GH Fic: Chaos Theory - Chapter 27.3/?
Title: Chaos Theory
Author: Normative Jean
Fandom: General Hospital
Characters/Pairings: Robin, Patrick, Lulu, Sam, Anna, Robert, Mac, Faison, original characters; main pairing is Robin/Patrick, with Lulu/OC and Sam/OC later
Rating: PG-13 (for language, situations, and thematic elements)
Timeline: begins March '06, after the bet debacle. AU after that.
Summary: The epidemic was just a experiment, and it was deemed a failure; its mastermind is now targeting the only doctor he believes can make the experiment a success: Robin Scorpio. Robin finds herself trapped in the middle of an international mystery, on the run from an old family enemy she believed long dead. Patrick Drake is determined not to let anything mess up his chances at happiness with Robin, even if it means going along for the ride. Along with old friends and unexpected allies, can they keep Robin safe and stop a plot to take over the world?
Chapter 27, Part 3 - Small Miracles
"We've got it!"
Bobby sagged in relief as Lulu and Sam entered the exam room. "Oh, thank God!" he hissed. "It took you long enough! You left me alone in here with crazy..." He turned his head and glared at Lulu and Sam, furrowing his brow as he took in their appearances. "What the hell happened to you two?"
Sam closed the door behind her, pulling the small bag with the medicines and surgical tools out of the sling. "You really don't want to know." Unwrapping the sling from her shoulder, she looked warily at Robin and Patrick. "What happened in here?"
"This is all your fault!" Bobby hissed at her. "You just had to mention Jason and Carly before, didn't you?"
"It was a throwaway comment!" Sam defended herself. "And besides, I thought he knew."
"Well, you were wrong!"
Lulu stepped forward, tugging her scrub pants up. "Hey, guys?" She looked from Patrick to Robin, making a stopping motion with her hands. "We all know that my cousin is a big fat ho, but we actually have more important things to deal with."
"Yes, like me!" Bobby nodded vigorously. "Me, me! Remember me? Bullet-guy?"
"I don't understand," Sam muttered to herself. "We weren't even gone a half-hour. How did things fall apart in a half-hour?"
"It's easier than you think when you open up a can of worms like that, Sam!" Bobby glowered, then flinched. "Ah, damn," he groaned. "Guys, I really think...oh God, this is really starting to hurt..."
Lulu put a hand against Bobby's forehead. "Bobby...?"she asked softly. Panicked, she looked up at Robin and Patrick, who were still starting silently at each other. "Guys, he's burning up, but his skin is still all clammy."
Robin broke the stare first. "It's the blood loss," she said. "And that bullet hole's been an open wound for nearly an hour now. We have to get it out of there." She turned to Sam. "Did you get everything?"
Jolting out of her reverie, Sam nodded and handed over the bag to Robin. "Yeah. Um...some of the numbers Patrick wrote down didn't match up with what was on the bottles." She looked at Bobby in confusion when he snorted derisively, but didn't comment. "So we got more of the things that didn't match up, just to be safe."
"Adaptability." Robin smiled in appreciation, then raised at eyebrow at Patrick. "I guess some of us are doing better at all this than others."
Patrick took the bag from Robin's hands, starting to sterilize them and set them out on the tray. "Can we just do this?" he asked. "Right now, we're not spies--"
"No," Bobby gasped out, "We're really, really not."
Patrick rolled his eyes. "We're doctors," he finished. "Robin, could you set up the local anesthetics?"
"Local?" Bobby tried to sit up in panic. "You mean I have to be awake when you go digging around in my shoulder?"
Robin rested a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We can't put you under general anesthesia, Bobby," she said gently. "It would take way more time and resources than we've got right now. But Patrick's good." She raised her eyes and caught Patrick's gaze; in this, at least, she knew she could support him. "He'll get this bullet out of you and you'll be fine."
Eyes glassy, Bobby gripped Robin's hand. "Promise?" he asked hesitantly, eyes begging her to answer in the affirmative.
Before she could respond, Patrick spoke up. "I promise, Bobby," he said firmly. "And you being awake might actually be better, because its less drugs we have to worry about you being on and causing problems. Putting you under would probably have posed more risks than doing it this way."
Bobby nodded and let go of Robin's hand. Quickly walking over to the medical supplies, Robin selected the two vials she needed to make a strong enough local anesthetic for Bobby. Filling the syringe, she handed it to Patrick. "You ready?"
Patrick nodded silently and took the needle. "How about you, Bobby?" he asked the younger man. "You ready?"
