The current hour is hectic, yet another pin drop in the utter chaos of this weekend.

At the warehouse that the gangsters were presumably taking Giichi, Quade and five of the Vernesses have stormed the hideout and taken out a lot of BB's gangsters. A lot of these men not even aware of their boss's current whereabouts, quite a few number of them incapacitated by Quade, their own men, or literal children.

Currently, Quade is set to interrogate this gangster for everything this gangster can tell him. Making sure the gangster can't escape or fight back, putting him on a stool and tying his hands and ankles together with Verness Red's silk.

"W-We have actual rope- why the hell are you using spider silk?! That's disgustingly inefficient-!" the gangster shouts, a disturbed look as he stares at Verness Red.

"Shut it, dirtbag!" Verness Monochrome intimidatingly exclaims.

"Monochrome, language," Quade instructs the little girl, putting the finishing touches on the knot tying this man's ankles together.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, BB and the gangsters that accompanied him on his expedition were hiding away in Apartment 103 of Sunshine Apartments. Unknowingly in the vicinity of Giichi and the D'Erricos' apartments this whole time, and further unknowingly incurring the wrath of their Boss for attacking and shooting his nephew (mistakenly believing that they shot the Boss's wife).

The TV has been turned on, BB and the gangsters have been warned by a cryptic message saying the Syndicate has found them, and are now preparing for a full on war with whoever is sent to kill them.

"Door is now barricaded, boss!" one of the gangsters shout, putting Bonbon's mattress against it with the couch to support it. "No one's getting in through here!"

"Good work-! They'll be coming through one of this place's windows..." BB mumbles, hiding his unconscious Blaze and the physically limp Giichi in the kitchen. "Brandy and I'll cover the front. The rest of you keep watch on all the back windows. Best way to defend this pad, see?!"

"Loud and clear, boss!"

Rosemary and an unconscious Giichi spectator to this, unable to do anything but watch. "... ugh..." Feeling herself just, sick to her stomach, frustrated beyond belief that she can't help with whatever this defense is...

As these two events occur at roughly the same time, the rest of the Squad remains at the Starveil Hospital. Still undergoing the poison situation with the hospital on their side, they simply had to recover and regain their energy... and hope for a cure for half of them.

Caspian, Nyx, and Papaya - as well as Giichi and Rosemary, elsewhere - continue to suffer from the unknown gangster poison, while Peritzal is still being operated on by hospital staff, the other three Vernesses are idly wandering around the hospital, and the cut and scratched up Odette Hawthorne sits with Papaya.

In the time it took Quade to fight a warehouse of gangsters, and the time it took the gangsters to begin bunkering down their temporary apartment hideout, Odette caught the light-purple twin up on the situation. Only knowing that Quade went off to confront the gangsters at BB's warehouse, having sent Quade in that general direction.

"Wild..." Papaya noises. "On the bright side... I'm probably going to remember this weekend as the most teeeeeeedious thing we've ever done. Momentous occasion-"

Aggressive hacking and coughing as Papaya visibly grimaces, the girl weakly groaning in pain. "... ughhhh..."

"Yeah..." Odette noises quietly, hands folded on his lap and staring at Papaya with concern and worry.

"..." Papaya gently reaches a hand out to rest it atop Odette's hands. "Hey... hey. Don't- feel bad... you're at least not poisoned... so, worse comes to worst and we all die, you'll be the new strongest person in Starveil City...!" Papaya tells him- before coughing even more.

"S... Save your strength," Odette tells Papaya, his hands shaking in hers. "A-And don't say that...! Y-You're an optimist... s-say something, like, 'oh, no worries, Odette, we will survive' or something...!"

"You're the one saying it..." Papaya responds, smiling widely. "Can't say something that we both know already..."

"..." Odette uncomfortably chuckles. "R... Right... I... I see..."

"... though, honestly, if this poison's that bad... I feel as if I'm the only one that will suffer from it... since, Rosemary's pretty much just sentient blood that could probably clear it out of Giichi's body... Caspian's a literal water man, a cloud guy with no blood, and Nyx's devil's blood is probably destroying the poison as we speak..."

"Well- you said you drank iced tea, it's not just a blood thing..." Odette mumbles...

