ic Mystery at Bedside Manor

[Gizmo]

Ellie Espadas was tired, she was sore and she was pretty sure she was going to have to just burn the pants she was wearing rather than attempting to wash out the new stains. As the ambulance pulled into Trinity Hospital she reminded herself that she'd survived punishing superhuman brawls and weeks stranded on an alien world but in the moment it was difficult to believe anything had ever been as exhausting as her first week as an EMT-B.

 

With her three years of pre-med behind her and medical school beginning in earnest in the fall, it had seemed like a good time to finally get her certification. After all her time volunteering and doing odd jobs at Trinity she'd gotten enough of a foot in the door to be hired quickly despite the competition and she had to admit that between her experiences with the Interceptors and her test scores she'd been feeling a little cocky. Patrolling the city's rooftops from behind a mask and with free reign to use her metamagi abilities was a far cry from grueling hours of hard, dirty work on the streets themselves.

 

"Hey rook, you gonna make it? You look like @#$%," the EMT-I/85 driving the ambulance asked, glancing in the rearview mirror and letting out a shout, loud laugh. Hernandez looked more like a bouncer than a medical professional, with a shaved head and heavily muscled arms covered in sleeve tattoos straining the dark blue fabric of his uniform's sleeves but Ellie had seen his big hands administer an IV with the practiced dexterity of a concert pianist. His manners left a little more to be desired.

 

"Still better'n you," the young woman snapped back with a little more bite than she'd really meant to, garnering another laugh from the driver as he parked.

The third occupant of the ambulance, a serious woman with frizzy black hair pulled back in a loose ponytail, opened the back doors and hopped out. Braugher was an EMT-P, a paramedic, and Ellie knew she was there at least in part to keep an eye on the newbie. "Go grab a coffee, Espadas, we'll clean up here." It was about a close to praise as the older woman had gotten so far and Ellie simply nodded gratefully before heading into the hospital.

[Fox]

"Ellie!"

Mara Hallomen was a relatively rare sight in hospitals, much less unannounced, but the young woman was unmistakable: dirty blonde hair, dark blue eyes, dressed up a clean blouse and jeans combo that managed to ride the line somewhere between 'professional' and 'I don't care too much if I might get a little dirt on this'.

She was all smiles for her worn-out girlfriend, and she looked a bit worn-down herself, but still she managed to draw herself up in an approximation of seriousness and extended a polite hand instead of a warm hug. "Hello! M- I'm Mara. A completely unremarkable and not at all important engineer from HAX, here to do maintenance on back-up generators the city commissioned for hospitals and clinics. My being here has no ulterior motive or suspicious timing of any kind."

She almost - almost - managed to hold that air of professionalism as she gestured at a box and tray she'd sat down on the nearest level surface while she'd waited. "Also, have coffee. And bagels. ....and doughnuts. If anyone I happen to run into happens to want them."

[Gizmo]

Straightening up at the familiar sound of her name, Ellie swiveled on one heel so quickly she nearly slipped on the slick hospital floor. Her expression brightened as she spotted Mara and she jogged over to wrap her arms around her girlfriend's waist, too weary for any sort of playful subtlety. "Marbar! Dios, you're beautiful," she grinned breathlessly before leaning in and kissing the engineer full on the lips, pulling her close and luxuriating in the physical presence against her own.

A pointed cough from the heavyset woman seated behind the counter Mara had placed her comestibles upon broke Ellie's reverie and produced a dark blush across the young woman's sienna cheeks. "Aheh, sorry, Joanne." Still not looking up from the computer she was tapping away at, the nursing supervisor merely made a sound of dry agreement. "Um. ...doughnut?"

[Fox]

Mara blinked for a moment as her brain performed a post-Ellie reboot, at which point she remembered that other people were a thing that existed and she had the decency to add her lighter blush to her girlfriend's darker one. "Mmh! Doughnuts, yes," she agreed, reluctantly taking her hands off the small of Ellie's back to dig a napkin and a maple bar out of her bag of goodies. These treasures she presented to Joanne with all the sheepish dignity she could muster. "Bon appétit."

