Fallen

He was coming to consciousness in stages, a sea of darkness becoming more shallow as his mind surfaced from under waves of physical trauma. His head bobbed around as his eyes blinked open, the black creeping away as a garbled mass of different sounds started to separate into identifiable noises. Riley's head rolled and he felt like he was flying; he felt a breeze flooding around him while he lay flat. His arms wouldn't respond, nor his legs, but his head lulled about on some hard surface as silhouettes danced in the shadows above him, talking from the authority granted to them by anonymity. His eyes refused to adjust to the light, and their faces remained shrouded.

"...seventh one. The hell were they doing in that place?"

"Wha..." the word dripped out of his mouth like drool, lazy and slow. He started to make out that one of the things above him had cat ears. A slurry of words came out of his mouth, but they were silent and incomprehensible. 

"He's waking up," stated a male voice. 

"We're almost to C-Ward."

His thoughts were still a jumble, but something struck him. These lights... a ward? He may have been knocked unconscious, but he wasn't knocked stupid. If he could speak properly, the words would have came out as, "a hospital" followed shortly after by a gasp that would have sounded like, "The Morgue". He started to struggle as memories came back in bits and pieces. The information, while not complete, was enough of an alarming factor to send him into panic. There were documents, files, and plans relating to BtR. His fingerprints were all over half of that shit! His struggles intensified as they carted him into a room. 

"Sedative?"

The word struck him like a bullet, and he fought even harder. No, no no! His thoughts were screams that his mouth failed to translate, instead forcing out rasps at the pair. A needle was brandished, and then he felt a stick in his arm. A few moment later, he felt nothing. 

"That was a lively one," commented the boy with cat ears. His face was mostly concealed by a face-mask. The hair was hidden under a cap, though the ears poked out from underneath as he exited the room. "We got one more, Edna," he stated as the female nurse trailed behind him, nodding.

"I think that was the first earthquake we've had since arriving on Ion," she mused nervously.

"Yeah, you've said that."

Vladimir hated days like this...more than he hated other days that were almost as busy as this. 'Damn it all...an earthquake of all things?!' He muttered to himself in Russian, the sound of his footsteps resounding across the halls as he stepped into C-Ward, still putting on his doctor's coat, flashing a glare at a nurse walking by.

Turning around the corner, he was pleasantly surprised of the amount of animation in the hospital. It seemed that this earthquake actually mean't something...but that just mean't C-Ward was going to be full. He'd gotten there a little later than he wanted to be; but he actually had a quiet suspicion that it wasn't going to be any different.

As he was limping around, he didn't seem to notice the Nurse that was trailing him until she had called his name once more, this time loud enough for him to hear. he spun on the woman, irritated and feeling more than a little rushed. "What is it?!" he questioned in russian, and it almost seemed the woman decreased in size.

"U-uh...It's just that there is patient waiting for you in your room, Sir." she stuttered, and somewhere deep down, Vladimir scolded himself for being so loud, but it would have to wait until after work hours. Sighing, he waved her away. "Yes, Yes. I know." he told her, stepping away into the direction of hs office. As he was going, he happened to overhear something of the Seventh one.

Perhaps that patient was one of the survivor's from the earthquake? he decided to grab the cat-man's attention. "Hey!" he called in russian, limping towards them as he did so. "You said something about 'the seventh one'. Is that the patient in my office?" he asked the male along with the nurse walking with him.

The Neko's head perked up as none-other than the infamous Doctor Markov now approached the pair who had as a matter of fact just left his office. He nodded silently at the Doctor, before passing by the man. "Careful," he said playfully in a manner that seemed somewhat seductive. "He's a real handful." The Neko would walk away with some hurry after that. They had yet another patient to retrieve, and little time to do so. The female nurse simply followed the Neko silently, shrinking as she walked by Vladmir. The rumors surrounding the man were many, and his name was infamous. Even on the higher floors, the 'Devil of C-Ward"'s reputation was a terrifying one.

'That was no help.' Thought Vladimir with a frown as he watched the pair walk off. Shaking his head, he spun on his heel and continued towards his office. "Hah. Handful? Not unlike some of the more violent patients I get then." he spoke in his russian accent, grabbing a small item within his coat pocket.

