Begin The Procedure, OC/Canon fic, Chapter 9
Author's note: I originally didn't intend for this to turn out so much like the operation on Richard Anderson (in terms of what happened to the patient), but in the end, I think it might work better for storyline purposes. xD;; I had fun writing this chapter, and the fact that amideadn0w had her chapter 3 up only made me more eager to do it! I'm so cruel to everybody, ohoho. But this isn't the last we've seen of Socordia, and there are still other viruses too! Plus the bad guys, of course. ;D Enjoy, everyone! <33
Chapter 9: Stepping Up
The research team arrived early next morning as usual, tired. They had spent a long time last night trying to figure out the Socordia medication and what the best combination would be to treat Socordia. Eventually, they’d hit on what they assumed was the correct formula, and had left in a good mood. Markus and Valerie, meanwhile, were anxious about their patient.
“Her vital signs don’t look too great, do they?” Markus muttered, his expression concerned. He didn’t like seeing people suffering, and it was made worse by the fact that neither he nor Valerie could treat the woman until they got the medicine from the research department.
“No. They’ve been dropping steadily for a while now. We’re lucky she’s still stable at all.” Valerie replied, sounding just as worried as she felt. “I really hope the research department is able to find a cure for this.”
“From what I heard from Kanae, they were kept back pretty late to work on it.”
“Hmm. How does Kanae know, out of curiosity?”
“She saw Dr. Cromwell just as she was leaving last night. He and his team were working pretty hard on it.”
Valerie smiled. “I’m not surprised. Remember when Brachion first appeared? And when we were operating on Cardia?”
“Yeah, I remember. Everyone did their best. Really in some ways it’s like that again.”
“All we have to do is do our best as well, I suppose.” Valerie replied. “We’d better go.”
The two of them headed out of the room and along the corridor, and a couple of the members of the research team passed by.
“Hey, how’s it going?” Markus asked, trying to be polite.
“Good!” came the response. “We worked really hard on it, and we think we’ve got our solution!”
“Good to hear.”
“Dr. Cromwell wants to see you two, by the way.”
“All right, we’ll head there now.” Markus replied.
He and Valerie set off with the members of the research team along the corridor, which was filled with other people rushing about to get their work done. They took the lift to the third floor, and were there relatively quickly.
When he noticed them, as well as the rest of his team, Dr. Cromwell broke into a wide grin. “Good to see you! We think we’ve finally got it, Dr. Vaughn, Dr. Blaylock.”
“I’m glad.” Valerie smiled. “So that means the Socordia operation is going ahead?”
“As soon as possible.” Dr. Cromwell confirmed. “How is the patient doing?”
“Not too well. Her vitals are pretty low at the moment, so if we don’t operate soon, I don’t think she’ll make it.” Markus said.
“Hmm. I’ll get Elena to set everything up, and Nicole will help you with the procedure.”
“No problem. Which operating room?”
“Elena will fetch you, it’s likely to be number five on the ground floor.” Dr. Cromwell answered, pushing his slipping glasses a bit further up his nose. “And Nicole will bring the Socordia medication, so you don’t have to worry about that either.”
“Thank you.” Valerie said. “Okay, let’s go, Markus.”
Markus nodded. “See you later, Dr. Cromwell.”
The researcher waved them goodbye, and they left the research department.
“Oh, Markus! This is going to sound really silly, but did you see the news last night?”
“The news?” He gave her an odd look. “Why?”
“Did you see Guy Davidson’s report?”
“Oh, right, that.” Markus’s expression was unimpressed. “Where he was going on about finding that note and everything. And then when he was talking to Director Quatro. Or was it the bit after that where he was discussing the possibility of another strain being released after Socordia?”
“Just all of it.” Valerie said nonchalantly, shrugging. “It was funny hearing him praise Caduceus for once. But if whoever’s responsible for this already made two strains, it’s likely we’ll see a third soon.”
“Let’s hope it’s not as much of a pain in the neck as the others.” Markus grumbled.
“I guess we’ll just have to see. Besides, for now we have work to be getting on with.” Valerie pointed out.
“True. Let’s go, then.”
They split up and headed to their respective offices. After all the recent operations that had been performed, paperwork had to get done as well. Neither of them enjoyed doing it, but it was just one of those tasks that you had to work your way through whether you liked it or not.
