On the rooftop, Donnie had just one question for the strange self-dismembering cat-lady: “Do you always make puns about yourself in the middle of combat?” Well, actually, two. “And how do you even have the focus to come up with new ones while fighting? Do you memorize them in advance or something?”
Ms. Fortune winked at him. “Maybe, maybe not. Gotta think on your feet, you know?”
That said, other than that strange tendency, she seemed like an able fighter and a nice-enough girl. The woman with the ax, on the other hand...he got the feeling she would only be a burden. He had no idea how she survived this long.
In any event, once everyone was settled in the Main Hall, it turned out the station was
literally haunted.Donnie put a hand to his chin. “Well, I haven’t dealt with ghosts in a long time, and who even
knows how the metaphysics of
this world works. These ghosts could
literally be from any world with an afterlife, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but…okay.”
“There are several types of ghosts where I come from. Regular ghosts, banshees, shades, wraiths, specters, wisps, the list goes on. The only real differences between them are how malicious they are, what species they generate from, and the conditions on which they arise. It’s possible to actually fight them with ordinary weapons if you encounter them, and you can actually put them to rest this way. They’re pretty easy to deal with if you know what you’re doing. The problem is…”
He looked at the radio.
“They don’t usually play these psychological tricks, and they
don’t possess machinery like this. Meaning that it’s not a ghost from my world, and that means we’re going to be in for a world of hurt.
My hauntings were the best-case scenario.”
Then Blazermate piped up, saying she would heal the people and asking for Donnie to help with the infected. “Yeah, we can help with that.” He looked at Louis. “Also, we need to know where you keep the infected. I can cure any disease or toxin with a quick spell, and I stopped someone from zombifying before. I need to get to them ASAP.”
The swordsman considered the notion for a moment, evidently deciding the new arrivals were worthy of his trust. “If that’s true, you can find the infected on the second floor, in the Art Room. East side. The wounded are though there.” He pointed his mechanical acquaintance in the direction of the main hall’s east door. Past the east office, through the press room. The Observation Room’s where people are being healed.”
Donnie nodded. “Got it.” He turned to leave. “Let’s go, Blazer. Art Room first, unless you want to split up.”
“if the injured aren’t infected, best to do the infected people first, then the injured. No one is so critically injured that another 5 minutes would kill them, right?” Blazermate asked, trying to gesture to the swordsman to guide them. He knew this place better than her and Donnie did after all.
“Unless you think you can handle healing and curing them at the same time Donnie. Ghosts complicate things.”___________________________________________________________________________
At the door to the art room, the well-built metalhead who’d appeared on the roof earlier stood guard. The dour look on his face didn’t exactly inspire confidence. “So, you think you can cure them? After everything I’ve seen I can’t deny the chance, but...things might be bad in there. We’ve been holed up here for a few days, and whenever someone is infected, we put them in here, restrained. Gave ‘em food and all, but yeah, it’s a bad deal. Still better than putting everyone else at risk.” Drawing close to the door introduced the heroes to a repulsive odor, seeping out from under the door. Reluctantly, Eddie unlocked it, and opened it to let the new arrivals inside.
“Worth a try at least,” Donnie said to the man, as he stepped inside.
“Yeah, you’d be surprised at the stuff I’ve healed so far.” Blazermate said, stepping in after Donnie.
The first thing that hit them was the smell--rank, wretched, rotten. It was a pong of decay. Inside the Art Room was an awful display. A number of zombie corpses littered it, most attached to heavy furniture or the gallery rails with handcuffs, but a few signs of life stood out. Sitting on the middle of a circular bench in the gallery’s center, a
woman watched the newcomers with weary, wary eyes. While she looked ordinary, a certain air of toughness clung to her, the badge of a true survivor. On the opposite side of the room, seated on a watchman’s chair, lurked a
blue-haired samurai who glanced only a moment at the heroes, his sharp eyes flashing like a blade. Lastly, some twitching could be seen from one corner, where a bloody, mutated
mess knelt, breathing fitfully as she held tight to a split arm with one hand, as if to staunch the grotesque wound.
After a moment the survivor spoke, her voice a southern twang. “Ya here to drop off? Or finish off? Ain’t much of us left, and I ain’t got much time.” As she spoke, the bite wound on the right side of her neck became visible, but she kept it mostly covered.
While Blazermate was immune to the acrid smells of the art room, she wasn’t immune to the ghastly looks of the place. Her scanners went off like crazy in this room, noting who was further along than others.
“Phew, glad we came here first. Things don’t look so good here. Donnie, lets get to work. I’ll stabilize them, you cure.” Blazermate said, using her healing beam to stave off the most infected person, the survivor, infection while Donnie did his magic thing.