"Surely enough this will come in handy, then; if he does cause a ruckus." he sighed; almost happily. somewhere deep down Vladimir actually liked to use that taser; although he kept it well hidden. He stepped into his office, where the patient was waiting and was suprised to notice that he was currently unconsious. "Sedative." he guessed, as he began to sit in a chair, beginning to work on some paperwork as he waited for the man to wake up.

Waking up yet again in a dizzy state, Riley groaned a few more times and rolled his head while his thoughts changed from so intangible, gaseous form into something drinkable, liquid, and digestible. He was still far from awake, but no longer did he dream. He lingered in this state for some time, mumbling about documents and slurring names that meant nothing to anybody other than him. As the last vestiges of his consciousness flooded back into him, Riley's eyes fell upon the doctor before him.

However, instead of asking what happened to him, he addressed the doctor immediately with, "Where the fuck is Ivan's hat?" He referred, of course, to the straw hat he always wore. It was brought in with him, but he didn't know that. As of now, the hat's whereabouts where beyond unknowable by Riley.

Vladimir spun around in his chair, out of shock, confusion, and a little bit of fury. Before he let loose on the soon to be victim on the wrong end of his taser; (Which was going to be inevitable, in Vlad's opinion.) he thought for a second about weither or not this man attempted to insult him.

Believing he did, Vladimir stuck his hand inside his coat pocket, grabbing his taser and flicking it to life. The rest was easy; flashing on his Implanted eyes, he gauged that many of this man's bones were broken, many with the force of something heavy being dropped on him.

His heartbeat was fine though, and that's all that Vladimir needed assurance of. pulling it out, he reached over to shock the man as he was laying there. "My name is Vladimir, Not Ivan." he said simply.

A surge of pain rushed through Riley's body as the man's taser gripped him. Every muscle in his body contracted around his broken bones, causing them to shift grotesquely where visible. Some other bones simple were fractured and wound up cracking from the tension of the muscle, and Riley could only release a violent, agonizing yell. He was once more pushed to the brink of unconsciousness, the blackness creeping around his head to act as a natural pain killer. The delicious warmth of darkness of consciousness frightened and reassured Riley at the same time.

If this were hell, god knows that it was only going to get worse. The young man screamed well after the taser fell silent, well after Vladmir had introduced himself. He hadn't heard a thing-- he was too distracted by the pain, while sobbing shrieks of agony escaped from his throat. His own yells and cries blotted out all other noise, while tears formed from his eyes and streaked down his face. Riley's broken body couldn't take the pain again. When the screaming stopped, his head rolled over to face opposite the doctor, his eyes shut while he whimpered.

In hindsight, Vladimir shouldn't have done that because of the man's broken bones. Vladimir himself was a good person, often stressed by life and his work in general, although both were to blame on himself; as he wanted to take over his father's work.
 
Making a noise somewhere between a snort and a sigh, he stepped out of the room as he was going to prepare the necessary materials needed to fix the man's bones. hoping the male was passed out about now, he began to warm up a pot of coffee as he rounded up the people and things he needed to work with; having a hard time getting either because of the place in general; not even worrying about the business of The Morgue.
 
One thing he was surprised about, was the lack of assistance. usually, his title mean't that he often got what he needed because they wanted him out of their hair, but this was different. they actually glared at him a few times, and even pushed him out of the way; leaving the russian doctor more confused than irritated.

Perhaps they are taking these things more seriously now. he thought to himself as he, for the first time, had to wait for the assistance. he blinked as he sat in the lounge for a bit. thinking it would be a good time to mend his accident, he walked over to the coffee maker and began to brew a cup of coffee, putting in extra sugar because he felt he was going to be there rather long.

As he was sitting there, he noticed a hat. it was a bland, old fishing hat that Vladimir felt was familiar, before it hit him like a steroided cyborg on a food rampage; The Patient wasn't offending Vladimir, merely asking for the hat that 'Ivan' wore.

As the brew began to start, one could hear the doctor curse under his breath.

