The other doctor appeared to be engrossed in a file, so he quickly made his way around the room gathering nearly every file on the list. The only one's he couldn't get were right next to the other doctor. When he was done, he made his way over to a desk in the corner. At the very least he could get a head start on reading these files, so he would know what to change for the ones that were currently admitted into the hospital. He pulled out the chair and sat down. Opening his briefcase, he pulled out a notepad and a Visconti fountain pen as if to take notes. then he started reading the first file.
This was Mary Edinger's. He had been admitted for memory loss, but the doctors seemed to believe that it was connected to hallucinations that she experienced while in the cognitive ward. She would have visions of the city in flames, with buildings collapsed and people dead everywhere, but suddenly they would disappear and she would have a hole in her memory. Interesting. He moved to the next file.
Jack Edwards. A resident of the Alleycity for dozens of years, suddenly broke down screaming in the streets. When they brought him in, he came to with no memory of his collapse or how he got to the hospital. They let him go after he went a couple of days with no symptoms, but when he left the hospital he made it maybe a dozen meters when suddenly he collapsed again, terrified of something that wasn't there. When they tried to talk to him about what he saw, he would only mutter about how "the fighting had destroyed the city" and "they were too strong". Again, after a while he seemed to come to and couldn't remember anything about leaving the hospital or any fighting.
Ronald scanned the rest of the names, nearly all of them describing what sounded like a post apocalyptic wasteland. Some people said the damage was caused by nukes, others said it was caused by massive conflicts surrounding someone named Voidus. Some people had this vision of the various guilds of the city being warmongering and terrible, causing mass deaths in their various conflicts. But most interesting of all, some people spoke of eldritch abominations coming out of the dark. Spiked men stealing the poor and the homeless off the streets, never to be seen again. They heard phantom cackling and the ringing of hammers as they struck metal.
Those who spoke of eldritch abominations exhibited several interesting behaviors unique as well. For those who were admitted and then discharged, they would report in follow up appointments about needing to move away from the city. They couldn't even make it down a city block without feeling an unreasonable and unending bubble of fear rise to the surface every time they walked in front of an alleyway. For those who stayed in the hospital, many would act weirdly around cookies. After getting served food with a cookie in it they would only touch the cookies when no one was around, and when they eventually did they would carefully crumble them up to a dust, as if looking for something.
Interesting, very, very, interesting. It appeared that whatever this DASU was doing was giving people an exaggerated fear of the DA. Of course the fear was well merited, but they hadn't destroyed the city or invaded it with eldritch abominations. Their operations were always subtle, and the catch and release policy was designed so that people who came into the alleys either didn't leave, or didn't learn enough details to point to anything beyond a mysterious kidnapping. Perhaps this was some form of manufactured fear designed to keep prisoners compliant? But why would they test people and then release them? Ronald shook his head. It didn't matter. All he needed to do was change the files of people who were still admitted to the hospital. He could change their stories, and maybe a couple of their symptoms. Not enough that people would bat an eye at their changing symptoms, but enough that they wouldn't piece together a picture of a shadowy eldritch organization abducting citizens.
He continued reading through the files, until he was distracted from them by a rattling lamp. He looked around, confused, but then reached up to stop the rattling. He realized, however, that it wasn't just the lamp rattling, but most of the room too. The filing cabinets were shaking, their aluminum drawers sounding like a middle school percussion band. It felt like the world was going to end, but before he could think he remembered the last time the world ended.
He looked out the window of his penthouse, grinning at the music playing in the background. Live entertainment was hard to come by today, but was worth it when he had guests over. The grin faded into a concerned scowl as he looked down at the city below, noticing that it was on fire. Thankfully it seemed like his party wouldn't be disturbed. If this deal fell through it would be nightmarish after all. Suddenly his phone buzzed, someone had texted him.
Department heads in the field. Take cover. Voidus is fighting.
Suddenly the worries about the deal were gone, and he felt very, very scared.
"What the?" He muttered under his breath. When had that been? It didn't matter, the room was shaking. And based off of what his mission was, he didn't know if the hospital was going to be standing after it.
Crem. He glanced at the doctor. He needed that file, but how was he supposed to get it without being suspicious? The building was coming down for void's sake!
He glanced at his list, the last file or two was all for current patients, You likely couldn't draw any pattern with just two files right? Right?
Perhaps he would end up demoted for this, but his mind was made up. He needed to run.
"Lady!" He screamed over the din of rattling cabinets, "We need to get outta here!" He shoved all the paperwork into his briefcase then ran to the door, holding it open for the doctor.
@Rushu42
