"that's right. he certainly seams capable of it. if he's making noise and such." he mused. "but vocal cord damage can cause a variety of problems and every case is different." he admitted, smiling. he knew how much she had helped him too already. he wasn't so scared anymore. he was sure something bad would happen still, but he wasn't so utterly terrified of it happening anymore. so that was a good thing, right? fear had kept him alive for so long, had kept him going, kept him running, kept him surviving. was he getting too comfortable? he was very careful to not think any of that out-loud otherwise certain people would yell at him. he was also very careful to explain every step of the process to both James and Steve as he took an ultrasound of James neck. he thought that would go down better than sticking James in a tube or in a chair like the one that had wiped him. "hmm...." Bruce gently wiped the gel off of James and then examined the images he had gotten, his head tilted. "yeah. the vocal cords are damaged." Bruce admitted. "looks like he was strangled pretty good." Steve went bright red. that had been his fault. strangling James on the ship as it was falling. "looks like it was done with a rope or a band of some kind." oh! not Steve's fault then! "looks like they tried to hang him..." Bruce admitted, looking pretty horrified. "they damn near succeeded. see here? these are healed fractures. they managed to snap his neck, but he managed to survive so he was starting to strangle, that's where the vocal cord damage comes from. nothing to do but wait for that to heal, he won't need surgery, though the lack of oxygen to the brain coupled with the damage could cause a speech impediment of some kind, a slur, a stutter or a lisp of some sort." he warned. "especially as it looks like he's bitten through his tongue a few times." Bruce admitted, letting James sit up again. "it doesn't look like his throat hurts at all. open please, James." Bruce ordered, James opened his mouth, he had gotten over his wariness of Bruce after Bruce had bandaged his hand when he'd accidentally cut himself while sharpening one of his many knives. "...i don't see any visible damage either." he admitted. "nothing to do but wait for the vocal cords to finish healing and see what's what."