11

You offer a silent prayer to the gods of fanon and bullshit and start making plans on how to get back to campus.

"Ladies?" You ask, making your voice loud enough to get all of their attention. "There's nothing we can do about this here other than wrap it up, keep her from using the arm, and get the fuck back to campus. I don't think Soon-Yi wants to go to the campus clinic—" you pause as she shakes her head violently, "—and I'm not going to try anything in a dirty-ass garage with a pair of barbecue tongs." You don't really want to perform surgery as your first taste of healing magic either, but it seems like a night full of disappointments.

Taking advantage of the audible revulsion to that mental picture you murmur a Finite at the spell on the door and point to Savannah and Susan. "Go find some liquor for Soon-Yi, it'll take the edge off the pain, 'cause there's gonna be some." As they leave you meet the other girls' eyes and try to push a bit of magic into your voice to make it more compelling. "Karen, Sierra, Sarah, move some of those boxes by the door and let's see if we can see out. If we can leave that way great, if not we'll go out the back door." Finally, you turn back to the Korean girl who is just silently staring at you. "I'm going to look for something to bandage your arm, I will be right back."

As you pass back in to the house it's obvious that there must be something in the air or water that makes people idiots because despite the broken glass and a guy laying on the floor with a leg wound most of the people visible are crowded around the windows and filming the firefight going on. Fucking idiots. You duck in to an unused bathroom and shut the door before pulling out a wand and casting ferula on your own right arm. The splint and bandages appear and you cast another spell that causes all the knots to loosen and gather the material before heading back to the garage.

You brace Soon-Yi's arm as gently as you can before ushering the girls back from where they had made a path to the door and try and crack it open. Unsurprisingly it's locked, but with everyone hovering around the couch you manage a soft alohamora and peek out.

You have a direct view of the crash site where empty air is billowing smoke and muzzle flashes. Light from the gunfire and streetlights is glittering off of the broken glass in the street and would make it too damn easy to see you as you tried to escape this way. You'll have to go out the back—you think there was a gate along the back fence. Shutting and wizard locking the door for the moment you step up to the couch and look at all of the faces that turn to you. "We're going out the back, we'd be way too obvious. Hold hands, Soon-Yi in the back. Sierra, you're the tallest, get in the front. Don't run, tripping would be bad. Soon, I'll be behind you, if you can't walk I'll carry you." You look at Sierra, "After you get outside go towards the back left, I think there's a gate there. If not we'll make a hole. Got it?"

The girls trade looks and give you nods. Even without full legilimency you get hints of their nervousness. You're not exactly sure of what you're doing yourself, but you're not going to let it show.

"Let's go."

As soon as Soon-Yi disappears through the door you finite the door lock, levitate a large shelf in front of the door and start to exit when simultaneously your shield necklace warms, a crack echoes through the garage and something metallic pings off the concrete. You duck instinctively and swirl to face the garage door while casting another shield, wand in hand without conscious thought. Looking down the bullet is completely flattened, rolling back and forth on the floor. Snatching it off the ground you stash it in your pocket and try to calm your thundering heart while backing out of the garage and sheathing your wand.

You catch up with the girls right as they make it down the back steps and start towards the end of the yard. You pull your phone from a pocket and get ready to turn on the flashlight when you feel a somewhat familiar mind approach. Stopping and turning you look at the person coming out of the shadows. "Thor?"

"James!" Even though he's not loud, he still has his bombastic style. "I thought I saw you go inside." He gives you a look. "I'm glad you're not crowding closer, nobody's listening to me, someone else is gonna get shot."

"I went to find these girls and one of them got hurt," you gesture over to the group with a thumb. "I was planning on getting them back to campus. I thought there was a gate here, d'you know?"

Thor—who was probably a bit drunk—tugs his beard in agitation. "Someone else was hurt? Are you going to get her to the hospital?"

"She doesn't want anything to do with hospitals, but I'm not going to argue with her about it here."

"Huh, that's fair. I'll assist you, the gate's right over here." He walks past you towards the fence and you catch up with him at the fence line. It's dark enough that your shorter wand shouldn't be too obvious and you cast a notice-me-not on the fence while making sure Thor and the girls are excluded from the effect. With some luck that will keep people from swarming the gate.

