▲ Bʟɪɴᴋ ᴀɴᴅ Yᴏᴜ'ʟʟ Mɪss Mᴇ {Pʀɪᴠᴀᴛᴇ}

James was starting to regret this plan as his body started protesting. The explosion of water started to grow less intense and the fact that the boy had to keep dividing his attention to defend himself from a few brave idiots who tried to catch him off guard. One man with a crowbar had run at him only to be slammed into the wall by a tall wave. Another one had scrambled for a gun in the water, forcing Tsunami to launch him back towards the cars where the other gang members were in pandemonium.

When it seemed like Pheonix had cleared all the civilians, James released the water, letting it wash out through the street. Normally, he could dry himself off without a second thought, but his mind had been elsewhere as he'd been controlling the water. Now, he stood drenched and exhausted. His tight suit clung to his body and his blonde hair was plastered to his face. It was a wonder he stayed on his feet as a wave of fatigue hit him hard. He opened his mouth to call out to Pheonix, but he didn't even have the strength for that.

"Hey, blue boy!" A female's voice drew his attention. He turned around and whatever color had been left in his face drained. He was completely deflated and here he was facing down the barrel of a gun. Great... was the only thing he had time to think before the weapon went off. As quickly as he could, he formed a shield of ice in front of himself, but all it managed to do was slow the bullet down. In a moment, James was knocked off his feet and onto his back on the wet pavement. He grunted and mustered enough strength to hit the woman with a burst of water that threw her away from him. When the immediate threat was gone, he groaned and let his head fall back. He groaned again and raised his hand up from the sharp pain on his side to see a familiar and foreboding red stain on his glove. Great...

OOC:

Don't take him to the hospital or anything, he'll be fine ^_^" This ought to be a chance for the two to bond a bit as superheroes :)

James Andreas Hamilton hated getting shot. As he lied on the pavement, staring up at the night sky above him, he cursed himself for having let the woman get so close. He was one of two supers in this town who defended thousands of lives. He didn't have time for dying right now and besides that, he had a football game that Friday. People were counting on him and he'd been stupid. It was a probably a good thing he couldn't move his body as he lied there bleeding out in the street. Since he was lying completely still, the pain wasn't as bad as it had been before.

Everything was kind of fuzzy around the edges of his vision when Pheonix leaned over him. Come here... He squeezed his eyes closed and groaned as he tried to help her lift himself off the ground, but his energy was spent. His entire middle burst with pain, but he knew he had to get out of there. Now that his distraction was over, the crazy gunfighters were either still scrambling to get to their feet or fleeing the scene as sirens blared in the distance. Once he was upright, James almost collapsed again. Pain etched on his face as he struggled not to cry out in pain. "We need to get out of here..." he mumbled, his words slurring. "Back to the warehouse on... on Twelfth..."

From experience, James knew he was fine. It wasn't the blood loss or the pain that was making him so sluggish. No, he was physically drained of all his energy because he'd summoned a wave of sewer water tall enough to douse the top floors of the surrounding buildings. He'd been doing what he was doing to protect the innocent people on the street, but part of it had also been to stretch his wings a bit. It had been a while since he released some tension, but this time he'd definitely pushed it too far. He could have easily done what he was trying to do without all the waterworks. And then letting that lady with the gun sneak up on him? That had just been sloppy. It had allowed him to test out a new trick he'd been thinking about, but it had definitely done a number on him too. As he leaned most of his weight on Pheonix, he mentally beat himself up over everything he should have done differently. His dad's voice suddenly started yelling in his head as well, like he did when James messed up in football. The thought made him flinch.

"Left..." he murmured, his eyelids drooping. He hated this. Jamie was doing his best to help her along, but he knew he wasn't light. Geez, if old twinkle toes could see him now. Another painful memory. Suddenly, James's legs gave out and his eyes rolled. Without warning, he dropped all of his weight on her, falling forward. He kind of jerked into consciousness again, but everything was hazy. "Can't...stand..." His legs were pretty useless and his exhaustion was getting the better of him. But... they had to be close, right?

Letting out a groan, he tried again to get his legs working. His knees kept buckling, making it a bit of a rocky ride for the two of them. If someone came at them, they'd be helpless. "Stop for a second... I... I think I can..." He forced his mind to focus for a moment, summoning a whip of water like he had on the roof a few days earlier. The water fell from his hand like he was holding a rope and then, slowly, it froze. "This should help..." He grunted in pain as he put some pressure on the ice cane, praying it held up. "We're almost there..."

They limped on a bit further before the front of the warehouse came into view. Thanks to the high crime rate in this part of the city, the old building was abandoned and perfect for the occasional superhero squatter. Tsunami had frequented the place, stocking up a few emergency supplies for instances just like this one. Once they were inside, his ice staff crumbled as did any remaining strength he had. This time when he fell forward, he slipped out of her grip and fell to the floor with a bit of a thud. Dust rose in a cloud around him and he groaned in pain. With his eyes closed and his body stiff, he ground his teeth. "First aid kit... on the bottom of the couch..." he managed, his breaths short and heavy as he tried to stop the pain.

