It's a cold winter night. The swirl of the storm has split open and all of Seattle is buried beneath a heavy layer of powder. Aside from salt and plow trucks the streets are mostly empty. The street lamps that haven't blown out are so frosted over white lights appear blue. The lights in most buildings are out.
For Grey/Sloan memorial hospital this is a complicated thing. On the one hand; the ER is empty and there are no new emergencies to worry about. On the other hand; it's a quiet. We all know that a quiet board brings deep dark omens. Trauma attending Dr. April Kepner sits in waiting in a rolling chair next to the nurses station trying not to panic. An anxious Dr. Levi Schmidt taps his foot vigorously from his seated position on the vacant Bed #3.
Dr. Richard Webber stands hunched in front of the surgical board. There's only three names on it now and all three of them are in their appointed OR fighting to save the lives of their patients. He's disturbed and worrisome. Washington hasn't seen a blizzard like this in over four decades. He should have retired by now but he can't let go of this place. Some days it feels, much like this winter's ice dripping and freezing into sickles from the gutters, that this place can't let go of him.
Besides these three no one else is in the ER. No one alive, that is...
She appears in the automatic doorway where usually patients roll in on gurneys from the Ambulances that would pull up on the curb side. Her cheeks are soft, her eyes are tired, and her skin is as dark as the storm outside. The doors sense her presence and slide open but when our doctors look her way they see only the spiral of cold wind billowing through just before an ice sickle drops and busts on the concrete sending shards this way and that. Unseen she walks into the hospital.
"Hm..." She says to herself, "What am I doing here?"
She looks over at the nervous boy on the bed as she passes by noting how angry his brow looks and how disturbed his energy is to her own. There's a calm about Dr. Kepner the spirit appreciates but she keeps on walking over to the entrance of the corridor where her husband stands in his solace. She studies him; his features, his expression, his stance. She understands.
"Oh Richard." She says unheard, "A quiet board. What mess has this hospital fallen into now?"
She goes to touch him and her fingers find that they can. She feels the fabric of his white coat. It's almost enough to make her miss this life. Almost. Still, she knows this isn't where she is needed. With strong confident strides she continues her way down the corridor and follows the small orbs of light that hover in mid air as guides on her journey. Every angel must earn her wings.
She passes the ICU where she finds the bruised faces of a few survivors. The pale yellow hair, the frail bodies, how peculiar they all look so similar to one another. The beeping of their heart rate monitors even seems to be in sync. It's painful. It's too quiet here. These young things should be home with their families; celebrating Christmas; falling in love; listening to versions of this haunting music in a major key and sipping something sweet and hot. Not hooked up to IV's and swimming in the madness of the morphine.
She walks into one of the rooms and there she finds a young man with rather handsome features. He's all blue from how cold it is in the building and his lips are turning a shade of purple that makes her worry. She wraps her fingers around the hand he has laid across his stomach and it sends a chill through her spirit. He is full of light and goodness.
As she goes to leave she adjusts the thermostat on the wall. Only a couple degrees; enough to restore circulation in his fingertips and toes without blowing the whole system. There's already a dreadful chill here she wouldn't want to plummet it even further.
When she steps out into the corridor it isn't the same one she had been in prior. In fact she's a couple floors up; the cancer wing. She's standing just outside the nurses station.
There's much more movement up here. Patients have company who are restless and making continuous trips to the lounge to fetch cups of coffee. Several nurses file things behind this desk and talk casually amongst themselves in hushed quiet voices. Even doctor Robins seems to be fluctuated quite frequently between this wing and the pedes floor. She has a patient here.
The spirit had always been quite fond of Arizona Robins. When they knew one another Arizona was full of light and wonder. She had a bright smile; bright colors following her around everywhere; she even had wheels on her shoes to get her around the hospital but there's something different about her now. As she trudges by the spirit the energy this surgeon gives off is best described as a void. Vacant, empty, cold.
When the surgeon slips out of view the spirit continues on her way following the tiny orbs of light into the room Dr. Robins just left. There she finds a boy sitting up on his bed in the dark; his eyes bright and piercing. On either side of him, sound asleep, are two young men near his age clinging to his arm or resting on his chest. There's a connection here that she is all too familiar with.
He looks at her and she knows she can see him.
Slowly she raises a finger to her lips, "Shhh."
Only he can hear her. He steadies his breathing and listens to what she has to say.
"I was once a woman named Adele Webber. My husband ran this hospital in his prime. I died here. I've come to warn you. Tonight will be a very dark night for Grey Sloan. The fires of purification do not wish to harm you or your friends. If you let them; they will guide you out of harms way. Nod if you understand." She clasps her hands together over her midsection and he takes in the blinding white of her dress.
With slight hesitation he does as she asks. Then, like she'd never been there at all, she vanishes.
