Begin The Procedure, OC/Canon fic, Chapter 14
Author's note: Ehehe, it's Chapter 14, yay! And now we get to see Luxuria. And there's already another SIN... Mostly, this chapter focuses on Markus, Valerie, and Elena, with very little on the guys back at Caduceus. :D But I'm working on these things, as well as things coming together and relationship development, as usual~ Hope you enjoy <33
Chapter 14: Under the Knife
The next day, Caduceus was filled with anxious chatter and generally in an uproar. People were passing on the news and occasionally adding their own opinion, or some rumour they’d heard, to the mix. Pretty much every department had their own opinion on it, which only added to the confusion most people were experiencing.
When Nicole had come in, she had the sense of something being up nearly straight away. Though she told herself she was just being ridiculous at first, it still bugged her, so she immediately went to Isabella. If anyone would know what was going on there, it would be her.
“Hey, Isabella.”
“Mm?”
“What’s going on exactly?”
“You didn’t hear?” Isabella asked, giving her a confused look.
“No. I mean, I heard people talking, but I don’t know what about.” she replied. “What’s going on?”
“Well...” There was a long pause before Isabella spoke again, which made Nicole just feel nervous. “The thing is... Markus, Valerie, and Elena didn’t come in today, which is so out of character for them. Then we got yet another note.”
“They didn’t come in...?” Nicole repeated as if she couldn’t understand. “But they wouldn’t do that... What does the note say?”
“It says “We have what we need. Judgement will be visited upon you soon enough. But we still need one other thing, which we will collect. Enjoy the time you have left.””
“So then, you don’t think that they were...” her voice trailed off. She didn’t want to say it.
“It seems likely.” Isabella sighed. “But the thing is, they have people working on this already. Director Quatro made sure of that as soon as she heard. So try not to worry too much. I know you guys are friends, but...”
“It’s okay, Isabella. I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Mmhmm.”
So she said, but she didn’t think that was true. First Dr. Angus, and now her other friends as well? She hoped that wherever they were, they were okay. The last thing she wanted was for any of them to get hurt, for anything to happen to them. The only thing that vaguely made her feel better was Markus’s words that she should keep going because Dr. Angus wouldn’t want her to be depressed. They were focused on one person, but she still figured it applied to all of them. And if she really admired him and the others, she would try to stay strong for them. That was all it came down to.
Meanwhile, Dr. Angus was paying a visit to his new “guests.”
“I know it’s early, but I’d like your assistance, doctors.” he began. “You see, a friend of mine has come down with the newest strain of the SIN virus, and I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind operating.”
“Like we have a choice.” Valerie muttered.
“Don’t be like that!” he said brightly. “You do have a choice. You either suffer, or you help the patient. It’s up to you.”
“Some choice.” Markus replied.
“Well, what do you think?”
“We’ll operate, but it’s not for your sake, believe me. I’m only doing this because of the patient.”
“Good. I’ll bring him in shortly.” Dr. Angus told them, and left.
“Great. Day one and we’re stuck in here with some nutcase that wants our help to develop this virus he’s working on.” Markus sighed. “Just another day, I guess.”
“Yeah, for us.” Valerie smiled. “We can make it through this. And another thing to consider is the fact that when we get back to Caduceus, we can tell them all about this new strain.”
“I didn’t think of that. You’re right, Val. We might be stuck here for a while, but we’ll do our best.”
Soon enough, the doctor returned with their first patient and the equipment they needed. “The strain you’re dealing with is in the stomach. It’s known as Luxuria, and you’ll figure out how it works soon enough.”
“Wow, that’s helpful.” Valerie said, giving him an unimpressed look.
“That sort of attitude won’t get you anywhere. It IS amusing though. Just be glad I don’t get angry easily.” He turned to Elena. “You’re the assistant, I guess?”
Elena nodded. “Yeah.”
“Then take the chart. I’ll leave you to get started, I’m sure you’ll do fine work.”
The door closed behind him, and Markus rolled his eyes.
“Well, at least we know where it is, plus Elena’s got the patient’s information.” Valerie said calmly. “Do you want to begin the briefing, Elena?”
“Of course, Dr. Blaylock. Our patient is 45 year old Tristan Santos.” She stared at the chart. “Mm. There’s not much useful information here. All we know is that his vitals seem to be unstable, both dipping and rising randomly, and the virus causing this currently inhabits his stomach. The rest of the data isn’t useful in coming up with a way to treat it.”
“Let’s give it a try anyway. We have nothing to lose.” Markus replied.