Self-consciously straightening her blouse, she turned back to Ellie. "Sorry, thought you could use some cheering up. Would ask how your day went but can sort of guess," she admitted, looking the medic up and down with a raised eyebrow. "Look like you could use a nap. Twenty naps. And many kisses."

[Gizmo]

Joanne smoothly scooped up the maple bar with the napkin and placed it next to a genuinely prodigious steaming mug with three tea bag stings hanging over the edge. Finally looking up from her monitor, she glanced briefly at Mara before turning to Ellie and deciding, "I like her." With that point clarified she turned back to the pile of charts in the file folder open to her right and continued transcribing records.

Letting out a long breath, Ellie linked her arm with Mara's and began pulling the blonde woman further down the hallway. "Dodged a bullet, there," she told Mara with half a smile. "If Joanne decided she didn't like you, that'd be it for visiting me at work. And I like that you're visiting me at work." She let her voice dip down into a lower, huskier register for that, pulling the inventor a little closer to her as they walked. With her voice a little hoarse from the tiring day it wasn't hard to do. "Give you the tour? Historically that's ended well for us."

[Fox]

"Aim to please. And it's why you bring doughnuts," Mara preened, Joanne's approval - and more importantly, Ellie's approval of that approval - reinforcing her good cheer. "Everybody likes doughnuts. People who like doughnuts but not sugar like bagels. Good for bribes. And I'd love a tour."

She bumped her hip into her girlfriend's, adjusting their linked arms so that she could lace their fingers together and squeeze. "Would like to know about the place you work. Doesn't seem fair that you're always doing the visiting."

[Gizmo]

Squeezing Mara's hand back, it took Ellie a few steps to realize that she was leaning on her girlfriend for support a little more heavily than she'd intended. Blinking several times rapidly to help her eye refocus she straightened and allocated a little more of her attention on successfully putting one foot in front of the other. "Buh. Sorry. But yeah, hard to go wrong with doughnuts," she agreed, guiding them over to a flight of ascending stairs. "To be fair, though, your work is generally a lot more exciting. There's a considerably higher chance of, like, adorable moppets from alternate dimensions." The med student did a quick glance over the shoulder to ensure that they had enough privacy to forgo fastidious secrecy.

"Oh! Reminds me, have you gotten a chance to listen to the new song Yolanda's been learning?" she asked, posture a little more energetic as her memory was jogged. "She going to guitar lessons two times a week now for summer vacation and she mentioned on Monday that she really wanted to play for you next time she got a chance." The eight year old had taken to practicing with her usual serious minded determination and while Ellie admitted some bias she thought it was really paying off. Yolanda was always happy to play for anyone she could chase down but it was Mara's talent with sting instruments that had gotten her interested in guitar in the first place.

[Fox]

The cheer fell from Mara's face for a moment - not truly gone, just momentarily replaced by a more traditional bored grump as she reflected on work. "Feh," she opined. "'Exciting'. Just spent nine hours making a small circuit board slightly smaller for a tech company that wants to break into phone markets. Thrilling. Could have fit same technology in earbuds, but nooo. Fancy pastel animal-shaped phone case!"

That last bit was accompanied by a flat, hand-waving impersonation of what was probably an overly-excitable marketer or engineer, though she couldn't quite sell the act with a face full of unimpressed frustration.

She snorted, her good cheer returning as she re-linked her hand with Ellie's, resting her head on the young woman's shoulder as they reached the top of the stairs. "Still. Worth it for adorable moppets. Small price to pay. She did ask me for advice on changing chords, but didn't say why at the time - adorable moppets who think they're sneaky with secrets. Didn't know she had a song in mind; will have to make sure to listen soon."

She chuckled - a relatively rare, soft sound. "Going to be better than me, at this rate. Pretty sure I have her beat on the double bass, though."

