A nice spot to watch anything

Etrius watched her for a bit. His mind played back through the years when Colossus actually started doing something about monster insurgencies and other things. He had watched plenty of people die in the line of fire, lead some of them to it as well, not something he liked at all.

"It's a good thing that you get so tired. Of people dying all around you. It makes you try all the harder to make it stop happening. It's bad if you get tired of trying."

He looked up at the ceiling, the white tiles offered nothing but a blank canvas. A blank canvas that Etrius's mind projected a memory onto.

"One time, when I was a kid, I asked my mother what it was like to see people die. Did I ever tell you about my mother?"

Danni watched the clouds chase each other across the sky. She shook her head and said softly, "What I am tired of is trying and not succeeding in preventing the death I see coming."
Her brown hair spilled into her face and she shook her head no. "You never did tell me."
Danni listened to him speak but slowly she began to drift off to sleep, who could honestly blame her? Etrius' voice was low, hypnotic, and she was comfortable around him. As she slept her heart rate, that could be seen and heard on the monitor, sped up and slowed down. Showing she was having a nightmare.

Etrius looked as Danni drifted off into sleep. He watched as the instruments beside began to freak out as her vitals jumped around and became unstable. He discarded the medi-stick and sat on the bed with her. The bed was in a sitting position so he wrapped on of his arms around her, holding the distressed girl close. He held Danni's head close to his chest, his heartbeat was slow and rhythmic, he was wondering whether he should have ditched the shirt because it still had dried blood on it, though that would be strange for the girl to wake up in the arms of a shirtless Etrius.

"It's okay. Everything is going to be okay. I'm not dead. Nobody is dying, not on my watch."

He said soothingly.

"It's alright. Everything is alright. I'm not dying, not yet, not until you're safe. You're safe now, everyone is safe now, nobody's going to be hurt. I won't let anyone hurt you."

He kept repeating the line over and over again into her ear as he began stroking her hair in a slow, steady, and rhythmic motion.

Danni's eyes flickered under her eyelids as she dreamed and her hand closed on Etrius' shirt, wrinkling the bloodied fabric underneath her grasp. Her hand would tighten and loosen depending on the perils of the dream. Somehow, Etrius' words wound their way into her dream and her heart rate slowed and she fell into a dreamless sleep. Danni's breathing deepened and her cheek was pressed to Etrius' chest. After about three hours she awoke, slowly.

Etrius stayed there for three hours. Three hours of constantly repeating his words into her ear and holding her close. It was rather interesting. Loyd would have a field day with this, though Annie would probably destroy the footage after she got her laughs in. He was contemplating how to make sure Annie got it first and not Loyd so that he could limit the embarrassment to a minimum.

A demi-god nurse had walked in a while ago and when Etrius had taken a break from repeating soothing words into the distraught girl's ear and told the nurse that Danni seemed to be responding negatively to the IV and the painkillers. The nurse had taken a look at the two, then at the monitor, and when Etrius flashed a permit from Etrius, had been allowed to stay. The IV had been pulled out and one of Loyd's more conventional painkillers had been administered.

He looked down at Danni as she awoke again.

"Why hello sleeping beauty. May I ask how your dream went?"

Danni stirred faintly and her fingers slackened on his shirt and fell back into her lap. Her first reaction of waking up and still feeling groggy would have been to burrow deeper into to Etrius' embrace and gone back to sleep. Then he spoke and Danni realized she was practically curled up in his lap. Suddenly she was wide awake and blushing furiously. Danni didn't blush very much but when she did her cheeks were stained with red.
"Decent," She answered, looking up at him. Her voice had cracked in the middle of the word. Then her hand moved to were the IV had been.
"Oh." She said, softly and slightly surprised. "Did they take it out while I was sleeping?"

Etrius looked on at her blushing face. It was funny and adorable so he squeezed her a bit tighter and patted her head. He smirked a bit at seeing the rather irritable girl so flustered.

He picked up a very small syringe from the bedside table and held it up for her to see.

"Yeah, I managed to explain your little situation and they gave you this instead."

He put the syringe back on the table again, returning his hand to it's task of stroking her hair. It was rather amusing seeing her get more and more flustered by the second, it was just slightly less amusing then watching Sam try to hook up Lotus when they went on missions. Of course, then there was watching the son of Hephaestus roll around clutching his punched groin.

The red color slowly faded from her face and ears. The only tell tale sign of her nervousness and her flipping stomach was the slight pick up in heart rate, barely noticeable. Danni leaned forward attempting to read the label on the side.
"What is it? " She asked, slumping back into Etrius' embrace and resting her head against his chest. She guessed it was some fancy pain killer one of his friends had made. It was doing it's work great, the part of her muscled stomach had gone numb slightly and she could feel no pain at the moment.

