“Windy! Nonononono…” High Noon began crawling faster as both arms became fully usable, while his legs slowly pushed his body forward. “Windy!”
He arrived at his apprentice’s bleeding body as a pool began to spread underneath her. The bullets from his gun had gone right through her body, one in the gut and one in the chest.
“Windy… Why?” High Noon asked as he reached for one of her hands. He held it tight. “Why didn’t you run…?”
“Wouldn’t h-have made a difference…” Windy gasped.
“We can still get help…” High Noon reached for his phone with his other hand. “We’re going to get you back to the bureau, Windy. I’m not letting you die here.”
Spectral Rim tugged at High Noon’s shoulder, most of her bodily functions back to normal. “The cops are coming. We need to go. Now.”
Silent Frame’s leg was still having trouble bearing her weight, but she too came over to help. “Come on, Windy,” she forced a teary smile onto her face. “Patch’ll have you fixed up in no time.”
It took a few minutes for them to find and hotwire a car that would fit all four of them. Silent Frame drove, with Spectral sitting beside her and High Noon with his apprentice in the back, resting her head on his lap.
“Hang in there, Windy…” High Noon pressed his spare bandages around Windy’s body to prevent too much blood from escaping.
Thankfully, the bureau wasn’t far, since they were still in Trottingham. Silent speedily swerved the car to a stop just outside the bureau before the three of them got out to carry Windy in.
“Medic!” High Noon shouted to the front guards. “We need a medic!”
The sentries sprang into action, one of them running up into the clinic and the other one setting up a stretcher that was kept near the door for such emergencies. The run to the medic wing was quick and careful as the Assassins struggled to get there before Windy could lose too much blood.
Come on, come on… Noon thought to himself. He wasn’t going to let her die. He couldn’t. She meant a lot more to him than he had ever shown to anyone. He wasn’t ready to let her go.
They pushed the doors open just as Patch was tying up the bandages on Pierce’s foot. The hacker looked at Windy and widened his eyes as she was placed on a bed beside him.
“Attend to her first, Patch,” Pierce pushed the doctor towards the other Assassin.
“What happened?” Patch pulled the bandages off Windy to inspect her properly. “Did Mirror…?”
“She… She shot her.” High Noon grabbed the medic’s coat. “Doc, you’ve gotta save her! You’ve gotta!”
“Was she poisoned?” Pierce raised the question.
Noon shook his head. “No. Only shot. With my own gun.”
Patch pushed him away and set about attaching various tubes and wires to Windy to get a better reading on her vitals.
High Noon didn’t know what else to do. He felt like all he could do was stand around and watch his apprentice slip away. He couldn’t stop himself from tearing up, the clear water flowing out of his eyes and down his cheeks.
“Noon, I’m sorry for what happened…” Silent put a hand on his shoulder.
Pierce hobbled to them on crutches. “Yeah. I owe the kid my life for not letting that witch on my van. I can’t believe she survived all that. No one’s ever lived through one of my C4 ambushes before. No one’s ever fought me blind either, now that I think of it. Wonder what she really is. Maybe a mutant.”
“Doesn’t matter what that witch is right now.” Spectral pointed to Windy. “What matters is that we pull her through this.”
Patch suddenly let out a shout. “I need help here! She’s going into shock!”
One of the medics ran over with a defibrillator and got it ready while Patch got Windy prepped for the trial. High Noon didn’t want to look. It was too much to see Windy in such a state. The cowboy turned around and listened as the defibrillator charged up before the charge was released with a sudden boom. Then again, and again, and again, until Windy’s heartbeat resumed an average pace.
“Noon, it’s over,” Silent told him. “She’s fine for now.”
The cowboy nodded and slightly turned his head back to look. Windy’s eyes were wide and fluttering, though they shut again when Patch injected her with something to calm her down.
“I don’t know how well I can fix this on my own.” Patch wrung her hands nervously. “We need equipment that I don’t have here.”
“Where can you find the equipment?” High Noon quickly butted in. “I’ll-I’ll get it for you! Just tell me where to look.”
“Well, hospitals mostly,” Patch grabbed hold of High Noon as he made to sprint away. “But I won’t have you breaking into one and taking anything. The people there need those things too, and you’d do more harm than good.”
“What c-can you do, doc?” High Noon’s mouth began quivering. “Y-you’ve got t-to save her…”
Patch sighed. “I’ll do the best I can, High Noon. I’ve already put through a request to have her treated at a hospital, but first I need to stabilize Windy and stop the bleeding. Your- that is to say, the bullets did a considerable amount of damage to her major arteries.”
“N-Noon…?”
The Assassins turned to Windy as she lay weakly in the bed, turning her head to look at her teacher.
“Yes, I’m here, Windy.” Patch stepped out of the way to allow the cowboy to kneel down by her bedside. He took her hand and held it with both of his.
The other Assassins sidled away and out of the clinic to allow them some room. Even Patch went over to her desk to finalize the requests for hospital treatment.
“Noon, I’m sorry… For not listening to you.”
“It doesn’t matter now,” High Noon shook his head as more tears emerged from his eyes. “You did good, Windy. You saved Pierce. I just wish… wish it could’ve been different… Windy, I wanted to tell you something… I’ve always wanted to tell you, but I didn’t know how…”
“...What is it, Noon...?” Windy asked.
“Windy… um…” High Noon still didn’t know how to say it, but he felt like he needed to tell her now. There was just too much risk if he didn’t do it now. He wanted her to know how he felt about her, even if she wasn’t going to make it. “Windy, I’ve… I’ve had feelings for you. Since the day we met. I wish I could’ve told you sooner.”
“It’s okay, Noon…” Windy flashed a smile to him. “M-me too… I never knew how to s-say it. I’m sorry, Noon. I should’ve known you f-felt the same about me.”
High Noon rested his head against her bed and closed his eyes. He should’ve just said this from the very beginning. At least then, they could’ve enjoyed the time they had together. No. That was wrong. He did enjoy the time they shared. Being with Windy was something he would never say was a waste of time.
“You’ll get better, Windy,” Noon raised a hand to her cheek and held it there. “Then we can spend everyday together. Better than we used to.”
Windy nodded slightly and turned her head to face the ceiling. “Thank you, Noon. For looking out for me. For teaching me how to help others… To s-stand up for what’s right.”
The apprentice held her teacher’s hand to her face as she closed her eyes. Noon stayed with her in this position for a few more minutes before Dr. Patch came back.
“High Noon, it’s time for me to get to work,” she patted his shoulder. “I’m afraid I have to ask you to leave. Procedure and all, you understand.”
“Of course, doc.” High Noon stood up and placed a quick kiss on Windy’s lips and pushed her hair out of her face. “Don’t worry, Windy. Dr. Patch will look after you…”
Noon nodded to the doctor and left the medic wing, more tears falling down his face as he thought about the unknown future. A future which might not include Windy Sails.