VWAT Infirmary

-----> Director Steeler's Office

Claire entered the infirmary where numerous military doctors and medics were milling about tending to soldiers wounded in combat operations. Claire pulled out her military ID card and slid it through the card reader next to the medical supply locker. She opened the locker and grabbed a field surgeon bag that contained all the basic essentials that she needed to treat injuries in combat. She also grabbed a medium sized waist bag that clipped to the bottom of the Field Surgery bag. On her way to the Infirmary she'd stopped to pick up her field gear from her room along with her rifle.

Moving over to a small cabinet full of medical supplies she grabbed all the necessary equipment required to perform a physical examination. She also filled 6 syringes with the proper immunization shots required for immigrants entering the United States. The last thing VWAT needed was for their foreign guest to get sick. She then stored the syringes in a padded hard case from the locker that she then slipped into one of her cargo pockets. After doing a quick check of her equipment she headed out along with her escort to begin their deployment to North Carolina.

-----> Exit

----------> Limbo

Aiden opened his eyes for the first time in almost a month. "What...the fuck happened?" Aiden muttered sitting up in the bed he had been lying in. Around his neck was a neck brace and he could feel a dull ache in his back and neck. He swung his legs over the side of the bed looking around from the looks of the room it was an infirmary. He could see a few others laid out in the beds beside him standing at one of the cabinets was a woman dressed in ACU pattern BDUs holding a clipboard. "Um...hey?" Aiden called out. The woman turned around looking over Aiden for a moment before approaching.

"About time you woke up Holmes you honestly shouldn't have been out that long." The woman said writing something down on her clipboard. Aiden rubbed his neck groaning as he cracked his neck a bit working a few of the kinks out. "Yeah...well the bosses choke hold isn't really somethin to shake a stick at..." Aiden muttered as he got up he read the name patch on the woman's uniform which simply read "Kelly." he stretched a bit wincing as his bedsores ached a bit as he bent his back a bit. "So am I clear to go?" Aiden asked. The woman looked up from her clipboard before handing it to him. "Sure thing just sign yourself out, From what I see your fine I should do a check up on you but just come back if you feel anything strange or out of the ordinary other than pain." Claire said.

Aiden filled out the paper work required to sign himself out before giving a small salute to the young medic and leaving the infirmary.

-------> Indoor Track

Claire watched as the special forces operator left the infirmary. After her brief exercise session on the track Claire had returned to the infirmary to begin her shift for the day. During times when she wasn't on active duty serving in the field Claire was left to serve as a nurse within the infirmary. A job she didn't really mind if it wasn't for the sheer repetition that seemed to accompany her duties. Right now Claire was standing in front of the medicine cabinets that lined one of the walls of the infirmary taking an inventory of various medications and medical equipment writing down what needed to be restocked and what would likely be needed in the future. Most of the patients that lie in the infirmary were either in for minor injuries and often left soon after or for major injuries that had been treated and now left them resting in the recovery area.

This more often than not left Claire with little else to do except for entertain herself, Fill out a few requisition sheets and perhaps check on the patients to see if they needed anything to help cope with the pain or to check if they were well enough to sign out of the infirmary and return to active duty. Claire sighed as she put down her clipboard on the small desk sitting by the door she'd been working on the inventory for a good hour now and she'd barely made it through a quarter of the stock in the infirmary's medicine cabinets. After this she'd have to take an inventory of what they had in the dry storeroom as well something she was not greatly looking forward to.

Claire sank into the office chair behind the desk switching on the desktop computer that had been set up on it's surface. She glanced up at the door briefly before clicking on the internet browser icon in the top left corner of the screen and logging onto a popular fanfiction website that she'd been occupied with for the last few days. The site had such a vast collection of different fanfictions that Claire could honestly be lost for days within it's vast archives. Leaning her cheek against her palm Claire began to browse through different stories trying to find one of particular interest but finding none. Most of it seemed to be fangirls making self inserts that often began with "What If." In the description and to be honest Claire was sick and tired of reading those. The authors of such stories always seemed to twist the actual canon characters around to somehow make them all fall in love with their character and it made Claire sick to her stomach to see some of her favorite anime and videogame characters being twisted in such ways to suit a fangirl's fancy.

The trip wasn't a long one, what with the infirmary being close, and she had assumed wherever Claire would be, the first place to look would be her place of practice. Her meeting with Stu hadn't been what she'd hoped for, but what she'd expected. Now that she has a little room to move on his case - interns and privates to talk to - she felt a bit more like her old old self, the one that worked with words and not knives.

