Dolore

The Intern, a man by the name of Daniel Suzuki stared with interest at the native girl. Besides those distinctly pointed ears, she looked completely human… He wondered how a humanoid species would evolve to grow pointed ears as opposed to rounded ones. What was the purpose of pointed ears? Were they more sensitive to sound? Daniel shook his head, running a hand over his closely shaved scalp.

Ear shape was secondary to the need to learn how to communicate. The problem with learning how to communicate however, was getting the native girl to communicate in the first place. Ever since the Slayer brought her aboard the Fortress of Doom, she had remained silent. Daniel didn't blame her. He had seen the effects a demon invasion wrought upon the mind. He'd seen many people end up exactly like this poor girl.

The refusal to speak or indeed even move unprompted were good indicators… but Daniel could see it in the girls bright blue eyes. They were empty and dead, as if her corpse were simply able to move and breathe independent of a soul. The newly outfitted med-bay smelled of antiseptic and cold metal, the smell very familiar to him now. Several empty tables sat aligned on a nearby wall, different tools and machines ready for use. Only one sat occupied however.

The elf girl stared at her hands in her lap, a white blanket draped over her legs. Her fingernails had been torn off somehow, and she had a horrible concussion from a wound to the back of her head. The head wound however was deemed not to be the cause of her catatonic state. Daniel knew that already, that wasn't the look of someone who got brained to hard, that was trauma. One of the guards stood nearby, his plasma rifle hanging laxly in his grip.

He was a tall broad man, wearing advanced black plated armor with a narrow ballistic glass visor which seemed to stare at everything and nothing at once. This man would be Tubbs. Daniel had found his and his partners inclusion on the expeditionary team an interesting one… Apparently the Slayer had marched right up to the poor guy, and took the rifle right out of his hands. Daniel had burst out laughing at the story after hearing it. Tubbs hadn't thought it was funny, but his partner Jose constantly brought it up in their off time to irritate Tubbs.

Jose wasn't in the med-bay currently, meaning he was probably on the bridge overlooking the new planet. There wasn't much guarding to do on the floating citadel, but it was important to keep the peace between crew members. Months being cramped into an ancient floating fortress with the worlds angriest mute constantly glaring at everyone tended to put people on edge. There have been a couple of arguments already but nothing serious.

Besides Tubbs and Jose there were around twenty guards patrolling the lower decks, all dressed and equipped with the best weapons and armor the UAC could provide. Tubbs waved to Daniel, who returned the gesture, approaching the man. Daniel wasn't short but Tubbs was a lot taller than him, as tall as the Slayer even, so he had a lot of presence.

"Sup." Tubbs said.

"Nothing much." Daniel replied "How is she doing?"

Tubbs glanced over to the poor elf girl and shook his head solemnly.

"She's fucked in the head buddy." Tubbs said simply, knocking on his helmet for emphasis "Just like a lot of survivors on earth are, I don't know how long she's gonna take to recover but we won't be translatin' anything from her anytime soon."

Daniel nodded slowly, his gaze being drawn to the many engravings on the metal wall behind Tubbs. The poor girl was broken now, just like his home planet. They had a few doctors running tests on her but their experiments were limited by the onboard mental health specialist Carrie Lee. The diminutive woman insisted on waiting until 'the patient' was in complete control of her faculties before she could agree to any kind of testing. A few doctors had agreed reluctantly, but there was one among them that scorned this idea.

Daniel hadn't seen Henry Helmer or 'Doctor Helmer' as he preferred to be called since the elf girl was brought aboard a few hours ago. He had insisted that they begin drawing blood and studying the girls biology immediately, greatly interested in her extraterrestrial origin. Thus the conflict between him and doctor Lee had began.

The quiet argument had quickly devolved into a shouting match before Jose and Tubbs took them to separate rooms on the ship. Daniel would need to find a way to smooth things over between the two when he could, they were all gonna be living in the Fortress of Doom for a while yet, until this demon incursion was stopped.

He tried to ignore the fact that technically everyone aboard the fortress was technically AWOL. The UAC hadn't approved of all this personnel leaving earth. What were they supposed to do though? Let Davoth escape to grow in power? The Father had explained that to Daniel and several crewmen, saying that the Slayer couldn't save this world and find Davoth quick enough on his own. The Slayer hadn't raised any objection, but he couldn't speak, so his exact feelings on the matter were unknown to the crew.

Daniel was certain however, that if the Slayer had not wanted them aboard, he would have stopped them. He had not, which meant that he must have agreed with the Father in his own way, whatever way that was. He turned from Tubbs, and approached the girl, who stared numbly at her bandaged fingers. A large bandage was wrapped around her head as well, the cloth wrapping from around her forehead to the back of her skull.

"I know you can't understand me, but I'm sorry for whatever happened to you. We're gonna make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else. I hope you can recover okay." He said, tone gentle.

