~ Karl Adler ~
As the nearby paramedics started to swarm around the wounded, including Young Sienna and himself, he had to sigh softly even as he forced his hand away from what was left of his left arm. The two of them were quickly led to to an ambulance, particularly after he motioned for them to take them both together, and Sienna was quickly sedated. But she still managed to ask one last question before finally slipping under.
"W... what about a wheelchair? Do... do you think... thah you cud m8k a wheel share dat rollz over peeeeeple?"
Karl couldn't help but laugh, and he gave her a surprisingly genuine smile.
"I'm sure we can come up with something along those lines. For now, just rest. The doctors will take care of the rest." he said, before adding, "And these are the real thing. No impostors here."
Turning to the paramedics, he held up his hand to get their attention.
"This little girl has been through hell, and was kidnapped because there wasn't anyone keeping an eye on her. So you're not to put me under in any way, and I'm to stay with her, at least until her mother arrives. Understand?" he told them firmly.
The medical personnel simply nodded. They knew better than to argue about medical protocol with someone already entrenched in the Corp world. Besides, it wasn't like they'd be able to give him a sedative without his permission.
"Sir, I could give you a pain blocker." The Medical Technician offered,
"It will block the nerve impulses that transmit pain along your neural pathways but it won't sedate you. You'll at least be comfortable."
Sienna looked around through the haze of sedation and smiled. She had been given something that was not what Karl was given but she didn't look like she minded. In actuality, she was glad to be under the effects of the drugs that had been administered to her intraveniously.
"Is Doctor Rabbit going to be okay?" The young girl slurred the question.
Doctor Mercy Rabbit, one time employee of CyCorp. Fired for breaking certain protocols during human trials though it was done under the orders of the board. Her whereabouts were unknown for a time since people who left positions similar to her's seldom ended up having a happy ending... in fact a vast majority of them ended up meeting agents like Viscus.
"A pain blocker would be outstanding right about-" Karl started with a grateful smile until he heard a familiar name and whipped to look over at Sienna with an impassive expression, "Did you say Doctor Rabbit? You wouldn't mean a woman by the name of Mercy Rabbit, would you?"
If it was one in the the same, the implications were disturbing. Doctor Mercy Rabbit was someone he had had a few dealings with during her time in R&D, including him eventually firing her personally for her more unorthodox methods. Ones that even he had to disagree with. Oh yes, he thought darkly, he could see her surgically attaching bombs to some poor bastards.
But why? To get at Cycorp? Was this a personal vendetta of hers, or maybe... Maybe she was hired
because of any possible resentment of the company. She would be a tailor-made pawn for whoever was actually pulling the strings.
Sienna nodded her head, sort of, it was more a wobble than a nod. Despite all this though, the young girl maintained her smile and appeared to be far different from the abnoxious girl that had fallen out of her bed in the hospital demanding to see her father. Not that anyone could fault her of course.
"Mmmmhmmm. That was her name... she was really nice to me..." Sienna responded as she reached for something in her pocket and gave it Mister Adler. It was a datachip meant to fit into a mobile device,
"She said that I should give this to someone..."
Taking the datachip, he looked at it with narrowed eyes before smiling at her and tucking it into one of his inner suit pockets. But the smile didn't reach his eyes, even as he reached over and lightly stroked her hair.
"You did the right thing then. Your mother, Miss Asagi and I will figure out what to do with it. In the meantime, get some rest. I won't be going anywhere." he reassured her.
[hr]
As it turned out, when they had gotten to the hospital, Karl had to be taken away from Sienna's side for a short operation. Most of the bullets that had taken off his left arm passed through his augments, all save one, which had still been lodged in-between the flesh and metal. Since it was a bad idea to simply leave it in there, they decided it was best to take it out in short order. By the time he had gotten back to the hospital room that they shared–at his insistence–he realized that he had had a few messages.
First was an email from Ari and Toshiro regarding their findings about the CyCorp HQ bombing. As it turned out, a CyCorp employee had walked in and simply blew up, causing the massive explosion largely on his own. He was essentially a corporate everyman: His record was spotless, with no previous misgivings about the company, no black marks to speak of, no real shine. No problems in his personal life either. All-in-all, there was absolutely
no apparent reason for him to be a human bomb against the company that signed his paychecks.
It had been immediately followed up by an email from Karine herself. That one turned out to be a bit more interesting. As it turned out, the warehouse that the Neo-Luddites had used as a staging area had been purchased by one Zaibatsu Corporation: Another augmentation and robotics manufacturer, but one that wasn't as big a name as H.A. or CyCorp.
