Wilson, after having dealt with the griffon wounded, had rejoined up with the rest of his friends to get ready for the upcoming assault. The first person he went to find was Tran, the most wounded of the four. The sniper in question was in the process of cleaning himself up. He had removed all of the items off of his body that wasn't clothes or body armor before dumping literal buckets of water on himself. Afterwards, he had stripped himself of everything, sans underwear, before sitting down in a chair, resigning himself to Wilson.
Wilson had restocked his supply of medical equipment and was working to carefully sterilize Tran's many, many wounds, before applying fresh bandages. In some cases, Wilson was stitching up tears/holes or in a few cases, packing or chemically cauterizing wounds. It was slow but very important work. "Thanks," Tran said.
Wilson nodded before pulling out a pair of glass syringes. "Morphine. Up to you whether you want it." Tran stared at the syringes before nodding. As the opiates coursed through his veins, Tran felt some of the world's weight get lifted off of his shoulders. His mind felt like it was floating and he had to put more mental effort than usual to be able to focus on his surroundings. "Combined with the ketamine, you've already had a lot, probably too much but you're probably gonna need it for what's about to happen and its not like anyone is gonna be able to stop you from overworking yourself."
Wilson pulled out a pack of cigarettes and started two of them. Once lit, Tran accepted one and took a long drag, going through a quarter of it in one go. As the two of them enjoyed their tobacco, Logan and his crew (him, the sapper, Applejack, and the Quartermaster) joined their company. Wilson gave up his cigarette to Logan and started another one for himself. Applejack already had a lit cigar in her mouth and the other two ponies, instead of smoking dropped several heavily ladened saddlebags onto the ground. The sapper went over to one of the bags and showed off its contents, revealing many, many grenades and bricks of explosives. "We got a pretty good haul. Managed to use up some favors owed to me, other places stole some favors for your team to use," the tiny sapper explained.
Tran nodded in approval as he released a built up cloud of smoke from his Lungs. Applejack pulled out a flask and held it to Tran, to which he drained a significant amount into his body. Handing it back to her, Applejack hid it back in her hat. Tran, still in just underwear, strode on over to his gear. He turned to look at Logan. "Help me out, will you?"
Logan nodded and strode on over to Tran, picking up his gear as Tran picked up his clothes, getting ready to regear himself up for the upcoming future. Before any of that. Two gunshots rang out. One bullet struck Tran in the upper right side of his back and the other struck Logan in the face. As Logan collapsed to the ground, Tran's mind struggled to realize what had happened. Whether it was the trauma of getting shot again or more likely the shock of watching his friend collapse to the ground, he stood there, staring at the unmoving corpse of his headless friend.
Around him, everyone else started taking cover, looking for the source of the shooter. Tran felt someone grab him and try to pull him but nothing moved the paralyzed warrior. Tran finally stirred, looking at his stomach/chest where the bullet exited. He touched the large hole, coating his hand with his life essence.
Wilson continued in trying to pull his friend to cover but found the sniper rooted where he stood. "Come on, its too late for him!" he screamed into Tran's ears. Tran calmly drew his hand cannon from his pile of gear, took aim at a seemingly empty patch of the sky and emptied the cylinder of his revolver. Despite the sky being completely clear of clouds and flying creatures, two griffons shimmered out from magical invisibility and fell out of the sky, no doubt dead. Tran watched the assassins hit the ground at terminal velocity, ensuring that he knew the assailants were dead before finally looking at to look back at Logan's corpse.
Wilson got in front of Tran and prevented him from being able to look at their friend's corpse. Tran looked up at Wilson before finally collapsing unconscious in a bleeding heap on top of his gear.
-X-X-X-
"Get me a needle!" Wilson screamed. Tran's breathing was labored and erratic. The natural breathing rhythm favored one side over the other meaning one of the lungs had collapsed.
Wilson had rushed Tran in a blinding fast speed, having bowled through anyone in his way, over to the closest medical tent. Medical personal alike didn't bother asking questions and brought over any and every medical item they could get a hold of. Wilson was only a medic and not a doctor or nurse but he was more familiar with human anatomy than the others, so he was in charge. Under his instructions and guidance, a nurse had stuck a needle in the right side of Tran's chest and the rise and fall of his breathing rhythm returned to a normal, even rate.
