//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 - Data Mining // Story: The Equestrian Odyssey - A Tale of Two Worlds // by Kamahido //------------------------------// Looking at the man lying on the bed for a few moments Arc nods grimly. “No doubt about it. That’s him.” Max gasps. “I can’t believe it!” Hugh turns to Xenos. “The news said he was supposed to be imprisoned somewhere, didn’t it?!” “Yeah. At least I thought it did.” Viktor groans. “I’ll have to look it up later.” Arc folds his arms over his chest. “They had to have taken him somewhere after we left him at the zoo, I guess. That leaves the matter of where he’s been all this time.” Max snaps his fingers. “Why not check his records, sir?” Xenos grins. “Yeah. You could start with the papers at the end of his bed.” “Good idea.” Walking over to the bed Arc leans down and picks up the clipboard. Looking it over he frowns. “Um… I can’t really make heads or tails of this.” Viktor calls out. “Look at each page slowly and I’ll take screenshots to take back to Equestria, sir.” “Do it.” Following Viktor’s suggestion Arc goes through the stack of papers one at a time before returning the clipboard to its place and speaking. “You still with us, Rose?” Yes, I am. The nurse just left the room.” “What about the patient?” “Comatose.” “Good. One side of a conversation wouldn’t help them understand us anyways. But where did the nurse go?” “Let me see…” Backing up a few paces, Rose pokes her head out the door. “She went back to her desk. Where we found her originally, I mean.” Arc groans. “Great.” Viktor facepalms. “We need her to move so Rose can use that terminal though.” Hugh points. “What about the one in the patient’s room?” Xenos nods. “They could get the data from there I bet!” Max turns his head. “Viktor?” Viktor shakes his head. “No good. They’d need login credentials.” Hugh groans. “Which they don’t have.” Xenos raises an eyebrow. “Then why would the terminal at the nurse station be of use?” Rose sighs. “Because it was logged into the system when Arc and I were reporting in.” Arc frowns. “That computer is going to be our ticket to getting that which we need. The files on both Shelly and Bloodletter.” Viktor sounds confused. “Both, sir?” Hugh gasps. “You want to help that freak in there too?!” Max glares at him. “Hugh!” Xenos shrugs. “Well, it’s kinda our fault he’s in there.” Arc taps his chin thoughtfully. “Right. That and I smell a rat here.” Rose pipes up. “We can potentially figure this out by looking over the data on both of them.” Viktor taps his computer monitor. “But first we need to get the nurse away from her desk.” Hugh grins. “What about waiting until she goes on break, or something?” Max leans back in his chair. “Or to the bathroom.” Xenos looks to the others. “Can we wait that long though? I mean, every minute the commander and Rose are there is another minute their cover could potentially be blown.” Arc nods. “Agreed. We need her to move sooner rather than later.” Rose snaps her fingers. “I could mess with the hospital equipment to trigger an alarm.” Viktor sighs. “Risky, but a decent idea.” Hugh grimaces. “Nothing life threatening though, right?” Rose nods. “Right. A disconnected sensor would set off an alarm that could be heard from the desk.” Max shakes his head. “But she wouldn’t get up to fix it.” “Why not?” Arc chuckles. “Because you’re supposed to be a nurse. So you would be expected to do that yourself.” Xenos groans. “Yeah. That and we need her to go somewhere other than your position, Rose.” Viktor nods. “Right. After all, you’re the one whom could most quickly get the files we need.” Arc smirks. “So that leaves it up to me then.” Max calls out warily. “Sir?” “To create a… situation.” Arc walks toward the bed slowly. Viktor raises an eyebrow as he sees his commander reach for a device nearby. “Sir, what are you…?” Arc interrupts him. “Watch and learn.” As his fingers reach for a number of flashing buttons, Arc suddenly changes course and picks up a remote lying in front of a control panel. Pressing a button on it a television nearby comes to life. The others breathe a sigh of relief. Hugh is the first to speak. “You had us going there, sir.” Xenos chuckles nervously. “Yeah. We honestly thought you were going to… you know…” Arc shakes his head as he flips through the channels. “Nah. As much as I hate this guy, I’m not going to kill him. Just find him the right… motivation.” Finding an action movie, Arc waits a few minutes until there is a conflict. Weapons are drawn and shots are fired. Bloodletter’s eyes fly open and he looks around, clearly angry. Arc shuts off the television