As for Donnie, his nostrils flared as the absolutely
revolting smell of the place hit him. It was at least better than the city streets, but to say that one pile of corpses smelled better than another, bigger pile of corpses was like saying that an Abomination’s distended, rotting, exposed colon smelled better than Darnassus compost. They both smelled terrible, ranking them was splitting hairs.
In any event, onto the business at hand. Two infected humans and one...slab of meat. That one was probably too far gone, but it was worth casting it on her anyway, but only after the other two went.
“I’m not here to finish you off, and we’re not infected. I have a spell that can cure diseases, and I want to see if I can help you. Blazermate here”--he pointed to the robot with the demon-arm--”can track your status and can verify if the infection is gone. This’ll take about 16 seconds. Are you okay with that?”
“Just heal ‘em Donnie. Samurai-Sama there looks really bad.” Blazermate said, almost teasing Donnie.
“Look, I just wanted their consent, but you’re right.”
The pair had the attention of the survivor now. Something like hope shone in her eyes, a battle between cynicism and wonder. “If you think so, by all means.”
One cast later, his hands flashed, and his magic purged disease and toxin alike from the woman’s body. Straightening up, she blinked twice, rubbing a hand over her neck. The tingling and pain, the feeling of invasion...gone. “Well, I’ll be damned…”
“Glad to see it worked,” Donnie said.
Her reaction garnered the interest of the samurai, who stood and approached. As he did, he nearly doubled over, coughing up blood into the hand he slapped over his mouth. After only a moment his own treatment began, ridding his body of virulent bacteria.
Whatever changed, he seemed to recognize it immediately. Eyebrows raised, he murmured, “Shinjirarenai. Iyasa remashita!” Facing his benefactors, he bowed in respect. “Arigatōgozaimashita.” Hearing this, Blazermate gave the man a thumbs up, showing that she fully understood what he had said.
“Once you’re healed up. I’d recommend waiting outside the room there. Don’t want a re-infection from whatever is making Donnie uneasy in here.~” Blazermate said, happy with how well these two took to the medi-beam/detox treatment.
Donnie got the sentiment, giving him a thumbs-up. His hands flashed a third time, this time targeting the flesh-monster in the corner. Nothing appeared to happen. Definitely too far gone. Well, no use crying over spilt milk. But something had indeed made him uneasy, it just wasn’t the zombies.
“Hey, uh, Blazermate,” he said as he made to leave, gesturing for her to follow him out the door as he walked, “are you
sure that swordsman was infected?” he asked as he gestured to the samurai. “Coughing up blood doesn’t appear to be a symptom of the zombie plagues around here….”
Guiding the survivor and samurai out, she said.
“Yeah, he was. Although I think it was just a standard disease? Hard to say, this is zombie land after all, could’ve been a new disease. My readout doesn’t tell me exactly what they’re infected with, just that they’re infected. I’m not a nutranurse.” Looking back at the mutated pile, blazermate shrugged.
“So, what should we do with that one? She’s not injured, but she doesn’t look like a healthy person. Wanna come back after we heal the infirmary people? Ask around a bit about this one?” Blazermate said, scratching her head in a bit of confusion.
“Yeah, we should ask around, but I think she’s too far gone. That or the mutations don’t just go away if the plague gets cured. Let’s head to the infirmary after we figure out where to drop them off.”
Gesturing to the samurai and survivor girl asking them to follow in both English and Japanese, Blazermate nodded.
“We should take them to the infirmary though either way. I don’t think these guys will believe us saying they’re cured without one of their own also confirming. Zombies do that, if the movies are anything to believe.” She said, leading everyone to the infirmary.
“Good point,” Donnie said, and he made to follow her.
___________________________________________________________________________
With nobody posted outside, the Observation Room seemed readily accessible. Pushing open the door greeted the newcomers with the sight of a couple rows of beds, mostly unoccupied, and a few patients grappling with various injuries. Three looked lightly hurt, while two were flat-out unresponsive. Standing over them was a
medic in futuristic gear, her countenance grim as she moved between the injured. New arrivals received a momentarily glance from her but no response as she continued to rush about, doing her work.
Walking into the makeshift medical area, Blazermate sighed, happy that people only needed healing here.
“Ok, while the infected people weren’t my expertise, healing people is.” Blazermate said to herself. She noticed that there was already someone trying to take care of the people here, but all she seemed to be able to do was keep them stable. Waving, Blazermate said.
“Hiya, we’re new here. We’re healers and was told you guys had a lot of injured. Let me see if I can help ‘em.”The medic nodded. "Excellent. I've been having to make do with conventional for a day now." Eying Blazermate's medigun, she stepped back to let the machine work. Blazermate did just that, healing up the critical and going up the priority list as the two people Donnie had purified came in.
