Begin The Procedure, OC/Canon fic, Chapter 17
Author's note: OTL This took so long because for the past few days I haven't had too much time to sit down and write. But I did my best! Hope you all enjoy it. <33 And some (hopefully) exciting stuff is happening in this chapter and the next one, but I'm not going to give it away~ Just wait and see!
Chapter 17: Endgame
At Caduceus, the anxiety everyone was experiencing was getting worse and worse. Now that someone else had gone missing as well, people were beginning to wonder whether they were going to end up vanishing and what was going to happen to the missing members.
Of course, certain employees were beginning to lose their patience with all the worrying and the nerves going around. One such person was Kanae Tsuji. She did understand that people were worried, of course, but it was driving her mad to hear the same thing day in and day out. And okay, maybe she was a little worried herself, but she wasn’t going to admit that.
The director had said she was going to do something about it, for goodness’ sake! Couldn’t people just take that to heart and focus on that bit of hope? Obviously not, considering some people’s reactions.
Despite all of this, everyone was very busy. Luxuria patients, as well as Socordia and Avaritia patients, were coming in frequently and all of the surgeons were constantly hurrying in and out of the operating rooms. The regular procedures still happened, but much less frequently than usual. A lot of people just tried their best to shut off their worries and focus on what needed to be done.
Even the director was stepping in to operate and pick up the slack, much to the surprise of a lot of the doctors. Several of them knew she was licensed to operate, but none of them had actually ever seen her do it. The doctors who were lucky enough to work with her told of her skill and precision, and the fact that she just seemed to know exactly what she was doing no matter the situation.
“Kanae, you’ve got an operation to perform, you know.”
She quickly turned around, and saw Dr. Everett standing behind her. “Oh, you surprised me! Don’t just sneak up on me like that, Dr. Everett.”
“I didn’t. You weren’t paying attention - you looked like you were thinking about something carefully.”
“Of course I was paying attention!” she replied, looking indignant. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an operation to perform!”
She hurried off down the corridor, leaving a very confused Dr. Everett staring after her. “I was only trying to help...”
When she arrived in the operating theatre, Lesley Sears was already there. Dr. Tsuji and Lesley had been working together several times recently, and they made a good team - despite Dr. Tsuji’s bossy attitude, Lesley was never discouraged, and she managed to stand up to the doctor without causing arguments.
“Hello, Nurse Sears.”
“Hello, Dr. Tsuji.”
“What kind of operation are we performing today?”
“Well... We got a patient in suffering from what we assume is SIN, Luxuria type.” Lesley explained. “His name is Leo Henley, aged 22. The Luxuria are in his lungs, and they’ve done a lot of damage, so his vitals are quite unstable.”
“I should be fine, it’s Luxuria. Let’s begin.”
The patient was in a bad state when Dr. Tsuji opened him up. The Luxuria were swimming around by themselves and there were cuts left everywhere, including a couple of large ones. Lesley helpfully drained the blood, and then Dr. Tsuji began by carefully suturing the wounds. Some had to be pinched together and then sutured, just to make sure they didn’t reopen.
“Can you raise his vitals?”
“Sure.”
At least now the patient’s vitals were back in the normal range, instead of being very low. Dr. Tsuji attacked the Luxuria with the scalpel and laser, which damaged them, and before they had a chance to collide she froze and cut them again. The third time, unfortunately, they collided and made several cuts which pushed the patient’s vitals back into the danger range.
“I’ll handle this!” Dr. Tsuji said. “Just keep him stable, Nurse Sears!”
“Okay, I will!”
While Lesley tried to stop the patient’s vitals from dropping too much, Dr. Tsuji sutured the wounds and attacked the Luxuria one last time. The viruses wobbled and then vanished, leaving the area clear.
“And the chiral reaction is negative!”
“That’s a relief.” Dr. Tsuji commented as she finished up. “Now I’m sure we have other operations to do as well. Let’s go.”
The two of them headed out of the room, ready to take on anything else that needed to be done.
Meanwhile, the group was waiting yet again for a visit from their captors. Usually at least one person would come see how they were doing early in the morning, or relatively early, but they had been left alone for now.
“What do you think they’re up to? They wouldn’t usually leave us like this for so long...” Valerie asked. She was curious to hear everyone’s opinion, but also afraid in case the truth was something like the worst case scenario she’d imagined.
“Whatever it is, it’s probably to do with their stupid project. They’re going to come for us eventually.” Markus replied. “You know what these guys are like.”
“Yeah, unfortunately.”
Then the door swung open, startling everybody. The green-eyed man and William were standing in the corridor with amused expressions on their faces.
“I almost missed you guys.” Markus said, smirking. “Nice to see you decided to grace us with your presence again.”
“Hilarious.” William replied, completely deadpan. “Blondie, you’re coming with us.”
Elena looked at him in confusion. “Me?” she asked.
“Yeah, you. Who else do you think I’m talking to? Come with me.”
“O-Okay...”