Beads of cold seat were already forming on his forehead when he answered. "It doesn't really matter, does it? I mean," he laughed nervously, "It's not like I have a choice." He startled when Lulu slipped her hand into his. He looked at her, and their eyes remained locked on each other as she sat down beside him. "I...yeah." Bobby swallowed. "I'm ready."
"Okay, Bobby," Robin said as she carefully wiped an alcohol pad on the injured arm, "This is going to make your arm go completely numb. It'll feel weird, but you can't freak out. Just keep talking to us so we can monitor any changes that aren't supposed to be happening."
Bobby nodded and squeezed his eyes shut. Robin inserted the syringe into his arm, letting the numbing agents work their way through his muscle and tissue. "Tell me what you're feeling," she when she pulled the needle out.
"Nothing yet," Bobby said, opening his eyes slightly. "It just hurts a lot...oh. Oh!" He smiled goofily. "Oh man, I think its working! My arm doesn't hurt anymore! I..." His eyes widened. "Oh my God..."
"What? What!" Lulu pressed. "Are you okay? What's wrong? Talk to us!"
Bobby gulped. "I would if you'd let me talk." He looked up at Robin. "I can't feel my arm. I can't feel anything below my shoulder. Please tell me that was supposed to happen?"
Robin nodded and turned to Patrick. "He's ready. You can start."
Patrick picked up a small scalpel. "You might not want to watch the rest of this." Once Bobby had turned his head back to Lulu, Patrick cut the bullet's entrance wound slightly wider. "Okay. Robin, I need you to take the forceps and pull back...yeah, right there."
"I see it," Robin murmured, focusing on the layers of tissue she needed to move. "Can you visualize anything yet?"
"I really wish I could've gotten a X-ray before going in," he replied. "I don't like flying blind."
"I don't like having a bullet in my arm!" Bobby snapped. "We don't always get what we want!"
"Bobby!" Lulu reproached. "He's trying to help you!"
"I know that!" He blinked. "I don't know why I just yelled at you."
Lulu rolled her eyes. "Because you're a moron sometimes?"
Bobby blinked again. "I...guess I can't really deny that."
Patrick, Robin, and Sam all struggled to hide their smiles.
"Um..." Bobby attempted a conversational tone. "How're you doing over there, Doc?"
"I'm still...wait. Robin, can you pull back on the left just a bit more?" Robin did as Patrick asked, and he grinned triumphantly. "Found it. Robin, hand me the tweezers."
"You can't use the forceps?" she asked, handing him the small pair of tweezers.
Patrick shook his head. "It looks like the bullet split, and one of the pieces is too close to the artery for me to risk it with anything larger than this."
"Oh my God," Bobby moaned, his head falling forward. "I'm going to die here."
"You are not going to die here!" Lulu said fiercely.
"I have pieces of a bullet littering my arm!" he snapped back. "And one of those pieces is in an artery!"
"Well, actually," Sam spoke up, "He said it was close to--"
"Oh, would you quit whining!" Lulu fumed, still gripping Bobby's hand tightly. "Patrick and Robin are like, two of the best doctors on the East Coast. He got the alarm off the car, didn't he?"
"Yeah, with me talking him through every step of the way!"
"Fine!" Lulu huffed. "He's still saved a ton of people as a doctor!"
"Yes I have," Patrick muttered as he kept working.
Sam nodded in agreement "He saved Jason's life."
"Your boyfriend is a mobster," Bobby groused. "Not exactly reflecting well on Patrick."
"Hey!" Sam cried.
"Bobby!" Lulu scolded.
He blew out a frustrated breath. "I have a bullet in my arm," he said pitifully. "I'm allowed to be a little grumpy."
"Just keep focusing over there," Patrick added lowly, looking at Robin out of the corner of his eye. He saw her smirk and nod in amusement, which Patrick took as a positive sign. He removed the first piece of bullet, listening to Bobby and Lulu fighting beside him.
"You're not allowed to be rude," Lulu retorted. "And it's not like you can feel anything, so why are you acting like such a big baby?"
"I'm not acting like a baby!" he gaped. "I was shot! Do you remember?"
"I was there!" Lulu shouted back. "And if you hadn't been hanging out of the car like some wanna-be super-spy--
"Well you were already injured, so you couldn't do it!"
"I'm just saying you should have been more careful!"
"Someone had to do something!"
"It didn't have to be you!"
"Almost there," Patrick muttered through clenched teeth.
"Why are you yelling at me?" Bobby shouted.
"I'm trying to be supportive!" Lulu shouted back.
"Well, you suck at it!"
"Got it!"
