A Moment in the Morgue {OPEN}

[susanneblack]

Time: 1:35 AM
Date: Friday January 23, 2009
Place: Sacred Heart Hospital, New Jersey
Status: Open to Everyone

Dr. Susanne Black also known as Sister, sat at the desk looking over the schedule. She had just finished one autopsy, and the euphoria of doing one by herself had felt good. The good Dr. Brown had been letting her do this for a few months now and she was so grateful. She felt like a teenager again, learning how to drive. She loved that feeling. She gave a little sigh of contentment as she heard the doors open. Orderlies entered the large cold area with a stretcher.
“Morning, Sister.” Dave said as he let Bill push the stretched to the cabinets. He brought a file to her and handed it over. She looked up at him and smiled, “Morning!”
“I don’t get how you can be so chipper so late at night.”
“Just lucky I guess. What do we have?” She opened the file as he turned to watch Bill open one of the morgue cabinets and pull a table out.
“John Doe. He came in a couple nights ago. This one is defiantly for Dr. Brown’s file.”
“Oh?” Sister looked up, more interested.
“Yah, the dude is purple.”
“Purple? He choked to death?”
“No, purple like an eggplant all over. Some kind of skin condition.”
Sister raised a brow, “I’ll look at him later. Thanks.”
“No problem.”
The body was delivered and the two men left, leaving Sister alone. Well, not strictly alone, but she didn’t mind. She looked back at the schedule and pursed her lips, thinking. She checked her watch. Lunchtime. She had brought her portable DVD player to enjoy a little Mai Otome as she ate too. She grinned at the thought and did a little dance in her seat as she opened one of the lower drawers to the desk and pulled out her brown back and the leather case that held her DVD player.
She opened the lunch sack first then frowned. Tuna. Jeff had been sweet to make her lunch when he made his own, but he should have known she hated fish. Any kind of fish. She sighed and closed the bag, dropping it into the trash. Another reason to break up with him. She stood and stretched a little, wiggled her lower back to work a kink out then went to the morgue doors. She left the morgue and went down the hallway to the vending machines.
“Hmmm…” She looked over the limited selection as she fished in her pockets for change. She was suppose to wear scubs in the morgue, but tonight that didn’t have her size so she just wore her jeans with an extra smock over them. She was counting her change when she heard a loud bang. She jumped a little, dropping her change to the floor. It made the tinkling sound as quarters and dimes hit the floor. She turned to look at the doors to the morgue when another BANG! Echoed through the silent halls.
She saw a dark shadow move past the tiny window on the doors and there was another loud screeching sound of metal scrapping across the floor. Sister looked around. Was this a joke? Was the John Doe really someone alive and they were just trying to freak her out? She nodded and decided it was a practical joke. She stomped to the doors and threw them open.
“Alright, whoever you are. It isn’t….funny…. Oh…my… God…”
Her eyes grew wide as the beast turned. It wasn’t purple, but greenish gray. It’s teeth were dripping with the iodine it had just bitten into. Its little eyes looked to her as it threw the bottle down and roared.
“OH MY GOD!” She shrieked and bolted. She ran down the hall as she heard the doors crash open. She heard another roar as she hit the door to the stairs. She took the steps two at a time as the squeal of metal told her the thing had ripped the door off and it was now coming after her. She hit the door to the next level, the laundries and the kitchens. It was pretty quiet now, expect for the pounding of her shoes on the floor. Ahead of her, she saw someone turn a corner.
“JEFF!” She shrieked as the door at the other end crashed open and the beast was upon them.
Jeff held a brown paper bag and just froze. There was a crunch of tile and the beast leapt through the air. Sister screamed again and fell to the floor as she felt something hit her back. She rolled to the side, panting as the beast fell upon Jeff. Jeff gave one feeble shriek as he fell to the ground.
Well, there’s one way to break up with a guy.

