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AJ took the pills and got around to bandaging his own foot, including the ice pack in the process. The result was kind of large, and definitely did not look comfortable.

>>"Ice is ten minutes on, ten minutes off in cycles. Nsaids every 4 hours with plenty of water.”

Well, at least he knew what he was doing. He lay back down, and Pippa sat on the floor, not sure what to do.

>>”You play nurse a lot?”

"What?" she blinked, then looked down at her hands. "Oh. No, not really. It's just... um, a touch thing." Great, now she sounded like a clean freak. Pippa did not like to explain her powers much to people, but wearing gloves for fashion was a lot easier to get away with than wearing plastic gloves at home. She got up again, walking to the kitchen and returning with a small box of assorted red and yellow cherry tomatoes. "Snacks?"

Pippa was frozen for a moment, but Sabine was already going through drawers and equipment. She had not given up just yet.

>>"We find the way out. You've gotten us this far. I'll get us home. Trust me."

Trust her. That was kind of beside the point now. Whatever Pippa's history with SUPER, Sabine was trained for stuff like this. If they were going to make it out alive, it was going to be thanks to her.

They found the bridge, and a radio. Pippa wrapped herself awkwardly into the silver blanket as Sabine sprang into action.

>>"Mayday, mayday, is anyone reading? Mayday, mayday!"

>>"How did you get on this channel? Who is this?"

>>"This is Senior Agent of SUPER, Sabine Sang. We were left on a battleship off the coast of New York City being sunk to create an artificial reef."

>>"...really?"

Someone answered. Someone was on the other end of the line, knowing they were here on the ship. Sabine explained, and Pippa stood by. The ship tilted lightly, another boom resonating through it somewhere deep down.

>>"Good news! The coast guard is sending a hellicoptor."

Pippa drew a relieved breath. Help was on the way. Sabine moved some of the wet hair out of her face, and Pippa looked up at her, seeing the same hope reflected in her eyes.

>>"Bad news is I'm not confident they get here before the ship is under the waves. I checked the manifesto while I was on the bridge, and there should be a storage area with life boats near the stern. Let's get to the back of the ship and find ourselves a lifeline."

Sabine was already moving, and Pippa followed along, silver blanket rustling on her shoulders. It was hard to keep her footing on deck as she ship moved. It really did feel like they were losing time. "Are you sure the people you talked to...?" she didn't finish the sentence, but she would know. If they were left here to die, maybe someone was keeping an eye to make sure they did?

"Wait." she grabbed for Sabine's hand as they were halfway down the ship. "Hold on".

She placed her free hand on the deck again. Trying to read an entire ship was going to burn through the rest of her reserves of energy, but time was running out, and they only had one shot to find something to hold them over. Literally. Pippa furrowed her brow, trying her best to focus as she sifted through the memories of the deck.

"The boats are gone" she said finally, coming up for air; she was not sure whether the ship was moving or her head was spinning. It only made sense their kidnappers did not want to make this easy "There should be... some inflatable ones... stashed on the deck below."

>>"You have ice? Oh thankfu- -I was going to have to order some. My freezer is really like more of a second fridge."

"You're lucky I'm a classy day drinker" Pippa smirked, offering support as they began to move. Give her lack of heels at the moment, he was easily taller than her. Which was not saying much, on off days most potted plants were also easily taller than her. He leaned on her carefully as they headed to the rooftop door.

>>"Y'know, your head might've made a better crutch than your shoulder."

"You know the streets might make for better walking than the roof."

>>"Oh wow. You weren't kidding about the lift."

"Nope" she agreed cheerfully, allowing him to use the railing for support rather than her. It was one flight down to the apartment door, which she opened by the time he got there. "Here we go. Make yourself at home." she led him to the couch; the whole apartment was small in a New York kinda way, but cozy. "I'll go get the ice. If you try anything funny, I'm not above kicking you in the ankle and pushing you in the elevator."

They both agreed that stashing a murder victim on an artificial reef ship was a brilliantly evil plan, awkwardly avoiding the obvious fact that in case they were the intended victims to be murdered. Pippa held on as Sabine followed her directions. Water was rising in the hallway, soaking her feet through her stockings. It was cold, and smelled like salt. Pippa bit her lips and stumbled on.

