Scene #3071: EoB: On the Back of Your Head

Owner	Pose
Nathan Hall	The imprisoned man, one of the many strange and awful people the group engaged in combat with, was completely uncooperative. A combination of lacking memory and lacking the ability to actually articulate his thoughts in words that can be understood by a person. It looks like whatever affected him did so at a very intense level, a timeline level or a conceptual one. However, the interrogated Hunter was another matter. Sakura's swift stabilization meant that she was able to keep him alive. Boston-666 hospital facilities were enough to keep him alive as well; he's probably a bit too much of a risk to bring into any Union facilities. Massechusetts General Hospital had enough neurology equipment and expertise to let any medical professional keep the heavily beaten man alive, but he's been compatose for the many hours since his retrieval. Today's incident doesn't get prefaced with a horrible cut-and-paste phonecall. Instead, it seems the alert will be much more direct. Heaven or Hell will be alerted by medical staff there that their unidentified, near-dead but now stabilized subject of interest has several visitors claiming to know the individual and apparently wanting to visit them. The hospital staff have stalled, in the interest of getting these visitors vetted by Heaven or Hell first, and presumably will continue to stall them if Heaven or Hell members want them to. These people presumably know something about what's going on. They are currently, allegedly, present in the lobby of the building housing the neurology department. The lobby is wide, and inhabited by a small sample of the many natural and supernatural inhabitants of Boston. A sparse sprinkling of comfortable chairs, wide open windows wrapped around the multi-story structure, a nice balcony, that sort of thing. Nobody stands out in the area.
Guest Psyber	Psyber does have connections at the local hospital, ostensibly through his law enforcement role in the city. Back in his street clothes, the half-angel doesn't waste too much time heading to the hospital from his office. A general flashing of a couple of badges and IDs related to city law enforcement get him past most security and towards the lobby of the neurology department. "Alright, people. The hospital called me in here to ask some questions, I'm sure if you're in Boston you already know who I am, so I'll spare you introductions on my part," He does let the others introduce themselves if they so wish, "We need to ask you some questions before you can see your friend we rescued the other day."
Sakura Haruno	While Sakura is not necessarily actually very good at disguise and stealth, she's okay at going to things as herself, and Sakura has credentials as a visiting medic that can allow her to visit and check on patients here. She isn't a neurologist, but the badge will be good enough, and she's going to come separate from Psyber and the others for now, dressed in loose fitting clothing and a lab coat, to get by resembling a doctor well enough in fashion choices. Sakura's not heading for where the visitors are supposed to be right off. Rather, she's heading for the patient's room, to make certain that nothing's gone wrong and no escape or signal has been made.
Eleanor Lamb	Miss Lamb is here, in her own labcoat wearing her Union Psychologist credntials. It might not mean much here, but it's enough to argue from. Or it would have been before Psyber handed out the proper laminates and got them inside. The Sister is keeping her head on a swivel, though. Much liek Sakura, she does not trust that these are the poly people who came to visit their 'friend'. If it was her, coming for a dangerous man like a Hunter, there'd be more than one team.
Setsuko Kaminagi	It doesn't take long for Setsuko to get there. She's been keeping loosely 'in the area', as much as she can be. So by the time Psyber is stepping through the door, Setsuko is there behind him. She stays silent for the moment, opting to stand by the door; for once, she can put that inherent 'presence' of hers to work, by adopting the demeanor and stoic silence of a guard, watching over the Neurology building's lobby - or more specifically, the people there being questioned - with the air of a fairly intimidating bodyguard. Between her and Psyber, someone would have to be pretty brave to cause trouble.
Pegasus	Pegasus is here to help check things out, possibly because this whole situation has to do with someone she cares about. Well, no 'possibly' about it. She shuffles in, wearing a coat and hat so as not to look TOO out of place. She's pretty conspicuous, even if this world is used to weird things wandering around. "Ah, Gaynor Hopkins," she replies, giving the alias she was instructed to use.
Nathan Hall	Psyber only gets to encounter one of the visitors, not the group that was reported. It's probable that the others split up more than a little, leaving only one of their number to talk to Psyber himself. He looks aged, with a well-groomed salt-and-pepper sort of beard. His jacket looks reinforced against bites, his pants are reinforced at the knees to allow better marksmanship, his outfit features enough pockets to hide supernatural equipment of all sorts, his demeanor is that of a Hunter. Someone like Psyber and the rest of Heaven or Hell. A fellow veteran of the business, though probably a little more mortal. He seems to be looking at Psyber's face, rather than at Psyber himself. The difference is a subtle shift of posture. "You're Psyber then." He mutters, glancing around at the rest of the lobby as if double-checking that he's really there. "Questions. Fine." He doesn't seem like he wants to talk to Psyber, at least proactively. Something about Psyber himself seems to have the man on guard.
Amalthea	So comint to a hospital in full armor and with a sword is probably a bad idea. This is why Amalthea has once again adopted the casual look of a bomber jacket thrown over a tie-dye tank top and cutoff jean shorts. But now she's probably not that weird a sight in Boston anymore anyway, but she still sticks out worse than a smashed thumb in a splint, as she shows up, hands stuffed in her pockets, still looking somewhat in a bad mood for a reason she probably will not discuss anyway. While Setsuko is to one side of Psyber, the unicorn flanks his other shoulder. Her eye narrows when the man has that glance around. She does have a hospital visitors sticker slapped on her jacket's lapel that says Hi my name is 'ZIGGY STARDUST' in a halfassed scrawl.
