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Wolf In Sheeps Clothing [MATURE][Cas/Dante][complete]
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Post by Cross on Apr 12, 2018 13:24:30 GMT
With Daggers help Cas manages to reach the windows as she carefully cracks the curtains to peer out and see who is banging on her door. To her relief and surprise she recognizes the trio from before until her relief turns to sharp concern at the state Shirou appears to be in.
"Cloak, Dagger, Get upstairs to the flat. We're about to have guests." Cas orders as the Digimon reluctantly slink back, but do no farther then the top of the stairs just barely out of sight. Reaching for the door Cas pulls it open glancing over the trio with a harsh frown as she takes in their various states and the amount of blood all over the dark haired man on Dante's back.
"Follow me. We need to get him to the operating room stat." Cas barks out uncaring that she looks just as bad as the trio with the purpling bruises around her neck and eyebrow where Cassius had clocked her with a headbutt, but she doesn't care. The Doctor turns sharply on her heel expecting them to follow as she shrugs out of her blood covered jacket tossing it aside in favor of rolling up her sleeves and grabbing a pair of latex gloves as she moves. She leads Dante out of the waiting room and into the first door on the left. The floor is tiled, a metal operating table in the center with surgical lights as Cas flicks them on and motions for him to set Shirou down. The second he's on the flat surface Cas motions for them to give her some room and gets to work.
"Never remove the impaling implement. I need to slow his bleeding and fast. He's lost a lot of blood already." She explains drawing a syringe and injecting Shirou with topical anesthesia around the wound. She hopes it's enough to take care of some of the pain as she grabs her disinfectant and sets about trying to clean the injury and stop the bleeding.
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Post by Dante on Apr 13, 2018 6:49:18 GMT
To their surprise, the medic who answers the door is, the woman from before? Dante wasn't expecting that, but glad to see she made it out.
"Hey Cas. I'm glad you escaped. Willow is fine, but Shirou is in a bad way."
Dante carries Shrou inside, and lays him down on a metal operating table. Cas is barking orders, but Dante understands with the severity of Shirou's wounds. At this point, Dante's jacket and hands are coated in Shirou's blood. Cas tells Dante that he shouldn't have removed the impaled object.
"But, I thought that's what I was supposed to do. Oh, I forgot to cauterize the wound! Sorry, Shirou." "Oooohhhhh..."
Cas begins to assess the wounded computer whiz. Dante notices the scrapes and bruises on Cas' body. He feels bad that she is taking time to help Shirou when she has her own injuries to deal with.
"You look pretty banged up. Are you alright? Thank you for helping us."
Wormmon tosses around in Dante's bag, trying to get comfortable. Dante tucks his bag under his arm, hoping Cas won't notice something is up. At this time, Dante has no reason to believe that Cas would know about Digimon or understand why a perverted, sociopathic caterpillar was always following him around. As Cas sticks Shirou with a syringe, Shirou cries out in pain.
"Ye-ah-hooooww! Ooohh, what an awful day. This is why I don't leave the house very often, Dante." "Please, try to conserve your strength. You might not recover for months." "What, this? I've been hurt worse." "If that ice spear hit you an inch lower, your heart would be torn in two!" "My heart is already broken, Dante. Years of rejection will do that to you."
Is it difficult to tell just how delirious Shirou has become because of the blood loss. Shirou had indeed been roughed up in the past, but in spite of all his knowledge and inventions, his body is still frail. Dante couldn't help but feel responsible for coaxing his friend into investigating with him. If only he had been faster, if only he could have saved his friend. Something tells Dante that this wouldn't be the last time they had to deal with the master thief Cassius and his chilling sea serpent.
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Post by Cross on Apr 13, 2018 7:07:53 GMT
"I'm fine. I'm not the one with a near fatal chest wound rapidly losing blood while too far from an emergency room to not be D.O.A" Cas quips her words no nonsense as she asses her patient too intent on saving him to notice the movement in Dante's bad. The wound is bad. Too close to delicate organs, the muscles torn, and a rib chipped and broken which is likely the only thing that saved Shirou. Causing the 'ice spear' to glance off the bone and miss his heart.
