Episode 15-3: Scrubs

"Forgive me, Troy, but I'm startin' to feel a little embarrassed about this."

"Now's not the time, Tommy, and keep your voice down. They sound like they're getting closer."

Our bodies pressed against each other tightly as we both tried to squeeze into a nearby wardrobe. We estimated that there wouldn't be enough time to leave the room before the other medics showed up.

"Sorry," he says. He tries to adjust with the little room he was given but hardly moved at all. "Uh-oh..."

"What? What's wrong? Is your wound bleeding again?"

Through the crack of light from the door, I could see his face twist up in an awkward look. "No, no, that's not bleeding anymore. The blood's someplace else..."

"Don't let it drip, it might spill out of the closet."

"It's not drippin'."

"Then what's wrong?"

He stutters over his words. "I-I can't... I'm not doin' nothin'. Don't move around so much."

I shift a bit, feeling uneasy about his sudden change of behavior. My arm pushes against something hard, and I guessed that it was in Tommy's pocket. "Oh sorry, I forgot you had Aiden's gun." I look up at him and see a little shine coming from his hand. The gun was resting calmly in his fingers. "Oh... wait."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"Sorry for what...?" The sudden realization hit me like a brick, and I try pushing away from Tommy as far as I could go, which wasn't very far at all. "Dude, did you get a boner!?"

"I'm sorry, dammit! It's just that it's so cramped in here, and ya look like a girl, a real pretty girl, and I re-"

I put my hand on his mouth. "Shh quiet down, you're gonna expose us."

"Gaggin' me ain't helpin'," he mumbles under my fingers.

Just then, the closet doors whoosh open and give me a heart attack. I was expecting to see a gun pointed at our heads, but instead, I got a greeting from someone I least expected. "Clyde! What the hell are you doing here!?"

Clyde stood there looking at me curiously, his little smirk began creeping upon his face. "Holy crap, am I interrupting something here?"

Tommy's face goes red first, and then mine soon after. "N-No! We were just- well there's a whole thing going on here." I squeeze out of the closet, feeling the pressure of Tommy's body finally going away.

Clyde nods. "I bet. You picked a bird? I always saw you as a stallion type of gal."

"No, shut up! Clyde, we need your help."

He laughs, "I'm sorry, Troy, I don't do three-ways with guys." He's too witty for his own good. "I came to get you, it turns out we actually can't have you away for three days straight. The case files are piling, we need to get back to work as soon as possible."

"No wait, this place is fake! It's a trap! The medics are bad! They've got the other cadets!"

He holds up a hand to stop me. "Whoa whoa, squirt, calm down. What are you talking about?"

"The medics, Clyde. They're not with Ispio, they're just trying to act like they are. I've got no information on them, we only know that they're trying to dispatch us. Do you have your gun?"

He looks at his empty holster. "No, they don't allow weapons on the premises, they took Conviction away."

"At least we got Aiden's," Tommy says from behind, still inside the closet. "It's got seven bullets left."

Clyde notices Tommy's wound. "Whoa, guess you weren't joking. That looks like a pretty deep hole you got there."

Tommy rubs the bloodied spot. "Yeah, still hurts plenty."

"Gimme the gun and any ammo you got, I think I'm the best shot here."

Tommy looks at the gun. "Clyde Barker, legendary marksman... Is it true, can ya kill two guys with one bullet?"

Clyde takes the gun from Tommy. "Only if the conditions are right. So where are the medics?"

I state, "We already took out one, so there's two left. I don't know where they went, each station that they've been taking us to is always miles away from camp, and they're all in different directions."

"Right, so we wait here in the lobby and ambush them when they walk through the front door."

A fourth voice startles all three of us when it shouted, "Or maybe we ambush you instead!" It was the horse medic, and he had his gun drawn and aimed for Clyde. Clyde rolls to the side, and the medic's shots completely miss him. Clyde pops off his own lead, hitting the horse in his shoulder. He side-steps behind the wall after letting out a pained grunt.

"Damn! I think he's running!" Clyde yells and gives chase. I would've followed right after him, but Tommy couldn't keep up with all the blood he had lost.

"It's okay, Troy, go get 'em! I'll be good sittin' here."

"No way, I can't risk the other medic coming over here and finishing you off." I help him stand up straight. "C'mon, you can't let your guard down just yet."

He sighs heavily in my ear, "Okay, I guess this is what I signed up for. That Clyde partner of yours is one tough sonofabitch, ain't he?"

I laugh as I start moving both of us out of the room. "Yeah, he's usually the muscle when things don't go so stealthy." My muzzle barely extends past the door frame when another shot whizzed by my whiskers. I stumble backward, making us fall to the floor. "Oh no! Get up, Tommy, move!"

We both squeeze up against the wall, and Tommy has my arm gripped tightly, ready to fling me towards the door. Footsteps got closer, and we prepared ourselves. Closer and closer, Tommy let out a scream and tugged my arm. I planted my feet on the wall and gave myself a good push too, and I went flying through the door frame. My legs connected with the bald-headed woman, and we both crashed into the hallway wall. My feet dig into her stomach; the face she made looked like she wouldn't be breathing right for a week.

"Now!" I yell. Tommy emerges from his hiding spot, charging directly at the downed hostile. I move out of the way, and Tommy launches his knee right into her face. It was enough force to put anyone out, but through some miracle, the girl still writhed on the ground completely conscious. She starts getting up, and I push Tommy in a different direction down the hallway.

"Holy hell, she ain't human!" he yells.

I ignore him and keep pushing, silently cursing myself for not grabbing her gun when I had the chance. I hear pained grunts coming from behind us, and look back to see the medic already making a full recovery. She gets up and starts running after us, firing off shots that weren't even aimed well.

