Snippet #2702294

As expected, Clockwork's assistance ultimately proved unnecessary- already, Dawn could see the flesh beginning to crawl back into place, covering raw muscle with a sheet of fresh white skin. The man was still from top form, of course, but she couldn’t help the spark of relief that flitted through her. Couldn’t help the way her the knot deep in her gut tightened, either, as if someone had taken a dishrag and twisted it, straining the juices.

This wasn’t right.

Many of the Wanderers own were refugees. Liberty, Erubesco- even from the Wasteland itself, in a sense. People who were just trying to make a better living for themselves than anything their old lives had offered. There were some exceptions, of course, but an overwhelming amount of them were just trying to separate themselves from their old lives. Sure, the factions tended to attack more often than not, and the risk of some level of familiarity was always present, but…not like this. Not now. Dawn’s tongue prodded lightly at the raw side of her cheek, and, wordlessly, eyes still on Mina and the stranger, she took the offered gun from Toby. She didn’t shoot- didn’t know how to, not when there had been nobody to teach her, and her Gift had served as her main method of defense for years- but the movement was automatic, and made her feel more in place. The pistol lay flat in her palm for a few moments before she tucked it away, zipping it into a free pocket of her bag for later consideration. At the very least, it felt better to be holding onto it for now.

One by one, various medical supplies were produced from the intruder- from Larke Sterling’s pockets. Pills, bandages, gauze. Aside from the meager weaponry that had been on him, there was nothing that smacked of the man being some kind of special Erubescian soldier or anything. Combined with the self-healing, there was no evidence of the tag being a ruse of some sort. Everything about him screamed “medic”. Dawn didn’t have to look to see that the idea didn’t sit well with the others, either- Toby had even announced it, after all. She looked upwards, as if a group of agents would suddenly materialize from thin air, then threw out her Gift again- away from this horrid scene, away from Helton, as far as she could send it without it ceasing to function properly. Like this, Dawn could feel those around her- less so than before, her ability was less potent the more spread out it was- and the bodies going about their business within the city boundaries, like some kind of organic radar of sorts. She circled her range a few times, trying to find, sightless, a trap or ambush or...something that would make a semblance of sense, but there was nothing. It was after the fourth of fifth round that Dawn retracted her antennae, shook her head, then turned her gaze back upon the group.

“Nothing,” she said, softly. “Unless there’s some kind of suppressor, it’s...It’s just him.”

It was the least satisfying explanation, and a conclusion that even Dawn herself couldn’t help but doubt.