MEMINI, SABRINA, & ADRASTEIA : THE HOSPITAL {FIN}

[Wolfy]

Sabrina seemed somewhat weakened by the fall, because when she realized Smile had caught her, she didn’t look relieved, she just placed her head on his shoulder and sighed. She didn’t even fight even though she knew they were going to the hospital, which she hated ever since her mother had first been placed into one.

On the way to the hospital in the truck, things began to become more and more distant. She stayed conscious until she was unloaded into the ER unit and placed on a stretcher. The last thing she remembered, she was being rolled into some kind of operating room. Even after everything he’d done to her, she held onto his hand all the time she could.

Her last thoughts were about how much she hated hospitals. They smelled of death, and were dismal and grey. She had avoided hospitals every since her mother died. In fact, she hadn’t stepped foot in one since then. It looked as though she was about to find out if there was any truth behind her fear that everyone who stepped foot into a hospital was bound to die.

-

The next thing she knew, there was a blinding light in her eyes. She grunted and turned her head toward the dimmer side, where she heard some soft speaking. She half opened her eyes to see two blobs of color standing by a backdrop of tan. “Hmm?” she grunted. “Wha- what’s going on?”

As the blobs slowly came into focus, Sabrina recognized them as Memini and Adrasteia. After seeing that, she looked around the remainder of the room. There was an open window to the other side, which was why it seemed so bright, a heart monitor that was beeping rhythmically, and a tray of water and medicine.

Smile must have left when her other guests appeared – he didn’t seem like much of a crowd person. So Sabrina wasn’t very concerned. “You guys came here for me?” she asked softly, smiling weakly at them. As she finished speaking, a nurse came in to attend to her hand. She pulled away stubbornly, obviously not wanting anything to do with the hospital’s care.

[Rad]

“Welcome back to the world of the living, Miss Suicidal!” Memini chirped happily, waving frantically with his left hand whilst balancing a pink teddy bear precariously in his right. Despite the current situation of his best friend he seemed almost ecstatic!

“Yes, you should be happy that she’s finally opened her eyes! If anything had happened it would be your fault!” There it was; the deep and reprimanding voice of Adrasteia as he struck his young master on the head with a rolled up newspaper.

“Ah~ But we don’t know for SURE that she tried to kill herself. I was just teasing! After all –“

There it was again, another sound whack on the back of the head, “don’t think that just because we’re out in public that I’m done punishing you! You should apologize to Sabrina instead of being so cocky!”

“Nurse! Nurse! Child abuse! Child abuse!” Feigning fright and apparently keen to start some drama Memini leapt onto a vacant hospital bed and proceeded to bounce around as if it were some cheap trampoline. However, once it became obvious that the hospital staff were ignoring him (or simply did not care) the youngster plopped himself down, fluffed up the germ-free white pillow and settled down as if he were about to take a nap.

“So Sabrina, what happened? All we got was a call from that Asian mobster that stated you had been hospitalized! No explanation whatsoever before a rather rude hang-up and now he’s supposedly wanted for the attempted murder of a deliveryman. What on earth have you been up to whilst I was being punished by Adrasteia?”

“Adding to that is the fact that the vehicle you came in is being inspected by police. I suspect they’ll want to question you soon. Also…Memini, it wasn’t exactly a voluntary hang-up in my opinion. Before the call ended there was the screech of car tires and the sound of breaking glass…I don’t suppose that it’s a coincidence either that a phone box near here has been practically destroyed.” Raising an eyebrow, Adrasteia gave Sabrina a worried look, “you haven’t gotten yourself swept into some sort of Mafia feud have you?”

[Wolfy]

Sabrina couldn’t help but smile at Memini’s antics and Adrasteia’s attempts to subdue him. She turned to Memini, who was currently making himself at home in the opposite bed, and began to explain what happened. “You see, they decided to punish me by locking me in my room…” she started, when she began giggling. “I don’t know, I just sort of… punched through my window.”