Guest Psyber	Psyber takes a few moments to look the man over, making a few judgments as he does so. Based on his age, Psyber can infer he's either been doing this long enough to live to this age, or he started older and got experience fast. Either way, he can understand at least part of the defensive stance, but not all of it. Granted, Psyber would be defensive too if three people who consisted of himself, Setsuko, and Amalthea were all trying to get answers from him. Psyber, not being allowed to smoke in hospitals or around Haruno, reaches into his coat and pulls out a stick of gum that he unwraps and puts in his mouth, "Questions. Yes. Let's get directly to the point of the matter. What do you know about the cult your friend was investigating when he was captured? We've been investigating them as well over the past couple days and we are hoping you can give us some more information."
Nathan Hall	Thankfully, the man's been moved out of the ICU for now. He's residing in wards for more stabilized sorts of patients, so Sakura Haruno has no trouble going to visit him. He's in his room, just as one would expect, one of the many that are kept away from exterior windows. It's a little claustrophobic. It's also mostly secured. The man's vital signs, as shown by the equipment here, are a little erratic, but he WAS beaten to near death in a brutal interrogation, so that's sort of to be expected. There's an odd noise in the vents, the kind that only a ninja is likely to pick up with some keen listening.
Nathan Hall	There's a tension in the air that Eleanor won't have any trouble noticing. Anyone would watch an odd conversation between Boston's resident Hunter for hire and this out-of-place man. However, there's just slightly too much, though it's impossible to tell from where exactly. The rest of the group must have split off into the lobby itself. She'll be able to determine that they want to avoid speaking to Psyber, for some reason.
Nathan Hall	The Hunter being questioned regards Pegasus with a briefly revealed stark confusion, like she just grew three heads. He's obviously dealt with the supernatural before, so it's not confusion about the fact that Pegasus is a robotic pegasus. It's more confusion, like she shouldn't be here at all, or at least like she shouldn't be doing something that she's doing. He's clearly doing his best to keep that under wraps though, and avoid showing that.
Nathan Hall	Amalthea, on the other hand, seems to be regarded like Psyber, an expected part of things, and someone who can be expected to be here. Like Psyber, she gets a look that's much more guarded, in a prepared sort of way.
Sakura Haruno	Sakura won't notice the noise in the vents at first, because she's looking around to make certain that nothing too bad has changed around his condition. But she will peek up at the vent as she hears the noise, pressing her back to the wall near the vent and trying to listen and be silent. She doesn't really have a technique to scout out the vents, but if she hears noises approaching more, she's going to try to ambush whoever it might be.
Eleanor Lamb	Eleanor smiles a little bit to herself. It is a feigned happy smile, but that's alright. She taps Amalthea on the shoulder as she breaks off from the group, heading in past the Hunter and into the deeper parts of the ward. She saw Flowers head... somewhere. So she's guessing that's part of the tension she's feeling. Okay. ICU. Wards... Nurse's desk. Nurse's desk. Right. A good spot to gather intel for anyone. She sidles over, looks for one of the attendants, and tries the happy, helpful route. "Hello! I'm Miss Lamb with Union Psych. I'm looking for the man who was brought in last night. Would have been in a rough shape."
Amalthea	A tap on her shoulder and Amalthea's eye flits to Eleanor. Giving the Big Sister a vague and affirmative grunt. Psyber gets a light nudge of one elbow, and then she's actually following Eleanor off that way to the nurse desk. "I'm with the Union, Heaven or Hell, and her. You know about theraphy dogs? I'm like that." "But a unicorn."
Nathan Hall	"Cult." One eyebrow raises slightly. The man seems more on guard. "We don't know anything about it." There's telltale signs of distraction. He's operating his own personal radio, the way Elites tend to, silently chattering to someone else. It looks like there's rather more response to that. "We don't know anything about that. Good luck with your investigation." This is a lie, of course, since this group has been at both sites Psyber investigated. He's lying very well, but it's possible to tell if you're actively aware of that fact to start with. He seems more guarded at the idea that Psyber is trying to gauge his awareness of matters related to the eye.
Pegasus	Oh look. Someone is looking at Pegasus oddly. That must mean... something. Well, Pegasus is hardly the subtle and thinking sort, so after a little consideration she decides to help Psyber in the most direct way possible. She's going to support him in a way that the other Hunter can't ignore. Mainly, she's walking up next to Psyber and /standing/ there, with her eyes whirring as they focus in on the man and a cheery smile on her face. "Scone?" Yes, she has a box of scones.
Priscilla	Goddammit hadn't she been told about not hanging around hospitals? Granted, Priscilla should only be here for a couple of hours at most, and it's a civilian hospital with a comparative minority of people in serious condition to Njorun's entire wing dedicated to combat injuries, but still she feels a little bit like she shouldn't be here. She's also not incredibly talented in the area of 'talking with normal people like an inoffensively harmless and ordinary, socially well-adjusted adult', but in this situation it's entirely possible, perhaps even probable, that said skillset will see minor use at best. She still winds up camping in the corner of the lobby, invisibly standing next to a potted plant like the most aggressive wallflower at an incredibly boring party. "Lord Psyber, were there not meant to be others?" she whispers into her radio, muted to silence outside of her personal space. "Some manner of description at the very least wouldst be helpful." Unless she can pick something that stands out metaphysically, she's going to be feeling a little useless for the time being.
Guest Psyber	"Are we really gonna play this flex nuts territorial shit?" Psyber asks in a serious tone as he reaches out towards Pegasus' box of scones and takes one. For all the fearsome warrior he knows her to be, he also has tried the baked goods she brings Nathan. He will not pass up on a scone. "Because I'd much rather help with whatever is causing these problems, help with whatever hurt one of your men, than deal with politics," Psyber says blandly as he takes a bite of the infinitely less bland scone in his hand, "So people wanna tell you to walk away, go ahead. But I think if you really think this one out, you'll realize we'll get more revenge on the guys that fucked up your friend if we team up."