Unless her partner decided to speak, she was surprisingly quiet until they arrived. Knocking a couple raps on the door frame, she enters the room to find the reason for her visit behind a desk, and from the looks of it, not doing anything related to work.

A smile formed on the spy'd lips. "Hope we didn't interrupt anything." Eleanor's words left room for politeness, though her tone suggested perhaps the other woman should offer a seat.

Claire having found a fanfiction that actually peaked her interest was now leaning forward in her chair her eyes scanning over each and every word that the author had written. She liked how the author of this fanfiction actually stayed true to the characters from the series rather than changing it to suit their needs. However before she could read further a knock at the door drew her attention away from the screen. She froze for a moment slowly peaking over the top of the monitor to see another woman standing near the door. She looked back and forth from the screen to the woman a few times from first impressions Claire certainly didn't look busy. And really she couldn't lie, She wasn't busy at all.

For a few moments Claire continued to stare before her brain finally registered how rude she must have seemed. She snapped out of her reverie and sat straight trying to appear professional rather than bored. "Um no! Of course not." Claire said smiling back at the woman for a few moments she stayed silent trying to find the right words to say next. But each second she took only left a reminder in her head that she was making her guests wait. Claire gestured to the chair on the other side of the desk meant mainly for patients who came in for psychiatric evaluation. "Please sit." Claire said.

Claire was a bit embarrassed to be honest sure her job got a bit boring at times and she liked to procrastinate a bit here and there. But that didn't mean she particularly liked getting caught doing so. She could only hope that the woman hadn't been sent by her superiors to actually check to see if she was getting any work done. "So how can I help you?" Claire asked looking over the woman performing a brief physical evaluation. She didn't appear injured and she didn't seem particularly bothered in the head so she was at a loss for what the woman could need from her.

Falling a few steps behind his partner on their way to the infirmary due to his comparably lazy gait, the archer finally rounded the doorway to the medical area just in time to hear the medic offer a seat. Rather than accept the offer, Cole simply reached up to hook his fingers on the top of the door frame before allowing his frame to sag entirely. Hanging loosely in the doorway, Brandon offered a rather convincing impersonation of the world's least interested punching bag.

"You could start with the story about what went down on your last job. Half the base says you ran over a pack of werewolves. Other half says you fought a giant robot," he said, the words rolling over his tongue in a relaxed tone. Eventually raising his dragging boots up from the room's floor, Brandon gradually began to swing back and forth in the doorway.

OOC: Sorry for the wait.

Claire looked toward the man who'd just entered the infirmary deciding to use the door frame as a jungle gym with a small smile. "You heard the the stories then?" Claire asked crossing her arms on the desktop. "The story about me strangling a werewolf to death with my bra is my favorite." Claire said shaking her head. Recently stories had been revolving around the base regarding her last mission. Three green berets had been sent along with her on what was supposed to be a routine pick up operation. And after what in Claire's opinion had been the worst FUBAR situation ever Claire had somehow survived and managed to return back to Fort Belvoir with only a few scrapes and bruises to show for it.

If she was honest the only reason she was still breathing was because of the small Japanese girl with huge arms that had held off the bulk of the beasts that had assaulted them. Not to mentioned she'd managed to save her from the traitorous Sarah a person who she'd foolishly believed she could trust. The thought brought bitter thoughts to her mind. "But anyways...You really want to know? I thought someone would have handed out copies of my After-Action report to quell the rumors by now..." Claire muttered leaning back in her chair.

"There isn't much to say...We picked up Yuu Koutari from the air strip as planned and were en-route to the examination area when we were attacked." Claire said she took a moment to recall what exactly it was she'd seen. "I remember seeing something run across the road just before something exploded under the truck we flipped into a ditch it all went to hell from there." Claire said bitterly and with a bit of sadness in her voice. Memories of Mendez and Peterson had begun to circulate through her mind she'd only known them for a short time but the fact that she wasn't able to do anything to save them struck a chord in Claire's heart. She didn't know if they'd been in league with Sarah or not but if they weren't she couldn't help but believe that the two soldiers deserved better then what they'd gotten.