It didn't take long for the pain to catch up to Riley again. Moments after Ivan would have seen the hat, a scream would resonate through the hallway. Muscles would contract, and bone would shift through the skin with gruesome pop on his legs, causing him to scream louder. Riley already battered body was now collapsing on itself, as blood poured from his new wounds the started to fade into blackness, the darkness of sleep threatening to consume him.

Vladimir rapped his fingers against the counter as he glared at the brewing coffee, as if his glare would suddenly speed up the process. of course, it wasn't the coffee's fault he was angry, rather he had heard his patient screaming (half of it was because of him, but that was a different thing entirely) and suddenly was brought back to his stressed state.
 
Although he couldn't do anything about it, it wasn't as if time was a friendly thing. it was often slow, or too fast, and always left people behind regardless. Life would run ragged trying to catch up, ending on it's final breath before waking up and repeating the process over again.
 
Vladimir squinted at his mode of thinking, and was rather surprised he was so bleak. of course, working at an old, small hospital where it was nicknamed the morgue because of the people who died there daily, indeed, the more accustomed to the place one got, the more it smelt like blood, death, and the overpowering scent of bleach.
 
Continuing to drum his fingers across the counter, he waited somewhat patiently for the coffee to brew.

Seconds passed into sleep, and Riley fell unconscious. The bone that punctured his leg let blood start to drip down from it, but nobody would see. They were all outside the room, in a world hidden from Riley. He was losing blood quickly, though. He did not have terribly longer left.
____________________________________________________________________________________
"We've got number eight," shouted Raphael. "OUT OF THE WAY!" As he rushed through the halls with Edna on the opposite side of the gurney, they either knocked over the people who ignored his constant warnings or cursed them for falling directly into the path. Still, they raced quickly through the hospital, racing by the coffee station and taking it into a room just behind it. Edna was just doing her job, but Raphael was doing something more. He had noticed the man's forearm before they'd brought him in. It was that tattoo-- Jehova's mark. 

Raphael wouldn't let a fellow BtT member go down like this, but then it occurred to him that the others could have been members as well. The more he thought about it, the more he panicked, and the faster he ran. Even Edna who was experienced with keeping up with the Neko's pace was being given a true workout in keeping up with him this time. It dawned on him, as he placed the man in the room and raced back towards the coffee station that he probably knew that boy they'd brought in. Riley, he'd thought. 

It had been a few years ago that Riley joined the BtT. Raphael was a lot more active back then, and he gave Riley training in using a staff. The earthquake must have put the nail in that old building's coffin, as Raphael told them all one day that place would collapse. It was hardly a time for 'told you so'. If they were in here, that means their operation was compromised. That means the police force would be coming eventually. Maybe hours from now, maybe minutes, maybe tomorrow. Buthe needed to get Riley and the others ready to move. Before he could get that ready, he had to know how they were. Especially Riley, since he seemed to have taken the worst of it. Damn it, the neko cursed, why didn't I recognize you without the hat?

He ran upon Vladimir who was waiting for his coffee to brew. "Doctor," the Neko called out. "Doctor Markov!" He approached the man carefully, with a serious look in his eyes. "That boy we brought to your office-- how is he doing? Have you had a chance to examine him?"

Vladimir heard a ruckus outside, of many people being bowled over, and he could of sworn that cat character came around again. Blinking, he realized he was here for far too long. Damn it all! he cursed in his head as he glared at the cat and the female nurse. 

The cat seemed interested in the patient he was bringing in, so he gave him a run-through. "He is under severe shock, a little from the many broken bones, but mostly from the electrical current passing through him. As for his status, i have been waiting for-" he was interrupted as a woman with a colder glare than he had walked in. 

"Markov! Your assistance is here!" she stated as she grabbed him by the arm, pulling him through the door as she guided him, and a gurney with tools and supplies on it, and pulled him into his office. Shutting the door on the way in, she grabbed him by the scruff of his coat, lifting him up in the air a bit. 

"how many times do i have to tell you about that taser?!" she seethed. "We already have problems right now, we don't need your shit!" the woman said under a low breath. This woman was none other than the Lead Doctor over C-Ward, Rebecca White. she was scarier than Vladimir was, but unlike him, always appeared calm and somewhat happy. 