Nathan Hall	The vent is, thankfully, too small for a person. That's just common sense! It isn't too small for what is skulking around it though. There's a few thunks as it rams into the vent's cover, before building enough force to pop it out. There is a small snake here. It looks like it's unhealthy, maybe like it hasn't eaten much. There's a weird eye growth on the front end, replacing its actual eyes. Triangular and with a venemous-indicating striped sort of pattern on its body. It flickers just a little, like the hive cultists that were encountered the last time, but its motions seem hurried, literally accelerated in fast-forward. Whatever it's here to do, it's here to do in a rush, like the rest.
Nathan Hall	"..." The staffer at the nurse's desk seems dazed, almost disoriented. She needs to have her attention gotten twice, maybe three times, before letting Eleanor Lamb and Amalthea by without even checking their credentials, listing off the room number after being told to do it several times. She's clearly been affected by some sort of mental effect meant to have her let anyone by.
Setsuko Kaminagi	Watching Psyber for a moment, Setsuko realizes he's got things in hand. So she decides to put her talents to use elsewhere. She has superhuman eyes, ears, even a nose like a bloodhound. And on top of that, she has a fighter's eye for spotting someone who knows how to handle themselves, that subtle economy of movement and awareness of the environment that bespeaks someone well-used to combat. And on top of that, in this case her presence can work to her advantage; the kind of person to disguise themselves among the regular hospital staff will be a.) the type of person her presence would make particularly nervous, and b.) the type of person who would deliberately /not/ look right at her, when everyone else will be stealing glances every chance they get. It's the perfect storm, in a way. So Setsuko sets off at a brisk pace, keeping her senses pushed to the max trying to pick out the other hunters.
Sakura Haruno	Unfortunately for the snake, Flowers has something personal against snakes in general, and in specific doesn't think of them as worth trying to keep alive. So her reaction isn't going to be anything smooth or nice. Rather, as soon as it comes out, she's going to be grabbing for it with her hands, her own speed not exactly slow, and squeezing it with every bit of her strength. This is probably not going to leave her very clean if successful, but she doesn't particularly care about that. Besides, it's an obviously intentional act to harm the man, which might mean he would be helpful to keep alive.
Nathan Hall	The man takes a scone and stares at it like Pegasus just handed her a snake. "...Why are you working with it?" With 'it', notably, seemingly referring to Psyber, or something Psyber is working with? He seems less like he's uncomfortable with Pegasus being there and more like he's confused, but seems inherently less guarded about her. He doesn't eat the scone, though. Too tense.
Nathan Hall	Thankfully, this building isn't an ICU area, Priscilla should be fine. The orders she was given to examine the rest of the lobby, when eventually followed, will have a particular effect. Within the lobby itself, there are at least three people who Priscilla's unique, invisible perspective can identify. A lanky man in the corner. An athletic woman pretending to be asleep while waiting near the entrance. A man pretending to converse on his phone at a vending machine at the far end of the lobby. They are specifically trying to avoid having Psyber spot them, particularly. Others, even Setsuko as she leaves, are less priority for them.
Pegasus	Pegasus just smiles again, after a moment of thought that has her head ticking louder. "Well," she finally replies. "Sometimes you find allies in the strangest of places, and sometimes something that is bad can be intending to do good. You just need ot guide things right, and it all works out. Mister Psyber here just wants to help, and I think I should keep an eye on him so it doesn't go wrong." Yes, she just said 'keep your enemies closer,' didn't she?
Eleanor Lamb	Eleanor... purses her lips as she gets the information, and sighs. She looks to Amalthea. "Go, I'll catch up." She slips into the Nurse's Station, gingerly places her hand over the nice ladie's head and makes an effort, and application of her Hypnosis plasmidgoop, to try and unfuck her brain. This will likely knock the lady out, but she's moving the woman to a safer corener of the booth to keep her out of the line of fire, if there is going to be such. Then she's hurring after Amalthea.
Amalthea	If anyone looks like they could use a therapy unicorn, it's the nurses. Amalthea snaps her fingers in front of faces a few times for attention, grunting at the response from the staff. But once they give a room number, Eleanor doesn't need to tell her twice, she's already skidding around the desk and starts charging for the mentioned room at a full on sprint.
Nathan Hall	"Help?" The man says, turning the word over under his breath. He goes silent for a while, long enough that Psyber can tell he's probably talking to someone on his phone. Priscilla will get to see the lanky man hide his efforts to consult with some sort of pendant that he pulls from a pocket, marked with a blank eye-shaped socket that itself seems to lack an eye. He holds it up, letting it dangle and turn below his hands. The socket end turns to face Psyber very directly and very quickly, like a compass. "I don't know what you're talking about." The man says after a brief delay of implicit communication, doing his best to disguise a step back with some shifting around. He seems extra guarded now especially. Certainly not as forthcoming as he was with Pegasus, which wasn't much to begin with.
Nathan Hall	Setsuko and Amalthea are both heading further into the hospital now. They have the necessary clearance. As they head in, there's a lot of eyes turned. Amalthea takes the head, and Setsuko scans from behind. Whatever Amalthea is racing against, she can pull ahead while it's not able to reveal itself. Setsuko, on the other hand, will only overtake it after some time. Heading into the area properly, she'll be able to see a concentration of three "doctors" who seem especially aware of her presence, giving her a wide berth, and who also avoid staring at her, attempting to mingle with the regular people in the halls. Her super-senses will also detect noises in the ventilation system, moving up.
