jla_watchtower | Paging Dr. Mid-Nite

His cape settles around his form while Manhunter handles what she needs to.

"I would ask you the same thing, Mary."

She looks more haggard than the last time he's seen her. The marks of Kaposi sarcoma are more obvious now, and her skin is pale. She shrugs, then gives him a gap-toothed smile. "Waiting to see if I live or die, doc."

His lips tighten.

"What have they offered you?"

Another shrug from her narrow shoulders, her bones prominent under the hospital gown. "'Bout like what I got at St. Chris', I guess. I don't know the names of what they shoot in me." She laughes hoarsely, then starts coughing, covering her mouth with her hand, the light flashing off the IV taped below her knuckles. "Kinda like the johns I used to do, huh?"

His response is a rueful shake of his head. They've had this conversation before.

Her chart may tell the story that she can't.

There's a strong fear in his gut that they may have made a dreadful mess of things, approaching this as they have.

His jaw hangs open just slightly when he reads that she is in the placebo group. Whatever they are administering to these people, she hasn't received it. Mary's going to die.

"How did you get here, Mary?"

"I...." She frowns. "I think I was drunk. I know I shouldn't, but the pain...." Her pale blue eyes are moist with unshed tears. "It ain't something the drugs can fix sometimes, doc, but the bottle can."

Unwilling abductions.

"What have they told you?"

He takes a step closer and holds her hand.

Her hand feels fragile in his grasp. "I woke up here. They said I'd passed out and...." The tears are starting to trickle down her face. "Where am I, doc?"

A silent prayer starts in his head.

"You are on the outskirts of Portsmouth, Mary. I can get you back to St. Christopher's. Do you know the names of the people you have seen here?"

"Uh, the nurse outside ... I call him Big Joe, 'cause he looks like that guy who was on that cowboy show, only he's taller." She shakes her head. "I thought I heard that Blaise guy, y'know, the flaming queen? But I dunno. Maybe there's lotsa guys who scream like that."

"Just the nurse? No doctors have seen you?"

Hopefully, Manhunter will have luck in making Big Joe talk.

"Oh, the doctors." She makes a face. "They see me. They're all gloved up and masked, and talk like I ain't here. Like a lotta doctors." Remembering his presence, she adds, "'Cept for you."

The fear that he's misjudged this fades. Something sinister is afoot - but she's right. He has known people in the medical profession to behave in such a way.

"Why was Blaise screaming?"

She shakes her head. "Dunno. Sometimes I hear other people yellin' at him to shut the hell up. Uh, sorry, doc." She wipes the remains of her tears off her face. "This ain't a hospital, is it?"

A gentle finger reaches up to aid her with wiping her tears away.

"We're getting you out of here, Mary. We're taking you to safety."

A soft intonation into his communicator.

"Arisia, are you ready?"

"Yes, sir."

Arisia tilts the model she's built of the building and the surrounding area and then lets it go, letting it float in the air. "Let me know when you're ready to move."

"I'll be bringing up our first patient now. Can you levitate her bed for ease of transport? I'll gude it up to the vans."

There is silence from Arisia for a few moments as she shuffles portions of her attention, dropping an effect. She knows that she'll likely have someone grumble at her about it later but that will be later. "Yes, sir." Shortly there after the field that surrounds the bed for the patient's protection forms handholds for the Doctor to use to move the bed with as it carefully lifts from the ground.

"You truly are a godsend, Arisia. Thank you."

His goggles shift to search for the best path away, to make sure she can get Mary out of here with no disturbance.

"Please guide me if I'm about to run into trouble on the way to the elevator here."

"Yes, sir. Currently the way to the elevator is clear, though there is a lot of activity in close proximity to it." Swallowing, she closes her eyes for a moment and squeezes her hands into fists. Letting a breath out slowly, she reopens them - ready to guide these people to saftey.

He moves swiftly and silently, holding a finger to his lips toward Mary, hoping to instill a sense of confidence and trust in her once again.

