</span> you lean back against the computer desk, and you've entirely separated him from his work.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Beyond. He's using people's anger to support his twisted desires. He claims it's for justice but he just wants a body count. The people he's leading don't even know. He's using them. He's a bastard, a bastard that I want to - I want to - "</span> he pauses. But you know the answer. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Too many people died today."</span> you step back just a bit, and you look him in his eyes.
They're cold and some could say <b>cruel</b>. But can you blame him? Whose eyes wouldn't take that kind of pain?
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"And he's going to keep killing unless I stop him." </span>
<<if $blackeye is "Ice">><<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 1>> You bend down to grab an icepack from your medical kit. Arthur watches your every movement, and his eyes lock on yours when you move the icepack to under his eyes. He closes his eyes and you feel his lashes on your finger.<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'm going to break him."</span> he whispers. <<endif>><<if $blackeye is "Warm">><<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 1>> You reach over to your medical kit and grab a warm compress. The heat feels good. Not every medical thing hurts. Arthur sighs and meets your eyes as you press the compress to the wound under his eye.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"That should help, can't have a black eye on that pretty face."
"What would the public think?"</span> his laugh is quick and you know why, <span style="color:#94B8C7">"I have to stop him. I have to break him."</span> he whispers against you.<<endif>><<if $blackeye is "Massage">><<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 2>> You move back over him and place your thumb beneath his eye. There's silence as you move your thumbs back and forth, back and forth. Applying pressure but not too much. You can't ever gauge his anxious mind, but you'd like to imagine as his expression eases that you're fixing <i>something</i>. You'd like to imagine in his silent moans that you're fixing something that a medical journal can't fix.
But you'd be lying.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'm the only one that can stop him. I'm the only one that can break him."</span><<endif>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Break him?"
"I have to destroy whatever resolve he has left, make it so he's too scared to use violence again."
"That's an idea, but how're going to do that?"</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"By responding with a higher violence." </span> Violence. It's been an answer he knows too well.
[[>"That can work..."]]
[[>"Are you sure about that?"]]Veloctic will tear into Licentia. He will collapse his lungs, make his ears bleed, knock teeth out of his mouth, shatters his kneecaps. You know he will. And you will cheer him on.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"It has to work, it <b>will</b> work. I'll make it work."</span> he stands up and you follow right beside him. As always. in every step of his violent actions.
Some pacifist.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"So you've got your plan then?"</span> you ask him as the cowl of Veloctic comes back on, covering Arthur Lai once again.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I do. Or the start of one."</span> the computer turns off with the press of a button and Arthur turns to you. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"You'll know by tomorrow. But that'll be when I put an end to Licentia."</span> an <b>end</b>. It sounds so final.
But Veloctic doesn't kill. <<link 'That is his rule.'>>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup('Veloctic does not kill. - YOU ARE 27');
Dialog.wiki('You find it easier to sleep with a soldier who would never fire a gun. You find it easier to breathe when you know that Arthur Lai will never take a life again. Not after the life he took when he was so-<b>so<i>-so-</i></b> young.You find it easier to know that the boy, the very soul you have been in love with for years is still wanting to inhabit a human body. Even when the outfit he wears every day looks more <i>demonic</i>.');
Dialog.open();<</script>><</link>>.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Good, just - well make sure it doesn't do too much damage to you. I've had to stitch up your body much too much this week."</span> you chastise him and Arthur laughs. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'm not kidding Arthur."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Yes yes yes, come let's get out of here. I've got what I've come for." You turn the M.V off with a satisfied smile.
"Perfect!"</span>
[[>Getting out of here is all that matters now.->>Good riddance.]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">"It's the only option I've got."</span> he stands from the chair, pushing past you and moving to the desk to turn the computer off. You watch in silent interest as his statement rings in your ears.
He takes the cowl of his guise and places it back over his head.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'll make him regret it, every single life he's taken."</span> he responds in violence. He always has. But you know, you believe his violence is restrained. It has to be restrained. <<link 'It has to.'>>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup('Veloctic does not kill. - YOU WERE 24');
Dialog.wiki('He gave you the rule when the first reports were coming in. When the news was all about the masked vigilante that was filling the streets. And how he left foe after foe, with broken bones and bloody faces. You asked why the hospital and not a morgue, and he gave you a look that made you shake with disappointment. He said that Veloctic does not kill. That Arthur Lai would not kill again. <br><br> The mask is worn for redemption not to paint oneself further in sin. But can you take the mask off before God and have him still call you clean? ');
Dialog.open();<</script>><</link>>.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Right,"</span> you nod. and let out a sigh as you close your kit. Being in this room is getting disgusting. And the more you've learned of the guy who slept in it made you sick. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Come on, let's get out of here. We've got what we need - right?"</span>
Arthur nods, and with one final look around the area, you and he exit the house of Licentia. The M.V shutting off as you leave.
[[>Good riddance.]]You're playing your favorite song in a car that has bulletproof windows and armor plating. On a Tuesday night. Rest your father's soul. When you told him you were in love with Arthur he assumed the high-valued cars you'd be driving in would be to galas.
But it's good to be out of there, out of that house. On the open road of Unionpolis. What isn't good is Arthur's silence. You'd like to believe it's what you learned. But you have a feeling it isn't.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Alright Arthur, talk."
"Talk? What do you mean? I'm driving."
"And? You could be in the middle of the most intense fight of your life and you'd still be talking your mouth off."
"I do - I do <b>not</b>. I try to strike fear into my enemies."
"And you do, I'm sure that the thugs are very afraid of the man who won't ever shut up as he breaks their left leg."
"They should be."</span> you both smile and then Arthur pulls over to the side of the road.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Oh, this is not what I expected. You know a random passerby might find this insanely strange right."
"I know, but - we have to talk. And serious talks mean I shouldn't be driving."
"Talk?"
"Talk. About that position."</span>
[[>"Not this again."]] <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Arthur-! For christ sakes!"
"No, look. Listen to me."</span> the cowl comes off, but it almost looked like it was <b>ripped</b> off. Curls of black bounce and eyes you could stare at forever have a more pleading look to them. This isn't the same Arthur, the one who wears the symbol of Veloctic like it's all he knows or the one who so easily nuzzles against you without his morning cup of coffee.
This is the Arthur who had to yell at Sarai to go away. This is the Arthur who could never escape that day - the day he lost his mother and father in quick succession. The day he put the bullet in his father. And has been hurting ever since.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Reyes. The offer from WHO is a good one -"
"Stop it-"</span> you murmur. But he keeps going.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'm dressing you up in blood Reyes, I am making you waste your talents. The number of people at WHO that could use you. You <b>have</b>. to take that job offer. You are wasting away your life with me."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"You aren't <b>making</b> me do anything Arthur. That's the hurt part of you <i>talking</i>. I want to be here, I want to help you with this. If I'm at WHO and you get shot for the tenth time in a day whose going to be there to make sure you don't <b>bleed out</b>!"</span> You are doing this for love. Can't he see that? Can't he understand it?
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Do you see what I mean?! You shouldn't be living like this? Wasting your talents on me! That's not how your mother or your father wanted you to live! Your father wouldn't want this!"
"You don't get to decide what's a good life for me, neither do they. Besides nobody-" </span>you catch yourself, look away. But before you can even give it another thought Arthur is pulling you back to look at him.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"None of that, don't walk on the glass around me. Not anymore Reyes." </span>
[[>"Your parents wouldn't want this for you..."]]
[[>"Would you stop being Veloctic?"]]Silence.
Harsh and painful silence.
His touch on you leaves and he makes some distance.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Maybe. Maybe not."
"They wouldn't-"
"You didn't know my family. You didn't know my father.</span>" He's right, you didn't. You never really did. No matter how often you were at their place before the final day. You knew Arthur. You didn't know Arthur Senior.
Silence.
Like the silence that comes after bullet-casing stops bouncing on the cold mansion floor.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"My father would be proud of the man I've become. But he'd hate me for what I'm doing to you."
"What are you doing to me, Arthur..."</span>
Silence.
Like the silence that came after you kissed him for the first time, and your lips were a few inches apart.
[[>He is silent.]]Silence.
Dripping silence.
This city is so silent.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I couldn't. I could never."
"Why Arthur?"</span> you hold on to his hands. And you feel the twinge, the tense.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I can't. You know that."
"I know you say you can't, but you haven't told me why? Is this really the only way you can help?"
"It is,"</span> he says it so quickly, so matter of factly. Like it's ingrained into his very being.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"If you won't stop, I won't stop. As long as we're together, I'm in this for the long run just like you,"</span> you say it too, hopefully just as quickly. Just as matter of fact. But Arthur shakes his head.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Reyes, love, you have a choice. There's a different path for you."
"There's a different path for <b>you</b> Arthur."
"No, not me. Never me."
"Arthur if I leave, and I hear on the news that they found your body in a ditch. How do you expect me to live after that?"</span>
[[>He is silent.]] <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Why - why do you want me to <i>leave</i> so badly Arthur?!"</span> You grab him by his shoulders and hold him, <span style="color:#94B8C7">"What is it? What is it that makes me staying here and taking <b>care</b> of you so wrong?"</span> there is a desperation in the back of your throat.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Is it me? Is there something wrong with me?"
"No... there is something wrong with me." </span>
The conversation pauses there. Obviously, how could it continue? What do you <i>say</i> after that. What does anyone say? You wish you could tell him that he's wrong, that he is perfect. Perfect just in the way you see him. But you'd be lying. You know there's something wrong with him.
"<span style="color:#94B8C7">That's why I have to stay..."</span> you have to fix him. You have to make him better. Arthur's fists clench and he looks away from you. And he is silent once more.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Reyes I'm sorry," he mutters, you shake your head.
"It's okay love."</span> you hold his face in your hands, the very hands that hold his heart. <<link 'How much can a handhold?'>>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup('Holding hands. - YOU WERE 15');
Dialog.wiki('Sarai pushed you together. She was endlessly tired of your back and forth unsure after you kissed. She said no more subtlety. Be proud. Be <i>loud</i>. Arthur endorsed it and you fell into it. His hand felt good in yours. <br><br> Your hands are now stained with the blood of an heir. <br><br> But maybe you do not care. ');
Dialog.open();<</script>><</link>>. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Couples fight right?"
"Right."</span> he chuckles and leans back in the chair.<span style="color:#94B8C7"> "Though fighting about this? I'm unsure. I think we're the lucky ones."</span> he laughs.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Ah yes, how lucky are we to deal with the struggle of vigilantism."</span>
You laugh, he laughs. But it doesn't rip away any of the tension. It doesn't rip away what he said. It doesn't rip away that two boys are sitting in this car and their hearts want each other so badly but to have each other there must be so much pain. If all the evil in this world died then Arthur Lai could be yours with no problem, no restraint. You are almost tempted. To vanquish the evil yourself - you stop - you hold yourself.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I wish you could stop,"</span> you whisper. If Veloctic could retire, there'd be no more <i>struggle</i> there'd be no more heartache. You could stay, stay with him forever.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I can't,"</span> he says, he whispers. You hear the pattern of rain smacking against the windows.
"<span style="color:#94B8C7">Ah, rain. How fitting."</span> you laugh under your breath.
[[>Step out the car.]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">"What are you doing?"</span> you pay him no mind as your face is met with cold water. Your shirt is getting wet, your hands are being washed. You close your eyes.