“The rest of you can wait here until we decide otherwise.” the other man said rudely. “Bye.”
“What do you want with Elena?” Markus asked him.
“That’s none of your business.”
“Stop it, Aidan. Let’s get out of here.” William said. Aidan nodded, casting one last irritated glance back at the group, and the three of them left the room.
“What the hell...” Markus said to no-one in particular. “What are they up to? And why didn’t they want anything from anyone else?”
“I don’t know. I just hope that Elena’s okay.” Valerie said, gazing at the closed door.
“Elena’s tough. I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Markus replied. He was trying to look sure of what he was saying, but his confident attitude didn’t come across in his voice. “After all, she’s not the kind of girl to just give up.”
“Yeah, that’s true. After all, she’s kept going all this time.”
“Exactly! And besides, you guys have been here for ages, and you’re nowhere near giving up, right?” Nicole added. “I’m sure Elena won’t give up either.”
“Whatever happens to her... If they decide to experiment on her, I’ll save her life. The same thing goes for anyone these guys decide to hurt. If they came after any of you, I promise I’d do the same.” Markus said, the anxiety gone from his tone.
“It’s good to hear that you care, but let’s just wait and see what happens first. You’ll get your chance for heroics later, I’m sure.” Valerie grinned.
“Always ruining the moment, Val...”
“Well, someone’s got to stop you from hurting yourself. I’m not fixing you up if you do something stupid, and Nicole is not going to help me fix you up if you go ahead and do something stupid anyway.”
“Right, right.” Markus said, smiling as well now. “Don’t do stupid stuff, or I have to suffer the consequences. Got it.”
“I hope you do.” Valerie replied mock-seriously.
For what felt like ages, the three of them were left alone in the room. There wasn’t much talking, mainly due to the fact that they were worried about their missing friend. None of them wanted to say anything - they just felt like waiting in silence. Eventually, the door opened, startling them. Valerie jumped up almost right away, her heart thumping nervously.
“Elena?”
“We don’t have your friend with us. Now get ready, you’re operating.” Aidan said as he entered the room with their patient.
“Where’s Elena?” Valerie repeated, feeling her patience wearing down.
“You deaf? We don’t have her with us. Maybe if you work hard, we’ll consider letting you see her. Now get on with it.” Aidan handed over the chart and Acedia medicine to Valerie. “There you go. Anything else? And don’t try being funny.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Valerie replied, giving him a glare.
He ignored her, turned, and walked out of the room.
“They’re friendly guys, aren’t they?” Markus said, unimpressed.
“You can say that again.” Nicole sighed.
“Let’s see... The patient is 37 year old Alice Mercer. She’s suffering from Acedia in the stomach - apparently the symptoms started showing earlier than expected, so we’re expected to operate on her in case.” Valerie read out to them from the chart she was holding.
“Typical. People do stupid things like this and wonder why they face the consequences for it.” Markus muttered. “Just like Stigma.”
“It really is, isn’t it?” Valerie replied. “That’s why we’ve got to eliminate SIN. Nobody should have to suffer for other people’s mistakes.”
“Let’s begin the operation then, Val.”
Acedia’s behaviour was no different from the last time they’d seen it - it was swimming around out in the open with its colours on display. The core was red and its bottom fin was blue.
“So first, we’ve got to inject it with the red medicine, I guess...” Nicole commented.
“Looks like it.” Markus said, reaching for the syringe and the red medicine, which Valerie handed over to him. “Thanks.”
When the colour finally drained out of Acedia, Markus injected it. This made it wriggle in pain, and Nicole glanced briefly at the chiral wavelength equipment.
“The reaction definitely dropped just now!”
“Good to hear. Let’s just keep going and hope it doesn’t burrow.”
Acedia once again filled with colour, its core was blue this time and its bottom fin had turned yellow. But instead of burrowing, it just swam lazily around the organ.
“Looks like it was injected in just enough time for it not to flee somewhere else.” Nicole said as she watched it swim. “You were pretty quick with that.”
“Yeah. We should be able to finish off this stupid thing at this rate.” Valerie added.
“I hope so.” Markus replied, also watching Acedia carefully.
The colour drained out of it again, and then Markus injected it with the blue medicine. The virus wriggled and swam off to the corner of the organ, trying to escape. But much to everyone’s surprise, it didn’t burrow.
“The chiral reaction went down even further!” Nicole said to them. “I think it’s close to being defeated now.”
“Great. Let’s keep going then.” Valerie replied.
For the final time, Acedia was filled with colour. This time its core was yellow and its fin was red. The three of them watched it move around until its colour vanished, and then Valerie made the final injection of yellow medication. Once again Acedia whizzed around, and then finally collapsed and vanished.
“Chiral reaction is negative! Yeah!” Nicole cheered, grinning. “Great job, Markus, and you too, Valerie!”
“How come I’m second?” Valerie asked, suturing the incision.
“There wasn’t any reason for that!” Nicole replied, blushing.
