Assignment: Oblivion! Part Deux

I'm not fired. Actually, Liza Jane said most agents mess up on their first assignment. Well, she said "fuck up" but yeah, I guess it wasn't as terrible as I thought. Still terrible, just not as terrible.

So on with the story: we went to this hospital to look for an Oathbreaker. Me and Aladdin Sane.

He didn't really talk much, but he did give me some advice. "Don't get rattled," he said. "Worse thing you can do is panic and start shooting. Oathbreakers are human anyway, so there's really no need to be worried. We're just here to find him and arrest him."

I was still nervous. "What if..." I paused. "What if they call the Plague Doctor here or something?"

"First of all," he said, "I don't think they can call PD any time they want. Second, if it does show up...get out of there and get out fast. That requires complete evacuation of the hospital. For those situations, we usually call in a bomb threat and then wait for it to go away."

A bomb threat? Holy crap, I thought. What the hell have I gotten myself into.

We met some agents from the local FBI branch when we got to the hospital. They didn't know why exactly we were arresting some doctor, but we had already told them it was due to "national security reasons." (Sometimes Big Brother really is looking out for you.)

Then we split up. I know, I know: stupid move, Scooby Doo. But it was a huge hospital and we all had guns and there was just supposed to be one Oathbreaker. So sue us.

Of course, I ended up being the one to find him. It was just plain luck, actually - I realized halfway through the search that I had to go to the bathroom and when I finished, I noticed that the door to the room next to the bathroom was ajar. I peeked through and saw him.

Per his file, his name was Dr. John Adams and he was forty-six, had graying brown hair and brown eyes. He was also holding a large syringe and preparing to inject what looked like a comatose patient.

"Freeze," I said and burst through the door with my gun out. My heart was beating faster than it had ever done before. "Drop the syringe."

"You don't want me to do that," Dr. Adams said calmly, raising both hands. "You don't know what you're dealing with here actually."

"You're an Oathbreaker."

"Ah," he said, "you're not the usual authorities. Let me guess: the SMSC, correct? I knew I would eventually attract your attention, but now is not really a good time, you know. This patient needs to be moved to a more secure location."

"You're not going anywhere," I said, trying to sound as much like Dirty Harry as I could. It didn't really work.

Dr. Adams raised one eyebrow and continued talking. "You see, this patient has been infected with something and, well, if I don't inject him and then move him, very soon it's going to hatch."

"I said...wait, hatch?"

"Yes," he said, "I believe the common term for this organism is the Manufactured Newborn. We've been experimenting with it, but it's quite dangerous, you see. In..." He looked at his watch. "...about two minutes, it will emerge from this man's body and continue to grow."

I swallowed. "How do I know you're not lying?" I asked. "That syringe could kill him."

"He's already dead, Miss," Dr. Adams said, "the Newborn has eaten all his internal organs. If you want, I can show you an X-ray, but we really don't have time. I suggest you let me take him back to the Crumbling Castle before you have a full-blown incident on your hands."

What the hell was I going to do? I could arrest him and potentially let out a monster that could kill dozens of people or I could let him go, knowing full well that he experimented with and killed a man (probably more than one). So I took a third option.

"I have to call this in," I said and took out my walkie-talkie. I asked for Aladdin Sane and said I had found Dr. Adams and mentioned that there might be a "Mike November" problem as well.

"Are you positive?" Sane asked.

"No," I said. "He could be lying, but...why?"

"Ma'am," Dr. Adams said as he waved one hand. I lowered the walkie-talkie. "I just wanted to point out that two minutes have passed."

"Nothing's happened," I said. "Was it a lie?"

"If you remember," Dr. Adams said, "I said about two minutes."

I looked from him down to the patient. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with him except for the fact he was comatose. And then I noticed it: his stomach. It was rippling.


"Shit," I said and spoke into the walkie, "He wasn't lying."

There was a squawk on the radio and then I heard Sane say, "Get out. Get out now."

And then the patient's stomach exploded.

I don't really remember much after that, but I do remember the thing that emerged looked like it was using his ribcage as a torso. Dr. Adams died pretty much instantly, I think. It...it ripped out his eyes.

I couldn't move at first. I just...I just stood there paralyzed. And then I felt a hand on my shoulder and someone pulling me and then I was able to turn around and run. I later realized it was Sane who did it. He pretty much saved my life.