They had been colleagues for years, and overtime, she could tell when something bad went wrong, especially when Vladimir was involved. it wasn't to say they didn't like each other, no, they respected another greatly. it was simply their different modes of doing things that caused problems between the two. 

"H-how did you?" Vladimir said to the british woman, who stood at least a head shorter than him. "How?! How could someone be around you and NOT know when you use that damnable machine." she shot back at him, and Vladimir had a slight, yet timid smile. of course, that smile turned into slight panic as he saw the blood dripping down off the bed the man was on, with a rather pronounced fracture on his leg.

"M-Miss Rebecca...The Patient!" He warned, and Dr. White looked behind her. "ah...geez Vladimir. Im docking your pay after we're done with this...or having you gather samples or working in another part of the hospital." she said under her breath, moving the gurney closer to the patient. 

Vladimir shook his head violently, moving the gurney away. "That, we are going to need for later, since it's cleaned and not bloodied." he threw a pair of gloves to his higher up as he put a pair on himself. "First, we are going to have to work on this fracture." Rebecca nodded, looking for a anesthetic, and, once finding it, applied it. "It's a Tibia Fracture, isn't it?" she questioned him and nodded. "Opened, as well." he said, but she already knew that, in the middle of this kind of event, paperwork was often dropped to fix these certain things. 

Locking the door, anyone who was listening near would hear. "Nobody is coming in, he will be moved to the operating room shortly."
-------

A good 30 minutes later, the door would be opened, and a man carted out; he should have still been out of it. A splint could be seen on his leg as he was carted into the operating room, whereas the sliding doors would burst open with available people; many of which could be seen as busy themselves, but with a glare from the lead doctor; carted him in. 

Before Vladimir could enter as well; he would be pushed out by Rebecca. "Look, we got it now. Im pretty sure i heard someone wanted a run-through of this patient." she said with a huff as she walked back through the doors, leaving Vladimir out there. 

Vladimir sighed. she knew well his abilities, and his...eccentric nature. still, it didn't stop her from threatening the man, and Vladmir knew from personal experience, it didn't matter if you were god-like in power; if she told you that you're fired; it was true. 

Running a bloodstained glove through his hair, he gave a long sigh. "A normal day, it seems." he whispered to himself.

Raphael placed his hands upon his head hard enough to make an audible thump, his fingers digging into his hair. His ears popped up through the cracks of his fingers, and his eyes were distressed. Shit, shit, shit. As the doctor was escorted away, Raphael decided that he needed to act fast. He was torn-- Riley needed medical attention, but he had no idea of his actual condition, or any of the others for that matter. His duty was clear to him: he had to get into contact with Jehova's proxies, find a way to get a recovery operation underway. As he bolted back down the hallway towards the employee locker-rooms, he just hoped he would have enough time.

He bolted straight passed Edna, who raised a hand to speak but was cut off by the frantic look in Raphael's eyes. She turned on her heel and looked about, clearly confused. "Raph," she called out, "Raph!" She glanced around her once more, uttered a syllable under her breath and nervously followed suit. Raphael was well ahead of her, though, and it would be a minute or two before she actually caught up with him-- if she could even find him, that is. Raphael peeled into the locker room which was mostly empty, barreling towards his locker and slamming a palm against it to assist in stopping himself. With his free hand he fumbled with the lock, pulling it free and tossing it aside a few seconds later. He threw open the locker without care, grabbing a small, wrist-watch sized radio and bolting from the locker room once more.

As he left the room, Edna could see him tear out of it. She passed by it, and peered within noting that his locker was haphazardly left open, and took her time to walk in and shut it. She didn't think to look for the lock, instead resuming her pursuit of Raphael. Raphael was even further ahead of her now, and with this extra time he headed deeper into an unused section of the hospital. G-ward wasn't technically abandoned, but no doctors or nurses used it now. Cameras were functional but not operational. No audio devices had been installed. G-ward was the plague wing, used for epidemics, quarantines, and studying. Thankfully, nothing had yet happened that constituted it's use. Even more thankfully, it was totally empty as a result. Even equipment was eventually stripped and taken to other areas of the hospital for use.