Even she would admit that it was kind of a funny situation – almost dying because she punched her hand through a window. “It’s a good thing Smile was around. Without his help, I’d probably be dead right now.” She looked to Adrasteia to hear his story of what happened with Smile.

“What? He left before you two got here?” she asked. That was surprising. For someone who was so protective over her, it seemed odd that he would leave her alone. “Oh dear… I really hope he’s okay.” She frowned and thought.

Adrasteia’s continued explanation only served to worry her more. Even the heart monitor was beeping faster with her increased nerves. “I hope he hasn’t gotten into trouble for saving me.” She sat up and rested her head on her hands.

“You haven’t gotten yourself swept into some sort of Mafia feud have you?” She looked up at Adrasteia and sighed. “I don’t know… Probably.” If Smile did get in trouble, they might come after her, next. With that, she was so worried sick about both herself and Smile that she got up and began trying to disconnect herself from the heart monitor.

“Miss Matthews?” A nurse rushed in when the monitor made a ringing drone because it thought she had flat-lined when she disconnected the sensors. “No, lay back down! You aren’t fit enough to go anywhere!” But Sabrina couldn’t sit around knowing Smile may be getting killed because of her, so she just rushed past the nurse.

[Rad]

“Ah, so many impulsive decisions with no regard for authority! I like this new Sabrina!” Memini stated calmly as he watched his best friend rush off on the whim of what was probably the worst decision of her life. “Tell me all about your adventures when you return!”

“Aren’t you going to go after her?”

“Why? Mafia business is dangerous stuff! I’ll rather not.” This indifference was, as was to be expected, greeted with a frown of displeasure from Adrasteia.

Glowering at Memini, the butler chucked the rolled up newspaper at the young man’s head with a shot of: “Fine! Stay here and acquaint yourself with the current events as you think about what you’ve done and said today! Don’t be surprised if I don’t come back for you.” With that Adrasteia was off, chasing after the runaway maiden with exclamations of “Hey! Sabrina! Wait! Think about what you’re doing!”

-

Consciousness was gradually returning to Smile as his eyes flickered open in the darkness. As he endeavored to recall what had transpired before his blackout he became aware of a dull throbbing pain at the back of his head. That wasn’t right…hadn’t he only been punched in the eye…?

Well, other things had happened after that, hadn’t they? Yes, his memory was slowly flowing back into his head now...he had been making a phone call…in a phone box downtown and…

Wait… What? What had that been about?

Oh yes, he had just delivered Sabrina to the nearest hospital and had just been in the process of contacting that friend of hers when…

There had been the screech of a car tires, hadn’t there?

And…?

He had seen something flying towards him in his peripheral vision…a metal baseball bat?

Ah! So that was what had slugged him in the head!

Attempting to raise his hands to the back of his head he realized they were bond behind his back. Exactly what had happened during the time that he was insensible?

As he was pondering this, the creaking of rusted metal sounded and a shaft of light appeared in the gloom before him. Slowly, a silhouette materialized in the light of the doorway and a booming voice issued forth. “Interesting! So you are up! I suppose you’re lucky in that you had failed to realize I had locked you in a metal crate. I was hoping you would please me with the little appetizer of screaming like a little girl. It seems you will not give me that satisfaction…yet.”

A gasp; an expression of disbelief; a look of puzzlement. “Boss?!”

[Wolfy]

Sabrina didn’t wait for Adrasteia as she continued her run through the hospital hallways. The nurses she passed looked puzzled and then worried as they saw what kind of condition she was in. A nurse said as Adrasteia passed, “She can’t leave! If she’s not closely watched, she’ll get an infection or die her loss of blood!”

Somehow, Sabrina managed to make it outside without anybody succeeding to stop her. She paused to look around for the phone booth they had mentioned earlier. It didn’t take long to locate said booth, which was shattered and partially disassembled. On the street in front of the box, there were black skid marks where a van must have come to a rapid halt. She examined the marks and hurried off in the direction they were going towards. She didn’t know where she was going, but she hoped that there would be clues along the way.