and puts the remote back where he found it. He steps back slowly as the man begins to tear through his bindings. Arc’s finger hovers over the ‘panic’ button on the wall as the restrains tear and fray. Max frowns as he watches. “Sir, now would be a very good time to…!” Arc interrupts him. “Just need to make it look convincing.” The restraints rip through and Bloodletter jumps out of bed. He takes up a position on all fours and growls menacingly at Arc as he begins to drool. Frowning, Arc does not take his eyes off his patient. “It’s not working.” Xenos grimaces. “I dunno about that, sir!” Viktor nods, his eyes wide. “He looks pretty mad to me!” Max groans. “What more do you want, sir?!” “Action. I want him to attack me.” Rose sighs. “He’s probably been sedated recently. You’ll need him to overcome them.” “How?!” “Talk down to him. Make him mad.” “Alright. Here goes…” Taking a deep breath, Arc speaks. “Come and get me, fido!” The man growls at this, but does not attack. “What?! Do you want me to throw you a bone, or something?!” Bloodletter seethes but still does not move. Arc grins as inspiration hits him. “Or… do you want to bone something else? Like your little friend… Hammer.” Roaring in fury, the man lunges at Arc. As he does so Arc Blinks across the room. Bloodletter slams into the wall, inadvertently pressing the ‘panic’ button. A buzzer goes off outside the room. The nurse jumps up and runs into the room Rose is in as the sounds of boots rings out from down the hallway. “Take over monitoring the other patients from my desk! That troublemaker is at it again!” Rose nods and walks over to the nurse’s station as security passes her. Sitting down in the chair she looks over the monitors as the nurse and security run over to the door. The nurse pushes her way past them as she reaches for the key. Unlocking the door she and the security detail hurry inside. They spot Arc pinning the wildman and pretending to be having a hard time holding Bloodletter down. “Help me! Hurry!” Meanwhile, as the security detail enters the room, Rose begins typing frantically. Switching over to one hand, she reaches into her pocket and pulls out another flash drive. Inserting it into the USB port she continues her task. Meanwhile, Arc and security try frantically (well, the others anyways) to restrain Bloodletter. The nurse hurries over to a drawer and pulls out a syringe as Viktor calls out to him. “Rose needs more time, sir!” Nodding, Arc looks to the needle. With a flick of his finger he casts a small Telekinesis Spell as the nurse hurriedly kneels down next to the frantic man. The syringe drops from her hand and rolls under a machine. Groaning at her perceived mistake she stands and hurries back to the drawer to prepare another one. It takes her a full thirty seconds until she is ready to try again. Hugh grins as he calls out. “Looks like Rose is almost done, sir.” Rose speaks evenly. “I will be in fifteen seconds.” Xenos chuckles. “Time to wrap this diversion up then.” Arc pulls Bloodletter’s arm straight and forces him to keep it still as the nurse jabs him and presses the plunger. Almost immediately the man seems to weaken. The security forces continue lying on top of him out of caution however for another minute or so. Eventually the nurse lets out a sigh and nods. “He should be out now. Put him back on the bed while I get new restraints set up.” Arc and the security guards do so as the nurse ties the man’s wrists again. She sighs as the old ones are tossed in the trash by the security guards as they leave the room. “Yet another pair of these things ruined.” Arc shudders. “He broke through them almost instantly too.” The nurse frowns. “Great. I’ll have to pass that on to the next shift.” “The sound of them tearing was the only thing that alerted me that something was about to happen. He lunged at me just as I hit the button.” “Sounds like you got lucky.” Arc nods. “Very.” The nurse picks up the clipboard at the end of the bed and pulls a pen from her scrubs as she turns to Arc. “I need to add this to the report. Do you have any idea what set him off?” “Only one thing I can think of. Right before it happened I sneezed.” “Sneezed?” “Other than that the room was quiet. I might have surprised him with it though.” “Yes, he’s been known to go feral at the drop of a hat. I’ll add ‘sneezing’ to the list of things that can’t be done in his room. Please tell your companion to stay at the desk for a bit longer. Regulations say that I have to fill this report out personally.” “Alright. Want me to keep an eye on him when you’re done?” “I… suppose so. After all, he does still need to be