Everybody looked at Patrick as he dropped the last piece of the bullet into the tray Robin was holding.
Bobby's shoulders sagged in relief, the fight leaving him. "It's out?" he asked, suddenly feeling exhausted.
Robin nodded. "Patrick got it all. Now he's just going to suture your wound, and I'll set up the blood transfusion." She smiled warmly at him. "You should be feeling a lot better after that."
Bobby nodded slowly. "Actually, I'm feeling kind of woozy. Is that good or bad?"
"That's normal," Robin said, hooking the bag of blood to an IV tube. "You've lost a lot of blood, were in shock, and have a lot of anesthetics and adrenaline running through your system. You'll probably feel out of it for a while."
"We can't really afford that, can we?" he asked as Robin slipped on a fresh pair of gloves and began poking Bobby's good arm for a vein. "I mean, we're going to have to get moving soon."
"Don't worry about that," Robin replied as she slid the needle under his skin. Once the IV was in place, Robin injected a syringe into the tube released the stopper on the blood, watching it fill the tube and flow into Bobby's body. Everyone breathed audible sighs of relief. "Just work on regaining your strength," she said. "You took care of us, so now we're going to take care of you."
"Yeah...but..." Bobby trailed off and his eyes slid shut.
"Bobby?" Lulu whispered. She turned wide eyes on Robin and Patrick. "What happened? I thought you guys said this would make him better!"
Patrick stood and nodded, stretching the kinks out of his back. "Robin gave him a mild sedative mixed in with the saline to flush the IV. He's been through two major traumas today, first getting shot and then having to have surgery while conscious. His body needs to relax so he can heal as much as possible before we move him."
Lulu nodded, not taking her eyes off of Bobby's still form. Sam noticed the lost look on the girl's face and slid an arm around her shoulders, their previous confrontation fading in the light of more important problems.
"He's not wrong, though," Sam said quietly, looking at Robin. "We're going to need to move soon, and we have to assume that everyone is looking for that car by now."
Robin pressed her lips into a thin line. "That's not the only problem," she replied. "Even if we've stayed off my parents' radar until now, there's no way that a high-speed car chase with bullets flying in a populated area doesn't register with the WSB. If I know my parents, they're got people looking for any sign of us, and this is like a flashing neon sign that we're here."
"Is that really so bad at this point?" Sam asked, releasing Lulu and crossing her arms over her chest. "I mean, we've got enough information about Bobby's parents to prove that the DVX has them, right?" Robin nodded. "Right. So isn't that the reason we--you guys came out here in the first place?" She sighed softly. "Can't we just go home now?"
"We still don't have proof that Faison is the one behind all this," Lulu murmured. "Worse than Bobby's parents, we still don't have anything connecting him to the virus that hit Port Charles. And Robert and Anna didn't seem very receptive to the idea that Faison wants Robin for something."
"How are you guys coming on the decryption?" Robin asked.
"With me and Bobby running his software on both our computers," Lulu said, "We should have some answers tomorrow morning."
Robin nodded. "Okay, so we just have to hold out until tomorrow."
"What about the car?" Patrick asked. "There's no way we can drive it back to the hotel."
Sam and Lulu looked at each other. "You guys take Bobby back in a taxi," Sam said. "Lulu and I can drive the car away from you, ditch it, and double back."
"No way." Robin shook her head. "It's way too dangerous to separate."
"I know how to lose a tail," Sam insisted, "And you two need to stay with Bobby." She looked pointedly at Robin. "Not to mention that you need to stay as out of sight as possible."
Patrick reached out a hand and brushed it against the small of Robin's back, flinching when she tensed slightly. He would worry about fixing things later. "She's right," he said firmly. "You've gotten us this far. Now we just have to hold out until tomorrow."
Robin groaned and rubbed her hands over her face. "I just hate being useless."
"Hey," he replied. "You'll be helping me monitor Bobby. That's not useless. Mostly."
Robin shoved him slightly, relaxing a bit under his touch. "Jerk. Picking on the kid when he's not even awake to defend himself."
Patrick chuckled. "He doesn't need to when he's got you here."
Sam and Lulu exchanged silent looks, each wondering what had happened when they had been gone. "Okay," Sam finally said. "I'll call for a taxi. How long do you need?"
"We can rouse him soon," Robin replied, looking at Bobby. "Patrick and I can support him to the cab and then into the bed and breakfast. We just need to get something to support his arm."
Lulu pointed to the sling that Sam had discarded. "You mean like that?" Off Sam's surprised look, Lulu grinned. "What can I say? I had a hunch."
