The Noxumber hospital card reader blinked twice and then turned green. The hospital door unlocked with a distant click, and they stepped inside to the hustle and bustle of a busy hospital. Nurses, doctors, and orderlies flowed this way and that way over the smooth, white flooring, a slow flow illuminated under the harsh glow of the fluorescent lighting.
A nervous sickness rose up in their stomach accompanied by a sort of tingling thrill.
This was it, this was the day.
"All hail Void."
They muttered the words under their breath as they headed further into the hospital slipping through the maze of bodies before finding their way into the locker room. They recognized other members of the surgical staff, pulling on their scrubs, tying up their hair, preparing themselves for a fourteen hour shift.
No one here really minded
Getting a job at Noxumber Hospital was an enviable position. It was the top ranked surgical institution in the galaxy as of this moment, and there was always some interesting procedure or other being preformed in one of the several state-of-the-art surgical suites.
Most everyone was satisfied.
Most....
They had been working here for a few years now, and in all that time they had been continually passed over. Younger members of staff had received promotions, extra training, or even been given some other important responsibilities and a pay raise, but not them. They had tried to talk to their supervisor about the issue, but they had been stonewalled on several occasions.
They generally considered himself to be a patient, person, patient and talented and generous, and all those things you needed to be to be a good surgical nurse, but the doctors here didn't respect them, and the other nurses didn't see them as the authority they certainly were.
They had more experience than anyone else on their unit, and yet nothing had changed in all the years they had worked here.
But now that didn't matter so much anymore.
They had a new cause.
Someone who would properly appreciate them for what they were about to do. They already had friends in high places. Kazna herself had contacted them, spoken with them privately about what they were going to have to do.
They pulled on a pair of surgical scrubs and hurried to view the surgical board projected above the Nurse's station.
Yes, they were on for this afternoon.
For the most important act of their life.
"Morning, looks like it's going to be a busy day." One of the doctors said, barely turning his pompous head to look at them as he picked up a clipboard from the station, "I saw your name up on the board. You're working with doctor krill today, that must be exciting."
They tried to hide a sneer, "Yeah, a real privilege."
The doctor looked up, a frown crossing his face as if he had heard the derision in their voice. They did their best to control their facial expression and smiled at the doctor. Stupid doctors, all of them were the same, annoying and, big headed and totally unappreciative of how much work the average nurse does in a single day. It was their honest opinion that most doctors had no real idea what they were talking about. The true brains of the operation were the nurses.
Honestly, they could have done all of the diagnosing and prescribing without the help of a doctor. In fact , doctors don't spend nearly as much time with the patients, and so were less likely to know what was actually wrong.
Ten minutes till rehearsal, but they still had to wait several hours before their big moment.
They hurried off down the hall and towards the surgical suite where the other surgical nurses were already scrubbing in. The Anumectomy surgeries were a big deal, there was always a small army of nurses and doctors there to help, and doctor Krill himself was still the only surgeon ever to have performed the surgery.
They had never been invited to participate in one of these surgeries before, a fact that rankled them to no end since they had been nursing here since the hospital was constructed. By now they should be one of Dr. krill's right hand assistants, but again they had been overlooked by other, younger blood.
Dr. Katie was already waiting for them in the prep room just outside the surgery.
They curled their lip at the tall, slim doctor.
Out of all the doctors in the hospital, Dr. katie was one of the worst. She was only in charge of things because she was personal friends with Dr. Krill, but other than that, there wasn't really anything special about her. In fact, she was far more about looks than she was about work. They wondered how long katie took to put on her face of makeup in the morning. You would never catch a nurse doing such a thing, worrying about their looks, with makeup and stupid stylish glasses, and that dumb haircut.
"Alright everyone, rehearsal. You newbies pay attention okay."
They sneered. Doctors always liked to be condescending towards nurses.
"You've all been chosen because of your excellent track record as surgical assistants in the past, and we have the upmost faith in you,"
So damn condescending. If they had had a tomato on hand, they would have thrown it.
Still holding her clipboard, Dr. Katie outlined how things were going to go, keeping her incredible sense of superiority this entire time. They hardly paid attention to the instructions. They didn't need to be told how to do their job by someone who would only be observing. Instead they went over their own plan.
It honestly wouldn't take much.
Just had to accidentally nudge the stupid little alien surgeon at the right moment and the Saint of Anin would be gone.
