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Daire had asked Josh to go with him to see his folks. It was something that kept getting pushed off because of the Congo, or Iceland, or some business or another. But they'd finally headed out on the drive, Daire a little anxious. He'd rented a car, since he doesn't usually have one in the city, and it has that rented-car smell, freshly cleaned. The driving had been quiet, with some music playing on the radio for part of it, some conversation for part of it, but as twilight had approached, Daire was mostly lost in thought as they continued down a dark stretch with nothing but trees on either side.
The ruddy haze and flashing lights that could be seen illuminating off the trees was the first sign that something was wrong. And as the hill was crested, the sight of a large truck jacknifed in the road, with a station wagon fairly crushed beneath it, camper askew and off in the ditch nearby, was a chill-inducing sight. Someone appeared to still be in the cab of the truck. But it was hard to see who might be in the station wagon.
Of course, Josh was always going to go with Daire, but its easier now that he isn't guaranteed to be gold while he's there. He's fine with companionable silences and music. Then there's a truck up there, and he leans forward and a look of concern on his features, "Whoa, someone's had a bad day." He looks to Daire, "We have to stop." Not that he thinks Daire would drive by without stopping to help or anything.
Daire winces as he catches sight of what lies ahead of them in the road and he nods to Josh in agreement, already having slowed down as they approached, and finally stopping off to the side of the road. "I'm going to check on the guy in the cab. Check and see if anyone is in that car? If they are.. " They're probably not in good shape. He then jogs on over to the cab of the truck, pulling himself up easily and makes an effort to get the door open.
"Yeaaah… truck verses car is not at all a good situation. But this all looks recent." Josh takes a slow breath, and gains a determined expression on his face. "No one's dying here today." Josh is out quickly, and flexing his fingers as he jogs over towards the car. He begins checking in and around the car then to try to find a survivor: or as it might be some mushy bits of one.
When Josh reaches the station wagon, it's apparent that the driver is still alive, though barely, a good portion of him smashed up against the steering wheel, the door bent in in such a way as to make it near impossible to get him out of the car. He's breathing, though. The passenger side of the car has the door open and Josh can make out the sprawled form of a woman on the ground, possibly thrown from the car, possibly having pulled herself free before collapsing. There's sign in the back of the car that there was at least one child, or possibly two. There are a couple of backpacks, some toys, drinks, and other things strewn in the back seat. But the kids themselves aren't visible from where Josh is.
Daire, in the meantime, is pulling the driver out of the cab and carrying him to a safe distance, closer to where the rental car is parked.
Reaching out, Josh lays a hand on the driver; he can't likely heal him while he's in there, at least not entirely. So he just stabalizes some, even if he goes gold immediately and the radiant light of his power shines in the night, "Dai! You might need to shift to be strong enough to get this door open, because if we don't get this guy out I don't think I can heal him completely." With that he's rushing around to go for the woman, crouch down and touch to test her damage, "There looks like there's kids, though— but they're not here. Look around? I stabalized the driver for now."
"The guy in the cab seems to be okay, dazed, but he's slowly coming around," Daire informs Josh as he jogs back over. Taking one look at the door, he nods and then is suddenly grateful he'd started adjusting his clothing for these eventualities. The shirt is going to get torn, but at least the adjustment to his jeans will allow the tail to slip out without another Iceland Incident. The transformation doesn't take long, and as soon as it does, he grabs ahold of the door and pulls. There's a groaning of the metal. It takes him a bit but eventually he does get the door free and tugs it off to the side, though once he's bent things enough for the guy to be moved, he leaves him in place just in case Josh has more he needs to do before moving him. Glowing green eyes turn away from the truck then, looking out into the darkness around the car.
The woman on the ground seems to have severe head trauma, most definitely a concussion, and her leg is definitely broken. She's passed out unconscious and it looks like she was thrown from the car by the abrasions to her body rather than having climbed out of her own volition. She is still when Josh gets around, but still clinging to life.
Reserving his power, Josh closes his eyes and heals only the head trauma for the moment, but he does go and move the broken leg into position so it will not cause extra damage. "I'm not healing anyone completely until we find the kids." he says seriously, "But she's stable, he's stable…" He looks over to Daire, looking very worried. But then he pauses, and he reaches down to lay a hand on the woman, and the glow radiates again until he calls he makes her awake, "I'm a doctor. You've had an accident." are his first words, "You'll live, as will your husband. Were your children with you, ma'am?" For good measure he tweaks the operation of her eyes: makes her vision dim to just shapes.
The woman comes awake when Josh brings her around and the first thing that she groans is "Sarah? Emily? Where are my girls?" She repeats this more than once, though it's clear that she's not particularly coherent. "Jeff?" She tries to look around but she can only see shapes, can't make anything out, "Jeff, where are the girls?" She reaches out with one hand to grab at Josh's sleeve, perhaps thinking that he's her husband, not apparently having heard that he's a doctor, or not making sense of it at the moment.
