Chapter 14: A Hospital Visit, Without Flowers Or Gifts

It's always important in life to ask questions. Like, for example: Why are taxes so annoying at filling out? What really is up or down in space? Who would win in a fight between Guts and Ike? Was the Escaflowne movie only slightly, or crushingly disappointing? How will this chapter play out? Well, I strive to answer at least one of those questions right now. The one about the story, not the others. You'd have to go to someone else for that.

xxx

Around mid-day, Neptune and Blake found themselves gazing at the front of Vale General Hospital. As people went about their business normally (well, as normally as people needing to visit a hospital can), the incredibly unlikely pair was trying to figure out a game plan.

The plan to interrogate Yoshikage Kira required them to accomplish at least three things. First of all, they needed to figure out the room number of the room their suspect was staying in. Next, they needed to cause a distraction to slip past the police guards probably watching the room, as there was no way in hell, they could just walk into that room and expect an interview. Finally, they needed to slip out unnoticed, and make it look like they were never there.

"So…" Neptune asked as he watched an ambulance pass, "Any ideas?"

"A few…" Blake mused, thinking.

She was a ninja, damn it! Well, not exactly, but she was close enough. She had trained in the White Fang to be stealthy and swift. In theory, this should be nothing more than a cake-walk for her. But, yet again, she did chose to leave that part of her life behind. Maybe she already began to rust in the time between her desertion and now. Well, there was only one way to find out. Turning to Neptune, Blake began to explain the idea running through her head.

"Okay, we're going to need a distraction, first of all. I'm going to need you to do something while I check the log book. We should be able to get the room number from there. Then, once we got that, we're going to need to sneak in. But, we should watch the room first, to get a feel for it. Sound good?"

Neptune nodded. "Got it."

At that, Blake gave a small nod. The plan was on. The pair began to walk up to the entrance, past all the people, ambulances, and whatever else hospitals service. Passing through the sliding doors, Neptune began to scan around the room.

What he needed was something in there to make a good distraction. Form what he could tell, there were several options. Not that a lot of them were good options, but they were options none the less. He could easily start a fight with a random person. But, the security guard would probably stop that pretty quickly. Maybe he could buy a soda from the vending machine and spill it everywhere. Nah, that wasn't big enough of a distraction. Like, he would need something big enough to cause a stir, like a fire or something. Hey, a fire! Now that was an idea. A small fire would not only cause a big uproar, but it would give him and Blake enough time to do the things they needed.

Leaning over to Blake, Neptune whispered, "Get ready to read that list. You'll know when the distraction'll start."

Neptune didn't wait for a response as he walked over to his target. The vending machine probably had some very sensitive wires in the back, which could probably spark and light something easily on fire. Just what he needed.

Calmly whistling, Neptune acted like he was about to buy something from the machine. He took out his wallet, and pulled out five lien. However, he made sure to drop it and make it look like an accident. Neptune only allowed himself a brief look around as he moved to pick up the lien. However, he "accidentally" kicked the lien under the machine.

That was exactly Neptune needed. He moved towards the back of the machine, acting as if he was trying to find a place to try and pick up his five lien. But, what he was looking for instead was some loose wiring. Ah, there was one. It looked still live, too. Neptune looked around to see if anyone was noticing what he was doing. Nobody was batting an eyelash at him. Perfect. Yanking the wire, it sparked and sputtered with electricity. Without a second thought, Neptune dumped the end of the wire into a nearby trashcan. Something would probably catch on fire in there. Then, he and Blake could move on with their plan.

Casually walking away from the machine, Neptune shoved his hands in his pockets and began to not-so-innocently whistle. Inside his pocket, he rubbed his d20 for some good luck. He could definitely use it for this mission. Heck, maybe he could make up for the ten he rolled earlier.

Walking up to Blake, who was leaning against the far wall, he said to her, "Get ready to look."

Blake blinked. "What'd you do?"

The smoke pouring out of the trashcan and the panicked scream of an elderly lady proved to be the perfect answer to Blake's question.

"You didn't," Blake flatly stated in shock.

"Look, just use it, okay?" Neptune nervously replied. By now several people were screaming, and the fire began to grow bigger.

Angrily grabbing Neptune by the arm, Blake yanked him out of the doors and onto the sidewalk. "You moron!" she chastised. "What kind of idiot lights a fire in a hospital?!"

"I was working, wasn't it?" was Neptune's defense.

"You just drew more attention to the hospital!" scolded Blake. "Think! You just brought a bunch of fire-fighters and cops here! Good job planning that out, hero!"

It just dawned on Neptune how blazingly stupid his plan was. "I guess I didn't think that one through…" he mumbled in defeat.

"No shit!" Blake exasperatedly cried. In her mind, she knew this wasn't the time to stand out in the middle of the walkway and yell at your partner about lighting shit on fire, especially if one was currently flaming inside a hospital. They needed to get out of here before someone put the pieces together.

"Let's go," Blake hissed before speed walking away from the hospital. Neptune tried to sputter something to protect his ego, but he failed. Caving in, he simply decided to speed walk after Blake.

Well, that escalated out of control quickly.

xxx

Weiss and Ruby were enjoying a rather nice meal at charming little café near the airship dock. Currently, Ruby was in the process of eating her fourth cheese crepe, and Weiss was downing her fifth cup of coffee. Vacuo Blend, obviously. Weiss only wanted the best, after all.

"Look, all I'm saying is that a rat could TOTALLY beat a scorpion," Ruby said, cutting apart her crepe.

Weiss sighed. "Ruby, I love you, but you just have to accept that you're wrong sometimes," she lamented, before taking a drag of her coffee.

