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Post by mugenginga on Apr 4, 2010 6:02:18 GMT -5
Zero closed his eyes as Mal talked. His attempt at nod just loooked like a seizure. Yeah, he could heal Mal just fine. A few of the words sounded like they were coming through a bad connection, but he could hear him just fine. If he'd been in top form, he could have brushed it off with a mild headache. Top form being what he'd almost wiped out a reality with, his coding consisting of nothing but zeroes, his ability to erase items unstoppable and living beings damn close. But he wasn't in top form, dammit. He'd already known he was weak, and then that had happened.
If he could just get up, he might be able to do some patchwork. Hell, if he could just speak. His data was going through so many fluctuations, so many pieces freezing between the 0 mode they were supposed to be and the 1 mode they seemed to be trying to go into lately. That had to be what the odd trinary was. That mode between on and off. He could understand nothingness, so why couldn't he understand this!?
He literally seemed to be going into seizures at this point. He winced a bit more as his head hit the wall behind him again. He managed to shoot his hand out in a jerky motion to grab something, anything to provide some stability. Happened to be Mal's leg. Some of the "bleeding" data floated up and Zero stopped jerking for half a second. His eyes opened and he gave the snarl of a wounded and trapped animal. Mal would find the hand being removed from his ankle and grabbing the top of Mal's laser pistol.
Another burst of the both opaque black while semi transparent energy burst from his hand. Mal's gun quite simply vanished. Lingering data popped around Mal's holster, and about half of it it vanished, leaving a wavy edge where it had been. Zero winced again and let out an electronically gabled hiss, and the distorted data around him flared once more before drawing inward and Zero went still.
His face was contorted in pain still. He seemed to be frozen in that position. He'd never breathed unless he had to, and without part of his subconscious applied to making himself seem human, he wouldn't have a pulse. He had normal temperature for human skin, but right now that would be fading. And then his arm fell limp to his side, and his expression relaxed. He somehow didn't manage peaceful, but he still seemed rather... dead.
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Post by Jilak on Apr 4, 2010 6:30:04 GMT -5
Well, Jayne was completely shocked right now. It wasn't the fact that Zero had apparently fought not one god, but MULTIPLE, it wasn't that Zero had seemed to just go into seizures and follow up by DYING, it was that Zero had destroyed Mal's GUN before dying. Sure it may have been a laser gun, which everyone this side of the 'verse knows fails EPICALLY, but it was STILL a gun. I mean, God. It was like he'd ripped out part of Jayne's heart right there. And then he died right afterwards. Jerk.
Mal, on the other hand, was more worried about the fact that Zero Nada, the fellow he had not a day ago recruited as a member of the crew, seemed to be dead. Not only that, but it was partially Mal's fault. That, or the men with the blue surgical gloves' fault. After all, THEY had put the device in his hand. But no... he somehow couldn't accept that Zero could be dead. On the one hand, yes, he wasn't as strong as he was when he'd partaken in the aforementioned events. But still, he was pretty damn powerful, all things considered.
"...Zero?" Mal called out, pushing his right hand forward to brush a lock of hair out of the man's face. It could almost have been seen as a loving gesture, but was truthfully more so he could see if the man's eyes opened. Even a tad. It would indicate that he was still, for all purposes, alive.
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Post by mugenginga on Apr 4, 2010 6:41:51 GMT -5
Zero gave no response. Not a twitch, not a movement, not a breath. If either Mal or Jayne had the bright idea to check his pulse, there would be none. Holding their hands in front of his mouth would merit no result, either. With nothing to scan the man with, at this point there was no way to confirm if his data was doing anything in the way of activity.
Of course, the possibility of being able to do that said something else. Mal had seen Zero burst into data before. Back when he'd met the girl Zero had called Princess Serenity. And Zero had pointed out numerous times that he wasn't human. But that was the only thing that made the situation odd. Zero was still Zero. Not Missin No. Not data. He was still very physically there.
Still seemed dead though, and that appearance showed no signs of changing.
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Post by Jilak on Apr 4, 2010 6:55:19 GMT -5
That was odd. Mal was just realizing why it was so odd. Why was Zero... why was he still in a physical form? What the hell had the string of digits DONE to him? He'd broken into digital distortions numerous times, and had even been distorting a bit during his seizure, so... had the device actually made him... human? Mal speculated that was really the only way for the computer virus to actually 'die', in full on human mode. So... it would make sense for him to be dead, he supposed...
"What now?" Jayne asked, breaking up Mal's thoughts. And then the captain leaped into action.