When she reappears this time she's in the operating room with chief Bailey, Dr. Parker, Dr. Mitchel, Dr. Pierce, Dr. Helm, Dr. Torres and Dr. Hunt.
The pressure is dropping on the patient; there's fatigue and irritation wafting through the air; Mitchell has his hand in the pancreas and Dr. Pierce is trying to restart the heart. Even with every surgeon remaining calm madness is still very present.
"Dr. Parker, you've got about five minutes to finish that story before this man dies." Says Hunt, "What the Hell happened in there."
So, with Adele at his side placing her open palm on the small of his back, Casey Parker picks up where he left off.
It's a boiler room. The heat hasn't been around in so long it looks like brewing cauldrons set up all around the four corners of the room. Only one of four victims dangling from the ceiling are in a physical state of panic and instead of screaming. Maddie Rooney is shivering and her face is wet from tears.
Her sister, Liv, is only broken by the sight of her best friend in distress.
"Liv..." The two of them look at one another the way they always have when something goes wrong.
Carlos approaches with a soft hand and steadies Liv's sway. He waits until she looks at him and then gives her the most confident expression he can muster. She eases.
"I am detective Garcia. I don't know why you're here but I'm going to do whatever I can to get you out, okay?" He asks.
She pulls in a sharp breath and whispers, "Okay..."
"I know why we're here." Says one of the boys.
They all look at him with discernment. judgment is strong in those who do not wish to lose their lives.
His brother, Zack Martin, spits up blood and grunts. When he finally has the strength to speak he tells Cody, "You shut up."
What kind of secret hides there in the emerald eyes of Cody Martin? is it as dark and terrifying as what's happening all around them? Is it truly the reason they're trapped here in this situation. He sure seems to think so.
"It's punishment." Says Cody, "This is Hell."
The jingle of the bells are cryptic and foreboding. It's another one of Sia's songs slowed down to bring the fear and panic back into the room.
Babe, I woke up and I watched the snow fall from my sky
Babe, I woke up and felt a tear slip from my eye
Babe, I woke up and I wished for just another night
"Ah!" Cried out Liv as her arms began to pull away from her. The chains hooked up to her wrists were separating and rising her closer to the rafters. Carlos, beneath her, tried to hold on but she slipped from his grasp. After all she's only wearing a bright neon blue bathing suit.
Maddie was next to shift upward. Her brilliant baby pink undergarments seemed to sparkle as she spread her arms the way a bird does before it flies.
Zack's orange boxers hang loosely on his hips. His exposed chest is hairless and those nipples are purple from the cold. He's the next to spin into place. The three of them face one another creating a triangle above Carlos's head.
No-no, no no no
No-no, no no no
Cody is the exception. His binds allow him to drop down on the cold concrete next to the Detective. His yellow boxer briefs do very little to cover his man hood and round buttocks. They're so tight he looks poured into them and Carlos feels a sinch of shame noticing this young man is well endowed.
The eerie voice cuts through the music, "Hello Detective. I'll bet you feel absolutely helpless right about now. Don't worry; you get to be right up in the action this time. These two pairs of twins are in a lot of trouble. Your natural instinct will be to judge them; you're tired; you're wounded; you've exhausted yourself. Can you muster up the energy to suffer for their sins with them?"
Sins? What sins? "If you were smart enough to rescue your Valentine you'll have the answers you seek. They're not entitled to tell you what they've done. Why I've chosen them for this game. It's actually inspired by my favorite John Kramer design; The Freezer Room trap. If you recall Danica Scott did not survive that one. Icy rains; below freezing temperatures; minimal protection. I'm excited to see how you handle this one."
"You'll have exactly two minutes in each round to fetch the key from the selected boiler before hypothermia kicks in and there isn't much that can be done about that down here beneath Las Encinas. Notice the color theme? The lights will lead the way. Good luck detective. May the game begin." The voice cuts out and Sia's comes back through the over head speakers.
Babe, I can hardly breath without you right next to me.
Babe, I can hardly breath, who'll carry my Christmas tree?
Babe, I can hardly breath, wish I hadn't let you leave
Cody screams as his chains pull him closer to the ground. He's on his knees now and from the rafters comes the stinging pellets of ice cold water. His exposed skin sings as each quarter sized drop leaves it's mark. His brother Zack, above him, goes into a full convulsion panic.
Carlos' looks over to the four corners of the room where he finds the cauldrons; pink, blue, yellow, orange. He's moving quickly to the boiler. Cat Valentine moving just as fast to catch up to him.
As he begins to climb she calls up to him, "Don't you care what they've done?"
"I've been here long enough to know it doesn't matter, Cat. They're human beings and this kind of torture isn't fair." He peers down into the open cavity and finds that it's not empty.