A set of quick introductions between Thor and the girls and he pops the latch. You step through first, wand in hand and hidden in the folds of your jacket. Pushing your mind-sense as far as you can you sense nothing, then turn the flashlight on on your phone. You see scrub and trees in between the fence and a house that's having some serious construction work done to it. There's wood everywhere and a dumpster blocking the view of the next street.

You poke your head back through and wave everyone out. "Thunor, get your phone out and use the flashlight to get us to the next street, girls follow him, I'll bring up the rear again."

Thor blinks at the name change he had mentioned earlier and straightens up with a nod to you. "Of course."

You fire a finite and close the gate behind you, catching up to the girls who are keeping Soon-Yi protected in their midst. You take the time to cast a supersensory charm and listen for anyone coming up behind you but you seem to have made a clean escape. The gunfire has slackened a bit-you hope the firefight's almost over. Almost as soon as you think that a series of whumps tell you that someone's brought out the explosives. Without saying anything you try hurrying the girls along a little faster.

At the next street everyone pauses while Thor points out a path partway down the block between two houses that students use that will take you almost all the way back to campus. You're about to start out when your still active charm picks up a deep rumble heading your way. You barely have enough time to get everyone to hide behind the building supplies before two more PRT trucks, this time with foam turrets roll past at a fast clip.

As you all go to stand, Soon-Yi tips and almost falls before Sierra catches her. She keeps trying to use her right arm for things and is stumbling because of them.

You hit her with a featherweight charm and sheathe your wand before scooping her up and throwing Thor a nod. "Lead on, Thunor."

"At once, cyning."

You shake your head and follow him. You really hope he's not secretly an E88 member, he's turned out to be an amusing and dependable guy. Really hung up on old Anglo-Saxon history and prone to randomly use old English, but a good dude.

After the tension of leaving the party, getting back on to campus is child's play. Campus police are blocking the major entrances, but your group manages to slip through a service road and past the unloading docks behind the cafeteria without being seen. Flashing lights draw your attention to the main quad that everyone walks across where it looks like half the police force are sitting around a fallen statue and staring at the torn up lawn.

About halfway to the girls' dorm you pass the campus clinic and you try once more to get Soon-Yi to go in but she's vehemently against it. "No, no, no! My family can't find out about this at all—my uncle will get me pulled out of school," she hisses.

"The fuck do you expect me to be able to do about the bullet in you, I'm not a goddamn surgeon, woman!"

Soon-Yi's close to tears with worry and stress you can feel even without legilimency. "Just get it out somehow and bandage it up, I'll come up with an excuse tomorrow somehow—glass from a broken window or something."

You hiss in irritation. "I don't like this at all. Let's get to your room and get this over with before I decide it's a horrible idea. We'll probably have to sneak in."

Thor nods and breaks in to the conversation. "Yes, they'll have one of the RA's checking IDs and making sure that the only people coming in are the ones who live there, especially with the break-in."

"Do you have a roommate? If not we could try your room instead," Karen asks you.

"I don't even live here, I have an apartment. Unfortunately it's all the way off the other side of campus. It'd be close to an hour before we got there."

"Mmm, the best way would be for a few of you ladies to go back in to your dorm and head upstairs after checking in," Thor offers. "Some of you can make sure the coast is clear and one of you can let us in through the back doors, people use them to smoke all the time."

"Perfect. Savannah, Sarah, Susan, go in, we'll wait around back." The girls head out and you get Karen and Sierra to guide you around to the back of the building while staying out of sight. No one seems to be outside back there so it's a simple wait of a few minutes before Savannah's blonde curls poke out of the door.

Making your way to Soon-Yi and Karen's room, you get Karen to strip away the sheets before you lay the wounded girl on the edge of her bed and start peeling away the bandage. It hasn't bled excessively but in the brighter light of the dorm room the ruby-red of the blood and the missing chunk of flesh elicits heaves from a couple of the girls.

"Are you sure you want me to do this?" you plead a final time.

Soon might be a bit punch-drunk at this point. "Yes! Come on Mr. Magic Hands—"

"This is not a Magic Hands occasion goddammit!" you snap before cutting your eyes over to the rest of the group. "Alright, I need to wash my hands. Do any of you have vodka or everclear or anything like that to wash this wound with? Also if any of you have a first aid kit I need that, and I'll also need something to grab the bullet with. Needlenose pliers would be best, but two pairs of tweezers might work." You stare at the multiple pairs of blinking eyes and snap your fingers. "C'mon, if I'm doing this bullshit let's get it done."

