The pharmacy was exactly where Sera had said it was, a mid sized chain branch with its shutters half down and its front window intact which was more than he'd expected. The shutter gap was big enough to duck under and they did and straightened up inside and stood still for a moment letting their eyes adjust.
It was not stripped completely but the front shelves had been hit, obviously, the easy stuff was gone, painkillers and basic first aid and anything that had been near the front and visible and grabbable in a panic. But the back shelves were largely untouched and the dispensary counter at the rear still had its security screen down which meant the prescription stock behind it was probably intact.
Michael looked at the dispensary screen and looked at the Blueprint Interface. There was no blueprint for opening a locked pharmacy counter but the shop had a lock override tool at sixty SP that he had noticed once and filed away as probably useful someday.
Someday was now apparently.
He bought it and it appeared in his hand and thirty seconds later the dispensary screen was open and Dr. Kang's priority list suddenly looked very achievable.
Sera was moving through the back shelves while he worked the dispensary, efficient and systematic, reading labels and making quick decisions about what was worth carrying. He watched her for a second out of the corner of his eye and thought not for the first time that whoever had sent him a personal trainer as his first rescue had made an excellent choice.
He found the antibiotics on the third shelf. Broad spectrum, three full boxes that hadn't been touched. Antiseptic in quantity. Saline bags stacked in the corner behind the counter that made him genuinely happy for some moments until he thought about Shin's legs.
[Ding! Scavenge Bonus — Medical Supplies. +80 SP.]
He loaded everything into the bag he brought and looked at Sera who was already at the shutter gap with her bag full and her axe in her other hand and her eyes on the street.
"Good?" she asked.
He checked the bag and then checked the pulse. Everything was clean in every direction.
"Good," he said.
They went back under the shutter and onto the street and he felt the particular alertness of open ground again, that full body awareness that he'd had on the way here and that hadn't gone anywhere in the twenty minutes they'd been inside.
Halfway back the pulse caught three signatures coming around the corner from the east, moving toward them at standard pace which looked like Rotters.
It was not fast but direct enough that waiting wasn't an option.
He looked at Sera. She had already seen them on her own.
"Go," she said. "I'll cover."
"We go together."
She gave him a look that was very briefly exasperated. "Michael."
"Together," he said and raised his axe.
They dealt with all three in the middle of the street without finesse and with more noise than he would have liked and then they were running the last half block back to the building because the noise had caught something else's attention further down the street and he wasn't interested in finding out what.
He got the gate open, got them both through and closed it standing in the lobby breathing hard with his back against the sealed steel and listened to whatever had been coming get closer and then stop at the gate and press against it and find nothing it could get through.
After a moment it moved away.
Michael looked at Sera and she looked back at him.
Her hair had come half loose from whatever she'd tied it with and she had a scrape on her forearm from the street fight that was minor but present and she was looking at him with an expression that was still running on adrenaline around the edges.
"Together," she said, not mocking it exactly, just repeating it back to him.
"Together," he confirmed.
Something in her expression settled and she seemed a little pleased.
[Bond Event — Side by Side: Sera. +1 Bond Point. Current BP: 5 — Sera.]
[Bond Store Unlock — Resonance Shield: Sera. Now available.]
He looked at that notification for a second longer than the others and then followed her up.
---
Dr. Kang's reaction to the pharmacy haul was the closest thing to emotional he'd seen from her. She didn't make a big show of it, she just looked at the saline bags and the antibiotics and the antiseptic laid out on the workbench and was quiet for a moment in a way that said more than words would have.
Then she picked up the antibiotics and got to work on Shin's leg and didn't say anything else about it.
Maya on the other hand had plenty to say.
"You got a scrape," she said to Sera, appearing with the first aid kit before Sera had even sat down.
"It's minor," Sera said.
"I know it's minor. Sit down anyway."
Sera looked at the kit and then looked at Maya, then sat down with the expression of someone who had decided this wasn't a hill worth defending.
Michael watched Maya clean and wrap the scrape it was clear she had picked up everything Dr. Kang did and filed it away for future use and thought that Maya was probably going to be dangerous in about three weeks when she had had time to fully find her footing.
He looked at his SP balance. One thousand and forty after the scavenge bonus.
He opened the Blueprint Interface and looked at the watchtower requirements and the greenhouse and the remaining Tier 2 upgrades and started planning the next push.
Tier 2 was at sixty one percent this morning.
By the end of the week he wanted it done.