Patrick smiled. "That looks like it'll fit him." Bobby moaned suddenly and stirred, his eyelids fluttering. "Well, well. Looks like he'll be back among us sooner than we thought."
"Okay, Sam," Robin said. "Call the cab."
Sam pulled out her cell phone and walked to the other side of the room so the others could keep talking.
"Lulu, are you sure you're up for this?" Robin asked worriedly. "I'd understand if you wanted to stay with Bobby..."
Lulu shook her head. "No. He'd kill me if I didn't help Sam ditch the car just to play nursemaid. Well," she laughed softly. "He'd try to kill me, but he's kind of a wimp, so that wouldn't really work."
Robin smiled. "You don't really think that."
"No," Lulu sighed. "I don't. Damn him. I could really kill him for that."
Patrick blinked as the double meaning of the conversation hit him. "Wait, what? What?"
Robin and Lulu shared a laugh; it was the freest either had felt all day. Before either could respond to Patrick's gaping expression, Sam walked back over.
"They're on their way." She looked at Robin. "Are you guys going to be okay here on your own?"
"Yeah." Robin smiled at the other woman. "Go. We'll meet you back at the B&B."
Sam looked at Lulu. "Ready to go?"
Lulu nodded. "Yeah." Her eyes rested on Bobby, her expression thoughtful. Reaching a decision, she bent down and pressed a soft kiss against his forehead. "I really could kill you for this," she whispered to him. "Don't die until I get back."
She leaned back up. "Let's go," she said.
Patrick handed Sam the keys. As she and Lulu reached the door, Lulu turned back around. "Stay safe," she said firmly.
Robin nodded. "You, too."
"We'll see you soon," Sam added, and she and Lulu left the room.
"So." Patrick turned to Robin, a small, wry smile on his face. "Today sucked. What's next?"
***
Hiroshi looked out over the ocean below him as the plane flew raced against the setting sun towards England. It would still be another few hours before they landed, and with several more hours to make preparations on the ground, he was looking at leading an assault on Robin Scorpio and her comrades at daybreak. Given the new information he had just learned, however, he wondered if it would be enough time anymore.
The simple message had popped up in his encrypted email program, running on different software than the DVX's in the background of his laptop. Hiroshi bit back a smirk at the thought of once again hiding from the DVX in plain sight; he had more important things to be concerned about.
Now, in addition to everything else, he had to worry about Faison getting to Scorpio first.
It had been a single line of text from his contact: "WSB entering investigation." That was all, but it was more than enough to make Hiroshi concerned that his carefully crafted plans were about to fall apart.
Not for the first time since hearing about it, Hiroshi mentally cursed those idiots. What sort of stupid people engaged in a firefight from a car on a busy road? He had to assume that they were also responsible for what had happened to that useless excuse for an agent, Marcus Williams, although he couldn't say he was upset that a bunch of untrained children had bested the man. Hiroshi had believed from the start that breaking him out of WSB custody was a bad idea, and he now felt justified in his reading of the situation. Again, Hiroshi cursed Faison for believing that Williams' hatred of the WSB would be enough to keep him from screwing up the abduction of Donoley and his wife. It was just one more thing that Hiroshi hated about Cesar Faison: the man placed too much importance on emotions. In the end, it always backfired on the old man.
Still, Hiroshi now had to figure out just how he was going to salvage this mess. With the WSB now officially dedicating their full resources to the investigation, he knew it wouldn't be long before they found a way to track the missing citizens of Port Charles, and getting the Bureau involved would be just as bad as letting Faison get his hands on Robin Scorpio.
By now, Faison must have learned that the WSB was in the game. He would have ordered an emergency evacuation of the entire camp outside Port Charles, and be heading to London himself. For now he had the advantage of being in-flight hours ahead of Faison, and he knew that he was at least a few days ahead of the WSB, but Hiroshi was too logical to assume that he would keep his advantage for very long. He had wanted to simply get Scorpio out of the way until Faison inevitably screwed up his own plans, but too many players had made too many wrong moves by now for that to be an option anymore. Hiroshi had tried, he knew that, but Scorpio and her band of merry followers, by involving themselves in something too large for them to combat, had signed their own death warrants.
The DVX and the WSB had both mishandled things in more ways than he could measure, but Faison might not wait for Hiroshi's first-strike team to go after Scorpio and the others. With the WSB involved now, he had to assume that Faison would want to advance his plans as quickly as possible. Hiroshi knew that this would be his last chance to complete his mission. What had once been an interception mission was now looking to be a termination. It was the only option he had left if he wanted to finally end everything.