Luckily for her, there were. Around nearly every corner, there were more skid marks. She followed them carefully and found herself on a more decrepit part of town. Cautiously, she looked for what she thought might be a mafia hideout, but didn’t quite know what to look for, since everything seemed shady.

Because she was so preoccupied with finding the hideout, she didn’t notice the man following her from behind a corner. At the moment, he wasn’t attacking. He was merely observing, though he knew he’d found the right person.

This man had helped bring Smile in mere hours ago, and now he was planning on bringing the underage girl that was teh source of all their problems, as well. Maybe if they threatened her, that would knock some sense through Smile’s thick head. Yes, it was a perfect plan, but he needed to wait for just the right moment.

(You can take the Mafia guy, or you can make something stop him – up to you)

[Rad]

Unable to stop her, Adrasteia could only trail along behind Sabrina, cautiously surveying the scene from distance close enough to be of assistance but remote enough for potential evil-doers to overlook him.

In light of things, this decision proved to his advantage as a cloaked figure stepped out in front of him; advancing upon Sabrina with his back turned to the butler. Glancing around to ascertain that there weren’t more of these characters around Adrasteia swiftly withdrew his gun from his pocket.

Unlocking the safety he pointed the weapon at the back of the man’s head and asked, “Just what do you think you’re doing?”

-

Meanwhile, at the hospital, Memini was getting bored. There simply wasn’t much to be done when there was no overly emotional person to meddle with! The unresponsive nurses didn’t seem to buy his ‘terminally ill’ act at all. Of course, they were well experienced in picking out the fakes from the real deal.

Sighing, Memini at last got out of bed. Oh he was getting bored out of his mind! He simply couldn’t stand it! Perhaps it was time to do some adventuring on his own…OH he had a brilliant idea! What if he were to take the role of the brilliant detective who always saves the day? That’ll show them! Now what were popular mafia hideouts again…? Oh, right! The abandoned quay!

-

The silhouette outlined in the doorway was that of an elderly man; bent over his walking stick with (as Smile’s eyes adjusted to the glare) a benevolent expression on his face. He looked harmless enough, yet Smile knew that this misconception was what had helped guise his true occupation as a Mafia boss.

With a smirk, Smile also acknowledged that his Boss’ kindly demeanor certainly helped gain new recruits. After all, hadn’t he himself been taken in by that fake smile?

However, the mere fact that his boss was present entailed that something was amiss and…from the gist of things he was getting the impression that he was in trouble…quite possibly deep trouble.

[Wolfy]

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” The voice was unmistakable. Adrasteia was right behind her, trying to drag her back to the hospital, no doubt. She didn’t even bother to turn around, and simply sighed in frustration. I can take care of myself! she thought angrily before spinning around to tell him so.

But between her and Adrasteia, who to Sabrina’s alarm was wielding a pistol, stood a man cloaked in black with a sinister look on his face. Obviously, in her condition, she wanted no part in any fight. So she ducked into an alley and hid inside a small wooden crate.

Outside, the Mafioso glared at Adrasteia. “So, she has another protector, eh?” he asked, pulling out his own revolver from a pocket from somewhere in his cloak. “We got through her first, I’m sure we can get through you, too.” With his other hand, he suddenly pointed another gun at where Sabrina had been.

However, now it was just pointed at thin air because of Sabrina’s fleeing. He turned his head and saw this, and with a furious scowl, turned back to the man behind him. His prey gone, he had no interest in carrying out this fight. “We’ll get you eventually, girl,” he growled before quickly making a dash for escape, through the same alley Sabrina had hidden in.

She sat, shivering in the box as she thought about how close she had come to dying again[/b] that day. How long had that mobster been trailing her? Cautiously, a few moments later, she poked her head out of the crate to look around.

