Mera lifted a hand toward her chestnut eyes to brush away the sleep from another night of tossing and turning. She padded her way along the corridor to make her way into the lobby. She signed into the log at the receptionist's desk and glanced toward the double doored entrance. She let out the soft breath of a sigh as she wondered when the work would finally be done on its reconstruction.Bliss strolled in the front entrance, stepping around the construction without thought. "Evening Mera," she said with a smile.
"Your brave ducking under that mess."
She glanced up and nodded. "I keep forgetting it's there."
"Those boards they have propping things up into place don't look all that sturdy to me."
"'Sides, if it's my time, then it is ... ya can't fight Venexx."
"Yeah. I guess that is one way to look at it. me though ... I don't tempt him any." She chuckled, but not completely without a nervous twitch to her young voice.
"I don't worry about it or I'll end up here being treated for ulcers," Bliss said, moving closer.
"I’m going to get some coffee...want some?" She turned in the direction for the cafeteria and Bliss joined her.
"Sure. I'm actually developing a taste for the stuff."
Mera laughed goodheartedly and pushed open the doors, propping them with the stoppers so they'd stay open. "Now that is a scary thought. She weaved her way around the tables to make her way up to the counter where she poured a cup of the freshly brewed liquid. She smiled at the aroma. Coffee, and it’s deliberately high levels of caffeine, was the nectar of the gods to the mostly Union generated hospital staff, the patients who meandered the place and the soldiers and citizens alike who passed through the cafeteria doors.
"Got lots of scary thoughts going on lately, coffee being the least of them."
"Well...lets just hope they all stay in the mind ... and don't come true...we have enough excitement as it is "
"Without excitement comes boredom," Bliss countered. "I Suppose it's a trade off." She poured herself a cup of coffee. "This is Garth's fault, never drank this stuff till I met him."
==
Ritchie VaIentine moved with a confident stride as he walked down the darkened main street of New Rydynn. He moved as though he owned the place, (which in his own mind he practically did ... to him the war was beside the point), and up to the hospital doors. He decided not to risk his precious life with what was left of the old front door; so, he slipped around to the temporary side entrance. Tonight he did it without the interference of fellow gangers Wraith and Az ... he'd show them that the leader of the Reaper's Minion's could do just exactly what he pleased to do.
And so he entered, the thoughts of another cleansing ritual were in his mind. A warmth was in his groin that needed to be cured. There was a desire to prove he was the leader and the boss. He entered the lobby, the gnawing hunger eating at him. He sniffed the air, the smell of the coffee and the fresh corpse stew reached his nose. He grinned and moved that way, wiping his dust covered shirt and jacket off as he did. He moved up into the cafeteria line, grabbing a bowl of the stew, and a glass of the recycled water, not caring much for who was there before him so long as he got his.
Meralynn Harperr noticed the rustling sound of fabric. She turned, taking note of the one who approached, and she nodded, moving down the line to give Bliss and the man more room as they continued their chat. "Garth doesn't eat here often anymore...though... I don’t know why; but he does have the occasional cup of coffee."
"Like I said, it's his fault I'm drinking the stuff." She took a small sip of the bitter brew, liking the way it burned as it went down. "My grandparents are probably spinning in their graves."
Making her way toward one of the tables, she chuckled, hearing Bliss' comment. "Not coffee drinkers?" She pulled out one of the molded plastic chairs, sat, and leaned back into its embrace.
"Nope, no stimulates of any kind. Water and on rare occasions fruit juice and herbal teas."
"I practically live on this stuff. Don't know what I would do without it."
With a smart alec smirk, Bliss slid into a chair opposite Mera. "Drink tea?"
"Oh, funny," Mera grimaced at her and chuckled then lifted the cup to her lips for a sip.
"What can I say, I'm in a mood." So saying, she reached up to rub the back of her neck. Since she'd taken a header from her bike it had annoyed her from time to time. "Soooo, seen Shad lately?"