“I’m just kidding.” When she was done, Valerie bandaged the incision she’d made and stood back. “There, we’re done here.”
Moments later, the door swung open and William stood in the doorway. “Ah, so you did get the job done. Not bad... The boss will be pleased to see this. I’ll take the patient now.”
“What about Elena?” Markus asked.
“You’ll see her in good time.” William answered, before turning to Nicole. “You, come with me.”
“Fine.” Nicole replied, and the two of them left the room with the patient.
“Why would they want to borrow Nicole as well?” Valerie asked.
“No clue... Probably to work on their stupid virus.” Markus replied. “After all, they only seem to want us to perform surgery, so it’s unlikely they’re gonna take us.”
“Yeah, you’ve got a point there.”
“I just... I don’t want to see anyone hurt. I don’t want to see either of them hurt.” Markus muttered. “I’d feel terrible if anything happened.”
“We’re only human, Markus, and besides... If something does happen, you always have your Healing Touch and your skills as a doctor. So rely on that.” Valerie told him.
“Yeah, you’re right, Val. Sorry.”
“Don’t apologise. Let’s just wait for them to come back.”
The day wore on, with only occasional interruptions for new patients. Both Markus and Valerie worked as hard as they could, which seemed to make William and his friends happy. The operations kept both of them busy, and neither of them really noticed the time passing. Eventually, sometime in the late afternoon, Nicole returned alone.
“I kept an eye out for Elena, but I couldn’t see her.” were the first words out of her mouth. “I’m sorry... They had me working on Acedia all this time, plus I had no idea where they were keeping her.”
“It’s okay. You tried your best.” Markus replied. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, all I did was work on Acedia. They didn’t do anything to me.”
“Good to hear.”
“I’m still disappointed that I couldn’t find Elena... But I suppose there’s nothing I can do about that.” Nicole shrugged, sitting down and letting out a sigh.
“We’ll find her, or they’ll give her back. Let’s just not panic yet.” Valerie said. “There’s less of a chance of success that way.”
The door swung open again, giving everybody a slight shock. Standing in the doorway was Dr. Angus, with his arms folded, looking amused.
“I have to say, you did a good job with the operations today. There was a lot of valuable data that we found very useful.”
Nicole stared at him like she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. “Dr. Angus? What are you doing here? How did you manage to get them to let you out and give you the code for the door?”
Now it was his turn to return the confused look. “Let me out? Nicole... I’m in charge here. I can go wherever I damn well please.”
“So this is why you quit?” she replied, her voice dangerously low and shaking as she tried to hold back her emotions. “You quit Greenwood where you were respected, managed to save so many lives... Just so you could kill people? This isn’t you!”
“Wrong.” he said in a cool tone, interrupting her. “This is me. Didn’t I always say I hated seeing people suffer?”
“You never said you’d kill them!” she almost yelled. Her throat was beginning to feel tight, a sure sign she was going to cry. “You always said you would do what’s best for people...”
“And sometimes, ending their lives is best. You wouldn’t understand, would you? I didn’t even intend to bring you here in the first place - it was an accident - and when you were taken here, I was worried about the problems you’d cause. But so far you’ve been very obedient.” His smile widened. “Surprising.”
“I thought we were friends...” Nicole replied, staring at her feet so she didn’t have to look at him.
“Our ideals are too different for us to ever be friends.” Dr. Angus then turned to Markus and Valerie. “And you two, get ready. You’ve got another patient soon.” Then he slammed the door behind him.
A few moments of silence passed.
“I hate him.” Nicole whispered. “How could I have looked up to him? How could he do this...” She clenched her fists and yelled “I hate him!” loudly.
“Damn it.” was all Markus managed. “That bastard... I hope that he’s not talking about Elena.”
“He might well be.” Valerie replied. “Let’s get ready, just in case.”
The three of them rushed around, trying their best to get the room into some sort of order. By the time they were done, it almost looked like new. And then the door swung open for about the 100th time that day, and William was standing in the doorway.
“Here’s your patient, doctors.” he snickered, making his way into the room. “Have fun.” He passed the chart to Valerie, who almost snatched it out of his hands, and then left.
Valerie stared down at the chart, and then looked at their patient, letting out a gasp of surprise. “Oh god... Our patient... Our patient is Elena.”
“Elena?! What is she infected with?” Markus asked, his voice almost as nervous as Valerie’s.
“The chart says Luxuria...”
“How could he do this, using her as one of his experiments?” Markus growled, almost as angry as Nicole had been.
“Obviously he doesn’t care what happens to people...” Nicole said softly.
“Let’s teach him a lesson.” Valerie said, her determination clearly showing in the way she spoke and stood. “We’ll show him that he can’t win, and that no matter what, he won’t bring us down!”
“Val... Do you mind if I operate this time?” Markus asked. “I did the previous two times... I know, it sounds stupid, but I want to help this time too.”
Valerie smiled. “It doesn’t sound stupid, Markus. Nicole and I will assist you.”
