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infamoussparks · 2 years ago

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Chapter 2: Safe with Me

Approx. 4,000 words; 25 minute read.

“You! Stop moving!” Shit. Fetch tsked softly and slid her butt to the floor, sitting down and raising her hands in front of her in a show of cooperation and surrender. But her eyes were narrowed and hard, her body language not hiding the fight in her eyes. As the guard moved his attention to someone else, Fetch slowly placed her hands on the floor, the tiles cool beneath her palms. Her position wasn’t far off from where she wanted to be in the room and she still felt that she could execute her plan, which fueled her confidence.

Back within the comfort of her own office, Rosaline created a makeshift pillow using her extra doctor coat that hung on the back of her office door and laid Caly down on top of half of a fluffy blanket on the small couch she had in her dark space. Caly made no noise as she snuggled in and started to drift back into sleep. Rosaline covered her with the remaining half of the blanket while thinking to herself how amazing it was that kids could fall asleep practically anywhere so quickly.

“You poor thing. You’re exhausted. I hope your Mom knows to come back here for you. I hope she’s… safe.” The words felt wrong to say, as though it sealed an unspoken fate. Rosaline tried to shake off the thought but then a familiar chime rang through the speakers and she almost dismissed it… except no follow up announcement signaled that the chime was just a drill. The hospital had different sounding alerts and drills were run several times a month, much like a fire alarm being tested to ensure everyone knew what to do in the case of a real emergency. This particular alarm that sounded was for a full hospital lockdown so now Rosaline was on high alert, further spiked by Caly quickly falling asleep in her office.

“Caly? Can you wake up for a bit? I need to go see what is going on. Stay here and stay quiet, ok? I promise I’ll be back for you. See my badge? No one can get in here without it. You’re safe.” Caly was struggling to keep her eyes open, her lids fluttering heavily as the doctor gave her instructions. Within a moment after a nod of understanding, Caly was back asleep, the blanket pulled over her head.

Rosaline did not want to leave Caly here but instincts told her it was the best thing to do right now. She left her office, ensuring the lock clicked into place behind her and smoothed her doctor coat as she quickened her pace toward the Maternity ward waiting room to see what was going on.

The day had been moving along just fine. Patrol of the city street from the rooftops was often boring work but Fetch enjoyed her shift nonetheless as it gave her time to stretch her legs and run free with her boost of neon at her heels. As she was about to call it quits and head back toward the school to review lesson plans before her classes started, she heard a shrill alarm from a large building to her right. Hazel eyes narrowed at the sight of two uniformed men standing outside the main doors and Fetch grabbed her cell phone, sending a photo and a short text to Delsin and Eugene.

Recognize these uniforms? Alarm at children’s hospital. Checking it out.

She didn’t wait for a response before turning off her phone completely and shoving it into the back pocket of her ripped jeans, dropping into an alley beside the hospital and strolling inside without a second glance from the unusual guards posted outside.

Once inside, she heard the alarm again and heard shouting from somewhere down the hall before her. Fetch didn’t wait to see what was going on while running down the hall as quietly as she could, her neon extinguished but easy enough to summon should she need it. She ducked into a waiting room where people seemed to be crying and whimpering. She tightened her jaw when she saw three men, in the same uniforms as the ones out front, with large weapons pointed at the people who were all sitting on the floor. Some were crying and clearly panicked and scared while one of the uniformed men with a helmet on and tinted visor down over his face was barking at them to stay quiet.

Fetch dropped to the ground trying to blend in and started crawling toward the center of the room. If she could get there, she could get the jump on these guys using neon without the worry of hurting anyone beyond her targets. She’d also have a straight shot to the doorway behind the men–an easy way to evacuate everyone once they were safe.

Suddenly a voice seemed to pull her attention from the guards, <Fetch…? Are you Fetch Walker?>

It caught her off-guard and she spoke normally without regard for the caution of the space she was in, “Yeah. Who said that?”

“No talking!” The familiar click of a gun being swung in her direction had Fetch growl as her attention was pulled to the barrel of the weapon. The men were wearing gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints on their shiny murder toys… interesting.

<Keep quiet. They can’t hear me. If you are Fetch Walker, please just nod once or tap your finger along the floor twice.> The voice seemed loud enough for anyone to hear it and Fetch was slightly confused as to how someone could be speaking to her but no one else seemed to hear it. She waited for the guard to sweep his attention to a now sobbing woman and she tapped her index finger against the tiles twice.

