Despite it only being the end of their third week in New Orange, Penance felt as if working through the paperwork of the Princeton Plainsborough case had gone on for at least a month. She could understand how and why the three original team members looked as tired as they did, and that had been going on for a month at that point. Deszcz's chipper attitude had also begun to wear away by the end of the first week when they called on some aid from Rhode Island. Notably individuals who're well read and could handle combing through such long arduous documents filled with technical expressions and mundane information.
The three individuals that showed up to help were quite welcome. The Ursus girl, Anna, was a fast and studious reader. She got a little confused with more advanced terms that Penance or Deszcz could help her with, but she was able to use her incredibly reading, and surprisingly childish way of note taking, skills to great use. Alongside with Anna being a fast reader, there was the individual who was organizing and talking to various people on phones to check and verify claims.
"Yes, thank you for answering questions! Hopefully these claims are unfounded and we will personally check in with you soon!" Grani replied chipperly before putting down the phone and grabbing another. The Victorian metropolitan police officer was well used to the desk work of fielding multiple calls in a support position, because not every mounted officer was on patrol as much as she herself would want to be. When the need be, an officer must be as good at their desk work as their fieldwork.
Finally the third addition to the ragtag team, rounding out the group to a solid eight individuals, was the one who had the most troublesome job of all, and often was the one who helped Penance deal with the most pressing of her issues. She was the medical liaison for Penance so she would not get swamped with more technical terms and jargon that her judicial training did not prepare her for, as well as be the verbal opponent to the many jabs and barbs spoken by the biggest source of alleged medical malpractice of the hospital, Doctor Horse. Of course, it helped that the helper in particular was well versed in her own brand of stubbornness and verbal wit.
"And I'm telling you that patient is a moron for even thinking that BERRY JELLY was what was meant to be used for intercourse. We have a food crisis enough as is, WASTING IT like that is certainly a neurological issue!"
"She may be a moron, but the battery of tests you ran on her borders on cruel!" Louisa, alias Folinic, shouted back at the graying man.
"You don't think that a brain scan wouldn't be warranted for that case of brainlessness? For all we know, we might've found a new discovery, the first Terran to exist without a brain!"
Penance groaned into her palm at the umpteenth argument that was spurned by the fiery attitudes of both Lousia and Doctor Gregory Horse. The two medical professionals had been arguing the entire time this day, and seemingly had picked up contiguous arguments from the previous three days as well. Whether it was from maverick positions that Doctor Gregory Horse undertook in his treatments, or Louisa remarks on the transcripts between Doctor Horse and the patients he treats.
"You ran an unnecessary battery of tests!"
"Because we only had two unrelated symptoms to treat! Excessive hair growth and migraines, can you tell me how much you could pull from that?"
"And you order a spinal AND brain biopsy? You could have easily left them paralyzed."
"It was risk I was willing to take. Either the potential for paralysis dor the certainty of death, the choice is pretty clear, don't you think?"
"It's not about clarity or survivability-"
"As doctors, its ALWAYS been about survivability!"
"Let's move on from the unverified medical practice that Mister Horse did or did not commit on Miss Jeweler. She had agreed to not press charges after assuring her we had cleaned out the tumor and gotten confirmed affirmation that any subsequent checkups she may need for her issues will be viewed as insured follow up visits." Both Lousia and Dr. Horse settled in their seats as Penance's words cut their argument at the knees. In truth, Miss Linda Jeweler had been all too happy to cease her malpractice complaint against Dr. Horse, she had said that someone was willing to look into the issues that Dr. Horse gave to her during her time at Princeton Plainsborough, but was surprised to see that she had been part of a lawsuit against the hospital itself.
"And instead move onto the more pressing issue of the fact that most of the names on the lawsuits leveled against Dr. Horse and Princeton Plainsborough was made without their knowledge."
"Well, ain't that meant to be your job?" Dr. Horse's voice grated on Penance's nerves, but she took a breath to calm herself. It wouldn't do good to punch him now, too many people in attendance, although she made a note that more than enough people in and out of this hospital would probably say they never saw a thing.