Ruby shoved a piece of crepe in her mouth before replying, "Oshh? Whysh sho?"

"Swallow," Weiss patiently reminded Ruby.

Following Weiss, orders, Ruby downed the chunk of crepe. "Why so?" she repeated.

"Because, everyone knows that the scorpion's poison would immobilize the rat with pain!" Weiss passionately exclaimed, slamming her mug on the table. Once again, she had allowed herself to be caught up in her girlfriend's little world, where small conversations suddenly became massive, world shaking debates.

"Have you ever seen a scorpion?" Ruby snapped back. She dropped her fork and folded her arms for emphasis.

That made Weiss pause. "I… No..."

"Exactly! So, how can you defend it if you've never seen it?" was Ruby's (intended) finishing blow.

Weiss' cheeks puffed with petty frustration and anger. "And YOU'VE never seen a fight between the two!" she shot back.

"Oh yeah?! Well, you're… you're… dumb! Yeah, dumb!" Ruby cried in frustration. She was particularly frustrated that Weiss had completely blown through her finishing blow. SO, all she had to fall back on were weak insults.

Weiss, however, was completely taken aback by what Ruby said. "You… you… DOLT! I'm not the dumb one! You are for thinking a rat would win!"

"At least I'm smarter than you, you dumb person!" Ruby said, sticking her tongue out at Weiss.

Weiss was getting more flustered. So much so, that even her own insults were beginning to rapidly degrade. "You stupid girl! You stupid, stupid, girl!"

"Cheese brain!"

"No brain!"

"Dumb-head!"

"Dummy!"

"Dolt!"

"Stop stealing my insults!"

"Make me!"

"No! You make… yourself!"

"You make your face!"

"YOUR face!"

"Your—"

Ruby's insult was interrupted by the sudden sound of Weiss' scroll ringing. The classical string music only grew louder and less muffled as the white-haired heiress pulled her scroll out of her pocket. Looking at the caller ID, Weiss saw that it was Blake.

Pressing the answer button, Weiss held the scroll up to her ear. "Hello?—"

Suddenly, Ruby snatched the scroll out of Weiss' hand. "Sorry, we're busy!" Ruby yelled into the receiver before pressing the end button and tossing the scroll onto the table.

"What the hell was that for?!" Weiss cried, angry at her partner.

"We weren't done talking!" protested Ruby.

"Damn it, Ruby! You're such a child!" Weiss shouted.

"Gah! I hate it when you're like this!" Ruby cried, throwing her hands up in the air.

"I don't like it either, but you make me like this!" Weiss argued back.

"I… UGH!" Ruby grunted in defeat. She wouldn't dare say anything truly cutting to Weiss. As it stood, it would probably damage all the good work done by her therapist. Plus, it would just be plain wrong to use words like "No wonder you see a therapist" or "You need more help than I thought". Ruby would ever say anything like that.

Weiss let out a heavy sigh. "Look… I don't want to fight, okay? Can't we just enjoy our day? Seriously, arguing is the LAST thing I wanted to do today…"

"Me too…" Ruby agreed.

By now, the White Rose pair was tired of debating and arguing. It wasn't healthy in the slightest. So, really it was just best to agree to disagree.

The thoughtful silence was interrupted by classical string music again. Now both Ruby and Weiss stared at the scroll on the table. It was Blake calling again. Ruby blinked at Weiss, before nodding at the scroll.

Understanding what Ruby meant, Weiss picked up her scroll and answered it. "Blake? Sorry about last time. What do you need?"

On the other end, Blake's voice said, "Hey, uh, Weiss? We're… done with the hospital. Where are you, exactly? Like, is it somewhere a fair distance away?"

"We're at the café down the street from the air dock. It's called…" Weiss snapped her fingers, trying to remember the name. "Trussardi! That's it! Yeah, we're in there. Trussardi Café. Wait, are you done getting information already?"

"Well, SOMEBODY botched the deal, and may or may not have done something morally reprehensible. Anyway, I'll just explain when we get there," Blake replied.

The expression on Weiss' face was a mixture of confusion and befuddlement. "Uh… Okay...?" was all she could say to the other end. Just what the heck had gone wrong on their end?

"See you there, Weiss," Blake finally said, before hanging up her call.

Weiss closed her scroll and shoved it back into her pocket. Scratching her neck, she said, "Blake and… Neptune, was it? Yeah, he and she are coming to see us here. Apparently… things at the hospital didn't go all too well."

"Really? Did Blake say why?" Ruby asked, concern creeping into her tone.

"No, but don't worry. Blake sounded fine. But, I wonder how things went bad…." Mused Weiss.

"Well," Ruby said with a wave of her hand, "I'm sure whatever the reason is, she'd find a way out of it."

"…I suppose you have a point," conceded Weiss. If Weiss had one good thing to say about Blake's time in the White Fang, at least it allowed her to slip in and out of sticky situations easily. But, that was the only credit she intended on giving those murderous, degenerate thugs.

"Right?" Ruby smiled. "Now, should we order something for Blake when she gets here?". Picking up a menu, Ruby scanned over the food listings. Weiss briefly did the same, before the pair came at a realization at the same time. Dropping the menus, the White Rose pair said at the same time:

"Tuna."

xxx

And… that's it for this chapter! At least I got to answer one of your burning, heating up questions. And, as for the others… fuck it, I don't know. The Escaflowne one is just based on my opinion, so that won't do you any good. I mean, I really like the animation and music, but man, the plot is just flat out disappointing. Well, at least I can just watch the show over again. In fact, I think I'll do that now.

This has been The Draigg, and I'm firing up my DVD player!