"Scissors," he panted, his voice tight, "in the kit... Cut here..." His hand waved weakly for a moment before toughing the top of his shirt. The fabric was wet, but he still couldn't focus on drying himself. His face was covered by a separate mask, so taking off his shirt wouldn't reveal him. He grimaced at the smallest movements, feeling the pain shoot through his body as well as his head. He needed to go to sleep. All his eyes wanted to do was close and let him slip into a bit of peace. "Check my back... See if the bullet went through..."

This part, he knew would be painful. She would have to roll him onto his side for a moment to see if the bullet had passed through. If it had, then this would be a lot easier. All she would have to do is cauterize the wound and stop the bleeding. If the bullet was still inside, however, she would have to get it out. That would be a pain and he wasn't confident he could maintain consciousness for long enough to get through that. "I'll be okay..." he mumbled. A cough shook his body for a moment and he grunted again, gripping her wrist for a moment before his entire body shuddered and his grip loosened. His eyes squeezed shut and he let out a long shaky breath.

Squeezing his eyes tighter, James let out a small whine as the pain cast spots across his vision. There was no way he was going to stay awake during this whole thing. His body had already given up and his mind was just as worn. Once she'd finished cleaning his wound, she carefully allowed him to roll back onto his back. The pain was dull and the noise he made when she laid him flat again was barely even audible. His face started to go slack a bit and if he hadn't been more exhausted, he would have been concerned with the new lack of pain he could feel. "Stop...the...bleeding..." he rasped, his voice barely over a whisper. "Have to... burn..." There wasn't anything that would stop the bleeding faster, and while he knew she was nervous about her powers, this was their quickest option.

Before she could argue with him, Jamie's head lolled to the side and the little bit of breath he'd been holding came out in one puff. His face went completely slack and all the tension in his body released. If his chest hadn't been subtly rising and falling, he might have passed for a dead body. It wasn't necessarily optimal that he pass out while she was still working on him, but James had held out as long as he could. Finally, he'd just lost it and passed out. Now, she would just be able to finish what she was doing and wait for him to wake up.

When she placed her hand over his wound and applied heat to it, James's body tensed up and he sucked air through his teeth for a moment, but he didn't wake up. When she was done, his body went still once more. When it was all said and done, he lied there, looking ghostly pale in the dim moonlight that bled through the window far above. His blonde hair was messy as it pointed every which way. As rough as he looked and as bad a night as he'd obviously had, he almost looked peaceful.

It was almost dawn by the time the young hero started to stir again. He let out a quiet grunt and his eyes cracked open just a bit. Without moving his sore body, he slowly moved his eyes around, trying to get a grasp on where he was. Taking shallow breaths, he let out a small cough before catching sight of Phoenix. Honestly, with her face resting in her palm and her eyes drooping, she looked almost as wiped out as he felt. "Hey..." he croaked. It looked like he wouldn't be making it to school today.

Tsunami chuckled a bit as his head fell back softly against the ground. He felt a bit winded, but his body still felt like it had been stuffed full of cotton balls. "I'm okay... Little sore, but I'm alright..." He closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. "Thank you... I know that couldn't have been easy on you, but I appreciate what you did..." Grunting a bit, he shifted, trying to get a little more comfortable. His entire body ached a little as he moved and he regretted it immediately.

Opening his eyes, he realized that the sun was starting to come up. "Crap..." He mumbled. His father was not going to be happy that he wasn't home. It was worse that the young senior hadn't had time to call and let him know. Now he definitely wasn't gonna make it to school today.

OOC:
Sorry about that! Thought I responded ^_^"

IC:
As if to prove her point, he grunted uncomfortably. "Sorry... It feels like I got hit by a truck..." His head ached from pure exhaustion and he didn't have much control over his movements anyway. "I'm not going anywhere today..." The realization really set in that he was gonna be stuck here all day and he let out a sigh. His dad was going to kill him. "You don't have to stay if you don't want, though... You must be pretty tired..." He had been out for most of the night and as far as he could tell, she'd stayed up to watch over him the whole time.

Twitching his fingers, he formed a small, floating ball of water over his mouth before slowly letting it trickle down his throat. Even that small effort was a lot on him, but when it was done, he felt a little better. Sighing, he let his body relax. "See? I'm practically good as new." He tried for a weak smile, his vibrant blue eyes a bit dull with exhaustion and pain. He hoped she couldn't read that in his expression. He didn't want to hold her back from living her life.

He wanted to say something to convince her to go, but he figured there was no point. She was stubborn, that much he could tell even though they hadn't known each other long. He respected that. After all, he would be the same way if the roles were reversed and she'd been shot and drained of all her energy. He prayed that moment never came. "Okay..." he said, his voice quiet as he closed his eyes for a moment. Opening them up again, he stared at the ceiling of the old warehouse. "Well... if we're gonna be here for a while, we may as well get to know each other, right?" Sure talking and breathing were a bit painful, but he wanted to get to know the girl he owed his life too.

Rolling his head to the side a bit, he looked at her and smiled. "I mean if you want to, of course. You can ask any questions you want as long as they don't have to do with my secret identity. We don't have to answer if we're uncomfortable with... I dunno, just thought it might be a good way to pass the time." It would probably be a while before his strength came back enough for him to get home. The bullet wound in his side would hurt for a while, but that wasn't the real problem. The only issue now was moving on his own. He couldn't exactly go home to his father until he was okay anyway. That wouldn't go over well.