Etrius noticed the accelerated heart rate. Why? He was actually looking for it to see if she was still flustered and to his amusement, he was. Very much so.

"It's a painkiller and an accelerant. It accelerates your healing so you can get out sooner." He said, his amusement was clearly apparent on his face.

"Of course, if you'd like, we could simply stay here and I could . . . keep you company."

His smirk grew much more mischievous. He could see why Sage did this sort of thing, it was rather fun, now if only he could stop females from slapping him every time he tried. On the other hand that's probably why Sage was never able to get a girlfriend. The only significant women Sage ever had were his mother and Annie, his mother because duh, and Annie because she was the one bailing him out of every situation ever with a few exceptions.

He leaned close to Danni's ear and whispered.

"You seem rather comfortable. Do I really feel that good?"

Danni nodded and then she noticed his amused expression. She arched an eyebrow and tilted her head towards him.
"You being obnoxious," She told him, her voice lowered. "Besides it's your own fault being up here."
But she wasn't complaining, was she? A strand of dark brown hair had fallen into her face and it was her turn to look slightly amused.
"You should be more careful, I hear being obnoxious is contagious."
Her bright blue eyes examined his face.

Etrius simply nodded, resting his head on top of Danni's. The girl's hair strangely was still relatively clean despite having been lying in a pool of her own blood prior to her surgery. It felt soft on his cheek, that was interesting.

"Well, if obnoxiousness is contagious, I believe it should be you who should be worried." He said cheekily. "I'm already 'infected' by it."

He brought his left arm up to play with the collar of her shirt.

"Or do you really not mind?"

[CFNS Albatross, Gibralter Strait]

Sage retired to his quarters, contemplating why he suddenly had a very bad cold.

*AAACHOO!* *sniffle*

"There must have been something in that espresso. Would that waitress really try to poison me? It wasn't that bad, just a joke right?"

Well... this was some bizarre flirting.
"Well to late for me, I guess." Danni responded, a smirk curling her lips. "Do your worst."
Etrius' hand played with the collar of the shirt she was wearing while she responded to his question. "As I said before, do your worst." She flashed him a small smile showing she didn't care.
Danni couldn't help but notice the crucifix that rested around his neck, her pale sky blue eyes flicked back up to his face.

Etrius noticed her eyes flick to the crucifix around his neck and then back to his face.

"You know, my godfather gave me two things on his deathbed, the crucifix and my name." He said in a low tone.

He moved his head so that he could see into Danni's eyes. He moved his hand away from the collar and placed one finger underneath the girl's chin, lifting it slightly so that their faces were very close. His mischievous smirk grew wider.

"Do you still remember the offer you made in your office? The one before we went off to get the killer?"

"Ah, that would explain it." Danni said softly. Etrius' hand lifted her chin so they were eye level. Several thoughts chased each other in her head.

"Do you still remember the offer you made in your office? The one before we went off to get the killer?"

Danni's brow crinkled as she struggled to redeemer. "No, I don't sorry."
She had been in such a hurry that she had forgotten the question. "What was it?"

Etrius stared into Danni's eyes.

"Would you wish for me to remind you?"

His gaze locked onto hers and his head ever so slowly began moving forward, closer to the girl in his arms. His brain went blank and he was almost a centimeter away before his brain began processing information again. The mental secondary safeties in his brain began engaging on full throttle and he pulled back a little.

Hmm, her eyes do look really nice from up close. He thought to himself.

A little warning bell went off in Danni's head followed closely by the thought of, 'Oh my goodness. He is going to kiss me. '
Danni's heart started racing again before Etrius pulled away and then her heart rate faded back to it's normal pace. Danni had never been this annoyed with a machine before but it didn't show on her face.

"If you feel like reminding me," She said lightly in a conversational tone, her eyes never leaving his. They were such a dark blue they were almost black.

Etrius sighed. He was teasing her sure but right now it was getting boring for him as well. It only seemed to work when she was reacting predictably, Sage was always able to tease a female in just the right way to provoke the desired response. Besides, he liked this girl.

"No point in beating around it anymore." He sighed out. "I guess it was fun while it lasted so here goes nothing."

He leaned in and planted a kiss on Danni's lips.

Predictably the heart monitor accelerated under Etrius' kiss. Danni's hand crept up and brushed his jawline lightly. The kiss probably meant nothing but it wouldn't stop Danni from taking the time and enjoy it. But they were interrupted during the kiss, as apparently Dann's heart rate monitor was causing quite a fuss. A dumpy little nurse came in and spotted what was going on.
"OUT!" She said, pointing to the door. Danielle blushed red to the roots of her hair. "You are a hazard to this patient's health, I don't care if you have a fancy title or anything like that, out!"

