Chapter Text
A fire has started in room 8.
They could hear one of the nurses groan from the next room over, likely also hearing the notification on her badge. Intern’s own badge was unlike the others’. While the other staff had theirs visibly clipped on their person, Intern had stuffed theirs in their pocket. The savage buzz that has quickly become just as annoying as it was helpful was the only thing keeping them in the loop.
“Who’s getting that?!” The head nurse called from somewhere in the hallway.
The lucky thing was that they had just finished up the patient they were working on. She was a kind old lady, and currently occupied with falling asleep after downing a few teaspoons of maple syrup.
So that left them at the perfect time to take the task. They rushed out, waved a paw at the Agent for him to relay that they had it, and whisked the extinguisher with a metallic jingling. They had to try at the door twice; the handle was hot from the fire inside, but their sleeves were too… restricting to pull over their paws. The material was coarse, and Intern had long ago guessed it was a canvas that had to be at least partially synthetic from the plastic-like shine it had under the fluorescents. An odd fabric choice, yes, but the loose straps on their chest and arms would give an idea of why the design was so to those who knew. At least they got to wear a hoodie underneath as a buffer; suffocating as it was, it was worth it.
The flames crackled higher when they eventually swung it open, fed by the new gust of air. The Intern began spraying as soon as they could, the first half of the room being drenched in white foam in a matter of seconds.
Someone else came up beside them, and they couldn't tell who it was until they spoke. “You missed the back- and don’t forget behind the door!” The nurse scolded them.
Intern was too occupied watching the fire to scowl at her over their shoulder, but they sure thought it. They had missed behind the door once, on their first day. Could she stop mentioning it like they didn’t know?
They trudged further in, trying to be careful about the operating table that they really needed to stop ruining and replacing. The fire was surrounding it in a perfectly inconvenient moat of blazes. Intern lowered themself, trying to guarantee the spray wouldn’t make its way onto the table. It couldn’t if it never saw the air above it, logically, so nearly to a kneel they went.
It worked relatively well. But just as they almost finished, a flame in the corner decided to be difficult, and so did the extinguisher. It began to need more pressure to coax out the foam, and they had to use their slightly-burnt paw more than they’d like.
The extinguisher ran out, of course leaving behind a flicker of the same obnoxious flame.
They scowled at it. They’d have to stomp it out, at this point. Or at the very least smear the foam atop it. They pushed themself from their kneel-crouch position, trying to raise a foot to come down hard on the flame at the same time. However, they must’ve moved too fast, as they not only lost their balance, but their foot tried to stabilize them on the slippery foam.
Their shoulder collided with one of the utensil tables around the room. It was hard enough that the tray decided to rattle into the air, and a scalpel fell off at the perfect spot and angle to make a quick slice down their cheek and then clatter to the ground.
Intern winced, a paw rising to slap over the cut that was immediately riddled with a burning sensation. They kept that side of their face in a cringe while they looked next to them on the ground, whacked the remains of the flame with a foam-soaked paw, and then sat there.
The nurse was watching from the door. They waved a paw at her, trying to tell her she could return to work, but she responded by putting her paws on her hips and watching them. They watched her for a moment, still sitting on the floor.
She scoffed, then trudged into the room, yanked the door back to closed, and-
She stomped out a small remnant of fire that had come through some gaps in the foam. They could only watch as she got her own “confirmation” that they would, in fact, forget behind the door. They slunk their shoulders and head, already frustrated by the incoming reminders later. It wasn’t even their fault, they did spray behind the door and then they got cut.
“I’m going to rescrub, get room six for me.” She said, and by the time they had looked up, she was gone.
She said that as if they weren’t soaked in much more foam than her. They had fallen into it, white she had only splashed some of it up onto her when stomping. It was plain illogical that they should be the one to cover her duties.
They stood, paw still on their cheek. Their efforts to keep the table clear had failed, as foam had still spotted on the top of it. It had probably splashed when they fell. Such was just their luck.
It was their misfortune, more accurately.
The Intern left the room, doing their best to wipe off what foam they could. It was a poor job, to say the least. They were dripping it onto the floor behind them and creating footprints. It was a trail that would get cleaned with the room.
The patient in room six was fairly easy to deal with. Rather, they didn’t even have to interact with them other than a raise of the paws motioning them to stay still while the scan ran. The patient watched them with an expression that was trying to hide their concern about the mess that was treating them, and doing an even worse job hiding the various glances to the state of their jacket, their cheek, and their face in general.
They sighed in relief when the nurse walked back in, re-scrubbed and just in time to see the treatment appear on the screen and take over. The Intern tried to give them a friendly wave as they left, but they were plainly ignoring them now.
…They didn’t even blame them. They looked like a wreck.