“By the way. My monk friend here purified these two of their infections. We just want you to give them a look over while we heal these people.” Blazermate said, pointing her demon arm at the people behind her as she healed and used a revive protocol on one of the people who were unconscious.
He scanned the room briefly. One amputation, some gashes, a few people with mundane illnesses, and a bunch of people in critical condition. He only had Vivify and Detox, but as long as he rationed his stamina and took it slowly, it would be enough.
"Alright, let's get to work," Donnie said succinctly, promptly looking over each of the sick and wounded and applying magic until they were at 100%. As he worked, he progressively got sweatier and his breathing became more labored. Healing a room full of people without tapping into his body’s mana pool wasn’t easy, and he often had to stop to take a brief rest before continuing, all the while Blazermate kept pumping away with her Medigun. He felt inadequate, frankly. Then he remembered he’d killed a Titan and that went away.
The combined effort of the pair, expended steadily and thoroughly across the makeshift infirmary's inhabitants, gradually restored and stabilized them all. Val, a witness to magic and technology that might as well be magic, was clearly impressed. This appeared to be nothing short of a miracle.
"Well, that makes things simpler. Wish you were here this morning." A slight sigh escaped her, but Donnie's condition did not. Brow furrowed, she said, "If that took a lot out of you, I have an energy drink in there." She pointed to a desk in a corner, piled high with notes and medical odds and ends. "Precious stuff, but if you can just magic people back together, you're good for it."
“Thats all you Donnie. Medabots don’t get tired.” Blazermate said. Seeing her charge in uber growing, Blazermate continued to heal even healthy people, as it grew steadily. She hadn’t used this ability before, but from what she could tell, it lost itself at a rapid rate if she wasn’t healing someone.
“No, I’m not
sleepy tired, it’s just like doing vigorous exercise. I’ll be fine after taking it easy for a bit, and water would be better anyway.” Donnie said, huffing and puffing as he took off his helmet and wiped the sweat from his brow before putting it back on and fastening the straps.
Val shrugged. “It restores stamina, but suit yourself.”
Blazermate chimed in again, saying,
“Oh, the place is haunted too. Maybe all of you could help us figure a way out of here as well? The people in the foyer are looking into it, so I figure more heads would help us figure this out faster.” This reminded Blazermate of what they had saw a few minutes ago, and she asked
“Oh, speaking of people, Is that person upstairs in the infected room that looks super mutated a friend of yours, or did they become zombified?” The medic shook her head. “I haven’t been up there, since I don’t do sickness, so I don’t know what or who you’re talking about. If someone turned and changed unusually, you told someone, right?”
Crossing her arms, Val glanced back at the desk. “Ghosts aren’t my thing either, but if there’s any information around here, it’ll be in there somewhere. I’ve been scribbling notes to try and keep records, but there were a few someone else made too. Now that I think of it, they were here before this I set up in here.”
“Well, no, we didn’t,” Donnie said sheepishly, “but if it’s any consolation, she’s not spreading the disease anytime soon. It turns out that my cure-disease spell gets rid of the zombie plague, just not the mutations associated with it. So even if she broke out, she’s not turning anyone even if she gets to you. Just a weird-looking zombie. However, while we should
probably shoot her at some point, I just thought I’d talk to a medical professional first.” Blazermate nodded along with Donnie’s explanation.
Frowning, Val replied, "If this thing looked dangerous, you should report it immediately."
Blazermate shrugged, saying.
“Well, if it was dangerous, it would’ve attacked everyone. It kinda just sat there in a corner minding its own business. And trust me, we’ve seen weird things out there that are actually friendly. You should see Bowser! He’s a giant fire breathing turtle monster!” “Either way, she’s right, we should report it.” He turned to Val. “Anyway, do you mind if I look through these documents?”
“Yeah sure. Probably for the best, this thing is acting up..” Blazermate said, her demon hand spazzing out a bit at the fingers at strange intervals.
So, I’ll go out and tell everyone the good news, and the bad. Hehe.” With that, Blazermate stepped out of the room, making her way back to the foyer to tell the other survivors about the thing up in the room and the good news about all their healed comrades. Hopefully Donnie could find something about these ghosts.
Digging through the medical records turned up nothing until, near the bottom of the mess, the monk turned up a couple pages of newspaper. Its distinctiveness among the notes caught his eye, but the cover story kept them.
Vile thieves! Old Woman Robbed and Beaten!
Neighbors reported a fight the night before!
March 8, it was reported to the police that Mrs. Chinda Manapaiboon, 60, was badly wounded and found unconscious. She was taken to the hospital before the police arrived on the scene. Investigators revealed that there may have been more than 3 people that inflicted such a brutal beating. Her son, Mr. Pichai Manapaiboon is believed to be the one leading the robbery…
(more on page 13)No pages beyond the second were there.
