"Sam!" Chris swung into the office just behind his call, causing the technician to look up just in time to see the doctor step in. Samuel Wentz was the lead tech for the MRI unit, and Chris knew better than to think the man had any respect for him at this point. They had butted heads since the day of the accident, when Sam's initial report had come back listing Erin as braindead with little to no hope of recovery. Chris had been forceful in his defense, and ultimately managed to convince his associate to change the prognosis to something more favorable. It had been just one of the many arguments he'd had with Hooke after the fact.<br/><br/>The tech rubbed his face as Chris approached, his expression already fed up. "Look, if you're here to ask me about the goddamn EEG again, Chris--"<br/><br/>"No, don't worry. I'm not here to give you a hard time. I actually wanted to request another scan. I was in there just now, and there was a blip on the scanner. A big one, Sam. There's something happening in there, and we need to figure out what and where."<br/><br/>Sam shook his head and took a deep, patient breath. "How do I know you're not just hallucinating off of not enough sleep and just enough desperation?"<br/><br/>"Erin's sister was there. Sarah. She can collaborate. I'll put in an order as her acting physician but I wanted to let you know first, that it was coming." He paused and reached out to touch Sam's shoulder. "Look... I know you think I'm an asshole, and that's fine. I can take being an asshole. That's my girl in there. Just humor me. After this is over I'll put in for a transfer to a different city entirely and you'll never have to deal with my pushy, uptight, desperate ass again. Okay?"<br/><br/>The other man snorted before he could help it and patted Chris's arm. "As long as you don't go<i>too</i>far. I'd still rather deal with an honest jerk than a two-faced one like Maddy."<br/><br/>"Hear you there. This afternoon clear for the scan?"<br/><br/>"Might be. I'll swing by once I know for sure."<br/><br/>"Thanks, Sam. Got rounds to do, I'll be around this floor though." He left the man to his coffee and got started on his other patients, making the rounds as promised. The blip had buoyed him a lot more than he expected. Some of his patients--the conscious ones--were surprised to see how upbeat he was compared to visits of days prior. He was glad to tell them that he finally had a reason to smile. God only knew it had been a long time coming.<br/><br/><hr class="bbc-hr"/><br/>He waited just long enough to be sure Erin could get far enough away before he slipped into the trees himself. Alek had no stake in her situation, the hunter knew. He wouldn't wake, he wouldn't lend his aid to her or to her recovery. And he didn't know or care where the Shine was kept. Hooke could take him; the hunter knew he would not wake for her either. His role lay in purity, in keeping the world clean as he was told to do. What concern could he have for quests, pirates, or the hunt?<br/><br/>The telltale rattle of sabers and the stink of grog told the hunter he'd waited long enough. He sunk back into the bushes and trees, relying on the network of tattoos to help hide him in the shadows. Soon enough the pirates appeared, a small knot of dirty, sour-looking men. He recognized the one in the lead, a particularly unhappy fellow named Samuel, one eye covered by an eyepatch. The patch itself was white and circular, with a small line in the center, and he claimed he could see through any lie with it. The hunter felt as though that were absolute nonsense, himself. Samuel was a loudmouth and a coward, one who had flocked to Hooke the moment she reared her head.<br/><br/>He knew the others, too, but the one who kept his attention the most was the Captain herself. Taller than most of her men and more handsome than beautiful, she favored a sweeping silk coat colored lurid white. Black fur lined it, and a silver disk sat tucked into her elaborately large white cap. The cronies rushed to surround the inert figure in the grass, and Hooke herself stood next to him, one hand on her simple cutlass. "Who is this man?" she asked softly, and one of the pirates shook his head.<br/><br/>"He's no-one, marm. A wastrel with no place in this world."<br/><br/>"Aye." She drew her sword and examined the blade, her expression solemn. "And what do we do with the unworthy, wastrels, and vagrants?"<br/><br/>"We send 'em on," the pirates chanted in unison. Hooke smiled as she lifted her sword, turned, and plunged it down into the sleeping man's body.<br/><br/>"We send them on," she whispered, watching the man jerk and wheeze as life left him. She watched with a certain sort of predatory relish, and only withdrew her steel when the man had ceased all movement. She wiped it clean on his shirt, but as she moved to sheathe it her eyes caught movement in the trees, the suggestion of a shadow, and she froze. "Samuel," she said softly, and the one-eyed man stepped forward.<br/><br/>"Aye, ma'am!"<br/><br/>"The hunter is near. Go, find him. End him, if you can. Bring him to me if not. It is imperative we stop him before he can guide her to the Shine. You understand, do you not?"<br/><br/>"Aye, I do. I'll make damn sure he doesn't escape this time!" He turned and rushed into the trees, grasping at the pistol tucked into his belt, his good eye shining with greed. The hunter watched him slink into the trees from where he'd relocated, and kept frozen until Hooke and the rest of her band had departed through the grass. As soon as he could risk moving he did so, loping swift and urgent into the trees, bow held ready.<br/><br/>She had sent Samuel into the forest in the exact same direction he had sent Erin.