Daire nods to Josh and then he's taking flight, launching into the air and looking through the trees and along the side of the road to see if he can see anything. Getting a little distance from the light of the crash allows him to see better in the dark with his night vision. "I see them," he calls back to Josh and points further down the road where the children have apparently started walking, perhaps to get help. "They're moving." That's a good sign, right? Better than their folks. "I'm going to see if I can .. um.. I might scare them. You look friendlier."
That's enough of an answer for Josh. There *are* children to find. He sends the woman back to a painless sleep, carefully, and then looks over to watch Daire toke to flight. "Good idea, though I don't exactly… well its night." What's he going to do? Still, he begins jogging in the direction of the children. He's not going to heal any of the adults until he's fully triaged the situation: stabalizing them will at least keep them alive for awhile. "Sarah! Emily!" he calls out to get the girls attention once he's a little closer.
The two girls are indeed walking down the street. They look a bit disheveled and sleepy and a little out of it, but one appears to be about twelve and the other probably eight or so. They seem to be walking alright, as far as Josh can tell as he approaches and calls out their names. The girls stop and turn around. The younger one clings to the older all of a sudden, grabbing her hand a little more tightly. The older girl looks uncertain whether to try and run or to wait, but the man knows their names, and that seems enough to keep her from balking at the moment.
Above, Daire dims his eyes, to keep from being obvious, and keeps his distance, though he watches as best he can from the air, prepared to fly in if he's needed, but the fangs and claws, he keeps those back from the sight of the children.
Josh crouches, hoping his small size makes him less scary. He holds out a hand, and even in the darkness its hard to hide the golden skin— its not as stark as it is during the day with the shine, but its there. "My name is Josh." he says, in a soft, clear voice, "I have a magic power, because I'm an angel. You know about Doctors, right? Sarah? Emily?" He repeats their names with the calm confidence of a doctor trained in a good bedside manner, "Your mommy told me you were here and she's been hurt, but I'm going to make her all better. Its like what a doctor does, but faster, and with no needles— promise." He smiles, "Why don't you come back, and I'll fix up your mommy and daddy, and then they can take you where you need to go? I know you're not supposed to trust strangers, but you can trust angels, right? Look—" And with that his hand begins glowing that warm, golden light.
The older of the two girls continues to watch Josh, and she listens when he talks, studying him in the dark. Back-lit by the accident, it's hard to see him as more than a shadow, but as his hand begins to glow, both girls' eyes widen in surprise and the younger quickly whispers to her sister, "He *is* an angel!" in that kind of awed breath. The older says, "There was an accident. We were going to try to get help." She looks back to where the car and the truck were "Mom wasn't moving and dad.." She glances down at her sister, and then gives Josh a look that is grim, too grim. She must have seen her father's condition and kept it from the younger. "Can you really help them?"
Josh figures: even kids might have mutant bias. But golden angel? What matters is not the truth, but the family. "And that's exactly what you should have done, you didn't know I'd come." Josh nods his head in a confident way, "I've already healed your mother and father some, both; but I had to find you before I made them whole." He lets the glow fade, "I promise you, I can help them. It's what I do: I heal people. Come on. If I heal them and you aren't there, they will be frightened for you. That's why I came for you before I healed them." He rises, and offers the girls a gesture, a 'come here' gesture, "Trust me. I know your father is seriously wounded buy I'll make him whole. " With that he begins walking back towards the wreck, looking to the girls, seeing if they will follow. He does glance up to look for Dai, but understands why he is keeping his distance. Josh might play a convincing angel, but explaining Daire is another matter.
Both girls seem to agree that the glowing angel doctor is a way better prospect than the two of them walking down a dark highway in hopes of finding more help without needing too much more convincing other than his reassurance that he can help their parents. Both follow after him, keeping ahold of one another, but without hesitation, as he makes his way back toward the wreck. "I'm Sarah," says the older girl, "And this is Emily." There's a pause, and then she says, "Thank you for helping us." Both girls, as they get closer to the light from the accident, are a bit on the bedraggled side, and while both sport some bruises, neither appears seriously injured. They'd likely been asleep when the accident occurred. Their faces are tearstained and Emily still sniffles and rubs at her nose, but she seems comfortable around Josh. Him being an angel seems to reassure her.
Daire is still there, though he's come to perch on the top of the truck, watching from there in silence. Josh knows what to look for, to see the vague outline of a shadow against the night. Daire is there if he's needed, but for the moment, he just keeps watch.
Though both need aide, Josh has sufficient power to heal both and just need a good night's sleep, so Josh leads the girls to their mother. Girls need their mother. He crouches by her, and lays a hand on her shoulder, and the golden light surrounds him and can be seen flowing into her. The broken leg shifts and then seals back together— during this he's careful to keep turn off her ability to feel pain. The rest of the wounds are healed with more ease, and then with some instability he rises up and steps away after waking her, "Ma'am, I found your girls. I'm Josh. I'm going to heal your husband now, okay? I need you to keep them away, this isn't something they need to see."