"Right... of course..." Papaya lets out a groan. "Real hell of a situation to wake up to... maybe I should have just kept sleeping..."

"I-It's a good sign that you're still able to speak, though, even after being poisoned..." Odette tells her, smiling idly. "Better to know y-you're still alive, than to blind yourself with a dream..."

"Sure... sure..." Papaya groans out, sighing gently. "But it would've been a pretty sick dream to be blind to."

Odette nods gently... "I see... well- do you... do you want to talk about them? Your- your dreams, that is..."

Papaya just- chuckles slightly. "I don't think you're... ready... to hear about mine..."

"Okay... well-"

"So I woke up, looked around, and saw that I was in a bar," Papaya begins to tell Odette, going back on her 'not ready for the dream' statement as she is preparing to describe in detail her dream of being in a karaoke bar with 100 boys.

"..." Odette politely listens.

As Papaya tells Odette each excruciating detail, describing each boy in order to Odette, telling him everything about how cute all of them were...

"... your tolerance to surgical operations is commendable..."

"... consider it... experience..."

In one of the hospital's operating rooms, a sterile room dedicated to performing surgeries in a clean and well lit environment, Dr. Brooks is in the middle of performing surgery on Peritzal's neck.

"Are you sure you- don't need anesthetic...?"

"No..." Peritzal weakly answers, her voice dry and raspy. As if every word grinds against cracks and scratches in the desert sand. A reasonable phenomenon, given the wound she suffered is a gaping neck wound from a gangster's bullet. Of course her vocal chords are going to feel dry whenever she speaks. "I do not... and would not like... any..."

"Alright..."

To Dr. Brooks, it is absolutely lucky that this wasn't a lethal wound, but the obstacle of Peritzal being an alien makes it... difficult... to apply medical expertise on her. The two people that know themselves better than any human will ever understand, are the D'Errico twins. So, for the greatest chance of survival, to take care of this injury and stabilize her recovery, he's been cautiously examining Peritzal's reactions, watching closely for any signs of pain or damage.

Though, given who he is dealing with, none of those signs will come up. This is an absolute pain, sure, but Peritzal maintains a blank and stoic face throughout the painful process. Enduring the pain and soldiering on, deeming emotions to be in the way during a life-saving procedure. Anesthetic would simply dull her senses and strip her of her agency. Peritzal endures the feeling of needle and thread, the pain of having her skin pierced for the sake of medical stitching, weakly staring up as she's lost a surplus of fluid.

"... alright- stitches are complete. How are you holding up?" Dr. Brooks asks.

"... apply electrical shock..." Peritzal immediately instructs. "Anywhere should... work..."

"Huh? ... oh. Right, your species' bodies react to electricity..." Dr. Brooks answers, remembering the events that transpired with Papaya.

"Yes... our organs are powered by... electrical stimulation..." Peritzal explains, her eyes narrowed.

"They are? ... huh... good to know," Dr. Brooks responds as she reaches for the defibrillator, rubbing the pads together. "... clear!" Pressing the pads against Peritzal's chest, applying the medical device to where a human heart should be.

With contact on her body, the medical device sends an electrical surge through the pads themselves. This energy courses through the alien's gelatinous form, allowing the electrical energy to be absorbed into Peritzal's body as a whole. Rather than "jump start" her heart, it sends electricity into the static sponge that is her body.

Peritzal's body goes completely numb as she feels this shock, her breath faint and subtle... before feeling herself choke up moments after. The voltage on this defibrillator is sufficient to start up a heart, but... not enough for what she requires. "... again... need more..." she groans out, a hand raised only a few inches as she weakly fails to reach for the defibrillator.

"Easy, easy- I got it..." Dr. Brooks instructs, rubbing the pads together once more to build up the charge. "Clear!"

Another shock,

"... still- ... not- ... enough..." Peritzal calls out, her voice utterly rigid. "Administer... to head..."

"... head? ... is that safe?" Dr. Brooks asks, skeptical at this information. "Direct electrocution to the head results in permanent brain damage for most patients. I feel as if it's going to incinerate your brain, completely..."

"Alien brain... filters it..." Peritzal instructs, tensing up and coughing. Beginning to gag on nothing, suffocating on the operating table. "Best chance we have..."

