Escape

Barely keeping conscious, Matt stumbled down an alley. It was dark and he could barely see where he was going. His everything was in so much pain he could barely handle it. Sure he had managed to get out of there. What had they wanted with him anyway? All they did was torture him for the fun of it? That doesn't make any sense. He groaned and clutched his side as he fell to the dirt ground. He was probably in Knockturn Alley somewhere. The pain was becoming too much for him to bare. He knew there was extensive damage to his face, they liked his face. He wasn't sure what was going to happen to it. He was afraid, for once in his life he was afraid.

Still on the ground he began to crawl towards a light. He called out for somebody to help him but nobody came. He didn't have his wand on him so he couldn't help himself. He had the pieces of some old bastard's wand, the one that nearly killed him in there. He groaned in agony and called out for help again. Would anyone be able to help him, he needed an angel more than ever now.

Jack had snuck into Satan's to check with the staff. The club belonged to her still, but Vito would surely murder her if she returned there or showed her face. But she had a duty to the staff she had grown to care for and she had to make sure they were okay. She was having a hushed conversation with the bouncer, a huge man name Bor, when it suddenly struck her. Pain. She winced and grabbed her ribs, for her breathing was suddenly really strained. She could feel an irritating itch reaching into the muscles of her face, and felt fresh wounds beginning to open there. She thought this must be a device of Vito's, so she suddenly tore away from Bor and grabbed a tray out of a dancer's hands. She looked at her face- it was fine.

Bor reached her and grabbed her shoulder. She shooh him off and shushed him. She could hear someone calling, but it was not a call nearby. It was in her mind. She blinked. The last time this had happened, her best friend had died. She took a deep breath. Okay then. This was a new... thing, was it? She had to help people regardless. Well. Bring it on.

She pushed out of the nightclub and tried to force out all of the involuntary pain and follow the call in her head. As it began to leave her mind, she suddenly heard a voice reach her ears. The same call. She rushed for the sound, the call diminshing within her as it grew louder on the night air. She spotted a figure on the ground and cursed. She had sort of been hoping she was going crazy.

She reached him and squatted, turning him so she could see him better. "Right, mate, quiet down now." She saw his face had been scratched and bruised- nothing so major she could not fix it. "Hang on. Episkey." The marking began to patch themselves up a bit. "What else is wrong? What do you need?"

Matt had given up hope and had stopped crawling towards the light. He could hear music playing now and knew his voice would never be heard over it. If he could have sighed without it hurting he would have. Knowing he had little time left he wished he could go and visit everyone he knew and say goodbye. What a time to get sentimental. He closed his eyes waiting for it to come, but it never did. He could hear footsteps and then someone cursing. His mined raced, what if it was one of them. What if it was Jess or Khaat, what if it was a muggle? As soon as these thoughts crossed his mind he opened his eyes as much as they could open and looked up at the person near him. It was almost like he had seen that face before.

She was healing him, why? She didn't know him as far as he knew anyway. He could have been someone faking it. Ready to jump her and take all her cash then run away leaving her to lay there like he was. But he thanked to God that she was there and helping him. She asked what else he needed. He could barely talked at this point, his throat was so scratchy and itchy. "W-water." he managed to let out with a cough. The cough hurt and he winced in pain. There were definitely some broken ribs, he had been through worse though. But that combined with everything else that was wrong made him feel ten times worse. He groaned again in pain he looked up at the woman again, then he passed out.

Jack nodded and said, "Augumenti." A light trickle of water began from the top of her wand and she lowered it to his mouth. He barely reaped any of the benefits before he slumped. She could feel her nose, leg and ribs pounding in pain but she forced that down, reminding herself that it was not real pain in any sense. She had to tell herself that, adamently. She thought for a moment- Mungo's was booked solid, but a few broken limbs were nothing for her Healers. She grabbed the man by the shirt and said, "Hold on." And she turned, wrenching her arm with it.

She appeared in the same hallway she had dragged Nemo down, when he had appeared before her, covered in blood. She whistled the all-too familiar 'some one is hurt whistle' and the main healer, a man named Edwin, came out. He sighed, "Another one! I'm beginning to wonder how you and your mates have a good time, Jack." Jack glared him down and the man dropped to his knees right there and checked the man. He began to heal him and tipped a pain potion into his mouth. He blinked and cast another spell to help the man gain consciousness, checking to see if any of it had worked.

Matt had been having the most wonderful dream ever. He was flying in the air and looking down upon the hills of Scotland. And just as he was about to go over a cliff and see one of the most beautiful images ever, his eyes opened. That was always how it went eh? Right at the good part you get woken up! His eyes opened and some of the pain was gone. He could breath easy now without too much pain. He turned his neck to test for stiffness and took a deep breath. He looked at the two people standing over him. "Hello..." he said tentatively. He slowly got up, his leg was stiff and so was his shoulder. When he finally got to his full height he looked down at what he was wearing. "Well, don't I look good." he muttered to himself. He was in drags, the remains of the tuxedo he was wearing before he was kidnapped.

