Aid

"Grountin, I, [cough], realized something," Upwina wheezed slowly. "The better, [hack], place: it's only if we, [cough], do it a certain way."

Grountin grimaced, "What are you saying right now?! We need to address your wound!"

"Look. Just in case, [wheeze], I don't survive, just know that everybo- [cough, cough], -dy I ever froze didn't go to a better, [hack], place," Upwina desperately admitted. "Only those that, [cough], I incinerated did."

Grountin fake laughed, "Haha! Don't be silly. You're gonna make it. And all those people are better off because of us."

"Grountin, plea-" Upwina tried to plead.

Grountin loudly declared, "We have to stop your bleeding!"

Just then, excessive stomping and shuffling was audible from the stairwell.

"Reinforcements," Grountin muttered irately.

Grountin shoved the unconscious, bottomless agent through the doorway, having to grab him on the other side of it by his underarms to pull him into the hallway. He tripped over the man back into the room, right before his fellow agents reached their position. The door was slammed shut, locked, and deadbolted. The agents briefly pounded on the door before determining the futility to not be worth the damage to their hands.

"Upwina! Stay with me. Uh, let's see..." Grountin mumbled while rummaging through their provisions for medical supplies. "Ah, a first aid kit! See? You're gonna- hhhhhrrrrr! Be okay. Hhhhhrrrrr!" he stated optimistically while struggling to open the first aid kit.

"Grountin," Upwina softly commented, "I know your feelings for me are, [wheeze], genuine. You're a sweet guy and I don't doubt anymore that you love, [hack], me. At this point, I, [cough, cough, cough], could've fallen for you, too. Even without my powers."

"It's- hhhhrrrrr! Not. Hhhhhhrrrrrrr! Too late! Hhhhhrrrrrr! Okay, this can't be opened. Not by my messed up thumb. That punch hurt!" Grountin shamelessly disclosed.

He next tried using his teeth, only to regret that immediately; temporarily having forgotten his dislocated jaw and damaged gums.

"Dangit!" cried Grountin, tears flowing. "How am I supposed to close this wound when my hands and mouth are useless?!"

"Well, if it's that big a deal to you," Upwina said somewhat facetiously, "guess I'll, [cough, cough], give it a shot."

"That's not funny. Hurry up!" yelled Grountin whilst handing her the medical supplies.

Upwina attempted to pry the kit open, but was too weary from blood loss to truly concentrate on the task before her.

"Come on!" Grountin boomed. "You have to do this! Stay awake! Don't leave me!"

Upwina sighed, "Hhhh-ugh. Can't we just, [wheeze], burn my skin shut?"

"Cauterize the wound. Yes! That should work!" Grountin triumphantly declared, glad he paid attention in health class. "The bullet might leave you infected, but we can handle that later."

"That's great, but," Upwina shared her concerns, "I'll need some, [wheeze], serious heat; living heat. Can you, [cough], bring me that agent?"

Grountin pounded his fist on the floor, wincing in pain because of his thumb, then whispering angrily, "I can't. There are other agents in the hallway."

"Well," Upwina chuckled half-heartily, "this sucks, hehehe! Pre- [hack] -tty sure he didn't have any pets."

Grountin stated with earnest determination, "Use me. Just promise me that you'll have a good life."

"No!" shrieked Upwina. "I sacrificed myself for you, in case you forgot! Even if I, [wheeze],only took just enough to heat it, you would still be damaged internally."

"I can handle that," Grountin determined defiantly.

Upwina sighed, then explained, "You don't, [cough], understand. The meditation opened my eyes to everybody's experience with my powers. [Wheeze], when I take heat, I take love, too. It's like, [hack], they're connected or something. You pro- [cough, cough] -bably won't be you with that kind of hatred."

"It'll be worth it," Grountin smiled at Upwina, clutching her in his arms. "Hard to imagine not loving you."

"Still, that was really, [hack], fast, ehhehe," Upwina giggled. "I don't doubt you anymore, but how did you know, [cough], that you loved me from a distance?"

Grountin considered the answer for a bit before responding, "I guess I could sense something in your nervous system that vibes well with me." He leaned back against the wall, still holding Upwina as he continued, "It might have been subconscious, but I guess my powers resonated with yours, maybe? I don't know." He sighed in disappointment, adding, "All I know is that when I see you, I feel inspired to be my best just to impress you. When I think about you, I want to be near you. And whenever you are near, I can actually feel it. It could be love or powers, but I can sense your presence. This doesn't make sense, does it?"

Finished replying, he finally looked back down at the target of his admiration to see a large smile, coupled with the statement, "That was a beautiful way to put it. [Wheeze], thank you, Grountin."

