"Doctors scare the shit outta me. It's not what you think though. I can stand the scalpels and the intrusive tests and the needles and all that, but what really scares me is if I have to be put under for surgery or something. I mean, there's something profoundly unnerving about having a bunch of guys you barely know have their way with your unconscious body for the next few hours. That's why I tried my hand at med school, because I didn't want to be put into a position like that."

-Kumi Leeds, during a mandatory psych-evaluation

Chapter 4: Just Open Wide and Say "Ah"

Gateway Hub

"So," Leo panted as he sprinted down the street down the underwater street. "what's the deal with the Medical Pavilion? Why's it off limits?"

"The Medical Pavilion was, and still is, run by a Dr. Steinman, a pretty creepy guy who's always been on the crazy end of the insanity meter. I don't know why Ryan invited him to Rapture, but I heard he was a very skilled doctor back in the day."

"Uh huh." The part where Atlas mentioned Steinman being crazy was not a comforting thought at all. "And what does he do now?"

"Oh, he's become even crazier than before. He's basically devolved to the point where he and his gang of doctors and nurses roam the city, kidnapping anybody they can find and… well… I'm not sure how to put this."

"Try me."

"Okay." Atlas took a deep breath. "I suspect Steinman used to be some big plastic or reconstructive surgeon or something like that, because he's almost always concerned with how his patient looks. I heard he had his license revoked when he made a few unauthorized modifications to several of his patients when he put them under and they sued the crap outta him. Unfortunately for us, Ryan had a tendency to value brilliance over insanity and recruited Steinman to be chief surgeon. Now he just spends his days finding 'patients', taking them to his operating room, and try to turn them into his own twisted vision of beauty."

"Something tells me I'm not going to like this." Leo said.

"Oh, you'll soon see for yourself once you get there." Atlas said forebodingly. "I recommend you don't eat much."

Medical Pavilion

It didn't take long for Sam to find a small collection of seemingly forgotten first aid kits lying on the floor. She casually picked it up and examined it, noticing that it was slightly different from the aid kits she was used to. Instead of the traditional bandages and disinfectant, the kit seemed to contain injectors and wipes coated with some kind of oily material. Reading the faded instructions on the kit, she took one of the wipes and rubbed it across her forehead. The wipes stung a little, but when she felt where the cut on head was supposed to be, all she felt was unbroken skin and she realized that the cut had completely disappeared. There weren't even any signs of scarring or scabs.

"Huh, pretty handy stuff." She said to herself.

However, as Sam continued on into the Medical Pavilion, the growing sense and unease that something was out of place began to grow. She noticed there were increasingly larger amounts of partially dried blood spattered all over the walls and floor, and the smears suggested that the bodies that supplied the blood had been dragged away at some point in time. It wasn't long before she came across a message scrabbled on the walls in blood.

STEINMAN KILLS

Again, Sam's uneasiness grew and hit a peak when she saw what looked like a woman sitting in a wheelchair.

"Excuse me?" Sam said softly, afraid of speaking too loud and attracting unwanted attention. "Miss?"

Pistol in hand, Sam cautiously inched forward toward the woman. She grabbed the back of the wheelchair and spun it around, its rusted wheels creaking and groaning in protest. Sam then got a good look at the woman and fell backward in surprise, fighting the urge to shriek. The woman, or what was left of her, had been slashed to ribbons, with incision marks all over her body and clothes, and she was pinned to the wheelchair by surgical scissors and other sharp implements. However, the sight that scared Sam the most was literally right in front of her eyes.

The woman had no face.

Somebody, or something, and cut the woman's face off with all of the grace and precision of a grunt on KP duty peeling a potato. All that was left of the woman's face were several torn tatters of flesh and skin, with the bone of her skull clearly visible. Sam suddenly felt dizzy, and felt the urge to vomit. Fortunately, she managed to keep her revulsion confined in her stomach and looked around in a panic and realized this was no special case. She was surrounded by dozens of occupied wheelchairs.