[Gizmo]

"For now, anyway," Ellie mused, her smile a little less weary for having watched Mara's impression of a product pitch. While one couldn't very well play colour matching puzzle games or check photographic social media feeds on an earbud the EMT somehow doubted either feature constituted a legitimate selling point in the eyes of the irritated inventor. "That kid is a little sparkplug and she just keeps on growing. She gets so annoyed when she can't quite reach a position yet but she doesn't like to say anything, just keeps plugging away at it over and over again. So stubborn! Reminds me of someone else I know, hmm?" She jostled her girlfriend's hip with her own while tilting her head to brush her cheek against the top of the blonde's hair as they reached the second floor. The hallway of long term care room they passed through was one of the quieter parts of the hospital, at least just then, with the handful of people going about their business nodding or waving politely to Ellie as they walked by.

[Fox]

"She does take after you," Mara agreed, nodding wisely. "Only makes sense. It's a good feature, anyway. Too many jerks and stupid people in the world. And stupid jerks. Besides," she added, glancing up at Ellie, "given her family, good odds of having to be stubborn in...unusual hobbies. Keeps you going when little else does."

She wasn't really sure whether to smile or worry at that thought, and opted to push the idea aside for later by casting an eye across their surroundings. "Prolonged care ward?" she guessed - or half-guessed, anyway, one of her trains of thought running back through her memory for signage they'd passed while the majority of her focus had been elsewhere. "Mmh - 'long-term care'. Terminology. Nice, though; peaceful."

[Gizmo]

"I meant you!" Ellie huffed, attempting more wounded vehemence than it turned out she could actually pull off convincingly. She had to admit that Mara's interpretation made at least as much sense but that was entirely beside the point. "Hmph. But yeah, this is where they put folks when making them comfortable is a concern one way or another. Most of the rooms are doubled up just because there's not enough space but there are some private ones, too." It was one of the nicer, quieter parts of the hospital but nobody staying there was there by choice. The weight of the place felt heavy on Ellie's shoulders; her metamagi powers seemed to be less effective the longer someone had lived with a condition. She was no better able to help the people in the long-term ward than anyone else on staff. "Anyway, we're heading for the locker room so I can put on something a little less bile-y."

[Fox]

"Oooh! You meant me," Mara replied, with shock so artificial it may as well have been suspended in the air by fishing line. "Well. Simple mistake. Don't know why I'm stubborn, though. Just because I'm a perfectionist, refuse help from most people, don't like changing my habits, don't settle, started a business with no formal-"

She paused, looking up to read Ellie's expression. Literally 'reading', really - a solid grounding in microexpressions and the like had done wonders to offset a lifetime of stunted social contact. "....yeah. Not sure I'm comfortable here either," she agreed, frowning - there was no real ire to it, just a vague discomfort. "Too many people on machines. Don't like it. Can't help them all, and too many bad memories. So! Locker rooms, mmh?" She squeezed her girlfriend's hand, speeding up just a bit to pull her along at a slightly more brisk pace in what was...probably the right direction. Maybe. "See: engineering. No bile. No vomit. No...weird fluids. Just grease, dirt, oil. Coolant. Don't know how you do it."

[Gizmo]

Ellie squeezed Mara's hand back. They didn't need to say out loud why hospital rooms and life support equipment might make the young engineer uncomfortable and they didn't need to say how much it meant that she was willing to come into Trinity anyway to see her girlfriend. They didn't need to talk about how well Mara could read her expression or how well she understood the burdens placed on Ellie by her abilities and her uncut determination. They both already knew. "On the other hand, I do see considerably fewer explosions, muñequita. Or, y'know, terrifying tears in the very fabric of reality. ...although that's a pretty good description of a ruptured spleen. Here we go."

Arriving quickly at the locker rooms at their new brisker pace, she nodded her head toward the entrance. Rather than a door, dividing walls created two symmetrical pathways of right angles that led into the men's and women's sides respectively. The sign on the nearby wall clearly indicated that only employees were allowed past that point but after taking a quick look back and forth down the hallway, Ellie pulled Mara along after her.

"Grab a seat, I won't take long," she promised, indicating a bench along the wall before heading over to her locked and opening the combination lock. "While I'm thinking of it, could you swing staying over for a couple nights this week? Yolanda's been having nightmares again -- not nearly as bad as they used to be, thank goodness but she's tossing and turning all night half of the time. She always sleeps better when she knows both of us are in the next room."