"It is, however, it would be nice to know why it was leveled against you in particular."
"Knowing who he is, I wouldn't doubt he pissed off someone with power who just see's the hospital as collateral." Lousia remarked. Dr. Horse sneezed, his hands covering his mouth but his hands had their middle fingers conspicuously pointed at Louisa. "Classy." Dr. Horse sent her a smug smirk before Louisa rolled her eyes.
'These two are grown adults….' Penance thought as she pinched the bridge of her nose. 'Lord give me strength…' As if answering her prayers, a beeper went off and Dr. Horse grabbed his belt. Lifting it up, he let out a curse before shooting to his feet. A small curse came out of his lips before his hands grasped his cane. Louisa however hot on heels.
"What happened?"
"One of my patients. Well, more likely, a group of my patients," Dr. Horse grunted as he hobbled his way through the hospital halls. Lousia followed behind him, there were some odd looks but after she flashed her badge, certifying her as a guest medical practitioner herself, the looks went away. Penance meanwhile had collected the files before following, arguably intent on seeing if Dr. Horse's mannerisms really extended to patient care as well as interpersonal relationships. No one dared give her a strange look, mostly for the fact that she was already quite known in the hospital. But also because she scared even the security guards at times.
"What're the issue with these patients?"
"Shortness of breath, a lot of coughing, and—"
"AAAAH!"
"Put it out! Put it out!" All three individuals took a step back as a rush of heat and the glow of red bathed the room. Two nurses ran out of the room with blackened scrubs as another went to grab a fire extinguisher.
"Shit."
"What the–"
The screaming drowned out any words as Dr. Horse pushed through the flames, shedding his jacket to fan it away. A nurse came out with the fire extinguisher, but it seemed his body couldn't keep up with his hands as he kept fumbling the release.
"FIRE EXTINGUISHER!" Dr. Horse shouted. Lousia grabbed the fire extinguisher out of the nurse's hands and pulled the trigger.
"Firing!" Lousia said before the foam from the extinguisher fired and bathed the room, Dr. Horse however remained unphased, intention pushing through the foam to get to the still flailing patient. The screams of the man still remained as Dr. Horse finally got through. The room was still bathed in heat, despite much of the fire having been smothered.
"Louisa, what's going on?" Penance asked. Her hand had reached into her pocket, her fingers rolling around the conduit in case her arts needed to be activated.
"In my professional opinion?" the woman asked with narrowed eyes and abated breath. Penance nodded. "I have no clue. I've heard of spontaneous combustion, but this level of combustion and immolation goes beyond what books and studies talk about."
"Spontaneous combustion?" Penance asked. Louisa swallowed.
"The average body is comprised of gasses and chemical which are normally inert, but rarely, and I mean one in a million, the body's internal chemical reactions can result in an internal fire erupting from the inside of the person's body spreading out." Penance blinked at the graphic description.
"But usually the fire remains in the immediate human body, it usually doesn't spread further out and it never gets to the levels of heat like this." Louisa pursed her lips as something tried to connect to her. "This feels familiar somehow… Dr. Horse, what's the patient's condition?" Throughout this all, Dr. Horse had leaned in close to the now charred but still moving lips of the patient, but the smug look of the man was nowhere to be seen, instead it was the look that Penance had seen quite a lot amongst the other doctors and even the medical professional aboard Rhode Island, anguish.
"Well aside from the third degree burns on the outside, they were thirsty before they lit up like a Siracusan candle. Oh and their chest hurts. They'll need an IV drip and a full antibacterial wash to make sure the burns don't get infected." He stood up, the cane he had had been burnt in the fires. He groaned before he hobbled out of the patient's room as the nurses came in after him.
"Dr. Horse, the patient?"