They sneered again at that thought.
The Saint of Anin.
They had only come here for the opportunity to work in one of the top rated hospitals in the galaxy, but when it came to Arcadia itself, they hated it. It was too dark, and the people were all violent barbarians. Their whole "Culture around combat" was stupid and unintellectual. And the next time they had to look at an open LFIL couple they were going to have to scream.
The fact that the Saint of Anin, ha adjust birthed some freaky human hybrids didn't make the whole thing better. Imagining a human together with a drev was enough to make them gag. It was just unnatural, and sstupid, and honestly needed to be stopped. That was something Kazna and them agreed on.
It was nice to be seen.
They went over the surgery several times, until they felt like screaming.
But then it finally came.
Dr. Krill arrived to scrub in, and they did their best not to imagine punting the bug-like creature across the room.
He really was an ugly little thing.
He turned to look at them, his creepy insect eyes perpetually wide. One of his gross little antane flicked slightly, "Are you all ready?" Nods all around the room, "Remember don't lock your knees, if you need a break, go ahead and scrub out, we have alternates to take your place. No need to be a hero. Get your water and then scrub back in. Take care of yourself."
They did their best not to roll their eyes.
Everyone scrubbed in and put on their surgical gowns stepping into the surgical suite to wait while the patient was prepared.
Paralyzed and unmoving, the Drev didn't look half so intimidating.
They almost protested when they were tasked with helping place the head clamps on the alien creature, but that would only have been counter productive. They tried not to make faces as they opened the Drev's mouth, tilted its head back and locked it in place. The inside of its mouth was warm, squishy and faintly orange.
Drev blood is orange where human blood is red.
Unnatural.
Of course, Dr. katie was allowed to begin the procedure, while Dr. Krill simply hovered close by.
Though now came the dangerous part. Lord Celex stepped into the room, rainbow hair tied up under a hair net, goofy little bard covered under a surgical mask. The mind reader was the biggest issue in this while thing, but Kazna had instructed them on the proper way to prevent mind reading.
A poem repeated in their head over and over again.
besides .
Celex would be too busy to notice.
ANd indeed he seemed to sense nothing wrong as he stepped into the room.
Overhead, in the viewing gallery, they could see Adam Vir standing and watching nervously down at the Drev creature. In one arm, he held one of their weird little hybrid creatures.
Gross
The thought was only a small break as the poem repeated.
Were they ready to do this for several horus straight?
They had to be.
Minutes ticked into hours, song lyrics running around inside their head, repeated phrases. Eventually Dr. krill took over making only minute movements with his hands as he made his way into the creature's brain.
Not much longer now.
"Almost there." Krill muttered, "Just a little."
Now!
They moved forward, suddenly all pretenses dropped.
Celex sensed it as soon as their mind let go, turning his head with wide eyes too shocked to be angry. They lunged forward intending to shove Dr. krill forward, hopefully to sever the wire and kill the saint of Anin. Their hand was just inches away from Krill's back, when it suddenly felt like they had run into a brick wall.
There was a sharp impact, somewhere around their stomach, like they had been punched.
They doubled over in pain, but when they finally looked up, they saw nothing but a slow flower of red blooming on the front of their gown. They looked down in shock, and then up, coming face to face with Dr Katie, who now stood between them and dor Krill. The woman's face reflected their own shock. In her hand she held a bloodied scalpel.
"True Darkness." They hissed.
Katie lunged forward, burying the scalpel into their chest thai time.
The room was filled with shocked silence, and then a sharp ringing.
They fell over backwards.
***
Apotheosis did not make a scene when she woke, slowly coming to consciousness in a dim sort of radiance, and the smell of iron, thick on her tongue.
Human blood.
She would know that smell anywhere.
She lifted herself slowly from her seat and turned her head to view the carnage, the body of a surgical nurse lying flat on the floor surrounded by a slowly spreading pool of blood, Doctor katie standing shell shocked over the body, her gown peppered with little red droplets.
And all around them the entire surgical staff in shocked horror.
Sunny could feel them, hear their inner thoughts and ran backward through their memories.
Celex offered the full scene to her.
This nurse, had been following Kazna's orders.
This nurse had wanted to kill her.
Interesting that Dr. katie would begin her combat body count in a surgical suite, but honestly. Apotheosis approved.
It was as good a place as any.