To be safe, Raphael headed into a large supply closet, locked the door from the inside, and huddled into the back of it. He placed the little device upon the floor, and poked it with his finger. It began to beep and lite up, and soon white nise came forth from it. In almost a whisper Raphael spoke. "This is North-Red-Central-Twenty-Three-Negative-Cell calling for a J-Proxy. We have an immediate situation in C-Ward in the Chess City Hospital. Eight agents have been compromised. They've been injured and need medical extraction as soon as feasibly possible." He laid back, and listened to the white noise for a few seconds, receiving only silence. A couple seconds more and he cursed into the microphone. "Damn it, I'm not fucking with you. Somebody fucking answer!"

Silence was broken as the white noise formed a mechanical female's voice. "Request approved." Edna passed by the door, and in the silence of the hospital was able to hear, "We'll break this tower soon sibling."

Vladimir walked back into the room; noticing the lack of the two people who were here earlier. raising an eyebrow; he huffed. "For someone who worried so much about that patient of mine; he seem's to have a lack of interest now." he told himself quietly, approaching the sink in the room as he began to clean off the blood off of his skin, whistling a tune as he did so. 

Meanwhile, the surgery room was in a controlled panic; doctors navigating out of each others way as if it was choreographed. Rebecca was in a irritable, yet slightly worried mood. she didn't expect Vladimir to do something as drastic as electrocuting a wounded patient; even if he did often go about violent means to keep his patients...suppressed. 

And not only that, Rebecca was infuriated that he instead let his patient bleed out to death while sitting there waiting for a damned coffee pot to boil. letting her mind wander a bit; {as the other doctors were handling most of the surgery, leaving her with the bare minimum of the work.} she began to doubt he had any interest in keeping someone alive; but with his infuriatingly confusing personality, she wondered if he was only a simple, yet extreme sadist. 

Sighing, she continued to help with the surgery, and in the back of her mind began plotting different punishments for her underling.

Edna panicked a what she had heard, backing away from the door in shock. Did that literally just happen? Was Raphael...? No. No, she had heard wrong. Clearly, something else had been said. The door muffled it, and her curious mind interpreted it differently. Right? She wouldn't have time to sort this all out. In front of her, the closet door's handle began to turn. Time slowed down for Edna. She looked left and there nothing. She looked right, and was greeted by the same. She staggered backwards, and turned on her heel. She bolted into the darkness as the door opened behind her. 

Raphael emerged from the closet, staring down the hallway that Edna's footsteps bounded down, his ears twitching and a scowl on his face. He briefly contemplated chasing the individual, unsure of who it was because of the shadows. He smelt a familiar perfume scent, and drew his conclusions accordingly. Edna, he thought with a tinge of regret. That's... unfortunate. He shook his head, heading away from the girl that ran towards the main part of the hospital. He wanted to catch up to her, to explain, to justify himself. None of that mattered right now, because he was headed deeper into G-ward, towards the back of the hospital and an emergency exit. He needed to be gone before they showed up.

To be honest, Raphael wasn't even sure who "they" were. He had heard whispers from others in Break the Tower. "They" were elite. They were fast. In and out, that's what they were described as most often. Being great at getting in and out. Raphael wasn't sure what he expected. Probably that whoever they were, they'd be somewhat subtle about it.

Oh boy, if he only knew.

Edna ran back towards the room she was headed towards, not sure exactly what she intended to do. Tell somebody? That seemed the best course, but wasn't Raphael her friend? Of course he was! But... he was also a terrorist? The thoughts spun in her head and she denied them all, pushing them to the back of her mind. That wasn't Raphael, she reasoned. I never saw who was in there. Just because they sounded like him... Yes, that was it. A stranger in the hospital, plotting something dastardly. A terrorist attack! With all the injured from the earth quake today, this place was ripe with targets-- most of whom would be too weak to survive the shock of an attack. 