Mera blinked as if coming out of some sort of daze. A superbly effective way of avoiding any topic she may have wished to avoid. "Geez ... I need to get more sleep at night."
"Doesn't everyone," Bliss smiled. "Besides, I know I'm not a dazzling conversationalist."
"Well...your conversations are usually more interesting than anything Elliot has to say."
"That doesn't take much Mera," she smirked, sipped her coffee and tried to ignore the buzz in the back of her skull.
Ritchie took his bowl and glass and sat at one of the tables, behind Bliss, facing Mera so that he could watch Mera. He smiled softly and gently at Mera as if he were shy, then he looked down at his bowl and began to eat. As he ate, keeping his gaze from everyone, he would occasionally steal a glance at Medic Mera.
Mera caught the gaze of the other over Bliss' shoulder. She got slight sinking feeling in her stomach as he watched her. Bliss tilted her head to one side at the gesture and murmured, "Glad you guys increased security around here."
"Bliss ... have you seen that guy before?" She indicated with her eyes the man sitting behind Bliss at the other table. Bliss didn't even have to look.
"Yup. Nasty ganger sort with even nastier habits."
==
Salomae entered, her steps less than loud but not quiet inaudible. Her eyes kept downcast, her movements possessed neither elegance nor despair. She merely was. She found a seat in the cafeteria and placed her body in it, a pale arm wrapped around her waist for what might be protection. Ritchie saw her enter but he ignored her. He had a mission that night.
A slender young man dressed all in black walked to the back entrance of the hospital avoiding the reconstruction at the front altogether. He looked exceedingly tired and almost haunted. He slipped into the café’, his dusky complexion paler than it usually was. His black hair was in disarray. He glanced cautiously about, in a haze of exhaustion. He noticed Ritchie for a moment before noticing Mera and Bliss. He walked over to the two young women. "Hi..." His voice was tired and slightly dark almost as if he'd just awakened from a nightmare or even believed he was still in one.
"Evening."
"You look like hell," Mera bluntly told him.
"I wasn't going to say that," Bliss quipped softly.
Suddenly, the echo of several high caliber gunshots rang outside the hospital main doors. A thundering explosion rocked the street soon afterward and even through the dust covered cafeteria windows, a flickering glow could be seen in the coming darkness. Shad frowned at the explosions, Ritchie looked up, a natural reaction to loud noise, then went back to his stew. Once some men heard one explosion, they'd heard them all. After time, they all began to sound the same.
"Trouble without tonight," Bliss sighed.
Shad let the frown linger as he nodded to what Mera had said. "Yeah ... that I do... Haven't gotten any sleep..."
"Sit down man, before you fall down." Bliss commanded and then nodded a greeting to Caine and Sierra as they too came down the hall and through the open cafeteria doors to join the ‘masses.’
Caine leaned back out the doorway to call to a medic, "There seem to be several casualties outside." He nodded pointed to Mera as well, then moved toward a corner table and smiled back at Bliss.
Mera left her coffee on the table and stood to rush for the door. "Excuse me guys..."
Finishing the stew, Ritchie saw Mera leave, and let out a silent curse. On his face however was no sign that it bothered him a bit.
"Shad," Bliss said, "you'd better cover her backside."
Shad nodded and rushed off to lend Mera a hand … and if need be, a gun as a 12 mm found it’s way into his hands. Several bodies littered the street, next to the burning husk of a dilapidated old truck. Several other medics also rushed toward the exit, and begin the arduous task of transporting the casualties into the ER.
Shad glanced cautiously about. "Any hostiles?" His eyes were sharp despite his lack of sleep.
"I dunno... we'll find out." She couldn't take time to look as she helped one of the other medics get a backboard under one of the fallen.
Shad surveyed the scene as he stood with Mera and the other medic, alert senses glancing cautiously about. He was assuming the same thing as Caine was inside, "Seems like the Cult’s handiwork..." He kept his pistol at the ready.
"All right ... let's get this one inside. Quickly before anything else happens."