There's the sound of a door closing slowly, and you turn around to find Veloctic behind you just as quickly.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"What are you doing?"</span> his cowl is back on.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Thinking,"</span> you answer.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Thinking? In the rain? You <i>do</i> have a thing for dramatics."</span> his arms come around your waist. If someone were to see you now... you'd be a danger to his identity. A hostage for his villains. But he doesn't think about <b>that</b>. And you're grateful.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Maybe I just wanted to get out of that tank,"</span> you say again.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I don't deserve you..."</span> he says. And you remember.<<link 'You remember.'>>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup('monsters can not hold a thing.- YOU ARE 27');
Dialog.wiki('He has missed anniversaries. He has been distant. He has been back there. And he can never see himself as human. ');
Dialog.open();<</script>><</link>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'm not some fragile glass Arthur."
"I know... you're so much better than that."</span> you roll your eyes.
[[>"You deserve me Arthur..."]]<<include [[Heartrate]]>>
<div align= 'center' style='font-size:180%'>3</div><<set $status to "Save?">>
<hr>
Liquor calms your fast heart down.
[[>Your father would have never thought the same.]] The liquor in the Lai residence is name-branded but in the way, its brand is one a normal person would ever see. It's finely aged scotch that can only get its best flavors from a gold-touched cup.
And you're downing the entire bottle. You're downing the entire bottle because you're alone and scared. Alone, scared, and in so much pain. Because the question still has never left you. If you're <b>made</b> for this.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I need more liquor."</span> you peel yourself off the couch, drunkily making your way to the cabinet.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"What am I even waiting for-?"</span> you grab the next bottle, it's even further aged. It makes sense, you're the only one who drinks in here.
Pour.
Pour.
Pour.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"A gunshot? An explosion-? A fuckin' plane to fall out the sky? He just rushed off, with that stupid look on his face."</span> your words slur terribly.<span style="color:#94B8C7">"What the fuck am I-"</span>
[[>Breathe...]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Fuck me, fuck me - <i>fuck</i> me."</span> breathing is hard. And you can't tell if it's because you're drunk or if it's because you're anxious.
Gulp.
Gulp.
Gulp.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"God, god where is he? How is he?! And why - why would he want me to leave?"</span> gulp, gulp, gulp. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"After -everything I've done. How could he say that? We're in this...together."</span> you drag yourself to the mirror. This mansion has so very few mirrors and so many <b>echoes</b>.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"He needs me! And I need him... I-"</span> you don't like the reflection. You hate it so much.
<div align='center'><img src="https://i.imgur.com/28Xmheb.png" width="50%"></div>
How many bones is he breaking right now? How many criminals that didn't know what they were getting into are going to have to crawl for the rest of their lives. You are picturing every minute detail. Every sound and every <b>yell</b>.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Violence...is violence."</span> gulp, gulp, gulp. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"What does that make me..."</span>
Every day you send a soldier to break, break, break, and <b>break</b>.
[[>"Everyday..."]]You're a monster.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'm in love..."</span>
What's the difference?
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'm drunk. I'm too drunk."</span> you drag yourself back to the couch, and you don't stop <i>drinking</i>. Arthur's voice lulls to you, just what would your mother think of you now. What would your father? All those years in medical school - have they all gone to waste?
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'm too drunk..."</span> you can't go to sleep. You have to stay awake.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">" Arthur..."</span> you wish he was here, you wish his hands could touch yours rather than break the hands of another.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">" Arthur..."</span> he is bashing someone's face in, shattering someone's arm, he is concussing - he is paralyzing, he is using the cruelty that forged him. And you encourage it. Every day you encourage it. You patch him up so he can break and be broken.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Ar-"</span>
[[>BOOM!]]The city rarely shakes like this. No matter the calamity that struck, no murder or struggle, or pain could shake the city. It didn't shake when the Lai's were killed. It didn't shake when Veloctic first appeared. It didn't shake when Arthur kissed you in public.
But tonight it shakes. Today it knocks a plate off the shelf and makes it shatter against the ground.
You foolhardily rush to a nearby window, placing your hands against the glass as smoke fills the sky. Your eyes widen in horror when the fire kicks up fierce, then there are so many sirens...
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Fuck ---"</span> you can't even put another thought into the explosion before your mind revolves around Arthur again. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"No, no, no - no no!"</span> you quickly pivot in place to rush to your phone but trip over your own legs and smack against the floor. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Fuuuck -"</span> you hold your jaw from the pain but shake it off. You can't focus on <b>your</b> pain. Not right now.
You mutter his name over and over until you start the call on your phone. Calling his phone in the middle of a confrontation could be bad, but right now you're alone and you have no way of knowing -
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"The number you tried to reach does not have a voicemail set -"
"Damn it!"</span>
[[>Call again!]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">"The number you are trying to reach-" </span><<set $status to "Searching for Veloctic...">>
He's dead.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"<b>M.V Online!</b></span> the program comes to life. But until it can pick up the signals from Arthur's suit it's useless. You <b>know</b> that. But you need <b>something</b>!
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"The number you are trying to reach-"</span>
The explosion killed him, it shattered his bones and tossed his body headfirst into a wall. It broke his fucking neck.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"The number you are trying to reach-"</span>
No, he isn't dead. Not yet. But the burns of the explosion would kill him if untreated. His skin is red and black and charred. Lungs are collapsing.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"The number you are trying to reach-"</span>
Arthur Lai is dying in the Veloctic suit instead of resting in your arms on this night. Love is dead and you let it happen. You let him die! You let him die -
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"-llo..."</span><<set $nightpoints to 0>>
[[>"Arthur!"]]
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I have to change my ringtone, listening to Beyonce post-explosion is a terrible -" </span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Arthur shut up, shut up just for a second! Are you <b>okay</b>?"
"You're drunk-"
"Are you okay?!"
"No, Licentia's final gambit. C4 all around the building. He won't release his - gas into the city though. His plans are shot."</span> the gargle in his throat. Of course there's <b>blood</b> in it. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"The only problem is - he and I were in the center of the explosion. He's unconscious next to me. I'm barely hanging on."</span>
Fuck, fuck, fuck.<<set $status to "USE MEDICUM SHOT.">>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I give myself - five minutes before I pass out from blood loss." </span>
Fuck, fuck, fuck! He has to get back here. If he can get back here you can help him, if he can get back to your arms he won't <b>die</b>. He just needs enough to get back to you. The suit comes with an adrenaline & morphine shot, if he uses it, it'll give him enough strength to drive back to you. It's a concoction you made for the direst situations. And the M.V would only suggest it if no other solution was available.
[[>Tell him to use the Medicum Shot.]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">"If you use the medicum shot you can get back in your car and you'll be fine, you'll be fine."</span> he'll be fine. He'll be fine. Stop shaking. Breathe. Breathe, breathe, breathe. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"The chemicals will keep your entire systems from shutting down. It'll give you longer than five minutes."
"It will?"
"It will! It will! And then you can come here and - "</span> you hear Arthur grunt mixed with the sound of a fist meeting a human body.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Okay, I gave it to Licentia. He won't die now. Which means we should doubly hurry up so we can save <b>him</b> too."</span>
You feel like you're about to fall. And never stop falling. Arthur's labored breathing is met soon with the shaky breathing of another male voice, but besides that there is silence. There is so much silence.
[[>Speak.]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Please tell me you're joking."
"Licentia is in a worse position in me, he would have died-"
"<b>I don't <i>care</i> about him Arthur!</b> You're dying! You are literally dying!"
"I know, but so is he, and I can't let him die Reyes."
"Arthur, love, now is not the time for your <b>fucking</b> rule! You're going to <b>die</b>!"
"Reyes - you're drunk. You know that the rule's important."
"More important than letting you <i>live</i>?! Are you insane?! "
"Do you want me to answer that?"</span> you take in a sharp breath and feel a strain in your neck. Pain in your heart. You know the answer, oh how painfully obvious the answer was.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Arthur -"</span> you start mumbling his name. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Arthur you are more important than him, you are much more important than that criminal <b>lunatic</b> who was about to gas our city!" </span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Would you have wanted me to let him die? Would <i>you</i> have let them die?" </span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Yes! A <b>thousand times yes!</b> If it was between <i>you</i> and <i>him</i>! I would have killed him myself!" </span>
<div align='center'><<listbox "$confess">>
<<option "I would have choked the life out of him!" "choked" `$confess == "I would have choked the life out of him!" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Nothing would stop me from watching him die!" "watching" `$confess == "Nothing would stop me from watching him die!" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Even if he begged I would deny him!" "begged" `$confess == "Even if he begged I would deny him!" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<</listbox>></div>
[[>Answer.]]Silence. Dripping. Painful --- <b>silence</b>.
Your vision turns to the mirror, Reyes Vidal is not looking back at you. It's not the disheveled hair or the sore eyes. Nor is it the drunken sweat and the fancy shirt signify that this isn't <b>you</b>. It's the admission. It's the thought. Not a single hesitation. Not a single moment.
<<if $confess is "watching">>You would have let him die. You would have made that choice. You would feel nothing. Is that what you are now? A pacifist who would have killed. A doctor who wouldn't save? A doctor who would sit and watch as a life <b>fades</b>.<<endif>><<if $confess is "choked">>You picture the man in the mirror. Strangling the life out of Licentia just to make sure that Arthur could breathe. You would use anything in your arsenal, anything on your person. You would kill.<<endif>><<if $confess is "begged">>You could hear Licentia's begging cries as you pump the drugs into Arthur, unmoving, uncaring. Feeling nothing. Absolutely nothing.<<endif>>You would do it, over and over. Time and time again. Not a second wasted. You would do it with anyone. You would let thousands die before Arthur.
Oh god.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Veloctic doesn't kill."</span> Arthur mutters. It's the mutter that breaks the silence. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"I think I've got three minutes now."</span>
Breathe.
The air in your lungs feels so <b>wrong</b>.
[[>"Tell me what's the immediate concern."]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Immediate concern, right - right."</span> he grumbles, coughs, and spits something out. You take this opportunity to sit yourself down, on something with better back support than the couch. The kitchen chair will do.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Immediate concern? I have three metal pipes pierced at my side."
"Jesus christ how did you not <i>immediatly</i> tell me that?"
"Couldn't feel it, could barely see it."
"That's concerning, but that's important. If that's your most immediate concern we can - we can rectify that first."</span> how do you rectify that, you can't get a good look at Arthur to see the intensity of the pipes. Sure you can imagine it, the oozed blood or the shattered bones as a result of the violent force that pushed them past his armor. Sure you can imagine it in full. But since you can't see it, your imagination means nothing. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Arthur how bad is it?"
"Not sure - how to answer that. Everything feels terrible."
"There's a medical kit on the wall. It looks unscratched if that makes you feel better."</span>
No. It doesn't. But at least he doesn't just have to work with his hands.
<div align='center'><<listbox "$pipes">>
<<option "Remove the pipes from you." "Remove" `$pipes == "Remove the pipes from you." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Clean the wound with antibiotic cream." "Clean" `$pipes == "Clean the wound with antibiotic cream." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Ignore it." "Ignore" `$pipes == "Ignore it." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<</listbox>></div>
[[>Pay attention Arthur close attention.]]<<if $pipes is "Remove">><span style="color:#94B8C7">" Use as much effort as you can and get the pipes out of you. The puncture's bad, but taking it out won't kill you. Especially if you don't start to bleed profusely."
"I have to take your - word for it. Because I feel like I'm in so much pain."
"That's probably because of the numerous <i>other</i> things that are wrong with you."<<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 1>>
"Right..."</span> he laughs, again. Your response is immediate." <<endif>><<if $pipes is "Clean">><span style="color:#94B8C7">"The medical kit should have antibiotic cream. Use that to clean the room."
