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Ding-a-ling!
Intern downed the last bit of coffee in their mug and turned to look at the patient walking into the lobby. They'd been told time and time again to check the security cameras every time somebody enters, but this time... it didn't seem necessary.
This patient was pretty obviously an anomaly.
Her fur was light grey, and she had wide, pointed cat ears- but instead of a usual nervous-looking expression upon her face she had three eyes that glowed a harsh shade of red as she stared at Intern.
Despite being so obviously abnormal, she halted at the counter, rubbing the back of her head before speaking hesitantly. "M-my name is Hana Sh-Shin..." she mumbled. Her voice was deep and gravelly, and had a slight stutter to it. "I'd like t-to check in as a pa-patient..."
Intern stared blankly at Hana.
Hana twitched.
"I- uh- yeah! Uh... khm..." Intern hesitated before calling down the hallway. "Secretary?"
Secretary had been teaching Intern how to check patients in and make sure they were safe, but they'd never taught Intern how to reject a patient that was an anomaly. When one appeared, Secretary tended to panic and send them away sharply and quickly, instead of taking the time to break it down into steps that Intern could understand.
So, now that they were on their own, Intern had no idea what to do.
"Is som-something wrong...?" Hana asked.
"No! No... not at all..." Intern gritted their teeth and flashed a smile at the anomaly in front of them. But as more time passed, Secretary didn't appear.
Hana twitched again. "Can I be ad-admitted now...?"
Intern cleared their throat. "Mmmm... sure..."
They had always been sort of a people-pleaser, and they kept their head low as they sorted out the paperwork to admit the patient. "Hana Shin... there you go."
They passed the card to her, their hands brushing slightly as Hana took it.
"Room 4 should be free, if you wanna go there," Intern said, double checking the computer to make sure they were right. Hana nodded and started heading off, stumbling a little as her leg twitched violently.
Intern rested their head in their paws, their ears drooping. If word got back to Doctor or Head Nurse that they'd done that, knowing full well that patient was an anomaly... who knows what they'd do. Intern was suddenly glad that neither of them were in the hospital with them at that moment.
"Intern? I'm sorry for leaving you alone, I do hope you've been okay doing this on your own." Secretary, running in from the emergency wing, stopped in front of the front desk. "...Intern?"
Intern lifted their head and forced a smile. "Nope! All good... it was fine! Don't you worry."
"Good, good." Secretary walked around and entered the office. "You can go back to treating patients now. Nurse is a little overwhelmed."
Intern nodded obediently and scurried off before Secretary could ask exactly what happened. They made a beeline for room 4- if they could stop anybody from finding out about this, they were certainly going to.
"Ah! It's you!" Hana watched Intern with two of her three eyes as they walked in, the third still gazing around the room.
Intern smiled. "Mhm. It's me. Now, if you could just lay back, and I'll start treating you..."
Hana shook her head, then twitched. "N-no... I just wa-want to rest h-here..."
Intern scratched the back of their head. "I mean, I'll kind of get in trouble if I don't do anything. It won't hurt much, I promise."
Hana sighed and laid back. It wasn't an answer in words, but it was obviously an enormous show of trust.
Intern leaned in, brushing some of Hana's fur on her arm away. There were slight darker stripes in her fur, Intern noticed- and her long, fluffy tail curled and swished in a slow rhythm. "It's okay," Intern soothed, grabbing a needle from the countertop. "This shouldn't hurt too much-"
"Ouch!" Hana jerked as the needle went into her skin. Her arm- not the one with the needle in it, thankfully- jerked, another twitch running through the limb.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Intern finished the injection as quickly as possible, placing a circular band-aid over the pinprick injury.
"...it's o-okay..."
Intern moves the DNA sample into the machine, their ears pricked, just in case the anomaly behind them decided to do anything that might put them in danger. When she didn't, they paused, before trying to clear the tense atmosphere a little. "So... I'm Intern," they ventured.
"Intern... nice to m-meet you..."
"Hmm... oh! Looks like you do need treatment, see?"
Hana sat upright and turned to read the screen Intern was squinting at.
"It says you're inflicted with... Canadian..." Intern muttered, their voice low with worry. "I'll be right back."
They could feel Hana's eyes- all three of them this time- on their back as they left the room. They closed the door behind them- Nurse was still rushing around with a bundle of supplies in her arms- and went to fetch the treatment needed.
"Medkit... thermometer... bandages... ointment... aha! Maple syrup!"
They grabbed a bottle from the shelf and raced back to the room. Hana hadn't moved, still staring blankly at the door. She jumped as Intern returned, her tail fluffing up for a moment before the fur smoothed again. "It's... ju-just you..."
"It's just me," Intern asserted. They passed over the maple syrup, smiling faintly. "Drink that. It'll help."
Hana inspected the bottle, turning it around in her paws and reading the back carefully... before unhinging her jaw, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth, and swallowing it whole.
Intern stared at her.
"Oh! So-sorry... maybe I sh-should have warned y-you..."
"No... no! It's all good! Patients do that all the time!" Intern lied. Patients, in fact, never did that.
"R-really?"
"Yup...!" Intern turned away so Hana couldn't see the lie on their face.
"INTERN!"
Both Intern and Hana flinched at the sound of Psychologist's shout. He had the voice of ultimate authority- he could send pretty much anybody into a sobbing, apologising mess with the right tone of voice.
