Xaviers!

A rented Volkswagen turns into the parking lot of Doctor MacKinnon Memorial Hospital, a tall German lady at the wheel, gritting her teeth after the long drive with her passengers. She circles and finally pulls into a parking spot.

Nailah, who had commandeered the stereo with her phone much to Isolde's chagrin, takes her feet off the dashboard.

"Want us to leave one of the windows cracked for you?" Nailah wise-cracks at Isolde.

The hospital itself looks small. More of a stop-over for serious case or handling of less serious injuries. There's a well-built and well-used helipad off to one side of the hospital. All-in-all, nothing appears out of the ordinary. Just a quiet place in a small village in the Scottish isles.

"You're making it hard to justify taking you along," she says as she gets out of the car.

"I mean, you turned somebody into a werewolf and tried to kill my roommate who you're now, like, dating or something..." she says as if that explains it when she's mainly just uncertain how to act around the older woman.

"Do you feel left out? I could likely talk Wanda into a double-date," she smirks casually as she leads Tosh and Nailah into the hospital.

"With whom?" Nailah asks, confused.

"Oh, I'm supposed to find you a date, too?"

"Yeah, you're right, it's probably entertaining enough to watch you dance. What's the latest craze you were in on? Ballroom waltz? The Charleston?"

The entry room of the hospital has more in common with a doctor's office than most hospitals. A small desk with a receptionist oversees small islands of waiting room-style chairs. The receptionist is an older woman with the air of a volunteer who watches the mismatched group enter the waiting room with the expectancy of someone who likes answering questions.

"My money's on Gangnam Style," Tosh smirked.

"Hello," she says as she spies the volunteer.

"We're from X-Corporation. We want to verify the likelihood of the recent animal attack actually being spurred by mutant activity."

"I..." That seems to throw the woman for a bit. "I'll have to call the administrator." She picks up the phone and dials a number, giving them a patient smile.

"You'd think she's never seen somebody with wings before..." Nailah mutters to Tosh. "Bet you could make her faint by going all shark."

After a bit, a man with grey sprinkled through his red hair and beard appears. He's wearing a doctor's coat and relaxed business attire that includes a bowtie and a stethoscope around his neck with a name tag that marks him as 'Doctor MacReady.' "Good day. I'm Doctor MacReady. Matilda here says you folks are from X-Corp?"

"Right. We were hoping we might be able to explain some of the oddities with the recent animal attack. I understand you're not used to dealing with something this severe in the immediate area."

"The occasional hiker who has a fall or breaks a leg is more our typical case. Wild animal attacks just aren't as common up here. You mind if I trouble you for ID?"

"Sure." she says and pulls out her passport that has a, perhaps superfluous, red MUTANT stamped across it the background.

"Not a problem," Tosh said, showing his driver's license.

He looks over their IDs. "A bit young for X-Corp employees aren't you?" He looks at Isolde, "Showing interns the ropes. I remember those days."

"They have to learn somehow, eh?"

"This is quite the startling case to learn on," he says with a gesture, leading them back into the hospital. "You think this might have some sort of mutant connection?"

Nailah rolls her eyes at Isolde behind the receptionists back.

"It could have. Animal... uh... characteristics are common physical mutations and if this was a mutant then you'd want mutants handling it, right?"

"As well, wouldn't it be a boon if you knew it wasn't just a wild animal you're looking for?"

"It would be a nasty surprise to animal control if they weren't prepared for something that's a bit smarter."

"Of course, of course. We didn't call you earlier because, well, the injuries looked so much like a pack of some sort of canines, dogs we assume, that we didn't even consider that as a possibility." He stops outside one of the hospitals few long term rooms. "I'll warn you. Her injuries are severe." He opens the door and from inside the room comes the steady whir and hum of medical equipment.

The woman in the bed is covered in bandages everywhere except her head. There are a few scratches on her head, but nothing that appears serious. Long iron gray hair is allowed to lay loose on her pillow. It may just be the bandages, but the woman looks well-muscled in build. "She's been unresponsive since we brought her in. She seems to be stable, but with injuries this severe at her age, I'm not sure if she'll ever wake up. I'm not sure what it is you hope to find here." He looks around the group, "Just try not to disturb her if you can. I'll be outside with the nurse if you need something," Doctor MacReady says as he excuses himself, leaving them in the room alone.

In the back of Isolde's head, she can feel a small rustle like wind through grass.

"Dang... she got messed up real bad..." Nailah says quietly.

"There's... something here," Isolde says, her eyes unfocused.

She tries to catch that hint, hone in on it.

The more she tries to hone in on it, the more it tries to slip from her grasp. The woman's definitely not werewolf. She can almost smell it, that weakness inherent to humanity. The thing that makes them so much prey. And yet, she feels a sense of loss. Briefly, a long forgotten memory flashes across her brain. She'd been a young woman then and soldiers from a skirmish near Wurzburg were burying their dead. She can remember the looks on their faces as their comrades were placed in the ground.

"Why is this...?"

She purses her lips, lost in thought.

"I feel like a secondary character in one of those dumb police procedural. She's like Bones, except with weird werewolf baloney."

The woman doesn't seem to wake, but still she mutters something, almost lost among even the soft noise of the equipment. 'For the Earth Mother loves them, so we...' Nailah catches sight of a single tear rolling down the old woman's cheek.

That sense of loss begins to build on Isolde.

"...earth mother." She says, snapping to attention.

"...were you the child, or were you the guardian?"

It seems to take some effort, but the woman's eyes open, though they're looking at nothing. "... so we guard them with love. He's... gone."

"...I'm going to have to kill Eric," she mutters through gritted teeth.

"So is she... you know?" Tosh asked hesitantly.

"She's bereaved on a level most people wouldn't understand."

"Wait, I thought bereaved meant you lost somebody. You think whatever did this to her killed someone as well?"

"...her husband."

"She was... supposed to protect him."

At the mention of her husband, the woman closes her eyes and the tears starts to flow more freely.