“What do you want me to do?” Fetch spoke again, causing the closest guard to turn his gun on her, pressing the barrel into her chest sharply.

“I want you to shut the hell up! Speak again and you’ll be too dead to regret it.” A muffled voice sounded over the radio system attached to the shoulder on each mans’ uniform and the guard turned his attention to getting that message understood. Fetch glanced around looking for the person who was needing her help, but saw no one seemed to make eye contact nor get her attention.

<First, stop answering out loud. I can’t hear your thoughts but I am speaking to you through my own. Please nod if this makes sense.>

Fetch turned her attention back to the three armed men, quickly studying the uniforms for any identification as she nodded casually.

<Good. My name is Doctor Hutch. We are under a lockdown. These men stormed our hospital looking for something called ‘Project 41 and 42’. Do you know what that is?>

The voice was coming in clearer now that Fetch realized it was in her mind and that was why no one else could hear it. It was a woman’s voice and it was calm and collected. It had to be someone in this room with her but Fetch decided to stop looking for whomever it belonged to and to focus on the task at hand. She shook her head slightly from side to side in a silent answer.

<No, huh? I have a sinking suspicion that I have what they are looking for. I need your help to get to my office and get Caly to safety. I’ll find you after the hospital is clear. Can I trust you?>

Fetch bobbed her chin in response, her jaw set in determination.

With another subtle nod, Fetch stored the directions away and shifted herself into more of a crouching position to give her a jump start on a dash once the badge was in her hands. She wasn’t sure how this mysterious Doctor Hutch would distract these no-nonsense guards, but she was here for a reason and apparently that was not to help the hospital but instead to run with whoever this “Caly” was and to get her to a safe place.

<I’m going to cut communication with you now. Once the guards are distracted, take my badge and go. I’ll find you!> Suddenly, Fetch’s head felt heavy silence as though someone had turned on the noise-canceling button of headphones she didn’t know she was wearing. She focused on the closest man before her when suddenly he dropped his weapon and was scrambling to pull off his helmet with a loud shout. The helmet clattered to the floor beside the gun as the man put his hands over his ears and screamed in pain and surprise. The guard to his right gave a glance to the guard just outside the doorway before striding over to the one screaming and reaching out to him.

“Hey, what’s going on?” As the second guards’ hand touched the screamer’s shoulder he immediately also started yelling and panicking, weapon dropping and helmet quickly being unbuckled with his free hand. It was during this weird show of invisible distraction, that Fetch felt something bump into her boot. She snatched up the mentioned badge and in a burst of pink and yellow, raced out of the room, heading toward the office. The final guard didn’t even have time to fire a warning shot as he was so distracted and confused over what was happening to his partners that he let Fetch go further into the hospital without a fight.

It took seconds for Fetch to reach the office and she shook off her neon and gave a look down the hallway both ways before placing the badge on the reader and unlocking the door. She slipped inside and the door closed, locking behind her. She didn’t know what this “Caly” person looked like but before she could start her search, movement to her left caught her eye.

A child was wide awake and had moved herself into the far corner of the couch, her pink blanket brought up over her mouth, gray eyes wide in fear and uncertainty.

“... Caly? Are you Caly?” Fetch reached out to the child and she shrunk further away. The neon-wielder paused in her approach and instead knelt beside the couch, holding up the badge beside her head.

“Caly, Doctor Hutch sent me to come get you. It’s not safe here right now and she wanted me to get you someplace safer. My name is Fetch. Will you come with me?”

Caly looked from the badge with Rosaline’s photo on it, to Fetch and after a moment nodded then stood up on the couch reaching her hands upwards. Fetch released a quiet breath of relief and stood before picking up the child.

“Listen, I’m going to take you back with me but we are going to run very, very fast. I need you to hang on very, very tight, okay? You can close your eyes. I promise to be careful.” Caly nodded again and buried her face against Fetch’s neck, squeezing her eyes closed and clinging tightly to both Fetch and her blanket. Fetch reached into her pocket and pulled out the emblem that Delsin had given her. It hung from a necklace chain, something she had modified it to do instead of being pinned to her outfits daily, suddenly thankful she didn’t have time to clasp it around her neck this morning. She left her emblem necklace on the Doctor’s desk before pocketing the badge and listening at the door. No alarming sounds were heard so she carefully pushed the door open and checked the hallways before leaving the office and racing off toward the emergency exit. Leaving through that door set off a secondary alarm and this one she recognized as one that Seattle Police would respond to. She hoped they’d arrive quickly.