Afraid to inspect the rest of the wheelchair-ridden occupants, Sam tried not to look at them and continued on deeper into the pavilion. There was no doubt that whoever was in charge here, he had a serious grudge against the fairer sex. The front lobby of the pavilion was littered with more mutilated corpses, and now they were no longer confined to wheelchairs. Some of them were suspended from the ceiling, or nailed to the walls. The faded and sloppily written messages in blood suggested that these poor women were still alive when they were put here.

Sam then heard the small, faint pattering of bare feet on tile. Gulping in nervousness, Sam crept forward toward the source of the sound, which morphed into the humming of a little girl. This now made Sam more curious than scared as to how a little girl would end up in a hellhole like this. She then rounded the corner to see several dead bodies. Judging from the amount of decay, Sam deduced that they hadn't been dead for very long. It was then Sam heard the familiar pattering of feet and turned her head to see a tiny girl who couldn't have been older than nine years old. However, there were signs that told Sam that this wasn't any normal little girl. She was wearing a worn, dirty pink smock, had a pale, pallid complexion and ratty black hair. But the thing that unnerved Sam the most was that her eyes were glowing a dull orange.

"Hello?" Sam said as she inched toward the girl. "What are you doing in a place like this?"

But the girl started humming to herself and walked past Sam as if she weren't even there. The girl then absentmindedly took out a large extractor, waddled over to the nearest body, and stabbed it with the extractor.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?" Sam said in surprise and began to move toward the girl to stop her when she heard a dull but powerful thudding noise behind her. It felt like an earthquake, but Sam realized that it wasn't anything natural. Then, around the corner, a massive armored beast approached. At first, Sam mistook the thing for a Spartan, but realized that it was too massive and bulky for even a Spartan. No, it was something completely different. The thing gave an inhuman groan and waddled toward the girl. Sam raised her pistol, preparing to defend herself when the girl squealed.

"Mr. Bubbles!" She said happily, momentarily pausing her odd task.

The armored beast groaned, its visor glowing a soothing green color. He waddled forward and allowed the girl to hug it. It was so massive, that the little girl's arms couldn't even reach around its sides. While intrigued by the whole spectacle, Sam realized that she was wasting time and decided to move on. The girl and the beast were no immediate threat to her, so she could afford to ignore them for the time being. Keeping her distance from the odd couple, Sam continued deeper into the pavilion. Moving farther in, Sam realized she was in some sort of medical plaza. All around her, she could see various private medical offices ranging from all kinds of specialties from orthopedics to optometrists. The majority of the offices were boarded up and sealed, and the few that weren't had their windows and doors smashed in and were completely ransacked.

Suddenly, her foot caught on something. Sam's heart nearly stopped and realized that she had only tripped on a dead body. While it didn't do much to calm her nerves, at least she knew that the body wouldn't pose much of a threat to her. She noticed that the body was clutching a shotgun, with a box of shells lying nearby. While Sam wasn't a big fan of shotguns, she only had her pistol and sniper rifle, which meant that having any close range weapon was a welcoming prospect. She picked up the shotgun and inspected it. The weapon was still in good condition and was combat ready. She then bent down to pick up some of the dropped shotgun shells, making sure to load some into the shotgun.

Then, at that moment, the lights in the plaza flickered and died, leaving Sam in darkness. Reacting quickly, Sam pumped the shotgun and aimed at the blackness. All she could see was the faint lighting from the few neon signs that still worked, but other than that, she was trapped in complete darkness. It wouldn't have been so bad if she didn't hear all of the insane cackling and laughter in the background. It looked as if Sam was going have to use that old shotgun after all…

Fleet Hall

After what seemed like an eternity wandering through the dark maintenance tunnels, Karla was glad to finally see a change in scenery. McDonagh had led her to an inconspicuous door that led to the back of what looked like the remains of some ritzy nightclub. At the other end of the room, there was a massive window that presented an awe inspiring vista of both the ocean and the surrounding cityscape. However, it was marred by the general disrepair and neglect of the rest of the building. The abandoned tables and chairs held forgotten items, stale drinks, and spoiled food. The once magnificent wooden bar was waterlogged and near the point of rotting away, and leaking pipes had flooded the lower lying areas of the club.

"This is far as I can take you." McDonagh said. "From this point on, you're on your own."

"So, you're just going to go, just like that?"