As she burst into the room, she say Vladimir and came to a dead stop, swaying on her her feet as her body lurched forward from the sudden change of velocity. She stared at him, a deer in headlights and opened her mouth to speak. But then, fear gripped her. What if he asked questions? What if he blamed her? What if the Devil of C-ward busted out his taser...? She started to exhale heavily as panic consumed her, and in but a moment she had turned white as a ghost and fainted, headed face-first towards the tile.

As Vladimir made his cup of coffee; he heard a thump. slightly curious, he cocked his head behind him, noticing a familiar woman slumped on the ground. blinking a bit before registering who exactly she was; he remembered that the woman on the floor was accompanying the cat-person that had questioned him about his patient; or rather, rebecca's patient.

Sighing with a russian curse under his breath, he looked thorugh a nearby cabinet for an empty ice pack. finding one, he shuffled towards the fridge in the corner, opening the freezer and sticking it in. moving over to the woman, he pulled her towards the couch, before slumping the woman on it.

Giving another huff, he went back to the coffee station where he began to pour another cup. Must have been a busy day...


...for him too. Rebecca sighed in her mind as she finished up with the surgery; he was now stable; albet he might find himself unable to move, but she had drugged him a bit more than she should of, so hopefully he wouldn't wake up as she finished the last few things that she needed to do with him beofre sending him back to Vladimir.

Unfortunately, they didn't have a tendency to work they way they should; so she really didn't know what to expect.

They arrived like shadows, descending from the ceiling of Chess City like shadows upon the rooftops. Eighteen men, clad in black cloth and magneflux body armor. They slid down little ropes and landed onto the roof of "the morgue," well out of site of the people who were street level because of the building's height. Maybe one or two had seen them descend, but they were extremely quick about it. The operation wouldn't last long enough for them to convince anybody of what they saw.

Nobody could see their faces, or their bodies. They were covered from head to tow by their paramilitary garb, with black visors blocking their faces. They had small arms on their hips, and sub-machine guns strapped to their lower backs. Large silencers gleamed from the barrels, while black, ceramic blades sat in sheaths on their boots. There was a man who seemed to be in charge, indicated by a patch on his shoulder that resembled a dark-blue star. He didn't seem to give any orders, but from underneath the helmet the man's voice spoke into the radio.

Four individuals nodded and broke away from the group, moving a few yards towards the back of the building. They unrolled schematics of some kind, which read at the top "Chess City Main Hospital". A finger went down at a certain point, and one of the four who had remained standing raised a hand. The leader produced a black pack, and tossed it to towards the man who had motioned. He caught it, and threw it towards a spot on the the roof. Receiving from the leader yet another object, the man's finger fell atop a small, black bump and pressed it.

Boom. The roof erupted in an explosion, exploiting a weak spot in the structure and cracking the building open. Wide cracks traveled through it's interior, though only the hole in the roof was visible. The four men lept through it onto the floors below, heading towards C-Ward. The other fourteen joined them moments later, the leader entering the building last.

The icepack had just been frozen enough to use when a large explosion, a shaking feeling accompanying it, erupted; spilling both the Coffee he had already made, as well as the one he had made for the woman. Connecting a string of Russian and American curses, and even some of the language he’d heard the teenagers in the city speak; which was rather course as well. Grabbing his Taser, flicking it onto its highest setting, he stepped out of the room, where he would storm into the surgery room.

He was met by an equally confused, but far more pissed off, Rebecca White. “What the hell did you do now, Vladimir Markov?!” she shot a question at the doctor, who looked offended and taken aback. “Me?! I didn’t do anything, besides get a damned cup of coffee.” He retorted with a strong Russian accent. Vladimir looked over towards the patient, which now seemed completely stable and ready to move. Giving a small huff, he looked down at the woman in front of him. “Congratulations on getting the patient fixed.” He said, although the woman didn’t look amused.

By now, the hospital staff had all but cleared the building, and the security guards, (or at least, the ones not easily afraid of what was going on) had mounted up and began to move towards the source of the explosion, geared in nothing but simple ballistic vests and armed with simple handguns; these were the type that weren’t completely trained, only relying on instinct, and those little helpful tips they’d seen from games and movies.

