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Post by Jordanna on Apr 22, 2009 22:37:03 GMT -5
Passing an open doorway, Proteus glanced through and saw an unoccupied room beyond--an ideal place to stash the intern. He slipped the hypo from his sleeve and quickened his pace, catching up with the intern two steps ahead of him.
There was no one in sight. Proteus quickly jabbed the needle into the intern's shoulder, and caught his weight as he slumped into unconsciousness.
The bandaged Voegel was in no real condition to turn around, but he stirred and made a questioning noise--and Proteus hesitated for an instant. He wasn't sure whether sedation was safe for Voegel in his condition.
However, Proteus had one other option, a trick he had learned in his travels decades earlier. He quickly reached down to the back of Voegel's neck. His fingers found a nerve center and squeezed, and the scientist crumpled with a fading grunt.
Proteus hauled the intern into the empty room, placed him on one of the beds, and hurriedly tied his wrists to the frame with a roll of medical tape. Then he assumed the man's form and stepped back into the hall. Taking custody of the wheelchair, he began to push the ostensibly sleeping Voegel toward the elevator.
Here's hoping he stays out cold long enough...
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Post by skybright on Apr 22, 2009 22:53:36 GMT -5
As Proteus continued towards the elevator, a dark-haired nurse stepped out of a supply room and shot a curious look at him and the motionless Voegel. "Moving time already, huh?"
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Post by Jordanna on Apr 22, 2009 22:59:52 GMT -5
"Yeah," Proteus said, smoothly and casually, and gave the "sleeping" patient a wry grin. "But I guess the poor guy couldn't wait to get back into a bed again."
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Post by skybright on Apr 22, 2009 23:08:12 GMT -5
"Can't exactly blame him -- he's had a rough week." She grinned crookedly and shrugged. "If I were him, I'd be glad there's a nice pair of cops ready and waiting to stand guard outside my new room. Never know when those mutie wackos might try and finish what they started."
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Post by Jordanna on Apr 23, 2009 21:19:49 GMT -5
Thanks for the tip... Proteus shrugged and resumed pushing Voegel along down the corridor. He answered over his shoulder, "Yeah--I'm sure this guy has enough to worry about."
Once they were out of sight of the nurse, he paused again, and considered Voegel with a frown. He had hoped to avoid having to change Voegel's appearance until they reached the ground floor; it would be a delicate and tiring job to perform on an injured man, and it meant having to keep one hand on him at all times. But he didn't know where Voegel's new room was, and he didn't want to risk bumping into the cops.
"I guess it's showtime," he murmured. He rested his hand on the back of the wheelchair, where he could discreetly put his fingers on Voegel's neck, and went to work.
He reclaimed for himself the form of the doctor he had first impersonated, and gave Voegel the outward appearance of a randomly imagined old man. It would be a further mild strain on the scientist's body, but it couldn't be helped--and Proteus did his best to counter it, by applying his stabilizing power to Voegel's injuries as he had once done for Major Vance.
Once satisfied that they were both prepared for the longest and most critical part of the bluff, Proteus moved on, pushing the wheelchair with one hand while the other stayed in contact with Voegel's neck. He headed for the nearest elevator; another nurse was in it when the door opened, but she stepped past him with hardly a glance, and no one else boarded on the trip down to the ground floor.
They were on more or less the back side of the hospital, away from the bustle of the main entrance and the waiting areas. Proteus quickly but cautiously began to wheel Voegel down the hall--in search of an exit.
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Post by skybright on Apr 23, 2009 22:16:25 GMT -5
"Doctor Stein!" A voice called out from behind Proteus, and a young man in a labcoat jogged up, shooting a curious glance at the "old man" in the wheelchair.
"Glad I caught you," He said, a trifle breathlessly, "Been looking all over the sixth floor. Don't you have rounds tonight?"
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Post by Jordanna on Apr 23, 2009 23:04:30 GMT -5
"Yes," Proteus answered carefully. He glanced around in an almost exaggerated way, then lowered his voice.
"I can't talk now. This gentleman, " and he nodded down to the disguised Voegel, "was a witness at the clinic bombing. We're releasing him into protective custody... quietly, to avoid attention from the press or any more mutant terrorists. I'm taking him out to the police." He fixed the young man with a stern look. "Now, I need you not to repeat this, or even mention seeing me down here."
Without waiting for an answer, he turned his back, and continued on toward the exit.
Please buy it, kid...
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Post by skybright on Apr 23, 2009 23:11:37 GMT -5
The younger man's brow furrowed in obvious confusion, and his steps faltered for a moment. "Really? But . . ." He once again matched pace with Proteus, "How'd you get involved? I though the clinic victims were all Doctor Riker's patients."
