TWs: Hospital, amnesia, burn scars, mention of amnesia causes/killing/taking blood. Stay safe :)
Matt, Edd, Tom, and Tord rushed into the hospital out of breath.
"We came as soon as we heard!" Matt gasped, grasping onto a chair, and peered at his uncle and father, "Are they accepting visitors yet?"
"No, we're still waiting on the diagnosis." Bing crossed his arms, frowning a bit.
"Diagnosis?" Tord raised an eyebrow, "Is there something else wrong with him other than the obvious wound in his chest?"
"The doctor says he's been acting like someone with a strong case of amnesia," Arthur stated as he stood off to the side.
"What?" Matt whispered, feeling deflated.
Tord blinked, "But how? He didn't suffer any head injury- maybe shock, but that was it."
"I don't know." Arthur tapped his cane, "There are other causes of amnesia, such as illnesses, seizures, drugs, alcohol... except he has no history of any of those."
"Lawrence Gilmour?" The nurse called, striding up to them, "Sorry for the wait."
"Not a problem." Arthur set his gaze toward her, "How is he?"
"He's responding well, albeit confused about his situation." She replied, "He doesn't seem to remember anything, which we're trying to figure out the cause. Other than that, he's ready for visitors."
"Thank you." The older ginger nodded to her, then spoke to the others, "It would be best for Bing, Matt, and I to visit him. Having a larger group would disorient him."
"Makes sense." Tord nodded, "Hopefully, he'll remember something soon."
Leading the trio, the nurse walked swiftly down the hall, stopping at a door. She turned to them, speaking briefly, "His memory is limited, so it's best to be patient."
She gave a small smile before leaving.
Bing was hesitant as he slowly opened the door, allowing access to the dimly lit room. Stepping inside, they saw a conscious Larry.
Larry knew there was something wrong with him, not only physically. He saw the looks on the doctors' faces when he was answering their questions. Apparently, he had been shot by someone, but... he didn't remember that happening.
"Larry?" Bing spoke, resisting the urge to tackle him in a hug.
The dirty blonde squinted his eyes toward the trio, examining them. Two gingers and one brunet.
Were they the 'friends' the nurse was talking about?
"Who are you?" Larry questioned.
Bing bit his lip, his heart aching in dismay. Matt's expression was similar to what a kicked puppy looked like. Arthur had a frown set on his face apart from the twitching of an eye that couldn't be seen.
Arthur spoke first, knowing the other two had to take a moment to process, "My name is Arthur; this is Bing and Matt."
Larry nodded, glancing at the heartbeat monitor, "And how did I meet you guys?"
The trio looked at each other, debating who should speak first. Arthur sighed, deciding to go first.
"We bumped into each other in Norway." He stated.
"That's it...?" Larry quirked an eyebrow.
"Yep." The older ginger affirmed, glimpsing at the others as he bit his lip, 'I can't just say you were sent to kill me, now can I?'
Bing cleared his throat, "I built an invention that was going to revolutionize the movie industry-"
Arthur rolled his eyes at that.
"But while giving it a test run, it went rogue and exploded. You offered to help me, which might've been pity instead, now that I'm looking back on it." Bing frowned.
"And I met you through Uncle Bing; you were his new assistant." Matt smiled.
Larry racked his brain, trying to recall the people before him. He turned away, shaking his head, "Sorry, still no clue."
"That's fine," Arthur spoke, "It can take a while to recover memories."
Giving a slight nod, Larry sat up more, ignoring the discomfort in his chest.
"What's that?" Matt asked as he noticed something strange under Larry's hospital gown.
The dirty blonde hummed, moving the fabric out of the way to show a mark under his left collarbone.
"Is that a burn mark?" The ginger furrowed his eyebrows in concern.
"Burn marks don't appear like that," Bing said.
"What's happening?" Arthur inquired.
"Oh," Matt went up to him, grabbing his wrist and tracing the mark on his hand, "It's shaped weirdly."
Arthur felt Matt's index finger trace over his hand, repeating the motion a few times until Arthur spoke.
"The Black Army."
"What?" Matt paused.
Unlocking his phone, Arthur went back to the graffiti picture he had, "Remember this?"
Matt and Bing looked at the picture, then at the burn mark.
"Wait- they look identical," Matt spoke.
Arthur hummed, "Exactly."
"Are you saying the Black Army did that to him?" Bing was filled with shock.
"I have a feeling he wasn't the only one."
'The Black Army...?' Larry thought, 'Why does that name sound familiar?'
The name spoke for itself; it was an army, but why would an army sound familiar to him?
"Larry?" Arthur called.
"What?" Larry huffed in response.
Arthur smiled, "Before we go, do you think you can try to remember something?"
Larry sighed, frustrated since the doctors had tried to do this with him earlier. Relaxing back on the bed, he closed his eyes as he tried to go back into his mind.
"What's he doing?" Matt asked.
"Just wait," Arthur told him.
His mind was blank momentarily as he concentrated long and hard on who he was. It was dark and still; everything was quiet. There was only himself at that moment.
Then he heard the sound of clicking.
Ca-click... ca-click... ca-click...
He was about to speak when he saw a flash of something. A hand holding a pen, seemingly bored, as there was a stack of papers in front of them.
Larry's perspective was across from them, but their face was obscured by a clipboard. The person holding the clipboard was more apparent, though he wore a respirator mask, only showing his eyes and spiky hair tied back in a ponytail.
"That's all we need to do." A faint voice said, pointing at the clipboard.
"Ah, thank you, Mad Scientist." The other nodded. Everything appeared in slow motion as Larry watched the one with the mask turn to him, "How does a trip to Norway sound, Major?"
Larry opened his eyes.
"Can you stop clicking your pen? It might interfere with his recollection." Arthur told Bing.
"I can't help it." Bing glared, clicking again.
"Do you remember something?" Matt asked, seeing the shock in Larry's eyes.
"I- I don't know. Maybe?" Larry mumbled, "There were two people; someone with a respirator mask and someone named the Mad Scientist."
"Did one of them have spiky hair?" Arthur inquired.
"Yes, how'd you know?"
"Just a guess." The older shrugged.
As they were leaving the room, a nurse came up to them.
"You're the doctor from before, right?" She asked Arthur.
"He's no-" Blindly elbowing Bing, Arthur cleared his throat.
"Yes, that's correct." He smiled.
"Here, you should read this." She handed him a paper.
Arthur hummed, letting his AI read it back to him. He furrowed his eyebrows, setting his gaze on the nurse, "Are you sure this is right?"
"That's what the screening says." She nodded.
"What is it?" Matt questioned, peering to read the paper.
"The doctors took a few blood samples earlier and found something strange that they didn't see before," Arthur told them.
"What? Is it some sort of drug?" Bing raised an eyebrow.
"That's a good question. Not even the doctors know what it is. There's just an unknown chemical that dispersed in his body."
"What do we do now?" Matt tilted his head.
"I need to do further research on this. You two just go home."
"But-" Before they could object, Arthur swiftly walked away.
Bing huffed as he crossed his arms, "I hate it when he does that."