I woke in the morning as an unfamiliar nurse walked in. I went to sit up and was surprised to see that I was much stronger than before. My core muscles burned and my heart rate accelerated a little, but my arms were able to hold my weight enough to leverage myself into a sitting position.

The nurse came over and changed the IV bag hanging above me. The old one was deflated and nearly empty. Hopefully, they don’t find it too suspicious that I took an extra day’s worth of fluids as it kept running to keep me hydrated while I was in Serenity.

The nurse stepped back after she was done and nodded at me before going to leave. I called out to her as she began to turn.

“Wait! Um… Did they catch whoever broke into my room last night?”

She turned and seemed a little shocked for a moment before a look of realization came over her face.

“Oh, there’s a manhunt going on right now. I guess you’ve probably slept through all the chaos here for the last few hours. The police are still working to find whoever it is, but they have officers guarding your room for your protection now."

She paused a moment before seeming to remember something else.

"Actually, they wanted to ask you some questions about last night. John reported that officer's behavior to the police sergeant, and the sergeant sent him home. He assured the staff that he wouldn’t be on the case so you won’t have to deal with him disturbing your rest. We understand if you would feel uncomfortable, so you can make your statement later if you don’t feel up to it.”

“John is the nurse who was here last night?” I clarified, to which she nodded. Huh, well it was a relief, at least I wouldn’t have to deal with Officer Smith for the foreseeable future. I'm glad Officer Smith got reported though. I don't think I could think properly with him hovering about waiting to pounce on some parking fine he could pin on me. I felt a twinge of grief as my thoughts turned to the past and my mistake that led to his hostility.

“Do you need anything else? I was actually just going to fetch Doctor Gupta so you could discuss your health situation and make choices on any further medical treatment now that we can discuss it with you. You seem well enough to make informed medical decisions, so the doctor will sit down and explain everything to you moving forward.”

I nodded at her, “No, no, that's fine go ahead. That would be good”

She smiled, “That’s great. I’ll go and get him now.”

— — — O — o — O — — —

Doctor Gupta ordered various tests to attempt to explain my 'miraculous' recovery in his words. He said it like it was some kind of curse, like anything unexplained was bad somehow. As the morning bled into the afternoon I felt stronger and stronger physically. By the time I decided to give my statement to the police in the afternoon, I felt almost back to my normal strength. The doctor ran the tests and I came back clear, with no brain tumors or unforeseen side effects to my recovery so far. After that, the doctor seemed to accept the miraculous nature of my recovery a little easier but seemed a little disappointed in the unsolved mystery.

I heard footsteps in the hallway, a group gathering together and stopping outside my door. The group of four entered together one after the other. First entered the tall officer with the imposing mustache from last night, the new partner to Officer Smith it seems. Behind him was an unfamiliar officer and the nurse from this morning. Finally following behind was a man in a charcoal suit and tie that looked important.

The taller officer looked very uncomfortable. From the way the nurse from this morning was fidgeting and shooting the suited man with her nervous glances too, I guess he probably worked for the hospital. The officer from last night seemed to choose his words carefully, speaking slowly in whispers with the man in the suit. The unfamiliar officer seemed calm but shot wary glances at the suited man when he thought the man wasn’t looking.

After a moment, the man in the suit turned to me, “Mr. FuLcRuM?” I blinked. His lips moved strangely and his voice changed briefly as he spoke. The words felt strange like they didn’t describe me somehow. But it was just my name, wasn’t it? I tried to feel the cause of my unease, but after a moment I shrugged it off. Probably just the stress getting to me. Fulcrum was my name of course. What else would it be?

“Mr. FulcRum? I’m here representing the hospital board given the events of last night. We want to know the full scope of events the best we can given the breach in our security. I can leave if you wish.”

I was startled as I finally began registering the man’s words. “Oh, no sorry! I’m ready for the statement now. You can stay, I guess.” After a moment of silence, the suited man just nodded and stepped back. The two officers stepped forward in unison to replace him.

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Given their prompting, I began to explain to my audience how I was enjoying my late Saturday night when something came through the window and hit my head. True enough without diving into the supernatural. Couldn’t afford to look too crazy after all. I am only going to make that mistake once. Officer Smith was the result whenever I tried too hard to convince people about Serenity. I was still feeling the waves of that mistake today obviously.

I continued my story with how I woke to the officers outside and the following ‘conversation’ with Officer Smith and his partner. The two officers seemed to wince a little at my account of him shouting at me immediately after I woke up. Especially the unfamiliar officer that hadn't been present. The man in the suit’s lips turned down into a slight disapproving frown as his eyes shifted between the two officers, barely looking at me as I spoke.

The officer on the right was scratching into his notepad the whole time trying to avoid his gaze. He seemed to be using it as a shield so the man from the hospital wouldn’t ask him to do anything.

He let the familiar officer ask me leading questions or minor clarifications on my story even if it was pretty simple. I heard nothing, saw nothing. Suddenly something hit me on the head and I woke up here. Invisible tension filled the room as the suited man stared down Officer Smith’s partner especially as I finished my full version of events of last night.