Nathan Hall	The snake is easily crushed to death with a brutal snapping sound, not given any chance to struggle. Like the other corpses, before, it's already trying to yank itself into a timeline where it's not dead. The man's belongings, respectfully kept in a storage container aside from the bed in an unusual breach of protocol in case the Heaven or Hell members need to look through them, emit a quiet rattling noise in response to each awful temporal flicker.
Guest Psyber	"You aren't doing this even the slightest bit stealthily," Psyber says with an almost patient tone to his voice, "But fine. If it's going to be this way, so be it," Psyber says to the man, ceding the point. If he's going to obstruct Psyber, at that point all the half-angel is doing is impeding Pegasus trying to find out information. So his most reasonable course of action is just to walk away. He'll get a snack from the vending machine or something.
Sakura Haruno	Flowers is going to continue to keep an eye on the snake, ready to kill it again in this timeline over and over, but she's certainly going to follow up on the clues now while she can, moving over to the rattling container, digging into it and trying to find the source of the noise, deciding that that may well be what the snake is after. This may or may not get her into trouble; if it's a trap she's going to stick her hand straight into it.
Priscilla	Well that's something. The three of them look kind of obvious in retrospect, but not if you're in the middle of a conversation. Now the question becomes what to do. Priscilla can't follow all of them simultaneously should they move, and she can't just go around- Oh wait, she totally can. Who's going to prove it was her? She starts with the 'sleeping' woman by the entrance, bumping into her hard enough to presumably knock her out of her seat, but not with a deliberate shove or strike that could be perceived as intentionally aggressive. She follows up by slapping the phone out of the man's hand, straight to the floor, clearly unfamiliar with what it takes to break these things. Finally, she unsubtly slips her hand into the last one's pocket and drags out the first thing she can find, dropping it immediately so he'll have to pick it up. It's the kind of unbelievably passive aggressive prick behaviour that some dumb kid who just found out he was invisible would immediately do. Being a Union Elite is a heavy responsibility.
Pegasus	"If you say so!" Pegasus says cheerily. She sets the box of scones down for anyone else who wants one, but she isn't pressing the point. Not exactly, anyway. "I'm just repeating what he told me. Um, Psyber I mean." She scratches her head. She is /literally/ changing gears here.
Setsuko Kaminagi	Setsuko walks as if she hasn't seen the trio for a few steps, playing it as if her business takes her straight past them. Precisely two steps past, however, she turns around and steps to one side, in such a way that she's directly next to the little cluster, and leans in just slightly to speak in a soft voice. "You have two choices right now. One, is that I start asking very loudly who you are and what you're doing dressed up as doctors. That would be very inconvenient for you. The other, is that the three of you tell me why you feel the need to sneak in and see the hunter we rescued, because I can only assume that there's some reason we would say 'no' if you had just asked."
Nathan Hall	There's enough delay on the commotion that's about to follow up that Pegasus can get a response. With a tense voice, the man mutters to Pegasus as Psyber walks away, "You're an anti-channeler for it, and you're working with a channeler. There is no way that whatever it's doing turns out right. I don't understand why. You need to stop, and you need to stop him. What are you /doing/?" That last question seems more asked for the man's own benefit than for any real expectation of an answer. He immediately notes that there's less lobby coverage than there was before, swearing tensely under his breath. "Go." He mutters, a just barely louder subvocal radio command, and bolts away from Pegasus abruptly, trying to head past the front desk.
Nathan Hall	Eleanor knocks these ladies out quietly with her mind-fixing, but seems to undo whatever temporary mental effect was applied to them. It is, notably, temporary though. These people do at least intend to protect generalized society in some way. The man Psyber was talking to books it past Eleanor while she's behind the desk.
Nathan Hall	Amalthea gets to the guy's room in time for something that is not a snake to creak through a weak section of ventilation above, and crash through the roof tiles into the hallway partway towards the room. It is not a snake because, despite the serpentine body and singular eye that still remind the viewer of the Lord of Nightmares, this also is covered in multiple raven wings all along its length, and heavy bulging growths, physically warped like some of the people in the 'cult'. It is, very suddenly, on fire as it races its way towards the room entrance.
Eleanor Lamb	<Yes.> Eleanor looks up as she gets her response, plants her feet and- She activates all of her speed tonics, digging up some of the floor tiling as she turns herself into a semi-guided Sister Missle, launching herself in a rugby tackle at the running man. This may or may not plant them both into one of the walls, depending on whether she hits Partitions, Wall Studs or Actual Structure.
Nathan Hall	The man near the vending machine was distracted by his phone suddenly getting slapped out of his hand, and seemingly so caught up in pretending he's on the phone to properly react to that fact until several seconds later. His reaction is a hunter's: Alert, direct observation of everything around him, most notably the fact that Psyber's getting something from a vending machine nearby. The man mutters something, some quick spell. There's a shining light as a short blade made of blessed silver is drawn from spellspace, and the man attempts to plunge it into Psyber while he orders. Not the heart, or the head... But where those growths would be, at the top of the base of the ribcage. These men are trained to go for those growths by instinct, and they're leaping into a more violent state. It looks like they very much think a group led by Psyber is part of the enemy they're hunting, seemingly with long-term dedication. Then he focuses on keeping alert for more signs of that invisible presence...
Amalthea	A blur of color and motion, Amalthea charges along hospital corridors, narrowly evading obstacles, sliding under gurneys, hurdling desks carts at a charger's pace. Short of something really getting in her way, she's not going to stop. She will go through things if she HAS to, not going to let herself be beaten to that room and-- That is some kind of ABOMINATION coming out of the vent. She doesn't wait for explanation, her hand is in her jacket, yanking a dagger free from concealment. It's a jagged, black blade, serrated and inlaid with silvery etchings that glimmer like a sliver of moonlight, and she just flings herself at the flaming beast, blade swinging, trailing rainbows and glitter, heedless of the fire.
