"No, fuck!" Butcher exclaimed remorsefully, doubling over as the child softly fell through his arms. Only then he caught sight of the sizeable sheet of steel lodged in her side and the massive dark patch soaking through her black t-shirt. "You gonna' stay put for me, kiddo?"
"Billy, I hurt... bad..." She coughed, clinging to his arm. Usually, when injured, she was still able to string a coherent sentence together, but clearly that had changed.
"Can you cauterize it?" Butcher turned to the supe while Hughie limped towards them, eyes wide in horror as the blood seeped from below her ribs.
Annie tried her luck at hovering her hands over the wound, only for their solution to go fruitless. "Oh, fuck. The kid must have fried everything, I need power!"
"WELL, YOU GOT A PRETTY SHITE SUPERPOWER THEN, DON'T YA'?!" He roared, jaw tightening as fingers helplessly clawed at his wrists. "We need a fucking doctor."
"C...where? How?" Hughie panted over mismatched groans and pained screams, which he attempted to console by glancing back down every so often and swiping a few stray hairs out of her face.
"I DON'T KNOW, BUT I'M NOT GONNA' JUST SIT HERE AND WATCH MY KID FUCKING WELL BLEED OUT, ALRIGHT?!-"
"OKAY, OKAY!"
The adults immediately set to grabbing her arms and hoisting her onto her feet, prompting another disgruntled moan as Rowan pulled away from Starlight in favour of her Da...
In favour of Billy Butcher.
"Ugh... what about... what ab-about the others..." She murmured weakly, clinging to him like there was no tomorrow because... maybe there could be no tomorrow.
"They're on their own." Butcher confirmed with his grip tightening rapidly, eyebrows furrowing when she let out a sigh filled with disappointment. "What?"
Rowan pursed her lips - her weak smile was nothing short of inspirational as Hughie dove beneath her other arm. "How the fuck are you laughing?" He flipped out, giving a chuckle at her comment,
"Another shirt ruined." Her toneless giggles were interrupted by an awful yelp as her legs turned numb beneath her. Rowan despised not being able to move, to walk, to escape whenever she wanted. Butcher could hear her pulse purely from her head cradled to his neck as the four of them stumbled away. Those problematic knees of hers gave way again, resulting in an abrupt slump to the ground, through both pairs of arms holding her up. Her jaw ached from grinding her teeth together with such intensity, the metallic traces returned to her mouth, and ringing prickled at her eardrums. Perhaps, if the voices had been screaming, she would have taken this seriously a little earlier; but they were nowhere to be heard.
"Uhm..." Her voice shook violently as she nervously reached for the top of her head - it felt like so long ago, memories of a kiss there only lingered like a dream.
"Come on, kid, back on ya' feet." Butcher groaned as he crouched to her level a second time.
"No, no, I think I'm good." Rowan shook her head nonchalantly, grimacing at the agonising searing,"S-so you can go... and I-I'll... I'll..."
Annie and Hughie sent glances around the group, eventually finishing their journey when they found Butcher looking up at them with his eyebrows slightly puckered - the face he always made when she came out with something insane, the expression was in a place between confusion, intrigue and fatherly pride. With the same look frozen on his face, only slightly more paralysed by fear, Butcher took one look at her before scooping up the child and holding her tight to his chest, marching towards the trees as Rowan hid her face in her arms and bit down on her own skin through the stained infantry coat to console her screams of agony.
____________________
Bouncing slightly with each exhausted step, she certainly did as she was told when repeatedly ordered to 'hold on' by balling folds of shirt and trench coat in her fists and shutting her eyes so tight her face turned numb while two sizeable arms clenched around her and a familiar hand pressed up against the wound, stained with fresh crimson.