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Post by Jordanna on Apr 25, 2009 21:32:51 GMT -5
"Yes--and they're afraid anyone who's after this man might know that," Proteus answered rather shortly. "They asked me to take him because I'm not involved with the case."
He glanced impatiently over his shoulder. "Now excuse me, please, but I've got to get him out to the patrol car the police have sent. They've got a paramedic waiting, and he needs care."
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Post by skybright on Apr 25, 2009 22:19:55 GMT -5
The young man's hesitant frown deepened. "Well . . . Look, Doctor, this whole thing just seems really irregular. I mean, we've got procedures for this kind of situation . . ."
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Post by Jordanna on Apr 25, 2009 22:34:43 GMT -5
Proteus resigned himself that he wasn't going to lose this annoyance the easy way. He affected a put-upon sigh, reached beneath his lab coat, and took out Voegel's chart that he had swiped from the nurses' station.
"Alright, look here. I've got authorization."
The interloper came forward and took the paper. As he was unfolding it, Proteus slipped the hypo out of his pocket--and it made contact with the young man's arm before he could even look up in confusion. He slumped to the floor.
Scowling, Proteus decided to leave the man where he had fallen, and make a break for it. The effort he was expending on Voegel was too delicate to interrupt now. He resumed his course down the hall as fast as he could with Voegel's wheelchair.
Around the next turn, he finally found a fire exit that led directly to the outside. He picked Voegel up bodily, abandoning the wheelchair, and pushed the door open.
A fire alarm began to sound as Proteus hurried across the parking lot with his load.
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Post by skybright on Apr 25, 2009 22:43:15 GMT -5
The trio left waiting in the getaway car had waited in silence for the most part; even from the parking garage across the street, the blare of the hospital's fire alarm was unmistakable. Daws sat up abruptly in the passenger seat, glancing at Vance. "That sounds like our cue."
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Post by Jordanna on Apr 25, 2009 22:52:03 GMT -5
"Right." Vance was already pulling out of the parking space in the cavernous garage. He careened perilously around support pillars and shot across the street into the hospital's lot.
"I think I see Nate and the boys," he murmured tautly, jerking his head toward a crowd of people who had spilled out of the main entrance. "I don't see Proteus--not that that means much."
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Post by skybright on Apr 25, 2009 23:05:35 GMT -5
"If this thing went right, he'd be pushing a wheelchair," Daws peered at the crowd and grimaced. "Too bad there's half a dozen wheelchairs out there."
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Post by Jordanna on Apr 27, 2009 22:28:28 GMT -5
"He may not want to stress Voegel's body too much by doing a lot to disguise him," Vance remarked, pulling around the side of the building. "We'd better check the smaller entrances."
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Post by skybright on Apr 28, 2009 22:39:01 GMT -5
"Good plan." Daws remarked, scanning the street for any sign of them. "We'll attract less attention away from that crowd, anyhow."
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Post by Jordanna on Apr 28, 2009 23:31:19 GMT -5
"What about Nate?" Handy asked.
Vance tossed his cellphone over his shoulder into the back seat. "Call him. Tell him if he doesn't come across Proteus in five minutes, he should take the boys and get out of here. It'll probably mean Proteus is with us." Or caught, he added silently.
The thought had barely passed from his mind when he caught a glimpse of something white moving near a dumpster. He squinted into the dark with his one eye.
"Regina, tell me that's a doctor with somebody in a wheelchair..."
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Post by skybright on Apr 29, 2009 18:08:31 GMT -5
Daws narrowed her eyes slightly. "I don't see a wheelchair," She said, "but it looks like a doctor and someone in a lot of bandages. Might be Proteus."
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Post by Jordanna on Apr 29, 2009 21:26:02 GMT -5
"Here's hoping..." Vance pulled the car up close to the man in the lab coat and his limp patient, leaning out the window.
"Need a lift?" It was an approach that would sound harmless enough, if they were wrong.
The graying, middle-aged doctor smiled at Vance--and morphed into the familiar form of Proteus. "If you're going my way."
A chuckle of pure nervous relief escaped Vance, and he quickly stepped out of the car to help Proteus load Voegel into the back seat. When the unconscious scientist was settled between Proteus and Handy, Vance slid back behind the wheel and turned the car toward the street.
"Is that guy still alive?" he asked.
Proteus nodded, his hand resting on Voegel's neck again to continue his stabilizing effort. "I didn't drug him--just blacked him out. I had to use that stuff on a couple of other people, though. Where's Nate and your boys?"
Handy answered as he handed back Vance's cellphone. "They're gettin' out now. He said he'll meet us at the motel."
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Post by skybright on May 1, 2009 20:50:27 GMT -5
Daws shot an appraising glance at the unconscious Voegel. "Caddy's supposed to meet us there, too," She said, "To give Voegel a once-over and make sure he's not going to drop dead on us."
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