[drjuliusmayfair]

Jules settled down to his desk to look at the paperwork he had yet to start from the one or two missions he had been so far. He had almost been with the Jersey BPRD for a whole month now, WOW!
“Wipeee…” he grumbled as he looked down at a file for the Sacred Hearts Hospital. Slight paranormal activity in the spirit department. He didn’t know why it had come across his desk. He got all the haunting files. No, this hospital was known for it’s unusual attraction of otherworldly creatures. There must be a nest or something near it. There had been sightings near the hospital of different ‘mythical’ creatures. A few dwarves and trolls had ended up being admitted by accident under John Doe for one reason or another. He snorted and tossed the file on the pile. Why did he keep getting these things?
Suddenly, the red lights started going off and he groaned. He waited for his beeper but it didn’t go off. Not his mission. He stood and poked his head out, calling out to an agent, “Oiy, where’s the fire?”
The agent turned, “What? Oh. Some hospital near here. We think there’s a adlet running around. A nest of them was found last week.”
Jules shrugged and went back into his office. And adlets were nasty and he was glad he wasn’t called up to go.

[Evadne Taylor]

She couldn't help but wonder why she'd been assigned this latest case. Adlets. Like she knew anything about them. Manning had said something about how maybe she'd have some insights to them because she too drank blood. She'd only been able to stare at him because that had truly been one of the dumbest things she'd ever heard come out of that man's mouth. Just because she drank blood did not make her some monster who went around terrorizing people in morgues!

Sighing, she pulled her jacket on,made sure she had her gun holstered and grabbed the file Manning had shoved off on her before she headed out of her room. She flipped it open, her eyes scanning the Agents Manning had decided would accompany her and arched a brow seeing Dr. Julius Mayfair handwritten in on the bottom of the page. Great. She was getting to take the new guy with her. This was going to be anything but fun. That she could already tell.

Evadne didn't waste any time lingering and trying to make small chit chat with the other agents she passed as she headed toward the office she'd heard that Mayfair was now occupying. She wanted to get to the hospital, take care of business and get back. That was it. No funny stuff, just business.

Pausing a moment outside Mayfair's office, she contemplated knocking, but quickly decided against it and instead just pushed the door open. Stepping inside, Evadne gave the room a quick look over before her gaze came to rest on the red haired doctor. "Looks like you're in luck today Doc, suit up and let's get going."

[drjuliusmayfair]

Jules was just settling down to organize his files when the vampire walked in. He had heard about her, of course, but had yet to see her. She didn't scare him. He had seen much more frightening creatures before, but when she said suit up, he closed his eyes, putting a hand to his heart. He stood up from his desk, wishing he had put the brick dust across his threshold to keep out the those who wished to do him harm. This woman wanted to see him harmed.

"Who the bloody hell said I need to go out on a mission with adlets? I hunt ghosts for Gods sake."

He had no been wearing his jacket indoors, just his dress shirt and vest. He grabbed his shoulder holster harness and strapped it on, loading his guns into it. He looked at the shelf that had several large and small bags placed upon it. Field kits. He grabbed the one that contained his priest paraphernalia. He also strapped on his machete harness, which went over his shoulders and rested on his back. He slid the shining steel blade into it and settled his jacket over it. Today he wore a purple suit with a green vest reminiscent of The Joker from Batman. His fedora, of course, matched.

He slapped his hat on his head, looking to Evadne, "Ms. Taylor." he nodded to her, motioning for her to leave the room first, his bag gripped in a tight fist. They would be on their way.

"Did Manning put me on this assignment? I swear to Legba, I am going to make a little doll of that man and give him hemorrhoids the size of car tires..."

[Evadne Taylor]

Evadne stared at Mayfair, clearly not caring if he was happy to be going on the mission or not. She sure as hell had no urge to be going either, but orders were orders. She crossed her arms and arched a brow. "Well I'm a language specialist, so go figure," She told him drily. "But do you hear me complaining? No. So guess what? I don't want to hear you complaining about it either."

Maybe it wasn't the nicest thing she could have said, but to be fair - Evadne was not generally known to sugar coat things in order to make others around her feel better. If anything, Evadne was brutally honest, she said exactly what she felt and honestly didn't care if others liked it. New or not, Mayfair was certainly not going to be an exception to her thought process.

Once she was sure that Mayfair was indeed going to come along without making too much of a fuss, she stepped back out into the hallway. She looked over at the Doctor and motioned the way toward the garage where they'd pick up their vehicle. "Oh course Manning but you on the case. You really don't think I'd request you do you?" She asked as she lead the way.

