"Andy! Help me!" Ryon called as he entered the infirmary, arms supporting a barely conscious Ryusei.
The porter had been severely beaten, his breathing wheezy as he stumbled beside the older man. One eye was swollen shut, blood trickled from his ear as well as his nose and mouth.
More blood was matted in his hair.
"What the hell?" Andy went and helped Ryusei into a bed, slowly working on cleaning him up before reciting healing spells.
"School bully didn't like him interfering. Got worse when he fought back." Ryon clenched his fists. "I wasn't even sure he was alive when I found him."
Andy sighed and continued to heal. When she was done, she looked at Ryon, "Would it be bad for me to threaten this bully?"
"I was just going to mash him into the pavement, honestly." Ryon ground out the words between gritted teeth.
Andy nodded, sitting down in a chair beside Ryusei.
Ryon gradually regained control, his eyes locked on the unconscious man. "It would be bad if I killed him though."
"Yeah, probably." Andy sighed.
" 'M fine.. No need to get expelled because of me.." Ryusei sat up, then slid off the bed to his feet. "I can deal with this by myself.."
"You don't have to deal with it yourself," Andy answered. "And I can't get expelled for beating the kid up.."
"No, you could get arrested. And god knows what else could happen." Ryusei shook his head emphatically. "Let me deal with this. Please."
Andy sighed, "Alright, but if I have to heal you again because of this guy, I will do something about it."
He nodded as he slowly left.
Three days later
Ryon held a bandanna to the cut on his head as he ported into the infirmary. "Andy.. I'm sorry.. That kid.. How could I be so stupid?"
"What happened?" Andy came out of the office and looked at him worriedly.
"His fucking father's Branch… Ryusei got called to the dean's office and never came back. Then the asshole started bragging about how his dad was so proud of him for bringing him an escaped prisoner." Ryon swayed, looking sick.
She got him into a bed before healing the wound, then sighed, "I'll find Ryusei, okay?" She focused on the porter before teleporting to his location.
A white room with padded walls. A slowly rocking figure in a straitjacket.
"Ryusei?" Andy approached.
Dull eyes met hers, the rocking pausing before resuming.
Andy sighed and removed the straitjacket before teleporting him to the infirmary. She looked at Akasa, "Keep an eye on him." She then disappeared again, heading back. Her eyes were blazing as she prepared to take out everyone in the building.
A tall professorial man scowled at her. "I would appreciate you returning my test subject. My data is incomplete for our new drug."
"I'd appreciate you going to hell," she answered before lunging at him, biting onto his arm.
He screamed, swatting at her ineffectually.
Soon, he collapsed to the floor and Andy continued on, looking for more Branch workers to snack on.
Aside from a few assistants, the place was empty.
Andy went and got the information on the drug they gave Ryusei before setting the place on fire. She soon returned to the infirmary and made a drug to counteract the one in his system. She injected it and waited.
Akasa was quiet. "He was acting like a film I saw of incomplete lobotomy patients."
Ryusei went still, his eyes closing as he passed out.
Andy sighed, sitting down next to him.
"You think he'll be alright?" Akasa frowned.
"I hope so.." she said quietly.
A few minutes later, Ryusei regained consciousness. His eyes showed more life, but no recognition.
"Ryusei?" Andy said softly.
His eyes moved to meet hers, a flicker of understanding in them.
Andy stared at him a minute before trying a few spells.
He kept staring, otherwise he was perfectly still.
Andy sighed and rubbed her temples, a headache forming. She looked over to Akasa, "Any ideas?"
The nurse grimaced, shaking his head. He began to lay Ryusei down for a scan.
That brought a rapid response from the man. He yelled and punched at Akasa before sinking his teeth into the nurse's hand.
Akasa jumped back with a growl.
Andy quickly said a sleeping spell to knock Ryusei out.
"Well, we know his flight or fight response is still active." Akasa shook his hand with a grimace.
"Get the scans," Andy ordered as she made another dose of the medicine, wondering if more would help.
The nurse quickly did as ordered, handing her the printouts.
"It looks normal." Andy assessed.
