Chapter Text
Ginger Panic hated it when she had to drive. She hated driving slow and she hated driving at the car's speed limit. All she wanted was to sit in her little office and wait for her patients to come in, but instead Doctor Death Defying sent her all over the Zones to find the patients herself.
Sometimes she hated being a nurse, but whenever she as able to save someone she felt like she did the right thing, that she did not leave the inner perimeters of Battery City for nothing.
So Ginger Panic kept on driving and she kept on searching and she kept on hoping that the Draculoids would not find her.
As much as she was a help to others, Korse's Dracs did not identify her as a friend. In fact she was as much an enemy as the Killjoys were. She helped those who could not afford the rocket high medical bills the heads of Battery City set for free and that made her a threat.
Right now, Ginger Panic was speeding down the desert roads of Zone 6 in search of a small group of people who needed immediate medical attention. Doctor Death Defying gave her one of the very unsettling emergency phone calls about these patients and since she was in the area she did not wait for long.
Normally she would drive back to her office, gather supplies and be off again, but since the emergency phone was used, she did not consider a stop.
She was surprised her car was able to push through the speed she was hunting it down the dusty Getaway Mile.
“Ginger Panic?” Her radio cracked as the familiar voice of the Doctor called out. She grabbed the speaker whilst trying to navigate a sharp turn.
“Speaking.” Sweat ran down the middle of her back and made her shiver.
“Another mile and you should be able to see them.” The Doctor said before the click went of that signaled he closed the line for now. May it be security purposes or not, their radio calls were always curt and to the point. Ginger took a deep breath and prepared herself for possible gory scenes she might witness in the next seconds.
When Ginger closed the mile she indeed saw the four lumps of human bodies as Doctor Death Defying had said. She stopped her car with screeching breaks and her back wheels almost kicked out, but then she stood safe. Ginger jumped out of the car, her suitcase clutched to her person as she hurried to the first person.
The bright red hair and dark blue leather jacket were the first thing she noticed.
The man was laying face down in the dirt and before she turned him on his back. He had no visible injuries and seemed to just be unconscious, so she checked his pulse and breathing and when she could not find anything wrong she changed her attention to the next person.
He was also a male, black hair straight hair and a yellow and black leather jacket. His mouth was injured, it looked like a ray had just missed. The left corner of his mouth was burned up to his cheek. Ginger Panic frowned, it did not look to serious, so she made quick work of disinfecting and bandaging, before she pushed to the next man.
His bleach blond hair was pushed out his face and the red leather jacket looked like it had seen better days. He also was fine from her short physical evaluation.
The last man though, he did not seem unscathed as well.
His black leather jacket had blood crusted on it and one of his eyes seemed to be burned out. Ginger hissed, before she opened her suit case to get her gloves out. She got a bottle of water out of the compartments and a soft piece of cloth before she carefully cleaned the dirty blistered skin around the eye. The man gave a pained groan and Ginger winced in sympathy. She tried to be as fast and efficient as she cleaned out the sand and dust and slowly she uncovered the damage done to the man. His eye was indeed damaged to hell and back. She was sure he would never be able to see from that eye ever again. Ginger got some non-burning disinfectant she kept for painful cases out of her case and lightly sprayed the burned skin. The disinfectant started to foam lightly giving her the indication that this wound was made by a ray gun.
Ginger frowned. This did not feel right. What had happened here? But before she could further attend to the black clothed man she she heard the click of a ray gun being put out of safety. She turned around so fast she almost lost her balance and stared at the nuzzle of a yellow ray gun. She almost screamed, but instead she readied herself to jump out of the way in case the man, the red haired male, decided that firing would be a nice idea.
“What are you doing?” he croaked and tried to hold himself upright, but Ginger could see that he was barely conscious.
“I am saving this Tumbleweed's life, is what I am doing.” Ginger's voice was muffled by the medical mask she was wearing to hide her face from the Flies.
“You should lie back down as well, before you ghost either of us.” She tried to stay calm, but the heat made sweat run down her temples and into her eyes. Ginger tried to blink it away inconspicuously which definitely did not work.
The man watched her a couple of seconds longer, before his eyes slid to the suitcase she carried with her and additionally to all the supplies she had.
“I'm watching you, so don't go Costa Rica.” The man sat back down, the gun still suspiciously cocked towards her and indicated for Ginger to carry on.
And that is what Ginger did. She worked around the burns and blisters and smeared some cooling ointment on the places that would not need any help with tools. The only thing requiring her to go all nurse on would be the singed cut in the brow which she quickly cleaned out.
She slowly and steadily began sewing the cut trying to not further hurt the man and when she was finished she put some of the ointment on the finished sew.
After she was finished Ginger Panic got some clean bandages and sprayed them with the disinfectant before tying them around the man's head. She covered up the burn and the cut and firmly knotted the bandages like an eye patch.
Ginger sighed as she was done and turned to the man. He looked like he was half unconscious and half asleep. Probably dehydrated. Ginger gathered her water bottle and held it out to him.
“Drink.”
The man watched her warily before he grasped the bottle and took a tentative sip. When he realized she was not poisoning him or something he gulped down the entire content in mere seconds. He gasped as he finished and took a deep breath. Ginger watched him, but before she could say something, her radio clicked on and Doctor Death Defying's familiar voice called out.
“Ginger? You there?” Ginger jumped to her feet and hurried to the car. She grabbed for the speaker and sat down sideways on the seat.
“Speaking, Doc.”
“Ah, I was worried. Did you find them?”
“Sure did, Doc. Somewhat alive. I'll bring them to the clinic.”
“Do that, baby nurse, keep close to the radio.”
The radio gave the tell tale click of a cut line and Ginger sighed again. She climbed out of the seat and straightened her yellow dress, before walking over to the men in the dust.
“You work for the Doctor?” The man with the red hair asked looking far friendlier than before. Ginger nodded and the man let out a relieved sigh.
“An' here I thought for a sec you worked for Korse.” The man laughed shortly, before smiling at Ginger.
“Party Poison's my name.”
“Ginger Panic.” Ginger introduced herself and pulled down her mask.
“Nice to meet you, Party Poison. Now, we got to get out of here, before the Dracs decide to swing by. Help me get your friends to the car, will you?” Ginger said smiling lightly and grabbed the man she stitched up under his arms. She dragged him huffing to the car before somewhat gracefully sitting him into one of the back seats. Party quickly followed with the man with the yellow and black jacket and seated him next to the injured man. Together they carried the last man into the car and with enthusiasm Party Poison slammed the door shut. He slipped into the shotgun seat and groaned loudly. Ginger smiled. She knew how comfortable the seats were. One of the requirements her car had to fulfill when she was on the road so often.
Ginger slipped into the driver's seat and fired up the engine.
“We're going hit the red line, so hold on, Tumbleweed.” Ginger Panic warned before she pushed the gas pedal to the floor and they shot off.