“Thanks, Val. I promise, I won’t let Elena die.”
“I know you won’t.”
This time, the Luxuria were in the lungs. From the beginning, they could tell Elena was in a pretty bad state. There were deep gashes all over, and her vitals were very low.
“Val, you mind using the drain?”
“No problem.”
Once he could see the area again, Markus set to work suturing the Luxuria’s cuts. But it seemed like every time he managed to suture the wounds, the Luxuria just collided and made more, and Elena’s vitals dropped further.
“Markus, if you want, I can step in and - ” Valerie began, but he cut her off.
“Just keep her stable, whether with the stabiliser or your Healing Touch.”
“Right. At least my Healing Touch should keep her stable for longer.” Valerie invoked the Healing Touch, and Markus set to work.
He quickly sutured the wounds Luxuria had just made, and then paralysed the two viruses. A slash from the scalpel caused them damage, and the Luxuria swam away in the opposite direction.
“The chiral reaction’s going down...” Nicole commented, glancing at the machinery. “If you keep going, you should be able to get rid of it.”
The two Luxuria clashed yet again, swimming off and making slashes, and Markus sutured the cuts. Thanks to Valerie’s Healing Touch, Elena’s vitals didn’t drop, so it was easy for Markus to paralyse and damage the Luxuria a second time.
“One more time, and that should be the end of Luxuria...” Nicole said.
Moments later, Valerie’s Healing Touch stopped and Elena’s vitals jumped.
“There you go.” Valerie said calmly. “The stabiliser is going to have to do for now on.”
“I can live with that.” Markus replied, paralysing and cutting Luxuria a final time. The viruses wriggled, and then finally vanished.
“There we go, chiral reaction is negative. Elena is safe.” Nicole informed them, sighing.
“Good.” Markus said, his tone filled with relief. “I’m sorry for being selfish and wanting to do the operation myself. Thanks for putting up with that.”
“Elena’s safe, right? That’s all that matters.” Valerie smiled.
“I’ll close her up.”
Markus sutured and bandaged the incision, and Valerie gave her an injection of stabiliser. Soon, the door swung open and Dr. Angus was smiling at them.
“Nice to see you again, doctors.” he said. “Seems like you do even better under pressure.”
“Pressure? You infected Elena!” Valerie snapped. “That doesn’t count as pressure.”
“That’s all I want from you today, thanks.” He just ignored Valerie and kept on talking. “I’ll leave your friend here - any information I want, I can gather later. Bye-bye, doctors.”
When there was no response, Dr. Angus turned and left. Markus went over to check on Elena, and Nicole went to go sit alone in the corner.
“She should be okay soon. Her breathing and vitals are stable, anyway.” he commented. “At least we managed to cure her.”
“Yeah, that’s a relief.” Valerie added, smiling.
“You did a good job, both of you... You really are skilled doctors.” Nicole said.
“We just did what we could. It’s no big deal.”
“Are you okay?” Markus asked suddenly.
“What do you mean?” Nicole replied.
“I know you were friends with him...”
“He’s no friend of mine. Not now I know what he’s really like.” Nicole muttered, staring at her feet. “Especially for what he’s done to you guys, to all of us. I was so relieved at first when I saw him...”
“Look, he turned out to be a complete moron, but at least you still have other friends.” Markus told her, walking over. “I’m going to be here for you, and so are Valerie and Elena. We’ll never do something like this.”
“I know, Markus.” She glanced up at him. “Thank you... I... I appreciate it.”
“We’re friends. Isn’t that what friends do for each other?”
“Yeah. We’re friends...” She smiled, going pink. “And the same goes for you, okay? If you ever need me, any of you, just ask.”
“Thanks, Nicole.”
A few more minutes passed, and then there was a groan from Elena.
“Wh... Where am I?”
“Elena?” Valerie asked.
“Dr. Blaylock... What happened?” Elena asked, slowly sitting up. “All I remember was the injection... Did you and Dr. Vaughn have to operate?”
“Yes. Except Markus did it pretty much by himself.” Valerie grinned.
The nurse blinked in surprise. “Dr. Vaughn operated on me alone...? I guess this means I owe you yet again.”
“You don’t owe me anything, Elena.” Markus interrupted. “I said before that I’d never let any of you get hurt.”
“And I said to him that he’d get his chance for heroics.” Valerie smiled. “I was right, wasn’t I?”
“You’re a bad winner, Val...”
“Thanks, Dr. Vaughn.” Elena said finally, blushing.
“It was nothing.” he replied casually. “Like I said, Elena, none of you will get hurt while I’m around.”
Nicole smiled. “We know we can always rely on you.”
Then it was Markus’s turn to go red. “You bet.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Angus was talking with the others.
“You do know what to do, Sam?”
“Of course, sir. Set off the Acedia downtown after sending the message to Caduceus.” The man repeated his instructions word for word back to him.
“William, you’re meant to go with him, and make sure everything goes okay.”
“Yes sir.”