Markus couldn’t help but feel thankful that the paperwork always got split between him and Valerie because they worked as a team. Just as he was finishing up, there was a knock on the door.
“Can I come in, Dr. Vaughn?”
“Sure, Elena. Does this mean it’s time for the operation?”
The blonde nurse opened the door and came in. “Yes, I thought I’d come find you first and then we could go find Dr. Blaylock.”
Markus stood up and pushed the papers on his desk to one side. “Let’s go then.”
The two of them left the office and headed for Valerie’s. Elena knocked gently on the door before saying “Dr. Blaylock, it’s me. I’ve got Dr. Vaughn with me. Can we come in?”
“Sure, Elena. Come in.” came the reply, and Markus opened the door.
“How’s it going, Val? You ready?”
She turned around in her chair to take a look at them. “Of course I am. Let’s show this virus who’s boss.” Standing up, she stretched a little because she’d been sitting in the same position too long.
“That’s the spirit.” Markus grinned. “Let’s go. It’s number five, right Elena?”
Elena nodded. “Number five, on the main floor.”
“So that means we can basically head there right now.”
“Sounds like it.” Valerie agreed.
It was close enough for them to head along the corridor and to the operating room quickly and easily. When they arrived, they realised Nicole wasn’t there yet.
“They were just getting the medicines and things together.” Elena explained. “That and she forgot to bring syringes the first time, so she had to go back and get some.”
“I see.” Valerie replied.
“She’ll be here in a moment, I’m sure.”
A couple of moments later and Nicole burst into the OR with the syringes and medication. “S-Sorry, Elena, I’m sure I’ve got everything this time.” She smiled awkwardly.
“It’s okay, Dr. Williams. We haven’t even really started yet.”
Nicole let out a sigh of relief. “That makes me feel a bit better.”
“I’ll begin the briefing, then, since everyone’s here.” Elena began. “Our patient is 57 year old Eileen Williams. Because of the two previous operations she had to undergo, she’s very weak and her vitals are low. She’s infected with a new strain of SIN known as Socordia, and with the new medicine we’ve obtained, we can hopefully cure her.”
“Of course she’ll live. We’ll do our best to save her, no matter how bad the situation seems.” Markus said, and Valerie nodded. The pair of them had started to get that focused, confident look they had whenever it was time to begin operating. Elena recognised it as she’d seen it many times. Seeing her friends like this made her feel that everything would be fine.
When Valerie made the incision, the stomach seemed empty at first, but then a blue diverticula popped up, followed shortly by a yellow, then a red.
“Let’s remove the poison first, then we’ll start dealing with Socordia.” Markus suggested.
“Good plan.” Valerie replied. “Elena, could you use the ultrasound?”
Once again, it was revealed that the Socordia had produced pockets of poison, and the two of them took turns to cut out the poison, drain it, and suture the small wounds left behind. Markus injected the stabiliser, and Valerie cut Socordia out. The virus was still a large jelly mass, and when Valerie sliced it, the smaller viruses came out right away.
“Okay, assuming the diverticula are an indication of the order to treat Socordia’s smaller bodies in, we should inject the blue medicine into the blue Socordia first.” Nicole stated, handing over the small container of light blue liquid.
Markus took it and filled the syringe, and then started injecting the little blue Socordia. All of them wriggled around, and then vanished. The blue diverticula vanished as well.
“The chiral reaction weakened a little bit!” Elena said, glancing at the machine beside her.
Valerie smiled. “Great, then this medicine does work!”
“The next Socordia we have to inject is the yellow one, so obviously you have to use the yellow medicine.” Nicole explained.
“Right.” Valerie replied, taking the yellow medicine and injecting the yellow Socordia. Once she was finished, the yellow Socordia and the yellow diverticula both vanished, and the chiral reaction dropped again.
“It looks like we’re doing well!” Elena said confidently. “The chiral reaction is dropping a fair amount!”
“Looks like the research department did another good job, huh?” Markus commented, which made Nicole grin.
“We’ve got some good people working there, and we nearly pulled an all-nighter trying to get it done! I’m just glad it worked, since we didn’t have time to test it properly.”
“If this works, we’ll have nothing to worry about.” he replied. “Elena, how are her vitals?”
“They’ve gone up a small amount, but they’re still quite low. Should I give her an injection of the stabiliser?”
Markus nodded. “Might be a good idea.”
