Chapter Six

Agent VALAME returns to HQ with her prisoner in tow. She discovers he is actually ALEXANDER MIKAELSON, DANI’s brother, who has been tracking his sister for the last 18 months. He is a handsome, muscular young man with dirty blonde hair that falls to his shoulders. Agent VALAME is soon joined by Agents SWANSON and FENNICK. Together, they interrogate the young man, first asking him why he was shooting at his sister. ALEXANDER denies the accusation stating he was shooting at the monster that was attacking his sister, and demands to know what the OSI wants with DANI, or ASH, as he calls her. KIDA seems to find ALEXANDER attractive and intriguing, and doesn’t hide her flirting very well. Over the next hour, during what appears to be a dual sided interrogation, the three agents try and assure ALEXANDER they don’t what to hurt DANI – she has saved all of their lives on multiple occasions. ALEXANDER doesn’t seem convinced. At the conclusion, the agents decide to release ALEXANDER from custody.

On the other side of town, DANI dutifully watches over the young Uratha until he awakes from his post-Kuruth slumber, bandaging his wounds to the best of her ability. Fortunately, he ended up in the center of a thick copse of trees in a less developed section of Golden Gate Park, shielding the two of them from prying eyes. DANI senses another supernatural presence that claims the park, but it doesn’t seem to mind their intrusion. DANI is only marginally surprised that the Uratha is actually DOM. He wakes up disoriented but soon registers where he is at. He looks at DANI, seemingly unabashed at his nakedness before her, and somewhat playfully asks her why she has him naked in the middle of Golden Gate Park. Even though she is still somewhat annoyed, DANI can’t help but smile a little as she states that their first order of business should be to find him some clothes. She offers to go and retrieve some for him as long as he agrees to stay hidden amongst the trees until her return, but DOM insists he can have some delivered right to them via Amazon drone in a very short amount of time. DANI skeptically agrees and lets DOM borrow her phone to place the order. Then DANI settles in for their serious conversation.

Upon returning from crash course in what it means to be an Iron Master from the Harbingers, DR. JASON SPHYNX learns there is apparently another newly changed Uratha in San Francisco that recently made quite a mess in a local hospital. Intrigued, JASON tracks the Uratha to Golden Gate Park, and discovers him in a copse of trees conversing with a female Uratha he recognizes as DANI WINCHESTER, the Bone Shadow that helped him with his initiation. JASON approaches silently and settles into the nearby brush to listen to their conversation. DANI calls the new Uratha DOM, and he is currently telling her that he underwent is First Change a couple of weeks ago, and has been training with LEIDECKER. DANI seems briefly confused by the fact DOM claims to have changed two weeks ago, but manages to shake it off after a moment. DANI is very interested in what this LEIDECKER has told DOM of Uratha society. DOM seems to know and trust DANI, and doesn’t appear to hold anything back from her. JASON can tell DANI is preparing to give DOM the “what it really means to be an Uratha” speech, which is fine with JASON since he is so new to this world himself. Maybe he’ll learn something.

Shortly after launching into her spiel, DANI realizes DOM’s attention is suddenly drawn to the bushes behind her. DOM insists there is something or someone there, but DANI doesn’t hear or see anything. She is about to continue her lesson, when DOM growls and bolts into the bushes behind her. After a brief scuffle, DOM emerges from the bushes with JASON in tow. “Told you!” Exasperated, DANI orders both pups to sit down and shut up. She scolds JASON for lurking in the bushes unannounced. DOM asks how she knows JASON and she explains they worked a case together during the week DOM was in the hospital. Though not inclined to trust JASON, DOM respects the fact that DANI seems to and reluctantly agrees to let him join the conversation.

Back at HQ, Agent SWANSON cringes as she and her team are ordered into LEIDECKER’s office. She is sure they are about to get reprimanded for allowing their prisoner to walk. Instead they are told they have another case – a missing person case at a local hospital that has a prominent psychiatric ward. Three patients recently disappeared from the psych ward. Normally the FBI wouldn’t be involved in a missing person case, but one of the patients is a 12-year old little girl. The team is told they will be working with the SFPD on this case, and the detective in charge is LAURA HOUSTON. They equip themselves and head out, wondering if they will ever get a good night’s sleep again.