"And what if it doesn't-?"<<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 2>>
"Well I'll figure something out for <i>that</i> situation. But for now please pray that it does."</span> you hear the sound of Arthur rummaging through the kit.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Got it, ha! couldn't imagine the trouble we'd have to go through in regards to finding a good substitute right?"</span> he's trying to tell a joke. Trying to lighten the mood. Your response is almost immediate.<<endif>><<if $pipes is "Ignore">><span style="color:#94B8C7">"This is going to sound a bit unorthodox, but leave the pipes in."
"You're way too drunk-"
"I'm <b>serious</b>. The puncture of the wound itself isn't terrible, otherwise, you'd well-"
"Be dead and not talking to you?"
"Exactly."<<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 1>>
"Then you'd never hear me talk again, imagine the - horror. How would you go on?"</span> his voice is strained to all hell, even when he desperately tries to tell a joke to you. Right now, of all times!<<endif>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Arthur - <i>enough</i> with the jokes! Enough with the laughs! Just for tonight, okay? <b>Just for tonight</b>!"</span>
Silence. You make the silence.
Every night.
[[>"What's next?"]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Okay, okay - I have... there are burns on me."
"Where specifically?"
"On my left side. The trail pretty far up."
"Trail? Arthur how far up?"
"..."
"Ar-"
"Give me a second."</span> his breathing intensifies. You hear a wince before he speaks again, <span style="color:#94B8C7">"From the upper-half of my hip to base of my neck."
"Arthur Jesus-!"
"Explosions do that I assume. If it makes you feel better I don't feel it until I touch it."</span>
You run your hands through your hair, leaving one on the right side of your face. You take a few breaths, you don't know why - you simply do. The breaths aren't helping now. Nothing can kill the anxiety in your chest. You can't tell the severity or degree of the burns. You can't tell the extent of how much of the skin it's charred off.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Reyes,"</span> you love the way his name sounds out of your mouth. Even when he's in <b>great</b> pain. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"What do you need me to do?"</span> What do you tell him? God, what do you tell him? You wish you were next to him. Instead of so far away. Even when on the phone with you - he can still die. If the burn's reached his neck it could have messed up his windpipes, and he could slowly be suffocating right now. And a burn so big, he'll need physical therapy to keep going. But he won't stop after this. Tomorrow if he hears a gunshot, he'll race forward without hesitation. He'll wear that suit every day no matter the damage.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Reyes..."</span>
<div align='center'><<listbox "$bombburn">>
<<option "Check for burn ointment." "Ointment" `$bombburn == "Check for burn ointment." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Use any pain medications. " "Pain Med" `$bombburn == "Use any pain medications." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Clean the burn and wrap it in plastic" "Clean" `$bombburn == "Clean the burn and wrap it in plastic" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<</listbox>></div>
[[>"Okay - Here's what you do."]]<<if $bombburn is "Ointment">><span style="color:#94B8C7">"You're going to be looking for an ointment."<<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 3>>
"Ah, an ointment, where exactly would it be?"
"Somewhere in that medical kit, most of them have some. If it doesn't I can tell you how to make one but it won't do you much good."
"I... got it! Okay, I'll run it along with the burn. All of it."</span> you breathe, a sigh of relief. As you hear the squirting of gel on the other end of the phone. Arthur grunts following after.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"How do you feel? Or better question how does the ointment feel?"</span> you ask him.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"It's cold - so I'm assuming it's working, that or I'm losing - nevermind. To be honest, it just feels good to put something on it."
"Make sure you're evenly spreading it around because if you don't you might just end up hurting yourself even more okay? And...fuck. Just also make sure that you don't scrape off any of the burned skin you don't want to pierce anything."
"Yes, yes, I understand. I'll be careful."</span> you hear his wince again. Before he <i>groans</i> and it makes your heart skip. Did he mess this up? Did he tear at his skin like paper?
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Arthur!"
"Reyes I'm fine. I'm fine."</span> you should have forced him to take the shot of adrenaline - you should have threatened your own life to make sure he took it!
God.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Fuck..."</span> your voice is shaking. Everything hurts.
<<endif>><<if $bombburn is "Pain Med">><span style="color:#94B8C7">"Right now take some pain meds to null the pain, that should make it easier for you to move around."<<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 1>>
"You know how good I am at swallowing pills."</span> he chuckles to himself, <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Sorry."
"It's - just let me know if you find the pills."</span> there's rummaging on his end after he, at least what you assume from the grunts, places the phone down on the ground.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Found them. Pain medicine - or well over the counter pain medicine."
"Take it. Three of them."
"The bottle recommends two."
"For normal headaches and migraines sure, not near full-body unknown degree burns."
"Point taken."
"And keep them on you okay? Just to make sure that you can take a few more if needed. No, immediately if you feel like you have to. The explosion could have so many more injuries. If you had just taken the adrenaline-"
"We went over it."
"You're right..."</span><<endif>><<if $bombburn is "Clean">> <span style="color:#94B8C7">"See if you can find something to wet the rag that's probably in the kit. Use that to wet the burn as much as you can."<<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 2>>
"Water on a burn makes sense."
"And then once that's done wrap as much of the burn as you can in plastic."
"Where am I going to get plastic?"
"There has to be somewhere Arthur, please just - if I was there myself I could have found it. So please just."
"I'll look. give me a second. I'm going to put the phone down so I can look around. Don't go anywhere."</span> when the phone hits the ground you press yourself closer to your phone just to see if you can hear more. Just so you can hear <b>him</b>. In case for some reason, you suddenly can't.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">" Arthur, Arthur, please - please - please. "</span> your mother would ask if you're begging God; the world would ask if you're begging the devil.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Arthur..."</span> you hug yourself, your nails digging into the skin of your shoulder. Waiting for anything.
Anything...
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Done."
"You are!?"
"Found some ripped plastic, tore off the pieces that weren't charred. This place...it's a mess. But I'm plastic'd up now."
"Okay...okay..."
"Are <b>you</b> okay?"</span> his answer comes but you don't answer. You don't have an answer. Instead, you're rushing to the fridge - all to pour another drink. <<endif>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I told you this was bad for you Reyes."</span> he says.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"What-"
"This, this life. I told you... you just aren't made for it."</span>
[[>"Arthur now is not the time -"]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'm violence Reyes. I'm blood and violence. I'm shaped in death, I've come from it. This was the only life for me. This is all a part of me. "
"And you're saying it isn't part of me?"
"I'm saying it could never be a part of you. The blood, the death, the <b>violence</b>. You're different from me, from the people I fight you're -"</span> he lets out a sigh, <span style="color:#94B8C7">"You're good."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Arthur you're good, Veloctic is good."
"Licentia said something to me during our fight. He asked me if there was a difference between the pain I cause and the pain he causes. He said the people who choose violence like I do - as we do. He said it's all we know. All we choose to know. It made me think. Just of how badly I've dragged you into this. I'm making you cruel. Just like me."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"You aren't..."
"Reyes, you would let a man die. You would do it without warning, without care. I put you down this path. My actions, my life, is ready to make you a killer."
"Arthur. You could give all this up..."
"I can't. It's too late for me. Always has been but not for you, never for you."
"Why are you listening to the ramblings of a lunatic Arthur?"
"Villains talk a lot during our battles. And I always - <i>shit</i>."
"What's wrong?"
"Pain, in my chest. <b>Bad</b>. Blood." </span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"How bad? Blood?! Arthur -!"</span> you hear the clattering of a phone on the ground. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Arthur! <b>Arthur</b>!" </span>
[[>Keep shouting for him.]]
[[>Get into one of his cars! Go to him!]]You scream and scream, and scream. Scream until your throat is <b>raw</b> and <span style="color:#FF0000">red</span>. You keep shouting his name in the echoes of the Lai Mansion begging for him to respond in any way shape or form.
Shouting and shouting. You need him alive, you <b>need</b> him to live! Because he's all you have! Arthur Lai is your reason for living, your reason for <b>breathing</b>, your reason for everything. Every second devoted to...him.
Your reflection...so strange. So cruel. Your face wrapped in anguish in pain. You reach your <i>fist</i> back, and slam it against the mirror. You don't feel pain when the glass pierces your skin, just more <b>anger</b>.
[[">Arthur!!"]]You keep the phone on, pressing the speaker button so you can move with free hands. Despite your disheveled form and drunken state, you race to one of the many expensive vehicles in the garage.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'm coming Arthur, fuck! I'm coming - I'm coming!"</span> the acceleration of your heart. The pain in the known distance. None of that matters right now. <b>None</b> of it. Because you will get to him. No matter what. He's everything, he's all that matters. All that will ever matter. He's everything - everything! You race - and race and slam your fist so hard against the steering wheel you can feel the pain in your ribs. But you're hysteric. You don't care.
[[">Arthur!!"]]<<include [[Heartrate]]>>
<div align= 'center' style='font-size:180%'>4</div>
<hr><<set $status to "Save?">>
Arthur Lai is flatlining. <div align='center'>[[>And he doesn't care.]]</div>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"There's so much wrong with me."</span> he laughs to himself, a chuckle, a cackle. The only voice in this ruined place. He was the only voice in Lai Manor before Reyes moved in.His father used to say the Lai name is a statue. But the only he can think of is the one that's so lovingly looks over his father's grave.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"What else...what else..."</span>
<div align='center'><<listbox "$list">>
<<option "You are killing Reyes Vidal." "Reyes" `$list == "You are killing Reyes Vidal." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "You are your father. You are a monster." "monster" `$list == "You are your father. You are a monster." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "You are Veloctic." "veloctic" `$list == "You are Veloctic." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<</listbox>></div>
[[>There is so much wrong with me.]]<<if $Angina is "Die">>It would be. Close his eyes, let the pain finally win. Free Reyes from Arthur Lai. It'd be so easy. He coughs out more blood. So why does he keep - resisting? <<return>> <<endif>><<if $Angina is "Pain Med">><span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'm going to overdose at this rate. Veloctic dead at the hands of medication..."</span> Arthur starts to crawl to the medkit barely in arm's reach. He doesn't know what he's looking for, but something must be there. Something <i>must</i> be.
If Reyes was here, he'd know what to do, how many to give. But Reyes isn't here. And Arthur doesn't want him here. The longer that Reyes is here, the more that Reyes dies. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Can't have that..." </span><<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 1>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"There!"</span> his hands connect to a small bottle, the pain medicine! <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Just what the vigilante ordered..."</span> without a care for the amount Arthur pours as many in his shaking hands as he can.
[[>Downing them is easy.]]<<endif>><<if $Angina is "Cardiac">> He remembers Reyes practicing it at one point. Relating to the vessels and with a tube. Reyes practiced it. Arthur did not. He reaches for the nearby medical kit hoping that there's something in there, something that he could use to save his very life. His hands connect to some small plastic tube, along with various other packets.<<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 1>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Just need the tube, just need the tube -"</span> it's so small - so thin. Arthur couldn't process that this was going to save his life. Or hopefully, save his life. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"How does this work?"</span> he coughs. And he's expecting Reyes to be right there. With a loving smile and maneuver it for him. But Reyes isn't here. Like he wants it to be. He wants it to be that Reyes isn't here. He doesn't want it to be his love that kills him.
He takes the tube and without any knowledge or care makes the motion to stab the plastic in his chest. He pierces his skin like paper, a product of his powers surely, and waits for the pain to go away. Nothing happens, for a few seconds, nothing happens.
And then blood - splurts. Leaking into the tool itself, and also bleeding more of his chest.
[[>There is blood everywhere.]]<<endif>><<if $Angina is "Blocker">> Reyes called them a blocker. Arthur isn't sure what that means, what that is. But he knows they block something relating to blood. Blocking. He's focused on the word, maybe because it makes him think of all the blocking he's done in the past. He's blocked stabs, gunshots, everything. But he couldn't shield his parents, he couldn't shield Saira, and now he's unable to shield Reyes.<<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 2>>
He knows. The problem is him. It always was him.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Does it just have block written on it Reyes?"</span> he's asking the air, as he crawls to the nearby medical kit. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Will it block me from the pain?" has anything?</span>
He tips the medical kit to its side so he can observe all the various items in it. There are bottles upon bottles in it. With different names than the name-brand pain pills he recognizes. Just what in the world does a blocker pill even look like?