Elena did so, and they got on with the operation. The red Socordia were injected with the medicine and vanished as well, which everyone assumed would be the end of the procedure.
“Wait...” Elena mumbled, confused. “The chiral reaction isn’t as strong, but it hasn’t disappeared completely. Does this mean Socordia’s still present in the body?”
“We should look for it, just in case it is.” Nicole replied, looking just as confused as Elena. “But you would think that once we’d removed the miniature bodies from inside Socordia, that would kill the big virus.”
Then the diverticula reappeared. Red, blue, yellow.
“Okay, Socordia is definitely still present then.” Valerie said, looking surprised. “Let’s just keep at it. I’m sure we can destroy it if we keep going.”
“I’ll try and find it.” Elena said, moving the ultrasound carefully around the area. Eventually, a dark shadow showed up. “There we go!”
Valerie cut across it, and the normal, large Socordia showed up.
“Wait, it just completely formed back up again?” she muttered. “That’s weird...”
“Maybe it has to gather up all its energy to make those miniature viruses form into a big one...” Nicole said thoughtfully. “If so, then maybe that’s why - it has to use energy to reform and make poison, and that’s making the chiral reaction drop.”
“That could be it. Anyway, let’s keep going.”
A quick cut with the scalpel and the Socordia released the small viruses inside it.
“The red ones are first, aren’t they?” Markus asked.
“Yeah, inject those ones first.” Nicole confirmed, and Markus got started. She was pleased to see that the viruses were definitely being destroyed by the medicine.
“The chiral reaction dropped a bit more.” Elena said when they had finished with the red Socordia. “I think it’s coming close to disappearing.”
“Good!” Valerie said. She was looking triumphantly at the remaining Socordia. “In the end, no problem is too big for us to solve! Now, let’s move on to the blue Socordia!”
Working together, Markus and Valerie managed to get rid of the blue viruses easily. A quick injection of stabiliser was needed to boost the patient’s vitals out of the danger zone, but otherwise things were going relatively okay.
“The chiral reaction has gotten weaker!” Elena informed everyone.
“Great, so we’re nearly done!” Nicole smiled, looking pleased with the news.
“Yep! I think once the yellow Socordia are gone, that should be it!”
They started injecting the yellow viruses, and the Socordia wriggled in pain. Moments later, they were gone in a flash. Everyone looked nervously at Elena, wanting to hear good news.
The blonde woman was completely flustered by the anxious looks she was receiving, and it took her a couple of moments to be able to check the machine properly. “The chiral reaction... is negative!” Everyone including Elena let out a massive sigh of relief.
“Good, looks like we can start closing her up.” Valerie was saying, but she let out a gasp when she happened to catch sight of the monitor. The patient’s vitals were dropping rapidly, and if they didn’t act soon... “There must be something else we’ve missed! I’ll keep her stable, Markus, you check with the ultrasound!”
“You’ve got it, Val.” Markus replied, completely calm, as Valerie invoked her Healing Touch. Even though the patient’s vitals were now stable, the atmosphere was tense. If they couldn’t solve the problem before Valerie’s Healing Touch stopped, the patient would likely die.
Elena took the ultrasound and carefully checked the area. There were pockets of poison everywhere within the organ, much to the surprise of everybody present.
“I guess this was its last-ditch attempt to finish off the patient.” Nicole muttered.
“It’s okay, I’ll deal with this.” Markus replied, before drawing the star shape himself. He knew he’d have a better chance of saving the patient if he used his power, and it wasn’t worth risking things. The familiar sensation of time seeming to slow around him took over, and he began.
With Valerie’s help, he cut across the shadows and began draining the strange blue poison, and the two of them sutured the small incisions they’d made. Elena and Nicole could only watch tensely as this scene went on before them.
Nicole vaguely wondered if this was what it was always like for Elena, watching the operation go ahead in such an odd way. It was hard to keep up with Markus’s movements, and the intense look of concentration in his eyes was obvious to anyone. Valerie, too, was deeply concentrating, her movements smooth and precise, and she was making the whole procedure look totally simple.
Seconds later, the two of them snapped out of their state of concentration, looking slightly dazed.
“Elena, how is she looking?” Valerie managed, shaking her head slightly to clear it.
“She’s fine now, Dr. Blaylock. Her vitals are slightly below average, but she’s stable.” Elena reported, looking pleased. Valerie smiled back, her expression relieved.
“I’m glad to hear it. Are you okay, Markus?”