Etrius quickly slipped out of the bed and faced the nurse. The nurse in question began brandishing a stethoscope like a garroting wire. That was not good, not good at all, and he actually remembered the annoyed look from before. He took a look out the window. Second story, not bad, not bad.

"Well sweetheart. I'll be back later with something better then that hospital food."

He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.

"Don't miss me alright?"

The Nurse raised the Garrote-oscope and began marching towards him. And with that, he dashed to the side and jumped out the window. "DON'T SAY GOODBYE!" This was actually not an uncommon occurrence as this was one of Loyd's, Sage's and Sam's preferred exit methods. As such, there was a long line of comparatively soft bushes outside the window.

Etrius's fall was broken by a thick matress of leafy bushes and he climbed out of the bushes, not really looking any worse for wear. His shoulder was aching but that was from falling from the second story window. A quick check up only revealed a light bruise and a few scratches, score, good landing. He brushed himself off and walked over to a small wall with several scratch marks on it. He grabbed a rather hard rock and scraped out on additional tally. Afterwards, he threw a quick salute to the window he jumped out of and ran off.

"Hmm, let's see what seems good." He said to himself, pulling out his smartphone. He checked a local list of eating establishments and decided on the half kilometer walk to a sushi bar. He pocketed the phone and with a burst of speed, ran off. He was hungry. The food would not eat itself.

Danni smiled to herself while the nurse cursed Etrius and all of his bad behavior. She held her arm out obediently for shots and held still while she disconnected the heart monitor.
"Boys, always causing mischief." She muttered, "I bet you had nothing to do with it, huh, deary."
Danni smiled and blushed a pale shade of pink. Several minutes later the nurse left and Danni lowered the bed to go to sleep, which she doubted would come. Her eyes drifted half closed in her attempt to find sleep.

Etrius sidled up to the building, double checking the room number and a hospital blueprint for the exact room number. He looked up at the large grey concrete and glass edifice. It really was a marvelous piece of engineering. Luckily for him, the window was still open.

He readjusted the satchel on his right arm and the grapnel gun in his left hand. Of course he wasn't going to use his right arm, that was insane. He took aim and fired the grapnel through the open window which caught with a dull thud. *yank* *yank* *yank* *nod* It was good. He depressed a small button on the grapnel gun with his right index finger and a mechanical hoist yanked him off his feet and into the air at several kilometers per hour.

The line grew shorter and shorter until with a last jolt, the grapnel unlatched and Etrius used the remaining momentum to power a jump into the room. He landed softly so as not to give away his appearance to anyone not in the same room.

"Yo"

Danni was half way asleep when she heard the ka-thunk of a grappling hook. She rolled over and sat up sleepily. Her blue eyes blinking to clear her vision. Then Etrius scrambled into view and lept over the window ledge.
"Yo."
Danni gave him a sleepy smile and yawned, covering her mouth with thin fingers. Whatever shot the little nurse had given her was making her sleepy.
"Yo, yourself. Do you usually jump out of hospital windows?" She asked burying herself back into her pillows, her blue eyes still fixed on him.

Etrius put his hand behind his head and had the decency to look sheepish.

"Uh, do you want the a sane lie or should I just tell you the truth?"

He slid the backpack off of his back and pulled out several boxes of take out food. Advanced regeneration from Loyd's residual cells was great and all but the downside to it was it required a lot of energy to work. Etrius had in fact, visited three different restaurants, a sushi joint, some italian place, Bravos or something, and chinese place. He had gotten a bit of takeout from all three of them. He also unpacked two chocolate bars.

"Well, if you're tired, I could just leave the food here when you wake up. Or I might just keep you company. What do you want?"

[my homework load does not scale linearly over time]

Danni sat up slowly and held her hand out for one of the boxes of food.
"The truth preferably," She answered, attempting to rub the sleep from her eyes.
"Lies are for spies, take it from somebody who knows. "
She opened the box and slowly began to eat, her blue eyes fixed on the wall, not moving from that position. Danielle was a rather complex piece of work and trying to read what she was thinking was like trying to cuddle a rock.

Etrius lined up the boxes of food next to the bed and placed down the two chocolate bars on the bedside table.

"The truth is, I have done it 7 times so far. I have managed to stick the landing 6 times. The one time I didn't, I twisted my ankle and ended up back in the hospital."

He extended his right index finger and poked Dani's forehead. Almost like an adult admonishing a small child. He moved to sit next to the bed and opened a box of sushi. Dani may have been a complex peice of work but Etrius was actually relatively easy to understand. People who knew him (or the rest of the freakshow really well) knew that he was very easy to understand if you just stopped looking for a motive behind most of his actions and accepted that he just did it 'because.'