He had to get to Robin Scorpio first.
Author: Normative Jean
Fandom: General Hospital
Characters/Pairings: Robin, Patrick, Lulu, Sam, Anna, Robert, Mac, Faison, original characters; main pairing is Robin/Patrick, with Lulu/OC and Sam/OC later
Rating: PG-13 (for language, situations, and thematic elements)
Timeline: begins March '06, after the bet debacle. AU after that.
Summary: The epidemic was just a experiment, and it was deemed a failure; its mastermind is now targeting the only doctor he believes can make the experiment a success: Robin Scorpio. Robin finds herself trapped in the middle of an international mystery, on the run from an old family enemy she believed long dead. Patrick Drake is determined not to let anything mess up his chances at happiness with Robin, even if it means going along for the ride. Along with old friends and unexpected allies, can they keep Robin safe and stop a plot to take over the world?
Chapter 27, Part 3 - Small Miracles
"We've got it!"
Bobby sagged in relief as Lulu and Sam entered the exam room. "Oh, thank God!" he hissed. "It took you long enough! You left me alone in here with crazy..." He turned his head and glared at Lulu and Sam, furrowing his brow as he took in their appearances. "What the hell happened to you two?"
Sam closed the door behind her, pulling the small bag with the medicines and surgical tools out of the sling. "You really don't want to know." Unwrapping the sling from her shoulder, she looked warily at Robin and Patrick. "What happened in here?"
"This is all your fault!" Bobby hissed at her. "You just had to mention Jason and Carly before, didn't you?"
"It was a throwaway comment!" Sam defended herself. "And besides, I thought he knew."
"Well, you were wrong!"
Lulu stepped forward, tugging her scrub pants up. "Hey, guys?" She looked from Patrick to Robin, making a stopping motion with her hands. "We all know that my cousin is a big fat ho, but we actually have more important things to deal with."
"Yes, like me!" Bobby nodded vigorously. "Me, me! Remember me? Bullet-guy?"
"I don't understand," Sam muttered to herself. "We weren't even gone a half-hour. How did things fall apart in a half-hour?"
"It's easier than you think when you open up a can of worms like that, Sam!" Bobby glowered, then flinched. "Ah, damn," he groaned. "Guys, I really think...oh God, this is really starting to hurt..."
Lulu put a hand against Bobby's forehead. "Bobby...?"she asked softly. Panicked, she looked up at Robin and Patrick, who were still starting silently at each other. "Guys, he's burning up, but his skin is still all clammy."
Robin broke the stare first. "It's the blood loss," she said. "And that bullet hole's been an open wound for nearly an hour now. We have to get it out of there." She turned to Sam. "Did you get everything?"
Jolting out of her reverie, Sam nodded and handed over the bag to Robin. "Yeah. Um...some of the numbers Patrick wrote down didn't match up with what was on the bottles." She looked at Bobby in confusion when he snorted derisively, but didn't comment. "So we got more of the things that didn't match up, just to be safe."
"Adaptability." Robin smiled in appreciation, then raised at eyebrow at Patrick. "I guess some of us are doing better at all this than others."
Patrick took the bag from Robin's hands, starting to sterilize them and set them out on the tray. "Can we just do this?" he asked. "Right now, we're not spies--"
"No," Bobby gasped out, "We're really, really not."
Patrick rolled his eyes. "We're doctors," he finished. "Robin, could you set up the local anesthetics?"
"Local?" Bobby tried to sit up in panic. "You mean I have to be awake when you go digging around in my shoulder?"
Robin rested a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We can't put you under general anesthesia, Bobby," she said gently. "It would take way more time and resources than we've got right now. But Patrick's good." She raised her eyes and caught Patrick's gaze; in this, at least, she knew she could support him. "He'll get this bullet out of you and you'll be fine."
Eyes glassy, Bobby gripped Robin's hand. "Promise?" he asked hesitantly, eyes begging her to answer in the affirmative.
Before she could respond, Patrick spoke up. "I promise, Bobby," he said firmly. "And you being awake might actually be better, because its less drugs we have to worry about you being on and causing problems. Putting you under would probably have posed more risks than doing it this way."
Bobby nodded and let go of Robin's hand. Quickly walking over to the medical supplies, Robin selected the two vials she needed to make a strong enough local anesthetic for Bobby. Filling the syringe, she handed it to Patrick. "You ready?"
Patrick nodded silently and took the needle. "How about you, Bobby?" he asked the younger man. "You ready?"