"What the fuck was he doing being hit with an ice spear!" The Doctor explains even as she sprays down the area with disinfectant and works despite the blood to realign the bone of his rib as fast as she can. Quite frankly she's amazed Shirou is still awake, but being awake in this case while undergoing life saving chest surgery is not a kindness.
"Dante! Dante I need the....fuck you wouldn't know what you were looking at even if I asked." Cas cussed realizing she's on her own here unless.... "Nothing you see in this clinic leaves this clinic got it!" She orders not waiting for confirmation before she yells out.
"Cloak! I need you to get the bone tape! Dagger grab me one of the emergency medical pads we need to temporarily pack and seal up the exit point before he bleeds out!" She yells as the digimon waiting on the stairs are quick to skitter into the room. The Kotemon diving for one of the cabinets and coming up alongside his tamer with a roll of what looked like liquid cement tape as she motions for him to cut her her some and carefully works on patching the rib into place. The Zubamon is just a step behind rifling through the cabinets before offering a large pad as Cas pulls her hands from Shirou's chest just long enough to motion for the bladed digimon to cut the shirt off the patient as she lifts him just far enough to slap the pad on the backside of the wound.
"Come on...come on....I just need to get you stable." She muttered as much to Shirou as to herself as she dives back into his chest wound barking orders to the two surprisingly quiet digimon as she works to pack his chest wound and clamp it closed for stitching. The scar even with her skill will likely be rather large and ugly, but the man won't lose the dexterity of his arm on that side nor die and that's all that matters to Cas. Her intention to buy him time to get to an actual hospital to replenish the blood he needs.
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Post by Dante on Apr 13, 2018 7:33:23 GMT
Few things are as tense as emergency lifesaving surgery. Cas does everything in her power to save Shirou. The Doctor goes to ask Dante to retrieve something for her, but changes her mind and rudely mentions that Dante wouldn't know what she is talking about. In theory, she was correct on that assumption, but it rubbed Dante the wrong way. Still, Dante wasn't concerned with manners at this point.
Another surprise, Cas actually has Digimon accomplices! A Kotemon and Zubamon come downstairs, and assist Cas with the surgery.
"Oh, you know about Digimon?!"
Wormmon hears the D word, and pops his head out of the bag.
"Digimon? Hiya! Cas, it's me, Willow! We'll talk more when Shirou isn't dying."
It was morbid for Dante seeing one of his closest friends near death. Sure, they have had their disagreements in the past. It even took a few months before they warmed up to each other enough for Dante to consider him a friend. But seeing Shirou laying there, someone who at one point seemed to have it all figured out, all of his wealth and inventions, and yet still death crept towards him. Dante didn't want to be there. He is so frustrated at himself, and Shirou to a degree for being so defenseless today, but most of all, he wants to make Cassius pay. Seeing Shirou laying there, Dante could no longer deny that he craves vengeance. If pursuing Cassius means that more pain and suffering would enter the world, so be it.
Shirou lays there on the table, almost motionless besides his mangled body doing its damnedest to suck in oxygen. He didn't even have the energy to tilt his head down and admire Cas' chest. Dante sees Shirou for what he really is, Human. After a moment of remaining silent, Shirou manages to muster a few words.
"D-Dante... if anything happens, I need you... to take care of my research." "Don't talk like that. Cas is going to get you through this!"
A dark figure passes across the doorway, as Keramon let himself in to be there for his partner. The Virus type extends a cable towards Shirou, and he holds the cable in his hand. Shirou slowly closes his eyes, then lets out an elongated breath of air as he passes out from the pain.