"Yeah yeah, they'll live." Dr. Horse tossed over his shoulder. Both woman saw the black hand stains that had gripped the lapels of a burned and crumpled coat. "At what cost…"
"Ha…" Lousia let out the breath she held and handed off the spent fire extinguisher to a nurse who had passed by them. "I'm going to see if I can find the other patients that Horse was speaking of. What of you Miss Lavinia?" Penance's eyes switched between the nurses quickly treating the patient and the sooted areas of the room.
"It is almost six o'clock. The end of my day is quickly approaching, however I will also need to conduct some other interviews of patients who are in recovery, so I'll accompany you for a bit as well. Something tells me this isn't the standard judicial attack intent on taking the hospital and its staff down, and for some reason, I have a feeling that Dr. Horse's patients lay at the heart of it."
-L&L-Despite the incident, the rest of the day had ended without much issue. No other patients had immolated, and no other new symptoms had been found. Penance however had learned that the patient was a Mister Sorenson, a laborer who had initially come from Sami to Columbia for work. He worked at a factory before coming down with a cough that made his work output debilitating. His family had come soon after hearing about his condition, distraught to know that he had been taken to an isolation ward both for his burns and for the volatile nature of whatever ailed him.
His daughter and wife were screaming at both her and Louisa, intent on seeing him before Penance was able to talk them down. While not in person, they were able to see him from an observation deck as they saw members of Dr. Horse's team ran tests and treated him for his burns. It was… a difficult procession for Penance to see. It reminded her of the Rubio's girl. After being assured from an aunt of the girl's safety, she had left her in the care of her family. She had kept correspondence with her, but it had recently been silent as of late.
But those thoughts were pushed out of her mind, as the arms of a rather giggly Hibiscus reached over her head to grab the large fruity flute drink. The group totaled around six at first. Three of the medics that had come by Princeton Plainsborough had ended their nearly twenty hour shifts around the time Penance had left, Hibiscus, Grace, and Saria. The last person was a surprise, not many words had been shared between Saria and Penance in all honesty, but she joined her, Grani, and of course Deszcz towards their little afterwork trip. While the medical professionals changed out of their scrubs or professional attire, the three from the legal department looked well enough to go to this "club" that Deszcz had talked about. Apparently a line had formed but the security guard had seen them and quickly waved them in well ahead of the line. There had been some voiced complaints, but when Saria and Penance had turned around to say their apologies, they had quickly been waved past the people in line.
"Oh, hey you all, fancy seeing you here!" That had been the words that greeted them at the door, and the origins of said words had come from Midnight. The languidly dressed man leaning on the door as several men and women in the line screamed in elation at the sight of him.
"Midnight? This is your club?" Hibiscus questioned. He let out a laugh then blew a kiss to the crowd before turning back to Hibiscus.
"Oh no, just doing a… guest appearance as a favor amongst a few other things," Midnight replied with a saucy look as he grabbed Deszcz's hands. "Well if you six are wanting to spend some time in "Club Extasy" then allow me to provide some libations for you all." Deszcz followed without hesitation, prompting the other five to quickly follow behind her. Entering the club proper through a set of violet velvet curtains, Penance was met with the sound of pounding music, flashing lights amongst a dark room, and a rather uncomfortable amount of pressed up bodies.
In truth, this was far from what Penance expected. When Deszcz had offered to show her to a Columbian bar, she had expected perhaps something more akin to what she'd seen back in Siracusa. A quiet somber atmosphere, a few tables filled with all manner and walk of life in various states of dress… and Inebriation. Not at all what she saw currently, which seemed a mass of young vibrant individuals in the same state of mind, euphoric.
Young sweaty bodies in clothes pressed against each other and gyrating was something Penance was not accustomed to, and felt the need to lose her coat just from how hot the room felt.
"Wow, Columbians are something else," Grani stated staring wide eyed. She had never seen a gathering like this in Victoria, perhaps there were a few underground gatherings of "punks' she had been called in to investigate, but in truth they were nothing more than small musical groups that didn't have permits to perform. Those crowds were big, but nothing of this size and magnitude that stood in front of her. Already some of the more gregarious of the group, Deszcz, Grace, Grani, and Hibiscus, leaving the two older women to the more quiet but still quiet rancorous area of one of the many bars.
