Begin!

Universe*

~Normal POV

The sun had started to rise over the Hinterlands as the Baudelaires and the Quagmires saw an old looking truck pull up to the store. They ducked inside the fire truck to avoid being spotted. An old man got out of the truck carrying a stack of newspapers in his arms. He locked up the papers inside a nearby dispensing machine before unlocking the door and disappearing inside the building. Thankfully, he seemed oblivious to the fire truck that had appeared overnight. The children got out, leaving their stolen bag inside the truck, and snuck over to the machine. On the cover of the top paper was a picture of all five of them together with a headline talking about the Baudelaires being murderers and the Quagmires being their supposed accomplices. As expected, all of their names were mislabeled too.

Duncan groaned, "I hate the Daily Punctilio. No journalistic integrity; all they ever do is lie."

"How did Mrs. Poe even get this picture of us," Klaus asked.

"She must have taken it before we escaped; Mr. Poe was with the mob. Mrs. Poe is the editor in chief at the Daily Punctilio; she'll do anything for her next big headline. Well, the store owner is here now. We can't go inside though because he might notice that we stole these clothes," Violet said.

"So, what's the plan?"

"Someone's coming," Isadora said, and the five of them quickly ducked behind the wall as another car pulled up.

It was another man this time and he too carried a newspaper under his arm as he got out of his car and entered the store.

"Hey boss, did you see this headline? Murderous children on the loose in the Hinterlands! What's the world coming to," They heard him say through the window above them.

"Ah, what can you do? It says they're orphans. Their parents probably never raised them right," The old man replied.

The five of them felt their blood boil at such a horrible accusation. They knew their parents raised them perfectly fine. And most importantly they were being framed for a murder they did not commit. They had only stooped to breaking the law recently out of necessity. Each of them knew that in a survival situation sometimes your personal principles must be sacrificed for your own safety.

"V.F.D.," Sunny said, getting their attention.

"What was that, Sunny," Isadora asked.

Sunny pointed to a large, blue van that had just pulled up. On the side were the letters V.F.D. in big black print. The children looked at each other nervously. The van was filled with several people, but only the driver got out and went to fill up the vehicle at the gas pump.

"Do you think we should try to get a ride with them," Duncan asked.

"It's our best shot," Violet answered, "Let's talk to him."

They walked up to the man at the pump. He was currently inspecting a guitar he had been carrying on his back as he waited.

"Excuse me sir," Violet said, "Um, you wouldn't happen to have room for a few extra passengers, would you?"

The man grinned, "Oh, we have plenty of room! We're always happy to welcome new volunteers. We're just topping off our fuel then we'll head out. Hop in!"

"Er, thank you," Violet said as the man opened the back of the van to let them in.

It was a tight squeeze, but the five of them managed to fit inside comfortably with the others. Duncan sat next to Violet, and Klaus sat beside Isadora with Sunny on his lap. The driver got back inside after several moments and they drove off to where they did not know. The children glanced at the other people in the van who were smiling curiously at them.

"Everyone, these nice kids have decided to join us as volunteers," The driver explained, "Now don't bother telling us your names; we don't use those around here. Everyone just calls each other brother and sister."

"Usually, people who call each other brother and sister actually are. And in our case we are," Isadora gestured to Duncan; they were identical triplets after all, anyone could see they were related.

"She's right, and these are my sisters," Klaus said gesturing to Violet and Sunny.

"That's wonderful that you're with your family and friends, but we use it as a term of endearment. Do you know what endearment means," One woman sitting across from Klaus asked.

"It means it's an affectionate term," Klaus answered confidently, "Such as 'my dear' or 'darling.'"

Violet and Duncan smirked as they noticed Klaus subtly glance at Isadora when he said this. Sunny rolled her eyes.

"That's right. You're a smart young man," The woman replied, "And we use brother and sister as a term of endearment."

"Uh, you didn't happen to read today's Daily Punctilio, did you," Duncan asked, working to keep his voice steady to not give away his fear of their answer.

"The paper; oh, goodness no! We don't like reading the news. It's too depressing and we volunteers like to stay cheerful."

"If you don't mind me asking, what kind of volunteers are you exactly," Isadora asked.

She immediately wished that she hadn't spoken because the group began to sing their answer:

We are Volunteers Fighting Disease,

And we're cheerful all day long.

If someone said that they were sad,

That person would be wrong.