"Well, not exactly. That would just be rude of me to abandon a nice lass like you." McDonah handed Karla a scrap of paper. "Here's my radio frequency. We can maintain contact and you can use your helmet camera to feed me visual data."

"Thanks." Karla accepted the scrap of paper and mentally memorized the note. "So where do you go from here?"

"I'm going to continue to find a way to a put a stop to Ryan." McDonah said resolutely. "There's got to be something in this city that can help me do it."

"Well, if you need help, you know who to call."

"Same to you, Major."

With those words, McDonagh retreated back through the maintenance door, letting the door shut behind him. Even though she could still contact McDonah via radio, Karla suddenly felt alone and isolated again. She was used to the feeling, but it wasn't one that she enjoyed very much, especially in a combat situation. Hefting her rifle, she moved to try and find the exit to the nightclub.

Saint Fontaine's Home for the Underprivileged

From his experiences in the field, as well as the accounts of veterans that served before him, Paccone could instantly tell what this room was used for. The fortified door and walls, the rows of radios and other communication gear, tables and walls covered in maps, and a large, well stocked armory of weapons all screamed "makeshift headquarters". Paccone had mostly seen these setups from resource-scarce Marine advance units, and even homebrewed civilian resistance groups fighting off Covenant invasions. There were also accounts of setups like these being used by insurgents and terrorist cells during the good old days when humans were the biggest threat the UNSC faced.

"Looks like somebody set up a base here." Paccone said.

"Yeah, but for what?" Kumi wondered, shuffling through some of the old maps.

"I'm more interested in why there's nobody here." Paccone pondered for a second, but got back to the issue at hand. "Anyways, this is perfect. We can use some of this equipment for our own purposes. We can turn this into our field HQ and base of operations. The weapons here should also beef up whatever we have left."

"I'll get right on it, Sarge." Kumi said.

"Actually, Maude can handle it. I have a different job for you." Paccone made his way to the stairs and motioned for her to follow him. "Come on, do I have to hold your hand?"

"Coming, Sarge!" Kumi followed the sergeant, wondering what in the world he needed her to do other than setting up the HQ. They descended two flights of stairs down to the third level, which was already confirmed cleared by the Marine fireteams sweeping the building. Because it was also the most intact and clean floor, it was being converted into a makeshift aid station. Already, wounded Marines were lounging about or lying in the old beds scattered around. Off in the corner, a small pile of about a dozen corpses of the unknown tangos was awaiting inspection and disposal.

"See those bodies?" Paccone pointed to the pile of dead hostiles.

"Uh, yeah…" Kumi had already suspected what was going to happen, and a sharp knot formed in her stomach.

"Good, because I want you to cut them open and see what makes them tick."

Kumi sighed, half surprised at the gruesome task Paccone was asking of her. "Why me? I'm a Marine, not a doctor!"

"Yeah, well you went to medical school, right?"

"I barely stayed there for a term before signing up with the Marines." Kumi responded defensively.

"Yeah, well, unfortunately, that means you're the most medically trained Marine here." Paccone motioned to the rest of the Marines milling about in the infirmary. He decided it wasn't time to press Kumi any more on the issue. "The extent of most of their medical knowledge is to find bullet holes, spray them with biofoam, apply a band-aid, and then kiss the boo boo if the wounded guy cries."

Kumi sighed, obviously knowing that she couldn't worm her way out of this duty. "Okay, I'll do it."

"Okay, just pick up whoever you need to help you. I'm going to go and see if I can get somebody on the goddamn radio."

Lambda Complex

"Oh, this is so exciting!" Dantalion squealed happily to himself as he had a robotic drone lead Tarin and Williams through the Lambda Complex. "What should I do first… hmmmmm… This might take a few tenths of a second…"

While following the drone, Tarin and Williams took a chance to look at the rooms on either side of the hallway. Through the open doors and dusty windows, all they could see were empty offices and conference rooms. There was the odd computer terminal and projector screen still on, their faint light and humming breaking up the dead silence, but that was about it. There was no other evidence of any life whatsoever in the complex.

"I don't like this." Tarin said as she glanced in yet another empty office. "Where did all the people go? From the state of the city outside, you'd think that at least some people would have taken shelter in here, but there's no evidence of that at all."