LAURA HOUSTON proves to be quite the firecracker, with a no-nonsense take charge attitude. She is less than thrilled about having to work with the FBI and seems to have no problem ordering them around like they are a bunch of rookie cops. She rides the team mercilessly until Special Agent DIEHARDIN arrives with DANI and another young man the team doesn’t recognize. DANI introduces him as DR. JASON SPHYNX. DOM meets LAURA’s fierce gaze head on as they exchange heated words. Then, for whatever reason LAURA backs down, but not before she playfully cup-checks DOM. She nods approvingly, “You’ve got stones… I can respect that.” Grateful for the reprieve, the rest of the team slips away to begin their investigation, leaving DANI and JASON with DOM as LAURA briefs them on the case. It isn’t long before they come across a vent that has a putrid, sickening odor wafting up from below. NEMO, being shamelessly curious, decides to climb in and see what she can see. The vent drops off unexpectedly, though, and NEMO disappears from view. The team calls out to her, but there is no response. Barely hesitating, KIDA climbs into the vent after NEMO and also disappears, leaving KILLIAN shaking his head as DOM walks up behind him with LAURA, DANI and JASON. DOM asks where NEMO and KIDA are and KILLIAN gestures to the vent. “Let’s get a blueprint of this place and figure out where these vents go.” DOM barks since he knows there is no way he and KILLIAN can fit through the small opening. “I can fit,” DANI says calmly and climbs into the vent, “Join us when you can…”

DANI manages to control her descent into the darkness below, landing silently on something wet and squishy. She turns on her flashlight and beholds a gruesome sight. KIDA and NEMO lie motionless on the floor and there is a creature of some sort covering their faces and wrapping around their throats. She quickly crosses the room to NEMO and attempts to pry the creature off of her still form. Unfortunately, the more she pulls, the tighter the creature’s grip becomes around NEMO’s throat, closing in around her windpipe. DANI’s instincts take over and she shifts to her battle form – maybe a swift, surgical kill will release the creature’s grip. She uses the Garou claws to rend the creature in half from top to bottom and is caught off guard as the creature’s blood splatters over her hands, arms and chest burning her as if she just had a vat of acid poured on her. And while the creature’s hold is broken, it’s blood is now burning NEMO’s face and throat. Horrified, DANI hurriedly works to brush the blood off of her friend.

NEMO’s eyes fly open and she gasps for air, bolting upright. Her face and neck are on fire and there is a large beast in front of her, reaching toward her with large hands and razor sharp claws. For NEMO, though, that pales in comparison to the creature that is rising up behind the beast, bringing back a childhood memory she had tried so hard to forget, when she crawled under her house that one fateful night and came face to face with a creature that lived in her worst nightmares from that day forward and eventually resulted in her being committed to a mental asylum at the age of thirteen. NEMO exposes her throat to the beast in front of her, hoping for a quick and painless death before having to face her worst nightmare once again. To her chagrin, the beast doesn’t give her such mercy. It seems to have just become aware of the creature behind it and spins to face it, shifting down to a large wolf and standing protectively in front of NEMO, growling. The creature hisses in response and begins to move forward. Out of the corner of her eye, NEMO sees DOM, KILLIAN, JASON and LAURA approaching off to her right. DOM plants himself in the doorway of the room and levels his gun at the creature. “GET AWAY FROM HER, YOU BITCH!” he yells. The barrels of KILLIAN’s and JASON’s guns appear from beside and between DOM’s legs and the room erupts into gunfire, snarls and hissing.

DANI charges the creature in front of her, ripping into its tough hide. Blood wells up as the creature’s exoskeleton is breached, and DANI feels her mouth, nose and eyes burn from the creature’s acidic blood. At the same time, gunfire erupts from beside her and several more splatters of the creature’s blood shower her. It feels like her whole body is on fire. NEMO’s electro kinesis arcs from behind DANI and lances into the creature, though it seems to have little effect. DANI disengages, backing toward KIDA, confident in her team’s ability to handle the threat and turns, preparing to remove the other creature from KIDA’s face and throat. NEMO realizes what DANI is about to do and moves to KIDA’s side, hoping to save her from the pain of having the creature’s blood burn her. She brandishes her stun gun, waving DANI away, and discharges it at full power into the creature. It convulses and dies, releasing its grip on KIDA, but KIDA remains unconscious, also damaged by the stun gun. NEMO removes the body, extracting one of its appendages from down KIDA’s throat. The rest of the team dispatches the nightmare creature and turns to assess the situation.

