Rising Worries 4

February 3, 2011 (4:35 PM) \ Cloudy

Brockton Bay, BB General Hospital

Emergency Department

Folinic stared at the lesion of Originium crystals embedded on Clements' arm. 'Newly formed,' her mind analyzed, ignoring the fact that a human now had what she suspected as Oripathy. 'That means she only got infected recently - a week ago? Will have to task someone to investigate Clements' history, pin down the exact-'

"Dr. Folinic, are you okay?" Dr. Audrey asked, snapping out of her thoughts. "You froze when you saw the wound. Is it something you recognize?"

Shaking her head, she looked for her fellow Terran. She spotted her discussing something with Dr. Alex, her back turned to her. "PTILOPSIS!" she shouted, surprising everyone. The Liberi swiveled her head towards her, scaring her conversation partner.

The Feline medic would have laughed if they didn't have a more pressing matter.

"Code Blue!" she shouted. Ptilopsis immediately rushed towards them, frowning. She lifted Clements' arm displaying the dark lesions for everyone to see. "We have a Code Blue, Ptilopsis!"

"Dragon assured there were none on Earth Bet." the Liberi stated, a hard tone present on her voice.

"Scan her now," Folinic ordered, bringing her phone out and contacting Closure. Panacea was about to speak but she motioned to keep quiet. "Damnit Closure, pick up."

After two more rings, the RI engineer finally picked up. "Hey Lou, how's-"

"Closure, we have a Code Blue in BBGH." she cut her off, not wasting time. "Give Dragon the chemical makeup of all known Originium derivatives. Make her search again - triple it if she has to."

In the background, she heard Clarie gasp. "I'll start the production of Infection Monitor immediately then." Closure added, her jolly tone replaced with a more serious one. "Anything else?"

"Have Dobermann prep a team for investigation. I'll send the info once we have leads to where the patient might have gotten it." Folinic added, seeing Ptilopsis finish her third scan. "Folinic out. Ptilopsis?"

"Confirmed," the Liberi medic announced, making her swear. "M. Clements is Patient Zero of an Oripathy Outbreak in Brockton Bay."

Almost everyone paled at her announcement, though Folinic could see that most of them were confused. The Clements were slowly freaking out, their imagination running wild. "Impossible!" Claire exclaimed, not liking the implications. "Dragon confirmed that there was no Originium on Earth Bet!"

"She either missed one or this is Earth Bet's counterpart." Yato interjected, appearing behind Glory Girl. The cape yelped, falling down only to be caught by Noir. Meanwhile, Dr. Glassman and Dr. Alex joined in, no doubt having heard Ptilopsis' announcement. "Orders, ma'am?"

Folinic turned to Mr. Clements, who looked like he was about to explode in anger. "I'll explain everything in a moment, sir. Time is critical." she pleaded. Gritting his teeth, Mr. Clements took a deep breath and slowly calmed down. Once it was safe, she turned to the hospital administrator. "Dr. Glassman, I apologize in advance, but we'd like to borrow your hospital's facilities."

Dr. Glassman nodded, looking serious. "I have no idea what's happening but if there's an outbreak, you have my full approval to use them."

Sighing in relief, Folinic straightened up. "Everyone listen carefully, we have no time to lose." she began, recalling the protocol of an Oripathy Outbreak. "Ptilopsis, get Patient Clements to a room and start doing the necessary medical tests. Yato, help her as well."

"Alex, help Dr. Ptilopsis and get what she needs." Dr. Glassman ordered. "If you have to use the isolation ward, do so - stat."

Dr. Alex and Ptilopsis nodded while Yato moved to the bed, already prepping it for transport. "Sir, ma'am," she then turned to Clements. "I need you to understand, Oripathy - while so far incurable - is not immediately fatal."

"So...so our daughter won't die immediately?" Mrs. Clements asked, sounding hopeful.

She nodded. "As long as your daughter keeps up a healthy lifestyle and keeps her Oripathy in check, she can live up to…" pausing, she turned to Dr. Glassman. "What's considered middle age in Earth Bet?"

The hospital administrator hummed. "More or less 50."

"50 or so before she succumbs to Oripathy." she continued. Though still worried, a huge weight seemed to have been lifted from their shoulders. "Also, you do not need to worry about getting infected. Oripathy is not contagious."

She chuckled at their confused looks. "If that we're the case, everyone in this room would have already been infected." Lifting her shirt up, she revealed a patch of Originium lesions on her stomach. "Noir, Yato, and Ptilopsis are also infected."

"Then how did…" Dr. Audrey looked at the patient's chart, flipping the papers. "Madison Clements get it?"

"Winslow Explosion?" the father suggested. Recognition dawned on everyone's faces, though Folinic noticed Claire wincing. "She was one of the wounded when it happened."

"Well then, that narrows down our pool of suspected patients then." Dr. Audrey turned towards the Nurse Station. "I'll pull up a list of patients we had on that day."

Dr. Glassman followed after her, no doubt to help her as well. "I'll contact the PRT as well," Clarie added, bringing her phone out. "They'll have to know about the situation we're in."

Folinic then turned to the healing cape. "Panacea, I'll be needing your help as well."

The young girl frowned. "But...but I couldn't do anything about it earlier!" she protested. "What help would I be?"