She blinked once, then looked up into his eyes. Daniel stared into those bright blue marbles, seeing the pain they had endured. This poor girl had a long way to go before she could conquer her trauma, but Daniel didn't think she was completely hopeless. He had seen people with completely dead eyes, as if their very souls had been torn from their bodies. This elf girl was almost to that point, but in their brief eye contact, Daniel caught a faint glimmer of emotion…

Pure, unadulterated anger. If she overcame her pain and grief, Daniel pretty much guaranteed that she would want revenge on the demons for whatever they had done to her. He wasn't certain if that was a good idea… but who was he to stop her? She definitely wouldn't be leaving any time soon, especially with the science team squabbling over what to do with her. Personally, he hoped that Dr. Lee would be able to keep their claws out of the elf girl.

Despite her inhuman nature, her injuries, both physical and mental, seemed extraordinarily human. She looked back down to her blanket, lips pressed together in a line as she seemed to examine her white hospital fatigues. Her previous articles of clothing were currently being studied under all kinds of microscopes and other gizmos that Daniel didn't understand. He was a techie, he didn't understand that field very well. Dr. Lee hadn't been able to save the elf's clothing, but Daniel didn't think that dissecting clothes was that big a deal.

He took a step back from her and turned, seeing Dr. Helmer standing straight backed in the doorway. He was a tall man, gaunt and imperious, looking like some kind of old wrinkly lord waiting to pass judgment on the peasants beneath him. He strode up to Daniel, both hands clasped behind his back as he moved.

The tails of his white lab coat reached down behind his knees, flowing behind his stride. The green UAC vest worn beneath it bearing a pale plastic card on the breast. The ID card was old and slightly scuffed, depicting a younger, seemingly happier Helmer, with long brown hair instead of the short wispy white hair Helmer had now. The Helmer of today looked more like a constantly disappointed grandfather, in comparison to the smiling youth on his card. The good Dr. should really get it updated.

Helmer strode right past Daniel without even a glance, coming to a stop right next to the elf's bed. He seemed to dissect her with nothing but that piercing gaze. Tubbs stood up, and moved next to the older man, leaving his rifle slung at his side. Helmer spared the guard a glance and scoffed, glaring back down at the girl.

"First contact with a new species that's non-demonic, and little miss Lee thinks to tell me that I can't perform the most basic of tests." He spoke, more to himself than to Tubbs "Those clothes won't be enough. My team needs more."

Helmer then reached into the pocket of his lab coat, and Tubbs caught the arm. The guard kept a tight grip on the older mans wrist, but not enough to hurt the older man. Helmer glared at Tubbs, who's reaction was hidden behind his helmet. Daniel sighed. Tubbs wasn't a pussy, that was for certain. He may have gotten glared down by the Slayer, but compared to him, Helmer was nowhere close to being as intimidating.

"Will you unhand me?" Helmer asked, tone firm yet gently. "The sample I want is quite mundane."

"Buzz off creep." Tubbs said, tone low "I got orders."

Helmer shook his hand out of Tubbs grasp, scowling. Daniel saw in the old scientists hand, a pair of nail clippers. Daniel frowned, looking at the girls fingers. There weren't any nails for him to take- oh, oh… He glanced to the two lumps at the end of the bed, completely covered by the blanket. Toe-nails. Grody.

"You're orders were given to you by little miss Lee, not your commanding officer. And, pray tell, who exactly would that be?" Helmer asked, raising a thick white eyebrow "You louts haven't a command structure, so don't go preaching to me about how you're just 'following orders' we are AWOL from the UAC."

Tubbs shook his head, stepping between Helmer and the girl.

"Then I guess I'm just following a suggestion. And I suggest that you leave, before I make you."

Helmer's scowl deepened, but he relented, placing the clippers back in his pocket and storming out of the med-bay.

Tubbs hung his head back in a slightly exaggerated way "Man," He began "What an asshole."

Daniel nodded, approaching Tubbs with a casual stride, proffering his fist. Tubbs bumped it with his own armored fist, and they blew it up, wiggling their fingers, Daniel making an explosion sound with his mouth as they did it.

"That was so awesome!" Daniel said "I hate that guy."

Tubbs nodded "Man who fucking doesn't? If he wasn't so old I woulda already laid him out."

They both laughed loudly, drawing the elf girls attention. They both stopped and stared back at her, and Daniel saw something else in her gaze. He couldn't really define it… but it looked like she was looking for something. When she didn't find it, she turned her head back down to her blanket, slumping. Daniel and Tubbs looked to each other and shrugged.

Tubbs slapped Daniel on the back, grabbing his attention.

"So whatcha doin' later? Wanna hang with me and the boys?" Tubbs asked "Me and Jose will get our day off after this shift."

Daniel nodded "Yeah that sounds awesome. You guys got Furious and Fast twenty two right?"

Tubbs flashed a thumbs up "Yeah dude, with Din Viesal and the Pebble!""Hell yeah- or I mean Hell no? But like, yes? I don't wanna say hell yeah cause… well you know."