16583/When You Decide to Wake Up

When You Decide to Wake Up
Date of Scene:	15 December 2023
Location:	Undisclosed - Medical
Synopsis:	Bunny wakes up. Mark and Sunny are onhand. The trio agrees Mark should DEFINITELY not go face Omni-Man alone.
Cast of Characters:	Mark Grayson, Bunny Macleod, Sunny Harlow

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Mark Grayson has posed:
There's no outside light in this level of the Facility. The only way to track time is with a clock. And there isn't any in the recovery ward. The idea was to focus Nolan... and now Mark or Sunny... on healing, not how much time has passed.

Mark had taken the shift over from his mother. Debbie, bless her soul, needed a break. And now that he's able. He's there. At Bunny's side, his fingers resting lightly in her hand. He's not moved since he sat down. Waiting, hoping that Alura's treatment had healed her.

He had heard her warning. A normal human, Alura could have cleared out her system. But Bunny was a Homo Superior and she was unsure what would happen with her.

So he waits. The drone of the machines have become monotone. The sound of heart-rate monitor, the constant check of her blood pressure as it inflates and hisses in deflation. The drip of the IV. It's all drowned out, his eyes focused on Bunny's face.

He almost lost her. To his father. His face is still bruised and battered. But the sadness that is there is obvious. He has thoughts on the next steps.

And none of them are good.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    Recovery takes time. Bunny is physically well on the mend. Still bruised. Her body adjusting, but it's no longer trying to kill itself off.

    Not currently, anyway.

    Her hand twitches. Her breath deepens, and she stirs -- she's got restraints on her upper arms to make sure she just doesn't leap out of bed. She gasps out, trying to sit up, and the first word out of her parched mouth is:

    "MARK!"

    And there is a brief moment of panic. Of confusion. This wasn't a familiar ceiling. Her body still ached. Her eyes unfocused as she stared up at a boot that was still hovering over her in her mind, slowly fading away to reality.

    And just as quick there's a 'beep!' that adds additional sedatives. No one seemed to be sure what the long term effects of her stupidly taking two pills was going to be.

Mark Grayson has posed:
He had almost fallen asleep. He probably could have used the sleep. Mark hasn't had any of it, except while unconscious. His father nearly killed him. The girl he loved. And the girl they both cared about. His head had nodded a couple of times. Eyes drooping, that slight haze in his vision...

'MARK!'

Bunny's panicked cry shocks Mark out of his near-sleep, the young man suddenly alert and aware, eyes flickering to find threats that aren't there. Shadows that are ominous in the darken room with only dim light on.

His fingers tighten in hers. A reflex. It may actually hurt for a moment. And he pushes out of the chair so that she can see him. "I'm here, I'm here!" he promises, his hand releasing hers slowly, not fully, just a loose grip.

"We're safe." he tells her quietly. "You're safe." he reiterates, lifting his other hand to brush some of the hair back from Bunny's forehead.

"I'm here."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    Her hand shakes, and squeezes with more force than is required. She looks up at Mark, registerring that htey are... in a hospital? This wasn't the Young Avengers medical bay. She looks around, still bound down to the recovery gurney as her blue eyes settle on Mark's bruised face.

    "You're hurt." she squeaks out. Nevermind that her body still feels like one big bruise and she's got a dully throbbing headache.

    "Did... did we..." win. Lose.

    "Is Sunny OK?"

Mark Grayson has posed:
"I'll be fine. You missed the Kryptonian coming to heal you." Mark says it quietly, perhaps trying to offer a breath of levity. Because his next words are going to hurt.

"We lost. We lost hard." he says quietly. "Da..." a pause. His expression changes. Confusion. Anger. Hurt. All there. All laid bare. "Omni-Man gave us two weeks to change our minds."

He switches to Sunny. "She had her leg and armed shattered. We were both healed by Alura as well. She owed us for helping her in the past." he explains. "So hopefully Sunny will be okay come morning."

A pause. And that frown won't leave. "I guess he was right. Beating me down only makes me stronger."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    Her hand grips Mark's again.

    "We lived." she explains quietly, "and that gives us time to plan. Get more people. I... I..." she begins, her h ands trembling as she lays her head back. Vertigo makes her stomach pitch uncomfortably.

    "... people heard what he said? From the broadcast?" she asks quietly, and then she gives a small laugh. "Would have been worth it... to see the look on his face..." she breathes out.

    And she opens one blue eye, looking over to Mark.

    "We. Lived. May not have won the battle, but we've got a long way to lose the fight." she states encouragingly, and gives a harsh swallow. "Am... am I allowed to have water? Or ice chips? I think your mom yelled at some old dude."

Mark Grayson has posed:
The hand grip is returned.

