Couriers / Staff Interns
While we usually seek people with skills we need to recruit for our staff
they sometimes comes to us. However when they do they might not be seeking
a job. For example Doria Ruridou arrived as a patient yet became our Chief
Physical Trainer. So bearing that in mind I'll tell you about how our most
recent hires arrived bearing aerosol paint cans rather that resumes.
To backtrack I should tell you a little about the GG Gang. They were
an anomaly among the groups of violent thugs, budding career criminals and
drugpushers that make up the typical streetgang. Their outlook was more
anarchistic rebelliousness than criminal and they claimed turf by tagging it
rather than through violence. Which is not to say lacked fighting skills,
quite the contrary they had to learn much faster than all the other gangs.
Being so different from all the other gangs they were considered weak and
constantly being challenged to defend their turf so they frequently had to
fight for territory. They had also become the target of a vendetta by a
Police Captain Onishima who was targeting them with everything he had to the
point of ignoring the more serious criminal element among the other gangs. So
with both the authorities and the other gangs against them the GGs had to
become expert warriors in order to survive.
They did and learned to do more than just survive. They actually thrived
in their danger filled, high adrenalin environment. Yet what's most
interesting to me about this is the way they fought. Rather than using guns,
knives and other traditional gang weapons they ignored them and made their
tagging tool, the spray can, their weapon of choice. Used in combination with
their high tech jet propelled inline skates they created a unique fighting
style which was far more effective that you might believe but I'll talk more
about that later. They also developed a tradition of counting coup on their
enemies by tagging them rather than delivering a vicious beating or worse.
As I said a very unusual gang
We learned all this about a week after our first encounter with the GGs.
We had never even heard of them and they had no idea of the Institute's
nature and purpose. But even if they had I imagine the lure of our pristine
untagged walls would have been too much to resist.
It all began when Gum breached our perimeter and headed for the main
building. Naturally she was immediately targeted by the defenses yet
despite the Spyders, Rovers, and Sabers she made it to the nearest wall and
completed her tag before being captured, though not without difficulty, by
Cherry (who was less than amused about having to bathe in paint thinner).
While Cherry complained about the state of her kimono and the Jennies took
a loudly protesting Gum away for processing I was studying the logo with
Mr. Chainsman trying to work out what had just happened.
She possessed no superpowers, weapons nor mystical artifacts yet she had
got further than almost every intruder who had preceeded her despite being
armed only with a spray can. She had also managed to evade the Rovers and
blind every Spyder that had got into firing range. If she hadn't stopped to
spray some sort of logo could have probably have made it into the building or
escaped. We could only assume it was some sort of declaration of war, a
belief bolstered by the four other girls who arrived to tag the Institute over
the next six nights. While we got them all they had left their marks first.
File Photo - Montage Shot
By this point Technical Services was getting tired of cleaning of the
Spyder cameras and unclogging their joints, the Pumas were revamping
external security procedurs daily and I was dealing with the frustration of
filtering paint particles out of the Rover Vats. The only one of the higher
ups unaffected by this was the Chairman who seemed in a thoughtful mood.
A week had passed since the first incident so despite the disruptions
there had been enough time to interrogate the intruders. Mr. Chainsman had
been astounded to learn that none of them had any idea what the Institute was
when they broke in and that they now believed we were a front for a Rokkakku
Group White Slavery Ring. After Emma confirmed they were sincere there was
nothing that could be done be assure them it wasn't the case and they wouldn't
be occupying rooms if they hadn't broken in. Since this genuinely seemed to
be a case of graffiti taggers rather than a serious intrusion he actually
considered just turning them over to the police for trespassing but it didn't
take much investigation to determine they were right about the extent of the
vendetta Captain Onishima was pursuing against all the GGs. The sheer waste
of manpower and resources against a gang of taggers while ignoring genuine
threats spoke of an obsession that made the safety of any GG turned over to
the police suspect. They were far safer in the Institute yet it felt rather
like overkill for us to keep them incarcerated when you compared them to the
gang members who were still on the street. Grimbor, I mean, the Chairman was
still pondering the issue when the situation changed.
While Mr. Chainsman had arranged for maintenance to clean off the
building's walls the following day the tags were still very visible when the
GGs male contingent entered out grounds. They weren't looking to tag the
Institute, they were retreating into what they assumed was their territory
before a combined assault by the Golden Rhinos and the Rokkakko Group.
Unlike the GGs the combined force was very heavily armed, they had sent
out every major weapon they had in an attempt to crush the GGs once and for
all. The Pumas sounded a Priority One alert as our perimter was breached
on all sides by assault helicopters, armoured personnel carriers, troops
with flame throwers and enough other arms to invade a small nation.
