Ronan let the conjured hammer in his hand fade and stumbled backwards. "Damned… Monster. Tried to kill me." He pretended to faint, keeping his awareness on his surroundings. He doubted the security would kill him outright without first figuring out what had happened.

"Davy? Davy, are you alright!?" He felt hands grabbing his arms. He slowly opened his eyes and saw one of the guards from earlier. Two more had barged in and were inspecting the captain's remains.

"I'm not sure. My head hurts. Need… Med-bay." Ronan still wanted to get to the med-bay and interfere with the shapeshifters a bit more. He had learnt it was close to the tech maintenance area where the bunker's systems were controlled and managed.

"Fuck me. The captain was one of the bodystealers!? How can that happen? I thought—" The speaker had a scared expression on her face. "We killed so many in the last investigation. This shouldn't be possible."

"Stop spiralling, Rhea. We'll figure this out. Right now we need to make sure Davy gets treated properly in the med-bay. He's a hero, after all. Knowing that the captain was one of them…" The man shuddered. "Well, not anymore."

The guard fussing over Ronan helped him to his feet. "Can you walk alright?"

Ronan let out a weak chuckle and pushed the man away. "I can walk, man. I'm just injured, not crippled."

That earned him some laughter from the guards. Soon he was being escorted out while more guards came in to deal with the shapeshifter situation. While Ronan and the other guard walked to the med-bay, he had his inventory open and was reading the description of one of the items that had dropped from the captain when it died. Bunker security key 2.

The description was brief, but it allowed him to figure out what it was used for. The journal he had obtained from the first elite talked about what they needed to unseal the bunker. It mentioned security, but wasn't specific. It had actually been one of the mouthy guards who'd revealed the fact about needing three keys to operate the outside seal. This was clearly one of them.

Ronan wondered if it was originally in the possession of the guard captain or if the gorzerk had acquired it from one of the technicians and moved it around to keep it secure. Their plan was meant to be unfolding soon. If I'm being optimistic, I've just jammed a huge wrench in their strategy. Somehow I don't think the nightmare tutorial would be that simple.

When they neared the med-bay Ronan stopped. He cursed himself. He hadn't planned to come here with an escort. It would expose all of his lies.

He had never been to the med-bay for a head injury and the moment someone started asking about such an incident they would quickly realise that it had never happened. That wouldn't be the worst outcome, but it would significantly hamper his progress. For starters, he would be suspected of being one of the shapeshifting gorzerk.

"Thanks for bringing me. I'll be fine on my own from here, mate." Ronan turned to the guard with him and smiled. The guard stopped and stared at him.

"I don't know. I'd feel more comfortable knowing you were in the doctor's care." Ronan sighed inwardly at the other man's response. Convincing him to leave was going to be a struggle.

"What, do you think I can't make it the last fifty metres on my own? I'll be fine, honestly. You just want an excuse to get out of work, don't you?"

The guard's eyes widened a little. He coughed, hiding his mouth behind a fist. "I don't know what you're talking about, Davy. Tell the doc I escorted you. I want her to think I'm an upstanding guy."

Ronan snorted. It seemed that not only was he lazy, but the guard also had a crush on one of the doctors. "Sure, man. Just piss off."

The guard retreated with a laugh and began to make his way back towards the security headquarters. Ronan let out a sigh of relief. He had almost been exposed for something as stupid as a white lie. Thankfully he'd managed to avoid it. The power of charisma, perhaps? I was never that charming before.

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The med-bay loomed ahead, another white, featureless block of metal. At least in this instance the colouration and aesthetic suited the building's function. Hospitals were sterile places and this post-apocalyptic one seemed no different.

Ronan was hit with bright fluorescent lighting the moment he entered. The cavern outside was the same, but the tubes were much closer to his eyes inside and therefore the light was far brighter.

The front entrance was a reception area. A small room with a few benches built into the walls and a desk, all made from the same white metal with a few accents. A woman wearing a white uniform sat behind the desk, wearing a plastic smile as she greeted him. "Can I help you? Are you in need of immediate assistance, sir?"