"Well, yeah, so..." Grountin blushed. "How about we save you already?" He placed his hands over the gunshot wound, informatively commenting, "Usually, we would want an anesthetic before doing something like this, if possible. Luckily for you..." His hands began glowing blue, pulling electricity out of her nervous system in that area to the point that she could no longer feel the pain from the bullet's harm.

"Is this safe? [Cough, cough]," Upwina asked, slightly frightened.

Grountin grinned, mentioning positively, "As long as I return it soon after you've cauterized it, everything should go back to functioning normally."

"Okay," Upwina optimistically affirmed. "I'll give you back your heat when this is over, too. That way, you can tell me how, [wheeze], much you love me again. Ehhehehe!"

Grountin looked across the room as that last part was said. He recalled being disciplined for admitting to having a crush on a girl when he was just five.

"Don't you ever, hhhhhi-unnnnhh, have a crush on someone, hhhhi-unnnhh, that doesn't have one on you! Hhhhi-unnnhh!" his mother chided back then, unaware that the girl said that she liked Grountin first; causing him to doubt when females suggested anything about them liking him.

"Please forget all that," he solemnly requested. "Just pretend like nothing of the sort was said. Hurry up and take my energy."

"What? What's the problem?" Upwina, genuinely confused, inquired.

"I shouldn't have said a word!" he yelled. "Just take my heat and save yourself!"

"Fine!" Upwina snapped, angry at the seemingly unrealistic attitude given to her by somebody she knew, for a fact, loved her. "But if this is how you show, [cough, cough], people how much you love them, then stay away from me!" she shouted as she syphoned Grountin's heat. "There. How do you feel?" she asked with mild concern.

"I feel great," Grountin smiled with a mischievous tint. "Say, what were you saying about the better place earlier?"

"I was saying," elaborated Upwina as she sealed her wound with the fire emanating from her hand, "that anybody I froze didn't go to a better place. Only people I burned were filled with love to the point that they went. The other peop-"

Grountin, interrupting, thought out loud, "Died from having all of the love removed. Fascinating."

He meditated, searching for something specific in his mind, as far as Upwina could tell.

"Grountin," she spoke nervously, "are you sure you're okay?"

"Never felt better in my whole life," Grountin's eyes flipped open as he reassured her. "So, I presumed that everyone I vaporized went to a better place just because that first guy did. I absorbed his negativity which sent his soul to the better place. But that gym teacher..." He held his stomach while he cackled, "He got filled wit- Hahahahaaa! He got filled with so much negativity that he died from it!" He flipped to a very serious tone, slamming his fist into the wall, commenting softly, "He deserved it, though."

Upwina, somewhat befuddled by Grountin's different behavior, warned him, "That's why we have to be careful with how we use our powers. We can save people-"

"But also doom them," finished Grountin as he removed electrons from his broken thumb until he could no longer feel it anymore; then moved onward to his jaw. "Filling people with electricity leaves them in a fearful hell. That's what you're trying to say here, right?"

Upwina nodded, specifying, "When I fill them with energy, it's love, so they rest in peace. I guess yours is negativity, right? So yours is something you give to people you want to regret you."

"Awesome!" grinned Grountin. "Phil didn't go to a better place after all! High five!"

Upwina reached for his hand as he pulled it away, teasing her, "Too slow! Hahaha! Remember when he did that? Bastard."

"Grountin, are you certain that everything's okay?" Upwina unsurely questioned him.

"Yes! Dang, woman!" hollered Grountin. "How many times are you gonna ask?"

Upwina stared at the door, frowning and mumbling, "I'm sorry. Let me give you back yo-"

"Hey! Is everything alright in there?" queried the agents outside, still working to find a way to infiltrate the room but surprised by the hollering. "Don't worry. Everything is going to be alright if not."

"Definitely," Grountin scowled and smiled simultaneously. "Guess I have targets to practice on."

Upwina, truly concerned, asked him timidly, "To send to a better place?"

"Hahahaaaa!" chuckled Grountin. "Do you really believe these idiots deserve that?!"

"Do you believe they deserve hell?" Upwina countered.

"Honestly," Grountin began, "I think everybody deserves hell."

As Grountin walked towards the front door and started unlocking it, Upwina screamed, "Hold up, Grountin! I need my nerves back! And let me give you some-"

The door fully unlocked, Grountin stormed through the doorway, glaring at his enemies, spouting, "Hello, losers!" Then he grabbed each of them, disintegrating them each with a blue burst.

"Did you jus-" Upwina queried, appalled.

"Definitely," Grountin said proudly while strolling down the hallway. He stopped abruptly, turned back towards Upwina, and casually commented, "Almost forgot." He walked back over there, put his hand over a nearby power outlet, pulled some electricity into his hand, and then zapped the nearest person to him until they were nothing but smouldering traces of carbon staining the carpet.