21 Ragland

Shaun sighed where he stood leaned back on the fold-out table. That Dana person felt really suspicious to him and he didn't like her. She'd seemed harmless when she first entered the cellar two days ago, and he'd beared with her, so to speak. But he didn't trust her. It didn't matter how nice she played or how much Rebecca liked her - Shaun felt iffy about the whole thing. Lucy seemed to have calmed down, but he had reason to doubt that she was actually okay with it. She'd been holding a blade against the stranger's throat for crying out loud. She wouldn't let her walls fall in such short time, would she? No, that was close enough to impossible. That's what Shaun kept telling himself at least. It was impossible for them to trust her.

He watched as Lucy rose from her seat and walked over to the still-unconscious Desmond on his mattress. She pressed two fingers to his throat, apparently checking for a pulse, and Shaun saw her expression grow tight. Things weren't looking good right now. If they lost him, they would potentially lose everything. Desmond was the key to finding the Apple, and with that a chance to stand up against the Templars. They all knew that, and none of them could ignore it any longer. They had to spring into action, and if that was to search up that bloody doctor that they'd found, then so be it.

"Any changes?" he asked over the table, watching Lucy give merely a shake of her head as a response. Well, that was troubling. He would have expected her to at least tell them that he'd gotten worse or maybe that his fever had gone up. But apparently none of those, or maybe she didn't catch his question right.

"I managed to grab some shots from the pharmacy when we were there" Rebecca spoke up from where she sat. She was quickly on her feet and walked over to the corner where they stored all their things and what they'd salvaged then and now. Lucy stayed crouched beside Desmond, but looked at Rebecca with part of her lip clamped between her teeth. "Not much, but I'm pretty sure it's adrenaline of some kind. No pun intended, but it's worth a shot, right?".

There was actually a slight twitch in the corner of Lucy's lips as she took the syringes that Rebecca offered her, and Shaun actually heard himself snicker. No pun intended, huh? Well, it became one, and though the timing was the worse they could've had, they found it humorous. What a complete trash situation they'd found themselves in. Desmond was on the verge of death for his own stupidity, Rebecca was probably too focused on the damn stranger and Lucy despised them both for it. And himself, out of work for the time being because of Desmond. Had he not been unconscious on the floor, he would probably have been in the Animus by now. But noooo, he just had to ruin it all for them. What a gigantic ego.

Shaun snorted and walked around the table to sit down in Rebecca's claimed chair. If things came down to worst, they better have a backup plan.

It didn't take long until the walkie-talkie on the desk sparked to life and Shaun's voice was projected through it. "We ain't got all day, are you finding anything, or did you perhaps decide to take a coffee in these dire times?". Sarcastic as ever. Dana had gotten that from him by now. But then again, he had British roots and blood, and from what she had gathered, British people were prone to sarcasm. Wonder if there was any reason for that. Perhaps something in their genes…

Dropping that thought, Dana picked up the walkie and pushed down the top right button. "Depending on what you want to know, I found shit on both our doctor and more about Gentek. This laptop contains all sorts of fucked up information" she said, gesturing with her hand to the screen even if she knew Shaun wouldn't see. Guess it just happened naturally.

"The place of your brother's work is not of interest to me right now. Desmond is. Now is this doctor of use to us or not?"

"He quit before all hell broke loose. There would be something in these records about it if he'd gone back lately. I could ask Ale-"

"Your brother has clearly no interest in helping us out, else he would've done so by now. I'll go by myself"

Dana wasn't sure what to respond. Clearly, Shaun had some major trust issues when it came to Alex. Not that she could blame him, she honestly wondered for herself sometimes. But it wasn't like she didn't trust him. She could trust her own brother … right..? The memory of his angered expression when he'd barged into the hideout the other day made itself remembered, and she bit her lip. Once again, the question ran through her head; What in the world happened to you, Alex?

"Well, c'mon, I'm not a bloody mind reader, am I? Where's the doctor now?"

"St. Paul's Hospital. He should be down in the morgue until this evening".

Dana caught herself holding her breath until the spark of the walkie told her that Shaun wasn't gonna say another word to her. Sheesh, that man had some major issues. They all did, of course, but wasn't trust something they had to share now that the world was crumbling around them? 'Crumble'… Rumble was what her stomach did. She could use some food. Just a sandwich or maybe some canned beans to ease her worries. Yeah, that'd be good. A sandwich.

Dana rose promptly from the chair she'd been sitting on and walked over to the little kitchen area. After some digging through boxes, cupboards and some more boxes, she managed to scrape up the few ingredients needed for a simple sandwich with ham and cheese. It would have to do for now. Maybe the others had something to spare down in the cellar? The resources up here were basically sucked dry, and if they didn't have anything, or just didn't want to share, then she'd have to make a run for the store. There was a store close by, right? She glanced up at the map on the wall, confirming that there was a small grocery store barely a few blocks away. She doubted the chance, but unless she would be tasked with coming along to the doctor, the store was her next destination.