“This is war against those sinners. It’s about time we made our next move.”
There was a great call of agreement, and he smirked. Perfect. Nobody outsmarted him for long.
Next chapter
Previous chapter
Chapter 17: Endgame
At Caduceus, the anxiety everyone was experiencing was getting worse and worse. Now that someone else had gone missing as well, people were beginning to wonder whether they were going to end up vanishing and what was going to happen to the missing members.
Of course, certain employees were beginning to lose their patience with all the worrying and the nerves going around. One such person was Kanae Tsuji. She did understand that people were worried, of course, but it was driving her mad to hear the same thing day in and day out. And okay, maybe she was a little worried herself, but she wasn’t going to admit that.
The director had said she was going to do something about it, for goodness’ sake! Couldn’t people just take that to heart and focus on that bit of hope? Obviously not, considering some people’s reactions.
Despite all of this, everyone was very busy. Luxuria patients, as well as Socordia and Avaritia patients, were coming in frequently and all of the surgeons were constantly hurrying in and out of the operating rooms. The regular procedures still happened, but much less frequently than usual. A lot of people just tried their best to shut off their worries and focus on what needed to be done.
Even the director was stepping in to operate and pick up the slack, much to the surprise of a lot of the doctors. Several of them knew she was licensed to operate, but none of them had actually ever seen her do it. The doctors who were lucky enough to work with her told of her skill and precision, and the fact that she just seemed to know exactly what she was doing no matter the situation.
“Kanae, you’ve got an operation to perform, you know.”
She quickly turned around, and saw Dr. Everett standing behind her. “Oh, you surprised me! Don’t just sneak up on me like that, Dr. Everett.”
“I didn’t. You weren’t paying attention - you looked like you were thinking about something carefully.”
“Of course I was paying attention!” she replied, looking indignant. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an operation to perform!”
She hurried off down the corridor, leaving a very confused Dr. Everett staring after her. “I was only trying to help...”
When she arrived in the operating theatre, Lesley Sears was already there. Dr. Tsuji and Lesley had been working together several times recently, and they made a good team - despite Dr. Tsuji’s bossy attitude, Lesley was never discouraged, and she managed to stand up to the doctor without causing arguments.
“Hello, Nurse Sears.”
“Hello, Dr. Tsuji.”
“What kind of operation are we performing today?”
“Well... We got a patient in suffering from what we assume is SIN, Luxuria type.” Lesley explained. “His name is Leo Henley, aged 22. The Luxuria are in his lungs, and they’ve done a lot of damage, so his vitals are quite unstable.”
“I should be fine, it’s Luxuria. Let’s begin.”
The patient was in a bad state when Dr. Tsuji opened him up. The Luxuria were swimming around by themselves and there were cuts left everywhere, including a couple of large ones. Lesley helpfully drained the blood, and then Dr. Tsuji began by carefully suturing the wounds. Some had to be pinched together and then sutured, just to make sure they didn’t reopen.
“Can you raise his vitals?”
“Sure.”
At least now the patient’s vitals were back in the normal range, instead of being very low. Dr. Tsuji attacked the Luxuria with the scalpel and laser, which damaged them, and before they had a chance to collide she froze and cut them again. The third time, unfortunately, they collided and made several cuts which pushed the patient’s vitals back into the danger range.
“I’ll handle this!” Dr. Tsuji said. “Just keep him stable, Nurse Sears!”
“Okay, I will!”
While Lesley tried to stop the patient’s vitals from dropping too much, Dr. Tsuji sutured the wounds and attacked the Luxuria one last time. The viruses wobbled and then vanished, leaving the area clear.
“And the chiral reaction is negative!”
“That’s a relief.” Dr. Tsuji commented as she finished up. “Now I’m sure we have other operations to do as well. Let’s go.”
The two of them headed out of the room, ready to take on anything else that needed to be done.
Meanwhile, the group was waiting yet again for a visit from their captors. Usually at least one person would come see how they were doing early in the morning, or relatively early, but they had been left alone for now.
“What do you think they’re up to? They wouldn’t usually leave us like this for so long...” Valerie asked. She was curious to hear everyone’s opinion, but also afraid in case the truth was something like the worst case scenario she’d imagined.
“Whatever it is, it’s probably to do with their stupid project. They’re going to come for us eventually.” Markus replied. “You know what these guys are like.”
“Yeah, unfortunately.”
Then the door swung open, startling everybody. The green-eyed man and William were standing in the corridor with amused expressions on their faces.
“I almost missed you guys.” Markus said, smirking. “Nice to see you decided to grace us with your presence again.”
“Hilarious.” William replied, completely deadpan. “Blondie, you’re coming with us.”
Elena looked at him in confusion. “Me?” she asked.
“Yeah, you. Who else do you think I’m talking to? Come with me.”
“O-Okay...”
“The rest of you can wait here until we decide otherwise.” the other man said rudely. “Bye.”
“What do you want with Elena?” Markus asked him.