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Dr. Brooks stares at this, wincing at this sight. Staring at the suffering patient, just... feeling himself take a deep breath. "... okay. Okay. Clear!" Pressing them against Peritzal's forehead this time.

Subjecting Peritzal to this shock, Dr. Brooks watches as her body completely contorts and distorts. The gelatinous mass writhing in overwhelming pain as the instantaneous shock surges through her. Five seconds of complete horror, Dr. Brooks witnessing a potential murder on his hands.

... that is, before her body reforms and lies limp against the table, Peritzal's breath ragged as she calms and soothes herself. Fluttering eyelids with her form back to being visibly human.

"... ughhh..." Peritzal groans, eyes narrowed. "... right... I should be... good... now. No organ damage... but throat is still dry..."

Dr. Brooks witnesses Peritzal's human skin reforming, covering her body. The layer of skin still evidently showing the current stitches on her neck, indicating it's... simply just a layer of material. The medical professional watching this with wonder and astonishment. "Fascinating... right. Does your species handle... water?" Dr. Brooks asks, tilting his head.

"We eat and drink... the same way, yes..." Peritzal informs the man. nodding.

"Sounds good... before I continue, we should take care of that dehydration issue," Dr. Brooks informs her, checking the "Additional IV fluids will be necessary, to treat your throat and balance out the electrolytes in your body. Typically, this is injected into a patient's veins, meaning this would interact with whatever your blood flow is."

"Very well..." Peritzal responds. "Thank you."

"... the gratitude's all mine," Dr. Brooks interrupts, a relieved look on his face as he approaches the operating room's hand wash station. "Truthfully, I'm still thinking about how you saved my life when those people- those gangsters, stormed this building. I wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for you. You and your friends will get the best care this hospital can give you, alien."

A gentle nod of respect from Peritzal, keeping her face as blank as it ever is. "I will remember this when we ultimately have to repay you for the bills... would you like some letters of recommendations for... any sort of medical institution?"

"I'm... professionally content, thank you," the doctor responds, scrubbing and cleaning his hands post-surgery, sighing lightly. "... what... what do you even do for a living, to offer me a 'recommendation' letter...?"

"... officially, I'm a software engineer..." Peritzal explains.

"Right... like, those robots..." Dr. Brooks responds.

"Software inside them, yes... the full credit goes to my sister... for the body of the drones... but... a letter from me... gets you an opportunity to any... organization I've ever been... in a contract with..."

"I see... I'll- consider it if I ever feel like going crazy, owning my own hospital," Dr. Brooks jokingly comments, his hands spotless and clean before heading to the operating room's intercom system to retrieve an IV pack.

"It can be arranged..." Peritzal responds, taking the joke as a serious statement. "Maybe afterwards..."

"..." A head shake from the doctor, before pressing the button and requesting a new IV pack be brought to the operating room.

Right outside, one doctor and a few additional nurses are walking past to a different operating room. Currently discussing the patient in question, a certain white-haired cloud man that was having poison extracted from his body and water flushed into his system.

Then, the doctor in front stops, the collective group stopping after.

"W-Why did we stop?" one of the nurses asks, looking around.

"Down," the doctor tells them.

"...?" The nurse looks down, and sees - right to the side, outside of Dr. Brooks' current operating room - a little girl lying on the floor. Seeing the purple dressed spider girl reading a comic book from the waiting room.

"Little girl, you shouldn't be out here..." the doctor calls out.

"..." No response, as she has her face buried in that comic book.

"Oh- Dr. Brooks' gave her specific permission, actually, her and her sisters," a different nurse answers. "They're here about the four poisoned patients."

"R... Right." The doctor takes a step past her, going over her leg. The nurses following after.

"A-Ah-! Sorry-!" the last nurse to walk past exclaims, caught off guard.

"W-What is it?" another nurse asks.

"I- I accidentally nudged her leg while walking, geez- sorry, little girl, a- ... uh..."

The nurse lifts her foot to begin walking, and just watches the entire little girl's body lifting in the air with it. Verness Purple was now stuck to her toes, her body as flat as a board.

"..." Calmly, the Nurse tries to shake her foot to make Verness Purple fall off of it. "Uhm- little girl, c-could- could you... let go?"

