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Well, now that Alba had left and she knew the people closest to her were alright, she politely excused herself and slipped into the recovery room. It was large enough to hold quite a few hospital beds for those who were just brought in and cleaned up before being moved into more private rooms to recover if they needed it. While there were a few faces she recognized - most she didn't - the dark-haired woman was only searching for one in particular. But where was he..? "Aulus...?"

...Aulus?

Ugh. That was him. Feeling very sore all over Aulus pried his eyes open slowly. Ceiling. Cold and clinical. Base... Bed? What?... The Machine. Legendaries escaping. Ceiling falling and... and... Aulus sat bolt upright. "Hayes!" His throat was dry and what would have been a distressed cry for acknowledgment came out as a hoarse croak. Falling towards them. He'd been trying to help but then he'd tripped and fallen and where was Hayes?

Luckily she zeroed in on him right before he suddenly sat up, so when he did she was already halfway to his bed and was at his side in a brief moment. "Calm down," she said, her tone firm but gentle as she put her hands on his shoulder, trying very gently to ease him back onto the bed. He was a good friend no matter what, and her stomach did a complex flip to see him so worried. "Hayes is fine, don't worry," she said, since he was very obviously worried about his partner. "He's out in the waiting room right now, he looks perfectly fine. Unlike a certain someone," she couldn't help but tease, the corners of her mouth twitching up into a wan smile. Arceus, she was glad he was okay... "How do you feel?"

Breathing heavily Aulus allowed himself to be pushed back down as Claire reassured him. Hayes was okay. Relax. After some moments, once his breathing had calmed, he opened his eyes again and cracked a lopsided grin. "Feel like s**t," he rasped, "but I'll live, I assume." Claire had come looking for him. This was extremely gratifying. He wanted... he wanted to talk to her. Alone. Somehow he didn't think he'd get the chance right away. "Got burned by a moth," he went on, "that smarts like hell. Also buggered my leg, and must've hit my head on something but I don't remember that.... Hey!" Concern flashed across his face again. "My pokemon alright? Tortie and Char were out of their pokeballs!"

When he laid back down without resistance she sighed, unable to help the feeling of relief bubbling up inside her. She was glad he was okay - but the phrase 'I'll live' and mention of Tethys's moth ruined any chances she'd had of smiling at the moment. "Doesn't sound too bad," she said, pulling a chair over to sit next to his bed before nodding at a small tray nearby with two spheres sitting on it. "And there's two pokeballs next to you there, though I'm not sure which they are.. I'm sure they're alright though."

"Nerg." Aulus turned his head to study the pokeballs with bleary eyes. "Tortie," he croaked, "and Paul, made marks on the balls.... Was riding Red when the flames hit, they'll be treating her. Dunno about-"

"Charrrr!"

With that a tall wiry Charizard made its entrance, carrying a set of dark blue pyjamas over one arm, and Aulus started to sit up with a grin before flopping back with a groan. "Char! You're all.... wingie."

"...Charr."

"You're humoring me. I can tell. Quitit."

Claire was about to make him lay back down when he flopped back of his own accord, and she relaxed back into the chair. Why did that suddenly make her so tense? Augh. But, still - the Charizard was treated to a warm smile. "Char looks awesome," she commented, eyebrows arched a bit as she studied the newly-evolved fire-type. And he'd brought Aulus some pj's. That was just adorable. "When did that happen?"

"Buggered if I know," Aulus frowned a bemused frown, "this is the first I've seen of it so it must have happened while I was knocked out, hu Char?"

"Charrrr." The fire lizard nodded and set the pyjamas neatly on the end on the bed; he would want to change once the lady was gone, of course.