“That’s none of your business.”
“Stop it, Aidan. Let’s get out of here.” William said. Aidan nodded, casting one last irritated glance back at the group, and the three of them left the room.
“What the hell...” Markus said to no-one in particular. “What are they up to? And why didn’t they want anything from anyone else?”
“I don’t know. I just hope that Elena’s okay.” Valerie said, gazing at the closed door.
“Elena’s tough. I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Markus replied. He was trying to look sure of what he was saying, but his confident attitude didn’t come across in his voice. “After all, she’s not the kind of girl to just give up.”
“Yeah, that’s true. After all, she’s kept going all this time.”
“Exactly! And besides, you guys have been here for ages, and you’re nowhere near giving up, right?” Nicole added. “I’m sure Elena won’t give up either.”
“Whatever happens to her... If they decide to experiment on her, I’ll save her life. The same thing goes for anyone these guys decide to hurt. If they came after any of you, I promise I’d do the same.” Markus said, the anxiety gone from his tone.
“It’s good to hear that you care, but let’s just wait and see what happens first. You’ll get your chance for heroics later, I’m sure.” Valerie grinned.
“Always ruining the moment, Val...”
“Well, someone’s got to stop you from hurting yourself. I’m not fixing you up if you do something stupid, and Nicole is not going to help me fix you up if you go ahead and do something stupid anyway.”
“Right, right.” Markus said, smiling as well now. “Don’t do stupid stuff, or I have to suffer the consequences. Got it.”
“I hope you do.” Valerie replied mock-seriously.
For what felt like ages, the three of them were left alone in the room. There wasn’t much talking, mainly due to the fact that they were worried about their missing friend. None of them wanted to say anything - they just felt like waiting in silence. Eventually, the door opened, startling them. Valerie jumped up almost right away, her heart thumping nervously.
“Elena?”
“We don’t have your friend with us. Now get ready, you’re operating.” Aidan said as he entered the room with their patient.
“Where’s Elena?” Valerie repeated, feeling her patience wearing down.
“You deaf? We don’t have her with us. Maybe if you work hard, we’ll consider letting you see her. Now get on with it.” Aidan handed over the chart and Acedia medicine to Valerie. “There you go. Anything else? And don’t try being funny.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Valerie replied, giving him a glare.
He ignored her, turned, and walked out of the room.
“They’re friendly guys, aren’t they?” Markus said, unimpressed.
“You can say that again.” Nicole sighed.
“Let’s see... The patient is 37 year old Alice Mercer. She’s suffering from Acedia in the stomach - apparently the symptoms started showing earlier than expected, so we’re expected to operate on her in case.” Valerie read out to them from the chart she was holding.
“Typical. People do stupid things like this and wonder why they face the consequences for it.” Markus muttered. “Just like Stigma.”
“It really is, isn’t it?” Valerie replied. “That’s why we’ve got to eliminate SIN. Nobody should have to suffer for other people’s mistakes.”
“Let’s begin the operation then, Val.”
Acedia’s behaviour was no different from the last time they’d seen it - it was swimming around out in the open with its colours on display. The core was red and its bottom fin was blue.
“So first, we’ve got to inject it with the red medicine, I guess...” Nicole commented.
“Looks like it.” Markus said, reaching for the syringe and the red medicine, which Valerie handed over to him. “Thanks.”
When the colour finally drained out of Acedia, Markus injected it. This made it wriggle in pain, and Nicole glanced briefly at the chiral wavelength equipment.
“The reaction definitely dropped just now!”
“Good to hear. Let’s just keep going and hope it doesn’t burrow.”
Acedia once again filled with colour, its core was blue this time and its bottom fin had turned yellow. But instead of burrowing, it just swam lazily around the organ.
“Looks like it was injected in just enough time for it not to flee somewhere else.” Nicole said as she watched it swim. “You were pretty quick with that.”
“Yeah. We should be able to finish off this stupid thing at this rate.” Valerie added.
“I hope so.” Markus replied, also watching Acedia carefully.
The colour drained out of it again, and then Markus injected it with the blue medicine. The virus wriggled and swam off to the corner of the organ, trying to escape. But much to everyone’s surprise, it didn’t burrow.
“The chiral reaction went down even further!” Nicole said to them. “I think it’s close to being defeated now.”
“Great. Let’s keep going then.” Valerie replied.
For the final time, Acedia was filled with colour. This time its core was yellow and its fin was red. The three of them watched it move around until its colour vanished, and then Valerie made the final injection of yellow medication. Once again Acedia whizzed around, and then finally collapsed and vanished.
“Chiral reaction is negative! Yeah!” Nicole cheered, grinning. “Great job, Markus, and you too, Valerie!”
“How come I’m second?” Valerie asked, suturing the incision.
“There wasn’t any reason for that!” Nicole replied, blushing.
“I’m just kidding.” When she was done, Valerie bandaged the incision she’d made and stood back. “There, we’re done here.”