"It might have something to do with the AI." Williams whispered back. "You notice that there's no way to contact the outside from in here? All of the wireless signals are being blocked and it looks like the land lines are all cut."

"I've noticed." Tarin nodded, but before she could continue, Dantalion's piercing voice interrupted her.

"If you could, please don't lag behind the guide drone. As the regulations in the contract you signed state, Ryan Industries is not responsible for any injury or loss of life that you may incur in this facility. It would be a pity if our two newest employees were to be terminated on the first day."

The guide drone, waiting patiently for Tarin and Williams to catch up to it, suddenly shot forward again, leading both Marines through more halls before finally reaching a door with a large red cross painted on it.

"As employee regulations stipulate, you are required to undergo a mandatory and extremely uncomfortable medical examination. I would recommend that you follow all directions given to you by the trained medical staff, even if it conflicts with your existing opinions on medical treatment. Treatment varies from individual to individual, and we cannot guarantee that you will pass, but we can guarantee that the entire experience will be very, very unpleasant."

"Do we even want to go in?" Williams hesitated as the doors hissed open.

"Do we have a choice?" Tarin asked.

"Of course not!" Dantalion said cheerfully. "You signed away all of your rights and decision-making abilities when you signed the employee contract and entered this facility! It is a safeguard against those petty surface conceptions like ethics and morality." Those two words marked a change in his voice from cheerfulness to pure disdain, but then quickly reverted back his usual cheerful self. "In the Lambda Complex, the only thing we are concerned with is Science!"

Reluctantly, both Tarin and Williams stepped inside the infirmary. However, once they entered, all they saw was an empty doctor's office. Various medical tools and equipment were scattered around, as well has several syringes filled with strange, oddly glowing substances of various colors.

"Huh." Dantalion said, sounding genuinely surprised. "It appears that the medical staff have taken a day off without telling me! Well, it looks like you won't have to undergo the medical screening after all!"

"What a travesty." Tarin said sarcastically.

"Well then, that means we can get straight to the testing! I mean, work!" Dantalion said happily without missing a beat. "I need you to help retrieve an item of special importance to help me continue with some of my cataloguing duties."

"What kind of item?" Williams asked.

"Ryan Industries item C-239: the GeneScan Recording Device." The AI responded. "Primary function is to record the subject's DNA and plasmids and analyze the powers that they convey. It's small, compact, simple to use, and comes in five different colors."

"Well, I'm sold." Tarin said unenthusiastically. "Where do we get one?"

"Unfortunately, supply is rather short. The only one I know of that is still functional resides in the Rapture Police Department Headquarters. It's a very simple task, and shouldn't require much effort, though I do recommend you stop by the armory and equip yourselves with the heaviest armor and weaponry available. I would very much like for you to retrieve the item, because I need it to start cataloging the newest samples, and the ones I have in my possession are… outdated."

"Uh huh." Tarin narrowed her eyes.

"Um, what are those?" Williams asked, pointing at the syringes.

"Oh! I forgot! Those are part of your required injections, as per Article XI of your contract!" Dantalion continued. "If you would please just administer them yourselves."

"Uh, are you sure?" Williams asked, picking one of the three syringes up and examining it. It had an odd, aqua blue color to it.

"It's perfectly safe! I would use them myself, if I had any organic parts." Dantalion said happily. "Hmmm, that gives me another idea for an experiment…."

"You go first. That way, if it turns out to be lethal, at least one of us will survive."

"Jeez, thanks for the support, Tarin." Williams sighed and pressed the injector against his arm. "Well, here goes nothing."

Medical Pavilion

Sam panted as she reloaded her shotgun with fresh shells. She had no idea where these… things came from, but she was definitely sure that they weren't friendly. Already, the bodies of a pair of nurses lay at her feet, their blood pooling beneath her boots. The lights were out, so Sam had to be extra keen on additional attacks that she knew were coming. She could hear more of the deranged medical staff, dashing around, knocking over items and sometimes even taunting her.

"It won't hurt one bit!"

"You'd better come out, I just want to bind your wounds!"

"Don't worry, I'm a professional!"