"Your first time at a club?" It was Saria who spoke to her. Penance looked at the woman, though not far in their physical age, the difference in experience was vast. The woman sat besides her at the bar that Midnight had lead them too. One of the many bars in the facility, but this one being manned by a brightly dressed Pythia woman who dressed only in a halter top and jean shorts. Tattoos covered her face as she sent them all a look as her hands juggled various bottles of size.
"What can I get you girls?" she asked with an excitable manner befitting the venue. Penance had looked at the wall behind the woman, large bottles of different varieties seemed as numerous as the people in the club.
"Two vodka tonics," Saria had supplied to her side. The bartender gave a little salute before her tail reached over for bottles as her hands grabbed the classes and the tonic water.
"I'm not quite used to the… atmosphere," Penance replied stiffly. Even without her jacket, she still felt unreasonably warm. "Siracusa social areas are not as… lively without certain incidents." Saria nodded knowingly, having read and hearing of the Siracusa incident reports prior to Penguin Logistics bringing Penance, Lunacub, and Leontuzzo aboard Rhode Island.
"Here ya go, dont need to tip, your guardian over there is footing your tab," the Pythia pointed towards Midnight who had somehow misplaced his shirt but not his coat and was busy spinning on a pole to the many cheers of patrons below.
" Grazie ," Penance thanked as Saria handed her the drink. The clear liquid had some ice within the glass, she had seen such alcohol before, but often she stayed with the many types of Siracusan, and some Gaulish inspired, wines more commonly partaken in. She took a tentative sip and found it mild enough that she had quickly drained it.
"Hmmm, might want to slow down, we have plenty of time," Saria replied. She too had shed her coat, leaving her in nothing more than thin and rather tight fitting, at least by Penance's estimates, turtle neck. Her sleeves being rolled up being any indication that the other woman was feeling the heat within the room.
"Perhaps I'm more stressed than I realized," Penance said, smacking her lips at the mild but quite refreshing taste of the drink. She set the glass down and the Pythia had quickly scooped it away.
"How has the legal leg work been?" Saria asked. She had been part of the effort of the hospital medical emergencies. Despite the hit in reputation by lawsuits and newspaper slandering, many other hospitals and medical centers still redirect much of the bulk and category three victims to them almost every other day.
It was perhaps an issue of a large city, that though it seemed emergencies seemingly occurred everyday, the rest of the city pushed as normal. Nothing changed when an EKG flatlined. Saria had seen it first hand, and partially why she never liked big city hospitals to begin with.
"We've been handling the multitude of malpractice lawsuits leveled against the hospital and individual doctors, at the very least the defamation marks were easy to handle on Deszcz end." Penance looked at the woman mentioned, dancing amongst the crowds with a joyful look on her face. In truth there had been some serious rounds between Deszcz and the news magazines for their defamatory remarks, especially when they tried to use their own legal department. It had almost gone to arbitration before the legal duel was called off by the newspapers sides and agreed to a settlement of rescinding all press releases defaming Plainsborough… For one of the four newspapers that were defaming Plainsborough.
"How have the recent influx of patients been?" At this Saria let out a glower before finishing her drink. The two weren't strangers by any means, having worked in the same building now and checking in when it came to dubious legal framework for treatments, had made the two aware of each other. However this is perhaps the first time Penance and Saria had spoken outside of work hours, especially outside of Rhode island.
"How strong is your tolerance?"
"Mmm, quite high," Penance reflected. Saria nodded before waving down the bartender.
"Two negronis," she ordered. The Pythia's eyebrows shot up before shrugging. Her tail grabbed the bottles and placed them on the counter before her hands began to gather the rest of the ingredients and equipment. Opening the bottles and partitioning the ingredients, the Pythia Bartender did her work before Saria answered Penance's initial question.