A quick incision revealed two oddly shaped viruses swimming about on the organ. They looked somewhat like stingrays, with flat arrow-shaped heads and long tails, and were a dull grey colour.
“They’re not even hiding... Why are they out in the open like that?” Elena said, confused. “Most of the other viruses we’ve seen hide in the organ at first.”
“They must be like Cheir or something. Maybe there’s a reason they don’t hide.” Valerie suggested.
Suddenly, the two viruses crashed into each other. As soon as they touched, they zipped off in opposite directions, leaving lacerations behind them.
“The patient’s vitals just dropped!” Elena gasped. “And it’s not just because of the cuts Luxuria made...”
“Hang on, let’s see what weakens these things. Elena, can you inject the stabiliser for me?” Markus asked her.
“Of course, Dr. Vaughn.”
“It looks similar to Cheir, so maybe the laser will work?” Valerie said.
“Yeah, let’s try it.” Markus agreed.
A hit with the laser stopped the Luxuria from moving around, much to everyone’s interest.
“So the laser just paralyses it... Try the scalpel, then!”
When one of the Luxuria was sliced by the scalpel, it wriggled in pain and then swam off. Its partner seemed to recover from the paralysis and swam away too.
“Huh. So we need to stop its movement with the laser and then attack it with the scalpel.” Valerie said thoughtfully. “Well, at least we know how it’s meant to be treated now.”
“I’ll suture the lacerations they just made, and then we can get on with treating them.” Markus replied, setting to work straight away.
Valerie stopped the Luxuria from moving and then sliced at the first one with the scalpel again. It wriggled in pain and vanished.
“The chiral reaction is definitely weakening!” Elena said, looking pleased.
Then the other Luxuria snapped out of its paralysis and began slashing wildly away, moving incredibly fast across the organ.
“So this is its little secret, I guess.” Markus commented. “When one of them gets destroyed, the other goes berserk. I’ll handle the Luxuria, Val, you just suture.”
“Okay, no problem.”
“Focus...” And there it was, that rush of concentration the Healing Touch brought with it. Markus easily kept up with the Luxuria, managing to damage it once, then a second time. Soon enough, it was gone. Then all that was left to do was help Valerie suture the wounds Luxuria created, and that was it.
“Chiral reaction is negative!” Elena’s voice was filled with relief. “Great job, everyone!”
“Let’s give him a once-over. After all, you said his vitals dropped despite Luxuria’s cuts.” Valerie interrupted.
“Right. I’ll use the ultrasound.”
With the ultrasound’s help, three or four tumours were revealed inside the stomach.
“So it makes tumours when it clashes with its partner, huh?” Valerie sighed, closing her eyes. “This shouldn’t be too bad. At least tumours aren’t that hard to treat.”
When they had extracted the tumours and given the patient a final injection of stabiliser, Valerie sutured and bandaged the incision.
“At least that’s over... And we’ve got some indication of what we’re up against.” Markus said, his tone frustrated despite the fact he looked perfectly calm.
Then the door to the room opened yet again, and the blonde man from the night before stepped into the room.
“Come to check on us?” Valerie asked him, her voice full of distaste. “Don’t worry, we did exactly what your boss asked us to do. We treated the patient. Happy?”
“Don’t be difficult with me. Unlike the boss, I don’t have time for your childish behaviour. You’re lucky you’re even alive.” the blonde man spat. “You pathetic sinners disgust me, if you weren’t as talented as you are, I’d have disposed of you long ago.”
“William, don’t be like that. The boss won’t be happy that you’re treating them like this.” a voice from the corridor reprimanded him.
“Tch, Sam, get in here!”
A shorter man entered the room, a bored look on his face. “What is it now?” he asked.
“Inform the boss that the operation’s complete. He’ll want to see how they did.”
“I’m on it.” Sam replied, before rushing back off down the corridor.
“Good to hear things are so well-organised around here.” Markus muttered, looking at William.
“You AND the woman now? Is everyone determined to piss me off?” William growled. “Keep this up and I swear you’ll be the next experiment, you - ”
“That’s enough, William.” The voice that interrupted William’s rant was calm but cold. “I’ll take it from here.”
William stared at Dr. Angus as if he’d seen a ghost. “I-I’m sorry, sir! I didn’t notice you were there!”
“Go. We’ll discuss this later.”
William gave him a quick bow and rushed from the room.
“Forgive his bad attitude. He’s a good man, but he has trouble controlling his temper at times.”
“I can believe that.” Valerie replied.