==
Bliss rose to her feet, stretching. "What happened out there?" She asked Caine.
"Hmm? I have no idea... I was merely a witness to the horrible scene."
"Any idea who got boomed ... as in faction?" Bliss picked up her coffee cup and headed for the pot.
Sierra took up a position beside Caine and said very offhandedly. "I believe it was the Cult."
"I can't imagine who would do something like that."
"Ohhh, too bad." She refreshed her cup. "Me either, the Cult is just so friendly."
Sierra spoke evenly. "It was a Cult truck and personnel."
Mera ducked through the tattered framework of the entrance. She rushed the wounded into the ER, and set to work, doctors around her shouting orders. She and the other Medics had the wounded in hand so Shad returned to the cafeteria. As he went in, he overheard Sierra's comment. "Cult against cult? How interesting if it were true... The cult does promote chaos..."
"That sounds like a good explanation. Very good, Shad."
"Whatever works," Sierra told them.
"It figures ... but still..." Shad sounded dubious.
"Maybe an internal power struggle?" That made the most sense to Bliss ... to anyone who knew anything about the Cult or the Church.
"Perhaps..." Clearly, he wasn't convinced.
Ritchie drank up his delicious recycled water, then took his bowl and glass back to the dish washer. A brush of a jacket sleeve followed as did a check of his blades, then he left the cafe and returned to the lobby. In all the confusion and movement of bodies, no one noticed him.
Bliss strolled to a seat near Caine and Sierra but stayed where she could keep an eye on Ritchie, but Caine's question diverted her glance just long enough for Ritchie to slip away from her watchful eyes.
"How are you tonight, Bliss?"
"Doing fine, thank you for asking," she said as she took a sip of coffee. "And you are looking much better tonight Miss Black."
"Thank you, Miss Lovejoy. I am healing well," Sierra said, the epitome of cordiality.
The damaged truck outside exploded again as the fuel tanks ruptured. Due to the little fuel that was in it, the explosion wasn't as big as it could have been, nor as threatening. Shad almost jumped at the explosion and Bliss blinked. Caine looked toward the door at the sound. "What a shame about that ... so senseless," he sighed. "I hate violence..."
"Very unproductive," Sierra nodded in agreement.
"Loud too," Bliss said, looking just a little odd.
Shad cringed slightly and whispered, " ... when will this nightmare end..." He took a step to the door of the cafeteria to watch the activity in the ER down the hall. He kept an eye on Mera to make certain the blast didn't injure anyone else or damage the repairs in progress at the main entrance of the hospital. Shad moved off down the hall to exit the hospital and double check the truck site for further survivors of the explosions.
The dark figure of Private Alexia silently made her way to the hospital doors. The explosions had her unnerved and she carefully looked around her before she went in. She wrapped her hand around her pistol hidden within the folds of her coat and whispered under her breath, "Just for security." Once she got inside, she made her way toward the cafeteria, pistol still clutched tightly in her hand as she ignored the cacophony of the ER. Once inside, she settled down into a chair and found herself fighting off the effects of exhaustion. She and Bliss exchanged nods, having seen one another in and around the hospital before. Then, Arty’s head slumped to her chest as she sat in the semidarkness of a corner table and she dozed.
Bliss realized that the ganger named Ritchie was gone from the cafeteria and muttered to herself, "That one worries me."
Caine seemed to know intrinsically who she meant. Either that, or he just wanted to know her thoughts. "Why is that?"
"May have to kill him just to set my mind at ease." She turned her dark gaze to Caine. "Because he has certain habits that offend me and he's been heard threatening members of the hospital staff.
"Isn't that what security is for?"
"And I'm supposed to rely, to trust, security?"
"But you aren't hospital staff either."
"Nope, but there are people here that I like," she told him, her head cocked to the side. "I'd be more than happy to kill anyone who brings them harm." A dark little smile lit her face.
"How perfectly sadistic of you, Bliss," Caine said with a small chuckle from his elegant mouth.