[drjuliusmayfair]

*** "Well I'm a language specialist, so go figure," She told him drily. "But do you hear me complaining? No. So guess what? I don't want to hear you complaining about it either." ***

Julius raised a brow. So he was warned. This woman was frosty and her tongue sharp. What did he expect from someone who has seen the passage of time for humankind? She would not suffer fools and he had to respect that. They made it to the garage after her cutting remark about not requesting him. He had to admit that hurt just a twinge, but he buried it. She didn't know him, he didn't know her. He wanted to tell her that last part was uncalled for, but he let it go.

He loaded his gear, thinking, but not saying, it was a good thing it was almost two in the morning. He was usually a night owl, given his line of work; she would be, of course, being a vampire. Another vehicle was being loaded with the equipment the FBI agents would use that accompanied them.

"Canon fodder..." he muttered. Like the red shirts of Star Trek. Before entering the vehicle, he stood at his door and bowed his head, praying softly to Legba and to God. he usually said a little prayer before going on dangerous missions. This first prayer would be good for Legba, in case he needed to call the Gate. After he prayed, he spit on the ground, a crude offering to Legba. usually he pricked his finger to offer blood, but in this case, a blood offering wouldn't be a good idea. At least in the beginning.

"Mz. Taylor," He said as they got into the vehicle, "If i must protect myself, I will. In my file, you no doubt have seen what I can do. I usually use a blood offering. Is that going to be a problem?"

[susanneblack]

Her watch said it was 2:47 AM. She panted as she hid under a desk at a nurses station on the 6th floor. She had pulled the fire alarm soon after she managed to escape while the beast was feeding on what remained of Jeff. Oh poor Jeff. She felt more unnerved she wasn't more sad about his death. She chalked it up to shock, at least she hoped it was shock.

She could hear the beast snuffling on the remains of a coma patient in a nearby room. She had managed to trap the thing in the coma ward. After pulling the fire alarm, the thing had turned on her again. Still hungry she supposed. She had to lead it away from other people and she knew people were evacuating, or they should have been. She had to trap this thing somewhere for the cop to kill it. Or someone to kill it. She couldn't let anyone else get killed.

She had ran like the dickens up the service staircase, the nasty right on her heels and she led it here. There were three coma patients here. She had done a few weeks here in her internship. Then there were five. Two had died. There was one charge nurse, but she ran when she saw the beasty. The beast had fell onto one of the beds and Sister took the opportunity to barricade the door leading into the ward. The ward was one huge room, each bed was curtained off. The hospital was old, so old in fact there was talk of demolishing it. They probably would after this.

She peeked over the top of the desk to look at the beast, who was still snuffling through the lower intestine of one of the coma patients. Why didn't this bother her? Shouldn't she be more scared?

[Evadne Taylor]

Evadne adverted her eyes when she saw that Mayfair was performing some sort of religious readiment ceromony. It wasn't that she was being respectful, it was more a long the lines of such things just made her uncomfortable. Religion in general made her uncomfortable, but that wasn't really unexpected considering what she was. Though even if she wasn't a vampire, she wasn't quite sure she'd be comfortable with Religion still. But it really didn't matter. She was a vampire so...

>>"If I must protect myself, I will. In my file, you no doubt have seen what I can do. I usually use a blood offering. Is that going to be a problem?" <<

Evadne had just started reaching for her seatbelt and she froze, hearing Mayfair's words. Was he... threatening her? Did he actually think that she was some sort of threat to him? Her eyebrows perked in obvious amusement, and she flashed him a small smile of sorts. "Doctor, do you think Manning would send me on a mission where Adlets are causing mass chaos and who knows what else if blood was a problem with me?" She tilted her head a bit to the side. "But to answer your question, no. It's not a problem. Just because I'm a vampire does not mean I can't control myself thank you very much."