“Anyway, thank you for your help. I’ll take the patient so you three can be by yourselves.”
The door closed once again.
“It’s kind of creepy how he switches from friendly to “I’m going to kill you” serious...”
“You’re telling me. But it looks like that’s all he wanted from us for now.” Markus said, sitting down in the corner. “And at least we managed to defeat that thing, that’s always a plus.”
“Are you still feeling okay? After all, you did have to use the Healing Touch during the operation.”
“Yeah. My head hurts a little, but I think that might be because I didn’t sleep too well.”
“What’s wrong, Dr. Vaughn?” Elena wanted to know, looking at him.
Markus did his best to give her a sincere smile. “Nothing, Elena. I think I was just out of it. I was more worried about you and Valerie than anything else, really. I didn’t... I don’t... want you to go through this again.”
“We’re tough, Dr. Vaughn! Dr. Blaylock and I can handle this!”
“Yeah, quit worrying.” Valerie smiled.
“And I’m worried about the others too. Everyone at Caduceus...”
“Look, we’ll get out of here.” Valerie replied, sitting beside him and putting an arm around his shoulder. “Don’t worry. No matter what life throws at us, we can handle it. Just do your best to think positively and look on the bright side. They can’t keep us here forever - we’ll either break out or they’ll let us out.”
“What are you going to do, Val? Anaesthetise them?” he laughed. “That might stop them for a while, but then they’re going to come after us again!”
“Then I’ll fight them off with the scalpels until you two can go get help!”
“Who knows, it might work.”
“I doubt it, but we can dream, huh?”
“Thanks, Val.” Markus said after a short silence. “What you said made me feel a lot better.”
“Any time.”
Though he said that, there was still some part of him that was afraid. Afraid that someone at Caduceus was going to get hurt because of them being kidnapped, and afraid that this man was really Dr. Angus and was planning to use Nicole as part of his plan. He didn’t want to see anyone get hurt, like he’d said before... But especially not friends.
And at Caduceus, everything was running as smoothly as could be expected with the sudden disappearance of three of its members. Dr. Tsuji and Dr. Everett were handling things amazingly well in the surgical department, and the tasks and operations that had been set down for their missing friends were split between all the available personnel. Though they were all upset about it, they kept going and did their best with work. Nicole, however, couldn’t help being distracted. Already today she’d accidentally given someone the wrong information, then had to head back to the research department to find the information they’d actually asked for.
“Are you even awake today?” Isabella asked her once she’d returned. “You’ve been out of it since this morning.”
“Sorry, I’ll try and pay more attention...”
“Good to hear it! And besides, you don’t want to get into trouble from Dr. Cromwell, do you?”
“Not particularly.” Nicole replied. “I don’t feel like having to listen to another one of his rants.”
“Exactly.” Isabella’s tone became gentle. “Nicole, I know you’re worried about them. I don’t blame you. But just try and keep going. They’ll come back. They did the last time, and they will this time.”
“Yeah, you’re right, Isabella. See you later.”
“See you.”
Isabella sighed as she sat down to her work. Best to just get on with things and let events take their course, as worried as she was. Even with people missing, Caduceus was still a fully-functional group that was more than capable of handling itself.
Nicole did her best to keep focused and by forcing herself to think only of what she was doing at the time, she managed to keep her anxiety under control. That helped her get a lot of the work done, and Cynthia and Dr. Cromwell were pleased that she seemed to be doing better than she had earlier in the day. During breaks between tasks her focus slipped badly, though she tried her best to keep it under control.
The rest of the afternoon seemed to creep by horrifically slowly, which only made the whole thing more unpleasant. In fact, it seemed for a lot of the group that time was slowing to a crawl mainly because of the anxiety they were feeling and the amount of tension in the air.
Elsewhere, William and Sam were presenting the boss with the information they’d received from the operation.
“So you see, sir, the fact that these symptoms showed up like this is a good sign. And the fact that Luxuria caused so much damage before being defeated is also positive. Plus, if we compare the patient’s vitals from before and after the operation, we can see that there’s quite a large difference.” William said triumphantly. “This shows that Luxuria has significant potential for fatalities, like Socordia.”
“I see. And Luxuria is developing well, I assume?”
“Yes, we’re already seeing slight changes in its physical form.”
“Good, good. And X4?”
“We’re about halfway through the development process currently.” Sam replied, shuffling a bit. “We expect the patient to start exhibiting symptoms very soon, especially considering that Luxuria is already maturing.”
