Chapter 2
The four Legionnaires waited anxiously outside Imra's room, pacing and trying to keep calm. Garth tried not to think about Brainiac 5's report after he'd assessed Imra's condition.
"I'm afraid I can't tell what caused the heart attack. Her lung was patched up well – it had nothing to do with the lack of oxygen. It could possibly have been a reaction to the laser, but without knowing what they used to hit her, it's impossible to determine if that is the case. I am inclined to think, however, that her condition is a medical one. I've researched several medical programs, but none in this time could come close to a certain Dr. Gregory House from the 21st century. He was the best; unethical, but brilliant, and the only reason his patients died was because they had a terminal illness or they were diagnosed too late. I believe he is Imra's best chance."
After a quick confab with the rest of the Legion, it was agreed that Garth, Tinya, Chuck, and Luornu would accompany Imra to 21st century Princeton-Plainsboro, under the guise of orphans, which would provide an excuse for their 'little knowledge' about their parents. And so here they were, undercover, in the hope of curing Imra of her mysterious condition. But how were they to provide enough facts for Dr. House to diagnose her if they could not reveal their very nature?
"Excuse me", said Thirteen, pulling Garth out of his reverie.
"How is she, doctor?" Chuck inquired in concern.
"She's stable, for now, but I'm afraid this rules out some of our theories."
"That's good, right?" asked Luornu. "The more you rule out, the less things it could possibly be."
"It's not that simple. We're still testing some of our theories, but if those don't fit either then we might not know what's wrong." Thirteen noted how strained and anxious they all looked, and she tried to alleviate that. "If you could give us any more information, it could help us diagnose Imra. Maybe she has an underlying medical condition or a specific genetic code that could alter the way some diseases affect her?"
"Uhm…" Garth rubbed his neck. He caught his teammates' eyes and jerked his head to one side. "Excuse us a moment, please."
Puzzled, Thirteen stepped away as the Legionnaires retreated to one side and began arguing in hushed voices.
"What are we supposed to say?" demanded Chuck. "That she's a telepath from Titan? We'd get thrown into the loony bin."
"Maybe that laser had something to do with it", said Tinya. "Remember what Brainy said?"
"But we can't tell them that", argued Garth. "Number one, Imra's file says she was stabbed with a knife; number two, we don't know what laser it was; and number three, lasers aren't supposed to be common enough for a simple mugger to get hold of!"
"We have to tell them something", Luornu said reasonably. "The doctors are already getting suspicious."
"What about the fact that she's been exposed to some 'unfriendly' environments?" asked Tinya. "That fight we had with the Dark Circle in that dusty old warehouse last week…"
"Maybe", said Chuck. "But we have no idea what sort of environment would do for a substitute. Knowing them, they'd want to go test for bacteria and germs in the area, and they won't find it."
"Well, what sort of areas around here would do for a stand-in?" asked Luornu. "It might not work, but it's worth a shot, and we haven't got anything better."
"I'll ask Brainy", Garth volunteered. "You guys go stall the doctor and tell her I went to talk to Imra about where she's been."
"Aren't Dr. Foreman and the nurses still in there?" inquired Tinya.
"Nope. Look, they're coming out."
They were indeed. Dr. Foreman and the two nurses who had helped with Imra's seizure had already exited the room and Foreman was now talking to Thirteen.
"Okay", agreed Luornu. "I can guarantee you about five minutes. Go."
Garth nodded and slipped into Imra's room.
Luornu hid behind Chuck and Tinya and, making sure no one was looking, split into three.
"Are you sure about this, Lu?" asked Chuck in a low voice. "They're going to notice your hair for sure."
"That's why I had Brainy program two holo-rings for me", said Luornu's Purple Body, holding up one. She slipped it on and immediately appeared as herself combined. Orange Body did the same. They were now three identical girls, all in the same dress, and no one would be able to tell them apart unless they noticed the absence of purple and orange stripes in White Body's hair.
Tinya stepped aside carefully, so as to allow Foreman and Thirteen to see only one Luornu. "Okay, g–wait a minute, is that Dr. House?" she asked, stepping back to hide Luornu again.
Chuck risked a peek. A rumpled-looking man with a cane was now standing with Foreman and Thirteen, talking to them. "Yes, it is. You'd better wait a while, Lu; Brainy said something about Dr. House being extremely observant."