watched if you’re up to the task.” Arc nods. “That I am.” “Take a break to compose yourself first though. Get a soda… use the restroom… whatever you need to do.” “Thanks. I’ll pass on your message on my way.” Leaving the room Arc heads for the desk. Rose is just putting the flash drive in her pocket and standing as he approaches. “The boss needs you to keep watch here for a bit longer.” Rose points to the patient rooms. “But I have reports to fill out.” Arc jerks a thumb toward Bloodletter’s room. “So does she. In there, I mean.” “Well, his chart does need to be updated.” “More so now I would imagine.” “That was a lot of crashing and banging. I’d ask if you’re hurt, but I already scanned you.” Max sounds hopeful. “So the commander’s fine?” Rose nods. “Yes, he is.” Hugh grins. “Well, that’s a relief.” Xenos shudders. “Yeah. I thought Bloodletter was going to tear you apart, sir.” Viktor shrugs. “So did I.” “He didn’t stand a chance. Since he’s not in his… Beast Mode as it were, Bloodletter is just slightly stronger than a normal human.” Viktor raises an eyebrow. “Then why all the security?” Rose sighs. “Because he’s mentally out of control. A real wildman.” Xenos groans. “Whatever Hammer injected him with sure did stick.” Arc puts his hand to his forehead. “She told me a while back that it wasn’t supposed to though.” Max sounds confused. “Sir?” “It was only designed to be a temporary measure. Not sure why it hung on though.” Hugh zooms in on the scrub’s pocket. “The data Rose downloaded from his medical records may contain a solution though.” Arc grins. “You got Shelly’s records too though, right?” “Yes, Arc. She was first. But I had enough time to grab Bloodletter’s too.” “Good work.” Viktor smirks. “Shouldn’t you head on break now though, sir.” Xenos chuckles. “Yeah. You’ve been working hard over there.” Max grins. “Best listen to the boss, sir.” “Alright, alright. I’m heading to the bathroom and the breakroom now.” Rose waves. “See you in a bit.” Arc rests to maintain his cover. Returning to the nurse’s station ten minutes later he finds their boss just leaving Bloodletter’s room. She walks over to the desk and sets a pad of paper down as Rose stands up. “Nothing to report, ma’am.” “Good.” She turns to Arc and motions back to Bloodletter’s room. “You still up to going back in there?” Arc nods. “Yeah. I’ll be watching him extra closely now though.” “You do that. And feel free to hit that ‘panic’ button if he so much as breathes funny. I don’t care if it’s a false alarm, your safety comes first.” “I’ll remember that.” Arc heads for the room as the nurse picks up Rose’s clipboard and hands it to her. “Brave guy.” Rose nods as she accepts it. “That he is.” “In any case, continue with your rounds. I’ll keep watch on the monitors here.” “Yes ma’am.” Heading for the next room on her list, Rose steps inside. A young blonde woman sits asleep in a chair nearby as she picks up the clipboard at the end of the bed and reads it silently. Her eyes grow wide as she sees the name at the top. “Sh-Shelly.” Looking over the chart page by page, she slowly puts it back before picking up her own clipboard and looking at the readings on the machines nearby. As she writes Rose smiles and muses to herself. “Arc’s family. Shelly in the bed and I’m assuming Lily is the one in the chair.” She glances over her papers at the young woman on the bed. “Don’t you worry. If there’s anything Arc can do to help you I’m sure he’ll do it.” Finishing her task, Rose reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small disk roughly the size of a quarter. Holding it in front of her badge for a few moments she turns to one of the machines next to the bed. Placing it on top, the device adheres to the machine with a small clink. Turning to leave the room she gives a ‘thumbs up’ in front of her badge and walks out the door. Coming to the next room on her list, Rose makes sure the patient is unconscious before speaking softly. “I have Shelly’s current chart from her bed, Arc.” “Good. That’s everything we need and more.” Max grimaces. “You two should get out of there, sir.” Xenos nods soberly. “Yeah. No telling when Bloodletter will wake up again.” Viktor chuckles. “Considering the size of that needle, I’d say he’ll be out for some time.” Hugh sighs. “No need to take chances though. Right, sir?” Arc folds his arms over his chest as he leans against the wall. “Quite the opposite actually.” Rose raises an eyebrow. “Arc?” “We disappear now and that nurse will start asking some very embarrassing questions.” Max sounds confused. “So what are you going to do, sir?” “The only thing we can do. Finish our shift.”