"We lived because you did something extremely brave." And very very very stupid. But Mark isn't going to say that. She will probably hear that enough soon enough. "We lived because you bought us the time. And got the message out. You were the hero last night, my beloved Bunny. Everyone heard. And that brought help."

Her blue eyes are met by his grey ones. It's hard to shake that anger that's contained within. "That was Cecil... I will fill you in when I get back, okay?"

He gets out of the chair, releasing Bunny's hand for only a moment to head to the door. Opening it, he slips out into the hallway beyond.

He's only gone for a few minutes, and when he returns, he is not alone. Sunny is with him. Mark is pushing her in a wheelchair and she's the one with the water and ice chips.

"She heard you were awake and was ready to make her injuries worse to see you." he murmurs, moving Sunny to be at Bunny's side as he returns to his seat.

Sunny Harlow has posed:
"Hey, they said the spleen was -nearly- ruptured," Sunny protests, a frown up at Mark as they were wheeled in. Her right arm was still braced, her left leg still in a cast and her form still in a hospital gown, not to mention how bruised her face was...but there was not doubt in the blonde's mind she'd taken the least of the punishment and that didn't exactly make her feel any better.

What did however, was seeing Bunny awake. Had Mark been any slower? Well, she'd probably be literally floating out of her wheelchair to get to her sooner.

"Hey Bun!" she offers, attempted soft tones not quite managing to hide the concern that hung to her words. "We brought you these."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Extremely stupid." Bunny admits quietly, leaning her head back, and she closes her eyes. "Everyone heard. *Good* He can't hide it now. All of Earth knows what he was here for, and that we stood up to him..." she coughs. "Ugh." she murmurs, and sniffles. Damn cold.

    And as Mark exits to get her water she's contemplative, and tries to bring her hand up to scratch her nose. And she finds she can't reach her nose so she leans over, awkwardly in the bed to try and scratch her nose.

    She however leans too far, and tries to swing her legs out to compensate for the weird balance and she's now dangling slightly from one side of the bed, with the 'patient left the bed' alert beeping, mooning the back of the room.

    "Hi Sunny!" Bunny states embarrassedly.

    "I think I broke something. It all started beeping!"

    A couple of med team members peer around the doorjam.

    "... should we come back later?" one asks, to Mark and Sunny.

Mark Grayson has posed:
"Nearly means perforated." Mark won't go into the mess his lungs were still recovering from. And that's when they enter the room and Bunny is well tangled up and out of the bed. "Bunny!" he hisses. It doesn't matter that she's exposed, it's the whole, you know, dangling thing.

At least she doesn't have a catheder. Moving to try to help Bunny back into the bed, he sighs as he lifts her, over the sound of the alarms. "Hi." he comments dryly.

With the team members appearing, he nods. "No. Straighten out the bed while I hold Bunny." A pause. And then he adds. "Please."

He can hold her for a few moments while they make the bed so he can put her back in it.

Sunny Harlow has posed:
It really -was- a good thing the staff came in at that moment, because Sunny was absolutely caught trying to balance the water and ice -and- get out of the chair when she saw Bunny's predicament...but she drops her behind down with a little sigh and a pout when the team comes in.

She'd let them do their thing after all, but that didn't mean she wasn't feeling useless.

"Bunny," she offers, speaking as the other girl is set in. "You legitimately saved the world, saved lives...the teams, the JL, the Avengers, everyone can't be blind-sided now because they all know what he's capable of. What's coming." Scooting herself closer with her one good leg, the blonde sets the drink down within reach and then attempts to claim the mutant's hand with her own.

"You saved us too...even if it was -crazy- risky. You're amazing."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "That's very nice of you to say when I'm hanging off the hospital bed by restraints." Bunny states. "Feeling a draft."

    The medical team turns off Bunny's bed alarm, remove the restraints very quickly (before Mark gets mad and removes them for them), and even clean off the bedsheet as Mark grabs Bunny.

    And correct. She did not have a catheter. That was taken out while she was out and they just had some bed pads down. Which they remove.

    Bunny is held up by Mark. She gives an embarrased, tired smile to Sunny.

    "I had a good idea. It happens sometimes. And now? Now they can't be blindsided. Everyone will know."

Mark Grayson has posed:
Mark hadn't realized the restraints yet. Because yes, he is the one probably on the hairiest of hair triggers of the three.

And he's got a grocery list of things to be mad about.

As the techs work on the bed, he holds Bunny, almost fiercely protective of her. When the bed is finally ready, he moves to set her back down and moves to the other side of the bed to sit.

He draws in a breath. "Alura said she may not have cleaned everything that pill did to you out." Mark starts. "That we wouldn't know for sure until you healed." He closes his eyes and shakes his head.

"I should have taken it. I might have had a chance against him." His words are quiet, his resolve hard. His hands grip together in front of him.