“Yeah, I don’t think my headache’s so bad this time. It should clear up soon enough.” he replied, looking more relaxed than he had a few moments ago.
“Good to hear.” Valerie said. “I’ll close her up, then.”
Soon enough, Valerie had sutured and bandaged the incision and they were done.
“What a relief. I was worried for a moment there that we were going to lose her.” Markus said softly. Everyone looked at him.
“Dr. Vaughn, with you and Dr. Blaylock working together, there’s no way that patient would have died.” Elena said firmly, her voice and expression entirely serious.
“No, Elena. That’s not true. The thing is, even with that power, there are going to be people I can’t save. People Valerie and I together can’t save. That’s the way things are.”
“Why don’t you focus on the good side of things?” Nicole asked him, trying to be encouraging. “You saved her life, right? She’s going to be fine.”
“Nicole’s right, you know. We did fine, Markus. Socordia’s gone, and the patient should be okay now. Even Elena said she was stable.” Valerie pointed out. She shifted slightly, uncomfortable. Whenever Markus convinced himself things would turn out badly, it was difficult to make him think otherwise.
“I guess.” Markus shrugged. “At least she’s safe, like you said. Let’s go.” He gave the three others a smile that didn’t show in his eyes. “I’m sure Dr. Cromwell will want to hear all about the operation.”
“He’ll bug all of you for details if you don’t tell him, seriously!” Nicole did her best to smile back, trying to lighten the serious tone somewhat. “I’m sure you know what he’s like.”
“Yeah, I know. We’d better go and see him, then.”
And the group headed out of the operating room and towards the lift. When it arrived on the third floor, they immediately headed for Dr. Cromwell’s work area. As soon as he noticed them standing there, the doctor’s face lit up with curiosity.
“Well! How did the operation go?”
“We treated Socordia, and the chiral reaction from the patient is completely negative.” Elena said confidently, giving Dr. Cromwell a bright smile.
He returned it, and his curious expression turned to one of excitement. “I’m glad to hear it! So the Socordia medication was a success after all! I was anxious about it, but I’m pleased that you all returned with good news!”
“We’re just as relieved, Dr. Cromwell.” Valerie replied. “Your team did a great job with it.”
“Thank you very much for your information, I appreciate it.” Dr. Cromwell replied, clearly very pleased with the news. “This is a very good sign, especially as we’re likely to see more Socordia cases in the future.”
“Yeah, I’m glad we could help.” Nicole added.
“Anyway, we just thought we’d stop by and tell you, doctor.” Valerie said.
“Once again, thank you. I’ll see you later.”
“Bye!”
They headed back towards the lift and towards the main floor. The whole trip down, Markus was tense and his dark eyes were filled with worry. Valerie and Elena were nervous too, but they were doing their best to keep it under control. At Caduceus, you did your best to help, and once the operation was over, it was best to just keep going and concentrate on your next patient.
“When’s our next operation, Elena?” Markus said eventually, which caused the nurse to jump a little with surprise.
“Another Avaritia patient, I think.”
“That should be no big deal, right?” Valerie said in her best attempt at a cheerful tone. Markus gave her a quick nod.
“We’ve done so many that we can probably do this one in our sleep.”
“It’s Operating Room 2 this time.” Elena added, relieved that he seemed to be snapping out of his gloomy mood.
“Then it’s no problem.”
They went straight for Operating Room 2 when the lift stopped and opened, and got ready to begin.
Elena grabbed the chart and began reading the details off of it as soon as they were ready. “Our patient is 12 year old Simon Finley. He recently came down with a serious case of Avaritia which we assume is mature form, but luckily for us his vitals are relatively high and stable, so it shouldn’t be too bad.”
“A kid, huh?” Markus sighed. “Unfortunate. Let’s do our best to save his life.”
“We will. That’s why we’re doctors.” Valerie responded. Her brown eyes were filled with confidence, and Markus couldn’t help but feel somewhat glad to see her being her usual determined self. Whenever he was feeling like he couldn’t go on any more, it was always Valerie that persuaded him to keep going.
The operation went relatively smoothly for the most part, and while they were working the patient’s vitals only dipped a little bit. The immature Avaritia were quickly and easily dispatched, and the two of them were so focused that the mature Avaritia seemed simple enough.