He groans, with the pain building in his chest. Tight and shaking. He doesn't have time to look at each bottle, he just has to take and hope.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Hope - ha."</span> he grabs two bottles. And does a quick inspection to make sure they're they don't have anything threatening on the label. With a shrug, he pours as many pills as he can in his shaking hands.<<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 3>>
[[>Downing them is easy.]]<<endif>>If a doctor saw him now they'd think he was a druggie. But what to expect. The wealthy son of a fortune covered in blood? Of course, he's a druggie. They wouldn't be surprised.
The pain in his chest isn't going away. Nothing is going away. In fact it keeps going, it keeps <b>going</b>. The ringing in his ears starts again, the shortness in his breath continues.
His heart is failing him. Or whatever it is that is in his chest is failing him. He is pooling his blood. If he was religious this is where the angels would come from the heavens to whisk him away. Or the devil would reclaim the final Lai. Drag him to a place where there is no love and only pain. The place where Veloctic belongs.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Reyes...</span>" oh Reyes, Reyes Vidal. The love of his entire life. How he's ruined him. Taken away all that he could be. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Reyes..."</span>
The shock has expanded and now his heart is failing. He can't breathe. He can barely think. His eyes are fading. This is what death is... so much nothing.
<div align='center'><<listbox "$final">>
<<option "It is time to die." "Die" `$final == "It is time to die." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Compression" "Compression" `$final == "Pain medication always works." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Stop it Arthur" "Die" `$final == "Stop it Arthur" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Defilbirator" "Defilbirator" `$final == "Defilbirator" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Just let it go Arthur." "Die" `$final == "It is time to die." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "More Pills" "Pills" `$final == "It is time to die." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "You have done nothing." "Die" `$final == "It is time to die." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Fluid replacement" "Fluid" `$final == "Fluid replacement" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<</listbox>></div>
[[>"Mother...Father..."]]There is too much blood everywhere. Too much Lai blood. Just like last time - just like last time. When his mother's dying body collapsed on him. When his fathers did too when their blood mixed and coated his skin. But that showed they loved him right? When they died?
Reyes dipped himself so far into Arthur's black blood that he took the Lai love for <i>cruelty</i>.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Devil."</span> he whispers, as his body dizzies. His heart smacks against his ribs. The pain doesn't disappear. This is shock - of a hypovolemic kind. Reyes treated Arthur for this once. Twice. Three times. So many times. But this is different, this time there is no Reyes.
His heart is failing him. Or whatever it is that is in his chest is failing him. He is pooling his blood. If he was religious this is where the angels would come from the heavens to whisk him away. Or the devil would reclaim the final Lai. Drag him to a place where there is no love and only pain. The place where Veloctic belongs.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Reyes..."</span> oh Reyes, Reyes Vidal. The love of his entire life. How he's ruined him. Taken away all that he could be. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Reyes..."</span>
The shock has expanded and now his heart is failing. He can't breathe. He can barely think. His eyes are fading. This is what death is... so much nothing.
<div align='center'><<listbox "$final">>
<<option "It is time to die." "Die" `$final == "It is time to die." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Compression" "Compression" `$final == "Compression" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Stop it Arthur" "Die" `$final == "Stop it Arthur" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Defilbirator" "Defilbirator" `$final == "Defilbirator" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Just let it go Arthur." "Die" `$final == "It is time to die." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "More Pills" "Pills" `$final == "It is time to die." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "You have done nothing." "Die" `$final == "It is time to die." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Fluid replacement" "Fluid" `$final == "Fluid replacement" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<</listbox>></div>
[[>"Mother...Father..."]]
<<timed 3s>><<if $final is "Die">>
Arthur Lai closes his eyes. He is not at peace when he dies. But the pain is gone.
[[And just like that. He is gone.]]<<endif>><</timed>><<if $final is not "Die">><<timed 3s>> <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Reyes..."</span><</timed>>
<<timed 3s>>If he dies now...<</timed>>
<<timed 5s>>Then the worries, the pain, the fears that Reyes has. They would be right. And Reyes Vidal will never get to become the better person Arthur knows he can be.<</timed>>
<<timed 9s>>If he dies Reyes will never be free.<</timed>>
<<timed 11s>>Free of the cage Arthur's pain put him in.<</timed>>
<<timed 13s>>So Arthur Lai has to live. Arthur Lai has to live and use that life to push Reyes away. Once and for all. Give him no <i>quarter</i>. So Arthur Lai - Veloctic - <b>yells</b>.
[[>And Continues to Yell.]]<</timed>><<endif>>
<<if $final is "Defilbirator">> The crawl is painful, it breaks more and more of his body to drag his sack of flesh across the ground. But he has to crawl - not for himself, but for Reyes. Arthur won't disgrace him even further with having to bury his lover. He <i>won't</i>.
What he is doing is not science, it is not a medical procedure. But he does not care, it is <i>something</i> rather than nothing. There is a pool of water nearby, from a <b> burst </b> pipe. A pool of water that could save his life. How holy.<<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 3>>
Moans and groans echo the factory. Mixed occasionally with heavy breathing and loud screaming of a broken determined body.
<i>Drip, drip, drip.</i>
His fingers dip in the pool. And a smile crosses his pained sweating frame. He reaches into his suit's belt and rummages for anything that can spark any kind of electrical current. He needs something strong enough to jump his failing heart again. He doesn't know the specific numbers, Reyes would. But Reyes isn't here. Reyes is on a phone too far away. Reyes is in pain because of <b>him</b>. He needs to show Reyes he will be fine.<<endif>><<if $final is "Compression">> What he is about to do is not science, nor is it medical procedure. But he doesn't give a damn. It's the first thought that came to him, right now it was perfect. Right now he'll do what he does best to fix his ailing heart.
He'll use <b>force</b>.
He crawls - dragging what's left of his broken body to a nearby crumbled wall. Propping himself against it so he can have full access to his whole body. He doesn't know what he's doing but it has to be something, it has to be <b>something</b>. He takes the edges of his chest piece to tear it open and reveal the burned chest underneath. Seeing his skin like this, smelling his skin burned, seeing it peel away. A normal person would have thrown up, but not him. He is Veloctic. He is met with the gorey scene of death and the brutal scenes of his battles <i>daily</i>. It has made him cold, and he knows it has.
He holds his hand over the place where his heart should be, the place where the ribcage is. He's familiar with the proper amount of force to not collapse a ribcage, on a thrown punch for each level of his ability. He is not familiar with CPR. He is not familiar with compression. He does not care. He can do this. He <i>will</i> do this.<<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 2>>
Because of him, Reyes is in pain. Because of him, Reyes Vidal suffers, Reyes Vidal drinks, and sobs, and cries. He has made Reyes too attached to a crusade that has no end. That has no goal.<<endif>>
<<if $final is "Pills">>He does not know if this is science. Or if it is medical in any way shape or form. He doesn't know if it's a procedure or if it's safe. But he has to try. Because the alternative is laying back and dying. Laying and closing his eyes so Reyes can find a dead body. So his lover's heart would break. He won't do that to him. So he'll risk anything. He'll risk <i>everything</i>, to make sure there's still a beating heart at the end of it all. All so he can do one last thing.
The crawl begins, and Arthur Lai yells at each movement. Each second the broken bones and strained muscles in his body scream, filling the empty ruined room of this decrepit place. Crawling to the medical kit that found itself far away. Each movement is matched with a beg that there would be the right amount of pills in the kit, or even just the right pills in general. Arthur would be damned if he knew what he was looking for, but surely something in there had to have the words "heart" or "pain" - <b>something</b>. <b>Anything</b>!
His vision slowly is fading away. The world becomes a blur, he can't tell where he's going but forward. The only feelings he has to revolve around pain and the roughness of the ground. But he continues to reach anyways, hoping to catch something from the medkit.<<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 1>>
<i>Crawling... Crawling...Crawling...</i>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"T-There..."</span> his hands catch on numerous pill bottles. Clutching them tightly! <span style="color:#94B8C7">"C-Come on Arthur! Come on!"</span> this is for Reyes! This is all for Reyes! He has to figure out which one to take!<<endif>><<if $final is "Fluid">> Reyes did this before. But that was for shock. Right now his heart is failing him. There's no way of knowing if this solution will be the same entirely. But right now he has no time for that. So damn if it's not science or medical procedure. It's all he <b>has</b>.
He has to try.
<i>Drip, drip, drip.</i> There is a pool of water nearby, from a <b>bursted</b> pipe. A pool of water that could save his life. How holy.
Moans and groans echo the factory. Mixed occasionally with heavy breathing and loud screaming of a broken determined body. His mind is warped with how he'll get the water into him ( and not with the sanitization of the thing like Reyes would think ). He drags - and drags leaving a trail of blood behind him. There is always so much blood.
His fingers dip in the pool. And a smile crosses his pained sweating frame. All that's left is to get it into him. Replace the fluids that are currently killing him. Give his heart less reason to give out. Give his heart more reasons to beat so that Reyes is left with anything but a corpse. A corpse to prove every reason he drank, every reason he hurt himself right. He just has to get the fluids in him. That's it. That's <b>all</b>. Once he does that he'll be alive, and then. He'll be able to keep Reyes away.<<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 0>> <<endif>>
[[>He needs to get Reyes Vidal away.]]<<if $list is "veloctic">>What does that name mean. Veloctic. Arthur Lai chose that name. It rolled off the tongue well, because it sounded badass. It sounded cool.
Now it's the name criminals fear, that makes them hesitate their actions. Because a meeting with the one who controls momentum means that you may never <i>walk</i> again. That you'll spend weeks - months in the hospital. The name that means <b>violence</b>. That's what Licentia said to him. Veloctic means violence just as much as <i>Skull n' Bones</i>, just as much as <i>Licentia</i>.<<endif>><<if $list is "Reyes">> He will be in a grave soon. Reyes will most likely kill himself or die from alcohol poison. Arthur Lai is killing Reyes Vidal. Just like Arthur Lai killed his mother. Just like Arthur Lai killed his father.
Killer. Killer. Killer.<<endif>><<if $list is "monster">> A roar shakes Unionpolis City. It comes from hell. That roar comes from him. It comes from Arthur Lai. Who rears and rages from hell. Oh, poor pitiful boy.
He takes his pain on others. And they suffer for it.<<endif>>
[[>This is all the Lai's are.]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">"What is wrong with me?"</span>
<div align='center'><<listbox "$list">>
<<option "It's the Angina." "Angina" `$list == "It's the Angina." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "He wants to die." "Pain" `$list == "He wants to die." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<</listbox>></div>
[[>That is what's wrong with him.]]<<if $list is "Angina">>It's the Angina. He's heard Reyes talk about it before. During his creation of the Medicum Veloctic. His encyclopedia of knowledge of resources. It's something relating to the chest, the pain in your chest. Blocked arteries, or something along those lines.
He should have paid more attention. He was too enraptured in his face.
<i>Cough! Cough!</i>
And more - and more coughing. It feels like his chest is about to explode. He needs to do something <b>right</b>? What is there to do, if Reyes isn't here...
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I have to..."</span> do something, he has to do something. He has to stay alive, with all that's left to do. He has to, because if he doesn't and if he dies here - would that make the pain go away?
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Would it mom? Would the dirt be warm..."</span> how is he going to put himself together? What is he going to do?