Butcher only looked up every minute or so, assessing where Annie was leading them and how far away Hughie was hobbling beside them - the majority of his attention was focused on a small pair of hunched shoulders and the choked sobs she was fighting to keep in. It was beyond unfair she got hurt again - hadn't the supes done enough? He wanted to be enraged, to mercilessly kerb stomp someone out of revenge, but he'd already put a rather brutal end to the one responsible and it felt like something of an anticlimax. There needed to be fury and vengeance for Rowan to be hurt... but he was just worried.
The four of them had been staggering down the road for a considerable amount of time, but no cars or available transport besides Rowan quite literally quivering in a pair of supporting arms had graced the eyeline.
"How are we holding up?" Annie called from the front, receiving only a heated glare from a particularly dark pair of eyes in response.
Not even Hughie wanted to risk claiming they were okay out of genuine fear of what Butcher may do to him.
"Car. Fucking finally." He sighed in relief as a grey Mom car approached them down the forest road and Starlight ran ahead to make it stop. The window wound down and the middle-aged dude sporting a shirt and tie inside smiled politely,
"Hey, miss. Can I help you?"
"Sir, I need you to get out of the car." She warned.
"Why?" He asked abruptly.
She took one glance at the troubled trio with only two sets of feet dragging across the ground, prompting the stranger to follow her gaze and immediately jump out of the car.
Butcher clutched the trembling child in his arms and gruffly collected his thoughts,"FBI. Need to comendeer your vehicle, bit of an emergency."
"Jesus, what happened to her?" He gasped.
"Long story, that."
"Uh, can I see some ID, please?"
With Rowan beginning to weigh down on his muscles, he grumbled,"Left it in me' other pants, too busy saving this one. But you can call my boss."
"Yeah, look, okay," The stranger stammered,"I can get you guys to the hospital but we're in the middle of nowhere, I'm not gonna' give you my car."
"Have it your way." Butcher groaned and turned around to lay her on the road as gently as possible, allowing Hughie to sit by her to rest and comfort.
Annie spun around as the sound of a gun click pierced her ears and put her hands up,"Woah, okay! Let's just talk!"
"You're FBI, really? You're not even American! Is she even hurt?" He aimed the weapon at Butcher and Rowan - which was not on.
"If I wanted to boost some wheels, it wouldn't be in a fucking Hyundai, you daft cunt." He growled and reached for his own gun, approaching the stranger preventing him from saving his kid.
"This is a stand-your-ground state! Stay back!"
Butcher smirked evily,"You can stand wherever you want, mate, but I'm taking your fucking keys."
Annie, who had been trying to diffuse the situation the whole time, finally grew tired of being blatantly ignored - launching a photon blast at the idiot with the gun and shattering the back of his skull against the road. She instantly gasped and rushed to the unblinking corpse with a small puddle of rosebud red gradually emerging from beneath his head. She was distracted by an urgent call from behind as Hughie clambered into the car and helped as Butcher brought the child they had been travelling for to the side,"Cauterize it!" He ordered her.
Starlight did as she was told and hovered her hands over the wound a second time, bringing a gentle but stinging heat to the fresh flesh once he had gently lifted her shirt out of the way.
Rowan snuggled into the impulsive embrace offered by the notoriously cold man holding her as close as possible, she yearned for comfort and warmth as she shivered and wimpered. "No... no, no, no! Stop it!" She yelled, pulling down on his coat desperately and cowering away from the supe.
Annie hesitated half way through the job and pulled away, with her glowing eyes instinctively going to Butcher for guidance.
"Kiddo," He leaned over her slightly, cupping her cheek and forcing her bloodshot eyes in his direction,"We gotta' fucking do this." He felt her jaw clench against the palm of his hand and smoothed over her temple with the pad of his thumb,"Stay strong for me, eh?"
Rowan clutched his hand by her face and nodded with a wince. Butcher squeezed it back and proudly planted another much softer kiss to the top of her head, lips gently pressing to the fluffy brown and inhaling the deep scent from just being so close to her as she turned to the supe once more.
