Ivan kept his eye on Azrai for a moment, just taking in the sight of the man. He knew how much that Elias meant to him and he also knew how much he disliked staying in hospitals. So he kept quiet when Azrai refused to be seen, explaining that Elias was more important. Ivan couldn't argue with his stubbornness, either because he was right or the fact that Ivan didn't have the will to do so at this point. There had been too many things that had been happening right now. Ivan simply was at a loss. There had been so much pressure and faith placed upon his shoulders, he let like he would crumble soon. How would he explain this to Zachariah? Would Zachariah feel like he had made the best decision? Would Shizu understand? He knew that Azrai understood, even though it was not something he probably wanted to understand.<br/><br/>Were they being too selfish? Was it really worth letting them take Shizu? She could have been saved but Elias would have died. If only he had had some way to tell her what had transpired; if only she knew the reason why they left. More than anything, Ivan didn't want her to think that they had abandoned her. Azrai was not the only one who cared about her well being, or protecting her from those who seek to use her for destruction. Ivan tried his best to be neutral about Shizu but in the end, he was ridden with guilt; just like he had been when he sent her away six months prior. Placing his head in his heads, he let out a long sigh, trying to keep his composure up but it was slowly cracking.<br/><br/>He refused to believe that they had failed, this mission was not over but the word failure filled his mind. It was very rare that a mission of his failed but he was only human and he made his mistakes. He was never forgiving when he failed his missions because there had always been so much on the line. Rubbing his temples slowly, he tried to keep his thoughts positive. They still had more than a chance to get her back. He knew that Levi wanted to get his revenge on Azrai, he would keep Shizu alive. The condition she may be in when they did get her may not be optimal, but they would get her. Then, they would finally take care of Levi and his men.<br/><br/>For now, they had to wait on an update for Elias.<br/><br/>While lost in his owns thoughts, Ivan barely registered what Azrai was saying to him. He let out a slight grunt, not even raising his head up from its current position. He figured he was saying something about leaving, he knew that Azrai couldn't stay in this kind of place any longer. He was used to the man having to take small breaks that it hardly caused him to worry any more. At first, he was always worried that Azrai would run off and never come back until they all left the hospital but after an hour or so he would come back. So Ivan gave up on being the Mother Hen as Elias would put it.<br/><br/>His head snapped up as he heard a surprised cry, only to see that Azrai had collapsed. He let out a heavy breath as he stood up, moving over to help them move him. If only he had listened to him earlier then he wouldn't wake up with a headache. They moved him into one of the rooms, before the other medics began to deal with his wounds. Ivan had been suckered in to getting his own checked out by a nurse would was grumbling about stubborn men. Ivan let out another sigh as he allowed them to do what they want, his mind in a faraway place.<br/><br/>-------------<br/><br/>When the man left the room, she began to struggle even more to get out of her restraints. She clenched her fists tightly, trying to jerk her arms forward. If she could get her arms free, then things would be easier. She could escape! Then she would be able to find out about Arai and the others. If they were severely injured...she didn't know what she may do. Taking in a deep breath through her nose, she jerked her arms once more. Wincing slightly at the pain, she took a moment to rest. They had tied her down very well and it didn't help that she could move her body more in order to get some kind of momentum. Growling in frustration, she continued to wiggle around as much as she could in hopes of loosening her ties. The more she moved, the more exhausted she became. It was probably because she still felt the effects of the sedative.<br/><br/>She stilled herself when she heard footsteps stop in front of the door. Was it the same man from before or was it someone else? A feeling of dread came to her knowing that it was probably Levi coming to see her. Hadn't the man before said that he would have to wait? She jumped as the door opened and Levi spoke to her. Her eyes watched him carefully, she tried her best to not look scared but she was very cautious of the male nearing her. She tried her best to follow him with her eyes as he inspected her. She wasn't sure what he was planning to do but she knew that something would come from this one sided conversation.<br/><br/>She moved her head slightly as he stood over her. As soon as he mentioned Azrai her eyes narrowed at him, a low growl coming from her. A glint caught the knife that he toyed with, her growl slowly ended and her wary eyes looked at him. The more he spoke of Azrai and how he cared for her, the more she knew that he was just trying to rile her up. Her eyes widened slightly when he said that Azrai wouldn't come. He had to come! He promised her that he would protect her, no matter what, right? Even if she was in this situation, she knew that the man wouldn't just give up. Something happened that was keeping him away for a moment. That was all. She truly believed in Azrai, even if it meant that she had to go through this situation right now.<br/><br/>She knew that it was best to not let his words affect her too much. She tried to move once more as he came closer, the thought of head butting him came to mind though he was still a bit too far away from her. The threat of other things happening later on caused her stomach to twist in an uncomfortable knot. She stilled as the blade was placed against her cheek. Her nostrils flared as she breathed heavily through her nose. The feeling of the blade ghosting across her skin was rather terrifying; she even felt her body quiver slightly. When it pierced her skin, something told her to fight back. It was as if an animalistic instinct to fight and survive caused her to move. A growl let her as her teeth sank down into the gag in her mouth.<br/><br/>Her eyes flashed yellow instantly as she jerked forward, however, pain rolled through her body. A strangled yelp of pain left her as it felt like thousands of pins and needles were poking into every part of her body. Her arms strained and her legs cramped as the pain continued to hit her like waves. Her eyes quickly changed back to their normal color, as the pain subsided. She breathed heavily as perspiration dotted her forehead. Just what the hell happened? As soon as she tried to use her Oni powers....nothing happened. It was like they had found a way to suppress them. Her eyes stared at Levi in shock, as if asking him to explain what was going on. Her body felt numb and heavy. Her arms and legs felt like jelly from the sudden shock.