River O'riley

"Riv? Riv man, fuck- can you hear me?!" A distant voice cuts through the distortion and I open my eyes to find myself face down on the tarmac.. I spy a pair of brindle boots beside my head and next to them lies a golden trinket, a treasure, the ring I'd given to Frankie..

With a blazing pain running down my left side, I reach out to clamp my hand over the discarded jewellery and haul myself up to my knees.. Immediately the nausea washes over me and I double forward to catch myself, swallowing back a mouthful of bloody saliva trying to keep myself from puking..

"Take it easy, brother.. Ya got hit pretty bad.." Deyton grabs onto my right arm to help me upright and I wince through the agony of a deep inhale.. The damage of the round bouncing around inside my rib-cage can be felt in so many different places it's hard to know exactly where on pain ends and another begins..

"Where is she?" I grunt, breathing shallow and shrugging out of my jacket to reach up to tear the hole in my shirt wider so I can see the bullet wound beneath..

Holy shite.. It's bad..
High Calibre, maximum carnage..
It's a strange sight to me, but not the worst I've seen on myself by far.. The blackening blood as it dries and the bruising around the lesion discolour my flesh to a mottled purple and the liquid that oozes out is a stark scarlet red..

"We gotta get you to a hospital before you bleed out.." Deyton leans closer, prodding a finger into the tendress around the entry wound and I smack his hand away with a dismissive hiss.. "There's a load of lead in your guts, you could die, dude.."

"If it was gonna kill me I'd be dead already.." I groan, using Detyon's mass to pull myself up to my feet and feeling dizzy from the blood loss.. "Where the fuck is Frankie?!"

"They took the cash and The Dragon, they drove off in Fei's car.. I couldn't get a shot in, man.." He slings his rifle back over his shoulder with apologetic eyes that are glazed and distant.. Even so, his stare doesn't leave my gunshot wound and for a second I think he might lose his shit like he is known to do, but to my relief he keeps himself together..

"How many?" I stumble over to the sedan, yanking open the passenger door and tossing Deyton the keys..

"I dunno, I saw at least two- Maybe three-They had to be special forces, moved in sequence, their smoke grenades and guns were military issue.." He slides in behind the wheel..

I pull out my phone and flick through the contacts, the screen blurring in and out of focus.. "The tracker is still active.. We gotta recover 'em.."

"Seriously?" Deyton scoffs..

"Well make a stop back at my apartment.. Nessa can patch me up well enough to get the job done.." I lift the phone to my ear to listen to it ring..

"You got a death wish, man.." He mutters to himself..

"If I don't get her back, I might as well be dead.." I sigh, leaning back in the seat and closing my eyes to listen to the chime of the phone ringing..

When the line picks up, the displeased wolf answers with a bark.. "Your daughter is fine and if you don't stop checking in Cherry is gonna be offended-."

"Good to know, but, I've got a situation and I'm callin' in a favour-" I huff through troubled breaths, the sensation of dying now taking full effect as the fire spreads rapidly throughout my system..

Killian groans his reluctance.. "Right now?"

"Now.. Meet me at my place in ten minutes.."

"Fine- But this makes us even.." He growls..

I scoff at his attempt to sweep aside all my years of loyalty.. The thing's I have done for the man pale in comparison to what I am asking.. I have been a soldier dedicated to whatever cause he called on me for, no questions asked.. The least he can do is return the favour.. "Not even close, lad.."

......

Back at my apartment. I sit on the sofa while Nessa pumps me full of anesthetic and antibiotics before she performs an agonising debridement.. "The damage is too widespread, River, ye ribs are surely shattered, I can'ae do anythin' more-" She worries, filling the wound with a fast setting glue and and wrapping my midsection in gauze and bandages.. "The longer that round stays in there the worse it gets.. I hate to agree with the pissant, but Deyton's right, you should go to the ER.."

I wave a tired hand, sick of being told what I should be doing.. "Aye, I should.. But I ain't.. Whatever ye' can do will have to be good enough, Ness.."

KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK

Deyton hurries to the door, yanking it open to let Killian in.. The bossman is dressed down, in black jeans and a grey sports coat.. "What in the fuck happened to you, O'riley?" He strides though the living room, looking confusedly around at the mass of women, scowling in disapproval at Deyton and nodding formally to Nessa before he leans down to examine me.. "Does this have something to do with Fei Xiao's daughter?"

I arch an impressed eyebrow at him.. The guy is good.."You knew?"

He rolls his steely eyes.. "No.. But you showed up with that pretty young thing.. And then Iris told me you had a meeting with The Red Dragon, so I put two and two together.. You didn't have to hide her from me, O'riley.."

I sigh.. "It wasn't s'pzed happen, mate.. None of it.."

He tosses a duffle bag full of semi-automatics and Sig's down beside me on the sofa and begins piecing his gear together.. "Hm, famous last words."

"Ye' don'ae get it." I argue in irritation, feeling like a trainwreck and in no mood for his bullshit.. "I already know it, I fucked up, alrite'.. I don'ae need to hear from anybody 'bout it.. Least of all lectures from you.."

He holds up his hands.. "I ain't here to lecture you, brother.. Let's go get your girl back." Killian turns to look Deyton up and down.. "No offence kid, but you can sit this one out."

Deyton shakes his head.. "No can do, sir, River is my brother.. Amberley would kill me if anything happened to him.."

Killian points over at me with a scowl.. "He got shot on your watch. I reckon she might kill ya anyways.."

"Alrite', that's enough.. It's not Dey's fault.. This arguin' is'ney helpin'.. Ye' just killin' me quicker.. Let's go- Ah fuck!" I reach for one of the clean folded shirts on the armrest of the sofa, when I hiss in pain Lijuan springs into action to pass it to me.. "Thanks lass.." I force a grimaced smile and she nods with wide worried eyes before circling around the back to the sofa to stand beside Deyton..

"Dey- please be careful! Please come back safe.." She wraps him up in her arms and he pets her hair, glancing awkwardly over at me as I haul myself up to my feet..

"I'll be fine, Lucy.. I ain't half as big a target as that lug.. I ain't half as dumb either.." Deyton shrugs in my direction and Lijuan shoves him in the shoulder while she whispers at him not to be rude..

I roll my eyes and pull the shirt over my head to cover the bandages wrapped around my ribs..

Nessie hands Killian an epi-pen and talks about me as if I weren't there in the room too.. With stern seriousness she warns him straight.. "His blood pressure is low, you'll need this if he passes out.. Once ye' use it, yeh've gotta get his stubborn arse to a doctor or he's dead."

Killian nods, tucking the epinephrine into his pocket for safe keeping.. "Got it.. Good lookin' out, Ness.."