Against the Clock

Chapter 2 | Diagnosis

I feel like I just got hit by a bus.

I'm slowly regaining consciousness, but I'm unable to open my eyes yet. All I hear is a variety of voices coming from somewhere a little farther away. I can only make out bits of sentences.

"...Professor what the f..."

"...Time broke down the door..."

"...What were you thinking..."

"...Experiment brought something up..."

"...Emergency..."

"...Strange illness..."

"...Danger..."

All I hear after that is a lot of yelling, coming from a bunch of different people. It doesn't sound like anger-filled yelling, but rather... worry. Like something bad is happening. What's going on?

I'm able to open my eyes, however my vision is still blurry. I look around, and I'm still in the strange room, but I'm not strapped to the table anymore. There's still a series of medical cables hooked up to beeping machines, the ends of the cords sticking into my skin. My vision clears a little, and I can see Time sitting in a chair next to the machines, looking worried with his arm in a sling. The door to the room we're in is behind him, and it's been broken off its hinges, now just leaned against the wall.

I attempt to sit up, but fail, and Time notices I'm awake. He gets up from the chair and rushes over next to me.

"Sabre?" He asks. "You there?"

"Kinda..." I say tiredly. "What... what happened?"

"The Professor apparently found something wrong with you, and tried to find out what it was without telling M." Time answers. "M eventually came and got me, and Light was with me at the time as he wanted to check on the village, sooo... he and the Leaders heard about what the Professor was doing. They're talking with... well, more like scolding the Professor right now in the other room."

"...I meant what happened to your arm, but that's... something, I guess." I say.

"Oh, uh, my arm..." Time says, quickly glancing at the broken door. "Ehm, it's fine, don't worry about it."

"Okay then..."

We just sit in silence for a while. Soon, Time helps me sit up and walks over to the... doorframe.

"I should probably let everyone else know you're awake." He says. "They've been yelling the whole time we've been talking."

"Hope they don't start arguing..." I say.

Time leaves the room, and a few seconds later I hear quick footsteps coming from somewhere else inside the lab. The Yellow Leader is first to enter, naturally, as he almost slips while running in but quickly regains his balance and composure. He's followed by the Orange and Green Leaders, then Light, then M and the Violet Leader. The Blue and Indigo Leaders are last, as they both try to enter at the same time and run into each other, then Indigo lets Blue go first. Time comes in behind them, dragging in Professor Red by the sleeve. The gather near where I am, all exchanging looks of worry.

"Alright, Professor." Time says, letting go of Professor Red's sleeve. "Explain in better detail of what's happening instead of blurting it out, since we're all here now." 

"Okay, okay." The Professor says, taking a deep breath. "When taking a scan of Sabre, the Assistant and I noticed something was in his body that shouldn't be there, and I looked into it further. Upon further analysis, I found that it was a virus of some kind."

"A virus?" The Green Leader asks, worried.

"Yes, and one that very much isn't natural." The Professor continues. "It seems that this one was altered in a way to where it will only affect Sabre, which means this is a personal attack... Someone did this to him deliberately, and it's only taking effect now."