As Markus was suturing the patient and bandaging, Valerie finally felt able to relax. During the operation, there was always the chance that things could go wrong, but as soon as that bandage was on, it was a sign that things would - or should - be okay. That was the way she saw it.
“Good job.” she said to him once he was done.
“It’s no big deal, Val. You helped a lot too.” he replied, scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably. “And you as well, Elena.”
“I didn’t really do anything, Dr. Vaughn, but thank you!” Elena stammered.
“You helped find Socordia earlier, you helped check the chiral reactions, and those are all useful things.”
“They’re just part of my job, doctor.”
“Have we got anything else?”
“A couple of other operations, and then you’re done for the evening.”
“Good to hear.” Markus commented, tightening his tie a little more for the sake of having something to do than for appearance’s sake. “Let’s go.”
While Markus, Valerie, and Elena were busy operating, Dr. Tsuji and Dr. Everett were patrolling the rooms and making sure the various patients were okay.
“It’s looking fine so far, huh, Kanae?” the tall man said, looking at the black-haired woman beside him.
Dr. Tsuji pushed her glasses up before she commented. “Yes, it seems that all the patients are in good condition, including the Avaritia patients. That’s good.”
“Yeah. We’re doing well here so far.”
Dr. Tsuji nodded, but before she could say anything more, the room’s patient’s heart monitor let out a low, sustained beep. Flatline. “Quick, Dr. Everett, fetch the defibrillator!”
Her tone was commanding, and Dr. Everett was aware that the situation was too serious for him to say anything. He rushed off, and returned moments later with the defibrillator.
“Are you ready, Kanae?”
“Of course I am!” came the terse reply. Dr. Tsuji’s eyes were shining with anxiety behind her glasses.
“Stand clear then!” Dr. Everett replied, before applying the paddles to the woman’s chest. A shock of electricity, but no reaction from the woman. “Okay, I’m upping it to 300! Stand clear, Kanae.”
She gave him a half-hearted withering look that said she knew what to do, but she didn’t comment. Yet again, no reaction.
“Upping the voltage to 360!”
A shock of electricity again, but the monitor stubbornly refused to return to its regular rhythm of beeps. Dr. Everett tried a few more times, but it made absolutely no difference. Eileen Williams was dead.
Next chapter
Previous chapter
Chapter 9: Stepping Up
The research team arrived early next morning as usual, tired. They had spent a long time last night trying to figure out the Socordia medication and what the best combination would be to treat Socordia. Eventually, they’d hit on what they assumed was the correct formula, and had left in a good mood. Markus and Valerie, meanwhile, were anxious about their patient.
“Her vital signs don’t look too great, do they?” Markus muttered, his expression concerned. He didn’t like seeing people suffering, and it was made worse by the fact that neither he nor Valerie could treat the woman until they got the medicine from the research department.
“No. They’ve been dropping steadily for a while now. We’re lucky she’s still stable at all.” Valerie replied, sounding just as worried as she felt. “I really hope the research department is able to find a cure for this.”
“From what I heard from Kanae, they were kept back pretty late to work on it.”
“Hmm. How does Kanae know, out of curiosity?”
“She saw Dr. Cromwell just as she was leaving last night. He and his team were working pretty hard on it.”
Valerie smiled. “I’m not surprised. Remember when Brachion first appeared? And when we were operating on Cardia?”
“Yeah, I remember. Everyone did their best. Really in some ways it’s like that again.”
“All we have to do is do our best as well, I suppose.” Valerie replied. “We’d better go.”
The two of them headed out of the room and along the corridor, and a couple of the members of the research team passed by.
“Hey, how’s it going?” Markus asked, trying to be polite.
“Good!” came the response. “We worked really hard on it, and we think we’ve got our solution!”
“Good to hear.”
“Dr. Cromwell wants to see you two, by the way.”
“All right, we’ll head there now.” Markus replied.
He and Valerie set off with the members of the research team along the corridor, which was filled with other people rushing about to get their work done. They took the lift to the third floor, and were there relatively quickly.
When he noticed them, as well as the rest of his team, Dr. Cromwell broke into a wide grin. “Good to see you! We think we’ve finally got it, Dr. Vaughn, Dr. Blaylock.”
“I’m glad.” Valerie smiled. “So that means the Socordia operation is going ahead?”
“As soon as possible.” Dr. Cromwell confirmed. “How is the patient doing?”