Nathan Hall	Haruno finds an unusual pendant among the man's personal effects, between blessed silver weapons, holy ammunition, exorcist materials, and similar Hunter equipment. It's a pendant with an eye shape carved out of it, like an eyesocket. Every time the snake corpse flickers, the pendant jitters a little, and if hung in the air, it spins like a compass to 'look at' the corpse.
Guest Psyber	There are a lot of reactions someone can have to being stabbed. The average reaction is to cry out in pain. Some people also get incredibly angry. Some people strike out in self defense. It's Psyber's specific years of training and practice that allow him to react in a very specific way: When the knife is plunged into him, his hand comes up like lightning and grabs the man's hand. He carefully, using the knife in his hand, begins to move the blade up, then down, then left, then right. Then he twists the blade left and right a few times, all while watching the man with an almost frightening level of pain tolerance as the blood begins to spurt and gush from the wound he first received, then massively exacerbates, begins to pool on the floor at his feet. Internally, he is somewhat glad Haruno isn't here to see this incredibly irresponsible maneuver on his part of making his own stab wounds worse. He still, unless something phenominal happens, is holding onto that man's hand. His voice is cool, professional, and a bit scary as he asks, "Now are we going to cut the shit and get to business? Or is it my turn to stab you and check for growths?"
Nathan Hall	The group here didn't have much time to get an ad-hoc ambush set up, and so this is limiting their options even more. The man scrambling for the contents of his pockets can't get his weapon ready to fire at Psyber in time to back up the one at the vending machine, and the woman pretends to sleep just a bit too long, and her scrambled reaction means she can't bolt for the door the way she wanted to until several seconds later. They're attacking now. The one at the vending machine is going after Psyber more directly, but Priscilla can cut off backup to the ones further into the building, or backup against Psyber himself, at her discretion, using the openings she made.
Sakura Haruno	Flowers will frown, allowing the compass to do its work, but also moving to snag one of the hopefully holy weapons, wondering if any of them might have a more permanent effect on the snake. She's going to experiment by using each of them in turn to cut at it, hoping that the man might have been more prepared for this particular task than she was, but the mednin is not qualified for an actual exorcism.
Nathan Hall	The trio of 'doctors', two women and a man, glance between each other. The man seems willing to talk; the two beside him seem less approving of that fact. Being willing to talk doesn't mean he's willing to talk for long, though. "No negotiation with channellers. Sorry you got wrapped up in it." He says, as if that explains everything that needs explaining. "Cut it." The woman says. "It" apparently being the lighting circuit breaker, which someone she's contacted on the radio shuts down, trying to catch Setsuko off-guard. It probably won't work. The reflectivity of her eyes is more obvious in the dark. Some kind of therian? Most likely, judging by the way she rushes forward with a growl. She doesn't care about beating Setsuko, just stopping her long enough for her two friends to book it!
Nathan Hall	This isn't the only thing Setsuko will have to deal with. From behind, she'll likely detect and have to deal with the main leader of the group tumbling violently as Eleanor tackles him. He's a veteran of Hunting, which shows in how he responds to the tackle, rolling with it to avoid being entirely disabled and using partially-developed scrappy martial arts to attempt an extrication, but when he tries to drive his elbow into Eleanor's ribcage, it's clear that he's specifically targeting where a growth would normally be, by instinct. These Hunters have been going after these strange entities for /years/ from the feel of this close combat. The woman attacking Setsuko is trying to lash out at the warrior in melee combat, clawing at her... Trying to shove her over the leader's extended foot while he wrestles with Eleanor in the dark. They are very coordinated.
Setsuko Kaminagi	Mistakes have been made. All of them on the part of the 'doctors'. The word 'cut' has only barely left the woman's mouth when the freight train leaves the station. Here is a woman who can pick up and throw mid-sized vehicles, and she moves to slam herself into the trio with all her strength. There is probably some whiplash. She's not fussed. That can be treated. More importantly, she's making a move, not for the woman, but for the man willing to actually talk. She intends to manhandle him to the ground and hold him there, steeling herself for counterattacks from the other two and resolving to eat whatever they throw at her. She wants to take this one into custody, because he stands a chance of actually talking. "I'd like to know /what/ we're wrapped up in, thank you!"
Eleanor Lamb	Eleanor is not surprised by the counter attack, but its placement trips that mental switch that Psyber... well, he has a bit more to work with there. Also a better regeneration system. That said, when she's struck there, she can feel that jab to her solar plexus, her eyes widening as she manages to keep her breath, and she hisses. "Thought so. Do you feel an eye, sir? Do you understand now? We are not here to harm you. We legitimately want the best for Nathan Hall. This is not a trick. This is not a farce. Do we look like simpering, time-waylaid monsters?" She staggers up to her feet, and holds out a hand to help the man to his. "My friends are already in combat with monsters from the side of the Eye. I will not attempt to harm you any further."
Pegasus	Oh. They're dashing. Pegasus lets them, because her eyes are narrowing with a faint whrr of mechanisms. The man isn't of as much consequence as what she just heard, and it has her concerned more than anything else. "I don't think..." She pauses, then turns around and heads toward the injured hunter's room, without any further delay. "Where is the room? I think I need to see him."
Nathan Hall	Amalthea engages the wing-covered tremendous snakebeast outside the room. She meets it just near the door, plunging the knife into it and grabbing hold of it. But like the last examples of grabbing onto creatures like this, the serpent begins distorting itself. The lights go off, though it's no power outage, just an inconvenience from another side of the combat. The burning creature is searingly hot, a solar sort of heat, but can be swiftly stabbed to death. Like before, wounds to that awful growth -- these have it where their eyes would normally be, oddly -- affected it much more severely, putting it down long-term.