Seeing Adrasteia, she looked at him sadly. “I’m so sorry…” she murmured, looking as if she might cry. This was the second time that day she’d endangered the lives of two separate friends who had wanted nothing more than to help her. She felt awful, and began to retreat back into the box.
[/size]

[Rad]

The thing about hiring a taxi in this glorious city was that, with the right incentive, there were no traffic regulations, private properties, and pedestrian sidewalks a driver wouldn’t completely disregard in exchange…for say, ten times a month’s worth of wages! After all, especially with the economy with such a rut money was hard to come by!

So thus it was that Memini found himself at the abandoned quay before his companions; newspaper rolled up in one hand, a near-empty purse in the other and a proud smirk on his face. Oh truly there was no expense left unspent for the sake of upstaging his friends.

Meandering around the seemingly desserted site the lad soon came across a couple of shady looking goons chatting idly in front of a locked warehouse door. Fantastic! Perhaps he could save the day before Sabrina and Adrasteia even had a chance to get here!

Thinking himself to be some brilliant detective (much like the Sherlock Holmes of the tales Adrasteia would often read to him) the foolish boy happily sauntered up to the creeps with what he believed to be a marvelously genuine pauper accent.

“After noon gentlemen. Earlier this mornin’ yer boss asked me for this fine day’s paper ta be delivered right ‘ere to this address? Since I’m here now do please step aside.”

“Oh?” One of the burly men spoke up, “I wasn’t aware the er…” A humoring glance at the header of the crumpled paper, “New York Times had paper-boys running around in this area. I ain’t seen none o’ ya runnin’ amok ‘ere before.”

“Well obviously he talked to me uptown or wherever they…I mean…er…we usually make our rounds. Now if you would just let me through –“

“A delivery boy with only one paper in his hand?” Stretching out an arm to block, Memini’s path the other door-guard gave Memini a doubtful look. Of course, they were still humoring him.

“Well, business was good today, sir.”

“Oh, yes, we can see that! With the way you’re dressed in attire so befitting of the upper-class we’re beginning to wonder if we shouldn’t have chosen such a…obviously rewarding vocation ourselves.”

Oh snap! The gig was up! Or…was it? “Ahaha, you caught me. I’m actually making this delivery so my friend could take some time off. Almost tricked you didn’t I? Ahahaha…” More nervous laughter ensued, gradually trailing off and becoming an awkward silence before the mobsters began conversing amongst themselves.

“Say, wasn’t it an underage blue-blood that our colleague was told to bring in?”

“Yessir, an’ from the look o’ things I’m guessing his target jus’ deliver’d ‘erself to our door.”

Evidently, the conversation was intentionally voiced in such a way for the purpose of intimidation and mockery. Memini’s naturally androgynous features and effeminate voice made him easily mistaken for the opposite gender. That, coupled with that disagreeable height of his easily put him into the category of a young girl. It was just exceedingly unfortunate that these men had never seen what Smile treasured ‘young princess’ actually looked like.

Furthermore, it was just like the irrational young heir to take off his pants at school but go absolutely nothing to prove his true gender when faced with such life-threatening danger! Really, all he could think to say was an exclamation of “Oh shit!” before running away with both mobsters following close behind.

-

Inside the warehouse, things were taking a turn for the worse. There had been, in the beginning, that generic speech concerning the Boss’ (insincere) feelings of sadness but then it had progressed to the reason why Smile was, at that moment, tied up in a crate… In a dingy warehouse somewhere no one would care if they heard him scream. It certainly looked like this was the end of the road for him…unless…

Making a desperate attempt at escape Smile charged towards the old man, stupidly believing that he would make it…

Until a blade flashed into view and within seconds slashed a diagonal line across Smile’s face and blinded him in one eye. The pain was excruciating but even this wasn’t enough as with blunt force a walking stick knocked the wind out of him and sent his hurtling backwards halfway across the floor.

“Oh? You think you can get away? I would have thought that after working with me for so long you would have realized I’m not just an ‘average defenseless old man’.”