To be frank, Donnie didn’t know the terminology at first. “Police” was a foreign word to him, but context clues got the point across quickly enough. “Police” was clearly the term for the city guard around here.
It was pretty clear what this was, though. A murder report, clearly intended for public consumption, in the city guards’ barracks. It wasn’t out of the ordinary. What
was strange was a humble newspaper clipping was doing on a guardsman’s desk. Didn’t they have reports for this kind of thing?
Well, that’s the next step then, isn’t it? the monk thought to himself, grinning with satisfaction at finding the first clue.
___________________________________________________________________________
Heading back to the main foyer, leaving the samurai and the lady survivor back at the makeshift medical area, Blazermate found a few people still looking about. As Blazermate approached them, she said.
“Hey guys!” When she got to a standstill, she put her healing beam on one of them and said.
“Good news, we’ve healed up everyone and cured the infected. Bad news? One of them looks really mutated. Don’t know who or what they are, but they didn’t attack us so… are they a friend of yours?” Captain Howard took in the announcement, briefly turned back to give a few parting words to Fox, then hailed Blazermate. “I don’t know who you mean, but if someone in that room changed drastically, we should take immediate precautions.” His right hand slid a folded-up rod from its holster on his waist, and he gave the android a firm nod. “I’ll do it myself. You’ll back me up in case it attacks, right?” Blazermate nodded, putting her healing beam on Howard as he moved up to the Art room with her in toe.
“I don’t know if they’re aggressive or not, they didn’t attack us or the other people who we cured.” Blazermate noted.
Howard nodded. “But you didn’t get close, did you? Aberrations always wait for suckers to get too close, then spring the ambush.” After a brief exchange with Eddie Riggs he pushed inside. It a few seconds for him to overcome the grisly scene, but once he had, he settled on the thing in the corner. While it looked at least in part like a beautiful woman, he knew that it needed to be put down. In the middle of the device on his left wrist, a blue cube span and clattered ceaselessly, as if hungry for action.
As he raised his hand, his weapon changed, shifting into an energy pistol that he used to fire a three-round burst of blue bolts at the creature. She stirred the instant they struck, jerking to her feet and staggering forward. Unperturbed, Howard held his ground and changed his weapon again, turning it into a long greatsword with a blunt edge. As the monster lurched closer, Blazermate became aware of
something appearing in front of her beside Howard, completely invisible, but there nonetheless. On Howard’s wrist, the cube had disappeared, and a chain reached into the empty air. The monster finally lunged, the top of her head hinging open to reveal a
pulsating sucker as she attacked. Her arms cleaved the air, but instead of touching the Captain they bounced off some unseen barrier so solidly as to send her reeling back.
Baffled, the creature attacked again, beating uselessly against a whatever shield that appeared around the smirking policeman for a few seconds before he went on the offense. Howard swung his X-Baton overhead, then thrust with both hands, pushing his enemy back. It charged forward the next moment, but he pivoted with his sword’s weight on his back and came down with a crushing overhead smash. An upward swing then sent the thing tumbling back, and as it hit the bookshelf it bounced forward again. Howard grabbed the chain and swung it. Whatever it was attached to whirled about him before zooming forward, wrapping the special infected in the chain before
swoosh-ing straight back to the Captain. A blue glimmer appeared for just a second, and Howard took the chance to hurl the chain forward. His unseen companion dashed in, the air split apart, and a giant slash appeared through the creature’s torso--and the entire bookshelf behind her. Sliced paper fluttered about as the monster looked down at itself, confused, before falling apart into two pieces. The halves rapidly turned to ash, leaving a
spirit behind.
Howard relaxed. Whatever had appeared to assist him had gone, perhaps back into that device of his. The core sat in the middle of it once again, shifting in place. “Well, that’s one problem solved.” A quick look around confirmed what he saw earlier. “And it looks like there’s no more infected. Not in the way I woulda hoped, but…” Trailing off, he shook his head and turned to leave, collapsing his X-Baton as he did.
“Neat! Didn’t even need to heal ya.” Blazermate said.
___________________________________________________________________________
Blazermate followed Howard back to the hall, skipping along.
When she arrived back at the Main Hall, she found Donnie waiting for her. “Hey Blazermate, I found something!” He walked up to her and handed her page from the newspaper. “This newspaper clipping was in the notes.”
Giving her time to look it over, he said, “A man killed his 60-year-old mother in an assault and robbery case. This is useful, because that’s
definitely the kind of tragic death that would spawn a ghost, and Val said that this was here before she set up, so odds are good records on the man were kept here back when the police were active. We might be able to use this to find out more about the haunting.”
He then turned to Captain Howard, recently arrived. “I think we should head to the Record Room. We might find documents on the robbery case there.”
Howard gave a nod. “Go ahead. Let me know what you find.”
Shin Ghost Note