“Yes, thank you.” Dr. Angus stood up, stepping away from his desk in the dusty, dull room. “And are you planning to release Luxuria itself soon?”
“Yes, sir, hopefully by tomorrow thanks to this information.”
“Good.” he smiled at the two of them. “Everything is going according to plan, then. This really has brightened things up. You may go.”
The pair headed down the corridor, past the painting of the old man that it shared with the rooms. The building was just as grand inside as it was outside, but it was a faded, decayed thing. There were several rooms along the corridor, most empty except from lab equipment and information. Some contained the people they were experimenting on.
“I’m relieved he was pleased with that one. I was worried for a moment there.” Sam said to William.
“The boss wouldn’t hurt us. You know him. And besides, we’re not sinners.”
“You’ve got a point, but damn can he be scary when he wants to be.”
“We’d better check on the prisoners, make sure they’re doing okay.” William reminded him.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
When they arrived outside the room after collecting the necessary equipment, William typed in the access code in the control panel and, once the door was unlocked, heaved it open.
“Good to see you again.” Valerie said sarcastically.
“How are you doing?”
“Fine, thanks.”
“I’m not being funny. I just want to check that none of you have Luxuria.” he said icily. “Come here.”
Valerie stood up and walked over, not in the mood to cause an argument.
“Vitals are normal, pulse is normal, doesn’t seem to have any of the symptoms, and the chiral reaction for Luxuria is negative.” William muttered to Sam.
“Got it.”
“You, Blondie. Your turn. Come over here.” William called to Elena, who gave both Markus and Valerie nervous looks. “I’m not gonna wait all day. Move it!”
“You’ll be fine, Elena. They’re not going to hurt you.” Valerie told her, a threat indirectly aimed at the two men.
“Okay...”
“Vitals are normal, pulse is the same, no Luxuria symptoms present and a negative chiral reaction. Good. Now you, come over here.”
“Wow, I don’t even get a name.” Markus joked. He too was found to be okay, which seemed to make the two pleased.
“Can’t have you getting sick now, can we?” Sam chirped as he and William disappeared behind the heavy door.
“They’ve obviously got what they want.” Markus commented as he went to sit back between Elena and Valerie, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes. “They’re not interested in us at the moment.”
“I think I prefer them ignoring us, to be honest.” Valerie replied, sighing. “At least we’re safe - the fact that they’re checking us to make sure we’re okay means they’re not interested in killing us, for now, anyway.”
Elena gave her a worried look. “Do you think that would happen, Dr. Blaylock? Do you really think they would try and kill us?”
Realising what she’d said, Valerie put a hand to her mouth and let out a little gasp of shock. “Oh, Elena, I was just thinking out loud! I don’t think they’ll kill us... I’m pretty sure of that anyway. I’m sorry for scaring you.”
“Yeah, as nuts as they seem to be, I don’t think killing their prisoners is on their agenda.” Markus added helpfully.
“I’m sorry... It’s just easy to think negatively when we’re trapped like this.” Elena murmured, staring at her feet. “I shouldn’t...”
Markus took her hand, giving it a friendly squeeze, and she looked at Valerie so he couldn’t see her blushing. “Elena, we’re only human. It’s natural to be scared. Just don’t let it take over. And we’ve got each other - you, me, and Val. So if there’s something on your mind, you can talk to me.” He chuckled and let go of her hand. “Or if it’s embarrassing, talk to Val.”
“Shut up, Markus, you weirdo!” Valerie said, but a smile spread across her face anyway. “You’re a DOCTOR, remember? You’re meant to be good at dealing with anything you come across!”
“It’s easier when it’s someone you don’t know!”
“Then just pretend you don’t know Elena!”
“Can we stop discussing my pretend problem now?” Elena laughed. “I’m going to start thinking I actually do have something wrong with me!”
“Yeah, we’ll drop it.” Markus replied. “Obviously I’m not that good at cheering people up.”
“It made me smile, Dr. Vaughn, and Dr. Blaylock found it funny...”
“Which is surprising, Markus, because usually your jokes suck.”
“I’m not saying anything.” Markus said, grinning.
“Glad to hear it.” Valerie replied.
As another busy work day at Caduceus ended, everyone headed back home. It was a relief for most of them to escape the building - now they didn’t have to worry about all of the problems they faced and they could leave their work behind.
At least for the rest of the evening, anyway. The only one who felt like she couldn’t was Nicole. She’d promised herself that she wouldn’t worry, or at the very least not too much, but the whole missing thing was still pretty much in the front of her mind. Once again, as she fell asleep, she couldn’t help but hope that everyone was going to be okay. They could do it. If anyone could, they could. That’s what she told herself anyway.
