When Skylar suddenly turned his head, Mei’s eyes instinctively followed his gaze, widening slightly at the realization of what was about to happen, or at least what she expected to happen. She was about to make her own attempt to get them both out of the way when Skylar suddenly tackled her out of the way. She had to admit, she hadn’t expected that.<br/><br/>Thanks to his action, the explosive shell from the tank missed them, however, it had not taken them out of the coaxial machine gun’s line of fire. Before they ever hit the ground they were pelted with a burst of rounds from the gun. Well, it would be more accurate to say that<span style="font-style: italic">Skylar</span>was pelted with rounds, as his body blocked her torso, taking most of the rounds that had found a target.<br/><br/>Mei, on the other hand, took one to her thigh and a second grazed her hip, leaving her largely unscathed by comparison. Still, the impact had caused her to wince in pain, although any other sound she might have made was silenced as she hit the ground and her breath with knocked out of her, so to speak. The next thing she knew, she heard Skylar cry out in pain and cough up blood, followed swiftly by the sound of explosions as the tanks erupted in flames.<br/><br/>“Skylar!” she called out of him as his detonator and rifle hit the ground next to him, but it was clear that he was no longer conscious. “Damn it!” she clicked her tongue, looking down at the arm that was still wrapped around her torso. “You idiot,” she muttered, clenching her hands into fists for a moment before looking towards his helmet, which was filled with a deafening amount of radio chatter, and then to the comm device that seemed to spring to life.<br/><br/>“Daddy?” she questioned, quirking a brow just a little as she looked down at the item on his wrist. “Who… is that?” she asked, wondering aloud more than she was expecting a response from the device. She reached a hand up to her comm but stopped short of activating it as it occurred to her that she only had the frequency for the Elysion. She was down here with the Skywolves, but she didn’t even have their comm frequency.<br/><br/>Clicking her tongue in annoyance, she let her hand drop as she looked down at Skylar.  “Guess I’ll have to borrow your comm. I hope you don’t mind,” she said, knowing that even if he could hear her, that would likely have been the least of his worries. Given that she’d never seen him use the comm on his wrist, and she could hear radio chatter from his helmet, she opted for the latter, gently removing the bloody helmet from his head.<br/><br/>After carefully putting his head down, removed her own helmet and donned his, ignoring the blood splattered on the inside. “This is Omega Zero One, does anyone copy?” she asked, reaching into a pouch on her belt and retrieving two items resembling syringes while she waited for a response. “Be advised, we’ve taken fire. I am hit and Talon Zero One is down. I repeat Talon Zero One is down. Requesting assistance, over,” she advised, her voice calm and level, despite the urgent request.<br/><br/>As she spoke, Mei promptly injected herself with one of the two syringes and Skylar with the other, then tossed the items to the side, having no particular concern for littering right at that moment. The syringes in question contained a pain reliever of sorts, something that was often given to operatives such as herself to allow them to keep going, to complete their missions even after receiving injuries. Carrying it around was a habit that she had never broken, and right now, she was glad she hadn’t.<br/><br/>After dropping the syringes to the ground, Mei slowly forced herself to sit up a bit, feeling a hint of relief when she received an affirmative response from his men. Reinforcements were on the way to their position. “Roger. We’ll be waiting,” she confirmed as she grabbed another item from her pouch, popping it open moving to pour a granular substance into the wounds on Skylar’s torso, and then his buttocks and legs.<br/><br/>Once she’d applied the substance to his backside, she gently rolled him onto his back and forced herself up, pivoting so that she could access the wound on the back of her own leg. Dumping the substance onto the wound, she winced a little but pushed the pain back as she forced herself to stand. The substance would help stop or at least minimize any external bleeding from the wounds for now, although it would do little to stop any internal bleeding.<br/><br/>None of that would matter, though, if they got hit again. They couldn’t stay here in the open any longer. She could already hear enemy reinforcements approaching the area. Sp. snatching up his fallen items, she slung his rifle onto her back and tucked around the detonator before picking up her own helmet and popping it on his head for the moment. “Sorry about this,” she apologized as she moved behind him, putting her arms under his and moving his body into something akin to a sitting position.<br/><br/>“Sheesh. It’s a good thing I’m stronger than I look,” she muttered, joking more than anything as she used a great deal of her strength to move him as carefully as she could into a nearby alley, where they would be out of the direct line of sight of the enemies. Strategically speaking, it was the best option available right now. She could have tried to carry him and use the harnesses to get them out of the area, to somewhere hopefully a little safer, but given how little experience she had using them and the likelihood of internal injuries, she thought it best not to risk worsening his condition.<br/><br/>Pausing, Mei grabbed the pistol on her hip while holding Skylar up with her other hand and leg and fired 3 rounds, taking out three soldiers who had come around the corner. She quickly holstered the firearm and moved him back into the alleyway, reaching the threshold just as the next group of soldiers rounded the corner, firing several shots at the two. This forced Mei to move back quickly to put some distance between them and twist her body so that she pressed against the wall of the nearby building to ensure that she was out of their sight. She pulled Skylar along with her as she did, the sudden movement causing her smaller helmet to come off of his head and clatter to the ground.<br/><br/>With a sigh, she slowly slid down the wall, still holding onto Skylar, until she was sitting, her legs on either side of him and his head resting against her torso. “You’d better not die on me, alright?” she told him with an indiscernible look on her face, placing her left hand atop his head as she retrieved her right pistol from its holster and aimed it back the way they’d come, firing at the soldiers that soon appeared in the alleyway. Ejecting the clip, she retrieved another and reloaded, keeping the weapon trained on the entrance to the alleyway even as she scanned their surroundings for any sign of reinforcements, enemy or friend.