Moments later, the door swung open and William stood in the doorway. “Ah, so you did get the job done. Not bad... The boss will be pleased to see this. I’ll take the patient now.”
“What about Elena?” Markus asked.
“You’ll see her in good time.” William answered, before turning to Nicole. “You, come with me.”
“Fine.” Nicole replied, and the two of them left the room with the patient.
“Why would they want to borrow Nicole as well?” Valerie asked.
“No clue... Probably to work on their stupid virus.” Markus replied. “After all, they only seem to want us to perform surgery, so it’s unlikely they’re gonna take us.”
“Yeah, you’ve got a point there.”
“I just... I don’t want to see anyone hurt. I don’t want to see either of them hurt.” Markus muttered. “I’d feel terrible if anything happened.”
“We’re only human, Markus, and besides... If something does happen, you always have your Healing Touch and your skills as a doctor. So rely on that.” Valerie told him.
“Yeah, you’re right, Val. Sorry.”
“Don’t apologise. Let’s just wait for them to come back.”
The day wore on, with only occasional interruptions for new patients. Both Markus and Valerie worked as hard as they could, which seemed to make William and his friends happy. The operations kept both of them busy, and neither of them really noticed the time passing. Eventually, sometime in the late afternoon, Nicole returned alone.
“I kept an eye out for Elena, but I couldn’t see her.” were the first words out of her mouth. “I’m sorry... They had me working on Acedia all this time, plus I had no idea where they were keeping her.”
“It’s okay. You tried your best.” Markus replied. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, all I did was work on Acedia. They didn’t do anything to me.”
“Good to hear.”
“I’m still disappointed that I couldn’t find Elena... But I suppose there’s nothing I can do about that.” Nicole shrugged, sitting down and letting out a sigh.
“We’ll find her, or they’ll give her back. Let’s just not panic yet.” Valerie said. “There’s less of a chance of success that way.”
The door swung open again, giving everybody a slight shock. Standing in the doorway was Dr. Angus, with his arms folded, looking amused.
“I have to say, you did a good job with the operations today. There was a lot of valuable data that we found very useful.”
Nicole stared at him like she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. “Dr. Angus? What are you doing here? How did you manage to get them to let you out and give you the code for the door?”
Now it was his turn to return the confused look. “Let me out? Nicole... I’m in charge here. I can go wherever I damn well please.”
“So this is why you quit?” she replied, her voice dangerously low and shaking as she tried to hold back her emotions. “You quit Greenwood where you were respected, managed to save so many lives... Just so you could kill people? This isn’t you!”
“Wrong.” he said in a cool tone, interrupting her. “This is me. Didn’t I always say I hated seeing people suffer?”
“You never said you’d kill them!” she almost yelled. Her throat was beginning to feel tight, a sure sign she was going to cry. “You always said you would do what’s best for people...”
“And sometimes, ending their lives is best. You wouldn’t understand, would you? I didn’t even intend to bring you here in the first place - it was an accident - and when you were taken here, I was worried about the problems you’d cause. But so far you’ve been very obedient.” His smile widened. “Surprising.”
“I thought we were friends...” Nicole replied, staring at her feet so she didn’t have to look at him.
“Our ideals are too different for us to ever be friends.” Dr. Angus then turned to Markus and Valerie. “And you two, get ready. You’ve got another patient soon.” Then he slammed the door behind him.
A few moments of silence passed.
“I hate him.” Nicole whispered. “How could I have looked up to him? How could he do this...” She clenched her fists and yelled “I hate him!” loudly.
“Damn it.” was all Markus managed. “That bastard... I hope that he’s not talking about Elena.”
“He might well be.” Valerie replied. “Let’s get ready, just in case.”
The three of them rushed around, trying their best to get the room into some sort of order. By the time they were done, it almost looked like new. And then the door swung open for about the 100th time that day, and William was standing in the doorway.
“Here’s your patient, doctors.” he snickered, making his way into the room. “Have fun.” He passed the chart to Valerie, who almost snatched it out of his hands, and then left.
Valerie stared down at the chart, and then looked at their patient, letting out a gasp of surprise. “Oh god... Our patient... Our patient is Elena.”
“Elena?! What is she infected with?” Markus asked, his voice almost as nervous as Valerie’s.
“The chart says Luxuria...”
“How could he do this, using her as one of his experiments?” Markus growled, almost as angry as Nicole had been.
“Obviously he doesn’t care what happens to people...” Nicole said softly.
“Let’s teach him a lesson.” Valerie said, her determination clearly showing in the way she spoke and stood. “We’ll show him that he can’t win, and that no matter what, he won’t bring us down!”
“Val... Do you mind if I operate this time?” Markus asked. “I did the previous two times... I know, it sounds stupid, but I want to help this time too.”
Valerie smiled. “It doesn’t sound stupid, Markus. Nicole and I will assist you.”
“Thanks, Val. I promise, I won’t let Elena die.”
“I know you won’t.”