Sometime later they were able to get their clothes cleaned, and the head nurse helped them bandage their cheek. The cut wasn’t too deep, but it had certainly bled a ton. It took an annoying amount of time to dry but had stopped and scabbed by now.
It was a slower shift today. Few patients had come in, and they’d all been treated. Most of the Hospital staff was simply resting in the secretary’s office.
“Noir, why do you put so much sugar in that?” The nurse was asking the secret agent as he prepared himself a cup.
“How else is it consumable?” He said, shrugging.
She grimaced. “It’s coffee, you’re ruining your blood enough having it. And it doesn’t need to taste good. That much sugar and caffeine is going to kill you sometime soon.” She took a sip of her own, a cup of pure black coffee, to punctuate it.
“Ms. Cherry, I appreciate the concern, really,” He told her, “But I like my coffee.”
Cherry hummed, looking at the wall with disinterest.
“Well, we are nurses.” The head nurse tilted her head to and fro for a moment. “I do think it’s a bit much. You could always use cream to break the bitterness. That’s what I do.”
Noir grumbled.
“You are nurses.” The secretary turned in his chair. “And you are in my office chatting my ear off at the end of my shift.” He sighed. “These people make my head hurt, can I have the simple worldly pleasure of some quiet?”
If someone didn’t know Sigal, they’d think he was being rude. But to someone who did, like Intern, he was kind. Kind and efficient, which made sense for his position at the front desk. Intern had watched him on many shifts handle a line of check-ins in such a graceful manner it should be an art.
So when Sigal had the need to ask for some quiet, you’d have to oblige. He didn’t ever ask for much.
Noir nodded, carrying his cup in both paws and leaving. The head nurse followed, and Cherry was last, with her nose scrunched. She always seemed to take tired Sigal as “mean” Sigal.
Intern lingered behind. They weren’t really interested in the conversation. It had been about a few menial topics, coffee just being another one of them.
Sigal didn’t mind. He had already turned around in his chair again, resting his head on folded arms atop his desk. Intern got on their knees and folded their arms the same way, but they only sat their chin on them, not their full face.
Sigal looked over after about a minute, giving them a small smile. They knew he appreciated company and quiet at the same time. Intern smiled back- not with their mouth, but with their eyes. They were always smiling. This was their way of performing the act with purpose.
“There were sooooooo many anomalies today…” Sigal mumbled. “At least like… 7…” He began picking up his head, looking at his computer with a frown and then back at Intern. “3 of ‘em got past me, and I made forms for all of theeemmmuh…”
Intern’s shoulders shook with a fake giggle, and Sigal rubbed his eyes under his glasses. “I mean, honestly! I did all that work! And, in honesty, I like it better when we can just tell ‘em to go. It’s a shame what happens back there.”
They nodded with agreement. The conversation was cut short when the front door opened, and both looked at it. Sigal threw Intern a tired gaze, then sat up in his chair and leaned out the window. “You’ll be checking in with me, miss.”
The girl that walked up was a feline of some sort with a hat pressing down tufted ears. She waved at the two before using the same paw to offer a handshake. “Heyyy! I’m Lizbeth.”
“Is this for an appointment?” Sigal said, eyeing her paw.
“Oh- no, I’m not sick.” She shook her head, paw still out. “I used to work for Animal Corp’s new channel.”
Sigal’s hooves stayed folded on the desk with nothing better to do. He clearly wasn’t going to accept her handshake, even if she was well. “...Okay?”
“I don’t make any sense- Hi!” She started mumbling before Intern took her paw, shaking it. They could at least get it out of Sigal’s face. “Let me start over. Hiii, I’m Lizbeth, but you can call me Liz. I used to have a job with the news, and I need a little help from you guys.”
Sigal raised an eyebrow while Intern tilted their head.
“I have a giant scoop about the anomalies.” She continued. “I got fired because everyone thought I was making it up. I just got out of college, and can noooooot have that on my name already. Especially if it’s not even true! I’d like you guys to help me get my job- my career back. It’s not much, I promise.”
One thing Intern had subconsciously noticed but failed to make a note of was the giant camera hanging from her neck. She began wrangling its strap over her hat, then held it up. “This is a suuuper special UV camera. It sees things that we don’t. I need you to snap photos of a few people, and only those few people. The photo paper for this is really expensive, only I get to waste it, so you’d need to be careful. Can you help me?”
Intern looked to Sigal, who bobbed his head around. “I work the desk most days… I’m… sure.” He nodded.
“Thank you!” Lizbeth said, knees sinking a bit. “Gosh, you guys have no clue how huge this is to me! I promise it’ll help you, too. I think I have a way to track anomalies and how they’re made. If I’m right…” She shook her head. “I won’t be reporting on anomaly attacks when I get back. That’s the goal.”