"I, uhm... gotta go... don't cause any trouble, okay?"
Intern didn't wait for an answer, scrambling out of the room and closing the door behind them, but Hana still called out an affirming "I won't!".
Intern ran down the hallway, skidding to a stop outside the X-ray room where Psychologist's voice had come from. They took a deep breath, composing themself, before stepping inside.
Psychologist was leaning on the counter, chatting to Ron from Accounting, who was in the X-Ray room with him. Both of them turned as Intern entered. "Intern! You're here," Psychologist said.
Intern nodded, ears low, eyes fixed on the ground. They were fully prepared for a scolding- perhaps Psychologist had found out that they'd let in an anomaly...
"You haven't used the X-ray machine before, have you?"
The question made Intern look up. "No... no, I haven't..." they replied softly.
"Let me show you." Psychologist turned to Ron, making sure that he was okay with being the test subject, before looking back to Intern. "Do you see this screen?"
Intern nodded again.
"You set it up like this... and then when you're ready, press that button."
"What does that button do?" Intern asked.
"It starts the X-ray. It'll give you some coloured lights, and then you need to repeat them in the same order. Ready?"
"Yeah... I'm ready."
Intern reached out and pressed the button. The platforms on the counter flashed one by one- red, then green, then green again, then cyan.
"What was the order, Intern?" Psychologist quizzed.
"Red, green, gree-"
Intern was cut off by the piercing sound of Nurse's high-pitched scream. "Secretary! Taser! Now!"
Intern's stomach dropped. They knew what this was about. They raced out the door, ignoring Psychologist's "What are you doing!?", and headed straight for room 4.
Nurse was staring at Hana, who was sitting in her bed, knees curled up to her chest. Her eyes were wide as she looked at Nurse in fear.
"Nurse?! Don't-" Intern started.
"Stay out of this! You're too inexperienced!" Nurse shot back.
Secretary's heavy footsteps got louder and closer until they were right behind Intern. Then they'd brushed past, entered the room, the taser on and pointed at the anomaly...
"In-Intern...!" Hana wailed, scrambling back.
Secretary lunged forward with the taser, the device coming into contact with and sending an electric shock through-
Intern?
Intern had leapt through the door and put themself between the taser and Hana. They jolted as they got hit, falling to the ground. Secretary dropped the taser and fell to their knees at Intern's side. "Intern? What on earth were you-"
"Don't... don't hurt her..." Intern's voice was weak from the shock, but they still managed to lift a paw to point at Hana. "She's... my friend..."
Hana blinked innocently as Secretary glared at her.
"It's tr-true... I'm th-their friend..." she confirmed.
"How did you-"
Nurse cut Secretary off with a gentle paw to their arm. "That's not relevant right now," she said. "Intern is our priority."
Secretary hesitated, then grabbed Intern under the arms and began hauling them into room 5. Nurse grabbed Intern's legs and helped lift them, settling them on the bed.
"Just what we needed today," Nurse muttered, running a paw over her face.
"Go take a break."
"What?" Nurse looked incredulously at Secretary.
"Take a break," Secretary repeated. "Go have a coffee. You're stressed- I'll look after Intern."
"Are- are you sure? I can-"
"Yes, I'm sure."
Nurse hesitated a moment longer, then left the room, heading for the reception office. She took her time brewing a coffee, leaning against the desk and taking a slow sip. This had been a conundrum that she had not been prepared for that day.
She closed her eyes and sighed, lifting the mug to her lips again.
A gentle paw on her back made her look up- she'd thought she was alone. But beside her was the anomaly Intern had saved.
"Are you o-okay?" She asked.
Nurse paused in surprise, then chuckled wryly. "I'm fine. Just another day's work, I guess."
"Intern wi-will be okay, r-right...?" The anomaly asked.
"Yeah. They'll be fine." Nurse looked at her, her gaze falling on the nametag. "Don't worry, Hana."
Hana smiled for a moment, before she turned away again, shoulders tense. "Are y-you scared of me? Am I g-going to be ki-kicked out?"
Nurse's reply was hesitant. "I don't know. But... I think you'll be okay."
BEEP!
Both of them jumped at the sound of the alarm, and then glanced at each other at the words that blared over the intercom.
"An anomaly is attacking a patient!"
Hana ran straight out of the room. Nurse hesitated to check the weapons case for the taser- cursing upon finding it was absent- before following.
The door to the room where Intern resided was wrenched open and hanging off its hinges. Intern was screaming, the sound shrill and terrified, as a mimic stood over them on the bed, teeth locked on their ear.
Nurse didn't even have time to register the scene before Hana had leapt across the room, biting down hard on the base of the mimic's neck. It screamed, letting go of Intern, but Hana just kept biting harder.
Crack.
She stepped back, the limp body of the mimic hanging from her jaws, its neck broken. She dropped it on the floor.
Nurse stared at Hana mutely.
Intern sat up on the bed, cradling their bleeding ear.
Hana just shook herself, then nudged the now dead body on the floor. "Sh-should I deal w-with this?"
Before Nurse could respond, Psychologist entered the room, gun readied in his hand despite his casual gait. He paused, seeming unphased as he stared down at the mimic's corpse. His gaze slowly lifted to meet Hana's, and his voice was approving as he spoke.
"I think you'll fit right in with us."