Next chapter
Previous chapter
Chapter 14: Under the Knife
The next day, Caduceus was filled with anxious chatter and generally in an uproar. People were passing on the news and occasionally adding their own opinion, or some rumour they’d heard, to the mix. Pretty much every department had their own opinion on it, which only added to the confusion most people were experiencing.
When Nicole had come in, she had the sense of something being up nearly straight away. Though she told herself she was just being ridiculous at first, it still bugged her, so she immediately went to Isabella. If anyone would know what was going on there, it would be her.
“Hey, Isabella.”
“Mm?”
“What’s going on exactly?”
“You didn’t hear?” Isabella asked, giving her a confused look.
“No. I mean, I heard people talking, but I don’t know what about.” she replied. “What’s going on?”
“Well...” There was a long pause before Isabella spoke again, which made Nicole just feel nervous. “The thing is... Markus, Valerie, and Elena didn’t come in today, which is so out of character for them. Then we got yet another note.”
“They didn’t come in...?” Nicole repeated as if she couldn’t understand. “But they wouldn’t do that... What does the note say?”
“It says “We have what we need. Judgement will be visited upon you soon enough. But we still need one other thing, which we will collect. Enjoy the time you have left.””
“So then, you don’t think that they were...” her voice trailed off. She didn’t want to say it.
“It seems likely.” Isabella sighed. “But the thing is, they have people working on this already. Director Quatro made sure of that as soon as she heard. So try not to worry too much. I know you guys are friends, but...”
“It’s okay, Isabella. I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Mmhmm.”
So she said, but she didn’t think that was true. First Dr. Angus, and now her other friends as well? She hoped that wherever they were, they were okay. The last thing she wanted was for any of them to get hurt, for anything to happen to them. The only thing that vaguely made her feel better was Markus’s words that she should keep going because Dr. Angus wouldn’t want her to be depressed. They were focused on one person, but she still figured it applied to all of them. And if she really admired him and the others, she would try to stay strong for them. That was all it came down to.
Meanwhile, Dr. Angus was paying a visit to his new “guests.”
“I know it’s early, but I’d like your assistance, doctors.” he began. “You see, a friend of mine has come down with the newest strain of the SIN virus, and I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind operating.”
“Like we have a choice.” Valerie muttered.
“Don’t be like that!” he said brightly. “You do have a choice. You either suffer, or you help the patient. It’s up to you.”
“Some choice.” Markus replied.
“Well, what do you think?”
“We’ll operate, but it’s not for your sake, believe me. I’m only doing this because of the patient.”
“Good. I’ll bring him in shortly.” Dr. Angus told them, and left.
“Great. Day one and we’re stuck in here with some nutcase that wants our help to develop this virus he’s working on.” Markus sighed. “Just another day, I guess.”
“Yeah, for us.” Valerie smiled. “We can make it through this. And another thing to consider is the fact that when we get back to Caduceus, we can tell them all about this new strain.”
“I didn’t think of that. You’re right, Val. We might be stuck here for a while, but we’ll do our best.”
Soon enough, the doctor returned with their first patient and the equipment they needed. “The strain you’re dealing with is in the stomach. It’s known as Luxuria, and you’ll figure out how it works soon enough.”
“Wow, that’s helpful.” Valerie said, giving him an unimpressed look.
“That sort of attitude won’t get you anywhere. It IS amusing though. Just be glad I don’t get angry easily.” He turned to Elena. “You’re the assistant, I guess?”
Elena nodded. “Yeah.”
“Then take the chart. I’ll leave you to get started, I’m sure you’ll do fine work.”
The door closed behind him, and Markus rolled his eyes.
“Well, at least we know where it is, plus Elena’s got the patient’s information.” Valerie said calmly. “Do you want to begin the briefing, Elena?”
“Of course, Dr. Blaylock. Our patient is 45 year old Tristan Santos.” She stared at the chart. “Mm. There’s not much useful information here. All we know is that his vitals seem to be unstable, both dipping and rising randomly, and the virus causing this currently inhabits his stomach. The rest of the data isn’t useful in coming up with a way to treat it.”
“Let’s give it a try anyway. We have nothing to lose.” Markus replied.
A quick incision revealed two oddly shaped viruses swimming about on the organ. They looked somewhat like stingrays, with flat arrow-shaped heads and long tails, and were a dull grey colour.