It was at that point that it hit him, he'd have to explain this to the two of them. He rubbed his hand down his face, it felt...weird. "A mirror, get me a mirror!" he said to the man that was healing him. He flicked his wand and a mirror came floating towards him from a room. Matt snatched it and looked into it, but what was staring back wasn't Matt. It was a whole new face, "WHAT THE HELL!" Matt yelled and dropped the mirror. He felt his face all over, it wasn't his face. What was going on....

"This isn't my face...what the..how the..." Matt couldn't string a sentence together. "What did you do!" he said angrily to the woman.

Jack was not much of a Healer. She had learned the basics, enough to keep herself basically alive through all the 'adventures' she underwent. For the more complicated things, however, she was useless. Real healing took a delicacy, a finesse, an attention to detail that poor old crude Jack could not seem to master. She would have ruined this man's face had she tried. Not that she could even tell what his face had looked like in the first place. Broken noses meant a lot of blood.

Speaking of which, she had become coated in it. She pulled out a rag from her knapsack and carefully watched the healing take place, wiping her hands and arms free of the man's blood. He slowly woke up and Edwin moved away, helping the man to his feet carefully, inspecting him with his eyes to ensure that everything was still fully functioning.

Suddenly, the man panicked and demanded a mirror. A mirror met him and he went ballistic. Jack straightened her back, keeping rodlike posture, in the face of his attacks. She opened her eyes to slits and said, "This is the way we found you. I'm sorry. We-" Edwin jumped in, "All I did was reset the nose. Whoever did this to you must have done a number on your face. I suggest you don't yell at the Head of the Department, as you would probably be dead or close to it if she hadn't dragged you in here."

Matt's mind was racing, the room was spinning, his head hurt. He could only remember fuzzy details from the past few months. Pain, pain like he had never experienced before. He stopped feeling his face and frowned slightly. He wasn't Matt anymore, he was some random person. How on earth was he going to explain this to his friends? His shoulders slumped and his knee's buckled. What the hell had happened down there.

He looked up at the two people in front of him. He nodded, "My apologies, this is...new to me." he told them both. "It's not every day that you wake up with an entirely new face. Oh man what happened to me down there..." he muttered to himself. He grinned slightly, he remembered the wedding and then nothing. That had been a fun wedding, he had danced with a pretty girl, Melody or something.

Then he snapped back to reality and got to his feet. "Where did you find me? And where am I now?" he asked Jack. "More importantly, who are you?"

He seemed to calm himself down, which Jack owed mostly to Edwin, who had become Head Healer on account of his soothing, calming demeanor. The man settled slightly and Jack looked at Edwin, giving him a grateful nod. She was still recovering from the pain that had suddenly plagued her after all. She reached into her knapsack and pulled out a minor pain relief and calming potion. Jack took a gulp and stowed it away.

"Understandable," Jack responded, nodding curtly. He asked where she had found him and said, "Knockturn. You were down an alley near the nightclub Satan's. I, uh..." She didn't rightly know how she had found him, and she did not want to try to explain. "I heard you yelling. I'm Jack Dyllan. I had business around there. I'm also Head of the Department for Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures. That's where you are now."

Ministry, alright, okay, at least he was safe. There was no way in hell he'd be able to put up a fight if anyone attacked him now. He looked at his watch, broken of course. He sighed heavily and ran his fingers through his hair. Jack Dylan, why did that name sound familiar to him? He was down Knocturn, how had he gotten there? So many gaps in his thoughts, he couldn't handle it. He needed to not think about it for now and think about something else. His mind continued to race, faster then it had before. The pain potion was working though he could move fairly well and he was just a little bit stiff.

"Alright, first things first I could really use a cup of coffee. It's been ages since I had one." he told Jack. "Is there any chance I could get a cup?" He looked around, they were in what appeared to be a hallway. "Wait, did you say Magical Creatures?" he stopped and asked her with an open mouth. "Why not St. Mungo's?" He raised an eyebrow at this question.

The man asked for some coffee and Jack nodded, glancing over at the Healer. Edwin had come to them, very pendantic and pro-regulation. To get him to ignore proper rules and protocol had been quite a challenge and she knew it was always a bit of task when these crazy situation befell them. Edwin was terrified someone that had gone unreported would die. She looked at him and with a sigh, nodded. The man was okay to move. "Okay then. Follow me to my office."

She walked down the hall, and answered his question, "Well St. Mungo's in packed, what with the Green Itch and all. If I got you in there, it would take forever to get you any medical attention and it would take away from the urgent care people. I knew Edwin would patch you up in a jiff." She reached the door to her office and held it open for him, pointing her wand at the coffee pot that she hardly ever used, which began to brew. "I didn't catch a name."