I duck my head instinctively and make a turn as soon as possible. I couldn't do another "hide behind the wall and wait" attack because she might see that coming. I was at a loss for a plan of action and silently hoped that Tommy would say something, or Clyde would come out of nowhere again.

"Troy, stop. I can't go no more. I need to rest."

A ball forms in my throat. "No, no, Tommy! We can't stop now, don't give up yet! Please!"

"I'm sorry... it hurts." His eyes started to squint, and his face was becoming paler by the second. We keep running, making as many turns as we could to try and shake off the girl's blind fire. We finally bust into our conjoined bedrooms, and for a brief moment, I remembered the dream I had lying in that bed. "Oh boy, my bed... Can ya lay me down for a sec?"

"You can't rest right now, we gotta-" Wait! I just got an idea. "Hm... sure, Tommy. You can rest now." I lay him down on his bed, but slightly drape his covers so that they covered the bottom of the bed. I take one more look at his sickly form and prayed that he wouldn't die there. I hide under the bed and wait for the medic to discover us.

Her frantic stomping finally stopped at the doorway. "Ah, I figured you wouldn't make it far with a wound like that," she says with an Australian accent. I don't think she's ever talked since day one at the roll call. Her breathing was heavy, and her legs made heavy thuds with each step she took until she reached the bed. "Where's that fox?"

"He left me, he knew I'd just slow him down. That wouldn't have happened if your buddy didn't slash me up like a fresh pheasant."

"It's Aiden, of course, he knows where to cut. What did y'all do to him anyway?"

Tommy chuckles and coughs slightly. "I'll give ya one guess."

She stayed silent, and I could only guess she started to get angry. She was making very soft growls, and then she screeched out in rage, "You bloody, fuckin' bird!" I heard the hammer of her gun pull back, and that's when I throw my arms out and grab her ankles. I pull in, and she falls on her back.

"I got her!" I shout.

In the blink of an eye, Tommy stood up from the bed and jumps as high as he could, landing right on the woman's throat. A disgusting cracking sound came from her as Tommy's heavy boot broke her windpipe.

I choke back the need to throw up. As I like to remember: I'm an agent, not an assassin. I still can't handle taking lives so well. The woman laid there lifeless, and I crawled out from under the bed to check on Tommy. He was breathing heavily.

"Tell Aiden I sent ya," he whispers to her corpse.

"Jesus, it never gets any easier."

Suddenly Clyde emerges from the doorway carrying the horse on his shoulder. The horse was handcuffed and bleeding all over Clyde's combat under armor.

He looks at the body under Tommy's foot. "Yikes, did you ever think about maybe interrogating her first before you iced her?" He throws the horse on the floor. "At least we still got one left. Talk, pony."

He rolls to face us and mutters, "Fuck off..."

I get close to him, pulling out Aiden's note from my pocket. "Aiden had this on him. Who wrote this? Who are you?"

He smiles a bloody smile at me. "Your worst nightmare." Clyde digs a finger into the open hole where he shot him. The horse howls with pain. "Ah! Fuck! Stop!"

Clyde didn't let up. "Talk!"

He starts thrashing his head around. "R-ugh! R----er! R----cher! It's fuckin' R!"

R? That's the initial scribbled on the note. R-cher? "Archer?" I ask.

He nods frantically. "Yes! Ahh! Please kill me!"

I look at Clyde who already knows how much dread I feel hearing that name. I'm sure he feels just as bad. Clyde takes his finger out of the wound. "Not a chance, Secretariat," he says while hoisting up the horse on his shoulder again. "Can't believe Archer got to you. You poor sap."

I ask the horse, "Where are the other cadets?"

He looks at me with tired eyes. "Stranded, we couldn't dispatch them."

"Don't worry," Clyde says, "we'll get the jammer removed and pinpoint their locations with drones."

*** *** ***

McAllen, Texas: Ispio Headquarters

I watch the horse pace around in his new holding cell. His name is Clyde too, but his last name is Dale. I thought that was funny for some reason. His wound was cleaned out and bandaged, but he wasn't exactly grateful about it.

"Stop staring at me, fox," he barks from behind his bars.

I giggle, "Does the horsey not like his stable?"

"Cute... fuckin' cute." He sits on his cot and faces away from me. Guess our conversation is over.

Clyde comes in and greets me. "Hey, we got those cadets out of there. They said their mentors just left them for no reason after they got a call on their radios."

"Great, how are they?"

"Perfectly fine, just a little pissed that they have to retake the class again."

"Wait... what about me?"

"Sorry, squirt, you gotta redo it too."

I huff in annoyance but quickly change my tone. "How's Tommy doing?"

"He's awake now, and Marston already gave him ribbons for his actions on the case. Wanna pop in and say hi?"

"Yeah, let's go."

*** *** ***

There he was, just sitting on his bed letting the IV give him blood. He was eating a double meat cheeseburger like it was going to disappear if he stopped.

"Slow down, you're going to choke," I tell him.

He looks up and wipes his mouth. "Howdy! Glad you dropped in, I'm feelin' like I'm back in the saddle again."

I laugh, "That's good, you're looking healthy. So Marston already gave you the goods, huh?"

He nods, "Yep. Got me a department and everything now. I'm transferring to the northeast quadrant as soon as I make a complete recovery."

"You're leaving us so soon? Can you do me a favor and tell Adams we said 'hello'?"

"Anything for the legendary Troy and Clyde unit." He suddenly tries to stand up on his own, and I try to sit him back down, but he waves to say that he's okay. "I wish I could've done this earlier," he says while extending his hand to Clyde. "Thomas Oriole, it's a real pleasure to meet ya, sir."

Clyde laughs a little from embarrassment, "Haha, good to meet you, Thomas. You did well on your first case. Maybe we'll see you again in Connecticut."

"I sure hope so, sir!"