MEHR Chapter 51 snippet 2 (Patreon)

(well past the 1500 word mark with this one. Should be done soon.)

~[h+]~

While Bau was driving around Queens hospital, Elsa was changing into a light hardsuit augmented by a sports' exosuit. It was all that Bau could put together on short notice that was above military grade AND was her size.

"So what's so interesting about Queens hospital?" she asked, as she pressed the switch that made the suit hug her contours.

Bau brought up Queens' codex entry on the car's dashboard. "Queens hospital specializes in skin treatment for humans," he said. "who are, apparently, very sensitive to Widow's radiation. Melanoma treatments are common, but the real moneymaker lied in cosmetic biomodification... hm..."

"What is it?" asked Elsa.

"Hold a moment." The Spectre punched up the number of one of his informants — a Volus banker by the name of Barla Von — and was about to make introductions, but of course, Von being who he is, there was no need.

"Ah...Mr Bau!" greeted the Volus' head hovering on the dashboard. "And... Ms. DuClare, is it?"

"Devereaux," Elsa corrected.

"...Ah! my apologies — I was looking at your maiden name on my file. How may assist the Spectres?"

"Just this one Spectre," corrected Bau, "and I would like to purchase some information concerning Queens Hospital, relevant to current events."

"Ah, yes... terrible, that bombing."

"Any possible motive for it, besides terrorism?" said Bau, as he slotted his credstick into his Omni-Tool, sending Von's fee immediately to speed things along.

"Hm, let me see..." there were a few seconds of silence as Von brought up what he had on Queens Hospital, the data one could not find simply by doing an extra-net search. "...There isn't much here that would cause anyone to hold a deep enough grudge against Queens to blow it up, honestly."

"Anything out of the ordinary, though?" asked Elsa.

"Queens has managed to keep its nose clean and skeletons out of its closets for a while, up until recently, when its primary supplier of biotech turned out to be knee-deep in illegal experimentation and has come under fire for bio-terrorism and crimes against sapient life..."

"...Europa Genomics," concluded Bau. Elsa felt a crawling sensation in the back of her neck, recalling the swarm of monsters that practically surged out of the ground around the Granada... Worst still, the Acheron's Marines had been attacked some horribly mutated cannibals as they swept the entire city for any remaining Geth.

"Exactly," said Von. "However, this was not a well known fact since, legally, Queens' suppliers are actually EG dummy companies... and despite EG practically imploding, business at Queens did not seem to have been affected in the least."

"Queens found a new supplier?" asked Bau.

"Perhaps... this is where my information ends, unfortunately. Queens has been very good at keeping its privacy."

Good enough to keep secrets from the Shadow Broker? thought Bau. Interesting.

"Needless to say, certain people would be very interested in whatever secrets can still be found in the ruins of Queens Hospital," said Von meaningfully.

Bau smiled. "Of course, thank you for your time, Von."

As the Volus' image winked out of existence, Bau gave Elsa Von's contact info, in case she should ever need his services. "In light of what we were just told," he said as he slotted a tungsten block into his pistol. "I believe we'll need to make some hasty adjustments to our infiltration plan."

"I'll give my team a call..." said Elsa, as Bau handed her a modified shotgun.

~[h+]~

Elsa followed Bau's lead into the burned out husk of the Queens hospital, a fairly modest but spacious three-floor building that was, save for a large holographic sign that often glitched between QUEENS and OLEEN, quite unremarkable. A few days ago, however, the place was a point of focus for both the media and horrified passers-by. C-Sec had done a very good job of keeping intrepid reporters out once the blaze died down, but Elsa thought that they'd be no match for a veteran Salarian Spectre.

Why then, she wondered, did it take so long to get inside the place?

"Those aren't C-Sec officers," said Bau over their frequency. His kept his voice sealed in, preventing the nearby patrolling guards from hearing him.

Elsa peeked at the two uniformed human guards from behind cover. Even as they talked to each other, their heads were constantly swivelling, their eyes wary for intruders. They were also wielding M7 Lancer mk IX rifles, and their belts and straps had redundant shield emitters and power packs. "No, definitely not. Cops are never this vigilant." She said this, speaking from the experiences of her chequered past.

"Can you believe this shit?" said one of the fake cops. "The site's practically sanitized already, and yet we're still fucking here. What's taking so long?"

"Eggheads want to make sure they find all the ah... 'bodies'," replied the other. "Can't be careless with this shit, you kn—"

"Wait! I think i see someone there..."

The two 'cops' went to investigate a nearby pile of rubble, but both Elsa and Bau were already gone.

~[h+]~