"So you did a great job. And I want you to heal. The others were warned." A short pause, and he sits back. "Both of you need to heal. We'll grab you some stuff tomorrow, Bun."

"And then I'm going after him."

Sunny Harlow has posed:
"No. You shouldn't have. We shouldn't have," Sunny speaks up from her chair, even as she offers out the requested water and ice to Bunny, her gaze lifts to Mark. "If those things really would have made us -like- him, what if they would have made us think like him too? You made the right call."

This wasn't exactly how she'd dreamed of spending the first few days of their 'trial' together, that much was certain, but when he speaks up there's a frown on Sunny's lips completely alien to her usual demeanor. "The hell you are...we all need time to get stronger, to get ready, and we know we have at least two weeks. We should use them."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "THe /Hell/ you're going after him." Bunny states at the same time as Sunny. She narrows her eyes a moment. "He just handed three superpowered individuals their butts and nearly killed us." Especially Bunny. She was worthless to him. The pink-haired girl gives a wince, and she shakes her head.

    "With Teamwork there shouldn't be as much of a problem taking him down. Maybe storing him in a prison somehow. Maybe Lang can use Pym Particles to make him itty-bitty?"

Mark Grayson has posed:
Bunny was the one that did everything right. Worthless, feh. Mark just seems to be unable to shake this. "I care for you both." he admits quietly. "Maybe I can reason with him. Buy some time. Something." He's reaching for straws that aren't there, hoping for something that's not going to happen.

"He hid in plain sight for twenty years. And now here we are." Reaching, he rubs his face with his hand. "If we can get people on our side. I sent word out to the Young Avengers and the Titans. The only response I got back was a snarky remark from Jinx."

Sunny Harlow has posed:
"Mark...he was willing to...do this to all of us when we weren't willing to sign onto world domination..." Sunny points out, her cast-clad arm just sort of akwardly reaching and then falling back as she can't really pull off a hand-squeeze at the moment.

"You go after him alone, even trying to delay him, not only might you get hurt even worse, but...you'd be leaving Bunny, Me...all of us to fight alone."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "I won't let you do it. I'll... I'll tell your mom!" Bunny squeaks up, and she pushes herself to sit up straight in the bed.

    "Look, even if it's just us..." Bunny winces, and she grasps her side.

    "... just you two... you can't face him alone. If something were to happen to you, now, what would I do? I don't even know if my powers will work. Everything hurts forever." she complains lightly.

    "I'll impress upon Kate. Maybe Wiccan can help. The Titans are aware of him now. Everyone. Is. Aware. And they will show up." she breathes out.

Mark Grayson has posed:
Mark's guilt is like a blanket on him. This is all his fault. Little does he know if this had happened in a populated area? How many more could have died...

All because he believed his father. Because he bought into the lie. Because he wanted to be...

...just like him.

Bunny was never a pet. She was the first girl he ever really and truly fell in love with. The type of love he was sure his dad felt for his mom. The table has been flipped. Everything is upside down and detroyed. They heard everything.

They should be telling him to fuck off. They're not. Why aren't they?

His hands cover Bunny's and Sunny's and he trembles with fear. "I'm sorry." he whispers.

"I'm so sorry."

Sunny Harlow has posed:
Sunny had idolized Omni-man, the legend of him, the idea that a superhero from the homeworld she knew nothing about came with all this good will and hope to protect the world...but he wasn't her father, and whatever secrets might linger about the truth of her mother leaving her here were just...shoved away in a box for another time.

Instead, she just attempts to settle on one side of Bunny as best as she could with her akward little half-balance lean and stretch her good arm out enough to manage some semblance of a hug for both of them.

"You have nothing to be sorry about..."

Hell, thoughts of Omni-man's admission he'd almost given up before she revealed herself were bubbling below the surface, but that wouldn't help anyone, so it remained unwelcomed in for the time being.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Mark. You don't have to be sorry. We chose to stand by you. You chose to tell Omni-Man to fuck off. None of us could have seen this happening." Bunny states quietly. "Not Sunny, not me, not your mom, not even you. You... you love your Dad. You wanted all your life to be the hero he was. And now he's just another jerk. But you're not him. We've still got you." she gives a smile, leaning her head against Mark's shoulder, and holding tight to Sunny's hand.

    "And we always will."

Mark Grayson has posed:
The tears come.

Light at first as he presses his face into Bunny's hair. But soon they're just there. He can't stop them. He doesn't want to.

He's hurt. Physically. Emotionally. The only things left in his life are Debbie and the two women here.

Tonight, he'll grieve. At least for a little bit.

Tomorrow, it will be bottled back up inside and hidden away to be used as needed. When he needs that little extra shot. Just one more drink.

It won't end poorly.