Beads of cold seat were already forming on his forehead when he answered. "It doesn't really matter, does it? I mean," he laughed nervously, "It's not like I have a choice." He startled when Lulu slipped her hand into his. He looked at her, and their eyes remained locked on each other as she sat down beside him. "I...yeah." Bobby swallowed. "I'm ready."
"Okay, Bobby," Robin said as she carefully wiped an alcohol pad on the injured arm, "This is going to make your arm go completely numb. It'll feel weird, but you can't freak out. Just keep talking to us so we can monitor any changes that aren't supposed to be happening."
Bobby nodded and squeezed his eyes shut. Robin inserted the syringe into his arm, letting the numbing agents work their way through his muscle and tissue. "Tell me what you're feeling," she when she pulled the needle out.
"Nothing yet," Bobby said, opening his eyes slightly. "It just hurts a lot...oh. Oh!" He smiled goofily. "Oh man, I think its working! My arm doesn't hurt anymore! I..." His eyes widened. "Oh my God..."
"What? What!" Lulu pressed. "Are you okay? What's wrong? Talk to us!"
Bobby gulped. "I would if you'd let me talk." He looked up at Robin. "I can't feel my arm. I can't feel anything below my shoulder. Please tell me that was supposed to happen?"
Robin nodded and turned to Patrick. "He's ready. You can start."
Patrick picked up a small scalpel. "You might not want to watch the rest of this." Once Bobby had turned his head back to Lulu, Patrick cut the bullet's entrance wound slightly wider. "Okay. Robin, I need you to take the forceps and pull back...yeah, right there."
"I see it," Robin murmured, focusing on the layers of tissue she needed to move. "Can you visualize anything yet?"
"I really wish I could've gotten a X-ray before going in," he replied. "I don't like flying blind."
"I don't like having a bullet in my arm!" Bobby snapped. "We don't always get what we want!"
"Bobby!" Lulu reproached. "He's trying to help you!"
"I know that!" He blinked. "I don't know why I just yelled at you."
Lulu rolled her eyes. "Because you're a moron sometimes?"
Bobby blinked again. "I...guess I can't really deny that."
Patrick, Robin, and Sam all struggled to hide their smiles.
"Um..." Bobby attempted a conversational tone. "How're you doing over there, Doc?"
"I'm still...wait. Robin, can you pull back on the left just a bit more?" Robin did as Patrick asked, and he grinned triumphantly. "Found it. Robin, hand me the tweezers."
"You can't use the forceps?" she asked, handing him the small pair of tweezers.
Patrick shook his head. "It looks like the bullet split, and one of the pieces is too close to the artery for me to risk it with anything larger than this."
"Oh my God," Bobby moaned, his head falling forward. "I'm going to die here."
"You are not going to die here!" Lulu said fiercely.
"I have pieces of a bullet littering my arm!" he snapped back. "And one of those pieces is in an artery!"
"Well, actually," Sam spoke up, "He said it was close to--"
"Oh, would you quit whining!" Lulu fumed, still gripping Bobby's hand tightly. "Patrick and Robin are like, two of the best doctors on the East Coast. He got the alarm off the car, didn't he?"
"Yeah, with me talking him through every step of the way!"
"Fine!" Lulu huffed. "He's still saved a ton of people as a doctor!"
"Yes I have," Patrick muttered as he kept working.
Sam nodded in agreement "He saved Jason's life."
"Your boyfriend is a mobster," Bobby groused. "Not exactly reflecting well on Patrick."
"Hey!" Sam cried.
"Bobby!" Lulu scolded.
He blew out a frustrated breath. "I have a bullet in my arm," he said pitifully. "I'm allowed to be a little grumpy."
"Just keep focusing over there," Patrick added lowly, looking at Robin out of the corner of his eye. He saw her smirk and nod in amusement, which Patrick took as a positive sign. He removed the first piece of bullet, listening to Bobby and Lulu fighting beside him.
"You're not allowed to be rude," Lulu retorted. "And it's not like you can feel anything, so why are you acting like such a big baby?"
"I'm not acting like a baby!" he gaped. "I was shot! Do you remember?"
"I was there!" Lulu shouted back. "And if you hadn't been hanging out of the car like some wanna-be super-spy--
"Well you were already injured, so you couldn't do it!"
"I'm just saying you should have been more careful!"
"Someone had to do something!"
"It didn't have to be you!"
"Almost there," Patrick muttered through clenched teeth.
"Why are you yelling at me?" Bobby shouted.
"I'm trying to be supportive!" Lulu shouted back.
"Well, you suck at it!"
"Got it!"
Everybody looked at Patrick as he dropped the last piece of the bullet into the tray Robin was holding.