Priscilla	That didn't go quite as well as it possibly could have, but it accomplishes proving Priscilla's suspicions. She bites down the urge to call after Psyber, knowing full well that the half angel is more than capable of taking care of himself, though she is immediately made to regret that vote of confidence after he decides to take the opportunity to commit partial seppeku instead. The group obviously knows what it's doing. The individuals assembled aren't hotheaded rookies, or genre blind to the multiverse. They are, however, entirely focused on one specific kind of quarry, and all their attention appears to be on familiar figures for the moment. Priscilla hopes that'll be good enough for a few more seconds. Though her ability is significantly more advanced than the typical variety, it isn't exactly impossible that one or more of the hunters might have some experience in the core aspects of fighting an invisible opponent. She's still right next to her last target, and so the first thing she does is go for his gun as he attempts to ready it, taking advantage of his distraction. In an ironically similar maneuver to the first time she had met Psyber, the weapon should crystallize from the front end backwards in moments, turning to brittle, greyish glass and sprouting uneven, frost-like spikes. She then hurries to intercept the woman at the entrance, physically bodyblocking her like an embarrassing, too-clean, sliding glass door. Importantly, she hasn't actually harmed either one. She has some hope that Psyber's gratuitous display will calm them down if she doesn't escalate things.
Amalthea	Like gripping an angry inferno and fistfighting a five alarm blaze. That's what Amalthea feels like when she damn near tackles the creature. That sweltering heat is vicious, and it near knocks her out on contact. It's sheer effort of will and stubborn refusal to let go. The hospital is soon beset with the sound of curses not uttered in centuries as she grips on, ignoring her own body prodigiously venting steam and coolant to compensate for the astounding levels of heat. She damn near tries to tackle the thing to the ground with her weight, alternating between wildly plunging her ebony dagger and swinging her fist with the force and discipline of a wild beast as her jacket and shirt start to burn away, she reaches for another object in the smoldering tatters and yanks it, gleaming, free. It's not Memento, but looks an awful lot like it, as she twists the second dagger in her hand, ramming and twisting, and snarling, as she swings, stabs, and gouges, aiming for those freakish eye growths, this time without the revulsion of the back alley boat surgery from before. She's not going to stop until she's absolutely sure it's dead, or her plating begins to melt.
Nathan Hall	The man at the vending machine has an odd reaction. His eyes go wide, but not from revelation and recognition, but from fear, in more types than one. A fear of the intimidating display, of course, but a greater fear of something else. "The core channelers like him don't have growths!" He shouts into his radio partway through the display. "Fucking advise!" After Psyber's said his own piece, the man checks something that quietly rattles in his pocket, still leaving the knife plunged into Psyber's chest, as if making /absolute sure/ of something. The hunter seems at least willing to mostly respond. "No negotiation with channellers. All traitors." He's a little more talkative than his leader, but not that much. This seems said more for dramatic effect than to let Psyber actually be more informed, but it does give him a pattern to go off of when they talk about 'channellers'.
Nathan Hall	The Hunter equipment is varied and assorted, but Sakura will find through trial and error -- ha ha, field medical research! -- that the snake responds most severely to holy effects over things like silver. It would appear that whatever is empowering these creatures and people that they've been dealing with so far is, in some fashion, demonic. The man has equipment meant to deal with that in spades, though some of it seems to have been intentionally broken, presumably by the people who captured him.
Guest Psyber	Psyber, patient man that he is, takes a careful sigh as the man completely ignores his comment to shout into a radio, "I am, as far as I am aware of, not a channeler. If you would like to calmly sit down and explain to me what a channeler is, you and I can attempt to make some headway on this issue," His tone is eerily professional despite the blood pouring down his front from the clearly very open wound. "I am trying my best to maintain a patient demeanor so that we can discuss this issue and how it can be resolved. I did not request anything more than that we share information," Psyber calmly informs him, still holding that hand. Not tight enough to break bone, but tight enough that it's hard to get away from him. "So I will try this again. Can we please cooperate? I am becoming incredibly lost. Enough so that I will lose my temper if this continues."
Sakura Haruno	Holy effects are not something that Flowers is all that strong in, but she'll leave some of it over the snake before throwing the door to the room open, looking for the fight with Amalthea and the thing. Of course, that seems to be progressing well enough, but given the fire she doesn't think Amalthea will mind too terribly much... Yes, Sakura's going to throw a flask fo the holy water at the fire-thing and Amalthea. She's not going to get anywhere near it, though, being not flame-resistant herself.
Nathan Hall	The other woman scrambles to her feet and moves on past Setsuko, seemingly not invested in stopping her for the moment, as Setsuko goes for the man. The therian lady is boweled over, but hangs on as if she were hanging onto a car that just hit her. With tremendous strength, she's trying to gnaw right through Setsuko's arm while she tries to pin the man. The man, however, is pinned. He doesn't seem like the combat type, more the running type However durable that arm might be, Setsuko will get a chance to extract just one moment of clarity from the man. "You're working for a core channeller! Look, I'm sorry you're mixed up in this, but all of them are traitors, we can't just /work/ with you while you're loyal to that. He's already hit the gate once!" With both the man and the woman attempting to extricate themselves -- the woman far more violently -- it's likely that they'll get away unless Setsuko adjusts her tactics or otherwise gets creative here.