"Jayne, go find me a bucket of cold water and a rag. If I'm right, he might need all the water he can get." Mal responded to Jayne, placing one hand over the other on Zero's chest. He didn't have a shocking apparatus, so if Zero really WAS full human, he'd have to start his heart in this manner.
He gave a few sturdy pushes...
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Post by mugenginga on Apr 4, 2010 7:06:11 GMT -5
The body would feel human enough, in any case. There was definently the proper "give" of the diaphram as Mal began his CPR. Seeing as the man was probably only trained in combat medicine, there wasn't any niceties about it. It meant that he'd be aware that he'd cracked the ribs with one of the pushes. Not that Mal had ever asked any questions about Zero's apparent anatomy, but with the knowledge he had the most logical assumption would be that he was right.
Didn't seem to be doing any good though.
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Post by Jilak on Apr 4, 2010 7:14:46 GMT -5
Mal did, of course, realize he'd broken a rib or two of Zero's. Which confirmed his belief enough. If Zero was still anything more than a human, he shouldn't have had a bone structure, Mal thought. But he DID. And even worse, his CPR didn't seem to be helping.
"GORRAMMIT, ZERO. DON'T YOU DIE ON ME NOW. JAYNE, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?" Mal yelled out. Things were spinning out of control, and the captain wasn't happy with it, at all.
Jayne came bursting through a second later, holding a bucket and a damp rag. He placed the rag on Zero's head after squeezing a bit of water into the other man's mouth. For whatever reason, he was out. And it could've been that he was dehydrated, or his heart had stopped, or... anything, really. And Mal wanted to be ready on all accounts.
"He comin' to?" Jayne asked, looking on as Mal continued his CPR.
"Does it LOOK like it?"
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Post by mugenginga on Apr 4, 2010 7:20:05 GMT -5
Well, Mal had actually only broken one rib, but cracked several others. Far as the give indicated and the one somewhat sickening sound had implied. It was when the second rib seemed to break that things actually happened, and it was less from that and more from the fact Mal hadn't thought propping the man up after squeezing water into his mouth might be a good idea.
Zero gave a solid jerk and began coughing. No, more accurately, the man began choking. His eyes popped open and the pain granted from a combination of broken ribs, accuracy of form, and god damn choking meant the spasm was followed by a quick rolling over, clutching of his chest, and his face turning rather red. Man was gonna pass out again at this rate...
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Post by Jilak on Apr 4, 2010 7:33:23 GMT -5
Mal patted Zero on the back lightly, keeping his right hand as far away from him as possible. Even when doing CPR, he'd kept his right hand behind his left. Even if the man was human, he was a LIVING human. Which was good. If you'll excuse a moment of me being Captain Obvious.
"Okay, take it easy there... almost died on us a moment ago, don't want to hyper tense yourself." Mal stated, nodding at Jayne to move the bucket back. Zero was out of the danger zone. Okay. Didn't have to worry AS much, but now he had a couple of broken ribs, and a few others that were cracked. Not good.
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Post by mugenginga on Apr 4, 2010 7:37:23 GMT -5
Zero continued coughing, but he seemed oddly calm about it. He was frowning and seemed rather annoyed. It was normal for a person who seemed to be choking go death to start to panic, but Zero wasn't. He kept his chest clutched with one hand and reached across his body and over the back of his shoulder with the other to push Mal away. The push was solid and probably got the man back, but either way Zero held up a single finger.
"Just," he said in a very quiet and forced voice, causing another annoyed expression. Still no panic, it was weird, "minute!" he stressed.
If anyone was paying attention to the hand still clutching his chest, they'd notice something. He was flexing his fingers. At several points he balled it up into a fist in a manner that allowed his knuckles to pop. Almost looked like the man had a case of arthritis. Coughing was beginning to taper off.
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Post by Jilak on Apr 4, 2010 8:05:11 GMT -5
Mal did as asked and backed off. Didn't want to get too much in Zero's face, needed to let the man get as much air as he needed. He'd been in a similar situation before, back when Niska chose to come at him a second time. Luckily he'd used his powers of amazing to escape.
Luckily for Zero? Mal had his powers of amazing. It was, like, a universal circle, man. And then there was Jayne, who almost ruined Mal's saving of Zero's life, but whatever. The point was, the virus-maybe-man-now wasn't dead. And it was all thanks to Captain Malcolm Reynolds. Yep. Jayne had no part in it, nor did Zero himself. Yeeeep.
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Post by mugenginga on Apr 4, 2010 8:12:21 GMT -5
Zero pushed himself up with the hand he'd shooed Mal away with. His back was to Mal due to how the man had tried to help him stop choking. His front was, as a result, towards Jayne. It mean that the recently flexed hand was quite visible to Jayne, and not to Mal. He pressed his palm against the center of his chest and closed his eyes. He didn't seem inclined to talk again.