"You saw the patient with spontaneous combustion, right?" Saria asked. Penance nodded, the sight and the screams still fresh in her mind alongside the tortured sobs of the man's wife and daughter.
"We've been getting patients with extensive third degrees. Found mostly by fire fighters who were called to extinguish fires." Saria grew quiet for a bit. "BUt in truth, the fires had no origin aside from the person themselves who were at the epicenter, horribly burnt, and barely alive by the time first responders go to them."
"It can't be a coincidence," Penance responded. Saria snorted.
"It certainly is not, but we have no common thread. It's not specified to one race, an Ursan, a Liberi, and a Zabrak have been affected. Not one has died as improbable as it sounds, and exploratory surgery isn't an option until the burns and such are treated." Saria growled out the last words. Her tail coiling around the stool since she didn't sit, opting to lean backwards against the bar. Penance felt somewhere out of her depth, she knew the law side tended to have its own issue and dirty business, but the reality of facing the medical issues horrified her. Wanting to move away from more despondent thoughts, Penance spoke.
"Did you frequent these sorts of places in your time before coming to Rhode Island?" Penance asked her. Saria looked thoughtful.
"Not myself, but more like I was dragged along to them," Saria responded, a small smile attempting to tug on her lips before falling. "She'd probably lose her mind if she saw me willingly join you all here."
"Who?" Saria was about to respond before two glasses were slid to them. The Pythia bartender gave them a salute before being called over by a winded Grani and Grace.
"We'll… Have what they're having," Grani replied breathlessly. The Pythia laughed and Penance and Saria grabbed their drinks. Tentatively, Penance took a sip and noted the sharpness in flavor compared to the previous drink that Saria had ordered them.
"Didn't expect that huh," Saria laughed. Penance winced at the sourness, her tongue still feeling the sour after taste. "Its a negroni. Sour, but it has some sweetness as its core."
"I only taste the sourness so far," Penance admitted, her tongue scraping against her teeth trying in a vain attempt to get the taste out of it. Saria just chuckled before sipping her once more, that was before Deszcz approached the two.
The Kuranta's eyes were alight with energy, quite a stark contrast to her near dead tiredness previously before they left the office. She too had shed her coat, but also her middle layer as well, now dressed nothing more in a simple tanktop, her skin glistening from the moisture of those around her.
"Come on you two, stop talking about work!" Deszcz gushed as her hands grabbed their wrist. Both could have easily resisted, Saria alone could have stayed anchored to her position like a bould, but both relented themselves to be pulled into the fray with the girl.
"What am I supposed to do?!" Penance had to yell for Deszcz to hear her over the pulsating music. She felt out of place like a civilian in an alleyway, eyes shooting around her to the people who barely paid any mind to her.
"Just! Relax!" Deszcz shouted. Penance had looked to Saria for some sort of aid, but the other woman had been accosted from some other girls, intent on making her the focus of their dancing.
"Let! Me! Help!" Deszcz grabbed Penance's hands and the Lupo almost reflexively shot her hands back to her side. She had to resist that instinct as Deszcz hands grasped her own and mimed her movements. Penance felt her face color from how embarrassing the instruction was, like a child being shown how to dance the tarantella by their father. Penance knew it was stupid to feel like it, but she also knew it felt foolish to be taught how to "dance" or whatever this was. She found that rather than "dancing" this was little more than swaying their body to the beat of the music playing.
She almost let out a small shriek when another body pressed against her from behind, only to see it was Hibiscus, covered in the same sort of sheen like Deszcz. The younger woman grasped Penance side and began to help her get into the beat of the music.
"Just. Go with it." Deszcz said when there was a little lull in the song, and Penance stared amongst the others and let out a pent up breath. She would try to.
-L&L-"The dormitory renovations are finished, and now we can start the other facilities," Closure said to her terminal screen. In front of her were the five minus one screens of the other group leaders. Bison of the logistics group, Olivia Silence for the medical liaison group, Quercus of the intelligence group, and Margaret Nearl for the operator correspondence group. Then of course there was her screen, for Engineering, and the minus one screen for that was meant for the Doctor who had only joined audio only.