Claire sighed pinching the bridge of her nose "Peterson and Mendez went down first...Sarah sent them out to cut a line through whatever was attacking us...They didn't last long..." Claire said solemly. "After that Yuu began firing through the truck's cover to hold off the enemy Sarah had been in the line of fire so I tried to pull her out of the way...She used me as a shield and tried to attack Yuu they fought and when things turned against her Sarah ran...But not without trying to blow me and Yuu the fuck up with a grenade." Claire said scowling at the memory of the traitor.

She settles into a chair, legs crossed, and takes n what the medic had to say. Eleanor had to admit, there was a bit of a surprise in Cole taking active "interest" in the moment, but she could only really ever assume his interests lie in whatever kept the boredom away.

Claire's story was just as her report had said, though there were a few changes from another report; the discrepancies weren't large, but they were enough to catch the spy's attention.

"What did you think of Yuu?" There was a lot being asked in that statement, but all she needed was for the woman to continue talking. So far, there were the markers of quiet resentment of a former colleague (more aptly called "anger"), and subtle sadness for fallen team members. Which was odd, since she wouldn't have known the men well. Claire seemed odd amongst those she'd known or read about on base.

She seemed to have a heart.

It could be an elaborate ruse, but there was sincerity in her actions, and face when she spoke, and that is terribly difficult to fake.

Conversely, she could be as good as Harkness at the game, in which case things would be far more entertaining for Cole.

Though he'd decided to play against type for a bit in order to kick start this little conversation, Brandon was quickly forced to accept that he was a bit out of his depth in the verbal games Harkness loved to play. He had a pretty good sense for when he was being lied to and had an award winning poker face but that was about the limit of his skill in espionage. The archer could never quite get the initiative to really get a handle on acting like anything other than how he really was; bored. So he let himself swing there in the doorway, savoring the pleasant stretch in his back and shoulders while the medic gave her report. If his guess was right, Eleanor would be going through her mental gymnastics right about now, silently turning a conversation into a chess match in order to determine whether or not the medic was being fully kosher with them. Personally speaking though, he'd already ruled her out as the culprit in favor of Stu.

Claire pushed her unsavory thoughts regarding Sarah aside as the woman seated opposite of her spoke again presenting another question for Claire to answer. To be honest it was a welcome change speaking specifically about the mission only brought up bitter and sad memories. Claire was quiet for a moment as she put thought toward her answer. Yuu Koutari had been really quite reserved and Claire hadn't had much time to really get to know the girl. They hadn't spoken much save for a short conversation they'd had during her arrival but other than that nothing else had been said between them.

Claire did have her own observations though, "Well from what I could see Yuu is reserved, It seems as if she won't say anything if she doesn't have to." Claire said pausing for a moment to think more trying to put her thoughts into words. "Either that she just isn't used to being social. I know so little about her she may completely lack any social skills at all for all I know." Claire said shaking her head as she thought back to how easily Yuu's handlers had handed the young girl off to them without a word. Perhaps she was being too judgmental but it seemed as if any relationship beyond a work related one was non-existent.

"She also seems quite focused, I'm not a psychologist but her combat skills seem to be unaffected by any outside or emotional distractions." Claire said she fell silent after having said this wondering if her words had even made any sense. "I'm sorry, I'm probably explaining this poorly." Claire said offering the woman a small apologetic smile.

While the younger Yuu had never been on her list, she was now someone Eleanor wanted to speak with, if for no other reason that it seemed no one else did. Convicts were convicts, and most of the mercs were no better, but that didn't mean the girl had to be the same, particularly not with what (very little) history Eleanor knew of her.

Before she could ask her last question, the lights in the room abruptly cut out. No...not just the lights. Everything shut down or blacked out. The computer monitor made a faint pop as it, too, clicked off. The sudden darkness made her skin pebble, and her ears instantly took over the majority of her senses. It took a a few seconds, perhaps a fraction more, before invasive red light spilled into the room.

Emergency power was now up and running.

Her eyes cut to Cole as he hung himself by the door frame, then back to the medic. They shouldn't be on emergency power. There were enough backups and substations to power four small towns for at least a week if main power went offline. Yet, they were sitting bathed in red, and not a sound could be heard.

That was unsettling.

Normally, there were announcements overhead and the whir of computers and servers in almost every room. But now, this usually humming lab was still, eerily so. Something was wrong, dangerously so, and the spy had a terrible feeling it might lead to something worse.

“Ms. Kelly, if you wouldn't mind closing up here and returning to your room...” she thinks for a split second, then nods to herself, “...or perhaps Steeler's office. Just to be on the safe side.”