<div align='center'><<listbox "$Angina">>
<<option "It would be easy to die." "Die" `$Angina == "It would be easy to die." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Pain medication always works." "Pain Med" `$Angina == "Pain medication always works." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Cardiac Catheterization" "Cardiac" `$Angina == "Cardiac Catheterization" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Blocker. Reyes called it a Blocker." "Blocker" `$Angina == "Blocker. Reyes called it a Blocker." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<</listbox>></div>
[[>What is he going to do?]]<<else>> No. Besides that. What else is wrong with Artur Lai? <<return>> <<endif>><<if $final is "Defilbirator">>He grabs two small shock devices from his belt. He remembers building them, taking apart the various pieces of an officer's taser so he can construct it properly. A taser brings about roughly 50,000 volts of electricity to the human body. A hospital issue defibrillator brings about 3000. His suit was insulated to protect against high voltage situations. If he breaks one and tosses it in the water while he touches it should recreate a deliberator to the <b>best of his ability</b>. Or it will kill him. And the result would be the same anyways.
It is getting harder to breathe. It is getting so hard to breathe. There is a ringing in his ear. He needs this to work. He is begging for this to work. Because right now he is dying. He takes the small devices and separates them. An extra just in case he messes this up. He takes a sharp breath and his lungs <i>scream</i>, then he balls his fist and slams the device into the water!
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Gaah! Gaaaah!!"</span> the electrical current bursts through him! Carrying through the water and through his suit. He feels it on every inch of him. All of it - and then - <b>nothing</b>. And then his body goes limb. <<endif>><<if $final is "Compression">><b>POUND!</b> <b>POUND</b>!<b>POUND!</b>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"<i>Come on!</i></span> <b>POUND!</b> <b>POUND</b>!<b>POUND</b>!<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Come-"</span> God knows he's unaware of what he's doing - as his fist collides with the space where his chest is time and time again. In some way of trying to compress the failing heart. The impact of fist against skin echoes, and his already bleeding chest could probably start to bruise. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Fuck, fuck!"</span> A hiss. As his other hand balls into a fist.
He leans further back against the wall. And then tries to replicate the procedures of CPR, resting his knuckles against his ribs. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Come on!"</span> Another hiss. Spit flies out of his mouth as he pushes.<b>Pushes</b>.<b><i>Pushes.</b></i><b><i>PUSHES!</b></i>
His vision is fading, terribly. And despite how much he pushes, how he struggles; he still feels that the pain is overbearing. Overcoming. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Fuck, fuck..."</span> But he keeps pushing, taking every action of his strength to keep pushing - pushing.
Pushing...
His hands fall to his side, and his breathing barely steadies. It's getting harder to feel anything that wasn't the pain that's always there. But still his fist... raises high...<<endif>><<if $final is "Pills">>His vision is leaving him, fast. He can barely read any of the labels. He can barely remember <i>which</i> one he's supposed to take.And he'd just take them <b>all</b> if he wasn't worried that doing so would damn near kill him. He doesn't even know if the medical kit would have any magic pill that would fix a failing heart. But if he was going to make a different option it was <b>far</b> too late.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Going to invest...in giant labels..." </span> he jokes to himself as he starts to uncap one of the bottles. With his hands shaking the entire time uncapping the bottle isn't easy. And he curses when it <i>slips</i> out of his hand. Clattering against the ground as it bounces far away from him. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Fuck!"</span>, the curse comes out with spit and he clutches at his chest as another river of pain rushes through him. He grips on another bottle of pills and tries to repeat the same action. All the same happens again as the bottle slips from his shaking grasp.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"No! No, no no!"</span> his hands fail him, with every close by bottle slipping out of his grasp. He watches each hope clatter away on the floor. All as the weakness of his body persists, roars, and so much more. He lets out another pained <i>yell</i>.<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Fuck it!"</span> he reaches, raises his fist, and slams it against the bottle of pills, shattering it! <<endif>><<if $final is "Fluid">> Reyes Vidal would have some smart way to handle this. Some clever way. Arthur Lai does not have that. What he has is his <i>strength</i> and his ability to break.
He needs to replace the fluids. He needs to get every drop of water from this pool of water into him. Somehow. At first, he thinks he can build something, but then he feels his hands. They would fail him at every step. He could find some clever way to get the water in and the bad fluids out. But the pain overtakes his thoughts. So he does the only thing his body will allow.
And splashes his face into the water.<<endif>>
[[>He mutters Reyes' name like a lifeline.]]<<include [[Heartrate]]>>
<div align= 'center' style='font-size:180%'>5</div>
<hr><<set $status to "Save?">>
<div align='center'>And like the sudden heartbeat in a flatline - [[>Reyes Vidal appears.]] </div>
<div class="heart-rate">
<svg version="1.0" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" x="0px" y="0px" width="150px" height="73px" viewBox="0 0 150 73" enable-background="new 0 0 150 73" xml:space="preserve">
<polyline fill="none" stroke="#009B9E" stroke-width="3" stroke-miterlimit="10" points="0,45.486 38.514,45.486 44.595,33.324 50.676,45.486 57.771,45.486 62.838,55.622 71.959,9 80.067,63.729 84.122,45.486 97.297,45.486 103.379,40.419 110.473,45.486 150,45.486"
/>
</svg>
<div class="fade-in"></div>
<div class="fade-out"></div>
</div>Veloctic lies with his chest screaming at him. Blood leaking from his mouth. He is alone. And he hears the sound of his lover on the other side of the phone so far away, before there's a <i>click</i> and then nothing.
All he sees is a statue - broken. Like usual.
<div align='center'><img src="https://i.imgur.com/ozUdO9H.png" width="50%"></div>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Reyes..."</span> he whispers, trying to flip himself over. But his body stopped responding, all that power and he's done in by a damned explosion. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Heh-"</span> he wants to laugh. But he can't. Because there is blood coming out of his mouth.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"What am I going to do now..."</span> he whispers, he whispers. He has no plan. He has no action. There is nobody to punch, kick, break, shatter, bleed, torture, brutalize, paralyze, maim, leave on the brink - he's out of his element. Out of his safety net. Out of the violence.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"What's the difference between <b>you</b> and <b>me</b> Veloctic?! What's the <b>difference</b>!?"</span> Licentia yelled during the battle, Licentia who now lies feet away - breathing but unconsious.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"The differe-"</span> Veloctic coughs again. The only difference is that Veloctic wears an emblem on his chest. A representation of the power he brings with his momentum. There is no difference. They both bleed the same, they both make others bleed the same. He doesn't remember the last time he directly saved someone's life. All he's done in this damn city is <b>hurt</b>. He's only another way for violence to spread even if he doesn't leave a body count.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"What the hell - wrong with me...?"</span> Veloctic asks. And so many answers appear. Like a numbered list.
<div align='center'><<listbox "$list">>
<<option "Your heart is cruel." "Cruel" `$list == "Your heart is cruel" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "You are a killer." "Killer" `$list == "You are a killer" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "You shatter people like glass." "Glass" `$list == "You shatter people like glass." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<</listbox>></div>
[[>A numbered list with all the faults.]]You anxiously chew on your thumb as you keep your focus entirely on the news broadcast from earlier today. The news headline calls it the: <b>BRUTAL MASKED FIGHT ON TOP OF UNIONPOLIS BRIDGE</b>, and it shines in bright letters on your phone. The helicopter is trying to film the whole thing as steady as possible, the city wants to see the man who blew up two banks earlier pay.
Licentia, that's what the new villain calls himself; and god above do you hate it. You hate it so much. But he declared it on top of a bridge while fighting Veloctic so now it's true, and he was one for the show when he shouted it at the cameras, all before getting grabbed by the Veloctic and slammed into a nearby beam. Earlier today he let an explosion go off at two banks across the city, it would have been five if Arthur didn't manage to stop three of them at the last second. Veloctic continues to slam Licentia's head against the beam, before pulling him back and jamming his fist into Licentia's stomach. The villain winces over in pain before jamming the top of his head against Arthur's chin.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Ah!"</span> you wince, as Licentia followed up by jamming the butt of his cane into Arthur's ribs. He then reached back and smacked the cane against Arthur's jaw before kicking him away. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Come on, come on,"</span> you mutter before Arthur hopped back up and spat out blood. You watch as Veloctic rushes Licentia, smashing his fist into the criminal's face, before grabbing his arm in a clear attempt to <i>shatter</i> it. Licentia fired up his cane and tried to run it through Veloctic who managed to dodge it. You watch as your lover responds by taking out his version of brass-knuckles from his belt. The two then trade blows back and forth which blood staining the once clean Unionpolis Bridge.
The reporters didn't lie, brutal was the best way to describe it. Nobody was letting up. But despite Arthur's best efforts the blue ski-masked Licentia, with his bulletproof vest and tattered coat, escapes by throwing a live grenade off the bridge. One that Arthur had to catch and chuck into the water before landing on a car.
You don't know why you're watching. Perhaps it's because you needed something to watch while you wait in the Veloctic-Mobile, or because you wanted to see what kind of brutality brought you here. To a normal house in a normal neighborhood in the dead of night. But this, this was much too much. <<link 'More than you can handle'>>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup('Can A Pacifist Kiss the Devil.-YOU WERE 11');
Dialog.wiki('Arthur Lai discovered his powers doing what he does best. Fighting for protection. It was the older son of some rich family the Lai family knew well. Who was always a prick, always making rude remarks without care. But when he called the young daughter of the baker (he always brought bread for the Lais) a waste of space; Arthur started to chew him out. When he called you and your mother the help, Arthur would no longer hesitate. You saw Arthur pounce and with each hand flown you saw the residue of something strange on his knuckles. The energy of his <b>momentum</b>. Arthur would not stop, not until he felt like the boy had learned. Arthur would not stop, not until you grabbed his raw red hand. And begged him to stop. Arthur was twelve when this happened. His parents would die six months later. With no answer for what this was.');
Dialog.open();<</script>><</link>>.
[[>Stop watching.]]
[[>Keep watching, just for a second.]]Big houses are quiet. Too quiet. This is the one time you wished you indulged in Arthur's idea of getting a dog and calling it the Velocity-Dog. Just for the companionship at least. You could have named them Chompers.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"No that's a terrible idea."</span> <<set $status to "Online...">>
It's moments like these that make this life <b>harder</b>. The moments where you're awake and waiting. Like waiting for a pin to drop.
Constantly.
Constantly...
Waiting.
[[>It's why you drink.]]<<if $final is "Defilbirator">> You smelled burning skin when you first arrived. And it almost made you throw up just on stench alone, but you hold the smell together at least for now. Because something of much greater importance comes to your attention. <<set $status to "Obtundation">>
The source of the burning. Is the barely conscious Arthur.
You run to him and try to hoist him up, but the shock makes you jump back!
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Shit-!"</span> you hold your hand in discomfort as you examine Arthur. Trying to figure out what exactly he did that left him in this state. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Arthur, Arthur, Arthur - what did you <b>do</b>?"</span> he's breathing at least. Which is not the state you expected when you ran over here. You find the small shock devices cracked in the pool of water, a small electrical current bouncing across the surface. Did he do this? Did he do this to himself? Why? Good lord, why would he -
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Was he trying to send a shock to his heart?"</span> this was the most wack job of defibrillator you've ever seen. And you've been to various medical lectures where the whole point is how to make a defibrillator in dire situations. You take a deep breath and grab him by his shoulders to take his hand out of the waters. You move to hold his broken body in your arms. He's breathing, but slow. He's alive... good god he's alive.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Arthur..."</span> you mutter his name, as tears start to come from you. You rest a hand on his jawline, and his pulse beats slowly - you feel it on your thumb.