"Then why is he not reacting? Aside from violence, that is?"
Andy shook her head and injected Ryusei with more medicine. "We'll see how he does when he wakes again."
A few hours later, the porter blinked his eyes open.
"Ryusei?" Andy approached him slowly.
"An..dy?" He looked at her, his speech slow.
"Yeah," she gave him a small smile. "How do you feel?"
He frowned, one hand reaching to hold his head. "Hurts..to think."
"Okay, just relax. We're working on figuring out what exactly is wrong."
He gave her a slow nod, sitting up and drawing his knees up to his chest. He began to rock slowly, his eyes fixed on the wall.
Andy watched him sadly for a few minutes before going back to the office and resuming looking through the books. Elsa soon curled up in her lap and she slowly pet the kitten while reading.
Akasa entered the office. "You working or playing with the cat?"
"Mostly working.." Andy chuckled. She'd taken to playing with Elsa using a string.
"He more with it?" The nurse watched Ryusei from the doorway.
"Well, he knows who I am but he says it hurts to think."
"I researched more on what he was given. Looks like it's an experimental drug designed to wipe violent psychiatric patients. It's supposed to erase the personality so shrinks can alter behavior."
Andy sighed, "I hope we can figure a way to get him back.."
Akasa nodded quietly. "What I read says it only worked on about two percent of the population permanently. So, with luck and your drug, it will wear off soon."
"I hope so," she wrapped up the string she was playing with and put the kitten back in her lap. She reached over and opened a bottle of pain meds and took one before staring back at the book.
"Headache still? Maybe it's time for me to get Jun?"
"I'll be fine. I need to focus on taking care of Ryusei."
"He's not in danger of dying. You can take some time." Akasa frowned.
She sighed, "I might take a small break. Let me know if anything changes?" She stood and held Elsa close to her before walking out of the infirmary.
Ryon met her in the hall. "How is he?"
"He's in there somewhere.. We just haven't fully figured it out. The medicine they gave him might wear off on its own, though."
"You think I could sit with him?"
"He's just sitting there rocking again, but if you want to, it should be fine."
Ryon nodded, then headed for the infirmary.
Andy headed to her room to let Elsa run and play. She then decided to go start cooking, so she headed to the kitchen. Staring at the ingredients, her eyes kept blurring together. She growled, closing them for a moment before trying to look again. When she finally got everything together, she stood by the stove, starting to cook.
Kiba and Jun poked their heads in, nodding to each other. They quickly entered, Kiba grabbing her arms as Jun grabbed her head.
"What are you doing?" Andy tried to shake them off.
"Akasa told us you were resisting getting taken care of. So we are taking matters into our own hands." Jun's hands began to glow.
Andy growled, "Akasa needs to learn to keep his mouth shut."
"How are you supposed to take care of us if you're down?" Kiba's voice was barely controlled, anger clear.
"I'm working on figuring it out," Andy answered. "It's not like I'm completely ignoring the problem."
"Unh huh." Jun said dryly as he concentrated. The blue light encompassed her head and he went silent.
Andy felt her headache ease a bit as she felt the energy flow into her.
After a few minutes, Jun pulled away and sank into a chair. "I hope that helped."
"My headache is mostly gone, so thanks." She gave him a small smile before turning back to the stove in silence.
"So my first act of being in charge worked." Kiba grinned, kissing the back of her neck.
Andy rolled her eyes as she finished the food. She made herself a small plate and sat down to eat, trying to control her anger at Akasa.
Jun watched her, nudging Kiba. "How long till Akasa gets nuked?"
The wolf watched her, whispering "I give it five minutes max."
She finished her food quickly, heading out of the kitchen and going back to her room to check on Elsa. She nuzzled the kitten as she picked her up, then headed back to the infirmary, locking the door so Akasa couldn't get back in. She ran a scan of herself, looking at the results before ripping the printouts to shreds and heading back into the office to continue to look through the books.
Suddenly she heard gunshots in the hall.
She unlocked the door slowly and peered out to try to see where it was coming from.
A hooded figure armed with a machine gun stood above a face down Hitoshi. His eyes met hers and started toward her.
Andy started muttering a kill spell as she backed away from him.
He froze, his face going pale before he toppled to the ground.
Andy rushed to Hitoshi, checking him over quickly.
Several bullets to the back had killed him instantly.
She lifted him and took him into the infirmary before going back to find if there were more attackers.
She could hear raised voices coming from the kitchen, then several more gunshots.
Andy rushed in, ready to attack.
Six hooded men aimed guns at her as she entered.
"What do we have here?" One asked, eyes leering.
"She's our doctor. Don't hurt her." Kei said quietly.
"You won't be needing her. You're going to need an undertaker." He turned and fired, the bullet hitting Kei's chest.
The witch fell backwards into a sobbing Etsuko's arms.
"What do you guys want?" Andy growled.
"We're just making sure you can't stop our main force. Once they're done, you'll join them." He motioned to the far wall where Jun, Akasa and Kiba lay.
Andy focused on Tet, hoping he could hear her, "Base is under attack." She then started muttering a barrier spell to surround herself and the others.
"You too? What the fuck is going on?" Tet's voice was pained, sounds of gunfire echoing in her head.
"Not sure.." she finished the barrier spell before starting to mutter killing spells.
The leader aimed his weapon at her as his radio went off. "Found a retard in the infirmary. Took out his friend. Should I kill him?"
Andy finished the kill spell, praying it would take all the men out.
Several men did go down, the leader turning in alarm as they dropped. "What the fuck?"
Andy left the safety of the barrier, shifting quickly and biting into the man.
He screamed, firing wildly before going limp.
Andy ran to the infirmary, spotting the man on the radio. She moved toward him quickly.
He turned, firing at her as Ryusei suddenly jumped on his back. The porter wrapped an arm around the man's throat.
One bullet grazed her shoulder but she continued to approach, biting into him. When he was down, she reverted and looked at Ryusei, "You okay?"
He grimaced, holding his right side. "Good enough. He killed Ryon."
"I know.. we have a lot of casualties. I'll be back in soon to heal you up, okay?" She gave him a small smile before heading out. She sniffed the air, trying to see if she could smell any other intruders. After not finding anything, she started taking the dead to the infirmary. She then checked Ryusei over.
He was bleeding heavily from his side, and she noticed blood in his hair as well.
He pushed her away. "Focus on them."
She said a quick healing spell to start closing his wounds before working on healing everyone else up. It took her hours, but she finally finished. She then focused on reviving them. After they were all breathing once more, she healed Ryusei.
Pacing around the infirmary for a few moments, she tried to focus on her next plan. She soon focused on Tet and teleported to him to see how he was and check the situation at Headquarters.
Several black suited men were guarding the conference room while others were stacking bodies. Two caught her eye and she gasped.
She started muttering kill spells aimed at the men, slowly watching them drop.
Inside the room, Tsukasa grimaced as he held a bandage over Tet's chest. His hands were bloodstained as he tried to staunch the flow.
When all the men in sight were down, she moved to the pile of bodies, teleporting Daiki and Kenji back to the infirmary. She then went to the conference room and slowly opened the door.
Tsukasa caught her eye. He scanned the room, then gave her five eyeblinks. Suddenly, one of the men swung his gun into the dragon's jaw. He slumped unconscious to the floor.
Andy moved in, shifting into snake form and slithering around and biting into one of the men.
The man yelled out, trying to hit her unsuccessfully. His eyes rolled up and he collapsed.
Andy slithered forward, lunging at another man and sinking her fangs into him. She then moved under the table to analyze where the other men were.
They bunched together near Tsukasa, eyes warily watching the floor. One pointed his gun at the unconscious man, yelling "Show yourself or I'll kill him!"
Andy slowly moved out from under the table, still in snake form.
The man threatening Tsukasa smiled coldly. "You actually believed me?" He laughed, firing once into the dragon's chest. "So naive. Now revert."
Andy didn't move for a moment, then quickly pounced at him, shifting into panther form and ripping into him with her claws.
He screamed, dropping the gun as he tried to fight her off. Soon he was still on the floor.
