-Flashback-

"Get out of the way! Back off!" She yelled at me.

I wasn't ready to do that. My shoulder stung and burned but I wasn't ready to back out.

She let off a few more shots before making her way to me.

"When I say back off, you back off! Get out of here!" She snapped.

I gave her a withering glare.

"Fine. But if you die I'm gonna be pissed."

Yeah right. Try me.

She shook her head and moved away from me.

I rolled my shoulder and kept going.

I signaled her down.

"Fall back!"

Our group dispersed, falling back to a far off rendezvous point.

She came over to me.

"You need help. Give me that bag."

I waved her off.

"No. You can't. You think you can, but you can't. How many times have I told you this. You aren't made of steel. You are bleeding profusely. Stop."

I rolled my eyes and hiked the bag over my shoulder.

It stung like the pits of Hell, but I grit my teeth and started walking.

She groaned.

She ripped the bag away from me and slung it over her own shoulder.

I snapped my fingers into her arm in protest.

"You were in pain. Stop trying to act like you're all mighty when you aren't. It's okay to be in pain. Just stop trying to be a macho man."

I turned up my palms.

"It doesn't suit you and you'll just end up hurting yourself."

We started jogging to make up for lost time.

What does she know about being a macho man?

She must've gotten vibes to suggest I was thinking that.

"I know that guys who act like so called macho men end up just being the fucktards that start shit with everyone. Some of them even get killed for it."

I huffed in annoyance.

We hit rendezvous.

We split up our loot.

"Dispense those goods properly. One per person until everyone has one. Then you can double up if you have enough. Don't count on having enough for double though."

"Umm... you might wanna get your shoulder checked out, man. It looks really bad." One of the guys said to me.

"Alright thank you." She diverted, "Now head on out guys. Help these people back onto their feet!"

They all whooped and cheered as they left, locking the warehouse door behind them as instructed.

She pulled her mask off and set it aside on a table.

"Okay now let me see that shoulder. Take off your shirt."

She poured some water on the now exposed wound.

"Ow!"

"Sorry. It's gonna hurt, okay? I can't do anything about that."

She examined the wound.

"Can you move your fingers for me?"

I did.

"Dude. Move your fingers." She sounded annoyed.

"Dude I am."

"No you're not."

I looked down at my hand, a little offended.

"Bitch-"

Then I realised I really wasn't moving my fingers.

"Call me a bitch again I dare you." She threatened.

"Fine I'm sorry. Now what."

"I have to amputate this."

"I'm sorry what?"

"We can't repair the nerves. The cut would heal, but your arm would just be a dead weight."

"Wait wait wait. Hold on. You do realise I already have half an arm. And you wanna get rid of my other one?"

"Ok I understand your concern, but what else do you want me to do? I can't fix this."

Nervous but understanding, "Okay. Fine. I guess I'll just be a magical fucking cyborg."

"I can just connect it to your chip. Alright? It'll be like your right arm all over again."

"Except I still HAVE part of my right arm."

"Shut up. You'll be fine."

So she spent the next two hours cutting precariously through veins, arteries, muscle, cartilage in my shoulder joint, and other internal bits.

She used a previously boiled needle and thread to stitch the wound closed.

"There. We can get the mechanic to make a new arm and I can do the connection. See? Problem solved."

Not used to being lopsided like that, I tipped and fell before realising I was actually falling.

"Perfect." She laughed.

-Flashback end-

~~•~~•~~•~~•~~•~~•~~•~~•~~~•~~•~~

Hey y'all long time no see!

This story is something I've been writing for a long time now, almost 2 years on and off. If y'all wanna see more, I'll keep posting it. If not, let me know! I've got plenty of stuff stockpiled from my sporadic idea-generating brain.

As always, stay beautiful and thanks for reading!
~Percabeth1Jackson