lucetilogs | Mission # 10 - Operation: Hospital Freedom

Entry tags:

Mission # 10 - Operation: Hospital Freedom

Who: Commander: Gai Tsutsugami, Soldiers/Guards: [Faith Lehane, Amelia McFly, Hyuuga Neji, Masaomi Kida, Nara Shikamaru, Edward Elric, Susan Richards, Precis Neumann, Katara, Rock Lee], Negotiators: [Gregor Vorbarra, Tarrlok, Nephry Osborne]
What: MISSION # 10 - Operation: Hospital Freedom
When: September 3rd-4th
Where: Desset City General Hospital
Summary: A group of Malnosso soldiers have gone off the deep end and intend to join the cultists and sacrifice the patients inside a hospital.

The volunteers had only two hours to read the message before they were expected to step on the teleporter in the tunnels and be deployed. They were then met by Malnosso soldiers who briefed them on the situation as they were flown to the scene in five separate helicopters. Along with blueprints of the hospital, they were also given a folder of documents with profiles of the soldiers in the hospital. As typical protocol, the windows were blacked out. When at last they arrived, it was on a building adjacent to the hospital itself. The building itself was forty stories high, the same as the hospital across the street.

On the roof they were met with a familiar face. Specialist Davis. He was accompanied by ten additional soldiers, all geared up and ready to deploy. He seemed more annoyed than usual. Even more so than the battle up on the Moon.

“Alright you lot, listen up, cuz I ain’t saying this twice. You aren’t my first choice for this mission, but you were all MARS was able to get. You all should be familiar with the details of the mission already. If not, better brush up before we go. But let me make one thing clear, because you lot seem to have a pretty hard time with this one. No one dies. These ain’t a bunch of kids from some other bubble you can cut up if you decide you don’t like them so much. These are men and women who spend every day defending this world. And if that ain’t enough for you, they know enough things that if they escape here and get to the Cultists, it could jeopardize everything. Including your enclosure. If anyone has a problem with that, you can get the hell back on that chopper and stop wasting my time.”

The soldiers with him seemed a little surprised by his unusual behavior. It was clear that Davis was aware of recent events. He was none too thrilled to hear of the results. “So to make sure you don’t go in and try to kill the first soldier who gets in your way, we’ll be packing nonlethal weapons only. Tasers, stun guns, tranqs, and the works. Some of these soldiers may take a little more than that. We’ve got a powerful psychic in there, so be sure to wear the earpieces you were given on the chopper. That should keep him from getting inside your head. But that won’t stop him from taking control of patients and hospital staff. This should go without saying, but you can’t kill them either. If any of you do, I’ll make sure it’s a good and long time before you ever go on a mission again.”

His orders finished, Davis left the group to make his final preparations with his soldiers. The Lucetians were given access to several totes containing the weaponry they were permitted to take with them. During that time, Davis could be spotted at the corner of the building with an unidentifiable woman wearing a hood. After their conversation, he returned to the group to take some final questions. Once everything was ready, the operation was ready to begin. Step one? Taking control of the opposing roof.

---

The Desset City General Hospital is a forty floor building located in the middle of the city. For an idea of what the city looks like, well, imagine any modern major city. The city is very much a bustling metropolis, quite different from the draft that took place there over two years ago.

There are numerous soldiers within the hospital. Fifteen notable soldiers are listed here, but there are numerous other ‘novices’ among them. It was originally a group of two hundred soldiers, but there’s been a lot of infighting after the hospital was taken, so it is unknown how many of them survived. Aside from the fifteen in particular, most of the soldiers will not possess any unique traits, though you are certainly encouraged to invent NPCs to flesh out as much as you like.

The building is large and chock-full of important people, facilities, and equipment. While most of it pertains to the hospital’s everyday runnings, there are some “easter eggs” ripe for the finding should the team of volunteers conduct a thorough enough search. However, remember that your characters are here on a short mission and will likely not be able to search everywhere. The hospital is on emergency power only and so not even the mad convenience of elevators can help them zip around to all of the floors.

Floor 40: Emergency care, for in-flight patients arriving by chopper. Several badly injured patients are still here being cared for by hospital staff, but in danger of dying if not allowed surgery. Several soldiers guard this floor.

Floor 39: Special Care ward. Typically reserved for wealthy or important members of the organization to receive individualized care in nice and spacious accommodations. Already evacuated and abandoned.

Floor 38-31: Various wards for different problems, varying from heart, lungs, and other injuries. Most of the surgeries are performed here.

Floor 29-20: “Death Penalty Syndrome” ward. Several floors dedicated solely to caring for individuals who have accumulated enough Death Penalties to no longer be able to care for themselves. Some are more far gone than others. Most of the soldiers are pinned up on these floors, being particularly interested in sacrificing these patients as an ‘act of mercy’. Most of these patients have either been in the world for centuries or are soldiers and fighters.