“Not too well. Her vitals are pretty low at the moment, so if we don’t operate soon, I don’t think she’ll make it.” Markus said.
“Hmm. I’ll get Elena to set everything up, and Nicole will help you with the procedure.”
“No problem. Which operating room?”
“Elena will fetch you, it’s likely to be number five on the ground floor.” Dr. Cromwell answered, pushing his slipping glasses a bit further up his nose. “And Nicole will bring the Socordia medication, so you don’t have to worry about that either.”
“Thank you.” Valerie said. “Okay, let’s go, Markus.”
Markus nodded. “See you later, Dr. Cromwell.”
The researcher waved them goodbye, and they left the research department.
“Oh, Markus! This is going to sound really silly, but did you see the news last night?”
“The news?” He gave her an odd look. “Why?”
“Did you see Guy Davidson’s report?”
“Oh, right, that.” Markus’s expression was unimpressed. “Where he was going on about finding that note and everything. And then when he was talking to Director Quatro. Or was it the bit after that where he was discussing the possibility of another strain being released after Socordia?”
“Just all of it.” Valerie said nonchalantly, shrugging. “It was funny hearing him praise Caduceus for once. But if whoever’s responsible for this already made two strains, it’s likely we’ll see a third soon.”
“Let’s hope it’s not as much of a pain in the neck as the others.” Markus grumbled.
“I guess we’ll just have to see. Besides, for now we have work to be getting on with.” Valerie pointed out.
“True. Let’s go, then.”
They split up and headed to their respective offices. After all the recent operations that had been performed, paperwork had to get done as well. Neither of them enjoyed doing it, but it was just one of those tasks that you had to work your way through whether you liked it or not.
Markus couldn’t help but feel thankful that the paperwork always got split between him and Valerie because they worked as a team. Just as he was finishing up, there was a knock on the door.
“Can I come in, Dr. Vaughn?”
“Sure, Elena. Does this mean it’s time for the operation?”
The blonde nurse opened the door and came in. “Yes, I thought I’d come find you first and then we could go find Dr. Blaylock.”
Markus stood up and pushed the papers on his desk to one side. “Let’s go then.”
The two of them left the office and headed for Valerie’s. Elena knocked gently on the door before saying “Dr. Blaylock, it’s me. I’ve got Dr. Vaughn with me. Can we come in?”
“Sure, Elena. Come in.” came the reply, and Markus opened the door.
“How’s it going, Val? You ready?”
She turned around in her chair to take a look at them. “Of course I am. Let’s show this virus who’s boss.” Standing up, she stretched a little because she’d been sitting in the same position too long.
“That’s the spirit.” Markus grinned. “Let’s go. It’s number five, right Elena?”
Elena nodded. “Number five, on the main floor.”
“So that means we can basically head there right now.”
“Sounds like it.” Valerie agreed.
It was close enough for them to head along the corridor and to the operating room quickly and easily. When they arrived, they realised Nicole wasn’t there yet.
“They were just getting the medicines and things together.” Elena explained. “That and she forgot to bring syringes the first time, so she had to go back and get some.”
“I see.” Valerie replied.
“She’ll be here in a moment, I’m sure.”
A couple of moments later and Nicole burst into the OR with the syringes and medication. “S-Sorry, Elena, I’m sure I’ve got everything this time.” She smiled awkwardly.
“It’s okay, Dr. Williams. We haven’t even really started yet.”
Nicole let out a sigh of relief. “That makes me feel a bit better.”
“I’ll begin the briefing, then, since everyone’s here.” Elena began. “Our patient is 57 year old Eileen Williams. Because of the two previous operations she had to undergo, she’s very weak and her vitals are low. She’s infected with a new strain of SIN known as Socordia, and with the new medicine we’ve obtained, we can hopefully cure her.”
“Of course she’ll live. We’ll do our best to save her, no matter how bad the situation seems.” Markus said, and Valerie nodded. The pair of them had started to get that focused, confident look they had whenever it was time to begin operating. Elena recognised it as she’d seen it many times. Seeing her friends like this made her feel that everything would be fine.
When Valerie made the incision, the stomach seemed empty at first, but then a blue diverticula popped up, followed shortly by a yellow, then a red.
“Let’s remove the poison first, then we’ll start dealing with Socordia.” Markus suggested.
“Good plan.” Valerie replied. “Elena, could you use the ultrasound?”
