10 - Acceptance and Cold Iron

*Characters: West, Michael, Brooks, Stone, Willow, Jerry*

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West was enjoying her day off in one of the staff rooms, chatting with Michael and Brooks. “I still don’t get why Stone hasn’t accepted you being here, it’s been almost six months..” West turned towards Brooks as she replied to whatever Michael had said, Michael sighed “All I know is Dr. Stone tends to make it clear she doesn’t like me,”

West leaned back, her wings cushioning her back “Give her time Michael. In her defense, you were from the CI” suddenly all three of them jumped as the staff room door slammed open, and as they turned West saw Stone standing in the doorway, holding something like she wanted to cause chaos.

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Michael saw both West and Brooks stand up, as they did he heard Dr. Stone laugh “You think simply standing up is gonna stop me?”  He saw West’s wing twitch “Stone, don’t you dare because I swear to god if you even think it, you're gonna be in deep shit” in response to West’s threat, Dr. Stone raced off down the hall. West let out an annoyed sigh and turned to Michael “Use the walkie and let the security team know,” she told him as she motioned for Brooks to follow.

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Stone trotted down the hall, laughing as she heard footsteps and wing beats. As she rounded a corner she dove behind a plant and pulled off the grate that blocked off an air vent, climbing through it following West and Brooks from overhead.

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Brooks skidded to a halt, panting slightly as West landed and looked around confused. “Where did Stone go? We were right behind her,” Brooks asked as she glanced around, noticing Michael running towards them. When Michael caught up it seemed like he was going to say something, however his voice was drowned out by the sound of an alarm, echoing loudly through the site.

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Willow was writing something down, when an alarm rang out. She wondered what was going on because the closest alarm test wasn’t until next week, so she opened the door and poked her head out, only to find West, Brooks and Michael in the hall also looking confused.

“Dr. Stone wouldn't be enough of a reason to use the security breach alarm, right?” Willow turned towards Michael as he asked, raising his voice over the alarm. Willow shrugged in response, and suddenly turned as they all heard the sounds of rapid footsteps.

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As she inched through the vents, Stone heard the muffled sound of what sounded like a yelp behind her. Confused, she quickly backed up to an open section of the vents and peered through it, her ears perking at what she saw: The others were surrounded by a large group of CI agents, unarmed aside from a small knife in West’s hand.

Stone rummaged through her pockets and found a smoke bomb she had stolen from Willow just an hour earlier, she then roughly pulled the vent opening off As she lit the smoke bomb and chucked it down. “Guess I get to cause chaos after all” she muttered to herself as she dropped out of the vent, pistol out and loaded.

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Willow watched as a large cloud of smoke plumbed around the raid, the agents barely visible. Willow then realized that someone -who she could only assume was Stone- dropped down and she also heard the sounds of struggle and a gunshot or two. As the smoke cleared she saw Stone and a single CI agent standing, the rest seemed to be either flat out dead or severely injured.

She turned as she heard Michael groan in annoyance at the sight of the last standing CI member “It had to fucking be him?” Michael sighed as the Agent turned to face Michael.

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Michael took a step back as he realized Eric was aiming the CI issued pistol every agent had directly at his chest. “I am going to fucking kill you for what you did to Val and Nick!” Michael glared at Eric “First off, I did jackshit to them, and second they fucking deserved what they got, the both of them were complete and utter assholes!”

At Michael’s response Eric pulled the trigger. Luckily for Michael, Eric had zero aim and missed his chest completely: hitting his arm instead. Even though Michael had gotten lucky, the gunshot still hurt, and he folded slightly grabbing his arm.

Michael looked up as he heard the sound of hoofbeats, to his surprise and likely the surprise of the others he saw Dr. Stone standing in front of him blocking him from Eric. “Dr. Stone what.. What are you doing?” he asked as he stood as straight as he could, as Dr. Stone glanced over her shoulder “You know what the others call me Michael, use it.”