“Do you have any enemies, anyone you think would attempt to hurt you? This is twice now you’ve been attacked. Any information you give us will help us track down whoever is doing this.” The officer with the notepad spoke. In his words, everyone in the room turned to me in interest to see my response. Just as I was about to respond, the officer cut back in. “I’m Officer Nick if I didn’t already say.” He held his pad expectantly, looking pleased with himself. Everyone looked at him strangely. I shook it off and considered his question.

I thought of Yellow’s hand reaching through the window at my house. Not sure how they would see that one if I told them. But surely they must have security footage showing no one entered the room? Why did they think the person was after me anyway? The door breaking was weird but surely this being caused by an attacker wouldn't be their first thought without evidence?

As my thoughts rushed onward I blurted out a response in confusion, “Did you at least see whoever it was on the security cameras? For the hospital?"

I collected my thoughts a little and restarted, "I can’t really think of anyone that hates me that much but Officer Smith, but it would probably be pretty obvious if it was him I’d think.”

At my statement, the man in the suit looked slightly uncomfortable while Officer Smith's partner paused for a moment as if considering how much he should tell me. After a short pause, Officer Nick jumped in to speak.

— — — O — o — O — — —

“For your first question, no. The security footage was tampered with and someone with a backdoor into the hospital system came in and deleted all the footage for the last week. All the medical records of the patients that were admitted too. It’s causing chaos for everyone around here for obvious reasons. Last night we saw someone fleeing from the parking lot but they got away."

Officer Nick continued, "They were wearing some kind of mask, so no one could ID them before they escaped. In the ten minutes they were in the building, they knocked out several officers that attempted to arrest them starting on this floor and trailing down back to the underground parking lot. After that, they drove off in a car with no plates and shook off the police pursuit. Luckily no one was seriously hurt except for a few minor cuts and concussions."

Officer Nick adjusted his grip on his notepad and I noticed there was no corporate brands or labels on it, "We’re still figuring out who this person is, but they clearly have resources to pull something like this off. Most apparent right now would be some kind of organized crime. That’s why we wanted to talk with you as soon as possible. Any detail you think of could help us track this person down. Any debts from the wrong people someone came to collect? Someone who attempted to blackmail you? Anything suspicious that's happened to you recently.”

I thought for a moment, but honestly didn’t know what I should say. There were people after me on Earth too? Were they connected to the attack by Yellow? I mean it could be a coincidence but I don’t think I did anything to warrant that kind of attention in my normal life. I looked up and replied honestly that I wasn’t involved with anything like that that would get me in trouble.

The officer nodded and silently moved on at my denial, but I thought he seemed a bit skeptical at my claim. He kept speaking, seeming to be almost absentmindedly talking to himself at this point rather than asking a question at this point.

“The oddest thing about his case was the stealth involved. Whoever broke into your room somehow demolished your door without anyone nearby hearing a thing, apparently including you. You seem unharmed and nothing from the room seemed disturbed when we arrived, which makes the goal of this intruder even more mysterious. Why destroy the door to such a degree as well? Seems excessive and unneeded given the competence otherwise shown.”

— — — O — o — O — — —

Now, I knew the door was broken in Serenity by Red. But something caught in my mind as the officer spoke. It seemed like a little too much of a coincidence now. This person showed up almost exactly at midnight. Someone who could take out several officers at once like some kind of secret agent. Someone with those abilities would be highly sought after by criminals and governments alike. Which showed the power of whatever organization was potentially behind this. They showed up at the same time I would enter Serenity. Maybe they wanted to finish the job Yellow started in Serenity? To kill me?

I started freaking out internally as my thoughts raced. The others in the room perked up as they took in my reaction.

“Think of something?” Officer Nick with the notepad emerged from behind his clipboard as he seemed to notice the sweat beading on my forehead.

The officer had his pen hovering over the paper. The other two men leaned in as I tried to control my reaction. I took a few seconds to compose myself and take a few shaky breaths before I replied.

“No, I really don't know who would do this. I think the situation just hit me all at once. It’s like something from a spy film. Just hitting me now that it’s all happening for real. Whoever did this seems important and they seem to be gunning after me. Anything else?”

The officer's eyes met and the one without a notepad gave a subtle shake of his head before turning back to me.

“Well, I think that will be all sir. Thank you for answering our questions. We hope you have a speedy recovery and just let the officers outside know if you think of anything else at all.”

As the group went to leave the officer with the clipboard pulled out a little business card from the top of a stack pinned with a clip to the side of his notebook. He turned to the suited man from the hospital. “Here, take this. It has information on which officers the department has assigned to the case. I filled in the relevant names and numbers for you.” The man accepted the card and slipped it in his pocket without question. I sat there as the two officers and suited man left the room together, leaving only the silent nurse behind. She stepped forward and checked the equipment again before leaving without speaking as well.

Huh, that was strange. For a second I thought I saw a glimmer of triumph pass into Officer Nick’s eyes as he passed over the card. But the next moment his face reverted back into a placid smile. The nurse left. That night as I drifted off, I dreamed of secret agents and cackling villains fighting over boiling pits of magma as the events of the day gradually bled into my insane and irrational dream state.