"Anyway," Aulus blinked, looking up at Claire with a grin, "you should've seen us! Sauntered into their base - a giant airship! - grabbed Nyx and some vital information! This... this Machine, it was going to remake the world to their specifications once they had every legendary in it. So we went to it and that Ice Queen b***h and the Snot Hair, and Deimos were there and we fought and Hayes and I flew over and he press a button and the whole thing fell in! It was amazing! We got them good and proper, smashed The Machine and all the legendaries they'd collected so far escaped!"

The agent watched the exchange with a smile slowly spreading across her face, but she couldn't help but chuckle a bit at his enthusiasm about what happened - then almost snorted. "'Snot hair'?" Oh Arceus, that was the best description she'd heard of Orion ever. "It sounds like you had fun."

A few more people had entered the waiting room, Faleen could hear the question in the distant, quieted voices, all with the same direction, questioning about the mission, about the Agents on the mission, all worried over comrades, and friends.

Much of the attention was on this perky Trainee that Faleen had never seen before, The Agent herself, once her questions were answered took a few moments to watch this new women, and her oddly perky attitude for a few seconds.
New members... a new wave of team rockets, always being recruited.
Faleen remembered when Aila was a trainee... meeting the young women out in the desert on a new moon night. Aila had held such mystery, and promise.
She was a girl who quickly rose through the ranks, devoted to what she did, and earning her place in Team Rocket.

More of the Rockets headed over to the room that the recovering Rockets were being put after surgery.
Faleen took a moment, before she to would follow, but paused when she saw that Executive Seth was returning.
Faleen's eyes caught the items he was carrying. She stared at them for a moment, assuming what they must be, before she could actually recognize who they belonged to.

"Sir." Faleen greeted as he walked back into the room. "... Aila's gear, it looks like." she asked, though by her tone, she already knew the answer.
the pokeball's caught her eye... a talented team, no longer with their trainer... she wondered what the fate of pokemon like that would be.

The sounds of voices filtered through the cracked door, causing the occupant in the bed to open one eye and glance in that direction. Something was going on out there. Having come through surgery needing nothing more than a good disinfecting and well, quite a few stitches, Sierra had to count herself one of the lucky ones in retrospect.

She'd been a bit out of it for most of the ride home, due to a combination of blood loss, pain, and exhaustion. She vaguely remembered Layla curled up at her side, as well as Aki on the other, Khalon watching over them all protectively. She must have dozed off as Aki's trainer tended to her leg, because even that was hazy, like a dream. It wasn't until they'd landed that she tried to stir, and had overheard the terrible news passed between the Rockets from the mission and the medics on base.

They'd lost a teammate on the ride home.

She had to admit, that she didn't know Aila that well, if they'd ever even spoken before. And yet, this was a teammate. It was a grievous loss and it made their victory all the more tarnished.

Yes, they'd accomplished their set goal. But at what cost?

She still didn't know what had happened to the others. What about Agent Nyx? She'd been the one that they were all worried about primarily. And the others? There were so many hurt trying to escape as the Machine crumbled around them, the fury of the Legendaries turning the place to rubble and slag.

Growing anxious and fidgety, Sierra sat up, stifling a groan of discomfort. She'd come out of surgery long before some of the others, simply because her injuries were less severe. Most of the other Rockets had gone in for treatment long before she had...and come out long after she'd been put in bed. She'd awoken once or twice, and had been told that she was well enough to have a private room, since all she needed was rest and fluids. She was to stay off her leg for the time being, giving it time to heal. They'd offered her a wheelchair, but Sierra had refused, demanding that they bring her a pair of crutches instead. She wasn't going to show weakness by needing to be pushed around in some chair for weeks. She'd never get better by taking such a lazy route. She'd have argued that she didn't need anything at all...if deep down, she hadn't realized that that was only foolish pride talking. So, the crutches were a compromise.

She glanced down at the floor, smiling to see the shiny Umbreon curled up at her bedside. Hopefully, no one had tried to remove him. She couldn't imagine that ending well. Khalon's ear twitched and he raised his head with a swish of his tail. Sierra reached down and scratched his head fondly, murmuring, "Yeah, I'm alright, buddy." She glanced down, a frown crossing her face. 'Wish I could do something about this stupid hospital gown though."

