Kitty /had/ been planning to try to sneak into Erik's apartment without
waking him. She really had. Failing that, she'd planned to get hold of
Barbara or Seishi. But ... two flights of stairs. Even /after/ the break
to sit down about halfway up the second, she's wobbly at best when she
gets up to his floor. The door is eyed suspiciously: her brand-new enemy.
Maybe she'll be lucky and it'll be unlocked. It's worth a try...

Who needs locked doors when you have awesome cosmic power? Erik certainly
doesn't. Of course, it's probably a bad idea to leave it unlocked anyways,
but it would seem that he's not exactly thinking too straight. Gee. Wonder
why that could be. He's nowhere to be seen the living room, though. Oddly,
his TV and game console are nowhere to be seen there either. Of course,
the sounds and light coming from the bedroom are a good indication.

Kitty considers this as she closes the door behind her, not bothering to
be too quiet about it, then knocks three times on the wall. From the
inside, of course. She shifts the bag she's carrying into her other hand,
and starts toward the bedroom. Semi-cautiously. Awesome cosmic power or
not, she's got no idea what state he's in.

Awesome cosmic power has its advantages, yes. Namely, when you're really
hurt? You can make a *giant frigging feather bed*. Which he has. Because
he's hurting pretty bad. Of course, it's all green, but that's besides the
point. The TV is on a green counter and he appears to be switching the
channels with a construct hand. He doesn't immediately notice Kitty
because, yes, he's somewhat in la-la land. His left arm and his left leg
both appear to be heavily wrapped in equally green casts, covering from
just above the wrist to the elbow on his arm and from ankle to hip on the
left leg. He's wearing a shirt, but from the angle it's at, it's easy to
see he's swathed his chest in bandages too. He's not moving much. At all.

One more set of knocks, this time beside the bedroom door, and Kitty says
aloud, deadpan, "So that's a Double Ninja Burger, French Fries of Our
Ancestors, and a Large Cola, with a side order of Tylenol-3? I would've
had them deliver directly here, except I figured you probably wouldn't
want the complimentary assassination." And yes. The bag she's holding up
in the doorway has the black-masked face logo on it. Three cheers for
abuse of computer printers.

So he lifts his head up from the bed and peers at Kitty blearily. "Oh,
hey. Good to see you. Come on in. I take it you, uh, ahem, read the
papers. Gimme drugs." Erik is blunt about that last one, yes. Very blunt.
"Druuuuugs. Christ. I've never hurt so much."

Kitty's not looking so hot herself - strained, a little unsteady on her
feet, dark circles under her eyes - but wow, compared to Erik, she's got
/no/ problems. She's tugging off hat and gloves as she crosses over,
jamming 'em in jacket pockets - the scarf she's wearing she just ignores.
Hello, December. "Not taking anything already, are you?" The Ninja Burger
bag is set down carefully on the Giant Green Bed, and Kitty fishes out an
orange prescription bottle. And a twenty-ounce bottle of Coke. She opens
the latter /without/ eyeing the green cast on his arm, then fiddles with
the cap on the other. "The last thing we wanna do is screw you up /worse/.
Yeah. Sorry, would've been here earlier except I got to the news about
eight hours later than usual."

"No worry. You don't look too good yourself, you know," Erik points out to
her. "I took some advil, like...shit. A while ago. But it didn't even take
the edge off the pain. I can't really get to a doctor, at least not
without explaining how I broke my arm and my leg and got sliced in
multiple places from flying debris and, uh..yeah. Enough said, right? So I
captured the Hulk."

Kitty quirks eyebrows at him. "No head injuries? And drink anything,
/anything/ including alcohol while you're on this stuff and I will
personally make you /wish/ for the Hulk, after we /do/ take you to the
hospital and they try to figure out how you're going to survive without a
liver." She extracts two pills and hands them over to him... okay, this
probably equates to 'holds them up in the air for a construct,' then does
the same with the Coke. "Mark the time. You get more of this in four
hours. And there really is food. D'you know any healers I could go get for
you, or something? And..." Pause. That aspect didn't really occur to her
till just now. "You captured the Hulk."

