Doc's day was going poorly. The amount of victims that had piled up because of the low-tiers was astronomical. It got bad enough that he spent overtime registering every single person and their injuries to the database. It was a regular procedure, and even if every bone in his body told him he should ignore it and focus on developing and creating more healing mixtures, he couldn't… because he would be fired and replaced with a schmuck with less experience with these trouble-makers.
"Another one," Words that were only positive in a poker table. In this setting they were a curse that ran deep, and made his hatred for highschool children sink deeper into the abyss that was his heart and sleeping schedule. He turned around and found Wellston's queen, dragging more low-tiers to the infirmary. "The volume's going down by quite a lot." She tried her best attempt at cheering the Doc, but it wasn't effective.
"No shit," he turned his head and saw students on the ground because there was not enough space on the beds to do anything. "Are there any students in the hallways anymore? It feels like I'm catching them all like a children's cartoon trying to sell plushies and toys." He heard rattling and growls and sighed.
"Sorry…" Remi, the Queen of Wellston looked down to her feet. It wasn't her fault whatsoever, but she still felt responsible. "If I hadn't been defeated on the roof…" True, it probably wouldn't have reached this level, but Doc shook his head.
"It would've happened eventually, it might even happen again… if it does I will send out application letters. I need an assistant…" Doc put a hand on his face and sighed in resignation. He looked at the one item in his desk that wasn't made of paper or plastic. An image of his new girlfriend which he had printed to remind him what awaited him after the torture that was the school. Just a few more hours Leilah…Just a few more hours in hell and Doc could go to his date with his beautiful, smart – hot girlfriend.
The growls intensified. Doc grabbed his least favorite mug – he'd brought four because one wasn't enough to keep up with his coffee drinking spree – and tossed it at the person growling. A figure behind the curtain that had been tightly tied up. Doc walked up to it and took off the curtains.
"I will shove this cloth so down your throat you'll be shitting curtains for a week." Doc stared at the perpetrator. A Muzzle, chained, tied with rope and with cuffs. Vritra's insatiable hunger made him shake and move while resting. "You're mostly alright, but I might just keep you here for more days than you aught so you can calm the fuck down." Doc understood him being angry, and lashing out… that wasn't what he was worried about.
What worried him the most was the boy sitting on the bed opposite to Vritra. Azazel looked out the window, the eye bags under his eyes were ever-present. For the first time since Doc had met them, they had reversed their roles… or so he'd like to say. Instead of being cheerful like Vritra would be, it looked as though Azazel was gone, a puppet with its strings cut. A blank stare that stared into the horizon, quiet. There was no escape attempt, or smartass comments.
Vritra on the other hand, despite attempting escape, was so angry it felt as though he would kill anything that walked through the door. A pile of anger and displeasure. Even after the Doc's warnings, he wouldn't listen and kept yelling Arlo's name. The reason he was chained up was mainly because he was injured and wanted to get out… the other reason was that he was willing to go fight Arlo despite having several broken bones and no aura.
"Is this some kind of joke?" The Doc massaged the bridge of his nose with his index and thumb. "Don't you have a snide remark about how your friend is acting? Or insults you could hurl her way?" He looked at Azazel. HIs head turned and he wordlessly lied back down before facing away. The Doc turned to Vritra, "Don't you want to make fun of your friend here? No commentary on my 'fake girlfriend' today?" Vritra's grunts and movement signaled a clear denial.
"Just what the hell is going on?" He looked at the small report he'd been given by Elaine – god bless her soul – and it only said 'defeated by the royals'. Would a defeat really bring them to this level of change? Azazel looked like a dead man and Vritra looked as though he wanted blood in his hands.
"They fought Arlo, and well… it was really rough" Remi's voice surprised the Doc. He thought she'd left. She was standing in front of both beds, with something in her hands. Two baskets. She must have put them outside when bringing the injured students. She put them next to Vritra and Azazel's desk as if to apologise on Arlo's behalf. He must have gone really far if she was doing all of this.
"It says on my schedule that Arlo ordered a Level measurer? Tell him to do his investigating some other time, I don't have the patience to entertain his games… or anything as of right now." The Doc set down the small report clipboard. He'd known Arlo for quite some time, he knew he could be sly, too OCD about the hierarchy and have a huge stick up his ass… but even this felt too far.
"Yeah, I'll cancel that – sorry for the trouble." The Doc scratched the back of his head.
