With a slightly pained expression, Matt did what Svetlana voted: he shut up and tried to focus on not bleeding. Sometimes making jokes made the situation feel easier. It made it feel like make he wasn’t bleeding or having muscle spasm. His body wasn’t reacting well to the pain for the time being, either. His abdomen contracted with each slightly raspy breath that he took, which put extra strain on the gunshot. He could feel the hole in him already. It felt… strange. Sometimes he forgot what it was like to be shot. He’d only done it once before. Definitely not the ideal repeat scenario.

The situation that they were in was going to be difficult to explain. They had just been in a giant fight with a bunch of government agents, and while they were dressed as civilians, it would probably look strange that there was that much blood on their hands and that they had managed to take them all out. Matt was still surprised at that himself.

Svetlana suggested that they take them back across the other side and let their police deal with it, which was fair. Matt just hoped that he wasn't going to lose his job or his apartment at this point. Or his gallbladder. He was never amazing at anatomy.

The police officers stopped to converse with themselves for a moment. “The ambulance isn’t here yet. Just… stay there. We’re going to go down to talk with the officer in charge.”

Seriously, was everyone here just really off today? That was also a terrible plan. Matt turned to Svetlana, trying to keep himself conscious and aware of what was happening. “I think I could probably walk,” he said quietly. “We might be safer somewhere other than a hospital.” There was a chance that the police wouldn’t believe them or that someone could come back. It wasn’t a great plan either way, considering the fact that they knew where he lived and worked, but it might buy them time. Hopefully she would know somewhere where someone was trained medically.

The policemen were more than a little confused. Some were checking on the wounded, and one was checking to make sure Sveta and Matt were not hiding any weapons, but other than that, they were mostly throwing glances at their chief, waiting for instructions. Sveta was tense, holding the towel at Matt's side, waiting to see just what the hell the cops will decide to do.

>>“The ambulance isn’t here yet. Just… stay there. We’re going to go down to talk with the officer in charge.”

Sveta nodded. That was as good as any. At least they were not handcuffing her. Which was a mistake, but honestly, gift horses and all that.
The moment they were alone, Matt stirred.

>>“I think I could probably walk. We might be safer somewhere other than a hospital.”

Sveta sighed. "You might be right." Her first instinct, of course, was DocProf. But given that Matt was an adapted, that would have made no difference, and she did not want to bring this mess to the Mansion anyway. And they would not let Matt into the Haven facilities, even with her.
So that left the Sanctuary.
Sveta swore again.

"Hold dis." she left Matt with the towel, and walked over to the SUPER agent who seemed to be in charge. Taking her comm, Sveta turned the device on.

"Operations?"

The line rattled.

"Who's that?"

"The target, you moron. Do me a favor and tell Karlson, or Sabine, or whoever the f*** is supposed to be in charge over there, to come and get their brats. You're welcome. And they better leave this place in pristine condition, or I'm going straight to the X-men with my gloves off."

Throwing the comm down, Sveta marched over to Matt to help him up. "Alright, let's go. I hope you have your car keys."

It was lucky that Sveta had gotten off without so much as a scratch. Matt was glad that if one of them had had to take fire, it was him, as much as it sucked. He did what Svetlana said and held the towel against his stomach as best he could. It turned out that trying to grasp things was still pretty difficult, but he managed it. It was manageable.

He sat up as Svetlana crossed the room and spoke into the communicator. The ‘leader’ of the ragtag crew was out cold, which was probably a good thing. He hadn’t hit an artery, but she was still losing blood from her leg wound. Hopefully an ambulance would get there to take her, even if it wasn’t taking him.

It was time to go. With the organization notified, they could leave. They would have to leave as quickly as they could. Matt stood up and staggered across the room, using the wall for support as he used the towel to stop his bleeding as he could. On the way out the door, he grabbed his jacket, which had his wallet and his keys in the pockets. It was still just hanging by the door as if nothing had even happened there that day.

---

The ride over to wherever it was they were was a bit of a blur. Svetlana had had to drive, seeing as Matt had only just barely made it to the car without passing out, and as soon as he sat down, his head was stuck resting against the door. He managed to keep his eyes open, but how much he was actually processing was a very different question.

