(I really have one serious comment, then a bunch of nonsense...

Serious comment: SUPER VICTOR! Victor saves the day here because damnit, I've only included Victor in my stories for a grand total of one hundred words. THAT NEEDS TO BE REMEDIED. I like Victor.

Not nearly as much as I like Greg and Sidney, of course... heh heh...

Anyways... this chapter is just... odd all over. But it's a good chapter filled with drama, so damn it all, it's going up! As I said last chapter, this is about the traumatizing situation Sidney mentions in chapter two... yaaaaay!

Characters © Nintendo

GUILT(Gangliated Utrophin Immuno Latency Toxin)(I should have put this in a while ago) © Nintendo

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Hope Under Attack

Bonus Chapter- Race Against Time

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Sidney was filling out paperwork when the phone rang.

...he wasn't expecting a phone call... nevertheless, he picked up the receiver. If they had called his office directly, then it was either someone he knew or extremely important.

"Hello, this is Director Kasal."

"Sidney, this is Dr. Hoffman at Hope Hospital. We need you to take one of our new GUILT patients to Caduceus... we are unable to treat them here."

Sidney bit back a sigh as he rummaged around for an admission form.

"Our wards are nearly full, Dr. Hoffman... are you sure that you can't treat them at Hope Hospital?"

"Absolutely certain."

"Has my brother already tried operating on them, then?"

"...no... he hasn't."

"...why not?"

There was a pause.

"...because Greg is incapable of operating on himself."

Sidney froze.

"...no... no! Not... you can't be saying that Greg-- ...how?!"

"Sidney, calm down. I don't know how... what I do know is that we can't do anything for him here. He needs to be transferred... the sooner, the better."

"...understood. An ambulance will be there in thirty minutes."

Sidney hung up.

He wanted to scream. He wanted to cry, to scream, to break something- anything- just to express his worry... he wanted to wake up and realize this was a dream.

Instead, he picked up the phone and called the lobby.

"Yes, Chief?"

"Audrey, I need you to dispatch an ambulance to Hope Hospital." Sidney's voice was flat- detached.

"Thought we weren't taking in more patients till we had this outbreak under control... must be a bad case, huh? Alright. Who are we picking up?"

"A new GUILT victim... his name is Gregory Kasal."

There was a pause.

"...I'll get Micah to drive."

Micah could drive faster than Derek Stiles could operate.

"Thank you, Audrey."

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"Blood pressure is ninety over fifty, we need to get it back up! We need to dump some blood into him!"

"But he's not bleeding, what good would it do? It would just give him a transfusion reaction!"

They had gotten Greg to Caduceus... but almost as soon as he was brought in through the front doors, his already perilous situation took a sudden turn for the worse...

"Damnit... Victor, we still need blood work-"

"Well, I can't get the blood if you're in the goddamn way!"

Now they were in the emergency room, desperately trying to stabilize the elder Kasal brother, who was just lying on the table, his glassy eyes staring off into nothingness...

"Fine, here, here's his arm. Just hurry!"

Victor Niguel moved in, quickly sliding a needle into Greg's vein, attaching a vial to the end of the tubing.

Blood slowly filled the vial...

"Holy shit. I think I've found the problem."

"Already? What is it?"

Victor held up the vial of blood for everyone to see.

"Is... is that black?!"

"No, but it's really fucking dark purple. My advice? Bleed him out and transfuse him with clean blood. I'll be right back with results."

Victor hurried out of the ER, tightly clutching the vial of dark blood.

"Victor, what's happening in there?!"

Victor froze, then turned to face Sidney, who had been waiting outside. Even though there was an observation window, the room was soundproof. He had no idea what was going on...

"...I'll be honest, Chief; it doesn't look too good."

The dark-haired researcher held up the vial of blood; color drained from Sidney's face.

"You want my opinion? The GUILT he's got is poisoning him... and it's been poisoning him for a while. ...if you'll excuse me."

Victor left for the lab.

In the emergency room, things continued to spiral out of control...

"Blood pressure is now eighty over forty and he's beginning to hyperventilate!"

"Damnit, he's going into shock! Where's the blood?!"

"...it just came in!"

"Hook him up! I want someone draining blood, as well!"

Greg was getting clean blood in less than half a minute; at the same time, his venomous blood was being drained, collected in empty blood bags...

"...blood pressure is stable at eighty over forty, but it's not rising!"

"He's losing blood faster than we can give it back to him!"

"Then start another transfusion, damnit!"

Victor had walked back into the room.

"You're all surgeons, you're supposed to surge! If one thing doesn't work, try something else!"

A second transfusion was quickly set up.

"Well, what's the story, Victor?"

"It's a new GUILT... and it looks like it's insanely toxic. There's extremely high levels of paxilon hydrochlorate, iocane, and solanine in his blood."

"Well, why didn't you bring the antitoxins?!"

"Because when I tried to detoxify the sample, the blood's pH when from seven to three point six!" Victor snapped. "It's probably because of the unnatural chirality!"