"Wow, has three weeks already gone by?" Quercus voiced. A small laugh was shared amongst those in attendance. "But in truth, time seemingly feels like its gone by quick."
"Probably because we've never usually stayed quite so long at one place," Margaret noted before yawning. While every one of the group leader's jobs were demanding, three of them requiring the need to do either medical or engineering work, Margaret's was perhaps the most demanding as it required her to constantly check in with the many operators spread amongst the expansive city. Though the mass transit network of the mobile city helped, it was but a brief reprieve in the constant movement she went through the last few weeks. "The operators are quite comfortable, though some are ready and available to move back into their dorms should we need to begin that process."
"We'd probably need another week or so for that part to begin, while renovations and reinforcements to the foundations are finished, we don't have the supplies to begin to house, feed, and above all wash, more than our skeleton crew here," Bison supplied. The youngest amongst them, but he readily rose to the challenge of being the head of the logistics groups. Though it helped he had quite the array of advisory voices, from Silverash, to Emperor, to even an occasional voice from Anthony Simon when he carted supplies discreetly.
"This of course begs the other question, how have the other goals been," Closure began. The Doctor's comm was unusually quiet, but after being sent the message of what and where they were, Closure could only try and maintain a semblance of calm in the face of the others.
"Patients are still coming day in and day out," Silence stated, her eyes narrowing hard. "In truth, the average emergency patient is coming in due to other hospitals sending their off-flow to Princeton Plainsborough out of want rather than need."
"Is it a reputation issue?" Quercus questioned. Silence shook her head and Quercus pursed her lips. "In truth, many people and other medical professionals see Plainsborough in a sense of begrudging respect, mostly due to the high percentage of successful cases."
"I can confirm, despite the increased flow, treatments are met and given as often as possible."
"Which makes these legal issues more concerning," Margaret noted as she read over the notes that Penance had sent to her in regards to the legal case work. "Several people were talked into adding their name into a class action lawsuit leveled against Plainsborough, yet when the legal team questioned them, they found most were not even aware they were attached to the lawsuit."
"Hmm, I'll send out some feelers to see if we can find anything. Is there a name we can go off of?" Quercus asked. Margaret rifled through her notes.
"A common name that shows up is "Pinkerton"," Margaret said. Querecus gave a thumbs up before writing on a sticky note. "Try not to agitate, at worst, we might bring legal attention to us."
"Oh don't worry, I'll send our very best!"
"Doctor, would you like to add anything?" Bison asked. There was silence for a bit before the sound of a message being sent notified everyone.
-: D-
"... Thank you for the input Doctor…" Closure sighed before a -:3- face was sent by the Doctor. At the very least they were safe enough to send such stupidly shitty emotes during the meeting.
-L&L-The Doctor had a smile on their face after sending the message before looking up at the tense looks of Scavenger and Platinum. Red would have been with the two had she not been the one who needed to carry a sputtering and twitching Tin Man who was holding one of his legs, one that hung by the thinnest connections of metal and wires.
"How's it look out there Platinum?" the Doctor asked the the Kuranta archer who hid behind the wall of the door. She didn't respond, partially due to the glare she sent the Doctor's way, but also due to the impacts of close quarters bullet fire. Not to the same potency or frequency as a Laterno trained marksman, but perhaps matching it in terms of quantity due to the amount of impacts.
During a lull in the firing, Platinum quickly shot out and let loose two arrows, their aim true as they flew through the air and hit their targets. Two of the ten mech suits found the arrows cutting through their firing mechanisms as the unmanned mechs fired and only heard dull clickings.
"Oh how I wish I had Glaucus come with us," the Doctor lamented as they gripped the Tin Man who looked up at them jerkily. "Sorry about this."
"About whaa–Ah!" the Tin Man let out a pained screech as the Doctor jammed the mechanical appendage back into its place. "FUCK!"