Andy turned to look at the other couple men and let out a growl.
They ran for the door in terror.
Andy let them go, choosing to revert and check on Tsukasa and Tet. She teleported them back to base and started healing them.
"Is the base safe?" Tsukasa's voice was a pained whisper.
She nodded, "Don't worry, I took care of everything."
He nodded, his strength giving out. His eyes closed.
Andy finished healing Tsukasa and Tet before healing up Daiki and Kenji and reviving them. After all of that, she bandaged her shoulder up and sat down, watching the group of unconscious men.
Ryusei was sitting on one of the beds, head on his knees.
"You okay?" Andy asked softly.
"I didn't hurt anyone while I was messed up, did I?" He raised his head slowly. "Everything's kinda foggy."
"No. Well, you freaked out on Akasa, but nothing major. You mostly just sat there doing nothing but rocking," Andy admitted.
"That's a relief." He lay back and stared at the ceiling. "They said I was a trial. Said they had plans for all of us."
Andy sighed, "Well, at least that guy is gone and I burnt that building down.."
"Ever think we should find a deserted island somewhere and never come back?"
"Well, that's probably a better idea than the ones I've thought of," Andy gave a small smile.
"Too bad we can't teleport buildings. We could just take the whole base and disappear." Kei opened his eyes with a chuckle.
Andy laughed, "If only it were that easy."
The witch sat up and looked at her. "I take it our unwanted guests are toast? And everyone is still breathing?"
"Yep. I even rescued our friends from Headquarters."
"They were under attack too? What the hell?"
"Yeah, I'm still not sure what they were after exactly."
"Blueprints." Tsukasa's voice was stronger, though still tired. He pushed himself up on one elbow. "They were trying to get blueprints to the experimental weapons."
"Damn."
"They didn't get them though, thanks to you." He looked at Kei. "Your girlfriend is in the hall. You might want to make her stop crying."
The witch's eyes went wide, then he cursed and ran out.
Andy gave a small chuckle before checking everyone over again.
Kiba blinked his eyes open, then gave her a soft smile. "The circumstances suck, but I sure like waking up to you."
Andy blushed slightly and smiled, "How are you feeling?"
"Woozy, but okay. Is Jun alright? He tried to use Kei's vines and it backfired on him. They shot him while he was trying to recover."
"He should be alright," Andy glanced over at Jun for a moment.
Kiba pushed himself up. "I wish I'd taken them out first."
"It's alright, at least they're dead now." She sat in the chair next to him.
Over the next ten minutes, the others awoke. Last was Jun, who still looked pale.
"I'm starting to feel inadequate." He remarked as he sat up slowly.
"Why?" Andy asked.
"I haven't been able to heal you and I nearly killed myself trying to do a simple spell." He sighed dejectedly.
"You're still learning. You won't be great at everything right off the bat."
"I guess." He didn't look convinced.
"Plus, you're good at other things. Like helping me keep my shit together."
"Anyone can do that. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has lectured you."
"Other than when Kiba yells at me to get my shit together, you really are the only one. And another thing only you could do was help me save Yamae. He's alive because of you. And so am I."
"I just helped with Yamae. And you're still sick, so I don't consider it an accomplishment. Unless you're talking about the other thing. I was the cause of some of that."
"I meant the other thing. And you weren't the cause." She sighed, "How do you know it's not gone?"
"I don't know. You ever get the feeling that something's off but you can't put your finger on it? Kinda like that, only I know exactly what's wrong. But I can't seem to fix it.."
"It's alright, thank you for trying. Some things just might not be fixable with magic. I'm going to look into some medical options too." She sighed, "Did Akasa tell Kiba the whole thing? I'm going to kick his ass."
"He told me you were working too hard and getting migraines. I figured nobody's spells had worked, so I asked Jun." Kiba stared at them quizzically.
Andy nodded slowly, "Yeah, working on fixing Yamae and then Ryusei haven't really been helping my head." She then muttered, "Still wanting to kick his ass."
"He's trying to help. He's worried about you. And I think he can sense that. He made himself scarce when he woke up or didn't you notice?" Kiba sighed.