We ended up evacuating the hospital and waiting for the Newborn to consume enough and grow enough until it could leave. Afterwards, the place looked like a warzone. But the only casualties were the patient (whose name, unfortunately, I still don't know) and Dr. Adams.

I really want to hate him. I mean, he experimented on people. He was responsible for the whole thing. But...but he wanted to move the patient. Perhaps he just wanted to minimize exposure or maybe he really didn't want anyone else hurt. I don't know.

When I got back, I was debriefed for about two days and then had to write my report and deliver it. Then, since I was in charge of filing, I went and filed copies of my report.

I found Lunete in the break room. She took one look at me and gave me a big hug.

It was the best hug I've ever had.

Updates

It's been, what, two months since I last updated? Wow, where has the time gone.

Well, mostly to filing. And more filing. And even more filing.

And training. Yeah, I've been to the shooting range before, but I after the academy, I sort of stopped going and haven't practiced in a while. Now that I'm in a...stranger department, I figured I needed to bump up on my accuracy and range. So it's gotten to be a tradition that Saturdays are Shooting Days - me and Lunete go to the shooting range and practice shooting paper targets.

Oh, yeah, I didn't mention Lunete yet. Well, ever since she joined as liaison to the Special Ministry, we've kind of gotten to be friends. She occasionally helps me file stuff and I let her talk about what it was like back in London. I guess I'm more of the ear for her to talk to, but hey, everyone needs someone to listen to them.

As for Aladdin Sane...well, he tends to leave me alone most days. Some days he will talk to me gruffly, but he stays in his office and...does stuff. Research, I think. Sometimes, he will go out on a trip, but he won't tell me where he's going. I have a feeling that they give him assignments that other agents don't want.

Of course, all that changed last Friday. That's when I got my first active assignment.

I had everything pretty much sorted by BUE. And then there was a knock and Liza Jane entered. "Grinning Soul," she said, "I know we had you occupied with this stuff-" She gestured around the room at the various files. "-but we need you on an assignment now." She handed me a manila folder. "Flight leaves Monday, make sure you've read everything by then. Agent Sane will meet you at the airport."

Reading everything wasn't the problem. It's making sure my teeth aren't chattering or my skin isn't shivering. It's making sure I am not scared out of my wits.

Because all those reports I've been sorting and filing? I've gotten good looks at them. Really good looks. I've read some things that gave me nightmares and still give my shivers whenever I think of them. I kept myself from being scared by saying that I'm just a glorified file clerk. I got out any excess fear by going to the shooting range. I didn't think that I would actually be going on an active assignment.

And Aladdin Sane's coming with me. I don't know how I going to handle this.

...probably with a lot of booze.

Lunete

She poked her head into the files room, where I had eventually retreated to safety. She was beautiful: tall, blonde, thin. Almost the exact opposite of me.

"I'm sorry," she said in a British accent. "Is this the records room?"

"Yes," I said. "Are you the liaison from the General Ministry?"

She smiled and said, "The accent gave it away, didn't it?" She stuck out her hand and said, "I'm Lunete."

"Lady Grinning Soul," I said. To her credit, she didn't chuckle at the unusual codename. To stave off the inevitable awkward silence, I said, "I like your name."

"She was the handmaiden of Laudine, the Lady of the Fountain," Lunete said, "who was the wife of Ywaine, the Knight of the Lion."

"Oh," I said. I hadn't realized it was a codename, but it made sense.

"Yeah," Lunete said. "The men get great names like Percival and Agravain, while the women are left with the names of wives and handmaidens. Not many powerful women in Arthurian myths." I liked her already. "Anyway, I'm here to help with the information exchange. They said you were in charge of the file organization?"

"Um, yeah," I said. I gestured to the file folders, which were stacked haphazardly. I could see Lunete's face fall. "It was worse before I got here."

"You don't everything backed up on a computer?" Lunete asked.

"Um," I thought back to what Liza Jane had told me when I asked her the same thing. "Too much risk from...Thoughtborn?"

"Ah," Lunete said, as if that explained everything. "Well, let me help you then. I don't think I have anything better to do. If I stay out in open any longer, I'm afraid I may get ogled to death."

So I made a new British friend. Yay.