May 5th, 2295, UNPC universal calendar.
This happens immediately after A9's injuries following the end of the first "Alpha 9" book, which waits to be digitized, and is also about a thousand notebook pages long.........
(nothing besides minor discussion about what he did/his injuries is mentioned. ie: no spoilers here)
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1343 hours local time, Schattenwulf, Pacific ocean, 22 miles from Hawaii.
Sarah sat on the sofa across the room from Anton's bed where he laid unconscious, her knees pulled up to her chest with her arms around them, uncaring how it exposed her as she sat naked, wearing only her "socks" which were made from an old LSS and cut at the ankle.
Dr.Raine had immediately flown to the Schattenwulf to help administer care to A9, who'd sustained damage far beyond survival even to augment standards.
Kate "C7" Schmidt had been deployed, as she was the only augment with a CBRN specialty rating not currently deployed, and true to Murphy's law, a incident took place at the worst time imaginable.
A train carrying 155mm VX nerve agent shells to be disposed had derailed at a railroad crossing near a roadway, contaminating a massive amount of land, and claiming over a hundred victims.
Kate had gone, leaving Sarah to be with him.
She sat staring, thinking for a long time as she looked at him in the spotless hospital style room, about how much he'd given.
The door to the room opened, and Dr.Raine walked in, wearing light blue scrubs.
Sarah moved to cover herself, putting her legs down and a arm across her chest.
"Oh please child, I am far too old to care about nudity" Dr.Raine said, moving to beside the bed where Anton laid, pulling back the covers to see the surgical scars.
"Make yourself comfortable, it may be longer than expected before he wakes" Dr.Raine said.
Sarah nodded, and sat back in her original position as Dr.Raine checked a few things, wrote a few things on her clipboard, and sat the clipboard down on the table next to the medical instruments.
She laid her hand atop Anton's head and sighed.
"I've recommended him for the UNPC cross" Dr.Raine said suddenly. "If anyone deserves to be the first to receive it, it's him" she said.
"The big idiot should've never done it" Sarah mumbled.
Dr.Raine laughed.
"No matter the circumstances, we're here, and he's alive" she said. "Miraculously" she added after a moment.
Sarah nodded.
"I know it's hard, especially without having her here" Dr.Raine continued. "You can just make the best of it"
Sarah nodded again.
"How long has it been since you've ate?" Dr.Raine asked.
"fourteen hours, give or take" Sarah replied, still mumbling as she sat staring at Anton.
"I'd like you to go to the mess hall and get something to eat, I will stay here and finish up while you do" Dr.Raine said, sitting on the stool next to the desk where her clipboard sat.
Sarah stood up, and walked to the door.
"Though I admire your confidence, perhaps at least a pair of shorts for the mess hall?" Dr.Raine proposed, smiling. "Though you are welcome to remain in your current state everywhere else, I doubt they will even notice..." Dr.Raine trailed off.
She stopped, looked down at herself, and giggled. "Yes, that would be unsanitary" she said. "It's been a long few days ma'am"
Dr.Raine chuckled and nodded, smiling. "Yes it has, for everyone"
She moved over to a table and picked up her pair of OD green short PT shorts, and slid them on before moving back over to the door.
"Please, send someone to get me if he wakes" She said, turning to face Dr.Raine after just opening the door.
"better yet, take this" Dr.Raine said, tossing a small plastic device at her before turning her attention back to Anton.
"beeper?" She asked.
"Yes, but it works worldwide" Dr.Raine said not taking her attention from Anton
She stepped out into the corridor, and the heat of the Schattenwulf hit her immediately, not quite enough to make her sweat, but enough to make it uncomfortable. The heat was dry, so it was at least bearable.
True to her word, not a single soul registered that she was there, let alone topless, even the UNPC Naval personnel sitting at her table didn't notice.
Every one of them was dog tired with heavy bags under their eyes, staring at their tray as they ate mechanically.
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"How long have you been awake?" She asked the person across from her.
"I just woke up from six hours of sleep after being up for twenty" The young looking man said, not even looking at her.
"not that my tragedy is bigger, but I haven't slept in two days" Sarah chuckled.
"what, really?" the seaman said, turning to look at her. "why?" he asked
"one of my friends got hurt and is in a temporary coma right now" Sarah said, looking at the tray in front of her.
"that's a shame, I hope they get better" the seaman said, a genuine expression on his face.
"thanks" Sarah said.
"Hey" the seaman across the table piped up, clearly addressing her.
"Yes?" she asked, guessing the gig was up.
"Are you an augment?" they asked.
Sarah nodded, smiling.
"that's cool I've always wanted to meet one of you guys" they said.
"what gave it away?" she asked.
"The tattoo on your....." he trailed off.
"chest?" she suggested, referencing the tattoo that said simply "UNPC Series Bravo Augment, NO MRI" followed by her serial number.
The man across from her nodded, mouth agape, and a short haired female seaman a ways down the table broke out laughing.
"what's so funny?" a UNPC marine sitting to the left of the laughing seaman asked.
"LOOK" The female said. "try using the other head just for a heartbeat"
"huh?" the marine asked, looking over at Sarah, his eyes soon growing wide.
"how the fuck didn't I notice that sooner?" He mumbled, mouth agape as Sarah began to laugh, standing up.
She returned her tray and silverware, stood in the exact middle of the room, and stretched.
Nobody else besides the original three noticed.
Still smiling, she waved goodbye to the three who were staring at her, and made her way back through the hallway to the medical wing of the 3rd deck, having to wait for a seaman to come up before going down the ladder well.
