Gawain hurried down the hallway to the Infirmary. Sam being there to be patched up was nothing new; Sam staying there, however, was a bit disconcerting. Especially because rumor had it he had had an altercation with a mystic. Sam and Mirror had loosened up on the whole hunting-mystics things since the battle... but there was one particular ***hole they both wanted to get their hands one. One that had done serious damage.

Gawain marched into the recovery room, seeing Sam laid up.

"What happened? Was it him?"

The doors opened and it was one of the last two people he wanted to see right now. The icemancer didn’t look up nor opened his eye but just groaned in frustration. ”Sometimes I wish the mansion was bigger. When did you find out I was in here?” Sam asked trying to change the subject. His eye opened but he refused to meet Gawain’s gaze.

Sam felt awful, not because he was stabbed. That part was fine. It wasn’t even the fact he ended up seizing or that he had to knock himself out with an ice clone. No he felt awful because he let someone who hurt his friend so much get away. He had all the power to stop him and Sam let him slip away.

”.... It was...” he said honestly. His gaze hit the ceiling and he continued, ”I wasn’t as prepared as I thought I was. I even had a boost from Muse and he still got away.” he said recounting the events. ”Should have cleared the area from civilians first. He started firing hip shots. Was worried someone was going to get hit. I should have just laid him out without trying to get him to surrender peacefully.”

>>”Sometimes I wish the mansion was bigger. When did you find out I was in here?”

"About two and a half minutes ago" Gawain grumbled, pulling up a chair. He was livid, but he also hated seeing Sam hurt. And the obvious look of guilt kinda took the wind out of his sails of fury.

>>”.... It was... I wasn’t as prepared as I thought I was. I even had a boost from Muse and he still got away. Should have cleared the area from civilians first. He started firing hip shots. Was worried someone was going to get hit. I should have just laid him out without trying to get him to surrender peacefully.”

"Yeah well no sh*t." Gawain frowned. "Sam, why the hell were you out there with Sergeyeva and not with me?" Gawain still wanted to get his hands on the man. Desperately. He promised Becca not to kill him, but that didn't mean he didn't personally want to make sure he was off the streets for good.

The sound of the chair made him wince as he rose up a bit from his laying position. Doc said give it some time and rest but he was tempted to walk out. Little good it do him. Odds are Gawain would just trail him asking the same question. A question that the icemancer had to chew on for a moment. The question made him wish he wasn’t there. He wasn’t good at this stuff.

”She had the power up. Didn't do much good though when I started to seize. Ice clones mitigated most of the danger.” there was a pause and finally Sam laid his eye on his longtime friend. ”Cause you’re too close to it.” he said finally.

”Your kid he did it to, you think I’m going to let you go and make one of the biggest mistakes of your life? Worse than hunting Afoie?” another situation where he let them down. Sam felt like a **** friend.

”You’re the best of us Gawain. I’m scared what you’d do to him. What I could do after. It’s a slippery slope I’d rather not go back down again.”

"Yeah well I didn't ask to be the best of us!" Gawain snapped before he could stop himself. He sighed, rubbing his forehead. Clearly the therapy was not working fast enough. "And I'm not sure that fits, after the battle..." He had put a mystic in a mirror, knowing full well it was deadly. Another thing to process. He sighed again, looking up at Sam. "What the f*** actually happened to you out there?... Seizure?"

”I know.” he said pushing himself upwards more so he could lock his eye on Gawain to see the emotions he was feeling. Sam wasn’t good at this but he was good at reading people. He knew the toll it was taking on his friend.

”and I’m sorry I put you there without asking. There are enough of us that will do what needs to be done. I don’t want you turning out like me. Becca, Iris. They need you.” the icemancer knew the battle for the mansion was hard on everyone. Most of the masnionites weren’t prepared for war. Gawain was trained yes, but not for that.... never for that. Sam had made sure of it when he started training him.

Sam sighed and turned his neck to the side to give it a crack. It was louder than expected it also hurt more than expected. ‘Shake it off’ the icemancer told himself looking back to Gawain recounting his own events.

Things got blurry when the seizing started but he had enough sense as to what happened. ”I was angry and underestimated my target.” he said honestly. ”Teen me would have been laughing.” this Sam wasn’t.

”I let my guard down for a second and a tip of knife broke through my armor. It was all he needed to lay me out. With my powers boosted I’m sure Sveta had her hands full. I blacked out, the clones cleared the area and he got away. It was fast too from my understanding of it. Like vanished, so either he can go invisible too, along with turning powers off and making someone have a seizure.” Sam pushed himself up with a grunt.

”Come on.”

Gawain frowned. The mystic was either more powerful than they knew, or he had leveled up since. Laying out Sam was no small feat. And neither was disappearing in plain sight, not with clones and Svetalana present. Gawain swore under his breath, watching Sam get up.

"Come on where?..."

The icemancer was surprised he had to say it. He lost a fight, got brought down hard and almost put a group of civilians in danger not to mention his friend Svetlana... where they still friends? She had been working with Travis some time before... he pushed those thoughts away for now. He needed something he could focus on. Something that made sense.

”You really have to ask?” he landed on his feet and stretched his neck. There was a few knots in there but he’d deal with them later. Doc could and would only do so much when it came to healing the icemancer. Otherwise he’d never learn.

”I just got my *** handed to me by someone who broke into the mansion. Someone we know little to nothing about. What we do know is that they can cause seizures and depower us. They carry a few knives and a handgun both can be enchanted. They had professional training. He was a cop. I’m going to the danger room before my memory gets foggy on what happened. I’m going to make sure we know how to drop him before he can escape or hurt anyone else again.”

It was slow at first, tense but his stride soon led him to the infirmary exit. ”Let’s go hit something.”