"Damnit... let's keep transfusing him, then--"

"V-Vitals are dropping!"

"Inject him with the stabilizer--"

"He's stopped breathing!!"

The heart monitor went haywire...

"Get him breathing!"

"We're losing him--!"

The green line went flat...

"Get the defibrillator!"

Sidney watched in horror... no no, no, this couldn't be happening--!

"Clear!"

A single jump in the line...

"Clear!"

Victor suddenly noticed that the blood bags were empty...

"Hey, somebody help me change the blood bags!"

"Clear!"

One long, never-ending beep...

"That's not the main concern, Victor, we have to restore his heartbeat--"

"It's the toxins, the toxins are stopping the heart! If we can clean up the blood, then the heart should start again!"

"Clear!"

"...damnit, if none of you will help me, I'll do it myself!"

He began changing the blood bags...

"Clear!!"

"Victor, it's not going to--"

He snapped.

"Either shut the fuck up or help me!!"

The assistants immediately rose to Victor's aide, inspired by fear...

"Goddamnit! Clear!"

Nothing but the flat tone of the monitor...

"Vitals at seven!"

"We have to keep trying! Clear!"

"This is bad...!"

"...six...!"

"Come on, Dr. Kasal! Clear!!"

"Greg!"

Sidney ran into the room. Victor abandoned the blood to restrain the frantic younger twin...

"Let me go, Victor! Let me go, he's my brother, he's dying--!"

"Chief, calm down, we're trying to--"

"Clear!"

"Vitals at five...!"

" You need to save him, you have to save him--!"

"DAMNIT, CHIEF, WE'RE TRYING!"

"Clear!"

"Chief, you need to wait outside- we can't have you in here--"

"But--"

"Chief, OUT!"

Victor forcefully threw Sidney out of the emergency room...

"Clear...!"

The green line stayed flat...

"...it's... it's not working..."

Victor turned to face the EMT.

"Don't give up, damnit, we can save him!"

"Vitals at three..."

"Victor, it's been five minutes, he's too far gone... we can't--"

"Don't give me that shit, yes we can save him!"

When nobody spoke up...

"Fine, I'll do it myself!"

Victor pulled the defibrillator pads out of the EMT's hands, placing them on Greg's chest.

"Clear!"

"Victor, stop!"

"No!"

The monitor droned on...

"Damnit! Clear!"

"Victor, that's enough!"

The staff pulled Victor away from Greg...

"NO! Damnit, let me GO!"

"Victor, you can't save him!"

"But the Chief is counting on me to at least try!"

He ripped himself free of their grasp, rushing back and placing the defibrillator pads on Greg's chest once again...

"Victor--"

"Clear!!"

One spike, then--

...silence...

...a beep.

All eyes turned to the heart monitor...

...and watched in disbelief as the green line showed signs of life once again.

"V...vitals at thirty... blood pressure is one hundred over sixty and rising... and breathing has returned...!"

"...we did it-"

"Oh, don't you even fucking say that. You gave up. I did it."

Even though he was exhausted- having never assisted in any form of surgery before, he wasn't used to the frantic pace- Victor couldn't help but reveal one of his typical smirks.

"And now, I'm out of here... hopefully, you cowards can all keep him alive, now that I've done the hard work for you?"

He left the room.

"Victor, what- what happened...?!"

Sidney was on the verge of tears; he had assumed only the worst after he was thrown out.

Victor sighed, leaning against the tiled wall.

"I'll tell you right now, Chief... fuck being a surgeon. At least one of them. They give up too easily. ...but even despite that... he's a tough one. ...you've still got an older brother, Chief."

Sidney sighed deeply.

"Thank God..."

He then stood straight up, fixing his glasses.

"Thank you, Victor. I need you to take care of a few things for me, and then you can leave for the day... make sure that they put Dr. Kasal under Leslie Sears' care, and make sure she knows that I am to be notified of any changes in his condition. ...that's all. ...thank you, Victor."

"Yeah, no problem, Chief."

Victor walked off, leaving Sidney standing in front of the closed ER doors.

Greg... thank you... for living. ...please... keep holding on.

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(End bonus chapter.

I have never before written an eight page chapter that was less than sixteen hundred words. This just goes to show that enter buttons are really good for taking up space.

Before somebody asks or says, "Why is Victor so stubborn and caring about other people?! He's antisocial!" Well, yeah, he's antisocial, but Sidney's done a lot for him- for example, putting up with his sarcasm, supporting research funding so that he would still have a job... and Victor isn't completely narcissistic. So, in this perilous time, Victor volunteered to help out and try to stabilize Greg.

And it's a damn good thing he did too! The EMTs were going to black-tag Greg; can you imagine how Sidney would have felt?!

Well, anyways, mindless rambling aside... I'm probably going to start my Final Fantasy story(aka: the story that ends, but never ends). First chapter will, of course, be about Greg and Sidney... but chapter two won't be! Shock!

Okay, these notes are really long. Please review!)