They didn't notice either.
It was nice in a weird way, all of the freedom, none of the stigma.
The two cups of coffee she'd drank in the mess hall hit her, and her bladder was screaming by the time she walked into the bathroom and did her business.
She was about to pull her shorts back up, but she decided to take a chance, and simply stepped out of them, leaving her wearing only her LSS socks, and picked up her shorts with the beeper still clipped to them.
Stepping out of the stall located along the wall with a dozen others, she was met with a twenty or so United States rangers of varying gender populating the large open bay shower, with several sitting in various states of dress on the benches.
"It's weird, the UNPC is so different about stuff like this" A skinny man with short red hair said, looking around the room.
"It's not really a big deal, it's different, but not that bad" a black haired woman said, putting her hair in a bun as she stood nude.
There was an odd one out, a male sat staring at the ground with a towel across his lap, sitting on a bench.
"Hey, aren't you going to take a shower? We've been out for a week" A woman, who stood all but 5 and a half feet tall asked him.
Sarah smiled, and walked over.
"It's okay, you can stand up, it's perfectly natural" Sarah said, crouching in front of the ranger, who looked startled to see her.
"no one's going to give you shit for it, hell most probably aren't going to look at it" she said, crouching down in front of him.
"who are you? I don't think I've ever seen you before" the five and a half foot woman asked.
"I'm not with your military, I'm assuming you've just got here?" Sarah asked.
The woman nodded, looking up at Sarah.
"Oh, you're an augment" she said after staring at Sarah's chest for a moment.
Sarah nodded.
"quick question, how old are you?" The woman asked.
"two hundred and sixty three" Sarah said casually, smirking at the woman who's eyes had gone wide.
"but anyways, go do your thing, don't feel bad about it" She said to the ranger, who's mouth was still agape as he stared at the tall augment.
The ranger nodded, and stood up, undid the towel, and left it on the bench, his affliction apparent.
"don't give him shit for it" Sarah said affirmatively to the woman, who nodded.
the ranger walked into the open bay shower.
"hey-heyyy, look at this!" another man piped up.
Sarah said nothing, just stared the man down.
He took the hint, and turned away.
"I've got to go, I wish I could stay and talk" Sarah said, meeting the smaller woman's gaze before turning and walking towards the door with her shorts in her hand.
"Aren't you going to put something on?" She asked as Sarah walked away.
"Nope" Sarah tossed over her left shoulder as she walked out the door and into the hallway.
She moved three doors down, and entered into the room where Anton was kept, and to her surprise, two others were inside the room with Dr.Raine.
"Ah, this is his companion, Sarah Webb, but you may know her as Bravo Four" Dr.Raine said as Sarah entered, still holding her shorts in her left hand.
"Sarah, this is Smith 84, and Smith 21" Dr.Raine said.
The two identical men, shorter than her at 6', with jet black hair, and dressed in unadorned black suits save for a UNPC flag lapel pin smiled, and extended their hands to her.
She shook her head, and sat back on the couch.
"Where are their horns?" Sarah asked, smiling at Dr.Raine as she propped her feet up on the small table, crossing her left leg over her right, ankle atop her right knee.
"Though we are called devils, we sadly do not have horns" The left suit said, smiling.
"Why are you here?" Sarah asked.
"When a member of the augment corps, or any one of the other UNPC operations personnel does something such as this, people like us are sent to investigate" the right suit said.
"it's pretty clear cut, he went berserk and killed a little over a hundred men in under a minute" Sarah laughed. "saved a bunch of people doing it too" she added softly.
"yes, we are aware, we have seen the drone footage of the engagement, but we are here to monitor the condition of Alpha Nine and ensure he survives until we can get a verbal report from him" the left suit said, almost as if he'd practiced it in the mirror.
"His name is Anton" Sarah stated sternly, making the suits shift a bit.
"You two know the protocol for addressing augments when not wearing the ECA system" Dr.Raine stated.
the left suit went to reach into his jacket, which was specifically tailored to accommodate a underarm pistol rig.
"Before you reach into your jacket, know that no matter how naked, Sarah here will happily rip your arms off and beat you to death with them if you draw that pistol" Dr.Raine stated coldly. "And that's if she doesn't leave you for Charlie Seven"
The suit sheepishly withdrew his hand from his suit jacket, staring Sarah in her eyes.
"you are here to investigate and report on the condition of the augment, you have seen all you need to see" Dr.Raine said as Sarah moved her left ankle from her right knee, and put it on the opposite side of the small table, spreading her legs apart.
Sarah caught the right suit sneaking a glance and scoffed. "what, never seen one before?" she asked.
The suit got a defensive look on his face, which amounted to just looking like he really had to piss, and looked away from her, making her giggle.
"Well, I suppose we should leave" the left suit said, turning to his partner.
"Do make sure the door doesn't smack you in the ass on your way out" Dr.Raine said in a respectful tone, smiling at the two, who looked at the small woman like she was a hissing cobra.
"cocksuckers" Sarah stated after the door closed behind them.
"I will never know how the investigative division's goons think they can walk all over us" Dr.Raine said, standing.
"I will leave you to it, and if those two come back into this room without me present, make good on my promise" Dr.Raine said, smiling at Sarah, who returned it.
"Yes ma'am" Sarah said.
"Oh, and did anyone notice?" Dr.Raine asked.
"Three souls in total" Sarah chuckled.
"Told you" Dr.Raine said, opening the door.
"be safe" Sarah told her
"You too" Dr.Raine replied before stepping out into the hallway.
I wanna be like her when I grow up.