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Alpha Base Hospital
0600
A small room decked in full hospital white. A lone bed sits in the middle of the room with a chair adjacent to it. The bed is surrounded by curtains obscuring the occupant. A small table lies to the edge of the room. On it are many personal items such as a walk-man, c-rations, and ammo cases for a shotgun. A single window lies on the eastern wall of the room and a small sliver of light peers through it. The only sound that can be heard is the patient monitor that beeps at a consistent pace.
A few minutes pass and the door to the hospital is gently opened. Two figures enter the room one dressed in formal military attire and the other dressed in casual wear. The casually dressed figure holds an IDW in its hands.
"This is the one, I'm guessing." The formally dressed figure asks.
"Yes, Commeownder. I found him on the battlefield, nya." The IDW figure responds.
"I see." The commander says walking forwards pushing away the curtains.
On the bed lies a soldier. He wears dirty military fatigues with the logo reading MSF written on the shoulder. His shoulder has been bandaged, but a bloodstain remains where a bullet passed through. He wears a black two-eyed balaclava which covers most of his face and mouth, but his black hair sticks from underneath.
The commander inspects the unconscious soldier. He notices something shiny wrapped around the soldier's neck and gently lifts it from under the fatigues.
"Hyena." The commander reads off the dog tag. The commander sits in the chair. "IDW, tell me more about this soldier."
"Well, Commeownder I can't say much. He suddenly appeared out of nowhere along with another guy who was dressed just like him." IDW explains
"There was another?"
"Yes, Commeownder. The other one was taken back to HQ for questioning since he was still conscious."
The commander sucks his teeth and stands up. "Why wasn't I told." He angrily whispers to himself. He looks to IDW. "I'm going to take a trip to HQ. You stay here and watch this one." He points to the unconscious Hyena.
"But Commeownder wouldn't it is easier to just call them?" IDW asks
"No, this time I have to physically go there. They've been screwing me a lot recently and I want to know why." The commander says storming out of the room. "Watch the patient. That's an order." He yells from down the hall. The door closes.
"Understood Commeownder." She responds saluting the now closed door. She remains in the saluting position for a few more seconds before collapsing onto the chair.
"Why do I have to be on guard duty, nya." She says sadly.
She stretches, letting out another nya in the process, and rises from the chair and heads toward the small table.
"Ooo. What's this?" She asks herself loudly.
She picks up the walk-man and brings it back over to the chair. She sits down and opens the walk-man and sees a cassette. She lifts it towards the only light in the room. The words on the cassette brighten up.
"Love Deterrence, nya?" She questions. She shrugs her shoulders and puts it back into the walkman and presses the play button.
The song starts to play out of the walk-man. The acoustic guitar that plays makes IDW sway with every string played. She starts to hum to the beautiful song coming out of the archaic box.
"Mmmmm" A pained sound comes from the soldier. IDW jumps out of her chair. She points her IDW at the soldier.
The soldier opens his eyes. The light above him is too bright so he uses his healthy arm to block it out. He looks toward where the music is playing and can only see a dark figure. "Boss?" He says with an innocent tone of a child.
IDW lowers her gun and puts on a confused face. "Boss, nya?"
At this point, Hyena's eyes have adjusted to the room and now the figure is completely illuminated. "You're the cat girl." He says slightly out of it, his mind foggy.
"The names IDW, nya!" She says in a defensive tone. "And you can stay right there for scaring me."
"A cat doesn't tell a Hyena what to do," Hyena says, his mind now straight. He tries to raise himself out of the bed but finds that his damaged arm is handcuffed to the railing of the bed. He tries the handcuffs, but they are sturdy and do not budge even when he uses his full force. He lies back into bed defeated.
He looks at IDW. "Where am I, cat?" He asks slightly more polite than usual.
"I can't tell you this base is secret," IDW says as she points his gun at him again. "For all, we know you could be an SF spy."
"SF? Secret bases? Make some sense cat." Hyena spits back.
"Sangvis Ferri, you know the people you work for," IDW says.
"Never heard of them," Hyena responds.
"Then why do you have part of their designation on your shoulder, nya? What's MSF? Some type of secret branch of SF, nya!" She angrily yells.
Hyena puts his hand over his ear. He sits up in the bed and shows her his shoulder. He points to the badge. "MSF stands for Militaires Sans Frontières. We're a PMC that works under big boss to create a heaven for soldiers." He yells back "Or something like that I was just in it cause he captured me." He whispers to himself.
"Never heard of it, nya."
Hyena lays back down in the bed. "Well, you never will." He laments
IDW lowers her gun. Her ears perk up "Why's that, nya?"
Hyena lies back in the bed. "We were defeated and our home destroyed. I don't even know what happened to my squad. All my friends are probably dead beneath the waves by now."
Both go quiet with that last sentence. IDW approaches Hyena's bed her gun lowered to her side. She sits back in the chair.
"Sorry, nya."
"It's fine you probably had nothing to do with it. You don't look the type."
"If it makes you feel better we captured someone wearing your gear, nya."
Hyena looks at her with eyes full of hope. "Really? Where are they? Can I meet them?"
"He was taken to HQ which is far from here, nya. After they are done interrogating him than probably, nya."
Hyena looks to his lap. "That's reassuring at least. When will I be released?"
"I don't know, nya. That's for the Commeownder to decide."
"I see. Can I at least get my walk-man back."
"No, nya," IDW responds sticking out her tongue at Hyena.
Hyena sighs as he lacks the strength or the ability to fight her for it. "If you're going to be like that at least play something out of it."
She looks at him cautiously then nods. She opens the walkman and takes out the cassette and hands it to Hyena. He takes it from her weakly and raises it so he can see the words.
"Love deterrence," Hyena says ecstatically. "Great choice, but not very good for this situation, huh." He pulls a cassette from his fatigues' front pouch. "Calling to the night. A bit recent but, try that." He hands her the cassette.
"Recent, nya? More like ancient that song came out in the 1900s, nya!" She giggles to herself. She places the cassette in the walkman and plays it.
"Don't say the 1900s like it isn't 1975." He says slightly unsure. "It is still 1975 right?"
IDW looks up from the walkman. "Nope, nya. Today's date is October 23, 2062, nya."
Hyena looks at IDW with a mixture of sadness and anger in his eyes. He takes off his balaclava and pushes himself as deep as he can into the hospital bed. The patient monitor beeps louder and louder as his heart rate starts to race. He starts to struggle against the handcuffs.
IDW rushes to the door. "HELP HELP." She yells down the hall.
Hyena can hear shoes rush towards the room from outside and before he knows it a doctor and nurse are upon him. The nurse injects something into him and his vision goes blurry. Everything fades to black.
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Alpha Base Hospital
2216
Hyena wakes up his head groggy and his vision blurry. He sits up in bed and looks to his surroundings. The sliver of sunlight that once stole into the room is now gone replaced by artificial light. The light source above him has been turned off and the room is almost completely pitch black except for the light from the window. Hyena stretches his non-arrested arm and tries the cuffs again. Unfortunately, they do not budge. He looks for IDW but does not sense her in the room with him. A slight tinge hits his heart, but he quickly forgets it.
As he lays back he notices his walkman has been placed on the chair next to him and is within arms reach. He stretches his arm until he can grab the walkman and places it on his lap. He opens the walkman and feels for the cassette, which lays neatly in its port. He pulls it out, but can't read what the cassette says. He puts the cassette back in and plays it.
Love Deterrence starts to play. He lays his head back into the pillow and looks to the ceiling unblinking. His eyes start to well up. He tries to fight back the tears, but it is a losing battle. The tears finally come out full force and he sobs aloud.