Setsuko Kaminagi	With her strength, Setsuko only needs one arm to keep the man pinned. She shifts that job to the arm not being gnawed on - the damage has gotten rather serious to the one that has, but it's still functional; and with a wrench, she pulls it free, and reaches around to grab the beast-woman by the back of the neck. To scruff her, outright, and to stare straight into those therian eyes, her own beginning to glow as a bit of divinity seeps in. "I don't know what's going on. I'm going to get answers. When I get them, I will let your friend up, unharmed. Until I do, he is not going anywhere. If you keep gnawing on my arm, I will break your jaw." She adds, in a slightly calmer tone of voice, "I don't know what a 'core channeler' is. So start there." Already, her blood is dripping fairly steadily onto the floor. Her bicep probably looks like a mess, because it certainly hurts at the moment. But she's banking on the darkness in the hospital to prevent a panic.
Nathan Hall	"You're half a channeller yourself. I've seen it." The man says, wary in tone, eyes narrowed at Eleanor. "I don't care about the Union's General, he's not important, do you have any idea what came through that gate? It's more important than him, bigger than any of that." He makes a tense noise, refusing Eleanor's hand. For a moment, he seems to look through her, as if to something behind her, or above her. He speaks, but not to her. "You think you're so clever, with all these puppets? I know what you are. This multiverse and these people are /not/ where you belong." Then he seems to look more at Eleanor herself. "I understand perfectly. Direct core channellers are different. It doesn't change what you are. You're not getting any answers about what I know if it kills me. I'm here to secure my subordinate, not try to negotiate with a traitor's puppets." He scrambles to his feet in a clean, well-practiced motion while Eleanor does the same. "Pull back. We can't sustain this. Get the extraction cast, we have to leave him behind." He's muttering into his radio.
Nathan Hall	Heading up to the hospital area proper means Pegasus gets a nice view of three battles in progress. First, the punchy fight between Eleanor and the leader, then the fight between Setsuko and his two subordinates, and then Amalthea and Sakura dealing with some sort of large demonic snake just outside the man's room, in that order of progression. She can bypass them -- they're all engaged in a confusing brawl that she can slip by -- or try to participate and help at her discretion.
Nathan Hall	The gun that the lankier man flash-assembles from some sort of magical storage space freezes from the end up, which means it doesn't much survive the holy projectile that he attempts to fire directly at Psyber. He seems more like the dedicated magician of the group anyway, given how his immediate response afterwards is to draw a small wand and begin tracing, first, an AoE wind attack around him -- civilians have fled in a panic already, at least -- to try to deal with what he assumes is an invisible attacker, and then a complicated teleportation spell, drawn in glowing lines. She can interrupt... maybe. If she can get through the wind attack, and if she can deal with the woman that's now attempting to invisible-judo her. The woman seems to have learned under eastern-style combat monks for her Hunter training, judging by how several of her attacks are enhanced by thatn type of exorcism magic, assuming Priscilla to be a ghost. The woman tries to keep one arm looped around her constantly, striking with well-practiced martial arts methods, and trying to slam her into the ground, doing her damndest not to lose track of her. Like the rest, she tries to strike for the base of the ribcage rather than any other vital points, still instinctually acting on the assumption that Priscilla is one of the things that was begin fought before, with their awful chest-growths.
Eleanor Lamb	...Well that's a lot to take in. Eleanor murmurs as she stands up over the top of the man. "I rather think he is important, thank you very much. He's a friend, despite what... what these people think." She wipes a sweaty hand against her labcoat, and glares. "We are not here to-" And then he's calling retreat. She huffs and growls, and steps forward, right into the man's personal space. She barely comes up to his chin, but the young lady is radiating Presence. "If you are leaving... make sure you take as many of those blasted time-shuffled /things/ with you. Or kill them I don't care. We are simply trying to figure out-" Gate. The Eye. Nathan's glasses. Oh dear. She steps back and hisses. "Leave."
Pegasus	It's a pretty obvious choice. A demon snake in the room? That doesn't look very good. Snakes, in general, are bad... but Peg would let one go if it weren't hurting anyone. This one is attacking her sister, and her friend. This means the lance comes out from under her coat, and the dragoon aims to pin down the snake with a quick stab. More important than that, she's looking around the room to make sure that the man's still okay. It wouldn't do for the patient to die like that.
Nathan Hall	The man with his wrist still locked down by Psyber uses his free hand to reach for the pocket where that rattling noise is. He pulls away another pendant, with an unusual eyesocket carved out of it. Holding it up on its cord, it rattles particularly at Psyber. The reaction is not unlike a compass pointing at a high-powered magnet just next to it. The little magical trinket is OUTRAGEOUSLY focused on indicating him specifically. "You're a core channeller. And that means we're not going to help you do anything, traitor." The man says. It seems like his trinket's detection of Psyber is proof enough to him. "I know what you are, even if you don't." He narrows his eyes, listening to something on his radio. "We're pulling out. You're not getting any answers from us. You can kill me or you can let us retreat." He pauses, gritting his teeth and making a stressed noise. Then he looks past Psyber, as if at something behind him. "You hurt my friend, I'll be the one to kill you instead of put you back out of these worlds." He seems incredibly distressed that he wasn't able to personally secure safety for the Hunter that was recovered.
Nathan Hall	Amalthea wields the time knife. Unfortunately, it seems, the snake is bloody and riled up, screeching like an angry bird and flapping its dozens of misplaced, malformed wings. The holy water does manage to extinguish it effectively, though, meaning Amalthea can pin it with one of the two hazards dealt with, the other being the fact that the being keeps trying to yank itself into timelines where it's not pinned, which makes for a cognitohazardous grappling. Now the other hazard. Pegasus slams her lance through the being's body, pinning it to the ground and confusing several doctors with the appearance of a bloodied lance through the roof of their dark room. This pins the creature enough that Amalthea can use the knockoff temporally-empowered Memento to strike at the eye. It seems powered by the eye itself; after carving the eye out in the boat, it seemed to lose its abilities, but weapons procured from eye-channelling beings seem to affect the eye as well. Which is to say, she can carve the eye out brutally. This seems to have been the source of some manner of snake-hive thing, despite snakes not having hives. The noises in the vents cease. The eye-force's attempt to assassinate the Hunter that was rescued is resolved. The man himself remains alive in his room. He's still stabilized, though not out of his comatose state yet. He was beaten far too much to get out of this yet, but Pegasus can confirm his safety.