"..." Still no response.

"... I... how does this even happen?" the nurse asks, lifting her leg up to closely examine what her toes were specifically sticking to. Seeing nothing but just her footwear and the girl's leg.

"I have no idea, nurse. We are dealing with acquaintances of aliens and cloud people, so-" a doctor explains-

"A-AH!" the nurse exclaims, suddenly. In attempting to pry Purple off, the Nurse's hands are now stuck as well, causing a scene where the nurse falls over onto her back and is stuck in one position. "W-WHY IS THIS LITTLE GIRL STICKY?! HUH?!"

".............."

A long pause of silence as the doctor and the nurses begin to leave this poor nurse to her fate, deciding to not address a little girl being "sticky" and just deciding to handle more pressing issues.

"NO! DON'T LEAVE ME- GET HER OFF, GET HER OFF-!" the nurse calls out, wriggling and shaking with no one around to help.

Also, no one around to explain the spider-related quirk that Purple's entire body - skin, clothes and such - becomes a strong glue like material, sticking to people and animals as if she became a full silk trap for prey. The girl having to be conscious enough to control this ability at all times.

And finally, no one around to explain how much of a deep sleeper Purple is, her face covered by the comic book with hands stuck to it, snoozing the day away.

"... zzz..."

... anyway. The remaining doctor and nurses NOT stuck to a Verness enter the operating room that Caspian is in.

Inside, a couple of doctors were accompanied by chemists, divided between sustaining Caspian's body with a ready supply of water and extracting/examining the samples of poison from his body.

"What's the status?" the doctor asks, approaching the black visored man.

"Still in critical condition. This poison's spreading faster than we can maintain his body. This is some substance that's affecting water, as well... it's curious."

"Noted. Is this visor supposed to still be on his face?" the doctor asks, tapping the cloud man's black visor.

"O-Oh, no, if that gets removed, it's going to be really painful for him. His eyes are really sensitive..."

"Agreement."

"Right. Okay, then-"

... the doctor slowly looks over to one of the walls, seeing two little girls sitting atop the table. Both of them wearing face masks, playing with tiny little cars on the table.

"... so... uh-"

"Dr. Brooks instructed us that they are permitted to be present for this," one of the chemists speaks up. "You can just ignore them for now."

"Right... right. One of my- one of the nurses is actually panicking about being stuck to a third one, so- never mind, later problem..." the doctor idly responds, before looking back to Caspian. "Visor over face, leave that on. Got it. Tch..."

Caspian continues to lie unconscious on the operating table, his life essence dwindling. The doctors themselves are taking special note of this poison's high potency, how much it's effected the patients even after most of it has been vomited out. The toxic substances almost multiply and spread out through countless mediums, even... from aliens to devils, even spreading through water and gas.

Whatever it is, when ingested, is far more deadly than they are prepared for. The vials themselves are being handled with extreme care, in the absurd possibility that this poison can even spread through glass itself.

"... so, what's the plan with the poison?" Cyan politely asks, tilting her head. "If you don't mind me asking...?"

A chemist looks to Cyan for a moment, and answers. "The chemical properties are still a complete mystery to us. Our limited time does not give us a lot of room to check, and- even if we do get a cure, there's no guarantee we can get it in time."

"I see..." Cyan looks back to her car, idly pulling it side to side, vrooming it. Both her and Green just playing with the cars.

"... is there anything you can tell us? Anything at all that could be important?" a chemist asks. "Dr. Brooks seems to hold a high opinion of your knowledge, enough to tell us to babysit you and allow you to be in here."

"Oh... well, uh... I guess..." Cyan begins to mumble, taking her attention away from the toy cars and thinking. "... I- don't know. You scientists seem to understand all of this better than I do..."

"Certification..." Green mumbles, crashing her toy car into Cyan's for fun.

"... well-" a doctor speaks up, looking to the two children. "You two were directly carried here along with the rest. Did you two get a look at the scene this happened in?"

"Oh, well, it happened at a bar..." Cyan responds, idly driving her car away. Leaving Green in a make-believe hit and run accident. "Uhm... our friend punched the guy responsible... he- he had brown hair... he was a gangster...? Uhmm..."