They made it to some sort of building with large, golden doors (Matt figured he had probably imagined those) and they had gone down to the basement. That was about all that he could piece together, and then he was down in some sort of infirmary. That was good, most likely. He glanced over toward Svetlana, still trying to figure everything out. “What is this place, anyway?” he asked, his hand still pressed against his injury as he lay on some sort of table.

Sveta managed to drive all the way to the Sanctuary without causing a traffic accident, which was probably the highlight of her entire f*** day. Matt was in and out of consciousness and lost a lot of blood, but he still managed to move as she helped him to the medical facilities of the building. He really needed attention.

>>“What is this place, anyway?”

"It's called the Sanctuary. It is pretty much what it sounds like. For mutants." Sveta explained with a small sigh. She did not have good memories of the place, even if Lori and her experiments had been of a different era. Now the Sanctuary was under Haven supervision. And, more importantly, they had a medical wing. "Belongs to Haven. I work for them." At this point, she didn't really have any secrets anyway.

She did her best to support Matt, keeping him from keeling over, as they reached the medical facilities.

"Hello! Anyone? Gunshot wound here..."

A place for mutants to go. That sounded… well, it sounded… oh man, he needed to take a nap or two. Matt simply nodded and then leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling as he waited for something to happen. At least they were somewhere safe now, though. Svetlana said that her organization was safe, which was likely as good as they would get.

It clearly wasn’t a hospital, though. All the equipment was a little bit dusty and didn’t look like it got used a whole lot. That was… not impressive, given his current situation, but he would take what he could get. Provided that they could actually get something. So far, no one had bothered to even enter the room, despite the fact that he was about 60% certain that the woman at the front desk had seen them. Though, he wouldn’t put it past himself to hallucinate that. It was getting harder to hold on.

“You know, you were pretty badass back there,” Matt said, turning to Svetlana in an attempt to make conversation. Conversation seemed like it might make things go a little easier. “I mean, I didn’t see a whole lot of it, but I’m pretty sure you took out half that squad. You would’ve gotten along really well in the army.”

Finally, a door opened at the other end of the room and a tanned woman with brown hair walked in, looking rather flustered. She was wearing a white coat, though, and she looked like she might know what she was doing. Finally, some help.

There were quite a few coincidences that day. It had seemed like a good way to get reintegrated with regular life was to do some outreach, just like she used to. The sanctuary was always taking volunteers, especially when they had medical training, so they welcomed Juliette back with open arms. Within a few hours of calling the place up, they had her working a late evening shift. It had been pretty simple, for the most part - just a couple of bumps and bruises from street fights that needed to be looked at. No infirmary was needed.

As it turned out, though, they had been lacking in volunteers for a while. Devon wasn’t even there, and he had been a staple from when she’d used to volunteer there. Apparently he had gone off and started his own organization in the meantime. She really needed to keep up with her friends.

It wasn’t until late that there was any commotion. A couple walked in and headed right for the infirmary as if they had been there before. Or, at least, that was what Lisa said when she found Juliette. It took a few moments to get things figured out, but Juliette walked down there soon enough. Something about a gunshot was yelled through the door, which made her walk just a little faster toward them.

“Sorry, did you say a gunshot wound?” she asked as she entered the room. There was a man already on the table, who was holding a bloody rag to his side. Next to him was a blonde woman who looked to be a little upset. Juliette walked up to the man and began to inspect his side. He made no argument, and instead moved a little to allow her better access. He was in bad shape.

The brunette tutted her tongue as she took a look at it, frowning. She had moved the rag out of the way, but the wound was bloody. It was in a spot that would be one of the least likely to have internal damage, but there was always a danger of it. “Why did you come here? Is the hospital out of the question? It’d be better to get an x-ray of this.”

“Hospital’s out of the question. Just do what you can and I promise I won’t sue.”

Juliette chewed her lip as she looked at the wound. It was nasty and she didn’t want to touch it if she didn’t have to, but she couldn’t send him anywhere that wasn’t in an ambulance. Her options were to either do something within her abilities or leave him to bleed out. Obviously, she chose the former. “What’s your blood type?”

“B positive.”

