|
Post by Jordanna on Apr 13, 2009 22:26:12 GMT -5
The drive to White Hill Hospital was made mostly in silence. Vance pulled into the first level of a parking garage across the street, and a few moments later, Nate arrived with his team in the other car.
Vance got out of the car to clap Nate on the shoulder. "Remember not to do anything if you don't have to."
"Right." Nate turned to Proteus. "You want to go in first, or should we?"
The shapeshifter shrugged. "You go on and stake out your spot. I'll follow you in about five minutes."
|
|
|
Post by skybright on Apr 13, 2009 22:46:38 GMT -5
"Be careful in there, you guys." Daws said. "And keep an eye out -- there might be a stray cop or two still hanging around."
|
|
|
Post by Jordanna on Apr 13, 2009 22:54:06 GMT -5
"We'll be as inconspicuous as a bunch of mutants loitering in the hallways of a hospital can be," Nate said, with a grin and a slight roll of his eyes. "Proteus is the one doing all the real work. Good luck, old man."
Proteus inclined his head. "Just don't touch anything or anybody unless I let you know."
Nate chuckled, shrugged, and turned to his men. They started out, making their way across the street and in through the front entrance of the hospital.
"I'm not sure I wouldn't have been better off going alone," Proteus brooded.
"Relax," Vance murmured. "The boys are just there to help if you need it."
|
|
|
Post by skybright on Apr 13, 2009 23:01:44 GMT -5
"If we've got any luck at all, this part of the job will be a simple case of in and out." Daws said, leaning against the car with a shrug.
|
|
|
Post by Jordanna on Apr 16, 2009 21:21:38 GMT -5
"Simple for everyone but me," Proteus murmured.
Across the street, Nate and his team reached the front entrance of the hospital and went inside. Proteus waited for another five minutes, then stepped out of the car.
"I'm going to find a different door to go in by," he told Vance, leaning down to look in the car window. "If I can pick up Voegel alright, I'll come out around the west side. You probably won't recognize either of us."
"We figure Voegel's gonna need a wheelchair," Vance replied. "If you need us to pull over there and pick you up in a hurry--"
"If I need that, it'll probably be obvious," Proteus retorted. "Just watch and wait, Major."
"Okay." Vance shook Proteus' hand. "Good luck."
The shapeshifter nodded once, then turned to make his way across the street.
|
|
|
Post by skybright on Apr 16, 2009 22:00:19 GMT -5
Daws sighed and slipped back into the passenger seat of the car. "Well, here we go." She said wryly.
|
|
|
Post by Jordanna on Apr 17, 2009 21:48:09 GMT -5
Proteus made his way surreptitiously across the street and around the side of the hospital. He found that luck was with him--a fairly distinguished-looking doctor in a lab coat was taking a smoking break near a side door, pacing aimlessly with his cigarette. Proteus assumed a random, nondescript guise, then approached the doctor.
"Got the time?" he asked. The doctor automatically glanced down at his watch--and he was unconscious two seconds later, after a jab from the hypo in Proteus' hand. Proteus dragged him behind a dumpster, bound and gagged him, then assumed the doctor's form and sauntered in through the door.
Okay, I got in easy enough, he thought. Now to track down Voegel.
|
|
|
Post by skybright on Apr 17, 2009 22:17:37 GMT -5
Like any hospital in New York, White Hill was a hive of constant activity; although the upper floors containing the ICU and regular rooms were not so hectic as the emergency ward, the halls were still busy with a parade of nurses, interns, and other hospital staff. None of them gave Proteus more than a cursory glance as he moved through the corridors.
|
|
|
Post by Jordanna on Apr 17, 2009 22:29:55 GMT -5
Near an elevator, Proteus saw Nate and his men, sitting around an alcove arranged with chairs and silk-flower-bearing end tables. Obviously they were trying to look like concerned family or friends of a patient. They noticed him, but they didn't recognize him, and he didn't identify himself.
According to their information from Caddy, Voegel's room was around the corner. Proteus wandered to the thankfully deserted nurses' station at the intersection of the hallways, found a clipboard he could pretend to be studying, and waited for a sign of their target.
|
|
|
Post by skybright on Apr 17, 2009 22:41:54 GMT -5
After a few moments, a wiry young man in nurse's scrubs emerged from Voegel's ICU room and made his way towards the nurses' station. He raised an eyebrow at Proteus as he drew closer.