The woman on the ground slowly comes around as Josh's healing takes hold and he wakes her. She's still having trouble seeing but she can find the shapes of her girls, and when she sits up they both run to her and hug her. She holds them both and bursts into tears. "Mommy, an angel came to save us. He's going to help daddy. He made you all better," Emily whispers hoarsely to her mother. Sarah watches Josh move away, but she's already seen their father, and while there's that curiosity, that desire to watch what Josh does, she doesn't follow after, instead hugging her mom and her sister tightly while Josh makes his way around the other side of the car.
Josh looks up to the shadow that is Daire, and he speaks to him; loud enough to be heard by him and them, likely, but what is needed… is needed. In a crush injury, the man might be pinned. "Dai. I need the man out of the car. It doesn't matter what it takes to get him out of the car." As in, how much of an injury he takes so he's not pinned there anymore. "Please .. help what… you can… of him, to the ground. I will heal what there is to heal."
Daire is careful in his descent, landing near the truck as close as he can. He makes his way over to where the man is still in the seat. "I didn't want to move him," he says quietly, "until you had a chance to look at him." The door is already peeled out of the way and the metal moved, so when Daire reaches in, he's able to pick the man up and slide him out. It's not pretty. Everything remains attached, thankfully, but his lower body is crushed. Daire eases the crumpled form out onto the ground near the driver's side as gently as he can, and then he takes a couple of steps back.
The girls have stayed with their mother, but Sarah is watching, and Sarah's eyes are about the size of platters as she catches sight of Daire, unable to remain wholly hidden after reaching in to get her father out. She doesn't scream, but she does look frightened.
"Of course: I just had to know if I had to bring a child back before… I committed to anything else." Quickly, Josh settles down at the ground and the golden light surrounds him and pours into the man. This is a much more serious damage— crushing is… damaging. It takes two full minutes of the golden light pouring into the man as he heals bones, and knit soft tissue together. But he is made whole, finally, and awake. Josh rises— and stumbles, nearly falling, and wordlessly moves towards Daire.
"I know," Daire says, knowing fully why Josh waited. He remains where he is, watching as Josh takes care of the man on the ground. And when he is done, he moves to slide an arm around Josh protectively, keeping him up. He looks over to Sarah, who is still looking at him wide-eyed and says to her, "Ever see a gargoyle on the side of a church? We're there to protect against bad spirits. And sometimes, to help weary angels when they've done hard work. I'm going to take this angel home now, and we're going to call the police so that they can come out and bring a tow truck. You'll all be okay now." He knows it's probably not overly helpful, but, well, it's the best he can do.
Sarah stares at Daire, but when she sees her father pulling himself to his feet and looking around, dazed and a bit confused, she seems to forget about that for the time being and runs around to the other side of the car to throw her arms around her father. "You're alright!" She knows he shouldn't be. She looks back over toward Josh and Daire and says "Thank you, Josh!" She still seems skeptical of Daire but says, "Take care of the angel!" since it doesn't appear that he's hurting him any.
Daire nods and then he then helps Josh back toward the rental car. "We'll send help back once we get into town." He opens the door and helps Josh into the passenger seat before closing it and transforming back, the wings vanishing, though the shirt remaining bloody and torn. He then hops into the driver's side, and pulls away. The man from the truck sits on the side of the road just staring at the entire scene in utter bafflement.
Josh hesitates, "I lied, Sarah." he says softly, "I'm not an angel, I'm a mutant. We're mutants. But people are afraid of mutants, even mutants who can heal their daddy's, so I wanted you to come back and be safe." That way, a story can be built. Maybe one family can think better of mutants. "I'm sorry for lying, Sarah. But your family is safe." But then he turns away and heads to the car, leaning on Daire's support with some clear need. He settles into the car and closes his eyes a moment, and when Daire steps in again, "We need to stop at the first cafe."
Daire is a little surprised when Josh changes the story, but he nods in agreement and says, "Sorry.. we just didn't want you to be afraid of us."
Sarah seems a little puzzled by this, brow furrowed, but she nods a little bit to the pair and waves as they move to drive off.
Once they've cleared the people and are back on the road, Daire nods and says, "There's a place up here, 24 hour diner. We can get you something. And I can make a call to send someone back to help them." He reaches over then and gives a little lopsided smile, giving Josh's arm a little squeeze. "You're still an angel to me."
Once they're driving, Josh explains, "That's one family, I hope, which will think 'mutant' and remember good. The angel story.. was just to get the girls back. Its crazy, wild, whimsical, magical, as any little girl might like to believe in. But in the end, … today there's one family." He takes a deep breath, and at the arm squeeze he smiles, warmly, looking with his golden skin over to Daire, "You do know I'm an athiest, right? But if you want me to be your angel, so be it." Athiest! Scandal. "I'll be that for you if you get me coffee and a burger and— if at all possible— cheese fries. I would absolutely love for some cheese fries."
"Oh, I know you're an Atheist," Daire says with a chuckle. He's recalled more than one conversation on the topic with Jay. "I'm not even religious. That doesn't mean that you aren't *my* angel." He then chuckles and says, "I think I can probably do all of the above." And with that, he takes them on down the highway to the little diner, for the nearest cheese fries he can find.