Bobby's shoulders sagged in relief, the fight leaving him. "It's out?" he asked, suddenly feeling exhausted.
Robin nodded. "Patrick got it all. Now he's just going to suture your wound, and I'll set up the blood transfusion." She smiled warmly at him. "You should be feeling a lot better after that."
Bobby nodded slowly. "Actually, I'm feeling kind of woozy. Is that good or bad?"
"That's normal," Robin said, hooking the bag of blood to an IV tube. "You've lost a lot of blood, were in shock, and have a lot of anesthetics and adrenaline running through your system. You'll probably feel out of it for a while."
"We can't really afford that, can we?" he asked as Robin slipped on a fresh pair of gloves and began poking Bobby's good arm for a vein. "I mean, we're going to have to get moving soon."
"Don't worry about that," Robin replied as she slid the needle under his skin. Once the IV was in place, Robin injected a syringe into the tube released the stopper on the blood, watching it fill the tube and flow into Bobby's body. Everyone breathed audible sighs of relief. "Just work on regaining your strength," she said. "You took care of us, so now we're going to take care of you."
"Yeah...but..." Bobby trailed off and his eyes slid shut.
"Bobby?" Lulu whispered. She turned wide eyes on Robin and Patrick. "What happened? I thought you guys said this would make him better!"
Patrick stood and nodded, stretching the kinks out of his back. "Robin gave him a mild sedative mixed in with the saline to flush the IV. He's been through two major traumas today, first getting shot and then having to have surgery while conscious. His body needs to relax so he can heal as much as possible before we move him."
Lulu nodded, not taking her eyes off of Bobby's still form. Sam noticed the lost look on the girl's face and slid an arm around her shoulders, their previous confrontation fading in the light of more important problems.
"He's not wrong, though," Sam said quietly, looking at Robin. "We're going to need to move soon, and we have to assume that everyone is looking for that car by now."
Robin pressed her lips into a thin line. "That's not the only problem," she replied. "Even if we've stayed off my parents' radar until now, there's no way that a high-speed car chase with bullets flying in a populated area doesn't register with the WSB. If I know my parents, they're got people looking for any sign of us, and this is like a flashing neon sign that we're here."
"Is that really so bad at this point?" Sam asked, releasing Lulu and crossing her arms over her chest. "I mean, we've got enough information about Bobby's parents to prove that the DVX has them, right?" Robin nodded. "Right. So isn't that the reason we--you guys came out here in the first place?" She sighed softly. "Can't we just go home now?"
"We still don't have proof that Faison is the one behind all this," Lulu murmured. "Worse than Bobby's parents, we still don't have anything connecting him to the virus that hit Port Charles. And Robert and Anna didn't seem very receptive to the idea that Faison wants Robin for something."
"How are you guys coming on the decryption?" Robin asked.
"With me and Bobby running his software on both our computers," Lulu said, "We should have some answers tomorrow morning."
Robin nodded. "Okay, so we just have to hold out until tomorrow."
"What about the car?" Patrick asked. "There's no way we can drive it back to the hotel."
Sam and Lulu looked at each other. "You guys take Bobby back in a taxi," Sam said. "Lulu and I can drive the car away from you, ditch it, and double back."
"No way." Robin shook her head. "It's way too dangerous to separate."
"I know how to lose a tail," Sam insisted, "And you two need to stay with Bobby." She looked pointedly at Robin. "Not to mention that you need to stay as out of sight as possible."
Patrick reached out a hand and brushed it against the small of Robin's back, flinching when she tensed slightly. He would worry about fixing things later. "She's right," he said firmly. "You've gotten us this far. Now we just have to hold out until tomorrow."
Robin groaned and rubbed her hands over her face. "I just hate being useless."
"Hey," he replied. "You'll be helping me monitor Bobby. That's not useless. Mostly."
Robin shoved him slightly, relaxing a bit under his touch. "Jerk. Picking on the kid when he's not even awake to defend himself."
Patrick chuckled. "He doesn't need to when he's got you here."
Sam and Lulu exchanged silent looks, each wondering what had happened when they had been gone. "Okay," Sam finally said. "I'll call for a taxi. How long do you need?"
"We can rouse him soon," Robin replied, looking at Bobby. "Patrick and I can support him to the cab and then into the bed and breakfast. We just need to get something to support his arm."
Lulu pointed to the sling that Sam had discarded. "You mean like that?" Off Sam's surprised look, Lulu grinned. "What can I say? I had a hunch."