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Post by Cross on Apr 13, 2018 7:51:30 GMT
"Ah well that explains some things." Cas murmurs as she spares the Wormmon the barest glance before continuing her work. She does not even lift her head to glance at the Keramon as it enters though the Kotemon and Zubamon eye it hostilely till it proves to be the injured man's partner and not a threat to them.
"I need you to fetch me the suture thread and the fifth smallest needle I have." Cas orders as the Kotemon, Cloak nods and goes to the cabinets to bring back a small tube of needles. Shucking off her blood slickened gloves Cas tosses them into the nearby trash before pulling on a new pair to handle the needles. The clamps are thankfully holding, the pad on the back buying her additional time before the man bleeds out. She does her best to ignore his deathbed confession as he thankfully finally passes out.
"He's fine. He's going to be fine. I haven't lost anyone in this clinic yet and I'm not going to start now." Cas snarls out more to herself then to anyone else as she preps the wound one last time then threads a needle and begins to sew the wound up. Her stitches neat and close and her hands steady despite the way her own injuries ache and the skin around her neck purples in the pattern of fingers on her skin like the ghost of hands no longer there.
"Cas won't let him die. She's very stubborn." The Zubamon whispers to Dante and Wormmon though his words echo in the quiet room as the Doctor fights against the clock.
"I'm Dagger by the way. That's my twin Cloak over there. Don't mind him." Dagger adds nodding to the Kotemon that lingers close and at the ready beside Cas as Dagger leaves Dante and Wormmon with a nod skirting around the Keramon to dispose of Shirou's ruined shirt.
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Post by Dante on Apr 13, 2018 8:15:24 GMT
Seeing Cas in action, it was clear just how advanced her skills were. She knew what she is doing, maybe even having performed this kind of surgery several times before. She reassures the group that she does not intend to lose him. It was hard for Dante to ignore his emotions. His eyes start to water, but he tries hard to hide his tears. Even the normally peppy Wormmon is feeling blue. The alleged Worm King frowns, and his antennae droop.
Dante gets a bit squeamish seeing Cas sow up Shirou. His anxiety lessens when Dagger the Zubamon strikes up a quiet conversation. Dante speaks in a soft voice, careful not to distract Cas while she is working.
"Oh, alright. It's a pleasure meeting you. I didn't know Cas knew about Digimon."
Wormmon crawls out of Dante's bag, then snuggles on his lap. Even Wormmon is careful not to make too much noise, for once...
"Hiya, Dagger. Looks like we could have used you guys around earlier."
As Cassandra is patching Shirou up, Dante notices the marks on her neck. It appears someone had grabbed her by the neck, and gotten very violent. Dante stops being quiet for a moment.
"Cas, your neck!- oops..."
Dante covers his mouth, worried that Cas will be mad at him for distracting her. It just kind of came out after he saw the fingernail marks. It's a wonder she was able to escape after they had split up.
Keramon tilts his head down. His normally crazy grin appears more solemn and concerned for his Tamer. When Cas pauses for a moment, Keramon speaks in binary to Shirou.
"01001000 01100001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00101110"
Keramon could not speak like ordinary Digimon, only capable of communicating verbally through binary. Yet somehow Shirou was able to understand him. It was a testament to his fascination with technology and unique skill set. Dante thinks back to some of the crazy times he's had with Shirou. Even though Cas reassured them that Shirou would make it, it still hurt seeing him like this.
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Post by Cross on Apr 13, 2018 8:39:40 GMT
"She's afraid some government agency will take us from her so she keeps us quiet." Dagger states softly as he circled back around to the pair after completing his task. "I'm certain had we been with her whatever happened would have gone down very differently. You'll have to tell my twin and I about it here shortly." The Zubamon murmurs with a pleasant smile for once choosing to be tactful, but those gold eyes the same shade as his twins glitter darkly. It is clear the little rookie is out for blood.