They soon came out into where their armed foes where at. The guards couldn’t have been more than 5, a small group. They had their guns at the ready, the first pair out in the open; with the other three smart enough to take cover behind a nearby wall, where they would begin to start shooting once the sound of a body hitting the floor would be heard.

Vladimir and Rebecca however, began to cart the patient out of the surgery room, out the other side of the room away from the explosion. It was Vladimir pushing, Rebecca kept a good watch on the surroundings, where she would warn Vladimir if she deemed it too dangerous.

As the four armed silhouettes advanced, they came upon the five guards and scattered into different hospital rooms, kicking in doors and hiding within the frames for cover. There was a brief moment in time where all things froze into place, and a command came within their helmets. It was a silent whisper in their heads, and they brandished their handguns. The sounds of four safeties clicking off could be heard in the silence of the hallway. Then, from one of the soldier came a voice that was clearly being digitally altered.

"Stand down civilians," came the voice, "Or your safety cannot be guaranteed."

The guards stopped, the mechanical voice ordering to stand down. It wasn’t a forced, or an overtly hostile one, but a simple request. Things began to slow, and calm down; with some of the guards lowering their weapons slightly; if a questionable look on their faces. It only took one moment; but the resident rookie went to lower his weapon, and forgot to click his safety back on; and a single shot rang out.

-.-.-.-

Meanwhile, Vladimir and Rebecca both heard that shot ring out while carting their unconscious patient out of the hospital, now nearing the backdoor to the outside; where they would be brought to a back alley type area. With a noise between a sigh of relief and a huff, Vladimir limped out the door, Rebecca following suit, stopping for a second as she barred the door shut with a nearby dumpster.

As they were going along; Rebecca was beginning to formulate a plan. She lived up on the higher floors, and they could possibly hide up there while waiting for this to blow over…but the only bad thing in her plan was Vladimir. She didn’t really know what to do with him; but she doubted he’d want anything to do with someone on a higher floor…especially with parents as important as hers either.

It was lucky for the guards that these were trained men, with restrained trigger fingers guided by purpose. Armed to the teeth these four alone could have swept through them and left a trail of corpses behind them, but the men rested behind cover. One of them twitched at the sound of a bullet firing, and no audible noise to follow, or other shots. Not a warning. Not a threat. Just a bullet.

One of the men raised a gun and stepped from behind cover, confident that his armor would protect him from their bullets should they choose to fire. His weapon was trained on the rookie, his combative eyes hidden behind a black glass visor. "If we wanted you dead," came the digital voice once more, "we would be using our grenades. Step aside or you risk severe injury. This is a warning, not a request and your last one before we are forced to cripple you all."

Behind cover, three guns locked and this soldier locked his as well, the bullets now chambered and ready for firing. "Do not test us. There are more coming. Leave while you can."

All was quiet as the order was sent. The group of guards had calmed down now; all except for the rookie; who still hadn't realized he was holding his breath. Did they really want to let these people go? That was the thought that reverberating through their heads.

Regardless, each and every single one of them felt that this was their final chance. And, with that; they decided to let them pass; giving room for the soldiers to move; and keeping a hold on their guns; except for the rookie, how had his gun taken from him for safety; one of the older guards grabbing him lightly and moving him out of the way.

Meanwhile; They had ditched the cart now. both of them felt like they would get strange glances from the people of Chess City; although the site of a person being dragged, or rather carried; (since Vladimir had given the Woman his Taser and slung the patient over his back.) wasn't that much of a odd sight.

A creeping wonder began to flow through Vladimir; would it have been safer had they ditched the guy back there? Were the soldiers after them anyway? It all seemed rather fast; and Vladimir doubted anyone was thinking very clearly.

As for their location; they had decided avoiding the normal, open streets as Vladimir followed Rebecca to wherever she was going; as she seemed to move with a purpose; but also deep in thought.

And this was true...Rebecca White was running though option's through her head. There was bound to be soldiers crawling around Chess City by now; and she'd bet there'd be a bunch of them crawling around a possible exit of theirs, which was the Elevator to the floors above. Luckily; she had a contingency plan, A route through a different way, but would end up leading them to a more winding path; but eventually up a Maintenance Shaft; which was more of an emergency route that repairmen used when something went wrong with the Tower.