Anyhow, his position meant Jayne would get a clear shot at the very slight bit of data spark on Zero's fingertips, but not Mal. It also meant that Jayne would be the only one who would have any kind of hope of knowing why Zero's face suddenly contorted and his palm tightened, grabbing a bit of his shirt and his jacket in a bundle as he bent over the way someone with a massive stomach cramp might. His face twisted in pain again and he let out a grunt. Jayne might catch the discolored blue distortions before Zero's hand was concealed with the way he leaned over, his long bangs concealing his face.
"Nnnngh! Arceus dammit!" Zero growled, his voice a combination of unbridled anger, significant pain, and disgust.
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Post by Jilak on Apr 4, 2010 8:33:25 GMT -5
And this was the point where Jayne was officially freaked the fuck out. I mean, Gor. Zero had just did his realityscrew trick again, just on a smaller scale. Either way, good Gor, man. And then he'd said something about some 'Arceus' to boot? Really, Zero? Just hold a gun to Jayne's face, why don't you? First make it obvious that you aren't human, then keep waving it in his face. I mean, really. Even worse, from Mal's vantage point, Zero was just having a mild freakout. Mal considered seeing if he was okay until he saw Jayne's face. Terrified stupor again? Zero must've just been using his powers, Mal decided.
Which left another question. Was he human or wasn't he? He could still use his powers, yes... but the coughing fit and the broken/cracked ribs? Rather... human-ish. Gorrammit Zero. Why do you have to be so confusing? I mean, Gor.
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Post by mugenginga on Apr 4, 2010 8:44:27 GMT -5
Zero didn't take any deep breaths because he didn't have to. Otherwise he would have been gasping pretty heavily. He straightened up and looked at the hand that hadn't gone back to clutching his chest. He was death glaring, but he seemed to be looking past it. He could still feel the altered coding, and now he had a suspicion what it was doing. Shit. He stayed in that position, ignoring Jayne's freaked look, for a few moments. After a long and possibly uncomfortable pause, he turned to Mal.
"How much first aid do you know? I can't heal this," Zero stated.
He gave no explanation as to why. It was then that he took in a deep and somewhat labored breath. Well, he did have broken ribs, but he hadn't had to breath hard before now. He closed his eyes and felt the pain as he began to breath pretty heavily. Breathing. He leaned back against the wall behind him, probably opening room for quite a few questions.
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Post by Jilak on Apr 4, 2010 8:56:59 GMT -5
So now Mal was even MORE confused. Zero needed... medical care? But he was using his powers just seconds ago! Well, he assumed. Jayne just might've been really terrified of Zero. But whatever, the point was, Mal's skills were nowhere near Simon's, and he was more experienced with war injuries, but... it would have to do, he supposed. He turned and looked through his desk a bit. As luck would have it, he had a medical wrap on hand.
He lifted Zero's shirt, wrapping it around the man's rib cage, following the animu rule that bandages fix EVERYTHING. In his defense, he did get them tight enough to apply pressure. Plus, unless he was to do full blown surgery, which he COULDN'T, it was all he COULD do. He didn't have any of Simon's medical equipment. Hell, SIMON didn't have any of Simon's medical equipment.
"Best I can do with what I got." Mal stated, standing back.
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Post by mugenginga on Apr 4, 2010 9:09:51 GMT -5
(OOC: Just mildly retconning some of what Mal did so its a bit more in character for Zero. End result the same.)
Zero took in a shaking breath. He wasn't used to pain, and what little he got he was usually able to fix. He looked over at Mal when he didn't receive a response in time to see the man pull medical wrap out of the drawer. He raised his eyebrow at the coincidence, as it wasn't things hotels were exactly known for stocking. He wasn't really in position to complain though, so he carefully took off his jacket and his shirt for Mal, placing the two articles of clothing to the ground closest to the wall. That act alone made him grimace a bit. The man had broken ribs, folks.
Unfortunately, while Zero was a pretty boy designed for a setting based on Japanese games, he'd gotten the misfortune of getting mixed up with a more logical group. So the bandage job really was little more than a temporary patch job. He didn't say anything when Mal gave his more or less apology. He winced as he got to his feet, hooking his shirts on the way up. He got dressed again, controlling his breathing to help manage the pain. It was only after he got the buttons on his jacket done he spoke again.
"As long as that device is in you, those two men will know our exact location. And its using your body as its battery, meaning you'll get steadily weaker over time. To top that off, this has shown me you're not the main target. Even worse," Zero had a nasty scowl and seemed downright pissed. His next words were spitting venom, "I can't defend myself like this."
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