Page 21
Sydney looked down at the baby in his arms, then at Petey, then back at his baby again. He frowned. “I think this one’s defective.” He turned the infant over, as if searching for some kind of switch which would turn it on and make it more entertaining. “I wanna trade.”
“No!” Holly pulled her honorary nephew and newly stolen first-born away. “This one’s mine! I found him first!”
Mull was getting a headache. “Where’s my sandwich?” She asked Poacher, hoping she could make her visitors leave so she could get back to talking with Oz about all the things she didn’t want to say.
“The lunch cart was closed. But here, take this.” Poacher handed her the infant.
Mull held up her hands, refusing to touch the thing. “I don’t want a fucking baby!”
“Do you have any idea the kinds of germs and bacteria which thrive on infants?” Oz asked, sounding vaguely horrified by the idea. “It shouldn’t even be in here while Miss Quentin is convalescing.”
“Mothers are the backbone of this nation, Mull.” Poacher informed her seriously, ignoring Oz. “Don’t listen to the media: it’s possible to have both a family and a career. The modern woman is…”
“Just shut up.” Mull stared up at the ceiling, feeling more annoyed with this world than ever. “I can’t believe my last words are probably going to be telling Syd what an asshole he is.”
“To be fair, I think those are a lot of people’s last words.” Holly offered.
“More than I’d like, but less than I’d expect.” Poacher informed them seriously.
Oz cleared his throat. “Perhaps the two of you could go somewhere else.”
Holly made a face. “But I just got here.”
“And I’m sure Miss Quentin appreciates your visit.” Oz stood up, obviously intending to shoo them both from the room. “But I think right now what she needs is…”
There was a strange sound coming from the floor above them, which caused Oz to stop in his tracks.
Everyone stared at the ceiling.
“What was that?” Oz frowned as the sound happened again, louder this time.
“Thaaaat sounded like an energy pulse weapon of some kind.” Holly informed them casually, continuing to play with her best friend’s infant son. “Unshielded. Probably putting out… a buck ten of plasma, maybe? But with a tinge of something else in there, which I didn’t quite…”
Oz stalked to the door and popped his head out into the hall to gage the situation. “How many men we talking here?”
Poacher tilted his head to the side, listening. “Sounds like one.”
Oz turned to look at Mull for a ruling.
“Nah. It’s not Ronnie’s style to kill me in a hospital.” She shook her head. “Besides, I messed him up pretty good too. Even he’d take more time to heal than this.”
“Two.” Poacher updated. “One two floors below, one two floors above. Heavy boots. Closing.”
“He could have sent someone…” Oz thought aloud.
“Oz? Do I really look like the kind of girl you only send two guys to kill?” She snorted in amusement, then winced at the pain. “Give me a little credit, will you? Ronnie would have sent at least a dozen guys to off me.”
“Who else wants you dead?”
“Well, my landlord isn’t my biggest fan. But we’re still at the ‘angry letter’ stage, she hasn’t resorted to hired assassins. Yet. ”
“They’re still closing in on this floor.” Poacher updated.
Oz was silent for a beat, obviously deciding on the best course of action. “They’re here for Miss Quentin.”
“How do you know?”
“I just do. ”
Poacher thought that over for a second, then nodded. “Okay.”
“We are not ready for a fight.” Oz shook his head, recognizing the vulnerable position they were in.
Poacher handed the baby to Holly, then checked his weapon. He closed the breach of his elephant gun with a snap. “I was born ready for a fight. As an infant, the obstetrician slapped me on the ass to make me cry, and I hit him back.”
Holly pointed at the gun. “Lucky no one took that on your way into the hospital.”
Poacher gave a dismissive snort. “I’d like to see them try.”
There was muffled shouting from the floor above them.
Oz stepped backwards from the door. “Syd, you know that little room with all the babies?”
The other man nodded. “Yeah…”
Something on the floor above them exploded, shaking the building.
“Grab as many as you can.” Oz dashed for Mull’s bed, wrenching it away from the wall and towards the door. “We’re pulling out.”
Holly passed both of the infants to Mull, and Poacher took off towards the door. He turned back to look at Mull for an instant. “See you soon, girly.” Syd all but knocked one of the doctors to the floor as he ran from the room.
The woman steadied herself on the door jamb, frowning in confusion as Oz wheeled Mull’s bed and IV towards it.
The doctor moved to block his path. “You can’t leave with her.” She shook her head. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“There is an emergency situation and I am evacuating with my teammate.” Oz didn’t bother to stop the bed, instead using it to literally push the woman out of the way. “Please stand aside.”