Our defenses engaged the invaders and battle ensued. The GGs could
have snuck away under cover of our fire fight but they believed this was their
territory and that you didn't abandon that despite overwhelming odds. They
held their ground and joined our defensive efforts unleashing their remarkable
fighting and skating skills. We were all impressed by the way they could
use spray cans and their jet skates to bring down helicopters and airborne
troops.
It wasn't only their combat skills that were impressive. Their loyalty
to one another and zeal in defending the Institute was remarkable. Still like
their female counterparts they had broken into our grounds and our policy was
clear on the consequences of that. However it's the Chairman who sets the
policy and he saw potential that it would be a shame to waste.
With the invaders routed and their fallen troops taken into custody the
Sabers disarmed the GGs (perhaps the only occasion taking spray cans could be
called disarming) but were ordered only to stand guard over them. Mr.
Chainsman introduced himself and explained that they were tresspassing and
why they hadn't seen their female members recently.
From their responses it was clear their anarchistic hellraising attitudes
were heartfelt but the Chairman still felt they could be molded into more
responsible youths and that it would be a waste of their skills to dump them
in cryogenic storage. So he had the captured GG girls brought out to meet
them then took everyone on a heavily guarded tour of the Institute.
After showing them around and explaining our purpose he offered them a
surprising alternative to undergoing our standard policy for intruders.
Namely internship at the Institute while also performing courier duties. It
surprised most of us at first but on reflection it made a lot of sense.
The GGs would make excellent couriers. Their jet skating skills were
undeniable and gave them a speed and maneuverability that was hard to match.
They could even outrace cars in hot pursuit.
Still it surprised me he even made the offer but he explained his
reasoning to me afterwards. While they had attitude problems they weren't
really bad kids and compared to the other gangs out there they were good
role models. With a little work he felt they could become genuine positive
examples for other troubled youth. So a different approach was called for
than freezing and confinement. He could pull a few strings to get them off
the wanted lists and the ridiculous amount of resources being wasted on them
could be turned to serious crime fighting which would make things better for
everyone. In time he was sure they would become a great boon to protecting
the Institute and foiling breakouts and in the meantime we would have a
courier service that couldn't be beaten.
Much as it might surprise you he was right about that though I should
mention he did show them the iron fist in the velvet glove by taking them
down to the Cryogenics lab to watch the Golden Rhinos and Rokkakko troops
being processed. That made a definite impression.
With the alternative clear he explained the terms of internship. They
would have to adhere to our rules and regulations but we had a liberal dress
code so they didn't have to give up their individuality. Also they could
take comfort in the fact we weren't a rigid institution as our tolerance for
pranks demonstrated. Still there were clear codes of conduct so they would
have to give up graffiti painting unless given permission by the property's
owner. Violation of our rules would bring discipline. For the girls that
would mean demerits to work off but for the guys that would mean losing time
by being cryogenically frozen for a minimum of a week and likely a month if
they stepped out of line. Finally they would have to consent to a tracker
implant that would remain active until such time as we were sure they were
committed to the Institute.
It didn't take much time for them to think it over and agree to accept
Internship and Courier duties.
Mr. Chainsman's speech convinced the GG guys and we haven't had any
serious infractions from any of them. Certainly nothing that warranted
freezing. Unfortunately the girls were either feeling insubordinate or
testing to see if we were serious as there was a recent incident that
required disciplinary action.
Despite this our intern program is running remarkably smoothly and the
GGs are integrating really well into our staff compliment.
Student Interns
If you like I can tell you all about our new internship program.
If not would you care to meet the support staff they are interning under? They
have already assisted Security in repelling and/or capturing intruders on
several occasions. In fact the recent acquisition of Compiler and Assembler
(currently residing within our Hydrotherapy Department) was primarily due to
Combo and Noise Tank using Combo's Boombox to interfere with their "frequency"
which crashed their powers making it possible to capture them.
Our interns have also assisted the Orderlies with patient handling and
retention. While they have limited contact with our Computer & Technical
Support Department they have helped out in the Gym when Ms. Ruridou was
short staffed.
That's really all I can tell you about our interns so it's time to move
on.
Would you like to meet the Medical Personnel our Interns
assist as needed?
Perhaps you'd like to interview a member of our involuntary patient
acquisition team
Or would you rather hear the scoop on our advances in humane capture technology
Alternately some visitors have been fascinated by the specifics of our patient
restraint and control equipment
Others have wanted to hear all about our use of robotics
Then there are those who were more interested in the human interest angle of
our friendly staff rivalries
If you insist we could take a look at our underground high security storage facility
Of course you can always return to the Open Wards
Finally there's one more option. The place most everyone wants to see.
Do you still want to see the Grimbor Ward?
Or we can end the tour