<i>God damn it.  What's a Gear gotta do to get some stitches?</i><br/><br/>That was the second time that their medic had been about to stitch him up before she was called away, leaving James in the cockpit to bleed to death for the second time.  Well, true, the pads had helped and James was no longer bleeding as profusely as he had been initially, but the fact still remained that he had a nice cut that could really use some stitches unless he wanted it to bleed some more.<br/><br/>Still, Jess had mentioned that it was a child and that actually put any mental complaints that he had to rest.  A child?  Here?  Stranded probably but to James a child was a child.  A brief image of his little sister - long blonde hair, green eyes that stared sickly up at him but still so full of warmth and love for her older brother - came to mind and a sudden urge to get out and see what was going out brought James to his feet.  He nearly regretted it when his vision swam with the movement.<br/><br/>"Alright, alright," James murmured to himself. "I'll take it slow."<br/><br/>He kept his wounded arm up and pressed against his chest.  The need to keep his arm from bleeding again was going to make it difficult to use his rifle for a while but, then again, that's what sidearms were for.  Unholstering the snub pistol that he had to his thigh, James carefully navigated his way through the torn guts of the Raven, making sure that he didn't bump his arm into anything - whether it be yet another bayonet or a piece of wreckage.  The smaller, compact weapon did not have anywhere near the kick of his Lancer and he had, for shits, fired it one handed before during a few sessions of target practice.  He was still accurate with it and if a Locust came through the door he was confident he could put a slug in its brain.<br/><br/>Stumbling outside he took a quick scan to see where everyone was.  Andrea was at Darion's side, doing what she could to tend to the injuries that had caused all that blood to pool at their CO's position in the first place.  Jeanette and Jess were busy with their guns aimed at someone that James couldn't see but his grip tightened on his pistol nonetheless.<br/><br/>"Someone mentioned a kid?" James spoke as he stepped out side, taking care of his arm. "What happened?"<br/><br/>His mind was becoming clear again and it suddenly occurred to him as to why a kid was injured.  Did they shoot him by accident or something?  No, James hadn't heard any shots.  Did he happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time when their Raven crashed and got injured?  Maybe.<br/><br/>Those explanations were a hell of a lot more comforting then the last one that came to the Gear's mind: that the kid got shot by the Locust that they saw coming in.  Meaning that they were nearby the crash site.  That sounded like their kind of luck considering how this mission was already going.<br/><br/>With two of their Gears covering the intruder, James took a long look around at their surroundings, keeping an eye out for any Drones that could possibly be coming in this very room at this very minute.  His hand gripped his pistol tightly and his jaw visibly clenched.<br/><br/>"Come on," James murmured to himself, his voice quiet so that no one else could possibly hear him.  But the anger and bloodthirst was clear. "Come on..."<br/><br/>He tried to put the thoughts of decapitated Locust out from his mind.  As much as he wanted to kill some Locust, James wasn't stupid; they still needed time to recover.  Instead he focused his thoughts on the wounded kid.  As he just pointed out, kids were kids to him.  He knew what it was like to grow up in this blasted wasteland and he had a soft spot for kids.  Stranded too unless they were shooting at him.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>