[Fox]

"Of course." It was a simple answer to a simple question; Mara had to pause for a moment afterward, but it was less to weigh the option of staying over at Ellie's and more to mentally re-arrange the next few days' schedules to allow for the extra travel time and projected delays. "Will give her a chance to show me what she's been working on, too."

She sat down on the bench, setting the bag of goodies next to her and folding her hands in her lap. "And that's...fair. Explosions are bad news. Reality tears, worse news - invites bad, bad things through. Nasty tentacled parasite things from outside reality. Ruptured spleens don't have those."

She blinked, cocking her head. "...hopefully. Tell me spleens don't have those?"

[Gizmo]

Ellie gave Mara a very particular smile at her immediate agreement. It wasn't particularly large or toothy and someone who didn't know her quite as well might not have thought anything of it. What it was was warm and loving and untouched my the fatigue that marked the rest of her expression and posture as she unbuttoned her uniform's shirt and shimmied out of the stained pants. "We may need to work on your locker room talk, Marbar, but no, spleens generally don't have those," she drawled with some amusement. "I suppose it would depend on who's spleen it was. Ew? Ew. I think I've thought about ruptured organs as much as I want to for now. How was your day?"

[Fox]

Mara made a 'pffff' sound, sourly blowing at a lock of hair that'd fallen in front of her face. "Long. Not as long as yours, I think, but. Got to invoke the no tolerance clause in a contract, though," she added more brightly, smiling an unfriendly and awfully self-satisfied smile. "Contract was supposed to be for improving laser focus on medical equipment. Turns out company had defense jobs - including offensive laser weaponry with focus problems."

The young company-owner leaned over a bit, unapologetically watching Ellie change - though aside from a raised eyebrow, she kept her expression as neutral as possible. "So, had digging done, found evidence, sent notice of contract breach yesterday. Showed up today. Lots of yelling, posturing, intimidation attempts. Always fun to watch, but security's too good for it to last long."

[Gizmo]

Ellie rolled her eyes as Mara leaned forward but she also slowed down what she was doing, letting her undone shirt slide over one shoulder then the other, revealing an admittedly yawn-inducing example of utilitarian underclothing. "Heh. Good to be the boss, huh?" she chuckled, digging a clean pair of jeans out of her locker. The idea of someone trying to intimidate Mara with legalese was pretty funny. "How does that work, anyway? Do you just have Erin turn an i-beam into a pretzel in front of them or is that on the down low? I feel like she could probably just stare most people down anyway. I don't think Steve even blinks." She'd had a chance to get to know both of them pretty well while they'd been stranded on the Curator's ring world and neither was someone with whom she'd want to get into an argument. The rest of Mara's security staff wasn't quite so impressive but they were no slouches, either.

[Fox]

Mara made a disappointed noise at the reveal, but smile hiding in at the corners of her mouth advertised the lie of it. She was pretty sure Ellie would look good in burlap and linen. "Not as big on shows of force," she explained. "Causes trouble. Only used when necessary - mostly they just look scary and encourage people to leave. Only had to physically remove anybody...a couple of times? A client only once."

She sat back upright, shrugging. "Fun to watch, but boils down to reminding them of the agreement. No weapons research, no way, no how. Forfeits contract, waives rights to research materials provided, funding already given. Ones stupid enough to try it also don't like that answer, but HAX has good lawyers."

She hesitated, frowning. "Kind of wish it'd come down to punching, sometimes. A lot simpler. Less paperwork. Different type of jerks."

[Gizmo]

In truth Ellie wasn't paying full attention to the explanation of contract litigation as she finished putting on her fresh pants, instead planting her hands on her hips and sticking her tongue into one cheek at the unimpressed sound Mara had made. Tossing the dark red ribbed tank top in her hand over one shoulder, she closed the locker and strutted over to the bench near the room's labyrinthine entrance with great deliberation. Swinging one coltish leg over the other she sat down on the engineer's lap and raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, what was that?"