Unfortunately, Wilson wasn't even close to being none. The packing that Wilson had quickly applied to the entry and exit wounds of the shot were soaked with blood. Wilson noticed that the color of the blood soaking the bandages on the exit wound wasn't the normal color of blood red it was supposed to be. It was more pinkish than normal and Wilson loudly cursed. He tore off the packing he had previously placed on the exit wound and blood started spraying out from the wound. The spray wasn't squirting in a constant stream. Worse, it was squirting before stopping before starting to squirt again, constantly stopping and starting. It was spraying in rhythm with his heartbeat.
Wilson and the surrounding medical personal immediately recognized it. It was an arterial bleed. An REA unicorn doctor, with forceps and various other tools floating in the area. The situation was made even harder because seconds after Tran's breathing was fixed, he had woken up. He felt nothing but pain and his mind screamed at him to get up and move but he had the mental strength to recognize where he was and what was going on, barely. Still, Tran's arms shot up and started grabbing at the medical team surrounding him. Wilson gripped Tran's shaking hands and gave it a strong squeeze. "This is gonna hurt but you're gonna have to hold still!"
The REA doctor, when he finally had the opening he needed, started digging in the massive exit wound with his tools. Tran's body tensed and Wilson felt his hands nearly crumble from all of Tran's hands squeezing back. "Got it!" the REA doctor said as the blood stopped squirting out and went to a slow, steady stream.
Wilson placed one of his hands on Tran's face. "You're gonna be okay!" Wilson yelled out. Tran smiled back before closing his eyes. Tran's hands, which had been trying to crush Wilson's hands, fell down, with no more strength in them. Tran's breathing had stopped and his heart stopped beating. It took Wilson a split second to realize what had happened before screaming in anger. The medical team realized what had happened and took a step back in respect. They were surprised when Wilson had started repeatedly pressing down on Tran's chest. He turned away to look at one of the nurses while he was doing chest compressions. "Get me a weather pegasus!"
-X-X-X-
Tran's eyes shot open. Looking around, he found himself surrounded by many, many wounded ponies and griffons lying down in beds. Sitting up in his medical cot, he was immediately accosted by nurses rushing towards him. He got ready to get onto his feet but found himself unable to muster up the strength. He was weak.
A different nurse slowly trotted over to him, a nurse that had been constantly burdened with the weight of other's lives resting on her metaphorical shoulders. "Lie back down," Fluttershy softly commanded. Tran looked her in the eyes before putting his feet back on the bed and lying back down. She looked to the over panicking nurses and dismissed them before turning her attention back to Tran. She gently patted his side to comfort him. "You should be dead right now. You're lucky your friend was able to save you."
Tran turned to lie on his side while still keeping his eyes on her. "He's dead right?"
Fluttershy kept her eyes on him and swallowed. "There was nothing that could be done."
Tran paused with the information sitting in his mind, trying to focus his breathing. He sat back up in his cot. "Who were they?"
Fluttershy put a hoof on him. "If you keep pushing yourself, I will have you tied down," she calmly threatened. Tran stared her down who was staring at her back. Letting up a sigh, he lied back down. She was right. Even now, it was painful to breathe. If he focused enough, he could feel grinding in his chest. "It was two Jaegers. Invisible assassins. You couldn't have done anything."
Tran gently nodded. "Did I get them?"
A resounding voice answered. "Yes," Gilda responded. Gilda and Rainbow Dash joined Fluttershy's side. "I don't know how you knew where they were but you got both of them."
Tran looked down at the exit wound in his stomach. The site burned and had an aching pain. It felt like some chemical cauterization had been done and he could feel stitches. "I based the angle of there shot from where the entry and exit wounds were."
Rainbow looked at the exit wound and grimaced. "We don't know how your friend did it but he restarted your heart. Your friend used a pegasus to shock you with some lightning." Tran put a hand on his chest and gently pressed. He felt some of the ribs move. They were definitely broken, most likely from CPR.
That was when everyone could hear the sound of guns going off in the distance, big ones. It sounded like REA artillery. The counter assault on the griffons was starting.