"Hey love..." he mutters.
And your sobs echo through this destroyed building.<<endif>><<if $final is "Compression">> You've come upon Arthur Lai smacking his chest until it's <b>raw</b>. Which admittedly is a much better state than you expected to find him.<<set $status to "Stupor">>
"Arthur!" you run to him and hold his bloody fist to stop it from beating endlessly.
"Reyes...still alive..." he mutters with that cocked grin he always has in situations like this.
"Still alive?" what in the world was he - <b>doing</b>? You run your eyes along with him; over and over, until you eventually put it together. Doing all of this? For what purpose - for what reason? Could there be any other reason than trying to keep his heart beating?
"Oh, Arthur..." this was no compression in the slightest, it was close but it was too <b>violent</b>. As usual for Arthur Lai, it was much too violent. "Oh, Arthur..." you rest your forehead against his, taking in the very air he breathes. "Oh Arthur..."
"Reyes..."
"Arthur you start to sob as you hold him closer. Keep you
"Rey...es..."<<endif>><<if $final is "Pills">> You burst into the room to find Arthur face down in a pile of pill dust. A sight that causes you to stop dead in your tracks. It's a sight nobody wants to see. But once you're forced to get closer to.<<set $status to "Stupor by O.D">>
Step, by, step. Until you're right next to him and dropping to your knees to roll him over. The suit is heavier than usual and it's hot to the touch but you eventually roll your lover over. Finding trails of white powder across his face.
"Arthur?" you rest your head down to is his heart. Slow. Very slow, so very slow. But it's beating. Somehow it's beating. "Arthur pills? That was your - that was your best solution?" you wrap your arms around him to hoist him into your arms. "You idiot, you damned idiot." you feel grateful despite it all. Grateful that he's alive. Even if your entire body is aching from worry. The dust from the pills finds its way onto your shirt. Your sweat-ridden cold shirt.
"Sorry..." Arthur Lai mutters as your sobs start to echo.<<endif>><<if $final is "Fluid">>You run to Arthur's body, with his face down in a dried-up puddle. <<set $status to "Light Coma">>
"Arthur!" you dive to your knees and grab him by his shoulders, as quickly as possible from his heavy battle suit you flip him over. Your first instinct is to check for a pulse, so you run your fingers along his neck. And to your surprise, there is something there - something small. But it's <b>there</b>. "Arthur..." he's unresponsive, of course, he is. But he's alive.
"Arthur I shouldn't have - left you I shouldn't have - " you're interrupted by a grunt. A movement of his head that almost looks like a shake. And you aren't sure how,( maybe it's a miracle, maybe Arthur Lai is a miracle ), but he moves his hand to yours. Holds it. Runs his thumb across your painful knuckles.
"Oh...kay..." he mutters. And your sobs echo through the building. <<endif>>
[[>He is alive.]]<<include [[Heartrate]]>>
<div align= 'center' style='font-size:180%'>6</div>
<hr><<set $status to "Save?">>
Your heart shatters somewhere. When Arthur Lai says the words he's breaking up with you.
[[>But you understand.]]<div align='center'><img src="https://i.imgur.com/DFz8NAB.png" width="50%"></div>
Arthur is fixing your bandages for once and it's still a surprise at how well he does it. Looks like he's learned something from you.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Doing this at an airport is a bit insane don't you think Arthur?"
"You say that, but if your hand started bleeding on the plane it would be <b>embarassing</b> lo - Reyes."</span> you want to tell him that it's okay. He can still call you love. Because you still love him. And you're sure he loves you too.
[[>But he said ending it was for the best.]]The airport is filled with so many people, for once you and Arthur blend in. Nobody's focus is on you or him. You're still surprised at how quickly the airport is back up and running. But maybe two weeks wasn't as long for everyone else.
The day after the explosion Licentia was arrested. The people of the city gave all credit for the arrest to Veloctic, even if the police said otherwise. The man hasn't said words since his defeat, he's been locked away in a prison cell with his sharp cane-whip locked in some evidence bin, but that doesn't bother you even if it bothers Arthur.
<<if $nightpoints >=9>> Through some miracle, Arthur's efforts kept him from any permanent damage. He was only out for <b>four</b> days. You're grateful at the least.<<endif>> <<if $nightpoints <= 8>> Arthur's efforts kept him alive but didn't leave him without a mark. A new scar graces his chest. A combination of everything that happened that night.<<endif>> <<if $nightpoints <= 5>> Though Arthur's efforts kept him alive, it left permanent damage. Small burns now remain at his left side, with the most notable one at his collarbone. At least he woke up. You're grateful for that at least. <<endif>>
Despite his arrest though, his explosion caused something in the city. You can feel it. More people are talking, thinking about how the city needs to be changed. How the poor are affected by the rich. It wasn't intentional, but Licentia's thirst for violence accidentally shook the cradle. Some see him as a hero, a champion of the poor and disenfranchised who knew just how to make people see his message. Some see him as a maniac, a violent upstart. Neither knows the truth. Licentia was a man who wanted a bodycount. A man who just wanted dead bodies attatched to his name. And yet despite that he started something that can <i>never</i> be undone.
You haven't said anything to Arthur yet, you have a feeling he knows.
But none of that matters today, today you leave the city behind.
[[>Today you leave Arthur Lai and Veloctic behind.]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">"There,"</span> he says. Tying the bandage one last time until it's nice and tight. You don't have the heart to tell him that it's too tight, he looks far too satisfied with that scarred lip of his. Instead, you meet his eyes and smile.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Ten more minutes until I should start moving."
"Ten more minutes."</span> Arthur looks behind him, towards the escalator that once you step on it would separate you both entirely.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"How's that - plan of yours working by the way?"</span> when Arthur woke up from his damaged state he didn't even hesitate to start working again. He said that he was going to start using the Lai and Veloctic names for something else. Something better. He was going to be <b>better</b>. You didn't know what it was before, but you knew then that the final fight with Licentia changed him in some way. You aren't sure how yet, but you see some new purpose in him.
Maybe that's why he broke up with you the next day.
You cried, for sure. But something felt off about the tears. Part of you felt relief. Relief that he pulled the trigger so you didn't have to. You asked him if that was <b>fucked</b> up or not. And Arthur laughed, he laughed.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"It's - forming. Slowly. To be honest, I'm not sure what I'm doing with all this money. With all this...rage,"</span> he stares at his open hand, clenches his fist. You almost say that you could help, but you'd be lying. You just are trying to find any reason to stay. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'll figure it out. I'll figure out what to do. To be better. It's not much your concern anymore."
"Arthur, you'll always be my concern."
"Maybe, but not to such an extent hm, Dr.Vidal?" </span>
[[>Dr.Vidal...your parents would be proud.]]You accepted the offer from WHO. And the woman in charge sounded piss you took so long. But a sizable donation from the Lai Dynasty made her smile you're sure.
You still can't believe it's happening, even with a duffle bag around your shoulder. But in nine minutes now you'll be on a plane to go wherever they need you. Wherever <b>they</b> need you. And not Arthur Lai. Not Veloctic. He will be here by himself.
Fending and helping himself.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Make sure you read all my notes, Arthur. I left them so you'll know what to do in an emergency."
"I will."</span> his voice doesn't have the same immature joking tone it usually did, the one that made you <i>annoyed</i> but fall in love all over again. Now it sounded more mature.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Good. Good. And well -"</span> there's silence, you look for anything to say right now. Anything to say that will maybe change your mind, or even his. But nothing happens. Instead, all Arthur does is take his damaged hand and rests it on your face.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">" Nothing more to say, Reyes. We've both said enough. Done enough."</span> you find yourself cuddling into his touch. Falling ever deeper.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Right Arthur."</span> you laugh. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Look at you, growing up."
"Just a bit."</span> time is moving too fast. And you're anxious. But Arthur's gaze gives you some sort of grounding, grounding that everything is going to recover from the shakiness. One day.
[[>If not today. Then tomorrow. If not then. The next.]]<<if $totalpoints == 6>><div align='center'><img src="https://i.imgur.com/iFo1Ak7.png" width="50%"></div>
You tilt your head when Arthur does and for the last time, your lips meet his. It's a long kiss. And one that melts you and builds you up again. It makes you feel <i>whole</i> despite all the times it shattered you.
And it's in this kiss that Arthur Lai speaks his message to you. That you have to go - and you have to grow and become better than the one who breaks his fist and seeks the pain of others as he does. That you are different - you are <b>good</b>, and that makes you wonder.
And it's in this kiss that you speak your message to Arthur Lai. That despite it all, despite every piece of trauma, every piece of pain and suffering that he has taken and he has given to others. You know he is good. He is good. He is the reason children can sleep easier.
He can't ever stop being Veloctic though - but you can be something greater than that.
That is the final message the kiss gives. And it's a long message. A lifting message. As Arthur smiles - and your smile. You wrap your arms around him and he responds. You take every second in the remaining minutes to take it all in. Every - single - second.
And then you separate.
<span style="color:#FF0000">"NOW BOARDING ---"</span> the automative voice is what drives reality back. Brings it out from the background. Your smile stayed just as much as Arthur's did. And he takes your hand, your tightly bandaged hand, and walks you to the escalator. You count every second he holds your hand before letting you go.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Goodbye Reyes..."
"Goodbye Arthur..." </span>
And the escalator drags you up. Drags you up while Arthur stays down.<<else>> Arthur holds your damaged hand as a way to steady you when you walk to the escalator. Like he knows you need it. Need it here. Need it for as long as possible before you can't hold it any longer.
Is this how recovery starts? Recovery from <i>addiction</i>.
When you get to the base of the escalator Arthur says something that makes this whole experience harder.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'm sorry."
"Sorry?"
"Sorry that I hurt you. That I've been hurting you."
"Arthur..."
"You were there for me when I needed you, and I think that I took advantage of that. Maybe not intentionally, but I did. I used that good heart to fuel my bad body." </span>
You listen to him, and then tightly hold his other hand.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"You're good Arthur. Remember that, please. Maybe not as good as you want to be, but you're good. And I <b>love</b> you."</span> Arthur smiles and rests his forehead against yours.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I love you too."</span> you know that he's doing this to help you, to make you better. But it hurts. It hurts so bad. Arthur winces but stays. You hold in every second of this, this affection. Because soon you won't have it. Soon you'll be far away from him.
The world drowns out, just for a second. And then - <span style="color:#FF0000">"NOW BOARDING ---"</span> the automative voice is what drives reality back.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"It's time to go Reyes."
"Right..." </span>
You let go of each other and you take tour first step on the escalator.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Goodbye Reyes."
"Goodbye Arthur."</span>
<<endif>>
[[And just like that. He is gone.]] <<include [[Heartrate]]>>
<hr>
<div align='center'>THE END.</div><span style="color:#94B8C7">"M.V Online!"</span><<set $status to "Bone Dislocation">><<set $heartrate to 101>><<set $bloodpressure to 129>><<set $oxygensaturation to 99>><<set $respiration to 17>><<set $temperature to 87.7>><<set $condition to "Hurt">><<set $nightpoints to 0>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Look at that, you'll be my <i>next</i> villain with class."
"Arthur -"
"If you're going to kill me, can you wear something sexy as your villain get up? "
"No, I'll make it as unsexy as possible."
"<i>You</i> can't make anything unsexy Reyes."</span> he laughs and despite how annoyed you are that he hasn't told you let out a chuckle.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Alright, enough jokes. Come on let me check what's <i>wrong</i> with you." </span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Check it while I check the computer. Use the M.V."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"That-"</span> he stops you by pushing the chair that Licentia might have sat in. It scratches against the floor and shuts you up.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"The computer's password-protected I'm going to break into it."</span> he sits down. And that's the end of that. He has to get more information. You have to make sure that he can get it without keeling over.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Christ..."</span> you lean in looking to see what's wrong with him. You know the Medicum will give you a better idea but you'll have to figure out what's going on.