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Brooks -who was helping Michael stay up- watched as Stone then turned to her, noticing that the fae gave her an uncommon soft smile. Brooks then watched as Stone turned towards West and Willow, the teen giving both of them a firm nod. At that moment Brooks realized that Stone was planning something.

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Stone stood in front of Michael, her heart pounding in her ears. She took a deep breath and seconds later a seemingly doubled crack rang out between her and the last CI agent.

They had fired at the same time, causing the crack of the shots to echo loudly off each other.

Suddenly Stone’s stomach erupted in pain, feeling as if she was burnt on top of being shot. Something wasn’t right, normal bullets didn't do this..

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West watched as the CI agent dropped to the floor, letting out a sigh of relief. West relaxed a little  “Thank god you’re oka-” Her relief dropped as she watched Stone suddenly sink to her knees before dropping to the tiled floor. West quickly raced to Stone’s side, noticing a small pool of silvery blood beneath her. West watched as Brooks rolled Stone on to her back and lifted her shirt no higher than the bullet wound.

Around the wound there was almost could be confused for burn marks, and at the sight of this West felt a wave of panic set over her. “Michael.. What kind of bullets does the CI use in raids?” Michael, looking worried at being asked this, replied “Iron, why?”

West unintentionally flared her wings and turned to Brooks “Go tell the medical staff we’re coming”

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Stone felt as if her body was on fire, her blood running cold as it trickled down her side: a stark contrast. She groaned in pain as she felt someone moving her, realizing she had Iron poisoning as she blacked out.

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Michael watched as Brooks got up and raced toward the Medical wing of the site, he then turned to West “I can carry her there if you want,”  he stated as he watched the 21 year old cradle Stone’s head, gently stroking the fae’s horns “No. I can do it,” was all West said as she shifted places and attempted to lift the teen, however Stone’s dead weight was too much for West to handle in her likely emotional state.

Michael gently pushed West away and slid his arms under Stone, lifting her before the three of them raced towards the medical wing. In a matter of seconds they burst through the doors and were rushed into a room, Michael setting Stone as instructed by a medical staff.

He watched as the medical team, ever so gently, removed the bullet. Michael’s eyes widened as he realized the burn-like marks had spread widely and at a fast rate since Stone first went down.

Michael stepped back and stood near the door as the medical team scrambled to gather equipment, as well as one of them hooking up a heart monitor.

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Willow turned towards the small monitor when a loud steady high pitched sound came from it, she then realized Stone had flatlined. The medical staff began to panic and started to attempt to restart Stone’s heart. She heard Brooks take a shaky breath as she watched.

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Time seemed to freeze as Stone’s body struggled to fight the iron poisoning, everything was dark and she heard nothing but mumbles and voices that seemed to be both right next to her but also thousands of miles away. Stone felt an eerie sort of calmness wash over her as the sound of her own heart stopping rang clear in her head.

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It was clear that the medical team was struggling to start it, when one of them brought in a defibrillator. Willow watched as most of the medical team stepped back, and she turned away and looked towards West as they continued working.

For what felt like hours, the medical staff worked nonstop to save Stone, but it was becoming increasingly apparent that their attempts were not aiding her condition. Willow watched as frustrated tears started to form in West’s eye, and while she couldn’t see Michael or Brooks she knew that they weren’t handling this well either.

Willow watched as West’s wing dropped as the medical staff stepped away from Stone, setting down the defibrillator. Willow didn't need to look to know that West had moved closer to Stone, and while she couldn’t make out what West was saying, she heard West whisper something to Stone before she stepped away, pulling Brooks into a hug.

The Medical team must have unhooked most of the stuff, since there was no longer the steady sound of the flatlined heart monitor. Willow stared at the floor, not knowing what to do: should she go over to Stone, should she comfort West and the others, should she snap at the medical staff telling them that they could’ve done better?

Again she didn’t know so she simply stood near the door.

