Epidemic Exsilium: Stage Two

[initiates]

Date & Time: June 8th - June 14th
Location: Throughout Exsilium
Characters: Anyone participating in hunting down the sleeper agents; anyone participating in taking care of the ill, or being ill themselves.
Summary: Stage Two of the Super Virus Epidemic strikes; sleeper agents of the United Earth are revealed.
Warnings: Illness, violence, needles. (Those IVs, man!)

Sniffles and coughs aren't unusual during the spring, with people combating allergies even in the far future, and colds being as present as always. But with more and more people falling ill, and none responding to antibiotics, things are starting to get worrying.

The first death is of an infant, on the night of the 7th. It's not the only one: three more are recorded not long after. It's unknown about the state of patients who never presented for medical assistance. Those familiar with viral infections fear the worse, especially as the usually healthy demographic starts arriving, coughing and displaying symptoms of the same sort of illness.

If that's not enough out among the natives, the Initiative has received its own information and insight into the true nature of the virus. "Wasmannian" Agents, spies of the Initiative in the United Earth, have reported back information at great cost to their security in their undercover positions. There is a super virus headed your way. They've been shipping it in to the island since December 3312. These are the manifests. We've deciphered most the code-names. Good luck.

Now the Initiative turns to the Transports for additional manpower to hunt down the United Earth's sleeper agents, pick up the shipments of the virus, and track down its physical origins in order to do something to stop the impending decimation of Exsilium's population.

Things are getting scary. It's a sick, sad world out there. Where are you, in the middle of it all?

Comments

[oncearanger]

[Billy's been holed up in his apartment for the better part of this disaster, but after some tinkering he's decided to brave the hospital. It's been a while since he's heard from some people and he's concerned.

He wears a clear, strange sort of mask that distorts his face slightly and some gloves, but other than that he looks fairly normal. After some searching, he finds Ed, kneeling beside the bed and speaking to him in a whisper.]

Hey. I've been really worried about you.

[imperfect]

[Ed grins a shade unsteadily.] No need to talk like I'm already dead. I've been getting enough of that. [The bravado is lost somewhat on how raspy he sounds, but he can't let something like that stop him.

He gestures down at his papers and pencil again, just behind Billy's feet.] But seriously, could you...?

[oncearanger]

I know you're not. You'll live to be my loud co-inventor for many more years. I've just missed seeing you at work lately.

[Surprisingly. he follows Ed's gaze, then spins and picks up the items. They're handed over quietly.]

First I have you take the blame for my mistake, now this. I've been terrible to you, huh?

[imperfect]

[He rests his hand on top of the papers for now just to stop them escaping; at the moment, he's not sure if he'd be able to focus on them properly if he picked them up again.]

Knock it off, Cranston. [It's hard for him to sound completely level under the circumstances, but he tries.] Unless secretly you're the one who engineered this thing, in which case you've got one hell of a lot more problems than just me.

[His smile softens a bit.] But you're doing okay, at least? That's good to know.

[oncearanger]

No, I didn't invent or facilitate the virus.

[He shakes his head and pulls up a stool]

I've just been neglectful. And I want to be your helpful assistant this time, you know?

You definitely don't need another antagonist.

[imperfect]

[He waves his hand dismissively, then lowers it again.] It's cool. Don't worry about it. Equivalent exchange... I get exactly as much of the blame as I deserve, nothing less or more. Or... that's the idea. Doesn't always seem to work out the way you'd think.

[He pauses. Maybe he's a touch more light-headed than he initially thought.]

...Can't say I have much to report for now, anyway. Sorry. [Absently, he taps an automail finger on top of the papers.] These aren't what I'd call optimal working conditions.

[oncearanger]

Don't worry. I've finished my fair share. I've been cooped up in a sweltering apartment, but distractions are minimal. Just let me see and I can try to piece it together.

[Billy leans forward to look, eyes wide with curiosity.]

[imperfect]

[He obligingly moves the paper over so that Billy can see it better. Whether it's going to help Billy read it better is debatable; many of the annotations and drawings look even more spidery than Ed's usual questionable handwriting, and a couple are obscured by reddish-brown stains.]

Like I said, don't expect much. Mostly I was just... going over a couple of the printouts. [Sadly, he didn't get to bring all of his data to the hospital before starting to cough up bits of his lungs - speaking of which, his voice is getting steadily scratchier.] Thought if I worked backwards, identified which of the parts were most likely to fail first, and exactly how...

[Another bout of painful coughing cuts him off, with barely enough warning for him to turn his head away first. It's longer than the last.

When he can finally straighten up a little, he gives his hand only a momentary look of distaste before again quickly wiping it off on the bedsheets, but against the cold grey of his palm it's hard to miss a few more telltale splotches of red.]

Ugh. Dammit. [Gingerly, briefly forgetting about Billy's presence, he inspects the joints at the base of his fingers.] She'd pitch a fit...