-

“I’m so sorry…”

At these words, Adrasteia sighed, crouching down to pat the young girl on the head. “Don’t apologize, Sabrina. There’s nothing for you to be sorry for. It’s his own fault for choosing that sort of life and there’s nothing you or I can do. Let’s go home and forget about everything. He can probably take care of himself.”

[Wolfy]

Sabrina seemed to retreat even further into the crate when Adrasteia walked over, but when he patted her gently on the head, she relaxed, glad that he wasn’t mad. “Yeah, you’re probably right…” she said, calming down. “Smile can take care of himself – he’s strong.” She stood up and was about to turn back to go to the hospital.

Just when she turned her head, though, she heard something coming from a block or two over. It sounded like shouting, but there was a familiar voice in the mix. But who’s voice was that? After thinking for a moment, it came back to her. That voice was from the first time she was kidnapped by Smile. It was the man who’d tossed them out of the moving truck!

Suddenly, she looked around again. Wasn’t that quay nearby? Could that possibly be where Smile was? It was a Mafia hideout…

“Wait, I think I heard something,” she told Adrasteia, walking off in the direction the noise had come from. Sure enough, the quay was visible after the next row of shabby buildings. But she didn’t see the man or anyone else. Well, since no one was around, there was no harm in checking it out.

“Maybe I’d better go alone… It’s slippery and dangerous,” she said before cautiously stepping through the door into the warehouse. Watching each step, she made her way across the narrow, mold-covered planks.

Suddenly, she heard a crash and jumped, nearly slipping. After regaining her balance, she looked toward the crate. Yes, that was definitely where the sound came from. It would make sense that the cruel mobsters would hold Smile there. She pressed her ear to the door to listen.

She couldn’t make out words, but there were definitely two or more people talking inside. To open the door, she pulled on the bar to swing the door open, but the bar came out. So, she pulled it open by hand, holding onto the metal rod.

What she saw was shocking. Smile was lying with his hands tied behind his back in a corner of the crate. In front of him was an old man. He didn’t look too threatening… Holding up the rod, she prepared to strike the man on the side of his head.

(If you want it to work out, you can just say she hit him on the head and knocked him out. If you don’t, you could just have him turn around to stop her or have him not get knocked out if she hits him on the head.

[Rad]

CLANG!!

Atop a distant warehouse roof Memini watched the last of the metal barrels descend into the dark alley and once again…hit nobody. Sighing, he resigned himself to an imminent capture as he gazed forlornly about this dead-end he had led himself into.

Perhaps he could jump…a few meters surely wasn’t enough to kill him…or was it?

As he pondered this dilemma, the lad failed to notice one of the mobsters ascending the nearby fire escape and within seconds a set of muscular arms had wrapped around him. However, whether it was luck or misfortune the fact that Memini was already so close to the edge meant that a few kicks soon sent the both of them toppling into the darkness below.

-

THWACK!!

An instant knockout! For a young girl Sabrina sure had aimed that strike well and within seconds both elder and walking cane were prostrate on the ground…although the mobster she was attempting to save didn’t appear to be conscious either.

“Sabrina! What did you –you should have left that to me.” Adrasteia muttered, feeling rather useless as he finally caught up to the young maiden. “This isn’t something I should have allowed you to get involved with…” The man was almost muttering to himself now as he approached, quietly studying the scene before placing a comforting a hand on Sabrina’s shoulder. “But I suppose it's fine as long as you're okay...you are okay, aren't you?”

So the mobster had fainted before he could see Sabrina's heroic entrance. What a wimp!

[Wolfy]

Sabrina dropped the bar after she was positive the old man was out cold. She looked over to see that her friend must have been unconscious, for he didn’t even flinch with the sound of the bar hitting the man’s head. But how would they make their escape if Smile couldn’t walk?

She turned back to Adrasteia and let out a sigh of relief. “I didn’t want to get you in to any more danger today,” she said. She looked very strange for a fancy girl like herself – even though the blood she was coated in was her own, she still looked rather menacing after singlehandedly taking out a Mafia boss.

