It sure is crazy how in sync these people were.
Austin managed to use the millisecond of this Scavenger's comprehension to his advantage, quickly disarming the boy in rags, whose malnourished-looking face made contact with his own gun before Austin kicked to cannibal in the leg, following with a sucker punch to his hideous face, causing the Scavengers to hit the ground intime with the skidding gun sliding across its surface.
While Austin had handled his own opponent in a matter of seconds, the other Scavengers lost their focus in holding Austin's Meadower friends at gunpoint, almost simultaneously aiming their own guns at Austin. Honestly, Austin thought he was pretty much done for at that point. He was so beaten up. The claw marks his annihilator battle earlier earned him was beginning to painfully override his adrenaline rush and pain was coming to him in waves. It hurt so much that Ausitin was pretty sure the venom was burning every cell in his gut and waist. And the bullet wound was still stuck in his leg from his more recent confrontation with those two Scavengers. Even the bullet wound from the three Bane Brothers days ago was hurting, causing Austin to rethink his decision on not using the ointment Reya had given him today.
As Austin began to lose all hope that he would survive this, thoughts that traveled in his head had him concerned for his friends. 'Reya. Aaron. Stryker. Will they be okay if I die right now? Will they make it out okay? Hopefully the one I did take out was one that would encourage them all to fight back… .'
'HELL NO!' the Voice within Austin's head practically screamed it's resistance. 'It isn't your time. Get up. Now!'
And, as a great rush of adrenaline courses through Austin's body, numbing the pain and deflecting the effects of his injuries, he found himself shocked as his friends - the Meadowers - all attacked right before the Scavengers could pull their triggers at him.
With such unison that their captives stood no chance at all. In the chaos, Atlanna and Zach took out a Scavenger by tackling him, with Atlanna kicking the cannibal's head nearly 180%, completely unconscious. Zach plucked the Scavenger's pistols fully loaded, and shot two of the three Scavenger still targeting Austin, allowing Austin to tackle the third one, punching it madly in the face, drawing blood until the sound of a broken nose and the sight of an even more hideous-looking face stopped him from doing more damage on the cannibal's unconscious form.
Austin managed to take the lead without blacking out from exhaustion or blowing up from the amount of adrenaline coursing through his body, quickly giving the order to his friends to use the spare ropes to tie up their attackers.
Meanwhile, with Zether's help, both eyes glowing vibrant green, Cleo closed the wounds of the injured and managed to close up Austin's bullet wound, but said he would still need proper treatment later for his Annihilator wound as the venom from the Annihilator bite is still in his system. "I can't do anything about that, but at least now you won't bleed out." She said, as she closed Austin's open wounds with her power.
"And the bullet is still stuck in there, cuz we don't have enough time to carefully fish around the inside of your body for it," Zether said, concern edging in his voice. "Be careful or you'll risk more damage to your body then we can fix up."
"What about the Annihilator's claw mark?" Austin asked. "What do I do about that?"
"We've stopped the bleeding, but their claws are laced with venom, too, so the best we can do is survive long enough to treat it with the bite mark," Cleo states, bandaging Austin's shoulder with makeshift gauge cloth from the tear of his shirt. "It's not as fatal as their bite, but I have some spare ointment back in my sleeping area, so we'll go after the battle to fix you right up."
"Still, the more you move, the more the Annihilator's venom spreads," Zether said, warningly. "If it reaches your heart or any vital organ, for that matter, you stand no chance to live afterwards."
"I'll be fine," Austin waved them off, standing up with a little struggle. "Besides, our friends… we need to help them. We need to get to the Oakhouse. I know Reya and Stryker are there with the other Overseers, and I have a feeling they're not in good shape - Or doing much better than us. We need to help them."
But the moment he took a step, he staggered. The motion made Austin feel the many, many pains of his injuries then, forcing him to collapse back down. Cleo rushed to Austin's side and put her hand to his injury, her hand glowing a faint green hue of an aura as the pain began to dull.
Austin gave Cleo a questioning gaze. Cleo just said "I've only managed to dull whatever pain you're feelin, but it won't stay numb forever, so, as my brother suggested, be careful or you'll injured yourself more than me or Zether could even repair back."
"Why should we be listenin' to you, Newbie?" One of the Meadowers asked from around Austin. "You have the same crest as that girl - As Scarleteye."
"Yeah!" Another person - a girl this time about Austin's age - said. "She's one of the ones leadin' this attack. How do we know you aren't with them?"
"Traitor!" Another shouted. The murmurings and mutterings and glares and rage and gazes of betrayal and distrust surrounded Austin from nearly every angle. The smell of anxiety and panic littered the air and it took Austin a minute to gather his thoughts.
He knew these people had every right to doubt him. The girl he shared a crest with once betrayed them and was now involved in the attack on their home, possibly even leading the assault. Not only that, he had lied to them about his crest and in this place, even Reya once said trust was everything here; he's betrayed that trust long before he even heard the comment. The Scavengers were attacking their home, lead by Scarleteye and the people Austin had a feeling was involved in their leader's attack back in the Labyrinth. Their home was in ruins. They're very close to - or possibly past - their limits of hope. And this attack was not helping.
But Austin also knew that they were being projective; they needed someone to blame. They were feeling not only hopeless but also helpless as well. And they were afraid. They needed someone to lead them and, right now, Austin had to be that someone.