Luckily; nobody gave a damn about Chess City, and thus she doubted anyone would know of the Shaft. motioning for Vladimir to stop here.

He looked at her questioningly. "What is wrong, Rebecca?" he asked, and he looked around. it was a very dirty alleyway; with rats and who knew what else running around. she simply dug around for something out of view, and found it. it was a robe of sorts; dirty and old looking.

"Here, drape this over him." she ordered, moving to drape the cloak over the man. When she saw Vladimir look at her with a quizzical look, she waved him off. "Keep moving, Vladimir; we are almost there." she said as she hurried ahead of him.

After the guards stood down, the operation was able to continue without a hitch. The soldiers quickly spread out through the hospital, locating their lost members and rounding them up. Doctors were paid off, as were nurses, the guards, and even auxiliary personal to ensure silence. The hospital roof would be explained away as some fluke in the wiring and gas leak. Yes, this was a cover up. BtT's extraction team always went in prepared to fight. But that was more of precaution than anything else. If one wants peace, one should be ready to wage war.

Six members were recovered before the hospital had been scoured top to bottom. At their report, the soldiers had as much to say. Their leader furrowed his brow, and huffed heartily. "We're short one," came the information across all the helmets. A group of soldiers was selected to rush down to the security room and check the Cameras. It was easy to confirm then: some doctors had taken the other one, but to where? Only they knew. 

The radio went up, along with the update. "Two doctors have taken the seventh member somewhere into the city." 

It was a few moments more before the soldiers had stripped themselves of the armor. More money changed hands, and the men were wearing clothes of those who were currently laid up, and forbidden to carry anything but their sidearms. The security footage of the last hour was wiped, and the rest of the soldiers made base at the back of the hospital while another force went out into the city. All in all, there were seven disguised as civilians. But they were already far behind, and at best could only hope for clues.

It couldn't have been an hour later before Vladimir was stopped by Rebecca. He was stopped at an unassuming looking door; faded label on it reading MAINTENANCE. Slinging the limp patient (Vladimir supposed he should call him Mr. Oran, by now) into a better, more comfortable position; he began to ask the woman for information.

"Rebecca; what is it that we are doing here?" he asked, having to repeat her name a few times to get her attention away from...whatever she was doing to that door. it seemed like she was trying to pick the lock with no lock-pick. Without looking at him, she answered; "Running away from a few soldiers." she told him, and he made a face at her that she didn't seem to catch.

"Yes, but-" he was cut off by the door unlocking; and a horrible odor coming from it; the scent of stale air. Rebecca looked at him with a sly look on her face. "Come on." she chirped, slapping him on the back; making him wince in pain. "It's an adventure...and consider it some vacation time, if you're that worried about The Morgue...Devil Doctor." she teased, pushing him- and Mr. Oran; though the door and into the Maintenance Hall.

...Although Vladimir didn't see the bag she grabbed as she stood a nearby chair to bar the door, giving the door a good tug to make sure it stood, in which she gave a small smile when it didn't budge.

Riley's mind eased awake slowly, and he felt himself being jostled around. He wasn't walking, he was... swimming? No, no that wasn't it. The drugs hadn't worn off yet, though, and his mind wasn't in order. He felt comfortable though. He felt like he was relaxed and floating, and as his eyes opened gradually up he found himself staring into the ceiling, like he had been earlier that same day. The sky moved before him and he smiled heartily. "Again..." that was all the boy managed to say. At least he had managed to speak this time, even if the words were slurred.

He tried to grip at something, only to realize he hadn't staring at a ceiling at all. There was something over his body, covering his face. He grabbed at the surface lazily and with the same poor coordination one could have come to expect of him. Instead his fingers floundered and flopped about with great uncertainty, and he surrendered in seconds. He moved his head, staring from underneath the cloak at nothing. But then in the same slurred voice he called out, "Hey." Then for a moment longer, he was silent. "I have a blanket on my face."