Inside this first chamber is discovered shooter victims from Las Encinas. Their bodies are still in tact; blue as they are. Carlos takes a deep breath and jumps in digging around dried pools of blood, heavy limbs, and matted hair. He's practically shouting as he tunnels his way through the carcasses trying to find that which will set Cody free. This is his mission. He will succeed!
"They're committing acts of incest, detective!" She shouts into the cauldron.
He pauses; his hand hovering over the rusty metal key he's finally found.
"I worked with Zack and Maddie on the set of a production; Freddie Benson and Nina Rutter were about to expose them before we all got abducted. It's immoral." She explains.
He picks up the key, climbs out, nudges her hard in the arm and races to the platform in the center of the room. He undoes the lock and pulls a freezing Cody Martin away from the blast of the streams. The young victim curls up on the cold concrete fighting for the ability to breath. Fabian, who's sitting with his back against the wall cradling his wife to his chest eyes the young man in confusion. When Fabian and the Detective make eye contact the chains in the floor slink away and one of the young ladies comes down.
They all look at Liv Rooney who's in position awaiting the inevitable blast of the streams. The moment the spout opens up she's screaming out in pain and Carlos is running to the blue cauldron. He climbs it and peers inside to find the next nightmare; scorpions.
"Oh fuck." He whispers.
Cat climbs up after him. She looks where his eyes have gone and her brows arch, "Still want to be the hero?"
There's almost hatred in his brow. He's so disappointed in her. He saved her life and she was committing adultery. How dare she be so judgmental.
"Yes, actually." He tells her.
She sighs heavily, "Well... they're deathly afraid of humans. As long as they don't feel threatened they wont attack."
He nods and slips inside. He's soft in his landing. There he waits. They scurry, almost insticually away from him. He moves slowly around the cauldron and they run away from him this way and that. Up ahead he spots the next key; underneath the belly of the biggest blackest scorpion. Here, in the blue rays of the light fixture, he has it cornered. Like the knight in chess he chooses to move around it and it scoots away from his prize. His hands move fast and he's stumbling over himself to get out. A sting catches his calf and he cries out as he's lifting himself up over the edge.
He limps his way to Liv Rooney and unlocks her chains scooting her away. When he's got her on the ground next to Cody he's looking up at the extended hand of Cat Valentine. There he finds the orange key. She's shaking bugs out of her hair but she's genuine and he appreciates her for her actions. When the chains slink away it isn't Zack who comes down this time; it's Maddie.
The final cauldron.
Cody's fighting the urge to stay on the ground. He's rolling over and coming with Carlos and Cat as they scout the next Cauldron. He stops before they get there though; why? He's looking up at his brother where he finds a gaping gash in Zack's side. He hangs there limp and cold as Maddie endures the beating of the burning blisters on her back.
Carlos finds that the last cauldron is full of water. Something else is in there too but the pink lights do very little to help him see what it is. He has to go in blind. When he does finally drop down in the water he catches a glimpse of lightning. In water? It's eels? That's the final test. Electricity.
He's able to completely submerge himself under the water and open his eyes. The snake like creatures swirl in the black clouds around him and he's swimming towards them instead of away. When he's running his hands along the bottom of the boiler his fingers meet the metal key and he's gasping for air.
"We're almost out of time!" Cat yells.
He throws the key to her just as a pair of eels wrap around his legs and he's gasping for air as the volts of lightning pull him down into the water. He's seeing stars and finding it hard to breath.
Cause if Christmas is so green and so red then
Why am I so Blue?
Why am I so Blue?
When he finally gets out of the cauldron he finds that the last two have been procured. They lived. No fatalities this time. Zack, however, doesn't look so good. Eight people gather in the back of the boiler room; tired, wounded, and cold. The giant daunting 6 so eerie over there heads. The power dies out. Then suddenly all the lights come back on in a bright white.
"I had gained full access and triangulated their location." Says Dr. Parker as Dr. Mitchell pulls his hand out of the pancreas and reveals the thing that had been causing the problem in the patient the entire time.
Dr. Torres comes over to examine the piece they just dropped into the empty basin.
Chief Bailey asks the question on all of their minds, "What was in room number six?"
"Just him." Says Dr. Parker, "This is James Diamond. I'm guessing that tape goes into the player Dr. Hunt pulled out of Zack Martin."
There's a frost that runs along the window in the viewing gallery. The tools all along the table appear to condense over. Adele's spirit places her hand over Jame's chest and the monitor calms down. She looks up at Dr. Casey Parker and waits for him to reveal what they're all thinking.
"We're still playing the game." The final stitch to close up James's wound is pulled through by Dr. Mitchell and the power goes out in the O.R.
Sia's voice comes through the overhead speaker;
Well, if this is what the season is bringing, then
I got to shoot through
I got to shoot through
Cause if Christmas is so Green and so Red, then
Why am I so blue?
Why am I so blue?