Floor 19-18: Shift Labs. Occasionally -- with both natural and fabricated Shifts -- there are subjects who are unable to return to their previous state. These floors house labs used for researching ways in which to cure the Shifted, whether they be part of the Organization or from an unfortunate enclosure. It’s clear that these labs are very busy and some of the qualifications hung up on the walls suggest that very prominent doctors and scientists are employed by these labs. Although patients have been evacuated, volunteers will find their charts left behind. These charts list names, vitals, as well as geographical locations. At least ten of the subjects are listed as having been from Kin’cora. Note: These two floors are equipped with a Shift that cancels all powers.

Floor 17: Records and archives. While most records are digitally stored, there remain some considerable hard-copy collections. However, many of these doors are heavily locked and will require both time and patience in order to be opened. Should any volunteers opt to investigate, provide us with a semi-directed paragraph of your character’s attempt as well as their search and we will provide you with intel, should they succeed.

Floor 16: Psych Ward. Patients suffering from mental problems are kept under close watch. Some of these patients are in similar frames of mind as the soldiers and may inevitably become additional reinforcements.

Floor 15-10: Private doctors maintain their own offices here by appointment.

Floor 9-7: Pediatrics, OB/GYN, NICU. There seems to have been some recent vandalism done to these floors which pre-dates this hostage situation. Sloppy, threatening graffiti clutters the walls and wards saying things like “NO MORE LUCIES” and “MAKE PEACE NOT BABIES”.

Floor 6-1: Reception on the first floor, with emergency care occupying the rest. Soldiers are even on this floor, keeping anyone from entering from the ground entrances.

Basement Levels: Inaccessible.

The NPC, Kovan Foster, will be the only enemy soldier controlled by a mod. A pair of a negotiator and soldier will be allowed to approach him in a three-way thread. There will be a thread on the accompanying mod post to volunteer for this and we’ll randomly select the person at midnight.

It will be discovered that Kovan Foster has managed to bring a Shift-augmented explosive with him. This explosive has the potential to destroy an entire city block if it’s not stopped. They’ll discover there’s not enough time to move it to somewhere safer. However, Floor 19 has a room that cancels Shifts temporarily. If the explosive is moved there, it will cause the explosive to go off, but the damage will be contained to a smaller area. This will save the entire building, however there will be no time for this person to get out in time. Due to the power canceling Shift in effect on that floor, they will also be entirely unable to avoid being killed.

Anyone can volunteer to be this person. However, if none of the Lucetians immediately volunteer to do this, inevitably one of Davis’s men will do it instead. While either option is fine, a heroic sacrifice may impact the MSF’s perception of Luceti.

That’s all! For any plotting or questions, please use this post

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It doesn't smell like a normal hospital here...

[Muttered more to himself than anything. He takes some cautionary steps into the room, looking around and with Linda at his heels]

[Shikamaru waits, taking a stance furthest into the room to halt anyone else going further. When still they see no one...

It's wrong. Even if a doctor or nurse had somehow gotten the patients back into their rooms (Neji's description made it sound as if they were milling about), they at least would come forward.]

We were expected. [From here, the only way to go is forward, into the wide hallways that split off and lead to patient rooms, offices, and straight down: the other rec room. Lot of things that could be waiting around the corner.] There's at least one soldier down here. This could be an ambush.

Edited 2012-09-09 18:52 (UTC)

[She closed her eyes for a moment, focusing. But even with her powers back to normal out here, she wasn't advanced enough yet in her bloodbending to sense the bodies of blood right beside her, yet alone through the walls.

She opened her eyes and moved to Shikamaru's five o'clock.]

Only one way to find out.

Dibs on point. [Lightly. It might be a joke, probably is. But he goes to get ahead of Shikamaru, Linda still following at his heels. And then, looking into a side hall for a patient... room.

...Room.

There's two people in that room, and he turns to attention but they seem to patients. And they both seem to be drooling and... running into a window that room has]

...Oh.

[Particularly bad mental patients, probably. Somehow that makes this even spookier]

[...yeah, very bad. But that's background information for Shikamaru. Why the window? Why them both? Like they're trying to get out.

He turns to Katara and shakes his head. He can't claim to know what she's thinking, but he does know her; that her instincts would be to help. And just in case - because there's puzzle pieces here, and he's quickly putting them together - they can't act on that. Not yet.]

Keep moving.

[They were hurting themselves, and they were - sick - in a way she hadn't seen before.]

You should let me restrain them.

[It wouldn't be comfortable, but she could easily ice them to the wall. No harm would come to them, and they could deal with it later.]

That'd alert our position. Those saps don't even have minds right now, they can't even report anything.

[...That said, he likes Katara's idea. But.]

No minds, but they're committing the same action? [He shakes his head.] Maybe they're mimicking each other. Maybe it's not so simple.

[He gives the patients another look before tapping his ear piece.]

