(Ugh. Linux equals occasional amounts of hate and anger.

Which brings me to my next topic...

Please. You do not need updates; you want updates. You do not have to know what's going to happen, you want to know. Please, for the love of... I'm not feeling sacrilegious today, so for the love of the Kasal twins, don't say you "need" anything!

Speaking of Kasal twins, if you haven't played Under the Knife or Second Opinion, stop reading this and go play Second Opinion. Now. Before I throw my hole-filled sweater at you. :D

On a side note, Dmitri Shostakovich has completely taken over my computer as of now. What is this. Also, what the hell happened to the anonymous reviewers? XD

Maybe New Blood ate them all... o.o; Oh dear.

Let's begin.

Markus, Val, Derek, Angie © Nintendo

GUILT © Nintendo

Starbucks © Starbucks)

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Caught Unaware

Chapter Three- Lucky Number Seventy-Five

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"How could this have happened...? We took every safety measure we had to and more...!"

"I don't know, Angie... but you saw the results of the Chiron Test yourself-- F5-A. He's been infected, somehow..."

Angie sighed, nervously playing with her short blonde hair.

"...we don't have the equipment to treat it... do you want me to call them and have it shipped?"

"No... I'll do it. I want you to explain things to Dr. Blaylock... so she knows what's happening."

"Alright, Derek."

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Would he just wake up already? It had already been almost twenty hours since he collapsed...

Valerie sighed, her dark hand loosely holding Markus' abnormally pale one.

"Dr. Blaylock... no. Valerie. There's something that... I need to tell you."

Her eyes were dry... but who could tell how long that would last for?

"Is it about Markus...? Please, tell me, what's happened to him?!"

In his sleep, Markus let out a quiet groan; Valerie gently tightened her grasp on his hand-- the only sign of worry and care she could offer him in his unconscious state.

Markus grew quiet.

"Valerie... I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this... or that you have to hear it at all, but... Markus has been infected with a very severe strain of GUILT."

Val's eyes fell on the oxygen tube that helped her coworker breathe, helped to keep him alive...

Her own breath caught in her throat.

"...I-I see. ...tell me how bad it is; I can take it."

Only the quiet beeping of the heart monitor and her own shaky breaths penetrated the heavy silence...

"Fortunately, it's not Paraskevi, so he has time... but we don't have the proper tools with us to treat him. It'll be a day or two until we get them... and we don't know how quickly it will mutate. ...he's going to have to be strong for a while."

Val rubbed the sleep out of her heavy eyes with her free hand.

"...he can hold on. If there's one thing I can say about Markus, it's that he won't give up."

Markus groaned softly, shifting in his sleep... before slowly opening his eyes.

"Markus? Are you alright?!"

His tired brown eyes fell on Valerie, who had immediately sat upright, unable to mask her concern.

"Val...?"

His weak voice could barely be heard over the beeping of the machines; however, the fact that he could speak at all comforted Valerie immensely. Her expression relaxed; a small smile graced her dark face.

"Yeah... it's me. How... how are you, Markus?"

A smirk slowly played at Markus' lips, his free hand slowly creeping towards his chest before it finally rested over his heart.

"Well... I'm in only slightly more pain than when we were on Miracle Surgery..." he muttered, coaxing a small chuckle from Val. "But at least then... I knew what was wrong... what's happened to me, Val?"

Valerie froze, the smile vanishing as she hesitated to tell him the truth...

She fought to control her emotions as tears threatened to fall down her face.

"...Y-you... you got infected... w-with a d-deadly strain of G-GUILT," she finally choked out, her vision blurring as tears pooled in her eyes, her voice cracking as she began to lose control. "You... have some time, but... if the supplies they need t-to treat you don't come s-soon, then..."

Markus cut Val off with a soft sigh, his dark eyes gazing off into the distance.

He knew what it meant, when she trailed off like that...

Valerie's sudden, soft sob jolted him back into reality; Markus looked up to see tears slowly streaming down her face.

"Val-- Val, don't cry..."

Carefully, Markus released Val's hand, slowly reaching up and wiping the tears from her cheeks.

"Val... do you really think I'm just going to roll over and let this kill me?" he asked, a smirk playing at his lips. "Fat chance in hell. The last thing on my mind right now is dying."

Val let a querulous smile show as she began to take comfort in his words.

"Alright, Markus... Just so you know, though, I'll never forgive you if it turns out that you were lying..."

Markus chuckled before his eyes fell on the clock on the wall...

"Crap-- it's already tomorrow morning?"

Confused, Valerie too glanced up at the clock...

Nine thirty-six.

"Yes, it is," Val nodded, wiping away the final remnants of tears from her eyes. "This is the second day in a row you've slept past nine..."

"Well then... let's not completely destroy tradition. Let's get some Starbucks... my treat."

Those last two words elicited a scoff from his coworker.

"Your treat? Of course you'd say that now, when you're confined to a hospital bed and have no money at your disposal..."

"Hey, don't write me off as cheap just yet-- my wallet's in my coat pocket... and yes, before you ask... there is money in there."

Val sighed, unable to keep the smile from forming on her face.

"Alright... I'll be back in half an hour. Peppermint mocha, right?"

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Derek knocked softly before walking in.

Markus' eyes were half-open, a dazed look in his dark orbs; his breathing was slow and deep, his chest slowly rising and falling with each inhalation and exhalation.

The heart monitor beeped slowly.

"...Dr. Vaughn?"

Markus' eyes shot open; the heart monitor beeped more frequently as his breath began to quicken.

"Mngh... yes, Dr. Stiles?"

"Did I wake you?"

"No, not really... don't worry about it," Markus admitted, his hand creeping to his heart, a pained expression coming to his face as he forced himself to sit up. "I was just using my Healing Touch to try and deaden the pain... and it worked, but even with it, it's just burning agony, all over..."

"Well, I'm sorry for disturbing you..." Derek apologized, slowly seating himself in the empty chair by Markus' bed.

"It's alright... what do you need, Dr. Stiles?"

Derek paused, fixing his glasses before letting out a tired sigh.

"...well, I'm here to tell you what exactly is going to happen... concerning your treatment."

Markus' tired eyes focused intently on the elder surgeon, waiting patiently for his next words.

"...Pempti attacks the nervous and respiratory systems first, which is why it's hard to breathe and you're in so much pain," Derek explained. "It requires a special serum and laser to destroy, and we've already told our director that we need them... so they're on their way here. But... that's not the real issue. The real issue is going to be the operation."

"...is there a high mortality rate for people infected with Pempti...?"

"About sixty percent."

Markus sighed, running a hand through his dark, unkempt hair.

"...well then. What are my chances of surviving?"

"...when we did the analysis, it showed up as a mutated strain. It will probably adapt faster and cause more damage during the operation... however, we did manage to find it early. And you're young and strong... When the supplies get in tomorrow evening, we'll operate right away. I'd say given the circumstances, you have about... about a seventy-five percent chance of pulling through."

The famous smirk that he was rarely seen without played at Markus' lips.

Seventy-five was one of his many lucky numbers; it had never failed him before.

"Alright then... you said mortality was sixty percent? Soon, it'll be knocked closer to fifty."

Derek chuckled.

He felt optimistic about the situation...

The determined patients almost always pulled through.

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(End chapter three.

Markus. Heart.

Val. Double heart.

Okay, seriously, I need to stop fangirling so much. It's quite ridiculous. XD

Please review!)