"You're too nice. I mean, you even got Vritra to apologise the other day." He smiled and Remi awkwardly chuckled.
"Day? It's been almost two weeks…"
"Come again?"
"... How long have you been in this room?" She looked at him concerned, Doc quickly rushed to the front of the infirmary and opened his drawer to look at his phone. It was indeed almost two weeks after. He'd been working overtime for two weeks.
"Oh hell no, I better get overtime for this…" He slumped on the chair and heard the chains rattle more, reminding him he still had a job to do. "There's no over time," his mocking voice was high pitched and annoying to listen to for extended periods of time. Doc liked to think it was how his college friends sounded, "It's easy. It's just nursing children, it's minimal work" he grabbed two flasks and began to mix them. He slammed them on the desk and in a fit of rage raised both his arms. "WHEN I FIND YOU RICKY!" He swore to give him a beating and enough emotional trauma to last a lifetime. "I HOPE YOU LOSE ALL OVERTIME! I HOPE YOUR MEALS ARE ALWAYS SLIGHTLY COLDER THAN LUKEWARM! RICKY! WHEN I FIND YOU RICKY!" He'd gone and become a researcher for that famous company, NXGen Research Facility.
"Hey Doc… " A familiar voice made Doc's head turn to the entrance like a dysfunctional robot in a bad horror movie. Black hair so greasy it could cause an explosion of nuclear proportions entering the room.
"You are kidding me John… you came here yesterday…" Doc let himself fall on his seat and put both hands on his face. He was ready to give up, the resignation form sung to him like a siren at sea. Just as he reached for it in his desk drawer – he had it printed a day… well apparently two weeks ago – the picture of his girlfriend stopped him.
"You work with children, I think that's amazing. I find it admirable."
She didn't know half of it. These pain in the ass children. He hoped they tripped and broke their legs – then he remembered who would have to fix them up, and then he wished they got injured badly enough that it'd hurt, but not badly enough so that they would have to go to the infirmary. He tried praying it into reality to many gods – Hermes, Loki, Anansi and even Satan… they probably trolled him and said 'Double it and give it back.'
"C'mon Darren, just a bit more before we can be together. Think of the cuddling Darren. "
"You're right, figment Leilah." Darren may have had too little to sleep and too much coffee.
"Are you talking to someone?" John's voice grated his ears. The worst of it was that this asshole could fight back and chose not to. In other words, he didn't even have to be here today, but he was… because he was stupid, and annoying, and a hindrance to his mental health and physical wellbeing. Doc's ass had taken the shape of his chair – he'd asked for ones with cushioning but the budget was too busy being allocated into medicine and school repair.
"Alright does this hurt?" Darren grabbed the arm he was holding. John released a screech. It wasn't that tightly held, and the Doc felt an odd texture. "Fractured arm," he moved like a machine. He'd done at least twenty of these today. He could twirl his wrist and cover John's arm in bandages. He didn't even have to make a cast, he had some pre-made knowing someone could come in at any moment. He placed it on John's arm and shooed him away after shoving a glowing green liquid in his hands.
"... am I not supposed to stay?"
"If you want to sit on someone's lap, be my guest." Darren pointed at all of the people groaning and moaning on the ground. John took a sip of the liquid and groaned.
"Ugh, I don't remember your medicine tasting this bad."
"Yeah, new development, that one works better." It didn't, it was the same… he just made it taste worse because it was the only form of revenge he could morally and ethically take. "Now stop wasting space."
"ARLOOOO!" An ear screeching yell came from the back of the room.
"Who had the bright idea of removing Vritra's muzzle and gag?" Doc looked around, they all looked collapsed. He walked to Vritra, stepping on the only empty spaces on the ground. Vritra had used the little aura he'd recovered to bite through the chains. Now he was yelling and tossing about. The doc grabbed a syringe from the inside of his coat and stabbed him with it. In seconds Vritra went back to sleep.
"Ah… peace and quiet." It was quite ineffective on Vritra for whatever reason so he would go back to yelling in a few minutes… but the Doc could afford a few seconds of enjoyment. He put a new muzzle and gag in his mouth, then looked at Azazel's bed. He was still not talking, or moving… The doc went up to him and checked his vitals just in case – he was still alive thankfully.
One bed over, Remi was cutting apples for Blyke and Isen, who were still out like lights. If they didn't wake up until those apples darkened, the Doc might just eat them for nutrition… At this point he was slightly afraid of putting anything in his body that wasn't caffeine, but if he got hungry he might go for it.