As if understanding, Khalon stood and padded over to a nearby chair, picking up some folded clothes and trotting back to lay them on Sierra's bed. She smiled again, rolling her eyes. "Oh thank heavens, real clothes. You're a lifesaver, Khalon." After sneaking a look towards the door again, Sierra proceeded to change as quickly as she could without hurting herself further. In a few minutes, the hospital gown had been replaced by a simple tee and a pair of running shorts. Her bandaged leg was still clear for cleaning or reapplying wrappings, so she figured the staff couldn't complain. Anyway, she hoped to be out of here sooner rather than later.

Still antsy, she looked back at Khalon. "What do ya' say? Think I should test these things out?" she asked, gesturing to the crutches leaning on the wall. Khalon's look was impassive, but he crossed the room and brought one of the crutches to her bedside. "Yeah, I thought so too," she chuckled, scratching his head in thanks. With one hand on the I.V. pole on her right, and the crutch positioned under her left arm, same side as her injured leg that she held up just off the ground, with some difficulty she managed to get a few steps before stopping and trying again. This was going to take a little getting used to, but hopefully it'd be easier after they finished pumping her full of fluids and she could get rid of this I.V.

After a little practice, at least enough that she didn't feel like she was going to fall on her face, she figured it was time to start exploring. Injured or not, she couldn't just lie around all day...and the medical staff was just going to have to deal with it. She set out on her walk down the hall, flanked by Khalon, wondering if she might be able to get some news about the others. Without knowing where she was going, she passed through a door and blinked in confusion, immediately finding herself in the waiting room with a number of other Rockets.

This was a side of Seth Faleen had yet to see... It was the look in his eyes, the tone in his voice.
It wasn't the usual Seth that she usually interacted with.
She knew that Aila had some connection to the executive, as far as she remembered it, he was the one to recruit her.

Faleen didn't say much more about it, her features were a little stiff, but they didn't show much in the way of emotion either way.
"I'll make sure everyone is notified,"
anyone who wanted to, should.

Faleen didn't really have much more to say, lifting up her data-pad higher to her chest, as she watched Seth leave the waiting room.
the Agent stood for a short time, before she glanced over to where Mau had been standing.
smiling softly at the other Agent before she followed after where a few rockets had set off to the recovery room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Stepping into the larger room, where there were already rows of occupied recovery beds, holding many of the rockets from the mission.
Faleen paused in the doorway, hazel eyes quietly scanning each of the occupants.
most of them talking quietly with their visitors, Other rockets, not on the mission scattered around to visit. Not to mention the pokemon.

The dark man, with heavy Tattoo's had found where Izaya was before Faleen had even entered the room, and was standing by the immobile Grunt's bed.
It didn't look as if he was awake yet.

Jerome had been watching the groups of people in the room, listening in on some light gossip of what happened, a frown was set on his face, wearing an expression that gave the impression that he was rather taken aback by something.

This was the first mission he really heard about that Rockets had been involved in, he knew a team went out, apparently after this group call Team Galactic? He hadn't heard of them before, was this some other team? apparently not on friendly terms with Rocket. <********... ain't ever ganna end with gang wars, no matter were you go.
This was something he saw a lot on the streets. group comes back, thrashed up, and lucky if only that... It was all to common for a few of them to come back dead, or dying, and sometimes not at all.
Usually kids to... some things never change it seemed.

'Tyron'
Jerome wasn't used to being addressed by his first name, He never introduced himself with the name, It just wasn't what he was used to being called. at times he even forgot he had a first name that wasn't Jerome.

The weakened voice, along with the movement from the bed he was standing by caused the gangster to snap his head down to look back at the wide eyed Izaya.
"Yeah" He replied, unfolding his arms from his chest, adorned with the standard grunt uniform gray. "Got back a while ago, put you through surgery already an all. you've been out of it a while man."
He explained.