“They’re not even hiding... Why are they out in the open like that?” Elena said, confused. “Most of the other viruses we’ve seen hide in the organ at first.”
“They must be like Cheir or something. Maybe there’s a reason they don’t hide.” Valerie suggested.
Suddenly, the two viruses crashed into each other. As soon as they touched, they zipped off in opposite directions, leaving lacerations behind them.
“The patient’s vitals just dropped!” Elena gasped. “And it’s not just because of the cuts Luxuria made...”
“Hang on, let’s see what weakens these things. Elena, can you inject the stabiliser for me?” Markus asked her.
“Of course, Dr. Vaughn.”
“It looks similar to Cheir, so maybe the laser will work?” Valerie said.
“Yeah, let’s try it.” Markus agreed.
A hit with the laser stopped the Luxuria from moving around, much to everyone’s interest.
“So the laser just paralyses it... Try the scalpel, then!”
When one of the Luxuria was sliced by the scalpel, it wriggled in pain and then swam off. Its partner seemed to recover from the paralysis and swam away too.
“Huh. So we need to stop its movement with the laser and then attack it with the scalpel.” Valerie said thoughtfully. “Well, at least we know how it’s meant to be treated now.”
“I’ll suture the lacerations they just made, and then we can get on with treating them.” Markus replied, setting to work straight away.
Valerie stopped the Luxuria from moving and then sliced at the first one with the scalpel again. It wriggled in pain and vanished.
“The chiral reaction is definitely weakening!” Elena said, looking pleased.
Then the other Luxuria snapped out of its paralysis and began slashing wildly away, moving incredibly fast across the organ.
“So this is its little secret, I guess.” Markus commented. “When one of them gets destroyed, the other goes berserk. I’ll handle the Luxuria, Val, you just suture.”
“Okay, no problem.”
“Focus...” And there it was, that rush of concentration the Healing Touch brought with it. Markus easily kept up with the Luxuria, managing to damage it once, then a second time. Soon enough, it was gone. Then all that was left to do was help Valerie suture the wounds Luxuria created, and that was it.
“Chiral reaction is negative!” Elena’s voice was filled with relief. “Great job, everyone!”
“Let’s give him a once-over. After all, you said his vitals dropped despite Luxuria’s cuts.” Valerie interrupted.
“Right. I’ll use the ultrasound.”
With the ultrasound’s help, three or four tumours were revealed inside the stomach.
“So it makes tumours when it clashes with its partner, huh?” Valerie sighed, closing her eyes. “This shouldn’t be too bad. At least tumours aren’t that hard to treat.”
When they had extracted the tumours and given the patient a final injection of stabiliser, Valerie sutured and bandaged the incision.
“At least that’s over... And we’ve got some indication of what we’re up against.” Markus said, his tone frustrated despite the fact he looked perfectly calm.
Then the door to the room opened yet again, and the blonde man from the night before stepped into the room.
“Come to check on us?” Valerie asked him, her voice full of distaste. “Don’t worry, we did exactly what your boss asked us to do. We treated the patient. Happy?”
“Don’t be difficult with me. Unlike the boss, I don’t have time for your childish behaviour. You’re lucky you’re even alive.” the blonde man spat. “You pathetic sinners disgust me, if you weren’t as talented as you are, I’d have disposed of you long ago.”
“William, don’t be like that. The boss won’t be happy that you’re treating them like this.” a voice from the corridor reprimanded him.
“Tch, Sam, get in here!”
A shorter man entered the room, a bored look on his face. “What is it now?” he asked.
“Inform the boss that the operation’s complete. He’ll want to see how they did.”
“I’m on it.” Sam replied, before rushing back off down the corridor.
“Good to hear things are so well-organised around here.” Markus muttered, looking at William.
“You AND the woman now? Is everyone determined to piss me off?” William growled. “Keep this up and I swear you’ll be the next experiment, you - ”
“That’s enough, William.” The voice that interrupted William’s rant was calm but cold. “I’ll take it from here.”
William stared at Dr. Angus as if he’d seen a ghost. “I-I’m sorry, sir! I didn’t notice you were there!”
“Go. We’ll discuss this later.”
William gave him a quick bow and rushed from the room.
“Forgive his bad attitude. He’s a good man, but he has trouble controlling his temper at times.”
“I can believe that.” Valerie replied.
“Anyway, thank you for your help. I’ll take the patient so you three can be by yourselves.”
The door closed once again.
“It’s kind of creepy how he switches from friendly to “I’m going to kill you” serious...”