"I don't drink alcohol. Ever. I can't. Not with this thing on my hand."
The ring? He's not bothering to make it invisible anyways. "I'd make giant
green elephants or something," he manages to say that with a straight
face. Then aqain, mustering up a smile probably hurts too much. "And yeah.
I captured the Hulk. I've got him stashed and chained up. But he's just
some *guy*. I have no idea who the hell he is. But I can't take care of
him when I'm laid up like this. Ask Holmes. He'll know what to do."

Green elephants. Kitty can crack a grin, anyway. "Here. Painkillers.
Liquid. Take. Swallow." Be in... okay, slightly less pain. "You mean
Holmes will know what to do after he stops mocking us?" she adds wryly.

HE reaches out with his good hand to take the pills and pop them into his
mouth, then takes the liquid for a long enough drink to wash the
medication down with. "Drugs are good, yes. I'm going to take the ring off
before this gets any worse, though. The last thing I need is to get all
head-screwy and make something on accident." It's a rare instance that he
slides the lantern ring off his finger and sets it on the table next to
the bed. He lets out a sigh.

... and wow, that's amazingly disturbing. Kitty doesn't actually edge away
from the table by the bed, but there's an almost-visible moment where
she's tempted to. Then she empties out the bag, opens the plastic
containers inside, and leaves them in easy reach of that good hand. Yes,
burger and fries. No, it's not McDonald's, somebody apparently actually
/cooked/. That or found a decent diner and repackaged. "No idea if you've
got any appetite, but just in case." The prescription bottle also goes on
the table next to the bed. She keeps her hand well away from the ring
while she's putting it there. The label repeats the restriction about four
hours, and notes a website for further reference. It's not a pharmacy
label, needless to say. "You..." Captured the freaking /Hulk/. Ahem. "Uh.
Need anything else? Besides talking to Holmes?"

"Uh. Nah. I'll be the one to check on him and feed him and shit. He's just
a *guy*. I couldn't believe it. I mean...fuck. All that shit and
then..wham. I managed to cut off his air flow and that's what it took him
down. Knocked him out." Erik eyes the McDonald's food speculatively and
then adds, "You brought me McDonalds. You are my hero. McDonalds *and*
drugs. It just doesn't get any better."

The Hulk. Big. Green. Flinging chunks of landscape. Just a guy. Uh /huh/.
Well, actually, it'd explain why he's not painfully obvious when he's not
conducting impromptu urban renewal. "Wow. And I can't imagine anybody
/else/ ever having gotten in close enough to do any throttling." Kitty
quirks eyebrows at Erik - then makes a show of peering over each shoulder,
and leaning to check outside the door. "Careful saying calling that
McDonald's. The delivery ninjas might still hear you. Just because you
don't see them doesn't mean they aren't there."

"I didn't get too close, honestly. He swatted nearly everything I could
throw at him and he buried Superman under tons of mountain. I got lucky
and managed to get thing down his throat at the right time. I mean, you
saw the TV, right? He tore up a huge chunk of the mountain. We
were...really fucking lucky, that's all I can say." Erik snags a fry and
bites it, then waves the end of it at her. "Right, right. I'll be more
careful. I couldn't handle a sudden invasion of ninjas right now."

"That poor mountain. In twenty years, they're going to be calling it Caith
Valley." Really lucky. Yeeeees. Kitty eyes the green bandages just for a
moment. "If you need more serious medical attention, I can probably get
Pete over here later." Or a healer. Or - augh. Stop that. "I mean, we were
braced for injuries last night ourselves, and I don't think we picked up a
one. Think of it this way, though - if ninjas try to invade, they'll
probably have to stop and trade politenesses with Seishi first. You'll
have warning."