[drjuliusmayfair]

***"Doctor, do you think Manning would send me on a mission where Adlets are causing mass chaos and who knows what else if blood was a problem with me?" She tilted her head a bit to the side. "But to answer your question, no. It's not a problem. Just because I'm a vampire does not mean I can't control myself thank you very much." ***


He put his seat belt on. More of her sharp tongue. Was she always like this, because if she was, he was going to have an issue. It was one thing if he said something stupid, but it was a perfectly respectful thing to ask. She seemed be always on guard, keep herself locked away. Or maybe she was just a twat.

He gave a little sigh, "So I see this is going to be the way of it." He turned his head to her, "Manning, I questioned his logic even before I came onto this team. I try and be polite because I am new here and I am still learning the team's ins and outs. I ask a simple question. I don't ask you be friendly, but I would wish for you to have a civil tongue. I do not appreciate being treated as child, even if I am one in comparison to your years, Mz. Taylor."

He looked back out over the darkened landscape, feeling alone and closed in with this woman. The darkness stretched on forever.

[Evadne Taylor]

Shooting Mayfair a frosty look, Evadne had to ball her fists to keep from reaching over and making contact with the man's cheek. She hadn't treated him any different than any other agent she worked with. He'd asked a question and she'd answered it. It wasn't her failt that he hadn't liked how she'd answered it. But she was not about to let him think that he was going to be able to tell her how to behave. Civil? Hell she'd been perfectly civil to him. She hadn't called him an idiot to his face! That was civil, wasn't it?

She allowed the silence to remain as their vehicle raced toward the hospital, their driver smartly not making any comments of his own. Most of the agents knew not to insert themselves into any sort of conversation with Evadne, and well - she preferred it that way. The less she talked to people, the less she had to urge to strangle them. And that was a good thing. She was sure Manning and the Bureau wouldn't look too kindly on her killing fellow agents.

After about five minutes of silence she finally looked back at Mayfair. "Manning might be an idiot, but the Bureau as a whole is not. They sure as hell wouldn't let me be an agent if they thought I was a danger to the other agents. Now, just to clear this up. I honestly don't care how you wish me to speak to you. I'll speak to you just how I speak to everyone else, and you'll either deal with it or you won't. Makes no difference to me."

Evadne turned away from Mayfair and leaned forward, tapping on the headrest of the driver. "Any word on the status of the hosptial?" She asked.

"Uh.. Yes Ma'am. Apparently it's been evacuated, but one of the nurses, from what's understood, has been ranting about Zombies....."

[drjuliusmayfair]

Well that was probably more then he would get any other time. It wasn't wasted on him how she had to control herself. It was just sad to him. He felt sorry for her. Someone who was once human, with (hopefully) love, laughter, and life, to become something so cold and uncaring. This is probably how she survived so long. He would just have to make it a point to not talk to her, unless he wanted his twig and berries in a vice. If they worked together, business as usual.

Business as usual, "Zombies? Bugger..." He thought. He hated zombies. Real ones anyway. He could produce a zombie-like effect through herbs. he kept his zombie dust on him at all times. It came in handy if he was attacked. Well, at least he had his machete.

"Zombies or adlets, has there been any reports of casualties?"

The agent seemed to go a little fast, "There was a body found by a firefighter near the morgue. It was eviscerated. All staff has been accounted for save for one. They are still tallying the patients."

[hb]

To put it bluntly, Hellboy was very upset. He had been awakened at one in the morning, to deal with an adlet, no less. Honestly, they didn't need him, and he told the agents so as he clipped on his belt. The demon grumbled all the way to the van, and didn't stop until he sat down. At least he could rest a bit more on the way to where ever he was going. He wasn't familiar with most of the BPRD agents, but the two that seemed to be his caretakers for the night hadn't briefed him properly, so he didn't even know if he was the only one on the mission or not. He couldn't even ask them, because they had left him to ride in the back by himself.

Hellboy seriously doubted the bureau's competence if they left newbies in charge if him. No doubt the night would end with him saving them. He sighed and leaned back against the metal wall of the van, his stone arm cradled in his lap. The great demon rubbed at his eye with his left hand and peered out through the tinted window.

[Evadne Taylor]

Great, just great. So not only were they there to take care of some Adlet problem but this was more than likely going to turn out to be some sort of rescue mission. Stupid blood eatting creatures! Why couldn't they have hit something a little less... Well needed? Why couldn't they have hit... Oh some pimp's house or something? No one needed them around.