"Are you there? The nurses don't like you… but I do!"

"I won't hurt you, I just want to see what's inside."

The strange, twisted way these seemingly innocent phrases were being said made Sam's stomach turn. She wished she could just slip on her nightvision goggles, but she was to afraid to even take one hand off of the shotgun. She heard more footsteps. Sam whipped around just in time to catch a crazed doctor charging her. His blood soaked coat and face didn't even make Sam's trigger finger hesitate. The shotgun shell struck the doctor full force, sending him toppling to the ground. Unfortunately, it seemed to just whip up the rest of the crazed medical staff into a blood frenzy, and they all began to pour in. Fortunately, Sam's vision was beginning to adjust to the darkness, and she wasn't one of the best goddamn snipers in the Marine Corps for nothing. She unloaded five more shells into the oncoming horde, sending a half dozen nurses and doctors tumbling to the round, howling in pain. She then realized her shotgun was dry, and quickly drew her standard issue combat knife, stabbing it straight into the throat of an oncoming nurse. She then quickly pulled it out, leaving the nurse gurgling and clutching her bleeding throat.

The next few seconds were a complete blur. During the brief lulls in combat, Sam would load as many fresh shells as she could into her shotgun, but she often hardly had any time to load more than one or two before she had to start firing again. By the time the screaming and shrieking finally began to die down, Sam was out of breath, out of shells, and almost out of fighting spirit. Dozens of dead or dying medical staff lay scattered on the ground around her, and the blood was beginning to pool into thick puddles of sludge that made the already filthy tiles even more disgusting. It seemed like she had finally gotten them all, and Sam began to relax one on final doctor she seemed to have missed burst out from a boarded up storefront.

"I swore an oath to do no harm... and I mostly meant it." The doctor giggled gleefully, brandishing a rusty scalpel and lunging at Sam.

Sam tried to move out of the way, but the adrenaline had already drained out of her system and the firefight had sapped too much of her strength. All Sam could do was raise her arms to protect her face as the doctor slammed into her. The force of the blow sent Sam falling on her back. The doctor then stabbed down with his scalpel. Fortunately for Sam, standard Marine body armor consisted of a thick, woven material imbedded with lightweight but tough ceramic plates. On a good day, a fresh vest could withstand several direct rifle bursts from a MA5B assault rifle, which meant that it was more than enough to handle a rusty scalpel. The small cutting instrument snapped in two, leaving the doctor quite speechless. Mustering up some hidden strength, Sam lashed out with her arm, smashing her elbow into the doctor's eye socket. The doctor clutched his face, screaming in agony, which gave Sam enough time to pull the scalpel blade out of her chestplate and shove it straight into the doctor's throat. The doctor spasmed, coughed, and then fell over to the side, dead.

Breathing with relief, Sam got up to her feet but was suddenly hit with a wave of nausea and dizziness. She then realized there was a sharp pain in her left thigh, and looked down to find out why she had felt so tired. She only had enough time to pull the empty injector out of her leg and examine it for a few seconds before hitting the blood soaked ground in a heap. She tried to stay conscious, but that was easier said than done. Whatever drug was in that syringe, it did a very good job of keeping her disabled. She seemed to dip in and out of consciousness when she heard more footsteps approach. Her heart raced when she realized that it was more of the crazed inhabitants. However, they weren't dressed in the blood soaked white coats of the doctors or nurses, but rather in frayed, torn civilian clothing with their faces covered by cheap Halloween masks.

"What do we have here?" One of the scavengers asked enthusiastically.

"Looks like she just had her cherry popped!" The second scavenger laughed. "Let's see if she's got any ADAM on her!"

"Shhh! You hear that?" The third one whispered.

The scavengers then became deadly quiet, straining their ears. In the distance, even Sam's distorted senses could detect a fait, melodious hum, growing louder as the source came closer.

"Shit! It's Him!" The first scavenger squealed and ran off in a panic.

"Hey! What are you doing? Come back here!" The second scavenger yelled.

"You can stay here if you want!" The third scavenger also ran. "But I don't want t be caught by Him!"

"Cowards! Every last one of you!" The second scavenger screamed angrily. He then bent down next to Sam and whispered to her in a carnivorous grin, "If you thought we were bad, little girl, wait until Steinman finds you and gives you his 'special treatment'."

