Chapter 45
Hazel grabs a large coat and hat from the trash to cover his identity as he heads into the hospital and up the front counter.
Hazel: “I need to know the current status of a patient. Gretchen Rainart.”
Receptionist: “Please wait a moment.” As she starts typing at her computer. “And are planning to visit?”
Hazel: “Unfortunately, no. I just need to know her condition.” The computer dings and she takes a moment to read through it before she shows a face of sadness.
Receptionist: “Um, sir? Please remain calm, but I’m afraid I have bad news.” He gives her a sort of scowl. “Um, I’m afraid Ms. Rainart is no longer with us. It says here she had um... passed away a little over two months ago. She’s already been moved out and buried in Vale cemetery.” His fist clutches in anger before speaking.
Hazel: “Is that so?”
Receptionist: “I am very sorry, sir. If it's any consolation, I am sorry for your loss.” His scowl stays for a minute before he takes a breath to calm himself for a moment.
Hazel: “Thank you for your time.” To which he just leaves. The next morning, we’re up and at ‘em in our patrol like usual as I wait until Vernal calls.
Ruby: “Alright, Captain. What do we got?”
Vernal: “Since Gretchen’s condition was the reason behind Hazel’s motives, info regarding it was added to Hazel’s case file. She was diagnosed with a rare lung cancer that, fortunately, was treatable, but was unfortunately too expensive to pay for due to its rarity.”
Ruby: “So we we’re about that. It was something he couldn’t afford as a gym instructor. And what her condition?”
Vernal: “This is the sad part. The file only noted her condition at the time of Hazel’s sentence, which was somewhat stable since they were able to afford the temporary treatments which prolonged her death, seeing as the cancer was fatal. But Hazel wanted her fully cured because the temporary ones meant she would still be bound to the hospital. Not able to live her life. Even after Hazel made her condition abundantly clear, the police never bothered to keep note of it afterwards, so I had to dig into her files for a bit. According to this, since Hazel was now behind bars, she had no other family to pay for her treatments, and thus the doctors had to stop at some point. Gretchen died to her cancer over two months ago, which was around the same time when Hazel stopped receiving her letters. Hazel’s behavior showed he was always anxious while in prison, but it got worse when the letters stopped. I imagine that was when he decided to find an opportunity to escape and find out what happened.”
Ruby: “And with these new powers of his, he might do more harm than good when he finds out. We gotta find him fast.” Afterwards, Blake and I head back to Weiss’ place to discuss what I just learned. Meanwhile, Hazel can be seen entering the graveyard of Vale cemetery. He began searching a little frantically until he finally found Gretchen’s grave. And he is mortified that it was true.
Hazel: “Gretchen...” He falls to his hands and knees as he grieves. Eventually, he raises his head as he screams to the sky. “RRRAAAAAAAGH!!!” He’s back on the ground as he speaks again. “I’m sorry, Gretchen. I failed you. All because this damn world and its rules held me back and kept them from saving you. Well, if that's the way it's going to be, then this world deserves your fate as well.” As he stands back up. “Starting with Vale.” He looks down to his hand. “I’m going to need a lot more power behind me though.” As he looked out to the city, he noticed a construction site. “Perfect.” As he smirked. He dissolved into a sandstorm again to make his way there faster, which left behind the coat and hat he took. The four of us have discussed the issue.
Blake: “Somehow I figured that this was the case, I just didn’t want to say anything without making assumptions.”
Yang: “How horrible. I can almost sympathize with him. There is nothing worse than losing family.”
Ruby: “Especially to circumstances out of your control.”
Weiss: “If he finds out, then he’ll likely be too emotionally unstable to control himself. The whole city will be in danger.”
Ruby: “Which is why we need to find him now.” Meanwhile, Hazel has reached the construction site.
Hazel: “Ironic that a place of construction will be a source of my coming destruction!” He starts drawing in all of the nearby sand and increasing his size! He keeps getting bigger and bigger until he’s as big as the building, his colors showing his sandy composition rather than his human colors. Moments later, we get the alert on the police radio.
Officer: “Attention all units! Rainart has been spotted by that new construction site! And he’s grown to the size of a building! We need backup! I repeat! We need backup!”
Yang: “Wait what!?”
Blake: “Crap! A construction site would have all the sand he needs to pull that off.”
Weiss: “What are we going to do?”
Ruby: “Well we can’t just stand around and do nothing. We have to try!” And with that, Blake and I make our way to the scene. This is going to be a rough fight... literally.