Thor shakes his head as the girls scatter and clasps your shoulder. "I should get back to my dorm. You are a good man, James." He ducks out as the girls start returning, collecting a few hugs as he goes.

When everyone is gathered together again you have a small first-aid kit, three mini-bottles of vodka, and eight pairs of tweezers. Sighing, you lay everything out before turning to the girls. "I'm not going to do this with an audience. It's going to be bad enough doing this, I don't need all of you freaking out while I'm trying to take care of Soon." You gather them all together and usher them towards the door. "Pick one of your dorms, I'll come get you when I'm done."

Closing the door you crack open two bottles pouring one into a cup and handing it to the Korean girl. "Drink up."

Soon-Yi blinks at you. "You've already had me drink a whole lot…"

"Aspirin's not gonna cut it for painkilling, gotta do what I can. Just chug, don't worry about coughing."

As she does it and turns her head to cough from the burn you pull out your main wand and hit her with an entrancing enchantment and the local anaesthetic. Hopefully she's feeling agreeable now. "You're not feeling any pain now, are you?"

Giggling, the girl turns to look at you. "That totally helped, James."

"Great." You strip off your coat and your newer wand holster, putting it in a pocket of your jacket. Rolling up your sleeves you hit your main holster with a notice-me-not and wash your hands well. "So, Soon, why don't you turn your head away from what I'm doing and tell me a story about something—you got a boyfriend I'm gonna have to throw down with for putting my hands on you?"

Soon-Yi seems agreeable, turning her head to look at the wall and starts talking about how her boyfriend from Winslow broke up with her this summer.

You clean the wound with a tergeo before using the diagnostic again. She's a bit lower on blood than she was and there's a tiny bit more damage. Putting your wand into the wound you summon the bullet and gently pull it out of her into a wad of tissues. Another set of tergeos and you start in with episkeys at the deepest parts of her wound. It's not going to heal up the way it should, but it's better than leaving an inch-deep hole in the girl's arm.

Soon-Yi's one-sided conversation has wandered from her boy troubles to her complaints about her parents' insistence she does pre-med when she wants to be a lawyer instead.

You finish by slathering the external wound in antibacterial ointment and wrapping her arm in gauze. You hadn't studied charms that would be of use for stab or gunshot wounds, but she shouldn't be at risk of infection. "Soon? You're patched up but you're gonna need to have someone with some actual training to look at this, otherwise you're gonna have a big nasty scar later."

She cuts off her rant about overbearing parents to frown. "I…know a couple of people. I think Haeun's a nurse now…"

You pat her shoulder and make sure there's some blood on your fingers so it looks like you've actually done work. "I'm gonna get the rest of the girls. Just try and relax and don't move your arm."

Opening the door all of the girls are—of course—crowded in the hallway instead of waiting in one of their rooms. You hold up a hand before they can get loud. "She's fine, I need one of you to turn on the water so I can wash my hands." Savannah goes green and turns away immediately, but Sierra helps without a blink. The girls move between checking in on Soon-Yi and giving you hugs and thanks until you start edging towards the door. It's Susan who finally stands in the doorway with her arms crossed who asks the question.

"Where do you think you're going, James?"

Looking behind you at the inquiring faces and back to the stormy-eyed brunette you try for your best innocent look. "Back to my apartment? Getting caught in your rooms would cause all kinds of problems."

A head jerk from Susan has Karen slide back both of you and come back a moment later. "Bathroom's clear."

Susan gives you a look. "Go use the bathroom and come back. You're not walking home at two in the fucking morning, you'll be sleeping in here."

A handful of minutes later finds you back in the room where they've pulled a couple of mattresses in from the other rooms. You're peeled out of your shirt and jeans and womanhandled into Soon-Yi's bed on your back, with the girl spooned against you so she can lay her bandaged arm on your chest. Even with her looking down you can feel the heat from her blush on your chest. Karen has joined the other girls in the floor pile and they chat quietly as you try to figure out what happened. Savannah's taking a bunch of ribbing for having a weak stomach but she insists it's completely different when she's gone hunting with her father.

You finally give in with a sigh and raise your voice. "Did all of you drink water to help with any hangovers?"

Rather than assent you get a bunch of whispering and laughing before a giggling voice says, "Why would we need to with Mr. Magic Hands here?"

You let out a low groan that makes Soon-Yi shift around. "Good night girls."