"Nah, sadistic would be killing them slowly and enjoying their pain. I prefer quick and neat."
Out in the lobby, Ritchie rubbed his temple, murmuring to himself, "Man I could use a fix right now." He slumped onto the couch, and hung his head, chin diggin’ into his chest. His eyes were closed.
Azrael moved through the alternate entrance to the front lobby doors, rubbing his bare arms against the cold; on his back was a strangely shaped, wooden device. It had a hole in the center of it’s peanut shaped body, and six metal strings that ran most of its length. He moved further into the lobby, frowning at the sight of Ritchie. "Fraggit," he muttered very quietly.
Mera replenished the triage supplies for the next bed at an order from the doctors. She saw yet another body being carted in...this one beyond hope. When she was done, she could see that the doctors had everything under control at last and that Dr. Mortis would have a field day later. She swallowed and slipped through the doors of the ER back into the lobby. Shad was there, standing as if the carnage had finally gotten through to him; but unsure of what to do. He turned then, as she looked at him and made his way back to the cafeteria.
Azrael moved silently, skirting Ritchie. He was trying to spot somewhere to sit where he would be out of Ritchie's line of sight, should he open his eyes. Believing himself successful, he moved off to a couch from which he was sure Ritchie couldn't see him. The idle smile that crossed Ritchie's face, unseen by Az, came from thoughts deep in his sadistic mind -- the nature of which was blissfully hidden from those around him. Az could see Salomae in her seat in the cafeteria. The doors were open and from his spot on the lobby sofa he could see her and a few others. He held up a finger to his lips as if to say "shhh."
Salomae, one of Ritchie’s acquaintances, shook her head – as if Az knew Ritchie at all! If Az was there, Ritchie would know. He just would. Caine, Sierra, Bliss, Arty and Shad lingered still in the cafeteria. It was downright busy, but quiet.
Caine was still talking with Bliss. "By the way, Bliss, I have the organics we discussed."
"Wonderful," she said and then she glanced up as Mera returned, coming slowly through the cafeteria door. There was a marked somberness to her demeanor as she went back to her table.
Ritchie at last shook his head to clear the cobwebs of addiction, then he looked up, to glance around the lobby. He stood, moved forward and threw Az an "I see you" look before he passing him by as if he were nothing. In Ritchie’s estimation, that was precisely what Az was ... nothing.
Az moved from the sofa as well and followed distantly behind to the cafeteria. He faked a friendly smile to Ritchie as he found a seat and swung the wooden device off his back and onto his lap.
"You don't seem too enthused," Caine said to Bliss while they both watched Mera take a sip of long dead coffee.
"I am quite enthused," Bliss said to the contrary, shooting Caine a smile. I will be able to do some good work with those organics once a site is secured."
"Well, you can start your work then. It has been ... acquired ... as of last night."
Bliss’ smile grew. "Even better. Season is almost right too."
==
Salomae slowly approached Azrael, her smile fading rapidly. He plucks the metal strings softly, so that only he could hear, and twisted a few metal pegs at one end of the strange object. Without asking, Sal sat herself beside Azrael at his table. Az looked to his side with a small smile. "Hey, Sal."
"Hello."
He was still messing with the strings. "Everything okay?" She gave him a one-shoulder shrug in answer.
Ritchie yawned, that yearning inside him growing stronger, as he muttered, "Been a while since I had a good bath ... a real good bath."
Az smirked at Ritchie. "Uh-oh. Th'natives are gettin' restless."
"Mmm," Sal offered out of necessity rather than eagerness to converse, her eyes nowhere near Ritchie anyway.
"Shut up, Ass. I mean Az." Ritchie chuckled to himself and moved off again into the lobby.
Az chuckled a bit, too ... but not sincerely at all. Then he looked back to Sal and quietly asked her, "So, what's up?"
Her eyes were downcast, and her lashes obscured them to some extent. "Nothing."
"Okay." He said, his messing with the strings was just a tiny bit louder, audible to those in his immediate vicinity.