<div align='center'> <<listbox "$dislocation">>
<<option "Pop the left shoulder." "Left Shoulder" `$dislocation == "Pop the left shoulder." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Pop the right shoulder" "Right Shoulder" `$dislocation == "Pop the left shoulder." ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Give him some pain medicine" "Pain Medicine" `$dislocation == "Medicine" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Blood Transfusion" "Blood Transfusion" `$dislocation == "Blood Transfusion" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<</listbox>></div>
[[>"Right okay..."]]You have to see more. Just to make sure. You rewind the tape to the beginning of the broadcast. The reporters came upon the scene at the bridge and found Veloctic ripping a knife out of a man’s arm. He howled before coming over to his side and Arthur kneeled on him, pressing his knee into his ribs. He was fighting more of Licentia's grunts. On top of a bridge. How fitting.
You watch as Veloctic pushes off the man to dodge another attack - an increased speed in his movements!
<b>CRACK</b>. <b>POUND</b><i>!</i>
The assailant's arm twists something foul when Arthur counters the attack, all before hopping in place and smacking his knee into the assailant's chin. He doesn't let up - smacking his fist into their face to keep them down. You can only imagine the doctor who has to fix up whatever broken bones that attack caused. Two more try to attack him, to what would be their biggest mistake yet. Arthur takes out his grappling hook and you watch as it sinks right into one of the attacker's shoulders before jerking them towards him. He clotheslines the attacker to a resounding <b>BOOM</b> and then picks up their limp body flinging it at the other! You watch engrossed entirely as Arthur pounces on the two of them - raises his fist and then -!
<span style="color:#94B8C7">" Reyes,"</span> Arthur pulls you out and you quickly turn your phone off. You avert your eyes to the driver's seat of the car where Arthur is leaning in from the outside. He's wearing the Veloctic suit so you can barely see his face, the only thing you <b>can</b> see is his sharp jaw and the cut that bloodies his lip. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"No cameras, no traps, the place is cleared. You can come in now."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"What?"</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"The house, you can come break in to this house with me."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Oh <i>right</i>! Your idea o?"</span>
you laugh before opening the door and stepping out of the tank, your medical kit held firmly...
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"What? You mean you don't want to see where the city's newest supervillain lives?"</span> he chuckles. You smack the hood of the tank and take in the sight. A normal house. That's all it was. A normal house. A normal house where a madman grew up.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Not at all, in fact, the less of breaking into a madman's home I can do in my life, the better."</span> you find it strange how the two of you can laugh when in the face of something like this. But Arthur is a joker, always has been.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Noted, I'll cancel out on our next date then."</span>And of course you play along with him.
[[>Follow after him.]]<<if $nightpoints >= 6>>
<div align='center'><img src="https://i.imgur.com/SXCziyW.png" width="50%"></div>
You've done this before too, this method. Of turning him around in his chair and taking his face in your hands. Of leaning in. Of pressing your lips to him. You've done this before. It's the procedure, it's routine. Just like stitching the wound, ailing the burns, dowsing your hands with his black blood. <<set $totalpoints to $totalpoints + 2>>
You're a pacifist, you don't disgrace the hands your father and mother bled for with violence. But you grace them by feeling his hair in between your fingers. At least that's what you think.
Or is it your most violent act when you kiss him. When there's even the brief second the city's protector might abandon his mission? When his hands, scarred, find a delight that isn't brutal. When he touches something, not with the intent to shatter it or bleed it but to love it.
Or is it in this brief second you would believe in every ''fraction'' of violence if it kept him on this earth?
Or maybe it's just a kiss, and it's the medicine. And the feeling of his lips against yours makes the nights where he's dying in your arms blink away.
Oh, how the night melts. And oh how the devil watches.
[[>...]]<<endif>><<if $nightpoints <= 5>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"What are you doing?"</span> he whispers.<<set $totalpoints to $totalpoints + 1>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Holding you,"</span> you whisper back.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"This is holding?"
"It's as much as you can get with the injury you took."
"Ah,"</span> he lets out a sigh. Arms wrap around you and reach under your shirt. His forehead is damp with sweat but you dare not move it. You want to remain here, to stay like this. A pictured moment. Where he is Arthur Lai and you are Reyes Vidal and there is nothing else.
Oh but that is a fool's wish. A wish you came up with years ago when this whole thing started and he came back to you with more blood on his face than anything else. But it was a wish that couldn't be granted. You were a coward then and you are living in a coward's mistake.
But is this a mistake? He's still here, he's still breathing. He's still in love with you and you are in love with him. And every day you pray to God as your mother showed you, for him. And every day the devil answers by bringing him back with fists coated <b>red</b>.
The smell of blood makes you sick, so why did you resolve your life around it?
You want to kiss him but he is in pain.
[[>...]]<<endif>>You're a fool and so you take you take his hand. He winces when you do, a sharp in. You feel an <b>intese</b> guilt. Guilt strong enough to make you want to smash your head into a nearby wall, but the guilt is replaced with warmth when his face settles into a smile. And you can't help but love the way his hand feels in yours. It feels right - like this is where you belong. Right here, <b>always</b>. Next to him. Holding his hand.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Holding my hand while I'm bleeding out? Aren't you dramatic?"</span> he jests. You want to kiss him.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"What can I say? I'm a sucker for the dramatic."</span> you let go and take another breath. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"What <i>happened</i> Arthur?"</span>
He still wants to hold your hand. You can see it when he reaches.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"It was a gun trade, Skull was giving a lot of guns to some unknown people. Dressed in bright blue. Did what I had to do..."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Of course you did,"</span> you nod. Take in a breathe. The smell of his blood makes your heart race. You are imagining the scene. And the <i>aftermath</i>. People <b>broken</b>. Breathe, breathe, breathe. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"So you fought some guys with guns what's the problem?"</span><<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 1>>
"They had more than just guns, the guys in blue— " cough, cough. You lay a hand on his chest and run your hands to its side. Taking the armor off would help him breathe. So with grace, you remove the chest piece and so the symbol of Veloctic. Leaving nothing but the man underneath Arthur Lai. <<link 'The man you have been in love with for years.'>>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup('He wonders why you do.- YOU WERE 15');
Dialog.wiki('You remember, the confusion in the meeting of your lips. He was drunk and you were drunk, the music was so loud and he was in the bathroom with you. Your nerves shaking, the liquor tasted like garbage and he was calming you down with anecdotes of the various guests he barely knows. And you needed him just as much as he needed you.<br><br>Oh beautiful, your first act of bravery found at sixteen when you kissed an orphan boy.');
Dialog.open();<</script>><</link>>
Arthur is the inheritor of the Lai legacy, making the very wealthy talk and mystery of the city. For years his name passed from rumor to rumor before dying down into whispers. The Lai Family Tragedy went from a newspaper headliner to a piece of the city's history. It all faded just like everything in his life. The caretakers, the butlers, maids, friends, all fade. But not you, not Reyes Vidal. Who was there from <<link 'start'>>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup('The Lai Manor Has Always Reeked of Death.- YOU WERE 11');
Dialog.wiki('Oh how you raced, and raced to his home when the news hit. How you could not wait for mama to wake or to start the car. You did not care about the distance or the heavy rain. When you heard what had happened, you were rushing to him. You have always been rushing to him.');
Dialog.open();<</script>><</link>> to finish. <<set $gashwound to "">><<set $hyplovemic to "">>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"How bad is it..."</span> he asks, his story not yet finished. You're looking at him, exposed before you. Scars and bruises adorn his body with blood everywhere, but not just that - the sharp chin, black hair with dark brown highlights, thin red lips, he's so beautiful. Every single inch...
[[>"I'm checking now."]]
[[>"You're beautiful..."]]What is to come off as a gentle maneuver, one of love and hope instead comes off as an angered movement. Your forehead meets his and so do your cold hands. Arthur wraps an arm around you and holds you for just a bit.
There is silence - and then...
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"You're upset."</span> he says.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Of course I am, aren't you?"</span> you lean back against the computer desk, and you've entirely separated him from his work.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Beyond. He's using people's anger to support his twisted desires. He claims it's for justice but he just wants a body count. The people he's leading don't even know. He's using them. He's a bastard, a bastard that I want to - I want to - "</span> he pauses. But you know the answer. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Too many people died today."</span> you step back just a bit, and you look him in his eyes.
They're cold and some could say <b>cruel</b>. But can you blame him? Whose eyes wouldn't take that kind of pain?
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"And he's going to keep killing unless I stop him." </span>
<<if $blackeye is "Ice">><<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 2>> You bend down to grab an icepack from your medical kit. Arthur watches your every movement, and his eyes lock on yours when you move the icepack to under his eyes. He closes his eyes and you feel his lashes on your finger.<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'm going to break him."</span> he whispers. <<endif>><<if $blackeye is "Warm">><<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 1>> You reach over to your medical kit and grab a warm compress. The heat feels good. Not every medical thing hurts. Arthur sighs and meets your eyes as you press the compress to the wound under his eye.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"That should help, can't have a black eye on that pretty face."
"What would the public think?"</span> his laugh is quick and you know why, <span style="color:#94B8C7">"I have to stop him. I have to break him."</span> he whispers against you.<<endif>><<if $blackeye is "Massage">><<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 1>> You move back over him and place your thumb beneath his eye. There's silence as you move your thumbs back and forth, back and forth. Applying pressure but not too much. You can't ever gauge his anxious mind, but you'd like to imagine as his expression eases that you're fixing <i>something</i>. You'd like to imagine in his silent moans that you're fixing something that a medical journal can't fix.
Maybe you'd be lying.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I'm the only one that can stop him. I'm the only one that can break him."</span><<endif>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Break him?"
"I have to destroy whatever resolve he has left, make it so he's too scared to use violence again."
"That's an idea, but how're going to do that?"</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"By responding with a higher violence." </span> Violence. It's been an answer he knows too well.
[[>"That can work..."]]
[[>"Are you sure about that?"]]<<if $nightpoints >= 7>>
<div align='center'><img src="https://i.imgur.com/yQtiyFK.png" width="50%"></div><<set $totalpoints to $totalpoints + 2>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"You think too highly of me Reyes."
"I'm in love with you. Can you blame me?"
"Yes,"</span> he says it so quickly despite how you are inches away. And you smile as the rain patters against you both.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I told you we're in this together Arthur."
"You said that when you didn't know the extent, you didn't know how far I'm going to go."</span> he is right. And yet...
Your lips meet his. His bruised lip. His bloody lip. His scarred lip, and the lip that will surely take much more than your kisses. Your hair sticks to the side of your face. His armor seems to shine in the rain. You back off, but he holds you there. Holds you here. His voice tells you to go even if every bit of his body tells you to stay. Your heart tells you to stay, but every bit of your brain is giving you reasons to leave. A pacifist can't love a demon, their paths just aren't the same. But your heat batters your brain, it tells it that Arthur will not be a demon forever. That your love can fix this pain.
Your brain hopes your heart is right.
[[>"Let's go home..."]]<<endif>><<if $nightpoints <= 6>>
<div align='center'><img src="https://i.imgur.com/q0mIZms.png" width="50%"></div>
You take his hand and take him to the edge. Looking to the horizon of the city. The city where orphans grow up, where crime rests in graves and its waters. Nothing ever can get fixed here, your father said that to you. And that didn't stop him from working his hardest every day. Not to change it, but to make it better.<<set $totalpoints to $totalpoints + 1>>
Your father never got the chance to go to college. The money was never enough even when he was cleaning for the Lai's. He wanted you to be a doctor. You took that dream for him.