That was what she was thinking anyway, but something else disrupted her thoughts just then. The apartment door opened to reveal her brother in his own person, looking a little rough, but she guessed that was his normal now. 'Normal', pffft-

"Anything new?" Alex asked after closing the door behind him. Dana, with her teeth digging into the sandwich she'd just prepared, gave a small noise and walked over to her desk, somewhat sloppily sitting down in the chair. She could've sworn she'd seen something of interest while browsing through random files only a minute ago. She swallowed down the bite of bread and ham, and quickly rinsed with water she had stored in a bottle on the desk.

"Not certain if it's related to that McMullen creep, but I did find this just recently". She voted not to say how recently. He didn't say either this or that, but didn't walk over to her either. It was somewhat pressing. Him just standing there in his own corner, not speaking a word and just expecting people to understand what he meant or wanted. Creepy thing was, they did. Or at least she did, and with her lips pressed into a line, she read the first sentence of the article she'd clicked into. "The militia, by order of Blackwatch, have brought an aircraft carrier into the Hudson River. Supposedly, it's carrying both people and vehicles, most probably jets. It smells fishy all over though, as this carrier - the USS Ronald Reagan - have been ordered to stay off the coast. They're planning something, Alex, I can feel it in my gut".

She saw his hand in the corner of her eye land on the desk a bit away from her, and weight was put on the backrest of her chair. She looked up briefly to see him focused on the screen. "And McMullen?" he asked.

"There's no names in the article other than this General Randall. I take it he's the boss of everyone involved in whatever the fuck is going on around here". Dana took a small bite from her sandwich and chewed silently while in thought. Alex was awfully obsessed with this McMullen guy. She didn't want to question his reasons for whatever he did, but she admitted to herself that she was curious. But some time, somewhere, she'd heard that curiosity could in worst case kill you. And this stuff that she was researching, it was dangerous. She'd have to tread carefully.

"Who's Ragland?" Alex asked suddenly, catching Dana's attention. She looked at him for a second, then at the screen to see what he was looking at, until remembering what she'd looked up for Shaun earlier. A noise left her as she navigated to bring the article up again and she swallowed the bite of sandwich so she could respond to him.

"Bradley Ragland. He was a doctor working for Gentek before-... Well, he quit in -93. Blackwatch have kept their eyes on him since". She paused for maybe five seconds before clicking her teeth together. "Damn, they've been on his tail for sixteen years. How paranoid are these guys?" she blurted, glaring at the screen and scrolling a few rows. Alex hadn't said a word since she started explaining, but now he straightened up from his hunkered position beside her and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Do they know?" he asked monotone, eyes drifting to glare at the wall in front of him. Dana blinked at him once, considering her options. Well, yes, she should probably tell him the truth, because anything else was wrong and would most probably backfire at a later point.

"Yeah. They have this sick dude who seriously don't look good at all. They asked if I knew anything cause apparently they're all secret and can't use the internet, so I tipped them about him…". She pressed her lips into a line and squinted lightly as she thought for a bit. Had it been a mistake to help them? She didn't want to keep information from them, seeing as the world was going to shit and everything they did was now close enough to a life or death matter. Alex could see that, right?

"Not that kind of doctor" he said, eyes still focused on the wall. She saw the clenching of his jaw before his hand went up to rub his temple, supposedly against a headache. Dana considered keeping her mouth shut, but despite everything, she cared for her brother. Possibly more than she cared for herself.

"How are you, Alex? You've been out there a lot lately". She wasn't sure if it was the right words to use, but it didn't seem to upset him.

"Karen is-.. She asked me to collect tissue samples for her to synthesize a cure for the virus". He paused only to cross his arms over his chest again. "First water towers, then hives. Damn bother" he said. Dana was silent for a moment. Hadn't she heard about those hives just recently?

She brought her attention back to the screen and clicked through a few windows before finding what she was looking for. She'd noticed that Alex turned on his heel and called for him to hold a moment. "There might be a way for you to get close to McMullen" she said, throwing a look over her shoulder to see if he was still there, then turned back to read from the news article. "Blackwatch scientific teams have been gathering at those hives recently. I bet they're working for McMullen. Go down there Alex, and see what you can find out".

Dana wasn't sure how much Alex had bothered to listen to, but when she turned to look at him again, he wasn't there. At a glance around the room, she could quickly conclude that he'd left without a word - again. It was getting a little sickening, but at the same time it was becoming somewhat normal. They hadn't had a very close relation when Alex had left for New York in their youth, and now even less so. And yet, she found herself disappointed. She thought dearly of her brother - or what she remembered of him. He'd changed. He'd changed so drastically from what she remembered when they still lived under the same roof, and she couldn't else but admit that she missed the days when she could say that she truly loved her Alex with all of her heart.