"He's going into Imra's room", said Tinya. "Why's he going into Imra's room?"
"I don't know, but we don't want the other two doctors to go in too", declared Orange Luornu. She separated from the group and set off in the direction of the doctors. Then Tinya sidled back into place and Chuck moved aside to let Purple Luornu pass. This Luornu moved quickly to the left, while Orange Luornu distracted Foreman and Thirteen. Then White Luornu dashed down the corridor on the right and disappeared.
"Operation Triplicate in motion", announced Chuck with a grin.
Garth pushed open the sliding door and quickly closed it behind him, then drew the curtains shut over it. "Whew."
"Garth?" began Imra from the bed. "What are you doing…?"
"No, no, don't get up!" cried Garth. "You just had a seizure and they still don't know what's wrong with you. I'm only in here so I can communicate with Brainy."
"With Brainy?" repeated Imra as Garth took out a modified Legion flight/communication ring from his pocket. "But why…"
"Ssh!" said Garth.
"Brainiac 5", a holographic Brainy answered after several seconds. He narrowed his eyes when he saw who was calling. "Wait a minute…Garth! What are you doing?"
"Sorry, Brainy, I need some info to give the doctors", said Garth.
"This device is meant for emergencies only!" hissed Brainy.
"Yeah, well, trust me, this is an emergency, okay?" snapped Garth. "Listen, the docs are getting suspicious. We need to give them something that won't tip them off about who we are, other than what we have already."
"Good luck with that", said Brainy, with the merest hint of sarcasm.
"Listen! Can you scout Trenton in the 21st century and find a place that is similar to the warehouse we fought the Dark Circle in last week?"
"I can try", said Brainy, and Garth heard his fingers clacking the holographic keyboard. "But I must warn you, such information is likely to be – wait! I have something!"
"Hurry, Brainy!" said Garth urgently, hearing footsteps outside the door.
"It's an abandoned building by the park on 73rd Avenue. Its biometric scannings are an almost exact match to –"
"Gotta go, Brainy", Garth interrupted, hastily stowing the ring back into his pocket just as the door slid open to reveal Dr. House.
House observed the young couple in the room with a trained eye. They looked guilty about something, but he wasn't sure what it was yet. But you could bet he was going to find out.
"Um, Dr.?" questioned Imra.
House breathed in, popped a Vicodin, plastered a fake congenial smile on his face, and approached them, speaking brightly.
"Good morning, I'm Dr. House, and I'm the person in charge of your case. I'm here to get some information which could help save your life."
There was a short pause following this announcement.
"We'd like to help you, Dr. House, but as we told Dr. Hadley, we –"
"Yes, you are orphans", interrupted House, cutting off Imra mid-sentence. "And you've compiled everything you could remember and asked around at the orphanage for anything that might be medically relevant. Yeah, I got all that from Dr. Hadley. What I don't get, is why you" – he pointed his cane at Imra – "are doing all the talking."
"I can answer your questions too, if you'd prefer –"
"I know", House cut Garth off too. He addressed Imra again. "I'm not curious about why you're doing the taking instead of him. I'm curious about why you're talking at all."
"And why would that –"
"Because", said House, interrupting again (and annoying Imra and Garth), "Most seizure victims are not up and talking within minutes of said seizure. The fact that you are is very interesting. Seizure victims usually take at least half an hour to recover, but you seem to be miraculously fine."
Imra had nothing to say. House cocked his head before asking his next question.
"Where've you been lately? Anywhere out of the ordinary?"
"Well, there was this old building on 73rd Avenue", began Imra after a nod from Garth.
"And you were in an abandoned building because…"
"I was curious. I was wondering if it was in good repair, whether it was suitable to buy and set up an office in", said Imra, making up an excuse on the spur of the moment.
"Where would you get the money?" asked House interestedly.
"The trust fund my parents set up for me."
"What about your new apartment?"
"We moved in six months ago, there's no way…" began Garth.
"Funny thing about bacteria is, it can hide for months, until something comes along and triggers it to become active."
"There's nothing there", said Imra, with a little too much conviction.
"Interesting", remarked House. "You been taking anything?"
"What?" asked Garth, confused.
"No", replied Imra. "I don't do drugs."
"Really?" asked House skeptically. "You're nineteen, an orphan, and you had a heart attack and a seizure. Drugs would explain everything."
"I haven't been taking drugs", Imra repeated.
