Iris looked back at him and said “I don’t really have other words for it…” scarlet opened the doors and checked the other two and frowned. “They are in bad shape. That bomb did damage…” she helped Matias out of the van and into one of the arm chairs they had set up in the sitting area Scarlet had made up. Then her and Iris moved Dante and Bane onto the medical beds by the windows so Iris could start working on them.

Scarlet went back to Matias and checked his eyes saying “seems you only got a dose of it…does moving help? Or maybe heat? I’m not totally sure how to help…” Iris was working her sage magic on the other two and called over “try moving the limbs affected. He might just need the current pushed out…”

Scarlet nodded and said “maybe walking with you leaning on me?”

It only took one foot touching the ground for Matias's pain to shoot up. The man let out a strained cry, shutting his eyes tight as he wobbled over to the chair offered to him. The coolness of the seat was but a temporary fix.

"Moving hurt like hell," he growled, "are you kidding me? There's got to be another way..."

Still, Matias took one leg in his hands and pulled it upwards. It wasn't as painful as setting all one hundred and forty pounds of him onto it, but it was still unpleasant. There was a sudden moment of numbness, but that was about as much improvement as he got.

"It... kinda works. Just for like two seconds though."

Scarlet sighed then looked at the doors. “I hope the boss is okay…” Iris was still working on the boys and said “okay, it looks like cold helps more. Try getting the ice blankets” scarlet nodded and ran to the cooler, pulling out a fabric meant to be cold for things like this. She came back and laid it over his legs.

“Let’s try that…is that helping at all?”

The sudden chill at Matias's legs made him scrunch his face and wince. The cold fought the pain upon contact, and for once Matias felt like things weren't totally terrible.

"That definitely works," he sighed, opening his legs slightly to let the chill get everywhere it could.

The pain lingered, but by a thread. Most of what Matias felt at the moment was nice, cold numbness.

"How are the other guys holding up?"

Iris looked over and said “Dante is okay. His already cold so I think the shock just stunned him. I’ll get him some blood when he wakes up and he should be fine. Bane took the worst of it. His in pain and it will take some working to relieve it”

Scarlet smiled glad it worked then said “should I go back and find the boss?”

"Hmmph."

Matias settled in. The cold had a vice grip on his legs, but the pain had mostly dissipated. In his comfort, however, he refused to move; had he not been in a conversation, he likely would have fallen asleep. He definitely wasn't going to now that Iris suggested going back to the power plant.

"You're crazy," he laughed half-heartedly, "Noooo way, mija. Besides, he told us to come back here. Now, I'm not one to blindly comply, but after what happened over there..."

His legs shuffled slightly under the blanket's weight.

"... Nah. I'm good."

Iris nodded and said “his right Scarlet. The boss will be fine. They have been in worse. Just wait till the boys can move without pain again and if it gets to be too long then I’ll go with you back to see what’s going on alright?”

Scarlet sighed and nodded, still looking worried. “I hope the boss is okay…that guy looked big…”

For about half an hour, Matias fought back against his own drowsiness. His thoughts served as his only form of entertainment at the moment, so it proved difficult. He didn't exactly want to be reminded by how he almost died twice today, or how much work they still had left for all their cases, or the possibility of that disgusting bug coming back, or how the boss could very likely have–

"Hey... I think I'm better now."

He set the blanket aside on the work table, slowly rising to his feet. He had to grip the side of the table for a moment, however, as his legs weren't ready for this sudden change yet.

"You guys decided what you're gonna do yet?"

Scarlet was pacing as Iris was working on Bane to try and get his own healing to kick in. Iris looked up and said “Scarlet is freaking out. I can’t go until I can trigger Banes healing so he isn’t in danger…”

Scarlet cursed softly and said “I don’t like waiting around. They could be hurt or worse…” suddenly one of the doors started opening and a cycle pulled in. The boss was on the back, blood dripping off them as they stumbled off the cycle. Scarlet gasped and said “Boss?”

The boss was breathing hard and said weakly “it’s…handled…”

The empty air of the room allowed for the sound of the doors to reverberate off the walls. It certainly caught Matias's attention at least. The sight of the bloodied boss cemented his choice. His eyes went wide, and his throat was caught in a snag. He didn't need the blanket for the chill that was running through his spine right now.

"The hell happened to you?!" he roared, forcing himself to confront the boss. He seemingly had no problem getting blood all over his clothes if it meant rushing this poor person to another bed. He also had no problem dirtying the bed itself, either.

"Jesus... Tell me where you're hurt! Can't see any damn wounds with all that red stuff on you."

After setting the boss down and flicking off the excess blood, Matias ran to the other side of the room to grab a med kit. He knew he needed more than that, obviously, but it would have to do. He rummaged through the kit as he jogged back, pulling out some pads. He hurriedly patted these pads all over the boss, soaking up as much blood as he could, as little as each pad could actually do.