Cas keeps her eyes on her work trying off the stitches on the front of Shirou's chest as she plasters a pad over them to keep them clean and slow any excess bleeding. Leaving only his back as she carefully, ever so carefully, rolls him onto his side to tend to the exit point of the injury. At the mention of her neck she mutters out a soft "I'm Fine." As goes about prepping a new needle and thread and removing the pad to sanitize the wound and clamp and stitch it.
"No. You're not, but we will deal with that later." Cloak murmurs speaking for the first time and there is a promise of pain and death in his words for whoever hurt her.
"If you two want to step out of the operating room no one will blame you. The waiting room has tea...I think. Just don't go onto the back porch I think Behemoth might still be napping out there and that bike is touchy with anyone that's not Cas." Dagger suggests, but makes no real move to usher them out as he glances over at the Keramon. Surprisingly the Doctor looks up after she has carefully positioned the clamps her blue eyes softening at the sight of the virus type.
"He's going to be fine." She murmurs once more. Her binary is rusty, but it doesn't take complete fluency to understand the digimon's concern. "I need one of you to call 911. Have an ambulance meet you at the edge of the district. He's going to need a blood transfusion and fluids and I can't do that here, but he'll make it to a hospital safely." Cas explains as she works on stitching up Shiro's back.
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Post by Dante on Apr 13, 2018 9:04:06 GMT
Dagger mentions that Cas is concerned about Cloak and Dagger being discovered and taken away. Dante nods, reassuring Dagger he understands the struggle of keeping Digimon outside of the Digital World.
"I understand. You don't have to worry about us talking and blowing your cover. Maybe we can hang out and talk about what happened once this is all over. Cas was already there when we were captured, and it looks like she had already been through a lot."
When Dante mentions Cas' neck, she brushes it off, showing little concern for what happened. At least, she doesn't seem to want to talk about it for now. After sowing up Shirou's chest, she carefully rotates him onto his side to work on his back. On Shirou's back are some other wounds he has suffered in the past few years. There's a scar on his lower back, as well as what appears to be a piece of metal protruding out near the top of his spine. Regardless of what Shirou had said, this has to be his most gruesome injury to date.
Cas instructs someone to dial 911, and meet them outside the district for a pickup. As soon as the doctors notice Cas' handy work, it will be obvious that someone operated on him before he got there, and it was best to keep Cas' place of operation off the radar.
"Alright, I'll call for an ambulance and we can meet them in the limo."
Dante takes out his phone and dials the emergency number. Keramon sulks for his wounded partner, but feels that Shirou is secure in Cas' hands.
Dagger mentions that they don't have to stay in the operating room, but Dante wanted to stay close to Shirou. He is struggling to deal with Shirou's mortality, but was going to see this through. As soon as Cas finishes and Shirou is ready for transport, the group leaves and heads to the limo. Once again, Dante carries Shirou on his back, careful not to jostle the stitches loose. They load Shirou into the back of the limo, and Keramon takes off.
It was clear how much the Digimon present cared about their Tamers. Cloak had mentioned that Cas needed some aid of her own.
"Once we get to the hospital, I'll go in with the both of you for support. I'm not feeling good myself, but my injuries are minor and nothing compared to yours."
"Us Digimon can chill in the limo. Silly Humans, they just don't get us."
Just after reaching the edge of the district, the ambulance shows up. Dante would go with Cas and Shirou, while Keramon would follow the ambulance back to the hospital and wait outside.
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Post by Cross on Apr 13, 2018 9:14:29 GMT
Cloak and Dagger are reluctant to remain in the Limo away from Cas, but wait quietly with the assurance that she will get medical treatment. Not that the paramedics in the ambulance can do much for her as she sits in the back next to Dante as her fellow colleagues look over her handiwork.
"Saved another on huh Cross?" One the the paramedics chirps cheerfully as they rush towards the hospital. Cas offers them a nod and a hesitant smile.
"You know me. Gotta steal the glory and flip death the middle finger." She jokes softly earning a laugh here and there before the group falls silent. Shirou is rushed into the hospital in short order to get the attention he so desperately needs. Cas and Dante are allowed to stick together though as the pair are shuffled off to a room to have their own injuries tended to. The doctor over seeing them steps through the door and takes one look at Cas before letting out a soft amused snort.
