riverviewlogs | [semi-open] hurry up now, i need a miracle

who: eddie thawne & semi-open
what: Eddie gets caught in a shoot-out and goes to the hospital
when: April 15 and afterward
where: around the quarantine
warnings: gun violence, blood, serious injury

✪ the incident

[It started like any other day, kissing Cisco good-bye while he sleeps in, heading off to work in his patrol car while eating a piece of toast, packed lunch beside him, dressed in his usual neatly-pressed three-piece suit. Nothing particularly notable is supposed to be happening, mostly, he intends to do paperwork and research on an ongoing case, to interview a few suspects. And that's what he does.

Until it hits just after noon and he eats lunch while checking his phone, sends off a quick series of texts to Cisco, smiling at the camera while he chews his sandwich. That's when the call comes over the radio, about a car chase downtown, that two officers are down and they need backup. Glancing around, Eddie notices that the station is close to empty and the call isn't too far away, so he buckles up his gun belt and heads out. The chase is short before the car careens into the side of a skyscraper, there's smoke and flame everywhere, and Eddie drives his car up to join the line of cars being used as cover while one of the perpetrators shoots bolts of electricity at the line of police officers, and another uses an old-fashioned gun.

Everything is a blur of adrenaline and fear and focus, Eddie draws his gun, he uses his powers to shield over and over to protect his fellow officers, and when a couple of the officers at the front get hit with a burst of electricity, tumbling to the ground, Eddie bolts out without thinking. It seems to happen in slow motion - the second bolt of electricity flies at him while he fights exhaustion to get his shield back up, the electricity hits the shield, and his concentration flickers. The bolt hits him hard, his body tries to absorb it, he jerks and twitches, falls to the ground, overloaded, burning hot, nose bloody.

It takes a moment to start moving again, he becomes aware that one of the officers is still down while the other staggers back to the line of cars. Pushing himself up onto his knees, he coughs out a mouthful of blood, and starts to stand.

And then the bullet hits him in the side.

For a moment, everything goes still and silent. Eddie has been shot before, in the chest, he's felt the bullet penetrate his body, felt the damage it did, struggled to cling to life. But that was a choice he made, he was prepared, and this is different. It enters from the side, hits him like a hammer, knocking him over on his side. Curled up on the pavement, he struggles to breathe while the side of his shirt and suit jacket get hot and wet and the rest of him gets cold, so cold...

The last thing he sees before everything goes dark is a blurry view of the line of police officers behind him, shouting his name, shouting something he can't hear...]

OOC: Drop a starter or message me for a starter if you'd like your character to be involved in this in any way. Any of Eddie's CR (close or not) is welcome to drop a hospital visit thread in here or ask me for one!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's South, and that's how she is, but for a moment, when she says she's not worried about him, that she just doesn't want to be without someone to pick on, his lips tremble a little, his eyes sting a little. It's stupid. He knows she doesn't mean it, but right now he's feeling cold, everything hurts, he can feel the heat of his own blood, and he just wants to feel like he'd be missed if he were gone.

It's stupid. He knows he'd be missed. Cisco would miss him. South would miss him, no matter what she says. It's obvious by the way she squeezes his hand, and he wasn't lying when he said he could tell that she was worried even if she didn't want him to. Taking a shaky breath, he chastises himself, forces his energy inward to try to keep himself going until those ambulances get here.

"Yeah well..."

He starts talking, then falls quiet, blood dripping down his chin, and he wrinkles his nose.

"Oh god that tastes nasty."

She moves her hand not trying to stop the bleeding to his hair after a second, just smoothing her fingers over it lightly. She wants to cry. She wants to scream. She wants to hurt someone. Anything to fix this. But she doesn't know what to do other than crack jokes and pray to whatever there may or may not be up there that he pulls through. There's just so much blood.

"Well you're not a vampire, of course it tastes like shit. Never had blood in your mouth before? Jeez." Her voice cracks a little despite her efforts, eyes stinging as she blinks a few times and shakes her head.