She frowned slightly, her long fingers tapping her bottom lip. "OK, well regardless of what the creature is, we need to be sure that all humans are out of the hospital. Last thing we need is for them to have a free buffet to pick from. What's our ETA?"

"About five minutes Ma'am"

Nodding, Evadne turned her head finally affording Mayfair a glance, "Do you have any sort of experiance with either creature?"

(HB - will get you into our action asap! )

[drjuliusmayfair]

Julius looked at Evadne. He had been looking out the window, mentally preparing himself against whatever they were about to encounter. He looked at her and blinked slowly, "Not adlets. In my old unit, I was not put against dangerous creatures of corporeal nature. Zombies on the other hand…” he sighed.

He didn’t like to talk about his time in New Orleans very much. It hurt, remembering Midnight. They had a very close relationship. Mentor and student. Friend. It was as close a relationship without being physical. His hand went to where he kept Midnight’s gris-gris.

He had dealt with zombies, the made kind and the undead kind. To use the voodoo religion and the magic that went along with it was walking a fine line between yin and yang. Voodoo was a gray area in magic. There was helping and destroying. Papa Blanche Rouge and Papa Midnight helped. Julius had come against those that destroyed. They were usually necromancers or just those that held bad juju.

“I could probably raise the dead, but I have never tried.” He said at last, “I have come against those that have. Depending on the strength of the spell that raised the zombie and those that control it, I have had no issue with destroying them. I like to use a machete not only for sacrifices but just for such occasions. Guns can only do so much.”

The hospital came into view. The police had made a road block against incoming traffic, but the BPRD vehicles were let through after a brief stop and the driver flashed a badge. Patients were being bussed off to other hospitals. This hospital did not have an emergency room, so there was no worry about ambulances coming in. The car rolled around to the back and stopped. An agent was already up front taking care of the cover story. Julius got out of the car and looked around, removing one of his weapon and started to load it.

He noticed another vehicle coming to a stop behind them. He was unaware that anyone else was with him and Evadne. Two agents got out and went to the back to open it. Maybe equipment, Julius thought as he removed his overcoat and jacket. The night was very cold, but he didn’t mind it. He was readying for danger and his didn’t even feel it. He finished loading his weapons after removing his coats and shook his hands out. The wound on his finger from last week still hurt. He had bit his finger to draw the Loa. At least he was still able to fire a gun with trouble. He had made sure of at that the shooting range.

“We have confirmation.” An agent said as he touched a hand to his earpiece. He turned to Evadne, she being the lead on this., “All patients account for except those in the coma ward, and a Dr. Susanne Black has not checked in. We have reason to believe from a blood trail found by the fire department that whatever is in there is trapped in the coma ward. An adlet nest was found about 10 miles from this location.” A file was passed to Evadne, “And there was an alter found in an abandoned building about seven miles from this location.”

“Alter?” Julius said, turning. He had been half listening as he warmed up.

“A coven of witches have recently been registered to this area.” The agent said as Julius came over to look at the file. There were pictures of the alter and Julius rubbed his forehead, “The zombie.”

[hb]

Hellboy was awakened from his very light sleep by the van doors slamming open. He opened one eye and peered at the agents beckoning him to get out of the vehicle before climbing to his feet. Hellboy was never one to be bossed around, especially by new agents, and he figured that he might as well teach the pair that he was in fact the caretaker of them, not the other way around. Surely that was the intention of the bureau, for him to show these two the basics of fieldwork. After all, why else would they have called him to deal with an adlet?

Hellboy lumbered out of the van, taking care to put extra weight on his feet whenever he stepped so that the vehicle would rock back and forth. When he hopped out of the back, he made sure to push off with extra effort so as to leave the van bouncing on its shocks.

The effect seemed to work; the two agents' arrogance faded a bit, and they seemed to have taken to flanking Hellboy rather than leading him. The demon chuckled as he walked around the van to where the makeshift HQ of sorts was being constructed. Upon seeing his accompanying agents, Hellboy's brow furrowed, as if he was struggling to recall names.

"Evadne and... Jules?"