Then, cackling madly, the scavenger disappeared into the darkness. Sam made another desperate effort to get to her feet, but was only met with unconsciousness again.

When Sam groggily opened her eyes again, she realized she was moving. She tried to move her arms and legs, but found she was still paralyzed by that mystery drug. She then looked down and saw that she was in a wheelchair, slowly being pushed along an empty, dilapidated hallway. She couldn't see the man pushing her, but she could definitely hear him.

"Yes, it was very fortunate we found her, Aphrodite." The man muttered to himself. "Years of work, years of fruitless mistakes, but I think we have found the one!"

The man finally stopped inside a darkened room, the only light being the one over a bloodstained operating table. Sam could see that there was already a woman strapped down on the table, vainly trying to struggle against her bonds and escape her inevitable fate.

"But what can I do with this one, Aphrodite? She won't...stay...still! I want to make them beautiful, but they always turn out wrong! That one, too fat! This one, too tall! This one, too symmetrical!" The doctor screamed in anguish as more lights turned on.

Sam could then see the true horror of the man's work. There, strung up on the ceiling like crucified saints, hung numerous women, all mutilated beyond recognition. Some were completely skinned, others with multiple incisions or amputations, and even some without faces. If Sam's motor skills weren't impaired, she would've thrown up. To ram home the point that this doctor was mad, he was repeatedly stabbing the woman on the table with various surgical implements in anger. He then glanced up at Sam.

"But this one… yes… she seems to be just right. Perfect. Well, not completely perfect, but we can fix the flaws…"

The doctor then shoved the woman, who was still alive, off the table and then, with superhuman strength, lifted Sam out of the wheelchair and laid her on the operating table, stripping off her helmet and body armor. At this point, the drugs were beginning to wear off and Sam could begin to move again.

"Nuh uh uh…" The doctor tutted disapprovingly as he then strapped Sam down to the table. "We can't have you moving around during the operation. You might get hurt…"

Sam wasn't in the mood to appreciate the irony of the statement. Like the woman in the table before her, Sam struggled in vain to break free from her bonds, but she was too weak and the bonds were too strong. The doctor then grabbed her face, stroking his bare, blood crusted hand across it as if to feel every detail.

"Yes… so beautiful… so perfect… she almost reminds me of you, Aphrodite. But this face, it's too symmetrical. We're going to have to do something about that…"

The doctor then lowered the scalpel he was holding closer and closer to Sam's face. Sam tried to scream, but the doctor clamped his other hand over her mouth, reducing her voice to a strangled squeal.

"Shhhh… shhhh…" The doctor said soothingly, like a mother trying to coax her child to sleep. All the while, the scalpel came closer. However, something apparently caught his attention and his head shot up and his face twisted in revulsion. "What is that?! It's… it's… HIDEOUS! He is ugly! Ugly ugly ugly ugly…!"

The doctor then tossed the scalpel aside, reached somewhere out of Sam's view, and whipped out an old MA4B assault rifle. Because she was strapped down to the table, Sam couldn't see what was happening around her. However, she could hear gunfire, screaming, and all sort sorts of mayhem. She had no idea how much time had passed, but it felt like an eternity. Finally, everything fell silent. She then heard footsteps off to her right, and she craned her head to see who it was. The sight made tears well up in her eyes, and for the first time ever since she found herself alone, she was relieved.

"Leo!" Sam cried happily. It wasn't even a question at all, just a statement, as if she knew he'd come.

"Honestly, I leave you alone for a few minutes, and you're making friends with the locals already." Leo said, exhausted. He then began to undo the straps holding Sam down.

Once the last strap was taken off, Leo was surprised when Sam quickly got up and wrapped her arms around him, sobbing in his shoulder. Leo couldn't imagine what his best friend had gone through, and all he could do was return the embrace.

"I'm so glad you're here." Sam sniffed. "Where were you all this time?"

"Funny story actually…"

"Tell me later." Sam said, still locked in the hug. After all the horrors she had just witnessed, this was the best feeling in the world, and she didn't want it to end. Not yet. Not ever.