“Oh, absolutely.” Sigal said. “So, how does the camera work? Is it normal?”
“Just like any other! Here, you just turn it on here…” She said, pressing a button on its side. “All the settings are already good to go. Just point it at them, and ‘click!’ right here.” She tapped a button on the top without pressing it. “It captures anomaly details in any capacity. Pre-infection, height of infection- anything. If it’s been around, it’ll show.”
“You’re able to capture it before it shows? With that?”
“Yep!” She beamed. “I’m sure if I got those gloop stains on the floor they’d show up a bit. Your friend is a…” She looked at Intern, tilting her head.
“Oh, that’s Intern. They’re an… intern.” Sigal looked at them, too. They felt particularly odd, now.
She shrugged. “I’ll guess you help with cleaning that up.” Lizbeth turned her head to Sigal. “If you don’t mind, I’m gonna snap a picture of your friend to show you how to work the-”
Intern hopped in surprise, then started shaking their paws and head. They couldn’t let themself be photographed by that camera, if she wasn’t lying.
“Camera shy? My bad, really.” She raised her finger, and the photo was safe from existing. “I just said the gloop stains work, I’ll do those. So point it, and then… ‘click!’, you have a photo!”
Sigal hummed at her work while she took the photo from her camera, fanning it in the air before showing him. He held his glasses while he leaned to look, then nodded. “Wow! That’s pretty cool, actually. I give you my applause. And my help.”
“Sweeeet! I’ll leave it here, then! Use it wisely! I need a photo of Chloe Imae first, I think she has an appointment tomorrow.” She hummed for a moment. “Can I write that down for you?”
She left the camera and a maybe-steel stand for them in the lobby. Rather public for what she claimed was a special and expensive set-up. Sigal had wrangled with the stand for ten minutes before deciding he’d just keep it under his desk and tell her they couldn’t get it open. He was worried he’d break it if he touched it any more. Chloe Imae had the honor of getting a sticky note with her name on Sigal’s window for the next day.
But Intern was just glad they hadn’t been in that photo.
₍ ᐢ. .ᐢ₎
Intern gave the patient a thumbs up as he finished the medicine they had given him. It was a spoonful of cough syrup for a mild case of the flu, and he had a glass of water to get the rest of it down.
Now he just had to rest. It was really up to the patient to go home or not, he rested his head back on his pillow, and the Intern took that as their sign they were done. He may leave, he may not, but that was Sigal’s job to take care of.
They were still rather early in their shift today, but they had some time on their hands. They pushed into the hallway and went towards the front desk. They could use a cup of coffee, or maybe some chocolate as a pick-me-up would be preferable. They hated to admit it, but they were hungry. Chocolate wasn’t going to help, but it was nice to pretend.
Sigal was typing the last of a form for someone at the second window when Intern pushed in. While they made their very small cup of coffee, as no chocolate was available, Sigal printed their forms and sent the patient on their way. “Room 1, a nurse will be with you soon.”
Intern was careful to take small, quick sips. This was surely because the coffee was hot.
“I have the photo.” Sigal told them after checking to make sure no patients were in the hall to hear. “She’s right, it looks… come see for yourself.”
Intern walked over, and Sigal held up the photograph. Chloe was a reptile of some sort, maybe a mix, with grey-pink scales. In the photo, just from the corner of her mouth, you could see that her lips were wetting with the tell-tale lime of anomaly saliva. She was infected. Intern didn’t know to tell if they hoped she’d have enough time to enjoy another week or if she would infect here and not be the cause of an attack out in the city. For Lizbeth, they were sure the proof of an attack would be a miracle for her story tracking the anomaly development. It was a tragic situation no matter what.
Intern nodded, standing straight again and taking another sip of the coffee.
“She really is onto something.” Sigal muttered. “I mean, hell, if I were her boss, I’d totally think this was fake. She’s how young? And making a breakthrough like this?” He shook his head. “Good for her, though. Hopefully she’ll be back soon. She’d better need more than one, though.”
Intern nodded again. That was rather wonderful for the girl.
They really hoped they’d see more breakthroughs like this come around soon. It was… agonizing to see them not come. For another violent night to come, another ambulance to arrive. It was agonizing to watch another anomaly trudge down the hall, and be shot down, and for them to watch knowing that was someone’s loved one reduced to an insatiable monster with gaping jaws and bloody gums cut by sharpened teeth. They hated when they’d have to give one a hard punch to the head, and hear the crack of a tooth (once, a spine), because they had made their way to a normal patient’s room. It was agonizing to see all of them never know recovery, because… well…
…It was agonizing for the Intern to be alone.