With a nod, Juliette formulated a plan and moved over to the fridge in the corner, where they kept blood stocked. As she hooked up an I.V. line, she spoke. “Alright, I can stitch you up, but I can’t make any promises. Are you willing to take that risk?”

“I’ve taken bigger ones. Go for it.”

“Alright, then. My name is Juliette and I’m going to do my best to make sure you walk out of here.”

She got Matt to the infirmary, and got him up on the table. Now they just wanted someone to actually treat him. Sveta could do first aid, but she really, really did not want to be the one to stitch Matt up.

>>“You know, you were pretty badass back there. I mean, I didn’t see a whole lot of it, but I’m pretty sure you took out half that squad. You would’ve gotten along really well in the army.”

"Yeah except I suck at following orders." Sveta smiled a bit. As long as Matt was talking, he was not completely out of it "Also, I get pissed when I'm hungry."

She was not gonna get to eat anything tonight.

>>“Sorry, did you say a gunshot wound?”

A young brunette in a white coat appeared, and Sveta sighed a sigh of relief. Maybe they would get help after all.

"In and out. He's been bleeding a lot, though."

>>“Why did you come here? Is the hospital out of the question? It’d be better to get an x-ray of this.”

>>“Hospital’s out of the question. Just do what you can and I promise I won’t sue.”

"It's a long story and it involves anti-mutant people" Svetlana summed up the best she could "I work for Haven, this was the only place I could think of."

The woman, although reluctantly, got to work. Sveta got out of the way and took a seat in a chair, suddenly aware that she was pretty much soaked in blood.

>>“Alright, then. My name is Juliette and I’m going to do my best to make sure you walk out of here.”

"Thanks." she muttered. She wanted to Matt to walk out of here. And then possibly walk far away. It was already beginning to dawn on her that she would never forgive herself for what happened tonight. "You're going to be okay, Matt."

Juliette was not an anesthesiologist. Not by a long shot. There was nothing inside of her that wanted to put this man under and risk hurting him more, so she chose the safer bet. A local anesthetic that would numb the general area. It wasn’t great, but it was better than nothing. It wasn’t usually her that was doing everything at once in an operation like that though, so she felt rather flustered as she walked around the room, trying to figure everything out.

The I.V. was in his arm now, and he was being transferred blood as well as fluids. That was good, but only if she could keep the blood inside of him. She needed to work faster.

It felt good to engage the people in the room as she did so, though. Usually, she would be talking to patients as she did just one aspect of the things she was doing in the moment, but she was still able to keep up with it. “Matt, then? And you are?” she asked, turning to the blonde woman. She was absolutely covered in blood, which was a little nerve wracking. She had claimed that there were anti-mutant people involved, but how much could she really trust that? The hospital was out of the question, so maybe they were avoiding the cops.

“You said you work at Haven, correct? You’d know Devon, then?” Juliette trusted Devon. If he trusted her, then she felt like maybe the two of them would be safe. Maybe, just maybe they weren’t as dangerous as they looked. She was getting strange vibes from the woman, anyway. She looked concerned about Matt, but she also looked guilty. Maybe she was just reading into things too much. Matt seemed calm, considering his current situation.

She moved around the table, moving a tray of various instruments and a stood over so she could sit on the correct side of the man. “The shirt’s going to have to go, sorry,” she said, picking up her scissors and cutting right up the front of it. It was ruined, anyway, so there was really no use in trying to salvage it, especially with the I.V. in the way.

“I liked this shirt,” Matt complained quietly. This seemed like a big deal for some reason, despite the fact that it was already soaked in blood and had a gunshot wound in it. He just wasn’t thinking straight.

“I think you’re going to like not having a hole in your side more.”

The nurse looked flustered, but she was still able to be a hardass if she needed to be. Matt nodded and lay back, allowing her to work without intervention. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see her stick a needle in near the wound. No argument from him. The pain was subdued by whatever it was that she shot him up with, too. That was nice.

It still didn’t stop the process of cleaning the wound out any easier. His face contorted as he tried not to make noise, feeling the alcohol as it nulled the likelihood of infection. He knew what she was doing, but that didn’t make it any better. He could hear the woman apologize as she handed him back the bloody rag to hold onto. He took it willingly, using it to grip tightly as each surge of pain wracked his body. Where was that bottle of vodka when he needed it?