It was as if the action (or sensation, as it was) fueled her courage - as the excruciating heat returned to her side, Rowan let out a scream filled with passion and pain, one she would only hear as she determinedly drove her fist from inside someone's chest. One which frightened the birds into fleeing their homes in the trees, sqwaking and chattering as they fled through the sky. Most importantly, it was one which worried Billy Butcher.
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As Hughie sat in the back with Rowan curled up to his shoulder, he realised something rather strange: maybe it wasn't her fault for getting attached to people around her. It was, most likely that other people couldn't help falling in love with her. He looked down over her clearly discontent but sleeping face and wondered, perhaps she was just a loveable child. Maybe, despite the occasional terrifying and unhinged phases, everyone wanted the girl who made it seem like nothing else mattered - because what's the point in anything else when the summit of adventure, the spinner of imagination, itself, is holding your hand?
"I can't believe I just did that. I mean, I didn't even think about it. He got it out and I just said in my head,'Why would you pull a gun? You dumb fuck'." Annie recounted, glancing back at the baby seat in the back beside her 'on/off boyfriend'. She turned to the driver's seat and immediately sighed frustratedly,"Don't look at me like that. That smirk... I-I'm not like you." She defended.
"Sure." Butcher nodded, putting his foot down probably a little harder than it was considered sensible.
"I'm not a fucking killer!-"
"Guys..." Hughie soothed from behind, puckering his eyebrows as Rowan forced her head harder into his shoulder and moaned in her sleep. This silenced the car for a second or so before she began unconsciously mumbling,
"Yeah... no, I would totally keep a... a pet... pet... dinosaur." She slurred, volume suddenly decreasing,"I'd feed it supes and everything."
"See? Still crackin' 'em out in her fuckin' sleep."
"She what?"
"Brilliant, kiddo."
"Stop it," Hughie complained,"Just let her sleep."
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Not that he understood it was a mutual thing, but Butcher did find watching her sleep rather fascinating. Such a chaotic, little person, screaming and scrambling one minute, and completely knocked out in the next.
He stood with his arms crossed, face painted with a knowing smirk as Hughie sat by the drips with an ice pack on his leg, both shamelessly staring in bewilderment and awe. Their respective silence was broken by the creak of a door and Annie's footsteps pattering through the room,
"What the fuck have you been giving her?" She boomed accusations.
"The fuck?"
"I need to know if you've given her anything," She demanded, but it was a lot softer than before,"If you tell me, I can explain. Just say you never drugged her." It seemed like a simple question to her and Hughie, but both pairs of eyes widened collectively as Butcher hesitated, tilting his head slightly.
"Oh, come on!" Hughie sighed.
"Woah, it wasn't much, okay?" He defended,"I only dosed her with a swig of NyQuil, she was bouncing off the fucking walls - went out like a light." He dismissed.
"Only you would dose your own fucking kid with NyQuil."
"I'll tell you now, I still regret letting her think it's not terrifying when she's had sugar." Butcher narrowed his eyes slightly,"What's this all about?"
"They found traces of something much worse - some kind of long-term sedative, apparently." She grimaced, prompting him to swear under his breath.
'uhh... I'm on drugs'
'why do you think I was wearing that sweaty, old fucking rag?'
'turns out whatever they put me on... it postpones pain and blocks out the voices'
"Those child-drugging, slippery cunts!" He snarled, unable to control his volume.
"Wait," Hughie glanced at Rowan for a moment before dragging himself to his feet to join the conversation,"She's been sick for, like,... ages."
"What do you mean 'sick'?" Annie challenged.
"Vomitin', coughin'-" He thought, missing out out all the 'g's possible.
"Sneezing." He added.
"Could hardly sleep, bless her." Butcher tutted as his heart sank even lower. So much suffering he didn't even see. "Can they get it out?"
"Yeah," Annie confirmed,"But it's gonna' take a while."
"We ain't got a fucking while."
"Well," She scoffed, watching over the peaceful girl who couldn't even seem like she would knowingly lay her hands on another with murderous intent in this moment,"We're gonna' have to make one."