The boss was breathing hard as Matias helped them to the bed. They grunted in pain and muttered “it’s not all mine…the commander decided he didn’t want to go quietly…took longer then I planned to handle him…”

Scarlet ran over with more supplies and said “it may not be all your blood but your bleeding a lot” she moved their arm and they saw the wound. It looked like they had been run thru with a lightening bolt just under the heart.

Iris was finishing with Bane and saw the boss and said “crap…”

Matias almost immediately caught sight of the wound as soon as it was uncovered. He paused his treatment to take in the graveness of the situation. He exhaled sharply before returning to his hasty work.

"You're really making this out to be less than what it is," he huffed, "and we REALLY can't afford to lose anyone right now. Especially not you."

After patting out the last bit of blood that the last pad could swallow, he took a closer look at the wound. He, however, could barely stand to look at it for more than five seconds.

"How do I even approach this? Disinfectant? I'm no medic..."

Iris walked over and said “boss you will have to lose the outfit if I’m going to treat this…” The boss looked up and shook their head. “No…I’ll bind the wound with shadows then it will be fine…”

They tried to get up and moved their hand. Shadows wrapped around the wound. Scarlet said “boss no. You need that treated”

Matias brow furrowed at the boss's response. He met their gaze– or at least tried to– keeping the expression.

"Alright," he puffed, "I'm pretty sure you can drop the mysterious hooded guy thing for a few moments so you don't, you know, die. Quit messing around."

Gingerly, he pinched the bottom hem of the boss's robe and began to pull it up.

"We'll pretend we didn't see anything, okay? Anyone here have mind-wiping powers or something?"

Shadows moved to stop the cloak from moving and the boss said “it’s not just for show. It’s to protect the team. Understand that I’m trying…trying…” they swayed a bit and Scarlet said “boss? You alright?” They held their head then fell forward, scarlet moving to try and catch them.

“Iris we need you!” Scarlet tried to hold them up but said “dang they have a lot of body armor on. We have to get this stuff off”

"'Protect the team'? What are you even–?"

Before Matias could finish his sentence, the boss suddenly heeled forward. His hands leaped forward and caught onto the boss's body, pushing forward in an attempt to stabilize them. Their weight proved a mighty adversary, however, pushing back with the weight of whatever they had on right now.

"Listen," Matias growled, "cut the crap. We're not going to die if we take off your cosplay. That's ridiculous. Just let us help you or else you're actually going to screw up the team."

He looked towards Iris, gritting his teeth.

"Can you talk some sense into this idiot? Please?"

Iris moved over and said “they don’t need to. They are out cold…the shock must have worn off. We need to lay them down and get this off” scarlet helped over the boss to free bed and laid them on it. “Come on, let’s get this stuff enough to get to the wound…any idea where this thing started? It’s like a wrapped mess”

Matias helped with the procedure, cradling the boss's legs and settling them down on the bloodied sheets. He eyed Scarlet as she spoke before looking back at the boss's pseudocorpse. With no blood or shadows or aggression in the way, he could now take a proper gander at what the group was looking at.

"Look," he said, pointing at the notable mark on the boss's chest. "That's the actual wound, pretty sure. Never seems anything like it, honestly. The marks..."

His fingers floated over the raised lines sprouting over the boss's skin from the wound itself.

"... Is this magic or something?"

Scarlet was looking closely and said “it’s smart armor. I think the best from the bolt is what broke thru it. We need to find the latches. Let’s get the cloak off”

They started to pull the fabric off and back until they saw the chest plate. At the corners were latches which Iris undid. When they pulled it back, they heard the pressure release. When they finally got the armor off they stopped. The wound was sitting under the heart, but there was a shirt covering more then the wound.

Scarlet looked up and said “the boss is a girl?”

At least the plate had the decency to open on its own. Still, it was rather surreal to see even part of the boss uncloaked. He was about to grab the med kits set aside when Scarlet spoke. It was almost a blessing Matias was facing away from her, because the face he made was anything but pretty. Scrunched nose, furrowed brow, clenched jaw... All in all, not too happy. He took a moment to take in a single breath to calm his nerves before facing the boss again.

"Now's not the time to be assuming people's identities," he grumbled, "Get some dressing ready. I'm gonna disinfect this."

He took a pad from one kit and a bottle of alcohol in another, then dampened the former with the latter. The resulting chemical smell filled Matias's nostrils. He gently pulled up the boss's shirt, which took some effort as the fabric around the afflicted area was just beginning to stick to their skin.

"If you're awake... This is gonna sting."

He dabbed the pad on the edges of the wound, careful not to do it directly on it just yet. He saw the pad gaining rust-like stains, but he continued despite it.