Ronan shook his head. "Nothing urgent. I hit my head earlier and it's been ringing ever since. Chief said I should get it checked out. Then the bastard turned out to be a bodystealer. Crazy fucking day. Anyway, no rush."

He got a minor hit of amusement from the many shifts in the receptionist's expression as he told his story. It was, as all the best lies were, a mix of truth and fiction. This way, if he needed cover in the future he could at least say he'd been to the med-bay for a head injury.

"I… I see. That does sound concerning. Why don't you have a seat and I'll go and get the doctor. It shouldn't take too long." She pointed at one of the benches and offered a nervous smile. Ronan didn't want to cause any further stress to the obviously harrowed woman so he did as she asked.

The receptionist disappeared through a door to the left of the desk. Ronan passed the time while he waited for her to return by practicing his sorcery. Nothing crazy or that would attract attention, but rather the simple stuff like mana bolt structure and rainbow bomb channeling.

He had managed to shave a few fractions of a second off the casting time for both, but he knew it was far from the limit. One of his goals with sorcery was to make it possible to cast any desired spell instantly, or as close to instantly as was possible. He knew it was achievable, but it would take dedication, effort, and time.

A few minutes later the door opened again and the receptionist walked back out. There was another woman who followed behind, slightly taller and with a sterner face. "This is the one seeing hallucinations?" She ignored Ronan and asked the receptionist a strange question.

I'm pretty sure it's not very ethical to talk about patients in front of them. Also what the hell are they talking about. Hallucinations? Did I scare the receptionist with my story? He was confused, but decided not to act in haste.

The receptionist nodded and the doctor hummed while tapping on a screen she held in her hand. It was the first example of the post-apocalyptic tech actually working that Ronan had seen. It was like a slab of glass, except he could see glowing lines of text through it as well as some images. A picture of himself. Patient information, I'm guessing? I hope there's nothing she's going to ask to confirm my identity, because I'd be screwed if there is.

All he really went to the med-bay to do was find the shapeshifters who had infiltrated it and try to take a couple of them out to sow more confusion amongst the gorzerks before their plan unfolded. Having one of the actual doctors waste time on him wasn't part of the plan.

"Dr. Valen. So, how did you hit your head. When did you hit it? I am interested to know what could have caused the hallucinations that Beatriz described." The doctor stood over Ronan, her screen held loosely to one side as she stared down at him.

She wasn't mentioned in the journal, which meant she was an actual human. "I think there may have been a misunderstanding. I haven't hallucinated anything. Yes, I hit my head earlier this morning by falling out of bed. But the chief really was one of the bodystealers. You can go down to the security headquarters to confirm it if you don't believe me. I had to kill the bastard myself when he tried to take my damned body." He waved his arms and adjusted his facial expressions to punctuate the story.

The doctor continued to hum. She turned to the receptionist and frowned, causing the girl to wilt under her glare. When she turned back to Ronan she sighed and raised her screen, tapping on it a couple of times. "Well, that changes the situation a little. Come with me. I'll give you the basic head trauma checks. If nothing is wrong, then you can get back to work with a few pills to ease the headache." She turned and walked towards the door.

Ronan stood to follow. When they had just passed through into another sterile corridor, the doctor paused in her stride and turned to face him. "I'm sorry about the chief. He was… He kept us safe and steady through a lot of turbulent times, despite his grouchiness. Being consumed by those… Things… It's not a nice way to go. I'm glad you managed to survive."

"I appreciate that, but frankly I can't think about that right now. I'm just glad to be alive. I almost went out to try and hunt more of the bastards, but we all know that's a pointless endeavour. They're impossible to find unless they make a mistake."

The doctor nodded and resumed their walk. "Well, they aren't as clever as they think. I've been making some records. Behaviours and issues that those who turned out to be bodystealers exhibited. I think I might have some of their physiology down, too. In fact—" She looked around to ensure no one else was listening. "—I believe there may be a few of them working in the med-bay."

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