“You’re telling me. But it looks like that’s all he wanted from us for now.” Markus said, sitting down in the corner. “And at least we managed to defeat that thing, that’s always a plus.”
“Are you still feeling okay? After all, you did have to use the Healing Touch during the operation.”
“Yeah. My head hurts a little, but I think that might be because I didn’t sleep too well.”
“What’s wrong, Dr. Vaughn?” Elena wanted to know, looking at him.
Markus did his best to give her a sincere smile. “Nothing, Elena. I think I was just out of it. I was more worried about you and Valerie than anything else, really. I didn’t... I don’t... want you to go through this again.”
“We’re tough, Dr. Vaughn! Dr. Blaylock and I can handle this!”
“Yeah, quit worrying.” Valerie smiled.
“And I’m worried about the others too. Everyone at Caduceus...”
“Look, we’ll get out of here.” Valerie replied, sitting beside him and putting an arm around his shoulder. “Don’t worry. No matter what life throws at us, we can handle it. Just do your best to think positively and look on the bright side. They can’t keep us here forever - we’ll either break out or they’ll let us out.”
“What are you going to do, Val? Anaesthetise them?” he laughed. “That might stop them for a while, but then they’re going to come after us again!”
“Then I’ll fight them off with the scalpels until you two can go get help!”
“Who knows, it might work.”
“I doubt it, but we can dream, huh?”
“Thanks, Val.” Markus said after a short silence. “What you said made me feel a lot better.”
“Any time.”
Though he said that, there was still some part of him that was afraid. Afraid that someone at Caduceus was going to get hurt because of them being kidnapped, and afraid that this man was really Dr. Angus and was planning to use Nicole as part of his plan. He didn’t want to see anyone get hurt, like he’d said before... But especially not friends.
And at Caduceus, everything was running as smoothly as could be expected with the sudden disappearance of three of its members. Dr. Tsuji and Dr. Everett were handling things amazingly well in the surgical department, and the tasks and operations that had been set down for their missing friends were split between all the available personnel. Though they were all upset about it, they kept going and did their best with work. Nicole, however, couldn’t help being distracted. Already today she’d accidentally given someone the wrong information, then had to head back to the research department to find the information they’d actually asked for.
“Are you even awake today?” Isabella asked her once she’d returned. “You’ve been out of it since this morning.”
“Sorry, I’ll try and pay more attention...”
“Good to hear it! And besides, you don’t want to get into trouble from Dr. Cromwell, do you?”
“Not particularly.” Nicole replied. “I don’t feel like having to listen to another one of his rants.”
“Exactly.” Isabella’s tone became gentle. “Nicole, I know you’re worried about them. I don’t blame you. But just try and keep going. They’ll come back. They did the last time, and they will this time.”
“Yeah, you’re right, Isabella. See you later.”
“See you.”
Isabella sighed as she sat down to her work. Best to just get on with things and let events take their course, as worried as she was. Even with people missing, Caduceus was still a fully-functional group that was more than capable of handling itself.
Nicole did her best to keep focused and by forcing herself to think only of what she was doing at the time, she managed to keep her anxiety under control. That helped her get a lot of the work done, and Cynthia and Dr. Cromwell were pleased that she seemed to be doing better than she had earlier in the day. During breaks between tasks her focus slipped badly, though she tried her best to keep it under control.
The rest of the afternoon seemed to creep by horrifically slowly, which only made the whole thing more unpleasant. In fact, it seemed for a lot of the group that time was slowing to a crawl mainly because of the anxiety they were feeling and the amount of tension in the air.
Elsewhere, William and Sam were presenting the boss with the information they’d received from the operation.
“So you see, sir, the fact that these symptoms showed up like this is a good sign. And the fact that Luxuria caused so much damage before being defeated is also positive. Plus, if we compare the patient’s vitals from before and after the operation, we can see that there’s quite a large difference.” William said triumphantly. “This shows that Luxuria has significant potential for fatalities, like Socordia.”
“I see. And Luxuria is developing well, I assume?”
“Yes, we’re already seeing slight changes in its physical form.”
“Good, good. And X4?”
“We’re about halfway through the development process currently.” Sam replied, shuffling a bit. “We expect the patient to start exhibiting symptoms very soon, especially considering that Luxuria is already maturing.”
“Yes, thank you.” Dr. Angus stood up, stepping away from his desk in the dusty, dull room. “And are you planning to release Luxuria itself soon?”
“Yes, sir, hopefully by tomorrow thanks to this information.”