"Oh, uh, Doctor . . ." He glanced briefly at the ID badge around Proteus' neck "Stein. Did you need something?"
|
|
|
Post by Jordanna on Apr 19, 2009 22:17:14 GMT -5
"Oh--no, thanks. I'm just comparing the stats for one of my patients with a few of the others on this floor. A little pet theory of mine." Proteus grinned smoothly. "You'll read about it in the medical journals if it comes out the way I think."
|
|
|
Post by skybright on Apr 19, 2009 22:38:44 GMT -5
The nurse chuckled. "Sure, like an ICU nurse's got time to read medical journals." He replied affably. "In between checking patients in and checking 'em out."
|
|
|
Post by Jordanna on Apr 20, 2009 22:43:55 GMT -5
Proteus grinned. "Well, I'm sure you'll hear about it from everybody else if it gets published. Hospitals are worse than hair salons for gossip."
|
|
|
Post by skybright on Apr 20, 2009 22:47:34 GMT -5
"Ain't that the truth." The nurse grinned crookedly and held up his armful of paperwork.
"Anyway -- we're prepping that explosion victim for transfer, so I've got to get these filed. Be seeing you, Doctor." With that, the young man turned away from the nurse's station and disappeared down a nearby corridor.
|
|
|
Post by Jordanna on Apr 20, 2009 23:09:30 GMT -5
Thanks for the tip, Proteus thought, watching the nurse move away. Then he turned back to browsing through the charts at the station.
His interest was piqued when he found a chart for Voegel, but it was mostly medical jargon that meant nothing to him. With the idea that it might be of some help to Caddy, he quickly folded it and tucked it away in a spontaneously-formed inner pocket.
|
|
|
Post by skybright on Apr 20, 2009 23:23:43 GMT -5
After a few minutes the nurse passed by once again, followed in short order by a bespectacled doctor and a hefty intern pushing an empty wheelchair. All three passed by without sparing Proteus a second glance, disappearing into the room currently occupied by Voegel.
"Um." A timorous voice broke in at Proteus' elbow -- belonging to a small, gray-haired woman with enormous coke-bottle glasses. "Pardon me, Doctor . . . I'm afraid I'm a bit lost." She pursed her lips worriedly. "I'm looking for oncology."
|
|
|
Post by Jordanna on Apr 21, 2009 23:08:47 GMT -5
With his decades of practice in bluffing, Proteus didn't miss a beat. He swept the nurses' station with one swift glance, and noticed a copy of that floor's layout taped above the cluttered desk.
"Sorry, ma'am, but you want the opposite wing of this floor." He took down the floor plan and showed it to her. "Down that hall, all the way to the other side of the building, then turn left after the elevator."
|
|
|
Post by skybright on Apr 21, 2009 23:20:02 GMT -5
"Ohhh." The woman peered myopically at the chart for a moment, looking relieved. "Oh, thank you very much. Silly of me."
She beamed up at Proteus, then turned towards the hallway he'd indicated -- nearly colliding with the bulky intern behind her, who was pushing a wheelchair with a heavily bandaged and clearly sedated Voegel in it.
|
|
|
Post by Jordanna on Apr 21, 2009 23:31:06 GMT -5
Proteus frowned. He didn't care to tranquilize the woman, and he could only hope she would go her way before the intern wheeled Voegel off to a more populated area.
He stood where he was for a moment more, pretending to make a few notes on the clipboard in his hand. Then, still carrying it and looking studiously businesslike, he wandered in the same direction the intern was heading. He was biding his time until the woman would--he hoped--get out of sight and earshot.
|
|
|
Post by skybright on Apr 21, 2009 23:38:02 GMT -5
The old lady shuffled along a few paces behind the wheelchair for a ways, then beamed at Proteus through her coke-bottle lenses and turned off down the corridor Proteus had indicated on the floor plan.
The intern continued his dogged progression towards the more populated areas of the hospital, apparently oblivious to Proteus' presence.
|
|