Are you wasting it now? Part of your brain tells you that. But your entire heart, tells you that this is living.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Can't we stay here, just not talking for a bit? Leave the heavy conversation just for now,"</span> you ask him.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Okay, if you want."
"Thank you..."</span>
[[>And so you stay, holding his hand. Just for this. Just for now.->>"Let's go home..."]]<<endif>><span style="color:#94B8C7">"Honest opinion?"</span>
You scoff, and roll your eyes. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Full honesty. No bullshit."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I feel like that time you and I got wasted on your twenty-first. Tons of pain, but absolutely wanting to <b>kiss</b> you."</span> he flashes that Lai grin, the one that makes ladies weak but is always aimed at you. And you respond by rolling your eyes.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"You mean when <i>you</i> got wasted. And you tried to give me the worst lap dance in human history?"
"It wasn't that- shit-! Fuck," you kiss your teeth and get back to work.
"No more distractions."</span> you say with a wag of your finger at Arthur. He laughs.<<if $slash1 is "Disinfect">><span style="color:#94B8C7">"The wound's bad, give me a second to disinfect it. Otherwise well..."
"It'll get even worse?"</span><<set $status to "Large Gash Wound Above The Chest. Near-Fatal.">>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Much worse,"</span> you take a medical rag from your kit and douse it in disinfectant. Leaning over his wound you press the rag to his cut. Arthur hisses when it makes contact but he keeps his composure. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Did you manage to get him?"</span> you ask, in an attempt to distract him from the pain that comes from disinfectant.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Skull N' Bones? Yes, he should be in police custody now. But that other one? Not yet, he managed to escape."</span> the <i>not yet</i> is what you catch. You can already imagine that Arthur is thinking of how and what to do to catch them. Not his injuries. Not the gash that bleeds his chest. You press and press and wet the rag with disinfectant again. Trying your hardest to keep the beating heart from bursting through your ribs. Scientifically impossible, sure, but the way you've seen his skin split.
God.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"At least he didn't get the guns,"</span> you breathe.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Yeah, at least,"</span> he growls looks to the side, <span style="color:#94B8C7">"What's next?"</span> <div align='center'><<listbox "$slash2">>
<<option "Wrap the wound." "Wrap2" `$slash2 == "Wrap the wound" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Carterize the Wound" "Carterize" `$slash2 == "Carterize the Wound" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Stitches." "Stitch" `$slash2 == "Stitches" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<</listbox>></div>
[[>"Keep your breathing steady Arthur."]]<<endif>><<if $slash1 is "Wrap his wound">> No, no that won't work. That won't be any good for him. It'd keep him up but it wouldn't keep him going. <<return>><<endif>><<if $slash1 is "Pain Meds">> No, no that won't work. That won't be any good for him. It'd keep him up but it wouldn't keep him going. <<return>><<endif>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"You know me so well."</span><<set $status to "Online...">>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Too well, like I know that you're mind is somehwere else. "</span> he starts to set himself up, not even giving himself any <i>second</i> to rest. To break. And you ever loyal, are right behind him.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"There's an unknown element running around in <b>my</b> city. I can't have that. Especially if he's out looking for guns, associating with men like Max."</span> you step back as he strains himself to stand. To some this would be a miracle, but to you it feels wrong to see him up on his feet so quickly.<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I got in contact with the police before I got here.</span> <<link 'Detective Oak'>>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup('She is an addict yet another victim of the city. - YOU WERE 25');
Dialog.wiki('Detective Allison Oak, whose love of alcohol does not pair well with her self-imposed "no guns" rule, but it does make her a welcome ally in all things. Even if she annoys you, and can not tell a good beer from gas station trash. You all became allies two years ago.');
Dialog.open();<</script>><</link>> <span style="color:#94B8C7">is letting me speak to the men arrested tomorrow morning."</span>
You sigh, rub your hand through your hair and rest it on your forehead. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Right, right, of course, she has. I still think you should rest,"</span> Arthur limps from the medical table to the large computer chair and falls into it.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"When this is over and the maniac with the cane is behind bars I'll make sure to sleep another day. Just for you."</span> he turns in his chair and turns on the monitors. And right on there is the one email you didn't want him to see. An email from <<link 'WHO'>>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup('Who? You know who they are Reyes. - YOU ARE 27');
Dialog.wiki('The World Health Organization, this is their fifth email now. Asking for you to join them. They sent their first email three months ago.');
Dialog.open();<</script>><</link>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Ah!"</span>
[[>"Wait, don't click on the email please."]]
[[>"Arthur, not now."->>"Wait, don't click on the email please."]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Is it?"</span> Arthur blinks and raises an eyebrow in confusion. Then he lets out a sigh and continues to open the work.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"What too much?"</span>.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">" That was a joke? Oh no! Love, you aren't funny anymore."</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Oh my god." </span> Arthur laughs to himself before getting back to the work he had to do.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Blue imagery out the ass, dark blue. It's ugly it's...colonial. Right?"</span> he clicks his tongue and types, <span style="color:#94B8C7">"I don't know why I'm asking you, you suck at history."</span>
You kiss your teeth.<<if $thighstab is "Wrap">><<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 2>>And roll your neck as you stretch the medical gauze. Following the procedure you wrap the gauze around his wound, watching with fear as the blood seeps through the white roll. You keep wrapping and wrapping, just until you stop seeing the damp spot of blood.<<endif>><<if $thighstab is "Stitching">><span style="color:#94B8C7">"Keep still,"</span><<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 1>>you tell him with an annoyed sigh. With needle and thread in hand, you knit the wound close, ceasing any bleeding or infection that could come from it. You hate how the room is silent now, except for the sound of skin being stitched together.<<endif>><<if $thighstab is "Torniquet">><<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 3>>Filled with the small intention to smack him upside the head. But you don't, instead, you grab the equipment you need. You're grateful that your kit comes with almost every medical treatment money could buy, but especially that it comes with medical tourniquets. This is another practiced procedure so you place the tourniquet in its proper place; several inches above the injury - three inches in this case. No trouble no worry. Once it's in place you tighten, and <i>keep tightening</i>. You can tell it gives Arthur some discomfort, but for a stab wound like this. The tourniquet was the best option.<<endif>><<if $thighstab is "Blood Transfusion">> <<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 0>>And then you kiss your teeth again. You know this is going to get your shirt bloody. You grab the proper blood pack and place the needle right above where the injury is. It doesn't look right; it looks terribly <b>wrong</b> but the more that Arthur's blood drips on the ground the more you fear that if you don't move now he'll go into shock right here. Die right here. <br><br> You take a breath. Just keep <b>going</b>. The blood transfers into him, and some of it leaks onto your hands, down to the sleeves of your white shirt. You have to stop wearing white.<<endif>>
You brush your hands and look at the blood that pools under the chair. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"You think it'd be bad if Licentia found your blood in his house?"</span> there's sweat on your brow, and you take a wipe from your kit to start cleaning it up.
Arthur laughs, and your heart skips!
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"It'd be embarassing but <i>bad?</i> I'm not sure about that. Besides I don't think he's been home in weeks." </span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Weeks?"
"I think he's been planning this for weeks. At least a month by now."
"Planning what exactly?"
"His revolution."</span>
[[>Sigh. That's all you can do.]]
[[>"His what?"->>Sigh. That's all you can do.]]<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Insane? Maybe... but just tying it down just to that invalidates what <i>exactly</i> he's doing. Why he's doing it..."</span> Arthur hums to himself. He taps against the keyboard. You watch him, you can't help but get lost in his features despite everything.
You need to focus.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"So if not insanity than what?"</span>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I don't think it mattered to him."
"Mattered to him?"
"I don't think it mattered where the bombs went, where the guns go, where the bodies pile up. None of it matters."
"What are you talking about?"
"He wants violence. To any degree."</span>
<<if $gunshot is "Stitching">><span style="color:#94B8C7">"To any degree? What're you talking about?"</span><<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 1>> you grab the medical thread and your needle. You aren't sure if threading his gunshot wound is the best idea but it'd cease the bleeding. You hate that more of the body you sleep next to is becoming so much medical string. <br><br>You pool more blood on the computer chair by squeezing the wound to sew it shut. <<endif>><<if $gunshot is "Wrap">><span style="color:#94B8C7">"To any degree? What're you talking about?"</span><<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 1>> you sit him up as you stretch the medical gauze. Wrapping around his chest. It'd stop the bleeding, and since it didn't hit an artery there won't be more you have to do besides keep it clean and full of antibodies. You've clean <<link 'bullet wounds'>>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup('he came home with a bullet wounds ');
Dialog.wiki('there were holes in his body blood in every wound. you held it in. but you sobbed against his sleeping body. he comforted you. ');
Dialog.open();<</script>><</link>> before.<<endif>><<if $gunshot is "Torniquet">><span style="color:#94B8C7"><<set $nightpoints to $nightpoints + 2>>"To any degree? What're you talking about?"</span> you grab the torniquet and raise it a few inches above the bullet-wound. For something this small you know the exact distance to place it. Arthur lifts himself to let you do it easier. This should stop the bleeding, but you worry that it might have been <i>too</i> much.<<endif>>
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"I think to him, all that mattered was the pain that he could cause."</span> Arthur leans forward and points at a notepad document. You want to look at him rather than the file but you let your eyes slowly follow his pointed finger to the names. Locations, hundreds of them, were listed on the notepad. And next to locations? Numbers. 50, 150, 300.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"What is this Arthur?"</span> you ask. A fear sparks in you from Arthur's tone. From his expression.
<span style="color:#94B8C7">"Estimated body counts. He's counting them all. Every single person."</span> he says it so quickly. So easily. His brows are furrowed, and his knuckles white. There is silence again. Dripping silence as the reality of the monstrosity that lived in this very place sinks in.
Arthur lets out a breath. You find it hard to breathe.
So you go to the easier thing - holding Arthur, fixing Arthur. You twist his gaze to you and you focus on the forming black eye.<<set $status to "Eye Bruising">>
<div align='center'> <<listbox "$blackeye">>
<<option "Ice Pack" "Ice" `$blackeye == "Ice" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Warm Compress" "Warm" `$blackeye == "Warm" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<<option "Massage" "Massage" `$blackeye == "Massage" ? "selected" : ""`>>
<</listbox>></div>
[[>Kiss your teeth]]
[[>Rest your forehead against his.]]Falling asleep in this place is painful, whether it's the lack of proper bedding or the atmosphere of the base. Either way, it leaves a knot in your back, one that doesn't leave for days. But it's especially bad when you're jolted awake from the sound of <<link 'screeching tires'>>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup('Velocity Mobile - YOU WERE 25');
Dialog.wiki('He calls it a car but you would not call it that at all, with the combination of fiberglass and steel that makes it up. Tires that are entirely bulletproof and different weaponry starting to be built into it. It is more like a tank. It is terrifying. But he drove it with grace and skill and you can tell he loved it. Two years have passed and he drives it all the same.');
Dialog.open();
<</script>><</link>>. Even in the stupor of waking up your synapses are firing. There's no reason that he'd be coming in at such top speeds so late - no reason - unless he was hurt. Unless he was <em>really</em> hurt.
<span style="color:#94B8C7"><b>"Arthur-"</b></span> you grumble, kicking yourself to stand. Your palms rest on the edge of the table as you shake your head letting the crust around your eys fall at the side. <span style="color:#94B8C7">"Arthur!"</span><<set $status to "Online">>
The car comes to a sudden stop after speeding into the base letting the hidden garage door shut as it does.
[[>"Arthur hold on!"]]