[oncearanger]

It'll help, don't worry about it.

[Billy delicately tidies the papers, taking note to hit them with his experimental disinfectant if he takes them.

He sighs and produces a wad of tissues, then a cup of water. There you go, Ed. Billy sits, then leans forward a little. That admission was new. When Billy speaks next, it's soft, hesitant.]

Winry?

[imperfect]

[If he's surprised at being handed a cup, he's even more surprised at what comes next.]

Oh... yeah, I've mentioned her before, right?

[He takes a cautious sip of water - not the way he'd like to drink it, but chugging it would just be tempting fate - then surreptitiously wipes at the corner of his mouth.]

Sorry. Just talking to myself. [He doesn't remember clearly if Billy's ever noticed his automail, but he's not particularly in the mood to draw attention to it.] Places like this always get to me after a while.

[oncearanger]

You really liked her, huh? She's the first person you miss.

[Billy's quiet, aware he may be pushing too far. He knows what it's like to miss someone, but...]

[imperfect]

[His grin wavers uneasily for just a moment, and when he makes himself laugh it sounds slightly more like a cough.] What's this all of a sudden? You looking to break some hearts?

[He takes another sip of water.]

Really... everyone needs a mechanic. I'm sure you knew that already. She's doing fine, wherever she is. She's the strongest person I know.

[oncearanger]

[Billy weakly shakes his head]

No. But if she's someone you love, that explains a lot.

I know it's hard. You'd want her to be the one tending to you, right?

[imperfect]

Wh-?!

[It turns out that sudden screeching fits of the kind Ed is used to are a bad idea when it's already something of a challenge just to breathe normally, and the coughing that ensues this time is painful enough that towards the end it becomes mainly retching, although for now nothing comes up except an even worse taste in his mouth.

If he was indiscreet about the blood he was coughing up before, there's no disguising it now, splattered across the sheets in front of him.

He has to take a second to steady himself, leaning heavily on his automail arm; for a moment or two longer, it's the only visible part of him that doesn't seem to be shaking.

But he has priorities, so as soon as he's recovered enough of his breath to at least indistinctly mumble:]

What the hell is wrong with...?!?

[oncearanger]

Edward!

[Alarm floods through Billy. He jumps up, hands flailing as he tries to consider what to do---finally, he offers more tissues and slumps down.]
I'm sorry. I...all right, I won't pry. Should I go?

[imperfect]

What, so you can skip away and go jerk more people around while they're stuck in a bed?!

[He slumps back a little himself, but at the same time makes a grab for Billy's sleeve with downright jarring strength compared to how weak he currently sounds.]

Listen, jackass...! She's my mechanic! What did you think I meant?!

[...People without cyborg limbs have mechanics too sometimes, right?]

[oncearanger]

[Billy stops, looking down apologetically. Honest.]

...Girlfriend and mechanic?

[He cringes pre-emptively. Wrong answer, right?]

[imperfect]

[Hearing the accusation out loud does little to improve Ed's disposition.]

Then you've got one hell of a messed-up imagination!

[But he lets his hand drop, at least - and quietens down slightly, if more out of necessity than will.]

Who has time for that kind of thing in a place like this, anyway? [Not that this makes him sound any less defensive.]

[oncearanger]

[A month earlier and Billy would've agreed. He's now been through some experiences that have slightly changed his assessment. His face turns a little pink.]

If you really like someone, you'll find time, even if you're working twelve hour shifts. Fourteen, even. That feeling of comfort and togetherness does strange things to you.

[imperfect]

[By now the red mist in Ed's vision has cleared just enough for him to give Billy an almost concerned look.]

Well... I was kidding about the heartbreaker thing, but maybe you need to get out more after all.

[He somehow manages to say this without a trace of irony.]

[oncearanger]

Maybe. I mean....it does get lonely sometimes, I won't lie. And it's nice to be cared about.

[He fusses a little more, trying to work out what he can do.]

But attachment is still dangerous.

[imperfect]

[Midway through rolling his eyes and settling back against the wall, Ed pauses, frowning.]

You really think so?

[oncearanger]

I've been in a situation like this one for almost two years now---an unstable war, a group of drafted soldiers coming and going.

[He hangs his head]

The moment you really think you're happy with someone...they disappear, possibly forever. I've been through it at least a dozen times.

[imperfect]

[His forehead creases slightly, but it's not just that which makes him seem a tiny bit older; his voice rarely gets this low.]

And if you weren't holding on in the first place, it'll sting less when you have to let go. That's what you're getting at, isn't it?

[oncearanger]

Exactly.

[Billy wrings his hands together.]

But no matter how well I've learned that any bonds I make in a place like this are fleeting at best, I just can't stop caring about people. Even now.

[Even you, Ed. He smiles, a little awkward.]