......

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There was nothing, Stone felt nothing except guilt: how could she leave now? When the death of Kyle was still fresh even after almost a year? Suddenly there was an echo coming from nowhere and everywhere, Stone couldn’t make out what it was saying or who it was until it grew louder and louder: It was West. “Stone, tell Kyle we miss him”

The guilt Stone felt grew deeper, she felt selfish for not being able to fight hard enough to stick around. How fucking dare she leave her family like this?

Suddenly something latched onto Stone’s hoof and was attempting to drag her deeper into the dark.

Not ready to let go, Stone fought as hard she fucking could to get whatever had a hold of her leg off. Stone gave one last kick putting as much force as she could into, and it must have been enough, since she felt the pressure let go.

Suddenly as if someone had placed a spotlight over her, everything was a bright white. She heard a voice -that seemed to be her own - echoing loudly.

‘Not yet, not yet, not yet’

The voice repeated those two small yet also somehow major words, slowly fading as Stone began to feel what she only assumed was somewhere in Site-██.

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Willow turned back towards Stone quickly when she heard the sound of a gasp, she watched as Stone’s hand tightly grabbed a hold of the nearest arm as the faun coughed.

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Brooks let out the breath she didn’t even realize that she was holding, watching as Stone sat up weakly. She moved closer to Stone as the teen glanced around the room before stating “Y’all can’t get rid of me that easily” This earned a smack in the arm from an annoyed but also relieved West.

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West looked over her shoulder as she heard Michael talk “Did you really mean it when you said we were friends?” West grinned as Stone raised an eyebrow “Hey, I didn’t say we were friends,” She stated matter-of-factly “But yes, just call me Stone,” she added quietly.

West saw Michael nod, and watched as Stone laid back down, bringing her hand to her forehead muttering about feeling like she was on fire.

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Stone’s vision was a bit blurry, but she knew that she was home simply by the scent of the rest of the Chaos Fam. She for the first time in about a year didn’t fight the medical staff as they worked on her, watching the blurry shapes of West and the others step out of the room. Stone wasn’t sure where they had gone, but she wasn’t worried.

However, the memory of the empty almost void-like place she had been lingered heavily. She hoped that no-one in the Chaos Fam would ever experience the darkness that wherever that place was. Stone’s thoughts became soft in her own head as she felt something over her mouth.

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Brooks followed Jerry out of the room with the others, glancing back as one of the other medical staff placed an anesthetic mask over Stone’s mouth. “Dr. Stone will need to take it easy for the next while, and as we all know she is stubborn as a goat -no pun intended- but I know she’d sooner listen to you than trained medical staff” Jerry informed them.

Brooks heard West chuckle softly “I’m surprised she’s not fighting you guys tooth and nail as we speak” Michael’s face gained a confused look “Does Dr- I mean Stone often fight off medical help?” Brooks nodded “Should have seen her when we got back from the CI base”

Jerry nodded “She lost enough blood that she would try to stand only to end up face first on the floor..” Jerry crossed his arms “aanyways, she will likely be pretty sore for a while as well so just keep an eye on her,” Brooks saw West nod, and they all turned when they heard a soft “Guys.. Where'd you go?” come from a very drowsy Stone.

Brooks was not surprised as Stone was somehow standing in the door, likely higher than a kite due the anesthetics given to her. Brooks heard Jerry let out a defeated sigh as he nodded to Willow before walking away. Stone stood in the doorway for a few seconds before she leaned against the frame and sunk slowly to the floor.

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West shook her head as she walked over and gently pulled the faun to her feet, in response Stone gave a slightly annoyed sound that was practically a goat bleat. She heard Michael and Willow suppress a laugh as she led Stone towards the nearest staff room, helping the teen lay down on one of the couches. Seconds later Michael showed up with a blanket from Stone’s dorm, laying it over the fae.

The two nodded to each other before making their way back to Willow and Brooks.