Finally, they made it onto the deck. There was darkness on one side, and lights on the other. Very, very distant lights.

>>”Any chance you used to be a swim team champion and left it off your resume?”

"Not even an Olympic swimmer could make that" Pippa breathed, pressing a free hand to her stomach. The dress felt like it was suffocating her, and they were not even in the water yet. Everything was cold and wet and dark, and it was about to get way worse on all of those fronts. She was losing the battle against panic, which was understandable, but not a pleasant reality. "Sabine what do we do?"

Pippa had only really seen explosives in movies before, but what she had seen from the ship's memories could hardly have been mistaken for anything else. She felt ice in the pit of her stomach as she realized what - and how many - she was looking at. Sabine was equally shocked.

>>”To explode? That is an insane thing to just set up off the coast of a—“

The next thing she knew, Pippa was being dragged along by the hand. They needed to get off this ship.

>>”An artificial reef. I bet this ship was just consigned to be sunk to form an artificial reef. I sort of saw a documentary about it. I bet they snuck us on here knowing that was scheduled for tonight.”

"Oh" Pippa blinked, the reality dawning on her "That is devious." she blurted out. The perfect crime, to get rid of bodies forever. A planned explosion. Whoever took them, wanted them dead. Not hostage. Pippa turned even paler than before.

They ran down a hallway until it spit in two direction. Pushing the rising panic back down, Pippa reached out with her free hand and touched the wall again, swaying with the effort of sorting through a tide of images.

"That way" she nodded to the left. Her head was swimming with the flood of new information.

The man broke down laughing at her suggestion to call an ambulance. Pippa was not sure if he was one of those people who thought the idea of mental help was ridiculous, or if there was an inside joke there she was not privy to. Or maybe he had hit his head in the fall. She was not sure what to do with any of those options.

>>"I am- Oh this is coming out all wrong- Okay. Let's start again. Hi, I'm AJ and I work for the city's emergency medical service. I swear to you I am not laughing at you, it's just this is so stupid and I'm embarrassed. Last I checked, I was of sound mind, even if I am an idiot. I can say with authority that I don't need an ambulance. If you called EMS for me, I would never hear the end of it."

"You're an EMT?" Pippa blinked. How on earth did an EMT, out of all people, decide to jump through a glass roof?

>>"It's possible I've sprained something, but I'm trying to minimize any other damage I might do before I dare stand. Thank you, for grooming me like a monkey, by the way. I can't exactly see what's in my hair."

Well... at least he could tell how much he had been hurt in the fall? She chuckled a little at the monkey bit. It was not easy to pick glass out of hair like that. The rest he could take care of himself.

>>"The idiot part can be confirmed by the fact that I jumped from the rooftop over there. I do parkour. I wanted to see if I could cross the street and I way overshot. No gecko hands or crazy legs or anything. Just pure unadulterated idiocy and I really am sorry. I didn't mean for any of this."

"Oh. Parkour." she knew what that was. And suddenly all of this made a lot more sense. "You should have led with that." Not that it excused the landing bit, but at least it was a legitimate activity sane people engaged in. "That's quite a jump, though." she noted, glancing across the street to the other building. The thought of jumping that distance made her legs feel a little cold. "I'm not gonna tell you to figure the glass roof into it next time, I think you already know that. Need help getting up?" she asked, offering a gloved hand "I'm Pippa, by the way."

No, the guy didn't have gecko hands. He also didn't have glass in his hair anymore, courtesy of Pippa, who carefully placed the shards into an empty flower pot. She brushed off what she could, without feeling like she was petting him on the head, and in the meantime, he considered his answer to a very simple question: how did he come crashing through the roof int he first place?

He jumped.

"You jumped... from where?" Pippa blinked, looking up. There was nothing above the hole in the glass except the clear blue sky. He could have jumped from an airplane?... Or a taller building nearby? Was he intentionally trying to... "Um... should I call you an ambulance or something?"