There's a man in this building who control people telepathically. Doing so individually would be an arduous task, especially these. More sensible to give a group the same command. Yet he'd still be mentally linked to all of them. If it's him doing this, he'll be alerted when they stop.

[She didn't like it. She didn't like it at all.]

All right.

[She watched the patients slamming themselves into the window again and again and reached up to make sure her earpiece was in securely. She hoped the window wouldn't break.]

[Masaomi doesn't check his own... but he does look down to confirm Linda's tiny ones are in. Yes, they are. Good.]

Man, I'm glad I'm with you.

[So we're all agreed? Yes? Good. He flashes Masaomi a brief grin. Thanks for backing him up.]

We'll come back for them. Let's check out the behavior of the other patients, and figure out what's going on on this level.

[And where is her thanks for not lecturing you and doing what she wants anyway, huh? Fine, fine. Katara doesn't have anything to say to that, though, they've already established how 'traplike' this whole thing seems. So she just nods and follows them.

Her eyes linger, however, on the patients.]

I still say their minds are gone. I can smell it on them.

[He can smell it on this whole level. In fact, looking down through the window of the next room on their left he can see padded walls.

Hah.]

[Well he's not going to deny that.

He thinks of what Davis said to him, on the roof before. He said he had a friend in this hospital. Shikamaru had assumed he was in the Death Penalty Syndrome ward, but he hadn't guessed the ones in this ward would be so bad off.

Could that man be on this ward...?]

[No. She doesn't want to think like that.

Katara's voice is firm.]

Let's just do what we have to so we can get back here and see if there's anything we can do to help. It doesn't look like there's been a doctor or a nurse in here in days, who knows how long it's been since they've had something to eat?

Point. [Okay. This is annoying. He wants to just alert their position but... okay next right is another windowed room, this time with the guys similarly wandering into walls. These two doing it through are not drooling. They seem to be more there too, just... currently vacant. As if they were sleep walking. That's somehow weirder]

[Shikamaru's becoming more convinced of his theory.]

According to reports, the doctors and nurses of this floor are unaccounted for. They're assumed to still be here.

[Just you know. Dead or alive.]

[Katara's eyes track the patients who are blankly banging into the walls. It causes an almost physical pain to restrain herself from going to them.]

If they're here, they're sure not doing their jobs.

Yeah, or at least are doing other jobs. [Further in. Next door on their left seems to be... a closet for medical supplies? It's labeled as something like that. The door's closed. But down a side hall to their right is a nurse. She's pushing a cart of some sort down the hall, but once she reaches the end of the hall she turns the cart around and walks back towards them. Clearly emulating some task she was doing at some point before... something happened.

You know, some of the other people in this hospital have seemed out of it, but this floor is just creepy]

...I think given the circumstances they can be forgiven.

[But this is giving Shikamaru an idea. He takes a cap from one of the used tranquilizers he collected before.]

I'm going to set off a false distraction. You two - keep an eye on those patients. Memorize their reactions to what I'm about to do if they have any; time it, etc. I'll go further down the corridor and monitor that nurse.

[Who is slowly moving out of sight. He points to a sign for the supply closet.]

We'll meet there in sixty seconds. Hopefully with some interesting results.

[Katara glanced at Masaomi and then back to Shikamaru.]

Okay.

[That was it. No questions. Just go do what you have to do.]

Yes, sir.

[He'll walk back a bit to focus on the drooling ones from before. It'sa bit further back down the hall but... probably better he makes a point of looking at them so Katara can look at the slightly less gut wreching sleep walking ones]

[Shikamaru goes to follow the nurse, timing his approach for when she's about to reach the end of the hall again and turn.

While she's still facing away, he notes the path of her cart. Confident in his assessment, he quietly places the tranq cap on the floor before darting back to his location (along a corner on the ceiling) to observe just as she turns again.

It takes her a few moments to reach it. When she does, the cart catches the cap at an angle and is sent off-balance, tipping over when the nurse has no presence of mind to correct it (the other should be able to hear it). Shikamaru begins his count from this moment.

One second ...scarily enough, she continues walking, hands still out-stretched as if she were steering something. Two seconds... still going.

It's not until the fifth second that she stops, hand dropping but expression still oddly vacant, like a doll's stare, as she turns back to look at the mess. Another second, and she speaks in a monotone. "No."

Head turned right (neck popping it's been so long stiff) to look at the side hall. Again the monotone. "No." This is repeated for every direction she's turned in.

Shikamaru is gone before her attention is directed to the ceiling, careful until he hears her measured footsteps going up and down that hall again, assured he isn't followed.]

[In this case? Katara was grateful for Masaomi's protection.

She watched the patients' responses closely, as requested, and moved towards the supply closet as directed.]

[She drooling ones don't react all that much. They only stop moving, but can't glance around the way the nurse did. Not that he can do that. He hears the crash and counts the time delay of five seconds, and notices that they stop moving for a few seconds...

Okay. To the supply closet]

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