House watched her intently for a moment before regaining his congeniality. "Okay." He turned and strode out of the room.
Garth and Imra stared after him.
"He's getting really suspicious", said Imra. "If he didn't think we were hiding something before, he does now."
"Let's hope he gets you better before he finds out what it is", agreed Garth.
"Well?" Thirteen stood with her arms crossed, her face indicating skeptical inquiry.
House emptied another Vicodin tablet into his mouth and stumped toward the elevator. Thirteen trailed him.
"Empty building on 73rd Avenue. Take Taub and go check it out." He pressed the button and looked around. "Where's Foreman?"
"He had to go chase down a very elusive young woman who can move surprisingly fast."
"Ouch", said House. "She make goo-goo eyes at you?"
Thirteen rolled her eyes as she replied, "She's one of Imra's friends. We asked them if there was anything else they could tell us that could help, and they retreated to discuss something. Then Luornu –"
"Excuse me?" interrupted House. "Luornu?"
"There are any number of unique names out there", Thirteen pointed out. "Anyway, Luornu said she had to clear something up, because apparently the receptionist in the lobby mentioned that you have a reputation for being disreputable, and they were reluctant to reveal anything because of that. So Foreman went down to talk to the receptionist, and it turns out she didn't say any such thing, so Foreman is now trying to track down Luornu and figure out what the heck's going on."
"He's not the only one", House agreed. He dug out his phone and flipped it open. "Foreman, when you get hold of that girl, call me. I want to find out what these people are hiding." He snapped his phone shut and stepped into the elevator. "Don't you have an abandoned building to visit?" he asked Thirteen.
The elevator dinged open and House stepped out, only to be flanked by Taub and Kutner. He was not annoyed by this, however. Rather, he seemed to be expecting it.
"What've you got?" he asked as he walked.
"Tox screen was clear of every drug, but the test did pick up traces of an anomaly in the blood", replied Kutner, keeping pace with House.
"An experimental?" inquired Taub.
"Don't think so. It doesn't seem to be hazardous at all, and it doesn't have the basic structure of a drug."
"And yet, who are we to deny the existence of a breakthrough drug that doesn't look like a drug?" questioned House. "An anomaly is an anomaly. Test it, find out what it is. What else you got?"
"I ran a blood panel and she's clear of all systemic diseases", said Taub. "There's nothing that could have caused cardiomyopathy. But her platelet count is elevated; it could prove Foreman's blood clot theory."
"The count is elevated because she's got a pierced lung", said House in a tone which said, "idiot". "Strike three, you're out."
"I checked the platelet count in her medical records, and our current count is higher than what her doctor reported", said Taub. "Now, either her doctor got it wrong, or Foreman's right about the clot – at least partially."
House scrutinized him for a moment, then nodded once. "Okay. Strike…" He seemed to consider. "Two and a half."
Taub rolled his eyes before he stepped in front of House, blocking his way.
House sighed dramatically. "Yes?"
Taub looked to the side before replying, "I think there's something odd about these people."
"Yes, and you say that because you haven't even met them yet", said House. "You're on break-in duty. Go meet Thirteen and take a trip to that deserted building on 73rd Avenue."
"I reread Imra's medical file very carefully", Taub plowed on. "There are a number of discrepancies in their story. For instance, the description of the way her knife wound was treated is too simple. It just states that it was cauterized and closed up. There's no mention of the amount of damage other than the fact that it pierced her lung, and we don't know her blood type."
"Well, then, you obviously didn't read it carefully enough", said House. "Any idiot knows that your blood type is part of your medical file."
Taub clapped the file into House's unsuspecting hand. "I checked it through. Twice. No mention of any blood type or her previous doctor's name. There's just a list of ones and zeros where the signature ought to be."
House stopped, glared at Taub, and opened the file. In disbelief he stared at the orderly lines of numbers in the signature space, and at the absence of a column where a blood type was usually listed.
"Very interesting…" he commented.
"House?" questioned Taub.
"Go help Thirteen", House told him absently, already making his way down the hall.
A/N: I did say I'd be updating daily! Chapter Three will come along tomorrow, and I hope you're enjoying the story. Many thanks to guardyanangel, Devilbunnyxox, and The Violet Rose for writing the first three reviews!
Disclaimer: Oh, please. I'm actually glad I'm not responsible for the annoying, antisocial, misanthropic Dr. House.