Before Mara could make much a response an alarmed shout rang out from outside the locker room followed by a commotion of clattering metal and plastic then sprinting footfalls. "What in-- c'mon!" Hurriedly tugging her top on, the med student scrambled to her feet and headed out into the hallway. "No jewelry yet!" Trinity had a reputation for being left alone by super powered brawls and she wasn't quite ready to break that streak with an unexplained appearance by the armored heroine known as Dragonfly.

[Fox]

"Wh-"

Whatever response Mara was trying to form died with the confused, strangled noise of someone whose brain was shifting gears without a clutch, leaving dark blue eyes blinking in confusion at the interruption until Ellie had nearly made it out of the locker room. "R-right," she agreed, catching up and still blushing, "no jewelry. Hopefully won't need it; even jerks have standards. Hopefully."

Still, 'no jewelry' didn't mean she had to be completely ignore possible danger. Something inside the choker at the base of her neck glimmered, and in another dimension entirely a suit of high-tech armor lit and started warming up.

[Gizmo]

The pair raced out of the locker room in time to see a figure obscured by a ratty grey hoodie sprinting away from them toward the staircase, leaving an overturned plastic cart and a floor covered in neatly packaged medical supplies which had spilled everywhere when it tipped over. A startled looking nurse was only then stepping out into the hallway, head whipping back and forth in alarm. "Th-they tried to attack the patient!" she managed when she saw Ellie approaching, pointing back into the long term care room with one arm and after the fleeing individual with the other.

"Call security!" the newly minted EMT-B shouted back as she took off down the hall, clearing the cart and its debris with a jump that sent her kicking off one of the walls with one shoe and continuing her sprint on the other side.

[Fox]

Mara vaulted the cart with perhaps slightly less grace than her more acrobatic companion, having to plant a thankfully sensible shoe on the side of the overturned cart and launch herself onto the first debris-clear patch of ground she could find. Granted, she could do so with few problems thanks in no small part to her paramour and her family pushing her to greater physical fitness, but this kind of thing was exactly why she'd built wings unhampered by tight quarters.

"Who attacks someone in a hospital?" she mused, a little breathlessly. "Hoodie is about to have a very bad day."

[Gizmo]

"You'd be surprised," Ellie replied as their quarry scrambled on the slick hospital floors and ducked into the same stairwell they'd used on the way up to the second floor. "Still rude!" With each stride she closed some of the distance, more sure on her feet than the assailant in the hoodie. By the time she hit the stairs she could just barely see whomever she was chasing exiting at the bottom as she grabbed the railing and swung herself over it, dropping down to the first floor in a single drop. As she speedily turned around, however, all that greeted her was a pile of discarded clothes, hoodie included, lying before the hallway. "...what?"

[Fox]

"...that's...okay. Okay," Mara panted, having had to take the stairs - at three steps a stride it hadn't taken her long, but it was certainly longer than vaulting them. mental note - learn that trick

She looked down at the pile with her customary frown, nudging the edge of the sweatshirt with one foot before glancing back up at Ellie. "So...assuming you didn't disintegrate them while I was taking stairs, options: assailant can become intangible. Assailant had second set of clothing available for elaborate ruse. Assailant was vanished by third party. ....assailant is now naked, somewhere in hospital. Last one probably isn't exclusive to first three. Kind of hoping it is, though. Some things I don't need to see. You know area better than I do; what's around here?"

[Gizmo]

"There's nowhere to go!" Ellie protested, bracing herself against the door frame with one hand while she leaned into the hallway and looked back and forth up and down the hall. There was no convenient window left ajar to slip outside, no supply closet left unlocked, no cries of surprise from around the corner as a streaker raced past. "I didn't see any kind of, y'know, light show," she added, ducking back into the stairwell and nudging the pile of clothes cautiously with her toes. "Can we check for... a teleport signal or see if the molecules in the floor are screwy or something?" The EMT felt like she was grasping at straws as much as she was grasping for terminology, hoping Mara might be able to deduce a reasonable, scientific explanation.