“Good.” he smiled at the two of them. “Everything is going according to plan, then. This really has brightened things up. You may go.”
The pair headed down the corridor, past the painting of the old man that it shared with the rooms. The building was just as grand inside as it was outside, but it was a faded, decayed thing. There were several rooms along the corridor, most empty except from lab equipment and information. Some contained the people they were experimenting on.
“I’m relieved he was pleased with that one. I was worried for a moment there.” Sam said to William.
“The boss wouldn’t hurt us. You know him. And besides, we’re not sinners.”
“You’ve got a point, but damn can he be scary when he wants to be.”
“We’d better check on the prisoners, make sure they’re doing okay.” William reminded him.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
When they arrived outside the room after collecting the necessary equipment, William typed in the access code in the control panel and, once the door was unlocked, heaved it open.
“Good to see you again.” Valerie said sarcastically.
“How are you doing?”
“Fine, thanks.”
“I’m not being funny. I just want to check that none of you have Luxuria.” he said icily. “Come here.”
Valerie stood up and walked over, not in the mood to cause an argument.
“Vitals are normal, pulse is normal, doesn’t seem to have any of the symptoms, and the chiral reaction for Luxuria is negative.” William muttered to Sam.
“Got it.”
“You, Blondie. Your turn. Come over here.” William called to Elena, who gave both Markus and Valerie nervous looks. “I’m not gonna wait all day. Move it!”
“You’ll be fine, Elena. They’re not going to hurt you.” Valerie told her, a threat indirectly aimed at the two men.
“Okay...”
“Vitals are normal, pulse is the same, no Luxuria symptoms present and a negative chiral reaction. Good. Now you, come over here.”
“Wow, I don’t even get a name.” Markus joked. He too was found to be okay, which seemed to make the two pleased.
“Can’t have you getting sick now, can we?” Sam chirped as he and William disappeared behind the heavy door.
“They’ve obviously got what they want.” Markus commented as he went to sit back between Elena and Valerie, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes. “They’re not interested in us at the moment.”
“I think I prefer them ignoring us, to be honest.” Valerie replied, sighing. “At least we’re safe - the fact that they’re checking us to make sure we’re okay means they’re not interested in killing us, for now, anyway.”
Elena gave her a worried look. “Do you think that would happen, Dr. Blaylock? Do you really think they would try and kill us?”
Realising what she’d said, Valerie put a hand to her mouth and let out a little gasp of shock. “Oh, Elena, I was just thinking out loud! I don’t think they’ll kill us... I’m pretty sure of that anyway. I’m sorry for scaring you.”
“Yeah, as nuts as they seem to be, I don’t think killing their prisoners is on their agenda.” Markus added helpfully.
“I’m sorry... It’s just easy to think negatively when we’re trapped like this.” Elena murmured, staring at her feet. “I shouldn’t...”
Markus took her hand, giving it a friendly squeeze, and she looked at Valerie so he couldn’t see her blushing. “Elena, we’re only human. It’s natural to be scared. Just don’t let it take over. And we’ve got each other - you, me, and Val. So if there’s something on your mind, you can talk to me.” He chuckled and let go of her hand. “Or if it’s embarrassing, talk to Val.”
“Shut up, Markus, you weirdo!” Valerie said, but a smile spread across her face anyway. “You’re a DOCTOR, remember? You’re meant to be good at dealing with anything you come across!”
“It’s easier when it’s someone you don’t know!”
“Then just pretend you don’t know Elena!”
“Can we stop discussing my pretend problem now?” Elena laughed. “I’m going to start thinking I actually do have something wrong with me!”
“Yeah, we’ll drop it.” Markus replied. “Obviously I’m not that good at cheering people up.”
“It made me smile, Dr. Vaughn, and Dr. Blaylock found it funny...”
“Which is surprising, Markus, because usually your jokes suck.”
“I’m not saying anything.” Markus said, grinning.
“Glad to hear it.” Valerie replied.
As another busy work day at Caduceus ended, everyone headed back home. It was a relief for most of them to escape the building - now they didn’t have to worry about all of the problems they faced and they could leave their work behind.
At least for the rest of the evening, anyway. The only one who felt like she couldn’t was Nicole. She’d promised herself that she wouldn’t worry, or at the very least not too much, but the whole missing thing was still pretty much in the front of her mind. Once again, as she fell asleep, she couldn’t help but hope that everyone was going to be okay. They could do it. If anyone could, they could. That’s what she told herself anyway.
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