<br/><br/>Once she felt control come back to her body, she allowed it to relax for a moment. If she couldn't tap into her natural abilities, then she was almost vulnerable. Well, being bound and gagged meant that she was truly vulnerable to whatever Levi and his men were planning. That was when the fear started to settle in. Her breathing picked up and she tried to calm herself. However, she had an animal's instinct to continue to fight in order to flee. She started to struggle even more, which was probably something that Levi was enjoying. She would be damned if she was going to allow him to think that she was weak. Growling in frustration, she jerked her body once more, only to feel the residual effects of pain from before.<br/><br/>It felt as if her whole body became paralyzed, like an electric current was jolted into her. A whine left her as she tried to pretend that this pain wasn't as bad as she thought it was. She had been through much worse; she had scars to prove it. As the effects wore off, she laid there, completely still. She would not give up her struggle but she knew that continuing on would only cause her more harm. She tried to think of what she could do when something hit her. The wound on her collar bone wasn't healing, instead blood continued to leak from him. If this continued and he decided to harm her even more, would she bleed out? Would she die from blood loss?<br/><br/>No, what scared her most was that once this was all over and her abilities came back, she would have to feed. It only mattered on how much blood she lost to gauge how desperate she would become. The thought settled heavily in her mind knowing that she would have to try to remain calm no matter what now. The more she hurt herself and the more that Levi continued; she knew that she may become something that she feared in the end. She moved her eyes to Levi, glaring at him. Once she was free, she would so him how wrong he was to play this little game with her. She growled once more, as if sealing the threat.<br/><br/>-------------<br/><br/>"He's stable now," Alice said.<br/><br/>Ivan looked up as she walked through the doors from the E.R. Relief washed over his face and he slowly stood up.<br/><br/>"I don't want him out on the field until the wound completely heals," she quipped immediately, crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't want all of my good work to go to waste...this time."<br/><br/>Ivan closed his eyes, remembering last time he got patched up by her; he only tore open the wound because a mission needed to be taken care of immediately. "Don't you worry; he normally doesn't go out into the action. He'll be needed indoors from now on."<br/><br/>"That's great to hear," Alice said in a dry tone, almost not believing him. "How's your friend doing?"<br/><br/>"He’s fine. All wrapped up and sleeping...at least for now."<br/><br/>"I see." Alice pursed her lips in a thin line. "I'm not going to discharge him yet, but he will recover just fine."<br/><br/>"You'll discharge him as soon as he wakes up, we need him." It was now his turn to cross his arms over his chest, his eyes staring coldly at her.<br/><br/>Alice scoffed slightly, shaking her head before placing her hands on her hips. "I am the licensed doctor, therefore whatever I say goes, Ivan," she growled out, her eyes narrowing.<br/><br/>Ivan nearly snorted, knowing that this woman would forever be a thorn in his side, like a certain someone. "Not this time, Alice. We are in the middle of a mission and we need Elias."<br/><br/>"No, I can't trust the lot of you to not get yourself killed after I've spent the past few hours trying to make sure this Elias kid survives!"<br/><br/>"You will discharge him as I say," Ivan said in a low tone, his eyebrows furrowing in annoyance. "If you compromise this mission..."<br/><br/>Alice fell silent as her anger brewed and stewed for a few more moments. Turning away from Ivan, she held her head up. "Alright…Fine. Bring him back after it’s done and I'll let it go."<br/><br/>"Whatever," Ivan murmured before heading outside.<br/><br/>Now that he knew about Elias's condition, he knew that he needed to call Zachariah and fill him in. He pulled out his phone; he stared at the screen for a few moments. A frown touched his lips, after he called Zachariah, he would have to call Lucian. Or maybe once Elias woke up, he would call Lucian. Ivan and Lucian truly never saw eye to eye, Ivan felt like if the pilot heard the news from him, it would only cause more problems. All these decisions were making things hard for him, even though right now, they were simple ones. To call or not call at all, sometimes Ivan felt it was best not to inform Zachariah but if things got any more out control....Besides, the man seemed to find out about things sooner or later, usually sooner however.<br/><br/>Clearing his throat, he dialed Zachariah's number through speed dial. He closed his eyes, knowing that there would be no good outcome. He had promised that he wouldn't fail and even though the mission was not over...it still was close enough to a failure, in his opinion. When their leader answered the phone, Ivan almost hesitated to say anything though that would immediately alert Zachariah that something was wrong. "I'm calling to give you an update," he started off, before instantly recounting everything that had happened once they got Shizu to her apartment up until he received from word of Elias's condition. "At this point, I'm not one hundred percent on how we will go about getting back Shizu, but once Elias is ready to move, we will find her..."<br/><br/>He knew that this was not something that Zachariah wanted to hear, but sometimes...things couldn't always go their way. It had been so easy up until this point that something was bound to go wrong at some point. "Also, I've been thinking, there has to be another person helping out Levi, there is no way that he could have managed all of this with only three men," Ivan stated. He had been thinking long and hard those hours while Elias was in surgery and Azrai was resting. It only made sense to him, sure there had been Dean's men but Levi's group seemed to be on foul terms with them. Therefore....there had to be someone else, right?<br/><br/>"I..." Ivan started before leaning against leaning forward, his free hand catching the side of the car, his head hanging low. "I need some kind of direction from you," Ivan said in a soft tone, losing his hard shell. It was not often that he dropped his guard; rarely would he even allow himself to be like this in front of Azrai, who was like his brother. He clenched his jaw as the pressure was weighing him down slowly and the guilt was eating at him. He didn't know how Zachariah was able to do all of this. Ivan wasn't really cut out to be a leader, he was good at killing. He was good at finding people. That was what he was good at, not this. No matter how hard he tried, he was not going to be like Zachariah.<br/><br/>"I...I don't know what to do right now...."