His voice, his gesture, reassures her, and she lies back, closing her eyes. "Y'kept telling me to have faith," she murmurs. "Sorry I didn't really buy it 'til now."

This poor soul.

He can't allow himself to be distracted at the moment. The first run is crucial.

With all the electrical power being rerouted and rerouted again and again, he'll need to count on Arisia to keep the elevator running, too.

He has faith.

So far it doesn't look like a problem. Keeping the elevator running as long as they're near it should be easy enough to do. For certain levels of 'easy', of course.

Bird-Dogg, one of Nite-Lite's crew is topside, having hotwired the nearest white van. The back doors fly open as Mid-Nite approaches with the first bed.

"Let's go for a ride, Blue!" he calls out, waving them foreward.

He's paying attention to every status report, every twitch, every sign of movement or potential detection... and then Bird-Dogg does his thing. As usual.

Quickly, Mary is shifted and settled into the van.

"Waste no time! We don't have any to spare!"

A small kiss to Mary's hand, before he sweeps away, back for another round. May need to do this two or three at a time - that's about all the elevator will hold...

A teenaged boy sits up as he walks past an open door. "Hey!" His voice is thick with sleep. "You the Midnight Doctor, ainchu?"

He stops, turning to regard the boy.

"Indeed I am."

The boy swings his legs over the side of the bed. "You gonna get me out of here?" The bones in his face stand out prominently. "I keep telling 'em I ain't sick. I bleach my needles. They say you give out the bleach. You know I'm tellin' the truth, right?"

His head tilts slightly, and he steps into the room to take a look at the boy's chart.

"I do."

He's made efforts to curb the spread of disease by providing needle sterilzation for addicts in the more desperate sections of town.

But this...

"Please lay back down. We'll get you out of here quickly."

He WASN'T sick when they brought him here. These people deliberately infected him with HIV.

Lady Malady.

A turn away, and he speaks to his communicator again.

"Arisia, how are you holding up?"

"I'm fine, Doctor. Just keep going and I'll make sure you all get out."

As if she'd say anything else.

"Can I further clutter your already full plate?"

"What do you need?"

Arisia's voice is carefully neutral as she asks.

"The transfer upstairs is too time consuming. Can I impress upon you for controlled teleportation from the rooms to the vans? One by one, as I clear them? These people are our first priority, but I don't want to allow whoever's behind this any more chance to escape than we have to."

There is silence.

And then, "I can do that." A small pause, "Into the vans or just outside? With the medical equipment?"

"Into the vans - I'll tell you if the equipment is necessary. Some of these infections are deliberate, and I have no doubt some will be worse off than others."

"Yes, sir. Just let me know and I'll make it as gentle as I can manage." Arisia won't have to hold up the shields and likely won't have to bother with the elevator. The power exchange isn't quite equivalent but it is close enough that she can manage.

"The boy in the room closest to me now should go first. He is cleared. I'm on the move now."

Gliding through the darkness in silence, to the next patient he can find.

In the darkness behind him, the boy is teleported carefully to the van. There is a only slightly visible shimmer of green - and then he is gone.

"Done."

Zinda's found her own way inside. So far the resistance has been minimal, which tells her the real puppeteers have yet to be found. She's in the mood for a real fight, to find those responsible for what's going on here. With Tara babysitting the frontmen up top, she's free to cause her own brand of chaos inside -- unless Mid-Nite needs another hand getting these sick people out. "Doc, I'm inside the buildin'. Y'all need a hand down there?"

"Follow Manhunter," is his response, after he's gotten a few more patients cleared and shifted up itno the vans - much to the surprise of Nite-Lite's boys. "Don't let whoever's behind this escape. I'm working my way through these people as fast as I can."

"Understood, Doc." After a momentary check, she changes her direction to meet up with the West Coast vigilante.

Paging Dr. Mid-Nite

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject