Tipperary Charity Hospital

[Basil]

The recruitment flyers promised hopeful doctor and nurse applicants an adventure of their lifetime. The smarter ones soon realize that they have gotten more than they’ve bargained for. This charity hospital sees some of the worse ER cases known to muse-kind. The A&E section is buzzing 24/7. The only things keeping the staff on their feet are lots of caffeine and sheer determination. Walking down the wards, you soon realize that these are the strangest wards you’ll ever find.

The Wards

In Ward B, there are cages surrounding each bed. Each of these beds is called a cell and each cell is has an assigned number. Ward C has a whole range of restraints. Some patients are literally handcuffed to their bedposts. The nurses are quick to reassure you that these are only the petty criminals. They said that you only have to worry about the ones in Ward A.

Ward A is where the maximum security prison-patients are kept. Each bed is housed behind four solid steel walls. The doctors and nurses have to be companied by members of the police force if they wish to enter…

Other Areas

Given the level of security in this place, you probably won’t be surprised to hear that there are connecting doors between the Tipperary Police Agency and the Tipperary Charity Hospital. Besides mingling during office hours, the staff can also grab a bite and chat at the café along the corridor between the two buildings.

Directory:

Tipperary Police Agency

Safe Haven (the café)

[Κομμα]

Matsuda stood back against the wall a bit as he looked across the hall at one of the maximum security rooms of Ward A, doctors and nurses passing by him hurriedly. He was new to the police agency here in Tipperary, having been fired from Musehatten due to his connections with Pat, Don, and Al, and straight-up refusal to turn them in. Apparently Ward A was the maximum security branch of this hospital, and they had stationed him here tonight, after a couple days of nothing but paperwork to show him how things worked around here.

The hospital and agency building were connected, which immediately showed exactly what sort of place Tipperary was, and why they didn't seem to have any problems with hiring him. He didn't really have the job experience necessary to deal with criminals of this degree... the main reason he had gotten into the National Police Agency back in Japan was due to family ties.

Nevertheless... he had survived the Kira case, and nothing here could be any worse than Kira. He just had to keep telling himself that and hope that it was true.

[Basil]

Rucran shook his head with disbelief when he finally stepped out of the locker room. Amelia wasn't kidding! The doctors and nurses working here really carry personal firearms to work. He found it not very reassuring that the only person keeping an eye on the weapons was the lone receptionist who greeted him when he entered.

The new intern wandered over to the head nurse and waited for his turn. After ten minutes, he coughed politely. She was a little too engrossed with her solitaire game. The beefy woman whipped around and glared at him. This caused the half elf to flinch. Suddenly, her face split into a smile when she saw his name tag. She got up and took his hand. He glanced quickly at her name tag.

“Ah, it’s good to have a new intern here.”

“It’s good to be here… Sandra.”

He refrained from mentioning how he had been coerced by his writer and fellow muses into coming here for his internship rather than the Musehatten General Hospital. He shouldn’t have trusted them with his application. But it was too late now. He was expected to work here for the next six months while completing his independent study modules.

Sandra picked up a clipboard and scanned for his name. “You’re on duty at Ward A tonight. You can start by giving Patient #3559 his insulin shot.”

Rucran smiled and nodded despite being sorely tempted to snatch the clipboard to make sure he heard her correctly. Ward A was supposed to be maximum security…

She had to be kidding!

“Oh yes, you’ll be changing their bedpans too.”

“Their?” He gulped.

“Yes, all sixteen patients in Ward A.”

“Basil, you are going to die when I get back,” the blond elf thought as he went to fetch the supplies.

Five minutes later, the elf wheeled the trolley containing the empty bedpans towards Ward A. He tried his best to think of happy things like the kidlings and his xbox. He could hear the announcements blaring through the PA system every five to ten minutes. Amazing! Three emergency cases back to back, no wonder the doctors and nurses in the A&E look half dead.

He stopped outside the door leading to Ward A. Only one person was there. Judging by the man’s uniform, Rucran guessed that this was the officer he was supposed to approach. He smiled.

“Hi, are you the officer on duty tonight? I’m the nurse on night duty. I … err…. am Rucran, the new intern.”

[Κομμα]

After jumping slightly, having been too lost in thought to notice being approached, Matsuda smiled nervously.

“I’m Matsu,” he said. He was unable to keep a bit of an edge out of his voice. “I’m fairly new around here myself…” he admitted. He walked across the hall to the door, retrieving a set of keys from his pocket—one for this door, one for each of the rooms. They had told him at the station that having a master key was much too risky; in the event that one of the inmates should escape, their getting hold of a master key would be fatal to the hospital… and likely a lot of its employees.

Matsu unlocked the door and waited for Rucran. This was it. All he could ask was that he make it out of this place alive tonight. From everything he had heard about it, it wasn’t exactly the most forgiving place to be stationed.

[Basil]

Rucran nodded but Matsu’s back was already turned. He guessed that the officer was just as jittery as he was. He couldn’t blame the guy. He repositioned the trolley and wheeled it into the dark ward. The soft moans, groans and, weirdly, chanting blended harmoniously with the otherwise ominous silence. He had zoned out the squeaky trolley wheels awhile back.

“So what’s the procedure like?” He asked nervously.

“Other than me waiting for you before entering,” he added quickly.

He read the label of file in the file box of the first metal cube. It belonged to prisoner #3559. He started preparing the insulin shot while waiting for Matsu to answer. He couldn’t pierce the needle through the bottle cap at first. He stopped and took a deep breath. He didn’t want to accidentally prick himself. It would be a hassle to run over to the main station to get another needle. The supplies were very tightly regulated here. He can’t help but wonder whether some of his colleagues were actually drug fiends. It would explain why some of them have developed a nervous twitch.

[Κομμα]

Matsu frowned at the set of keys, looking for the numbered key that corresponded with the first door. "Seems mostly the same as any other hospital, except the patients here are usually strapped to their beds. I just... have to go in and deem that it's safe."

He had been told by one of the more levelheaded senior officers that while most of time, the inmates here were safely secured to their beds, the one time you entered without your hand on your gun, that one time you weren't prepared for the worst, would be the one time that the worst was bound to happen.

Matsu found the key and unlocked the door, keeping his right hand on the grip of his gun as he opened the door and stepped in.

[Basil]

Rucran peered in and noticed that the patient was watching TV. The old man's sunken eyes were glued to the screen. His arms were bound by heavy leather straps. A huge padlock seemed to be weighing the straps down. He could see just enough of the arm to inject the insulin. He nodded more to himself than to Matsu. He was glad they didn't have to remove the lock.

"I think I'll handle the bedpan later," the half elf said softly.

He stepped inside. The man continued starring at the screen. "Erm... Good evening, Mr. Lugi the Third, I am here to give you your insulin shot."

The head bobbed a little but the eyes never left the screen. Despite feeling mildly affronted, Rucran held his tongue. He wouldn't want to mess with a retired mafia boss. He never know if the guy had a son, grandson or even great grandson still around.

The intern knelt down at the man's side and checked to see where the blood vessels were. Finding a particularly obvious one, he inserted the needle in slowly and injected the insulin. The man didn't even move a muscle. Rucran was amazed. He stood up and noticed the man tearing a little.

"Painful huh?"

The man shook his head and nodded at the screen. Ruc looked up and noticed that the actress in the soap opera was clutching the actor's shirt. She was crying and begging him not to leave her and their son. He sighed. He didn't know what to say.

He put the needle into his pocket and walked over to the trolley to retrieve a clean bedpan. "If all of them are this peaceful, I think it'll be an uneventful night."

He grinned. "Want a cup of hot chocolate after our shift?"

[Κομμα]

Matsuda almost laughed a little at this Lugi, but managed to keep from doing so. He smiled at Rucran's offer. "I'll probably go for tea. I've been working since seven o'clock this morning, I need something with more caffeine."

As they neared the next room, he was fairly sure some of the chanting they had heard upon entering the ward sounded quite a bit closer. He shook his head and sighed as he located the right key to open the door, unlocked it, and stepped in with his hand on his gun. The chanting was indeed louder, and it didn't exactly sound like chanting now. It sounded mysteriously like the first line of "I'm A Little Teapot," repeated over and over.

There came a view of a middle-aged woman straight past the door, her hair short and choppy and mostly gray with a few streaks of black left, brown eyes wide and sunken into her head as though it had been years since she had slept. She was rocking along to her own singing as much as her restraints would allow her too (and therefore very little), apparently totally oblivious to his entrance into her room. Matsu frowned and looked around the room.

His eyes landed on an old and ragged looking baby-doll, and it took him a moment to comprehend that it was strapped to its tiny chair. Then that made this the telepath that Officer Barnwell had told him about--apparently the doll had been her own personal zombie and she just kept summoning it here every time they threw it out. They ended up strapping it down after they found a night nurse impaled through her jugular with a scalpel, the murder weapon lying next to the doll in the corner of the room.

Matsu looked back at the woman when he realized her singing had stopped and almost jumped back a bit when he realized her eyes were on him, narrowed menacingly. He walked a bit closer to her and checked he--all straps were secure. He walked back to where the doorway was visible. "It's all clear," he informed Rucran.

Ms. Ferris resumed her singing. Matsu shivered a little and backed up further, hand still on his gun. That was one nursery rhyme completely ruined for him....

[Basil]

Rucran peeped in and then drew back. The half elf quirked one eyebrow. Nursery rhymes and a doll? What next – Hannibal Lecter? He sighed as he took the bedpan into the room and swapped it. He heard a curious giggling. The hair on his back rose. He turned around. All he saw was a doll strapped to a chair. A baby doll quite like the one Anna used to be fond of.

The sides of his mouth twitched a little. That doll happened to be possessed and it attacked the kidling while she slept. He edged closer to the wall and walked sideways slowly. He kept his vulnerable towards the cool surface. He made his way to the toilet and dumped the contents in. He flushed it quickly and darted towards the safety of the exit.

He was panting as he gripped the sides of the trolley. The tip of the empty bedpan was pressed against the ward floor. He smiled weakly at Matsu. “I hate dolls …”

He didn’t to squeak as much as he did. He tried his best to shut off the chanting. It was making him more and more nervous by the minute.

“Sh-shall we go to the next patient?”

He licked his drying lips. “We have fourteen to go.”

[Κομμα]

Matsu nodded understandingly, shutting the door and locking it back. "That doll was used as a murder weapon. The woman in there is psychic, they ended up having to strap the doll to a chair since she just kept summoning it back to her. It's been all right strapped down so far, but... it's still a room that should be approached with caution."

He smiled. "That's the version I heard, anyway."

As he looked off at the next door, his smile faded. He wondered if it was only bound to get progressively worse as they continued down the hall. It would make sense--the further down the hall, the longer it would take any of them who managed to escape to get out. If that was the case, he wasn't sure he wanted to know what was behind door number sixteen. At least they didn't have to stay in the rooms for an extended period of time.

He walked to the next door, flipped to the correct key, and unlocked the door, and entered cautiously. He called out after a few moments that it was safe.

[Basil]

“Great…” Rucran answered.

Life was too full of surprises. First there was Amelia, then Selena, then some crazy loon who wanted to kill the triplets and now he had to work in a prison facility. When was his writer and fellow muses going to believe that he deserved a break. College was stressful enough as it is. Bartho certainly didn’t cut him any slack during the summer semester.

He picked up another clean bedpan and headed into the room. He stepped out again quickly and looked at Matsu. “I thought you said all the prisoners were bound.”

Inside the cell was an immaculately dressed young man. He was sitting in a throne like chair at the head of the table. The only thing odd about the picture was that he had a heavy collar around his neck. His hands were busy cutting up a piece of extremely bloody steak. Rucran wrinkled his nose. It smelt like human blood.

The young man put down his fork and knife. He gave the men outside his cell a feral grin. “Don’t worry. My legs are pretty much useless. That’s the reason why I’m bound to this seat.”

His eyes glinted menacingly as he started giggling insanely. “Just don’t come too close to my hands. They might strangle you.”

[Κομμα]

Matsu shuddered and kept near the door. Like a young and rather more insane Hannibal, wonderful. He breathed in heavily, and out. At least there still wasn't anything like Kira. Still wasn't anything like Kira, wouldn't be anything like Kira. Or even B, for that matter. The case file he had read on B had nearly made him vomit, and his killings had all been for the sake of outsmarting someone, nothing else.

He shared quarters with two Shinigami and two ex-serial killers half the time. He could handle this.

Matsu nodded at Rucran's question. "I... guess they have to be unbound to be able to eat? There're probably security cameras to keep an eye on him somewhere..." He looked around for signs of one. The man was bound well enough for the situation to be considered "safe" by definition, but...

His eyes stayed on the man and his hand on his gun. He wasn't sure he trusted the Tipperary Police Agency, so he also wasn't entirely sure he could trust the better judgment of some of those working at this hospital. This was a little odd, to say the least.

[Basil]

Rucran peered into the room again. His eyes narrowed as he scanned the room for the bedpan. His eyes widened a fraction. It was at that lunatic’s foot. He chewed on his lip for awhile. Should he skip this guy and head elsewhere? He sincerely hoped that this was the worse of the lot.

“H-how much worse do you think the rest are?” He squeaked once again.

“Come pretty little elfy, don’t you want a bite of the tasty meaty?”

The half elf shuddered when he noticed the young man dragging the bedpan under the wheelchair. He looked at Matsu imploringly. He had seen what Hannibal had done his victims and this Edward fellow reminded him of Hannibal Lecter, a younger Hannibal Lecter.

“M-matsu, how good are you with your gun?”

It was at the tip of his tongue to ask Matsu to kill him if he were caught, but he stopped himself. That would be rude. It would sound as if he doubted the officer’s ability to protect him.

[Κομμα]

Matsu shook his head. "They can't all be too bad. There's a chance some of them could have been here for awhile. Reformed themselves, and they're just kept here because of their history. You see that a lot more often than you'd think in places like this."

He looked at the man seated at the table. He wasn't one to brag, but for where he might have lacked in investigative abilities, he made up for in his skill with firearms. His eyes stayed on the inmate as he replied to Rucran's question.

"I score perfect at the range every time. There's nothing to worry about."

[Basil]

"That's good," Rucran said a little more calmly.

Matsu didn't strike him as the type who would boast for the sake of boasting. He gulped a little before stepping in again. The young man was still taunting him, but he decided it would be best to ignore the patient.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Rutherford. I need to replace your bedpan."

He was about three meters away. He stopped awhile to see how the young man will react. Edward seemed to be doing the same. Rucran tensed a little. Did everyone have to go through this every time?

"I promise we'll leave as soon as we are done. You can go back to your meal. Deal?" He asked with a nervous smile.

"What if I don't want you to leave?" Edward shot back.

Rucran stepped back when he heard the sound of the chains clanking. Edward seemed determined to pull himself loose.

"Crap," he thought. "Why didn't they give me some tranquilizers?"