"I dunno if I need stitches or anything for any of the cuts. It might not
hurt to get him to take a look." Erik admits at this. "I x-rayed my arm
and my leg," he tells her. "The leg is pretty well broken, I think. I
dunno what I'm supposed to do about that. I've just got a facture on my
arm. You've never seen 'creepy' until you've had to X-ray yourself."

Kitty winces a little. "Ugh. And after six hours or so, a break's already
started trying to heal, so - either you dig up a good healer, or you hope
that it's set okay, or you get it re-broken and set. /Not/ talking fun."
She pushes hair back out of her face - and, as an afterthought, unwinds
the scarf and unzips her jacket. Stupid weather. "I'll ask him to come by
when he gets a chance - he'll probably be up and around when I get home."
Not invoking the magic of the cellphone, for some reason. "You know, I
don't even want to /think/ about X-raying yourself. That's so disturbing."

He winces too at that. "Ouch. Yeah. But, fuck. Gotta do what you gotta do.
The only person I know who can heal is Ria, and well... Ria isn't exactly
someone I'd trust to do it right now. She's got her own issues. I mean,
fuck. She was talking about how she killed a terrorist, Kitty. I don't
know if you know her at all, but she *killed* someone with her powers and
she's gotten really messed up. I wanted to talk to you about it. Maybe ask
you to check in on her or something or keep an eye on her because I
can't." Erik waves his good hand. "I told her to make ammends to the guy's
family. It probably doesn't help that she's dating this guy she called
'Pool'."

Kitty shakes her head. "I don't know her - you've mentioned her a couple
of times, that's all. But I can check in, sure. Well, depending on where
she hangs out. I'm not going to be up to par for a couple days, and there
are some places in this city I'm just plain /not/ going to wander around
till I am." Killed a terrorist. Oh, wonderful. "You probably gave her the
best advice, though. Make her see exactly how much damage she did." For
most people, it's only easy to kill when you can convince yourself the
other person isn't really human for a while. "'Pool'? As in, shark? Or
does he breathe water or something?"

"I dunno. Only met him once. Red get up. Black and red. He was hoping I
could make some construct or something for him to kill. I don't remember
what now. But it was all fucked up. But, yeah. That's what I was thinking.
See the damage. I told her it was almost Christmas and some family didn't
have a loved one anymore. Not sure what she's gonna do at this point, but
she'll do something." He takes in a breath slowly, relaxing just a little
more.

Red getup, with black. 'Pool.' Fucked up. Nah, couldn't be. And /there/
are the painkillers kicking in. "And at least," Kitty adds thoughtfully,
"it's not like she's gonna get pushed toward doing it again anytime soon -
I mean, presuming it was somebody from that stupid Fist group. We've got a
while to figure out what's going on in her head."

"Yeah, it looks like she felt really bad about it, but I dunno that she'd
*change* what she did, I guess. That's what worries me. I'm hoping she
finds the right answer." Yes, the drugs are kicking in and he's looking
quite happy about that. Anothr fry is munched on as well. "You rule, by
the wawy," he assures her.

Kitty grins at him. "Thank Kess. She's the one who /didn't/ take these a
few months back." It's somewhat startling that they haven't had any need
for illicit painkillers since. Pete's hospital visit involved /legal/
prescriptions, and there's been a remarkable lack of crap-beaten-out-of
other than that. Well, in some ways. Sort of. Involving broken limbs,
anyway. "I don't know. These things - depend on circumstances in some
ways. If the guy was about to set off a bomb, that's one thing. If he was
just walking down the street, that's entirely different."

"She said that he was injured and that she could've saved him and 'did
something to him'. She chose for him to die, instead. I don't have the
whole story, though, and yeah.. I'm *trying* to withhold judgement
overall," he's a little on the mumbly side, but he's finally relaxing just
a bit. The edge is off his pain. "I'll thank Kess when I see her again.
So, yeah."