"I did apologize!" the Doctor assuaged as the Tin Man was able to stand, albeit with support from the Doctor. "You fit to move?"
"Do I have a choice? Its either that, or have to deal with that!" The Tin Man pointed the many processed originium drums strapped to a timer that had once read as ten minutes now down to six as it primed.
"Go now!" Platinum shouted as she poked out from behind the door and let loose more arrows. She let out a wince as projectiles grazed her side, but her aim remained as she shot the mechs. Four arrows stopping the suppressing fire from the mech suits, that was at least before their second arms were raised. She quickly raised her bow to fire, but seemingly she would be too slow to stop the ten mechs from firing.
Then a shadow came from behind the machines and a flash of metal shot out that sliced the arm of mech, turning it just in time so it fired at the one next to it, causing a small explosion as it staggered. Before the other could react, another shadow from the opposite end began to cut the mechs. Identical in shape to the first shadow, the two began a dance macabre that rendered the mass produced security suits to shreds and scrap metal as another person cleared out of a hallway carrying a large terminal.
"Oh Shalem, you and Phantom made it," the Doctor cheered seeing the Pythia run beside them. Held in his arms being a large case where a terminal main storage was.
"It would do well for OUR story to end without at least seeing the final act," Shalem replied as both he and the Doctor casted a quick glance as Lucien rejoined with his shadow before running ahead above them on the gangway. Projekt Red had also joined him, running on the opposite side, hands already holding knives ready to throw. Beside Shalem, the Doctor, and the Tin Man, Platinum and Scavenger ran interference. Any drones that came close were shot by Platinum, and Scaveger's axe took care of any robots or mechs that had come to try and stop them.
"What was the last time you saw before we left?" the Doctor shouted.
"Five minutes forty threes seconds!" Scavenger shouted back as she threw her axe at a mech, striking it dead center before kicking it back as she wrenched her weapon free. The Doctor did a rough calculation.
"Four minutes and twenty seconds left to get out of here! Give or take!"
"Give or take!?" The SWEEP operator roared. Another robot had attempted to grab her, but slipped out of its grip, grabbing it with her hands, she threw it at another encroaching machine.
"Erring on the side of less time is probably better!" Scavenger let out a hiss before she deftly avoided a swinging mechanical fist by sliding between the mech's legs. The lower lip of her axe caught the leg of the automaton, tripping it as she scrambled to her feet before seeing the door they had come through being guarded.
"We need another way out of here!" Scavenger shouted. "Too many fucking machines in the damn way!"
"Vehicle bay window, west in ten steps," Red spoke over the comms. "Clear with no enemies. Windows."
"Hook right to where Red said!" the Doctor commanded as Red and Lucien leapt off the gangway alongside the group. Arrows and fire rained overhead as well as pneumatic guns firing out at them from smaller flying drones. The Doctor let out a yelp as one of the bullets hit their shoulder before Red turned on her heel and threw a knife, downing the drone. Eventually the party skidded to a halt in front of the vehicle bay. The large open hanger had the steel doors shut, but the large bay windows remained. Scavenger hefting her axe intent on breaking through it, only for it to bounce off. She tried again, more desperately only for this time it got lodged before she had to kick and push it out.
"Fuck! Impact resistant!" she roared before trying in vain to hack her way with her axe through it. The Doctor nervously began to realize their limited options. In their attempt to have a smaller force, they neglected the utility of who they could bring to help, and now they might pay dearly for it.
Their thoughts ran a million miles a minute, but the wound to their shoulder was starting to make them light headed as Shalem used his shield to protect the group as best he could. Red and Lucien were doing their best to keep the encroaching drones and robots from overrunning them as the mental countdown in the Doctor's head continued to trickle down.
"We have a minute and a half to get out of this place." The sound of mechanical whirring and crunching steps grew closer as the many eyes stared back at the Doctor.
"Doctor, what's the plan?! Doctor!?"
For once, the Doctor didn't have a solution.