Patrick smiled. "That looks like it'll fit him." Bobby moaned suddenly and stirred, his eyelids fluttering. "Well, well. Looks like he'll be back among us sooner than we thought."
"Okay, Sam," Robin said. "Call the cab."
Sam pulled out her cell phone and walked to the other side of the room so the others could keep talking.
"Lulu, are you sure you're up for this?" Robin asked worriedly. "I'd understand if you wanted to stay with Bobby..."
Lulu shook her head. "No. He'd kill me if I didn't help Sam ditch the car just to play nursemaid. Well," she laughed softly. "He'd try to kill me, but he's kind of a wimp, so that wouldn't really work."
Robin smiled. "You don't really think that."
"No," Lulu sighed. "I don't. Damn him. I could really kill him for that."
Patrick blinked as the double meaning of the conversation hit him. "Wait, what? What?"
Robin and Lulu shared a laugh; it was the freest either had felt all day. Before either could respond to Patrick's gaping expression, Sam walked back over.
"They're on their way." She looked at Robin. "Are you guys going to be okay here on your own?"
"Yeah." Robin smiled at the other woman. "Go. We'll meet you back at the B&B."
Sam looked at Lulu. "Ready to go?"
Lulu nodded. "Yeah." Her eyes rested on Bobby, her expression thoughtful. Reaching a decision, she bent down and pressed a soft kiss against his forehead. "I really could kill you for this," she whispered to him. "Don't die until I get back."
She leaned back up. "Let's go," she said.
Patrick handed Sam the keys. As she and Lulu reached the door, Lulu turned back around. "Stay safe," she said firmly.
Robin nodded. "You, too."
"We'll see you soon," Sam added, and she and Lulu left the room.
"So." Patrick turned to Robin, a small, wry smile on his face. "Today sucked. What's next?"
***
Hiroshi looked out over the ocean below him as the plane flew raced against the setting sun towards England. It would still be another few hours before they landed, and with several more hours to make preparations on the ground, he was looking at leading an assault on Robin Scorpio and her comrades at daybreak. Given the new information he had just learned, however, he wondered if it would be enough time anymore.
The simple message had popped up in his encrypted email program, running on different software than the DVX's in the background of his laptop. Hiroshi bit back a smirk at the thought of once again hiding from the DVX in plain sight; he had more important things to be concerned about.
Now, in addition to everything else, he had to worry about Faison getting to Scorpio first.
It had been a single line of text from his contact: "WSB entering investigation." That was all, but it was more than enough to make Hiroshi concerned that his carefully crafted plans were about to fall apart.
Not for the first time since hearing about it, Hiroshi mentally cursed those idiots. What sort of stupid people engaged in a firefight from a car on a busy road? He had to assume that they were also responsible for what had happened to that useless excuse for an agent, Marcus Williams, although he couldn't say he was upset that a bunch of untrained children had bested the man. Hiroshi had believed from the start that breaking him out of WSB custody was a bad idea, and he now felt justified in his reading of the situation. Again, Hiroshi cursed Faison for believing that Williams' hatred of the WSB would be enough to keep him from screwing up the abduction of Donoley and his wife. It was just one more thing that Hiroshi hated about Cesar Faison: the man placed too much importance on emotions. In the end, it always backfired on the old man.
Still, Hiroshi now had to figure out just how he was going to salvage this mess. With the WSB now officially dedicating their full resources to the investigation, he knew it wouldn't be long before they found a way to track the missing citizens of Port Charles, and getting the Bureau involved would be just as bad as letting Faison get his hands on Robin Scorpio.
By now, Faison must have learned that the WSB was in the game. He would have ordered an emergency evacuation of the entire camp outside Port Charles, and be heading to London himself. For now he had the advantage of being in-flight hours ahead of Faison, and he knew that he was at least a few days ahead of the WSB, but Hiroshi was too logical to assume that he would keep his advantage for very long. He had wanted to simply get Scorpio out of the way until Faison inevitably screwed up his own plans, but too many players had made too many wrong moves by now for that to be an option anymore. Hiroshi had tried, he knew that, but Scorpio and her band of merry followers, by involving themselves in something too large for them to combat, had signed their own death warrants.
The DVX and the WSB had both mishandled things in more ways than he could measure, but Faison might not wait for Hiroshi's first-strike team to go after Scorpio and the others. With the WSB involved now, he had to assume that Faison would want to advance his plans as quickly as possible. Hiroshi knew that this would be his last chance to complete his mission. What had once been an interception mission was now looking to be a termination. It was the only option he had left if he wanted to finally end everything.
He had to get to Robin Scorpio first.