Andy sighed, "I know he's worried, but I just wish he'd trust me when I say I'm working on it and not just ignoring my problems."
"You have to admit that more often than not, you are the queen of ignoring your problems. You put everyone's well being and safety before your own, so it's kinda hard not to suspect you're doing it now too." Jun pointed out quietly.
Andy sighed and looked down in silence.
Jun cursed. "Sorry for the lecture."
She shook her head, "It's alright. I'm going to go talk to Akasa.." She stood and went to go find him.
Her search led to his room, his door locked.
She knocked, "Akasa? Can we talk?"
The lock turned and the door opened a bit.
"Come in. I'm just getting some things together." The nurse called from the bedroom. A zipped suitcase sat by the door, another open one on the couch.
Her heart sank, "Where are you going?"
"Put in my resignation with Boss before our guests showed up. I figure by tomorrow I'll be out of a job again, so I'm packing. I know you're angry and probably came here to fire me so I beat you to it."
Andy sighed, "Even though I was angry at you, I never would have fired you. I came to apologize for having gotten angry. I know you're just trying to help." She looked down with tears in her eyes. "I should know by now to take help when I get offered it, but I apparently just keep pushing people away. I even have been trying to let people in more, especially after I hit my low point and tried to kill myself. But apparently, I'm just blocking everyone out again. I'm sorry I'm a disaster who needs people to keep taking care of me. I understand if you don't want to work with me anymore, but you don't have to be jobless. Either I'll leave or get you a job at the clinic." She still hadn't looked up, tears starting to stream down her face.
"Who called you a disaster? I'll kick their ass." Akasa lifted her chin with a half smile. "You are not a disaster." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "You have every right to be mad. You specifically asked me not to say anything and I broke your trust. I'd be fired anywhere else for that, if not sued. And I haven't been totally honest with you either."
She raised an eyebrow as she wiped at her eyes. "Well, this isn't a normal work environment."
He chuckled softly. "No shit."
Andy sighed, "I'd like you to be honest with me, but if you want to have your own secrets I won't force them out of you."
"It's time you knew. I wasn't fired from my last job. I was let go for medical reasons. I have hepatitis c and a snake disease called inclusion body disease. I'm a rare case because it doesn't ever show up in cobras." He sat down after closing the open suitcase. "I'm sorry I lied to you."
Andy took a deep breath, "You should have known I wouldn't have cared and would have hired you anyway."
He gave a small smile. "I know. I was hoping I could find a cure for both diseases but so far nothing. And now they are starting to show up more."
Andy looked thoughtful, "We might be able to come up with a seal spell to stop the progression?"
He winced, rubbing his chest a minute before answering. "You really think that would work?" He began to stand. "I don't want to cause you more trouble. I-" He stiffened and fell to his knees, gasping for air.
Andy knelt beside him, saying a few spells to try to help. She then helped him onto the bed. "It won't cause me more trouble. Let me just figure out the spell, okay?"
He gave her a weak nod, his breathing labored as he fought to stay conscious.
Andy got some paper and started writing words down. After a few minutes, she put her hand on Akasa's chest and started reciting the spell. A seal appeared on him before fading away. She then focused her revival energy on him, silver light surrounding him as she tried to heal him.
He shone as the light encompassed him, his eyes closing as he was put to sleep. After a few minutes, the light faded away. His breathing was stable and she noticed his color had returned.
Had she been so wrapped up in other things that she had failed to notice him growing sicker right before her eyes?
She sighed and headed back to the infirmary to check on everyone in there.
Tsukasa looked up from a sheet of paper. "Should I be submitting this to the General?"
"Akasa's resignation? No."
"You sure? He was pretty insistent about it before I left. Said he had messed up and was taking responsibility."
"While he did mess up, I think we've come to an understanding."
"Alright, if you say so. Am I cleared for duty?"
"You can work in your office, but don't go getting into any fights for a while," Andy chuckled.
"Not planning on it, but we know how that goes." He gave her a grin before leaving.
Andy looked around to see who was still there. She sat down next to Jun and gave him a small smile.