“Okay, I’m ready to start stitching now. Are you good?”

“Yeah. Just go fast, please,” Matt said, his throat dry as he tried to get words out. This was worse than the gunshot itself. Juliette nodded and began to stitch. This, she looked confident with. Steady hands worked away, and Matt took short breaths in through his nose and out through his mouth. To distract himself from watching her work, Matt turned instead to Svetlana. “Who did you say those guys were, again?”

The woman was doing many things at once. Sveta wondered if she was actually a doctor, or just some other medical professional. So far, she was doing her best, but Matt would still have gotten better care at a hospital. Where they could not go. Which made her feel even worse.

>>“Matt, then? And you are?”

"Svetalana" she didn't remember meeting the woman before.

>>“You said you work at Haven, correct? You’d know Devon, then?”

"Yes I know him" she nodded. People at the Sanctuary could not be too careful, but it was still just a little amusing that she was being asked these questions. As part of the Inner Echelon, she was technically Juliette's boss. "We work together."

She cleaned the wound, and now she was stitching it. Matt was gripping the towel; the local anesthetic did not seem to do much good. Sveta twitched, something in her wanted to go to hold his hand. But she doubted that it would have been very appropriate, since she just dragged him into danger.

>>“Who did you say those guys were, again?”

Distractions.

"SUPER. Government agency from the other side." she frowned. "They collect mutants and adapteds, and pretty much anyone they thing is useful." she peeled her gloves off; they were all soaked and bloody now anyway. She stood up, watching Juliette work. Matt looked horrible, he'd lost a lot of blood, and he was in pain. Sveta stood at the side of the table. "Can I help?..."

It wasn’t easy to maneuver the needle around when the guy was moving so much. She couldn’t exactly blame him, though - it probably hurt quite a bit, and the local anesthetic could only do so much. If she had any laughing gas, then she would have added that to the mix, but the room was not completely stocked. Not only that, but it was getting difficult to see what she was doing. She was definitely better off with staples.

“This is probably going to hurt more, but it’s going to be faster and easier, so… better in the long run,” she said, trying to make the best of the not-great situation. It wasn’t as if he had all that much choice in the matter. It would also probably leave a more visible scar, but he clearly wasn’t a stranger to scars, given the shrapnel scars that dotted his chest already. He had dog tags, too, so he was likely in some sort of service. Those were all going to help in this case.

“Fast. Yes. Go with that one.”

Svetlana did, in fact, work with Devon, which made Juliette feel a lot better about helping them. She wouldn’t have sent them away if they hadn’t, but it eased her mind. It would be easier to tell Devon that she had just saved the lives of two Haven members than to say that she potentially helped criminals avoiding a mass murder scene. They were both covered in blood and running from something, so the idea wasn’t completely absurd.

Only, that definitely wasn’t the case. Juliette had made herself busy with the staple gun, much to Matt’s dismay, but she looked up when Svetlana mentioned SUPER. She had definitely heard of them before. “If it was SUPER then it’s lucky that you guys got away,” Juliette said, looking between them with a new gaze. She hadn’t personally an agent, but she knew through the X-Men how much trouble they could cause. She definitely felt better about helping them out now.

Svetlana asked how she could help, and Juliette looked up and around. There wasn’t much else to do other than what she was covering. “Just keep him distracted. Hold his hand or something.” They looked like a couple, but she wasn’t about to make assumptions about what they were comfortable with. Still, a bone-crushing hand hold would likely do him some good. “Oh, and grab some of that gauze and the medical bandages from that drawer over there.”

The woman had switched from stitched to staples. Matt had only had the former done before, and all of a sudden, he wished that he could have kept on being able to say that. Staples were easier when the wound was bigger, but they also looked worse and hurt more. Thankfully, the gunshot wound was small enough that he would only need a few on each side.

Svetlana was still speaking to him, which was nice; it was keeping him awake and aware of something other than the pain that he was currently in. SUPER a government organization that came from the other side of the RIP. Another reason that the damn thing needed to be closed. Keep out things that wanted to keep kidnapping Svetlana.