We visit people, who are sick,

And try to make them smile,

Even if their noses bleed,

Or if they cough up bile.

Tra la la, Fiddle dee dee,

Hope you get well soon.

Ho ho ho, hee hee hee,

Have a heart-shaped balloon.

We visit people, who are ill,

And try to make them laugh,

Even when the doctor says

He must saw them in half.

We sing and sing all night and day,

And then we sing some more.

We sing to boys with broken bones

And girls whose throats are sore.

Tra la la, Fiddle dee dee,

Hope you get well soon.

Ho ho ho, hee hee hee,

Have a heart-shaped balloon.

We sing to men with measles,

And to women with the flu,

And if you breathe in deadly germs,

We'll probably sing to you.

Tra la la, Fiddle dee dee,

We hope you get well soon.

Ho ho ho, hee hee hee,

Have a heart-shaped balloon!

The children glanced at each other as the volunteers finished their song. This wasn't the V.F.D. that they had hoped for.

"That's what we do, sister," One man said.

"Um, your song has excellent poetic form," Isadora said, though the others could tell she was just being polite.

"It's better than anything Carmelita ever came up with anyway," She thought.

"We're here," The driver said as he stopped the van.

As everyone climbed out, the children finally got to see their destination. It was a hospital, as they should have expected, but it didn't look right at all. On one side was a fresh, well-kept grassy entrance to the huge white building with a fountain in the middle of the road. On the other side the hospital looked like nothing more than unfinished supports and steel bars in the shape of a building. It looked as if the designer had only half finished building this place. The sign on the lawn read Heimlich Hospital, and it too was only half complete as half of the sign was dirty and the other half was freshly shined. The children held hands so as not to lose each other and followed the group of volunteers inside.

"Good morning, you must be the Volunteers Fighting Disease," The lady at the front desk said, she barely looked up from her pile of paper work as she held out a clipboard, "Here is our patient list for today, you are free to roam the building as you wish, but the Library of Records in the basement is strictly off limits unless you're an employee."

"Thank you very much, sister! Let's go spread some cheer everyone!"

The volunteers walked off carrying their supply of heart-shaped balloons and instruments to sing their songs with; not even noticing the children hadn't followed them.

"Did you say Library of Records," Klaus asked the receptionist.

Once again, she didn't bother looking up from the papers, "That is correct. The Heimlich Hospital Library of Records contains records and files from all over the world on everything from nuptial law to the world's most threatening fungi. However, it is strictly forbidden unless you are an employee."

The five of them looked at each other as the same idea formed in their heads.

"Would you be willing to hire the five of us then? To work in the library," Violet asked carefully.

The woman sighed heavily, "I don't see why not, we only have one person working down there anyway. My name is Babs and I am the head of Human Resources and head of the Party Planning Committee. You'll find the entrance to the library downstairs where you'll meet up with Hal. Now get to work, children like you should be seen and not heard."

She gestured to the opposite hallway, obviously eager for them to leave. They didn't bother to wonder how she had known they weren't adults without even looking at them. Keeping their hands entwined, the five of them made their way through the halls of the rather eerie hospital. The ceiling lights seemed to be fading, and without many visible windows to let in the sunlight, the place looked creepy and unsettling. Occasionally, a doctor or two would pass by them, but other than that all the people here seemed to be patients; as evidenced by the sounds coming from the rooms they passed.

It was several minutes before they found the set of stairs that finally led them down to the basement. Before them was a set of huge doors labeled Library of Records; they were locked.

"Great, now what do we do," Duncan asked.

"She said we're supposed to meet somebody named Hal. We should probably just wait for him," Isadora said.

"Did I hear somebody mention my name?"

The children turned to see an aging man with a kind face and very complicated looking glasses walking up to them. He smiled as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys.

"Babs told me I was getting some new assistants today. My name is Hal, welcome to Heimlich Hospital, children. You'll have to excuse my glasses I can't see very well anymore these days. What are your names?"

"I'm Violet Baudelaire and these are my siblings Klaus and Sunny, and these are our friends Duncan Quagmire and his sister Isadora."

Hal adjusted his glasses as he looked the Quagmires over, "Ah, you two must be twins. You look so alike. Well, let's get to work shall we."

"Triplets," Duncan and Isadora muttered under their breath.

Hal unlocked the doors and they followed him inside.

~End of chapter!