With that, she slides out of her seat and stands for a faint stretch, her mind already working.

“Cole, I need to head to my room. I feel underdressed. You wanna come, or loiter about while mastering uselessness?”

She doesn't wait long for his answer, because either way, she knew where she was going. Slipping past him, she exits the medical ward and heads for her room.

It was the rush of two guards barreling past her that set her on edge. Immediately, her deadly little yoyos are in-hand, and she moves now at a swift clip, heading to her room.

------------------------> Eleanor's Room

Talking...talking...boring...darkness.  Now there was an interesting turn.  Sudden power outages like that just didn't happen on a high security military base like VWAT's.  No, for those red emergency lights to suddenly kick on there had to be something especially serious going on.  If the computers and lights were down then chances were the other security programs had gotten knocked out as well.  That meant communications, door locks, and most importantly the obedience collars.  

Well alright, this just got all sorts of interesting

Dropping from the door frame, Cole spied the approaching guards en route to put down the riot that was more than likely already raging out of control.  Unfortunately for the archer, most of his gear was in lockup in his room, leaving him with nothing but his sidearm and no additional ammunition.  From the looks of it, Eleanor wasn't much better off.  He didn't bother responding to her latest jab right away.  There would be time for witty banter after he finished forming a proper strategy for surviving thing.  First priority was arming himself properly.  Once he had the means to defend himself he could get to work on trying to get the power back on.  That meant heading deeper into the base and god knows what sort of psychos had gotten loose.  

"Save the pillow talk for when we're not facing down an angry mob," he said, quickening his pace to match Harkness' as he made his way to his room.  "Meet me at the fourth floor stairs when you're dressed."

=====>Cole's Room

Before the conversation with the other woman could continue the entire room was engulfed with darkness shrouding it's inhabitants from view. "Huh that's never happened before..." Claire muttered. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness she could already see Eleanor sliding out of her seat. A small frown crossed her lips at the the woman's suggestion to return to her room or some other safe location. To be honest it was the smart thing to do but sadly Claire wasn't really the type of person to always do the smartest thing. If she could be of assistance it definitely wouldn't be hiding in some panic room.

As the Eleanor and Brandon both swiftly took their leave Claire immediately shot up from her seat to follow. Pausing briefly to pat herself down to see what she currently had on her person. From her brief and improvised inventory check she could tell she had her sidearm and perhaps two spare magazines in one of her pockets. It wasn't much to work with but it was better than facing possible danger with nothing at all she supposed. Casting a quick glance toward one of the medicine cabinets her frown only deepened as she noticed that the green light on the card reader wasn't lit. And unfortunately she didn't have the physical key to open it cutting her off from any substantial medical supplies she could use.

Turning her gaze away from the medicine cabinets Claire walked out into the hall just as two guards rushed past her down the hall. Following them with her eyes Claire could see the woman she'd spoken with down the hall as well. From appearances it indeed seemed as though the situation was taking a dangerous turn. Claire jogged down the hall toward the woman pulling her sidearm from it's holster on her belt. "Hey wait!" Claire said as she slowed her jog as she came up behind her.

"Heave!"

Crash.

"Ho!"

The door smashed open. "Good work, Smitty." A smaller inmate, blood streaming from an open wound on his head, was tossed to the ground by two burly men. A much slimmer and taller man walked through the door first, arms crossed behind his back. "Have at it, boys. We go for the guns next." Both meatheads trampled the poor Smitty as they made a mad dash for the cabinets, ripping the hinges off some to grab pills and various other medicines. They gobbled up whatever they could get their hands on.

Their seeming leader did not partake. "Save some for later. We can't expect to find a pharmacy the moment we get out of this pit. There's a whole other base on top of us we'll have to fight our way through." He grabbed a needle full of some such liquid, turning it over and deciding to keep it as a sort of weapon. Until they could get to the armory, it'd be the best he could do. His goons, now sufficiently in an altered state of consciousness, began tearing at various things in the room, one managing to rip the metal leg off a bed and another grabbing a discarded cabinet door.

As they began walking out of the room, the downed inmate reached up and bit the taller man on the leg. Letting out a high-pitched screech, he began stomping him in the face until he let go. He was probably dead at this point, but he continued nonetheless. "The whole world will know of your betrayal, Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen!" he proclaimed accusingly while pointing a finger at him. He continued on towards the armory, limping as he went.