"God, you're making such a mess." She says quieter than she intends, softer, her hand moving to pull the bottom of her under shirt out a bit and wiping at his chin and lips.

"Eddie, I swear to god..." South trails off, pursing her lips together and looking around again to see how far help is. Too far- they should've been there before he was even fucking hurt, goddamn it! She should've done more. Somehow, she should've done something to prevent this.

Eddie manages a little cough, his eyes squeezing shut, and it's excruciating, the pain radiating through his ribs and torso, his body spasming slightly, and blood spatters down his chin a little more. For a moment, he's painfully afraid, beyond afraid, because this reminds him of when he'd died before, he remembers feeling this cold and the taste of blood and all the pain as things went fuzzy around the edges, as he lost consciousness...

But it's not like that this time. He has things to fight for, and no reason to die, no reason to let himself go. This time he has Cisco, his life here, he has Shadow and his other friends and South. He has South. Who's gently stroking his hair and still cracking jokes while she looks at him like she's going to cry, and he manages a bit of a smile.

Just a little one.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to make a mess, South. Not that..."

Another cough, and a little noise of pain comes out of him, his body convulsing a bit, more blood trickling down his chin.

"...not that. Not that I ever thought...you'd mind a mess."

Looking up at her, he breathes raggedly, watching her face as he hears the sirens wailing themselves over.

"I'm not...going...to die."

She's so not close to crying, no way! She's just got some dust in her eyes or something, that's all. Of course. And a catch in her throat, just needs a drink of water, nothing to see here.

"A mess normally isn't a big deal, but on this pretty face? Just doesn't go." She says finally, trying to wipe the blood and fighting a frown as she can't wipe it nearly fast enough.

She glances up briefly but looks back down as he speaks, touching bloodied fingertips to his cheek and shaking her head.

"Nah, you're not going to die. I won't allow it." It's times like this that she wishes she felt as cocksure as she speaks.

Because the truth is, she doesn't know if he's going to live or not. She doesn't know what's going to happen from here out. She has no idea or control over the situation and it scares her more than she ever would admit. He's dying practically in her arms and all she can do is crack dumb comments and jokes and try to slow the bleeding.

But help is there, and she's ushered out of the way, hovering closer than she probably should and, yes, telling them how to do their jobs. Be careful, be quick, he's bleeding a lot, do something, anything, fucking fix it, fix it now, save him right the fuck now, he won't be the only one in the body freezer if you don't save him, heads will fucking roll, do something more, do more now. A barrage of words, her eyes not leaving his face as she at least somewhat tries not to crowd them as they get to him.

People are going to pay for this. Whole worlds are going to burn for this. She can feel the uncontrolled rage bubbling just below the fear and worry, waiting to explode out. First, she needs to make sure he's okay. She needs him to be okay. He has to be okay.

At her comment about his pretty face and how it doesn't go, he manages a bigger smile, his lashes fluttering a little as he looks up at her face, breathing raggedly. She tells him she won't let him die, she won't allow it, and something about the confidence she projects when she says it makes him really feel it.

There are things to fight for. And so he fights.

He keeps fighting even as the ambulances wail their way up and South is pulled away from him, and he can still hear her yelling and bossing people around and the flurry of medical attendants are putting the oxygen mask on him, he can feel, vaguely, the IV being put into his arm. But he focuses on South's voice, and he keeps fighting, half-awake and half-lost in pain and cold, until he can't stay awake anymore.

All she can do besides bark orders is stand there, helpless, useless, watching in concern. Which only grows as he's loaded up and his eyes are shut. She wants to go with him, keep him safe, make sure they're doing things right and doing their very fucking best. But she also has to find every last one of these bastards and make them suffer a slow, painful, agonizing death. So she waits in awkward silence as they take him awake, tossing out one more harsh order to save him or else, but just standing there as he's taken away.

She has work to do.

[semi-open] hurry up now, i need a miracle

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