Whether or not Zaibatsu was the source of the Neo's bankroll was potentially scandalous and definitely intriguing. Perhaps they were using the attacks against CyCorp and H.A. to help bolster their own business. After all, if the two biggest names in augmentations suddenly had their stocks in a rapid decline, any of the smaller companies that weren't involved could easily swoop in and snatch up the profits that were waiting to be made.
Regardless, he wondered if the person responsible for the farce at both the diner and Buckingham Palace would have been smart enough to leave Zaibatsu components out of the bombs makeup. No, he thought as he slowly shook his head, it probably wouldn't have occurred to them. Wouldn't have needed to, since it was clear that only the two mega-corps were being targeted. Chances were, they were only careful because they likely only chose H.A. and CyCorp manufactured components.
Of course, that also left the datachip. He turned to look at his bedside table and stared at the small sliver of plastic. He had been tempted to plug it into his own cell phone, since it looked like it would fit easily, but he resisted the urge. No, better to wait until Karine, Irina, and preferably a few other computer experts were nearby to supervise. Best not to take chances.
The door to the hospital room opened and allowed a taller than average woman with red hair and cat ears into the room, her eyes wide from having to go through so many extra layers of security that the hospital had enacted in response to the recent kidnappings. Stepping into the room, Irina Rostikova immediately rushed over to her daughter and checked on her, tears refracting the light that the room's windows allowed in. Sitting down next to her daughter's bed, Irina waited patiently for Sienna's eyes to open.
Through the illusionary veil of privacy offered by the curtain between the beds, Karl Adler heard the sound of a woman crying silently. It had been a long day. Emotions were running high and the climax brought on by the Buckingham Palace Bombings, the death of Felton Billings and the discovery of Talasian's treachery had left everyone rather exhausted.
When he heard the door, and the sound of quiet sobbing on the other side of the privacy curtain, Karl forced himself to sit up.
"Miss Rostikova, I hope?" he called.
The sound of a curtain being drawn back echoed through the room as they were drawn back by a suddenly alert and armed Irina. There was a pistol in her hand, one that she'd managed to sneak past security due to the fact that her augmentations set off metal detectors. Her eyes quickly identified who it was that addressed her.
"Mister Adler," Irina said as she wiped the tears from her eyes,
"What are you doing here?"
There was a tinge of suspicion in her voice. Despite the fact that she knew that Karl was one of the parties responsible for saving her daughter, he was still part of the machine that had spawned this whole debacle.
Karl quickly held up his remaining hand when a pistol was leveled at him, but she lowered it once she recognized him. Once she did, he had to exhale a sigh of relief. After Buckingham Palace, he wasn't exactly a fan of firearms being pointed in his direction. Not that he was a fan to begin with,
"I'm here because when Karine and I were driving up to Buckingham, the Palace Guard saw fit to fire at us and, ah... Disarm me by mistake." he said dryly as he motioned to the capped-off shoulder.
"I've been keeping watch on Sienna so that we didn't have a repeat of last time." he said more gravely.
Irina nodded in appreciation. It was nice of Mister Adler to take the time to watch over Sienna despite the fact that he could have probably been taken to a private facility. Sienna needed to see a familiar face when she woke up and if Irina wasn't able to make it on time, at least Mister Adler would have been there.
"Thank you, Mister Adler." Irina said quietly, sitting in her chair. There was a moment of awkward silence as the Cat Eared VidCaster tried to decide what to speak of,
"It looks like Karine will be helping with the mop up operations against the Neo cell responsible for this."
Speaking of Karine, was there something going on between her and Mister Adler? She had seen a hint of it at the Safe House hadn't she? But this wasn't necessarily the time for that.
"And, I've got my own loose end to tie up." Irina checked her mobile device, waiting to see if Katya had gotten back to her on that little task.
"I get the feeling that this these attacks run deeper than just a single Neo-Luddite cell. But still, it's good to know that at least this cell is being taken care of. I'll have to speak to Karine and give her my thoughts on the most recent findings, regarding the CyCorp bombing and the fact that Zaibatsu Corp seems to be involved." he said, frowning thoughtfully only to break into a wide yawn.
He smiled apologetically shortly after.
"You'll have to excuse me. I haven't actually gotten any sleep since the night of the bombing, and I'm wiped out. Now that you're here, I think I'll take the time to get some rest." Karl told her, before laying back on the hospital bed.
It wasn't very long at all before he had fallen asleep.