"Antidote," Green speaks up, looking to Cyan.

"Oh! Right, he- before our babysitter punched him into space, he loudly shouted that there was an antidote!" Cyan chimes up. "T-That's about it, he didn't have it on him, but there is an antidote... s... so..."

"... right. Okay, that-" the doctor responds, bewildered at these children saying a man was punched into space, ready to just dismiss this information as nonsense.

"Hold on... wait. So, this man knows exactly that there's an antidote?" the chemist asks, realizing something. "He has direct knowledge that there's an antidote... and- you said this all happened at a bar?"

"R... Right, uhm..." Cyan speaks up, nodding. "T-That is the case..."

"T... then, if he was poisoning people with drinks, would he not have the poison and its antidote somewhere at that bar? Or, maybe, a private residence or something?" the chemist asks.

"Are you believing these children?" the doctor asks, arms crossed.

"Testimony is good, no matter who it's from... my sister's a lawyer, see," the chemist explains. "Eyewitness reports are reliable, as long as the person telling them is being truthful."

"... huh..." the doctor nods gently, before looking to the children. "Well then, uhm... hm. Have you consulted the police about this? Search warrants could be done to find where this poison might be."

Cyan shakes her head. "N-No, we flew here really quickly, there wasn't enough time to tell the police any of this..."

"Haste," Green responds, stacking her toy car on top of Cyan's.

"Yeah..."

"Well, the police are right outside in the lobby," the chemist speaks up. "Could be worth looking into... in case we reach any dead ends here."

"... o-okay... uhm... that sounds like a plan. I'll go talk to them..." Cyan tells the chemist, getting off of the table and starting to walk to the exit-

"You don't have to go alone, I'll come with," the chemist tells her, walking away from the vials of extracted poison. "Got enough of us looking at these samples. What's a few minutes, hm?"

"O-Oh, okay," Cyan responds, a little bit happier. "T-Then, uhm, let's go!"

Thus, the two of them - as well as Green, tailing along with both toy cars in her hands - begin to make their way to the front of the hospital...

... all three of them temporarily stopped by the sight of Verness Purple, stuck to a wall with the trapped nurse still struggling to break free of this girl's grasp.

"Oh- oh, thank God-!" the nurse calls out, seeing the two other spider girls. "H-Help! Get me unstuck from this thing!"

"..." Verness Cyan, Verness Green, and the chemist collectively just stare at this sight for a while.

And as this happens, as this very moment happens at the early evening of Starveil's collective Sunday events, we take our attention back to the warehouse, back at the site where Quade and the other five Vernesses are. The sun about to set, with light completely obscured in these forest lands, darkness filling these lands.

A lengthy, long interrogation that leaves Quade and the Vernesses with no step closer to finding Giichi, BB, the leader of the Syndicate, or the cure to the poison. Everything this gangster has given Quade is utterly useless information, information that - at best - Quade already knew.

However, as he stands in this woodland darkness, Quade notices some sudden lights approaching the warehouse. Tensely looking over at this break in the darkness, staring down whoever this is.

"... Vernesses, hide," Quade tells the little girls, leading to them scattering about and taking cover. Quade stands right behind this gangster, using him as hostage cover as he glares down the incoming people. Planning for whatever this is, whoever these lights belong to.

These lights were headlights, belonging to a mysterious van pulling up outside, parking off to the side as gangsters step out of it. Gangsters that witness the unconscious men spread throughout the inside and outside, many that caught a glimpse of the shapeshifted Quade. Guns down, on orders, as they approach.

And, in the back seat, having the door opened for him, a man steps out. His towering figure, his well kept black hair, and the crow sitting atop his shoulder. His eyes cold as steel, jawline as defined as a Michelangelo renaissance piece. Toned hands holding a wine glass full of red.

"... Scare. Top me off."

The crow nods idly, flying off of the man's shoulder and returning with a jug of vegetable juice. Pouring for him a nutritious drink, one that brings him comfort and health in this time of need.

"Ah." A delicate sip as he walks after the other gangsters, smiling faintly. "Thank you, Scare."

Quade will soon figure out that this is the man of the hour himself... the uncle he was on the phone with, Odette's uncle Talon...

... the Boss of the Blackbird Syndicate.