“Is he okay?” she asked, looking down at the man lying at her feet. “I hope he wakes up… I didn’t want to kill the poor old man.” She frowned and glanced down at her wrist. Through the pristine bandages, there were a couple dots of crimson. Her wrist was bleeding, but she would be fine. “Yeah, I’m okay... Let’s get out of here before any of his goons show up.”

She bent down, untied Smile’s hands, and tried her best to drag him out of the crate. But because she was so small and weak, she could only drag him a couple inches at a time. She sighed, frustrated, and dropped his arm back to the floor. “Wake up!” she said sadly. It would be a real feat to drag his unconscious form over those slippery planks.


-

Meanwhile, back at the Matthews estate, Mr. Matthews was returning to find his manor in chaos. Policemen were everywhere, a man in a delivery uniform was sitting in the back of an ambulance, wrapped in a blanket, a smashed window, and blood everywhere! “What on earth?” he asked.

When one of the cops noticed his presence, he walked over and said, “Sir, we need to ask you a few questions.” There’s no way whatever happened wouldn’t end up in the news, no matter what it was. Furiously, he agreed, but thought, Whatever she did, she’s dead,

[Rad]

“I didn’t want to get you in to any more danger today.”

To Adrasteia that statement sounded so ridiculous that for the interim it took all his effort to maintain his composure and hide the chuckle of amusement threatening to burst from his lips. This of course, temporarily rendered him incapable of providing the struggling girl any assistance as he watched her strive to carry the mobster on her shoulders.

To be honest, he wasn’t particularly interested in helping the criminal. After all, he had already done enough harm to Sabrina and that was BEFORE he was openly wanted by the authorities…and quite obviously there was also going to be the addition of unscrupulous gangs from this point onwards as well. Was it even worthwhile to save this sorry creature that would only become a burden to them later?

“Here, let me help you with that…thing.” Adrasteia muttered begrudgingly as he picked up Smile and (with some struggle) proceeded to carry the troublesome person on his back.
Fortunately enough, by pure luck (or, in reality, the work of Memini) there was a taxi parked relatively close to the warehouse and soon the irksome load was off Adrasteia’s shoulders and on the back seat.

-

At the moment of impact there sounded a sickening thud and the sound of breaking bones. Gasping, Memini flailed about like a fish out of water until he finally realized he was alright. Surprisingly enough, his captor had also loosened hi grip and he was now…free!

However, what was he lying on? It was warm and…
A moment of epiphany and Memini was up in a flash, his complexion paling greatly as he stared at the barely moving mobster who had cushioned his fall. What to do what to do?

Still, this uncharacteristic indecision on his part was quickly broken by a shout from above from the remaining mobster and soon Memini was off running for his life again.

[Wolfy]

Sabrina helped as much as she could, though Adrasteia was stronger than he looked, and mostly managed Smile by himself. Though it was obvious he hated the mobster, he was still going through all that trouble to save him. She had a feeling it was because she asked him to.

When Smile was safely in the taxi, she let out a deep sigh of relief. She smiled gratefully up at Adrasteia and gave him a friendly hug. “Thank you,” she said quietly. “This means a lot…” She let him go and got in the taxi next to the unconscious mobster, and looked to the driver.

She told him Memini’s address, assuming that he was there already, waiting for them. Unless he was at the hospital, still? Either way, he would be home sooner or later. Plus, she guessed that her estate was a mess, what with the investigation and policemen everywhere. Smile couldn’t go back there if there was risk of him getting arrested.

“Is it too much to ask for you to hide Smile there?” she asked sheepishly. “I’m sure my home is swarming with policemen, and I honestly think Smile would have preferred to be back there than in jail…”

She looked over and noticed how uncomfortably he was laid in the cab. Caringly, she pulled his arm out because it was behind his back and she placed it on his knee. She would feel a lot better once he woke up – she felt so worried with him lying limp next to her. What if he never woke up?