Folinic chuckled, offering her hand. "Normally, I would request an X-Ray to scan for abnormalities in our Code Blues, among other things. Since that's time consuming, I need your help to give me a picture of their bodies."

A flat look crossed her face. "You want me as a walking X-Ray machine?"

Glory Girl laughed, slapping Panacea on the back. "Come on Ames, it ain't that bad!"

Rolling her eyes, she grabbed her hand. "Oh wow, I can sense the...Oripathy, was it? It's similar to Clements but...calmer? But other than that, you seem pretty healthy!" she exclaimed, a surprised look on her face. "Healthier than all the people I've scanned before!"

Folinic chuckled, happy that her healthy lifestyle proved itself. "Once you get an idea what to look for, we can start looking up the list that Dr. Audrey managed to collate." she replied. "Right, this is what you need to look for…"

# # # | # # #

February 3, 2011 (5:00 PM) \ Cloudy

Brockton Bay, Winslow Crater

Entrance Gate

"Welcome to the Winslow Crater!" Sergeant Foley announced as they got out of the transport. "Home to PRT's greatest PR disaster and a giant ass crystal!"

"What happened?" Fang asked, looking around. Surrounded by a tall chain linked fence, the ruins of Winslow High School reminded her of a destroyed building in Chernobog. Though most of it was intact, the windows were blown, the front yard littered with glass shards and rubble, and looked like an abandoned building her team once took shelter in during the Chernobog Catastrophe.

Sergeant Foley sighed, while motioning them to follow. Reserve Team A1 (excluding the twins) walked behind him, with Private Ramirez and Corporal Dunnwalked ahead to sign them in. "One of the ENE Wards and her friends were behind a year-and-a-half long bullying campaign of a kid here."

The gate guards, a pair of PRT Troopers, allowed them entry. "The kid triggered, about six months ago with some kind of blaster powers," he continued. "One of the bullies grew a conscience after their vic saved her ass some time ago. From what Internals could piece together, the two patched up and we're about to go to the police when disaster struck."

Fang gave him a worried look. "The bullies decided to up their harassment?"

Foley gave a sad nod as they reached the school's entrance. "On the very day they were supposed to go to the police, the Ward and an accomplice decided to stick her in a locker full of waste products." All Operators gave a shocked gasp, horrified and disgusted. "Yeah, I had the same reaction too."

"We're the perpetrators punished?" Beagle asked, looking worried. "I mean, they were your Wards so there must have been some kind of…"

"Nah, it was too fast for PRT to try and cover it up anyway." Dunn replied, getting a sharp look from Foley. "What - a day after the whole thing, someone released a shit ton of evidence painting Shadow Stalker as a deranged psycho. At least Stalker's stuck in a Faraday Cage and the other was paralyzed from the neck down. Good riddance, I say."

"DUNN!"

As Foley reprimanded Dunn, Fang brought out her RI Tricorder. "Kroos, ears up." she ordered, bringing the scanner up to take a reading. "Place empty?"

Kroos hummed in response, ear secondary ears swiveling like a radar. "Pretty empty, excluding the rats in the ceiling, I suppose." she concluded.

Ramirez whistled. "You can hear that far?"

"Area's clear," Fang announced, relieved that the Tricorder wasn't picking up any traces of Originium Dust in the area. "Sarge, lead the way."

Foley tapped his helmet, a flashlight turning on. "Flashlights on, it's getting dark outside."

"So how did Shadow Stalker manage to get away that long?" Beagle asked as Foley led them deeper into the abandoned school. "Did she threaten anyone?"

"Bribed, more likely." Ramirez snorted, their footsteps echoing the hallway. "I read the transcript. The principal and her handler were pocketing money from the PRT Ward Funds Winslow got for hosting Stalker. Anything happens to Stalker, they lose the funding."

"I still says this is a Nazi plot." Dunn revealed as they made a left. In the distance, Fang could see a glowing object at the end of the hallway. "The E88 is the only one who reap the rewards out of this!"

"Stow your conspiracy theory Dunn, we're almost near the Crystal." Foley ordered, their group nearing the glowing source. "Captain Fang, is your Tricorder reporting anything?"

Fang pursed her lips. "It's reading some kind of strange energy but the air is still clear." she answered as they neared the edge of the crater. "No need to bring out the masks."

"We're here." Foley announced, gesturing to the giant, brownish-gold crystal embedded on the ground. The ceiling above it was long gone, Fang could even see that darkening sky above. "Recognize the thing?"

All three RI Operators stared at the crystal in shock. "...I think we know why Dragon didn't find any traces of Originium in the first place." Beagle stated, no doubt still trying to comprehend what they were seeing.

"So what is it?" Foley asked, looking worried.

The Reserve Captain brought her phone out, contacting Folinic. "Nothing dangerous, sarge!" Kroos replied a singsong tone, though Fang could tell she was still processing it. "Just...surprising."

"This is Folinic."

"Doc, we found the crystal," Fang replied, staring at the largest Originite Prime she had ever seen in her life. "And you're not gonna believe what caused the Code Yellow."

Awesome Notes and Notifications:

The R6 Gang came home! I still haven't upgraded Ash, Frost, and Tachanka to E1 since I ran out of chips though.

Oh Stalker, what did you do? So...thoughts?