"... wonderful." Those couple of sentences of Erik's make Kitty visibly
uneasy. "Still think you did the right thing. If you can tell me where to
look for Ria, I can check on her, see how she's doing..." And she puts out
a hand to steady herself against the edge of the table. Then she remembers
what else is /on/ the table and opts for leaning against the wall instead.
Upright isn't quite working all by itself.

"She was mad. Angry. I'll do you a favor and not quote Star Wars about
fear and anger and all that, okay? She's in the Badlands a lot. Red-gold
hair color. Real pretty. She takes care of kids. Ask around and someone
can probably direct you to her." Erik explains, idly. "I'm not sure I'd be
able to give you *better* directions."

That gets a slower nod. "That one? I think I've heard of her." Not by
name, and not by any detail, and honestly Kitty had more than half thought
of her as a semi-mythical figure, but hey - Beacon Harbor. Mythology
suddenly becomes one of the life sciences. "I'll see if I can track her
down - it'll be a few days, though." Because there is no way in hell Kitty
is going back into the Badlands till she's reliably vertical.

"No hurry. I don't think anything'll change that quickly," admits Erik. "I
think I'm going to be laid up for a while, though. I hope nobody needs me?
Oh, fuck. What am I thinking? You guys -never- need me."

Oh, /that/ one gets a wry look. "Could've used your help last night,
actually -" okay, Kitty can't /help/ sounding amused - "but you were kinda
otherwise occupied dodging pieces of mountain."

"Yeah, no kidding. But better chunks of a mountain than buildings, right?"
Erik points out. "He chucked a huge chunk of a building at me once. It
sucked." Yes, he did just say 'a huge chunk of a building'.

Kitty, sad to say, doesn't even blink twice. "Well," she replies, "I hope
it missed."

"Yeah, it missed," Erik assures her. "I managed to guide it back down to
the street and nobody got hurt, which is a good thign. But I *never* want
to repeat that experience. Man, I am going to have *such* a fucked up back
when I am old."

"Old. You know. Like, thirty." Kitty's tempted to pat Erik on the
shoulder, except that that would probably be unthinkably painful. "At
least you didn't break any ribs this time. Arms and legs you can make nice
and immobile." Pause. "That is, I /hope/ you didn't break any ribs this
time."

"I didn't break any ribs this time," Erik assures her. "I checked. Sore as
fuck? Sure. Broken? No. Bruised? Yes. Broken? No." It's mostly cuts on my
back and front and gigantic bruises."

"Good. I'd've had to call you on trademark infringement. Broken ribs are
/Pete's/ pet injury." There's relief in there on Kitty's part. Bruises are
okay. Cuts are more worrisome, between blood loss and risk of infection.
But - hey, green bandages. Okay. "So, Holmes, check, Ria, check, digging
up medic, check, you have drugs, check. We missing anything?"

"Well, other than having to explain all this to Emma, everything should be
okay." Erik informs her, tiredly. Pain does keep one frlom sleeping, after
all. "Oh, and find me a new job, would you?" His grin is wry at that.
"And, uh..don't try to call me on the home line. I sort of incinerated the
phone."

Codeine helps with the sleeping, too. Hee hee hee. Well, for stretches of
an hour or two at a time, at least. "A new job?" Kitty repeats, eyebrows
up. "I'll keep an eye out for one for you." He incinerated the phone. Oh,
God. Must not laugh. /Must/ not laugh. "Just, you know, have somebody dig
out a copy of your resume sometime. Good luck with Emma. I'm /so/ not
offering to help there."

"..I'll do that. Should be on my computer somewhere." Erik mumbles,
drifting off already. He's fighting to keep his eyes even half-lidded at
this point. "She's gonna flip out at all the green shit, I think." And
that's that. Sleep. ZZzzzz.

Kitty firmly restrains the urge to go poking around on Erik's computer
herself. She'll settle for getting out without either of the other two
residents collaring her to ask what the heck is going on.