The three missing patients lay sprawled out amidst unidentifiable gore. Two of them have their chests exploded outward, like something ripped its way out from inside. The little girl also lies motionless on the floor, but her chest is intact and she appears to be breathing. Her face and neck are concealed within the shadows. Two bodies with their chest cavities ripped open… perhaps the “face huggers” plant some kind of seed within their victims that grows into these nightmares and rips it way out when it’s mature. That means there is potentially still another nightmare roaming around in the bowels of the hospital. One of the original victims, the little girl, is still alive, but for how long? For once, Detective LAURA HOUSTON seems at a loss for words, processing everything she has just witnessed. DOM, who normally would be barking orders, is still heavily injured from his earlier altercation with DANI’s brother, not to mention his most recent encounter with the nightmare creature. DANI approaches the little girl and realizes she has a face-hugger attached to her. “Stun it!” she growls at NEMO. NEMO starts to argue, fearing for the little girl’s safety, but DOM interjects that if they don’t remove it the little girl is dead anyway. This might at least give her a chance. NEMO obliges and the face hugger shutters and falls away. DANI kneels down next to the little girl and tosses the creature’s body aside, verifying the girl is still alive but unconscious. She scoops the little girl up in her arms and turns to the door. “Let’s get out of here.” KILLIAN picks up KIDA and follows DANI out.

The team retreats back to the upper levels of the hospital to recover and DANI has KILLIAN order an evacuation and call the OSI in to lock down the hospital. There is still at least one creature down below that threatens the lives of the patients and staff. The team will have hunt it down eventually, but for now they needed to rest. DOM makes a hasty departure out to his car, knowing that his increased healing rate will not go unnoticed when the OSI arrives. The evacuation of the hospital goes relatively smoothly, and there is some discussion as to whether or not KIDA and NEMO should leave with the patients to get treated at the other hospital. DANI ponders it for a moment, then insists that they need to stay, along with the little girl. “We need to make sure you’re not… infected first. We’ll have the OSI doctors take a look at you.” While the team waits for the evacuation to complete and the OSI containment team to arrive, KILLIAN, JASON and DANI start sifting through patient files to see if they can find a connection between the three patients that were abducted while DOM, NEMO and KIDA rest. There doesn’t seem to be a connection between the three patients, but a particular case file attracts their attention.

A DR. WAHNSINNIG, who normally only works at the hospital three days a week, lately has been spending every day here working with a patient known as ALEXA WOODS, who was admitted for lack of sleep and later diagnosed with paranoid Schizophrenia. ALEXA suffers from debilitating nightmares which began after serving as a guide for Weyland Corporation in Antarctica. While she was there, she claims “living nightmares” erupted from the ground and started attacking the research team. Some kind of hunter alien helped her escape. DANI and JASON exchange a glance and then DANI briefly shares with KILLIAN the mission she and JASON went on a little less than a week ago, where a doctor had managed to bring his nightmares to life, allowing spirits to affect the real world. DANI can confirm that the creatures at this hospital are not spirits, but could they be dealing with a similar situation? JASON expresses a keen interest in talking with ALEXA WOODS himself, but would have to get permission from DR. WAHNSINIG to do so. Their discussion is interrupted as the containment team arrives and starts setting up. After a series of radiographs, KIDA and NEMO are found to be free of infestation. The little girl, however is not as lucky. The OSI doctors believe they can surgically remove whatever is growing within her. DANI has them prepare for surgery, but insists that she be present during the procedure. KILLIAN backs her up, vouching for her authority within the OSI, and the doctors reluctantly agree.

The Story Continues…

Current Developments - Chapter Five - Chapter Seven