"I hope the other guy looks worse Doctor Cross." The Man mutters patching up her lip with a butterfly bandage and giving her something for the swelling and bruises before he turns to work on Dante.
"Trust me I came out on top." Cas murmurs her words soft, but there's a strange ring of truth to them and Dante if he's watching close can see the way her eyes burn bright with emotion.
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Post by Dante on Apr 13, 2018 9:58:53 GMT
As the group is riding in the limo, Dante turns to Cas and nods his head. The look in his eye says it all, how sincere he is.
"Thank you. This means a lot to me."
They meet up with the ambulance, and the three Humans are rushed off to the hospital. Shirou is taken away for emergency care, but later the doctors reassure them that he is in stable condition. Dante only has a few minor scrapes and bruises, but is still glad to address his wounds. He also gets changed out of his blood-soaked clothes, and receives a shot to prevent infection.
In the end, everyone would make a full recovery. It would take some time for Shirou to recover, as he would require assistance for at least a few weeks. Still, no one died, which was a real possibility during this ordeal, and they managed to escape. Dante was still somewhat uneasy around Cas, having seen some of her dark side while they were going through hell together. Yet he feels he has met a great person. He looks forward to getting to know Cas, as well as Cloak and Dagger, in a less hostile setting.
Dante is released before nightfall, but sticks around to be with Shirou. Strange, they were in the same hospital where Shirou has once stolen Shi's Digivices a couple years back. Dante ponders in silence back at some of his memories since he found out about Digimon. For the first time, he is seriously questioning going on any more dangerous adventures. Was it worth risking his life to maintain the balance between worlds?
Dante has enough on his mind, and doesn't need to concern himself with changing his lifestyle overnight. After hopefully a good night's rest, he'll be able to tackle tomorrow's problems as they come. For now, Dante is just glad to put this day behind him. Though one of the difficulties of life is that it's on horrible days like this that people can grow and learn from their mistakes, hopefully becoming better people after the fact. Finally, Dante drifts off to sleep on the couch in Shirou's room. More challenges would await them on the horizon. _________________
Meanwhile, back at the Yokai base... Cassius is brought before his superiors with a guard on either side of him. The higher ups glare down at the thief, as Cassius manages to meet their gaze, tilting his head up having been staring at the floor.
"We have been informed that the prisoners have escaped. Even Doctor Cross. I hope you realize the severity of this failure."
"They must have taken the key off one of the guards. I spoke with them briefly while they were detained, but I didn't see Shirou again after that. I only encountered Cas. I had her detained, but she got the better of me. It was, disgraceful."
"So, you had the Doctor within your grasp, and you still let her escape? What kind of a man are you? Don't you realize that she's our most important bargaining chip when negotiating with the Yakuza?!"
"You speak as if she's a piece of property that you own."
"Do not speak too harshly of Cassius. Anyone who has done their research knows just how difficult she can be. Still, we placed our trust in you, and you failed us. Perhaps some time alone will give you the chance to reflect on your mistakes."
"What are you doing to do to me?"
"It doesn't matter. What does matter is that you better be a more reliable asset to us in the future."
"Take him away."
The guards cuff Cassius' hands and feet, then drag him off. They lock him up in the same elevator shaft where he spoke with Cas and his old adversaries. They chain him against the wall, giving him but a few inches to move in either direction. Cassius has what feels like an eternity to think to himself. His hatred for Cas intensifies. He can't get over how she humiliated him, sliced his face, and left him feeling worthless. He was nothing but a broken man now, and he wouldn't stop pursuing Cassandra until he breaks her. He will share this pain with her. He will have the last laugh. The lights in the room turn off, leaving the no longer smug thief alone in the dark with nothing but pain and shame. _________________
[End Thread]
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