Chapter Text
Ami flips through the file for the umpteenth time, clicking on the backseat overhead light of his escort. He scans the words looking right back at him. He’s a great agent. He knows this. He keeps things secret, he’s cut ties with loose-lipped friends, he wakes up before the sun just in case he gets a new job. That's just the thing, he’s always so careful and punctual and prepared. So what business does the director have to put him in this second-hand, backwater hospital?
Really, this place is sickly. He’s heard terrible things. The "corporation" has been using it to conduct underground experiments in the eye of the public, just under their noses. Granted, that's all he knows. It’s why he's so peeved. He’s been kept in the dark for most of this hospital's operations; he can't help but feel like he’s also a part of this twisted experiment.
“You okay, man?” The driver meets Ami’s eyes in the rearview mirror. Ami must look as stressed as he feels. “You’ve read that thing like nine times. I guess it’s not my business.”
Ami faces contorts in sudden frustration. “It’s not. Where are we?” He jams the pad of his finger into the button on the ceiling of the car. The light cuts out. He unbuckles his seat belt and braces a paw on the empty passenger seat in the front of the Camry, ignoring the escort's curses to sit back and be careful. He looks out at the road and the quiet city sleeping around them.
The escort scoffs as he’s ignored. “We’re almost there. You need to relax.” Ami’s ears jut outwards, but he holds his tongue.
He practically throws himself into the backseat, crossing his arms over his chest and crinkling the file. “Just watch over things,” he whispers to himself, mocking the words of his director. “I’ll watch over things so hard.”
Within the next few moments, the car slows to a stop in front of a brightly lit hospital parking lot. Ami wastes little time in crawling out through the backseat and staring at his newest case. He’s supposed to work on it for six months at least. If he doesn’t lose his mind.
The escort rolls down the window of the passenger seat, leaning toward Ami. “I’m gonna go drop this stuff off at your apartment! You know the address?” He just gets the file thrown into the seat beside him with a dismissive wave.
Ami watches the car roll away before turning back toward the hospital. He sighs quietly to himself and presses the side of a curled fist to his mouth. “This will be the worst case I’ve worked. I know it.” With great hesitancy, he takes his first steps toward the building. There are only a few cars in the parking lot. Four in the reserved spots, two in the main body of the parking lot. One taking up two spots. Ami scoffs at the sight.
Slowly he pushes open the tinted glass door and first peeks his head inside. The lobby is empty, and he doesn’t see anyone in the corridors from here. Ami steps inside with trepidation, walking toward the check-in window.
“Hello!” A bunny with a brown colored coat greets him cheerfully, poking his head out of the window of the office. “Do you have an appointment?”
Ami looks the stranger up and down. His lifeless eyes, his outstretched smile, the lack of scrubs or uniform on ID presented on his collar. When he leans forward once more, Ami reaches into his vest and pulls out his gun. He pivots his left foot out behind him and aims the barrel at the bunnie’s chest. In a split second, the mysterious bunny ducks under the counter and shutters slide over the check-in window with a sharp thud.
Ami directs his aim toward the ground, easing his stance. Mimics don't have a sense of danger—they don’t usually run or hide. But he knows exactly what he saw. A mimic working the front desk of a hospital. He leans toward the shutters and presses his ear to the makeshift wall, listening to hushed voices and faint rustling behind the metal shield.
He looks down to his handgun, quickly pinching the head of the weapon and pulling it back. Confirming that it is loaded, he takes silent steps toward the door to the right of the check-in window. Ami only jiggles the handle once before shooting a foot out and slamming it into the door. It rattles, but doesn’t open. Doesn’t surprise him.
“What are you doing?!” A white tabby darts out from the staff only corridor, stopping a few meters from Ami when she spots his handgun.
Ami glances to her. Actual scrubs. Not like that mimic in the office. “There is a mimic in this room, stay over there.” He lifts his leg to kick in the door.
“What? Who? Beau?” She asks, looking between Ami and the door of the office. This hospital isn't well staffed, meaning they aren't making too much money either. Broken things are expensive to replace. She would greatly prefer this strange man not kick down the door to the main operating room of the hospital. “Russel?”
Ami quirks a brow at her. “I don't know, miss.” He looks through the window of the door but he doesn't spot anyone. “I know what I saw, however.” Swiftly, he curls his paw into a fist and slams it into the glass of the door. It shatters on impact and shards fly into the office. The white cat to his right gasps a little. He reaches into the room and turns the lock on the door.
The moment he opens the door, he's shoved out before he can get in by a frantic sheep. Ami defensively points his gun to the sheep's chest.
The sheep braces his arms above his head. “He's not an anomaly!” He exclaims wildly. “He's okay!” Ami lowers his gun slowly.
Ami eyes Beau as he sits in one of the swivel chairs of the office. The bunny stands awkwardly by the computer, peeking out the window every so often like he's hoping somebody will rush in with an emergency so he can have something other than the fact that he stared down the barrel of a gun twenty minutes ago to focus on.
“Who are you?” Ami demands, gesturing to the white tabby standing over him.
She sighs through her nose, brows furrowed. “The head nurse. My name is Yvette. I'm here more often than Dr. Harlow.” She crosses her arms in front of her.
Russel, that sheep stands beside her. Ami looks the two over. The bunny, as well. Whom of which he still lacks trust for. He knows exactly what he sees. That thing is not ordinary.
“You don't mean to tell me this is your entire staff?” Ami asks, resting his chin in the palm of his paw. He watches their faces grow sour very quickly.
Yvette's ears jut outwards in irritation. “No. I have a nurse and security.” Ami immediately snorts, making her frown deepen that much more. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Ami glances about the room. A trickling coffee machine with a poster plastered beside it reading “stay lively!” The beaten up computer and printer by the check-in window. Some sorry excuse of security cameras to his left. “So you have… five animals on staff here?” He asks mockingly, meeting Yvette's eyes again.
Russel places his hands on his hips. “You have yet to identify yourself, you know. You just came in and pointed a gun at our intern.” Yvette vaguely nods her head in agreement.
Ami stands up, approximately half a head taller than the two of them. He reaches into his vest pocket to give them a quick glance at his badge. “I'm here for six months. You can call me Mr. A.”
Yvette gestures a paw toward him. “Do you have any medical experience?”
“Doesn’t matter, does it?” Ami shoots back quickly, authoritative. “You have five animals on staff. Seems like you could use any help, no? You're a hospital stationed in the middle of a city that's a hotbed for anomaly attacks.” He flicks his eyes quickly to the bunny by the computer and printer. “Do you care where the help comes from?”
The head nurse scowls at the cat. “Stay out of the surgery wing. And our way. If you can help it, Mr. A.”
Ami nods. “Sure.”