Groaning, Izaya shut his eyes again. He wanted to go back to sleep, but that seemed impossible at this point. "Mmm...you been here this whole time?" he murmured. "Better scram before someone thinks a little too much of you waiting around another guy's bed for him to come to."

A painful smile fell across his lips. "Seems like you're going to have our room to yourself for a while yet. Don't you start going through my stuff when I'm away - I'll notice." His smile was immediately replaced by a frown and he used his free hand to fold his pillow over his face, muttering into it.

"Why can't everyone just shut up and go away...? It's too loud here..." the man complained, making sure to whine extra loudly in case the culprits could hear. He could hear talk of the mission. He didn't want to recall the mission.

Arcadie folded her hands politely in front of her when the Executive returned to the room. She remembered enough about the uniform designs to know that that wasn't someone she should bother. But his words, even if they weren't directed at her specifically, had a dull sting to them. Look what you've gotten yourself into, Arcadie, she mused grimly. We're not playing games anymore, and everyone here is a mortal human, including you. She drew in a deep breath, held it momentarily, and released it in a slow sigh. No number of depressing thoughts would make her circumstances any less real. All she could do was make the most of it.

"Oh!" She raised a hand to her cheek thoughtfully, murmuring, "I'm supposed to be staffing the recovery ward, aren't I. Oh dear." She spun on her heel and started down the hall, passing one of the patients as she went. She recognized Sierra as one of the less severe cases, however, and so she didn't make much of it at the moment, "Don't be up too long. Rest is important, you know!" Hopefully she wouldn't go much, if any, further than the waiting room. Some of the other Rockets were trickling back to check on their teammates, and Arcadie wanted to be sure that no one did anything reckless. Not that they seemed like a particularly irresponsible bunch, but the flak would undoubtedly come to her if anything happened - and she hadn't been around nearly long enough to start gathering flak yet. Not happening.

Fortunately nothing in the clinic was on fire upon her arrival, and no one seemed to be bleeding any more than they had been upon their release from the OR. All good signs. Even better signs: many of the injured were stirring. No comas to deal with, thank goodness. What caught her attention more than anything else, though, was the complaint of one of the recently-awakened. Oops.

Arcadie slid up beside the wounded Rocket and his company with a plaintive smile, "M'excuse, sir. Everyone was sort of worried... You'll be relocated to private accommodations just as soon as all the surgical patients are stable." Her tone was surprisingly calm given the exceptional cheeriness she had exhibited earlier. Bedside manners were key, after all. Manners, manners, manners. Even if it was boring.

Her proximity to the small assembly allowed her to overhear Jerome's question, and she took it upon herself to respond, "Depends pretty heavily upon how quickly he starts healing. The doctors projected anywhere from one to three weeks," she looked back to Izaya, her smile brightening, "but you already seem pretty energetic for someone who was just discharged from surgery. I'm sure you'll be out of here in no time." How long he would spend in bandages, of course, was another story completely, but there was no need to bring down the mood with numbers like that.

"Yes, so I heard.... She was a good agent. She had great potential." He felt as if should have more to say than that. Death was so very... so very... human. Raw and emotional. "I met her first when she was a trainee and I'd just moved here as a new grunt," he went on slowly, "she was an agent some time before I was. She will be missed as an asset... and by those who knew her, I presume." He still felt as though he wasn't doing this right, but it wasn't a situation he'd really dealt with before; he hadn't been part of a team in order to lose a member of said team.

"I am glad that the rest of you made it back alive." That was something good to say, wasn't it? All of this was very alien, and he did want to deal with it correctly out of respect for Aila and indeed for several of those who had returned alive. "What happened? Can I assume there was trouble extracting elite agent Nyx?" She he even be asking about this, or should he be letting the girl be? Blast. He wished he was better at this.