“Those were the guys that got you before, then? They didn’t look very - erugh - professional,” he noted as Juliette put in the last staple on the side. That meant that she would be ready for the bandage soon. It also meant that he would have to turn around in a minute. He just wanted it to be finished. “Think they might’ve been rogue?”

Sveta told as much as she could; she needed Juliette to believe them if she was going to help them. Trust was a lot to ask for, but at least they could start with the basic facts.

>>“If it was SUPER then it’s lucky that you guys got away,”

Sveta nodded. True, it could have been a lot worse. Matt and she did a decent job of fighting the agents off, but she had no illusions about how they would have fared had SUPER actually sent their very best, like Karlson or Sabine. Small blessings.

Still, she felt horrible. Juliette switched to staples, which looked horribly painful.

>>“Just keep him distracted. Hold his hand or something. Oh, and grab some of that gauze and the medical bandages from that drawer over there.”

Sveta moved and got the gauze and the bandages. Matt's face spoke volumes about how much he was enjoying the whole thing. Getting back to the bed, Sveta slipped her hand into his. It was not much, but right now, it was better than doing nothing at all. She had a lot to make up for. In the middle of all of that, it barely registered in her mind that she was holding his hand with no gloves on.

>>“Those were the guys that got you before, then? They didn’t look very - erugh - professional... Think they might’ve been rogue?”

"I think they were fresh." Sveta wrinkled her nose "There was no one I recognized among them, and they made rookie mistakes. That at least means I'm not high on SUPER's priority list... Juliette is right, we would not have gotten away otherwise."

Fresh agents. Agents who just didn’t know what the f*** they were doing. Maybe they were hoping to get a leg up on promotions? Or maybe they wanted to look good for their bosses? Whatever it was, it meant that they had gotten off easily. Juliette had probably been right in saying that they were lucky that they had gotten off. He had been lucky to get off as lucky as he had.

Juliette was finally done with closing the entrance wound. Matt breathed a little easier, his hand wrapped solidly around Svetlana’s. He wasn’t outrightly thinking about the fact that he was holding her gloveless hand, but he was glad that she was there. The support felt good; to have someone there that would actually care whether or not he left in one piece.

The nurse was busy putting a bandage over the site of the wound, which certainly felt better than anything else that she had done. He felt a hand press into his side as she prompted him to turn over, and he did so, his arm bending so that he wouldn’t let go of Svetlana’s hand. He was exhausted from everything, but determined to make it through the experience without losing it completely. Loopy as he was, he was still unwilling to let himself go.

“You think we’ll be safe if we leave here?” he asked, continuing to bounce questions off of her both to keep his mind off of things and to figure out what to do. He was supposed to work the next day. His neighbours would have a fit if they didn’t see him after all the comotion. Hell, his building super was probably already having a field day. As much of a shut in as Matt could be, he still had a life to return to if he was able. There were people that expected him in certain places at certain times.

The exit wound was easier than the entrance, for whatever reason. Maybe the numbing had taken a better effect by that point, because the staples went in much faster than on the first side.

“Alright, that’s that.” The second bandage went on, and he was officially safe from bleeding out for the time being. “Take things easy, alright? No ripping those out in the next few hours. You’re going to have to go to a doctor at some point in the next few days to get prescriptions and to make sure that nothing’s gone wrong, alright?”

Matt nodded at her, rolling back onto his back. He could really use a nap.

The stapling was not fun to look at, and probably even less fun to endure. Sveta held Matt's hand, glad that she could do something for him. Since she was not wearing her gloves, she could feel the scars on the back of his hand, and the blood that was slowly drying on it.

>>"You think we’ll be safe if we leave here?”

"Hopefully." Sveta nodded. He would be. If he had nothing to do with her, SUPER would leave him alone. They had better things to do than to chase down a sole adapted. She'd put him through enough.

>>“Alright, that’s that. Take things easy, alright? No ripping those out in the next few hours. You’re going to have to go to a doctor at some point in the next few days to get prescriptions and to make sure that nothing’s gone wrong, alright?”

Sveta nodded. "Thank you." Juliette had probably saved his life. It was not exactly the perfect treatment, but it would be okay, as long as he followed up. For now, he needed rest.

"You should stay here at the Sanctuary for now" she told Matt; not that he was in any condition to go anywhere anyway. "You'll be safe here."