The doctor stumbled back, but continued to try to halt their progress. “Security will deal with whatever is going on, there’s no need to immediately jump to the worst case scenario.”
“I’m a superhero, ma’am.” Oz shook his head. “I’m in the ‘worst case scenario’ business.”
“Look at this!” The doctor picked up Mull’s chart and waved it at Oz.
“Shattered pelvis, broken legs, dislocated shoulder, broken collarbone, orbital fracture, a detached retina, broken nose, three-quarters of her ribs are fractured, her lung is punctured, her heart is perforated, her spine is fractured in three places, she’s got skull…
” She trailed off. “You know what? I’m just going to summarize this and tell you that I’m amazed she even made it to the hospital.
She shouldn’t even be conscious right now, she should be in some kind of coma.
Because the only thing holding your friend’s body together is the fabric of her hospital gown at this point.
Everything in her is broken, punctured or bleeding.
She’ll never walk again and her organs are shutting down.
” She stepped into the bed’s path again. “You move her and she’s dead.”
Oz paused in his tracks to consider that for a moment, then looked down at her. “Are you mobile, Miss Quentin?”
She smiled at him, the blood from her split lip staining her teeth. “Baby doll, I’m in my prime.” She informed him weakly.
Oz started forward again.
“She is the victim of a very serious crime.” The doctor called after them. “ She won’t make it five minutes if you move her! ”
Mull absently began feeling around her bedding for a weapon, careful not to jostle the infants that her teammates had saddled her with. “Lady, I’m not a victim, I’m a professional . Do you have any idea the damage I can do to someone in five minutes?”
Ahead of them, one of the walls exploded in a fireball of orange sparks.
Oz blinked at it in astonishment. “What the heck was that? ”
Holly grabbed the other end of the hospital bed, helping Oz to maneuver it in the corridor. “I don’t know, but I’m asking my dad for one for Christmas.”
They cut to the left, hoping to make it to the elevator banks.
Oz tapped the earpiece in his ear. “Floor 7 of the hospital is under attack by an unknown force. We are evacuating Multifarious and the infants in the maternity ward, but we need everyone to get here. NOW!” He shouted over the radio.
“Copy, Oz.” Wyatt’s voice came over the line. “You heard the man, people. Floor 7. Let’s go to work!”
Mull tried to refrain from an eye roll.
Several more explosions sounded, deafening even over the fire alarm.
Mull could think of at least five different ways out of this current situation. Unfortunately, all of them involved being able to move. Which, sadly, she wasn’t able to at the moment. And certainly never would be again.
They rounded the last turn and the elevators were in sight.
Standing in front of them, Wyatt frantically waved an arm.
“The other way!” He shouted, racing towards them.
“ Go the other way! ” He reached an intersection and glanced to his left.
He had just enough time to try to form a telekinetic shield, when an energy blast knocked him straight off his feet and through the wall of one of the hospital rooms, and then straight through the opposite wall in the room, and into the next, leaving a series of jagged holes.
Into the corridor walked a man wearing some kind of body armor, which had glowing orange sections, interspaced with an unknown black metal. He looked like a mix of a SWAT team member and an alien bug.
Oz stopped in his tracks, trying to wheel Mull’s hospital bed in a new direction.
Holly shook her head in amazement, staring at the unknown attacker. “Ooooh… we are so fucked .”
Oz was obviously putting everything he had into moving the heavy hospital bed in a new direction, which was hopefully towards another exit.
“I’ll hold the line. You get her clear.
” Holly informed them, then nodded her head at Mull.
“Girl… you take care of him, understand?” She let out a long breath, obviously realizing that Mull would be dead in moments, either way.
“I don’t like goodbyes. They go against my jolly nature and make my naturally twinkling eyes all red and puffy. ”
“I know.” She met her eyes again meaningfully, acknowledging the unsaid farewells to a friend. “I know .” She repeated, then swallowed. “So… I guess I’ll see you when I see you. If we end up the same place, that is.”
“I don’t die. It’s a whole thing.” Holly shrugged. “Sorry.”
“Oh. Then… I guess we won’t.”
“Well, I probably would if the world imploded or you shot me with some kind of...”
“Consortium: form on me! Everything we have!” Oz shouted over her, keeping the team up to date. “Floor 7 is hot! Wyatt is down! Danger is close! ”
Holly raced towards the unknown attacker.
Table of Contents
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- Page 21 (Reading here)
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