This time, the Luxuria were in the lungs. From the beginning, they could tell Elena was in a pretty bad state. There were deep gashes all over, and her vitals were very low.
“Val, you mind using the drain?”
“No problem.”
Once he could see the area again, Markus set to work suturing the Luxuria’s cuts. But it seemed like every time he managed to suture the wounds, the Luxuria just collided and made more, and Elena’s vitals dropped further.
“Markus, if you want, I can step in and - ” Valerie began, but he cut her off.
“Just keep her stable, whether with the stabiliser or your Healing Touch.”
“Right. At least my Healing Touch should keep her stable for longer.” Valerie invoked the Healing Touch, and Markus set to work.
He quickly sutured the wounds Luxuria had just made, and then paralysed the two viruses. A slash from the scalpel caused them damage, and the Luxuria swam away in the opposite direction.
“The chiral reaction’s going down...” Nicole commented, glancing at the machinery. “If you keep going, you should be able to get rid of it.”
The two Luxuria clashed yet again, swimming off and making slashes, and Markus sutured the cuts. Thanks to Valerie’s Healing Touch, Elena’s vitals didn’t drop, so it was easy for Markus to paralyse and damage the Luxuria a second time.
“One more time, and that should be the end of Luxuria...” Nicole said.
Moments later, Valerie’s Healing Touch stopped and Elena’s vitals jumped.
“There you go.” Valerie said calmly. “The stabiliser is going to have to do for now on.”
“I can live with that.” Markus replied, paralysing and cutting Luxuria a final time. The viruses wriggled, and then finally vanished.
“There we go, chiral reaction is negative. Elena is safe.” Nicole informed them, sighing.
“Good.” Markus said, his tone filled with relief. “I’m sorry for being selfish and wanting to do the operation myself. Thanks for putting up with that.”
“Elena’s safe, right? That’s all that matters.” Valerie smiled.
“I’ll close her up.”
Markus sutured and bandaged the incision, and Valerie gave her an injection of stabiliser. Soon, the door swung open and Dr. Angus was smiling at them.
“Nice to see you again, doctors.” he said. “Seems like you do even better under pressure.”
“Pressure? You infected Elena!” Valerie snapped. “That doesn’t count as pressure.”
“That’s all I want from you today, thanks.” He just ignored Valerie and kept on talking. “I’ll leave your friend here - any information I want, I can gather later. Bye-bye, doctors.”
When there was no response, Dr. Angus turned and left. Markus went over to check on Elena, and Nicole went to go sit alone in the corner.
“She should be okay soon. Her breathing and vitals are stable, anyway.” he commented. “At least we managed to cure her.”
“Yeah, that’s a relief.” Valerie added, smiling.
“You did a good job, both of you... You really are skilled doctors.” Nicole said.
“We just did what we could. It’s no big deal.”
“Are you okay?” Markus asked suddenly.
“What do you mean?” Nicole replied.
“I know you were friends with him...”
“He’s no friend of mine. Not now I know what he’s really like.” Nicole muttered, staring at her feet. “Especially for what he’s done to you guys, to all of us. I was so relieved at first when I saw him...”
“Look, he turned out to be a complete moron, but at least you still have other friends.” Markus told her, walking over. “I’m going to be here for you, and so are Valerie and Elena. We’ll never do something like this.”
“I know, Markus.” She glanced up at him. “Thank you... I... I appreciate it.”
“We’re friends. Isn’t that what friends do for each other?”
“Yeah. We’re friends...” She smiled, going pink. “And the same goes for you, okay? If you ever need me, any of you, just ask.”
“Thanks, Nicole.”
A few more minutes passed, and then there was a groan from Elena.
“Wh... Where am I?”
“Elena?” Valerie asked.
“Dr. Blaylock... What happened?” Elena asked, slowly sitting up. “All I remember was the injection... Did you and Dr. Vaughn have to operate?”
“Yes. Except Markus did it pretty much by himself.” Valerie grinned.
The nurse blinked in surprise. “Dr. Vaughn operated on me alone...? I guess this means I owe you yet again.”
“You don’t owe me anything, Elena.” Markus interrupted. “I said before that I’d never let any of you get hurt.”
“And I said to him that he’d get his chance for heroics.” Valerie smiled. “I was right, wasn’t I?”
“You’re a bad winner, Val...”
“Thanks, Dr. Vaughn.” Elena said finally, blushing.
“It was nothing.” he replied casually. “Like I said, Elena, none of you will get hurt while I’m around.”
Nicole smiled. “We know we can always rely on you.”
Then it was Markus’s turn to go red. “You bet.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Angus was talking with the others.
“You do know what to do, Sam?”
“Of course, sir. Set off the Acedia downtown after sending the message to Caduceus.” The man repeated his instructions word for word back to him.
“William, you’re meant to go with him, and make sure everything goes okay.”
“Yes sir.”
“This is war against those sinners. It’s about time we made our next move.”
There was a great call of agreement, and he smirked. Perfect. Nobody outsmarted him for long.
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