“Should we go looking for her?” Delsin was pacing in the office, wearing a path of worry into the thin carpet below his sneakers. Eugene was perched on the arm of the red couch in the office, looking at his cell phone and quickly running through different apps and settings.

Eugene paused long enough to make eye contact with his clearly worried friend, “Her phone is off. We can’t track her, but we trust her. We know her, Delsin. She’ll be okay.”

“What if something happened? What if she–” Delsin was cut off by a burst of bright pink neon rushing into the room and slamming the door behind her. Fetch seemed to be okay as she leaned herself against the door to catch her breath. Her back was to the guys and Delsin nearly seemed to snap to her side with Eugene giving her a once over to check for any signs of Fetch needing immediate first aid.

Delsin motioned broadly, his voice raised in relief with a bite of anger, “Fetch! You gave me a heart attack! What the hell happened–”

“Shhhh!” Fetch spun around then to face her friends and that’s when they both saw Caly clinging to and being cradled by Fetch. Fetch looked utterly exhausted too, which was unusual for her.

Delsin’s mouth dropped open without a sound. His anger vanished in a moment seeing Fetch standing there with this tiny human wrapped around her. Fetch looked so… motherly. That was something he never thought he’d see with her, despite his brain providing him with plenty of what-if daydreams in which similar scenarios played out.

“Is she okay? Are you? Here, get her to the couch.” Eugene leaped into motion grabbing a blanket and moving a throw pillow horizontally on the couch. He was great with kids, mostly because he felt like he could relate to them. The teenagers at the school were more comfortable with Delsin and Fetch.

Fetch blew out a rush of air and moved toward the couch, sitting down carefully and gently running her hand through Caly’s hair, “Hey, Caly? We’re here. You did great. You were very brave.”

Caly blinked and looked around cautiously before releasing her hold on Fetch and slipping off her lap and onto the couch cushion beside the pink-haired woman. Her gray eyes studied Eugene who knelt before her and offered her a rubber duck he pulled from the window ledge behind the desk. Caly took the duck and held it. Delsin slowly approached from around the back of the couch and gave Caly a quick glance before locking eyes with Fetch. His ears started to heat up suddenly and he raised one hand to absently rub the back of his neck, dropping his gaze to the floor.

“There was a lockdown at the hospital and these uniforms I’ve never seen. I went in, but then had a weird encounter with a conduit who had telepathy, maybe? She’s a doctor… Here's her badge. She said the uniforms may be after Caly here. Asked me to get her somewhere safe. I ran all the way back here via rooftops with neon, carrying Caly, so we’d have less chance of being seen.” Fetch tossed the badge to Delsin who caught it with his open hand. After examining it, he passed it to Eugene who took it and held it.

“Caly? My name is Eugene. How old are you?” Caly gave Eugene a small smile, mimicking his own, before holding up four fingers.

“She’s four years old, guys. Seems too young to do any damage that would cause a lockdown.” Eugene stood and took the badge to the desk, opening up their shared laptop and setting to work.

Fetch looked at Caly and tried to piece together the puzzle she had before her, but she felt like she was missing pieces. Caly yawned and snuggled against Fetch, placing her thumb in her mouth and hooking the index finger of the same hand over her tiny nose. She pulled her soft pink blanket up close to her face with her other hand, the rubber duck falling into her lap.

“Fetch, I… “ Delsin started to speak, but the image before him seemed to be washing him in feelings he thought he had long since buried and forgotten about. Fetch ran her fingers through Caly’s hair, gently pulling at the hair ties and releasing the platinum blonde hair from the lopsided and wind-blown pigtails and into a mess of waves and curls.

“I’m sorry to worry you, Smokes. I just had this feeling… you know? Like when you are exactly where you are meant to be? I didn’t have time to do much else besides send that photo and text.” Fetch’s voice was soft, speaking more to the top of Caly’s head than looking at Delsin directly. She wasn’t avoiding him, not exactly, but she had a feeling this was going to lead into a different conversation if she didn’t keep it on topic.

“Yeah, that photo was a bit blurry but I’ve never seen those uniforms before. I ran a script on it to see if I could track any similar photos and only pulled up one posted late last night on social media. They seem to be a cross between police and some old D.U.P. looks, wouldn’t you agree?” Eugene was focused on the laptop, the keyboard quietly clacking away, the reflection of the screen visible in his eyeglasses.

Fetch turned her attention to Eugene and tilted her head slightly as though she was lost in thought, “... yeah, maybe? I dunno… they seemed so… crisp. Anything popping up if you search for D.U.P. or factions?”

