Aftermath

– Ward P, Infirmary, Site-19 - 1:55 AM – 

It's only been some time since Spy's gang were captured. The infirmary was still treating every Foundation staff who were injured by Albert's Fade away ability. Some had minor injuries while some had more severe ones. 

But in ward P, Lawrence was still lying on the bed in a comatose state until suddenly he grunted and slowly opened his eyes. Once he opened them, he looked left and right and noticed the ward room had more patients than before. He saw some MTF soldiers and Scp Guards sitting on the floor with bandages on their faces, arms or legs. 

"Looks like something big happened." He mumbled and as he looked around, he spotted a familiar face or should I say a familiar helmet with two green dots on it.

It was Carson, who was sitting on the floor and putting a bandage around his knee, the same knee which the Spy shot with his Ambassador. 

"Hey, Carson!"

Hearing a familiar sound, Carson turned to see Lawrence was awake. After putting up the bandage, he approached him. 

[Lawrence, my man. Back from the dead.]

"I wasn't dead. I was in a... long sleep. But anyways what happened? Why are there so many patients around and what happened to your knee?"

[Let me explain.]  

After one long explanation from Carson, it dumbfounded Lawrence at what he was hearing. 

"And all of this happened a while ago while I was in a coma?!"

[Yeeeeah..... but hey, we won, we have Spy's gang in our custody and the Stand arrow as well. So basically this is progress.]

"Yeah, progress. How bad are Rodeo's injuries?" He asked.

[Given that his old wounds reopened, especially that he got shot in multiple areas of his body and a slash mark on his face, it's really bad. But he's ok.]

"Well that's good to hear."

[Soooooo.... want me to call Collingwood to check on you? I'm pretty sure she will be happy seeing that her true love is awake.] He said sarcastically.

"Haha, very funny Carson, but yeah please do."

"Ooook. I'll be right back." 

Standing up, Carson hurriedly leaves the room. 

'Kid, you really like pushing yourself for friends don't you?' Lawrence said through his mind, referring to Rodeo.

He was glad that Rodeo along with the other Human Stands succeeded in taking out Spy's gang. But still, hearing Rodeo suffer such injuries, especially the entire site almost got torn apart by a Stand user's ability and that all of this happened while he was still in a coma... was still shocking. 

He thought if he was there, the tides could have changed, he could have saved Rodeo and the others from getting hurt. He just felt... he could have done something but due to his coma, he couldn't. He felt regret. 

"Please Rodeo, just get better soon."

———————————————————————

On Ward A at theInfirmary, Rodeo was lying on a bed, still covered in bandages, including his face. Amelia and Green left a few minutes to check on the others so he was by himself for now. Until he  heard the door open. 

"Who is it?"

"Hi Rodeo."

It was Michelle. Her arms, one of her palms and right shoulder were covered in bandages due to the slash wounds she received from the Hanged Man. She takes a chair and sits next to the bed that Rodeo was lying on.

"What brings you here?" He asked.

"Just wanted to check on you and see if you were alright or not."

"Well I'm not technically alright. But I'm still alive."

"Good." She said with a smile. But then, her expression changes, with a bit of hesitation, she spoke, ".....Rodeo, I want to ask you something."

"Sure, go ahead."

"Have you seen people die in front of you?"

"I..... have actually. Not in the real world but in this world."

"What do you mean?"

"Let me... explain." 

For a couple of silence, Rodeo managed to explain, regarding the events that happened to him and Amelia in the forest.

"I'm sorry, it must have been hard for you to take a life and see people who you barely knew just die in front of you." She said with sympathy.

"Yeah, no matter how hard I try to resist, I just felt like I separated them from their loved ones, I still feel that regret and guilt in me. But I don't let it get me down much." Rodeo looked down in guilt, but then, he saw his right hand started shaking, which he quickly gripped it tightly.

"But I still remember it. Seeing those soldiers get killed. Almost seeing Amelia bleed out. Killing GOC soldiers, I could have used Bite the Dust, but the situation we were in.... wasn't in our favor, so I couldn't do anything with Bites the Dust. I was able to get Amelia out safe and sound. But Michelle, why are you asking me this?"

"Rodeo, I thought you were going to die, and it brought back some painful memories that I had in the real world about losing two people close to me. I'm sorry if I asked you about your past scars."

"It's ok, I still see it, you know. The crash and those soldiers I killed in my mind."

"I see. But you're not the only one who took a life, I did kill a CI Tank crew."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's ok."

"Okay... but wait, when did it happen?

"Well..."

Thinking for a moment, Michelle began to explain her story, which caused Rodeo to widen his eyes.

"Hm, I'm surprised, you were able to hold yourself against the CI with Alexie."

"I know right, but still it didn't help that I killed the tank crew." She said looking down. 

"Michelle, this is the SCP world. We have to sometimes cross a line that we don't want to. And the only reason I did it was not just for survival, but to protect Amelia as well. And you did it to save Alexie and his men."

"I know."

"But I will say, you fought well today."

"Thanks." Michelle let out a small smile. She got up from her chair at the moment, "....I'll go check up on the rest. I hope you get better soon."

"Don't worry I will."

"Also Rodeo..."

"Yeah?"

"Me, Jeff, Miguel and Kreig just got here this morning and we barely got any time to get to know each other better, so please don't get killed next time."

"I'll try."

"Good. See you later."

Rodeo gave a thumbs up to Michelle, who just left the room. 

'I wonder where the other arrows might be? We know one or two might be with Dark Blue Moon and one is with us. So that leaves us with three arrows whose location we don't know yet. Let's hope we find them soon.'

As he thought about it, little did Rodeo know that the Arrows weren't the only problem out there. 

Problems that are far more threatening than just Stand Mercenaries.