Guest Psyber	"I don't have... the energy for this right now," Psyber says honestly, letting the man go, "Get out of here. Go now," Psyber tells him flatly, turning away from him and starting to close his coat over the wound in his chest. He seems to not have the energy to continue with this for the night, for whatever reason. In all honesty, it's likely because he keeps getting the term traitor thrown in his face while he's trying to help, but that's a complicated stance for him. Instead, he's opting to simply walk away from the man that put a knife in his chest and head deeper into the hospital to check on the others.
Priscilla	Even if Priscilla is pretty far from a ghost, and even if her physiology makes that particular strike point even less dangerous than on a human, being punched in the chest still hurts, and she's not eager to continue it. The crossbreed isn't exactly a martial arts master, and so would normally be at an extreme disadvantage in a situation like this, but the hunter has no knowledge of who or what she is and has yet to actually lay eyes on her. Thankfully, Priscilla doesn't really need that lungful of air that is driven out of her by the blow to the diaphragm, which leaves her free to act; coiling her tail around the woman's lead ankle and yanking sharply perpendicular to her vector of balance, abusing the extra limb for a surprise tactic. Her dagger appears in her free hand, flips reverse in her grip, pauses for the barest of instants as she suppresses the reflex to aim for the neck, and then drives into the hunter's thigh. Though it deliberately isn't aimed at a main artery, intended to cripple her leg rather than kill her, the nature of the weapon will make it awfully painful, messy, and long to recover from. This is a hospital though, so that's obviously perfectly fine. Unfortunately it doesn't look like she'll have the time to extricate herself, buffet through the wall of wind and tackle the escaping mage, and so she'll need to settle for policing the man that Psyber lets free, in case he makes any sudden moves. The hunters seem, and sound over the radio, familiar with many here, but it doesn't seem certain that they have any idea of who she might be, and really prepared for her, likely due to her absence of critical role in Nathan's history of betrayal. She can hope, right?
Nathan Hall	The woman is a medium for some beastly spirit, and growls violently in response to Setsuko. The man seems like he's going to respond to her, but the woman is the one who does it first. "/Puppets/!" She shouts, through gritted, canine teeth, freshly clawing at Setsuko after recovering from the grab. "The thing that came out of that damn gate is doing something and all of them did nothing but help. You're working for one yourself, right now, and that makes you /no better/, that thing is going to do something to cause and eff--" "We're going!" The man pinned by Setsuko gasps. "Pull out! Look lady, you need to be careful. Something's pulling the strings and it doesn't obey the usual cause and effect you're used to. I don't know what your boss is like but as far as we know, he's helped that damn thing out a lot. We can't just /tell/ you, you understand? Look, we're pulling out. Treat our friend right, none of this is his fault. But your boss is the top of what we hunt, and he's already done damage. That's how this works." He's beginning the glow, as is the woman who he's trying to call off from attacking Setsuko more. So are the rest, it seems, the result of the spell being cast in the lobby.
Setsuko Kaminagi	The man starting to glow prompts a quick glance between he and the woman. "...Contact me soon. We need to speak. I think I have information you'll want, and Psyber may not be as 'on their side' as you think he is." Her movements are quick; she's assuming she's only got time for one quick action before he disappears. And she's decided that will be 'to pull a business card with her personal frequency from her pocket, and jam it into the man's hand'. If she has any time after that, her fist is going straight towards the woman's jaw. And she's not pulling the punch.
Pegasus	Pegasus was mainly concerned with keeping the man alive, and she's checking on him right now. "Are you two okay?" She's asking Sakura and Amalthea that, while yanking her lance out to set it aside. Getting weird snake blood on the patient is a bad idea. Either way, things seem to have been mostly taken care of, even if a few are still fighting. "I don't like knowing why they're fighting," she admits. "It makes it hard to know if fighting back is the right thing."
Nathan Hall	"..." The man Eleanor was fighting is mostly wordless. He keeps his position as he glows, eventually disappearing as he's allowed to leave, saying, only, "They're what we hunt." And that seems to be the end of that, over there, at least. Meanwhile, Priscilla gouges open a woman's leg violently in a way that's nonlethal, at least. She'll... Probably survive it! But they're retreating from the hospital itself. The man that Setsuko was dealing with takes the business card. The woman has taken the punch, whether she liked it or not. The caster in the lobby and the man near the vending machine, still staring after Psyber, has disappeared. Eventually, someone gets the lights working again. The encounter calms.
Sakura Haruno	"I'm fine." Sakura says, with a sigh. "But we should transfer him to Heaven or Hell, or I'm going to have to stay here until he wakes up to make certain he eventually will." She'll hold the detector up again, waiting to see if it does anything, but intending to hold onto it herself for some Investigating later.
Amalthea	Is she okay? Amalthea gives a vague, disgruntled, wolf-like snarl as she picks herself up off the eldritch snake-bird abomination. Her clothes are a tattered burning wreck,, she's red hot and hissing steam dangerously, and she's probably covered in the thing's gore, blood, and eyeball juice. With one last utterance of a curse no one's used for a good two hundred years, she gives the thing a swift kick while it's down for good measure, before letting herself calm with a slow breath. "Yeah. I'm fine."