“Nothing. Everything is just from seven years ago when they disbanded and shut down. It’s weird though… Did you get a closer look at the logo on the front at all? It was too small and blurred for me to make out.”

“An owl. It was an owl. I got close enough to take note of it. I can draw it for you in a bit. I’m… kinda stuck here for right now.” Caly had fallen asleep against Fetch’s warm side and her thumb was slowly falling out of her mouth. Eugene glanced around the laptop screen and smiled at seeing Caly so cuddled into Fetch, before nodding with approval at Fetch’s suggestion.

Delsin suddenly interjected, pulling himself loose from his thoughts, “What about that doctor? Anything on her?”

“Doctor Rosaline Hutch, CGC which is code for Certified Genetic Counselor. Fairly new to Seattle. She has a published, award-winning paper on the conduit gene and how to identify it. It won her a prestigious ASHG–American Society of Human Genetics–award and quite a large sum of money. Looks like she used some of that money to help expand Seattle Children’s Hospital.” Eugene scrolled through his findings, “No mention of any kids of her own, but she does have a sister who lives nearby. Is Caly related to her somehow?”

“I… I don’t know. She didn’t say. Just told me to get her out of there and keep her safe. I figured this was the best place for her. Doctor Hutch said she’d find me after the hospital was safe. I left a calling card of sorts behind in her office to help her track me down.”

Delsin shrugged, “Then I guess we will keep the kid safe and wait it out. We can question the doctor once she shows up.”

“... Will she show up?” Eugene peered over his glasses, his focus bouncing between Caly and Fetch.

“Absolutely. I triggered the main alarm for the hospital on my way out. The cops have gotta have things sorted by now.” Fetch shifted just enough to gently maneuver Caly onto the pillow beside her. She grabbed the blanket Eugene had set on the couch and shook it out before laying it over the small child and making sure she stayed asleep.

Delsin stepped behind the desk now and took over the laptop, typing something quickly. The laptop speakers sparked to life, relaying a live feed of a local news channel that was set outside the hospital where the reporter was explaining that everything was under control and no one was hurt. His eyebrow shot up and he glanced back at Fetch over the screen.

Fetch rolled her eyes, “The doctor did something to distract the uniforms long enough for me to grab Caly. I’m not sure what she did or how, but they seemed like they were in pain from hearing something only they could hear. But if the news isn’t reporting about the uniforms then we may have bigger problems.”

“She’s right. No mention of the uniforms or anything related to any reason on why exactly the alarm was triggered.” Eugene had seized control of the laptop again and his glasses reflected that he had already pulled up various sources looking for information before it was asked of him.

Delsin moved to perch on the edge of the desk, arms crossed loosely over his chest as he exhaled a puff of air. No one had a moment longer to think things over before a soft knock sounded on the office door, “Come in.”

The door opened and a female student stood there in the hallway before waving hello at Delsin and ushering over someone beyond the door frame. A woman walked into the office with the confidence and professionalism expected of someone wearing that doctor’s coat. Her hair was up in a bun, made slightly messy from the earlier events of the day. She removed her glasses and allowed them to dangle from the beaded chain around her neck.

Delsin stood up and dropped his arms before clearing his throat, “Thanks, Alessia.” He crossed over to the door and closed it, leaving the students to wonder about the doctor now in a meeting with the founders of the school. Fetch glanced over the back of the couch and Eugene stood from behind the desk, closing the laptop.

The woman held out her fist and walked toward Fetch, dropping something into Fetch’s outstretched hand, “Thank you for this.” She peeked over the couch and sighed softly in relief at seeing Caly there asleep. Fetch nodded and clasped the returned necklace around her neck, dropping the emblem into her shirt.

“Doctor Hutch, I presume? I’m Delsin Rowe, that’s Eugene Sims and I see you’ve met Fetch already. Welcome to our safe haven,” Delsin spoke welcomely though he had an edge to his voice that teetered on the verge of suspicion.

“Please, call me Rosaline. I’m sure you have questions for me. I don’t know that I have all the answers, but I’ll tell you what I can.”

Fetch was standing now, having walked around to the back of the couch and was leaning against it. She held the doctor’s badge out toward Rosaline who took it and dropped it into her pocket. Eugene joined the group and stood beside Fetch. Delsin offered Rosaline a cold water bottle from a tiny refrigerator beside the office door.

“We’d love to know what you know.”

#infamous sparks #infamous fic #infamous second son #delsin rowe #eugene sims #fetch walker #infamous ocs #doctor rosaline hutch #caly

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