Once again, it was revealed that the Socordia had produced pockets of poison, and the two of them took turns to cut out the poison, drain it, and suture the small wounds left behind. Markus injected the stabiliser, and Valerie cut Socordia out. The virus was still a large jelly mass, and when Valerie sliced it, the smaller viruses came out right away.
“Okay, assuming the diverticula are an indication of the order to treat Socordia’s smaller bodies in, we should inject the blue medicine into the blue Socordia first.” Nicole stated, handing over the small container of light blue liquid.
Markus took it and filled the syringe, and then started injecting the little blue Socordia. All of them wriggled around, and then vanished. The blue diverticula vanished as well.
“The chiral reaction weakened a little bit!” Elena said, glancing at the machine beside her.
Valerie smiled. “Great, then this medicine does work!”
“The next Socordia we have to inject is the yellow one, so obviously you have to use the yellow medicine.” Nicole explained.
“Right.” Valerie replied, taking the yellow medicine and injecting the yellow Socordia. Once she was finished, the yellow Socordia and the yellow diverticula both vanished, and the chiral reaction dropped again.
“It looks like we’re doing well!” Elena said confidently. “The chiral reaction is dropping a fair amount!”
“Looks like the research department did another good job, huh?” Markus commented, which made Nicole grin.
“We’ve got some good people working there, and we nearly pulled an all-nighter trying to get it done! I’m just glad it worked, since we didn’t have time to test it properly.”
“If this works, we’ll have nothing to worry about.” he replied. “Elena, how are her vitals?”
“They’ve gone up a small amount, but they’re still quite low. Should I give her an injection of the stabiliser?”
Markus nodded. “Might be a good idea.”
Elena did so, and they got on with the operation. The red Socordia were injected with the medicine and vanished as well, which everyone assumed would be the end of the procedure.
“Wait...” Elena mumbled, confused. “The chiral reaction isn’t as strong, but it hasn’t disappeared completely. Does this mean Socordia’s still present in the body?”
“We should look for it, just in case it is.” Nicole replied, looking just as confused as Elena. “But you would think that once we’d removed the miniature bodies from inside Socordia, that would kill the big virus.”
Then the diverticula reappeared. Red, blue, yellow.
“Okay, Socordia is definitely still present then.” Valerie said, looking surprised. “Let’s just keep at it. I’m sure we can destroy it if we keep going.”
“I’ll try and find it.” Elena said, moving the ultrasound carefully around the area. Eventually, a dark shadow showed up. “There we go!”
Valerie cut across it, and the normal, large Socordia showed up.
“Wait, it just completely formed back up again?” she muttered. “That’s weird...”
“Maybe it has to gather up all its energy to make those miniature viruses form into a big one...” Nicole said thoughtfully. “If so, then maybe that’s why - it has to use energy to reform and make poison, and that’s making the chiral reaction drop.”
“That could be it. Anyway, let’s keep going.”
A quick cut with the scalpel and the Socordia released the small viruses inside it.
“The red ones are first, aren’t they?” Markus asked.
“Yeah, inject those ones first.” Nicole confirmed, and Markus got started. She was pleased to see that the viruses were definitely being destroyed by the medicine.
“The chiral reaction dropped a bit more.” Elena said when they had finished with the red Socordia. “I think it’s coming close to disappearing.”
“Good!” Valerie said. She was looking triumphantly at the remaining Socordia. “In the end, no problem is too big for us to solve! Now, let’s move on to the blue Socordia!”
Working together, Markus and Valerie managed to get rid of the blue viruses easily. A quick injection of stabiliser was needed to boost the patient’s vitals out of the danger zone, but otherwise things were going relatively okay.
“The chiral reaction has gotten weaker!” Elena informed everyone.
“Great, so we’re nearly done!” Nicole smiled, looking pleased with the news.
“Yep! I think once the yellow Socordia are gone, that should be it!”
They started injecting the yellow viruses, and the Socordia wriggled in pain. Moments later, they were gone in a flash. Everyone looked nervously at Elena, wanting to hear good news.
The blonde woman was completely flustered by the anxious looks she was receiving, and it took her a couple of moments to be able to check the machine properly. “The chiral reaction... is negative!” Everyone including Elena let out a massive sigh of relief.
“Good, looks like we can start closing her up.” Valerie was saying, but she let out a gasp when she happened to catch sight of the monitor. The patient’s vitals were dropping rapidly, and if they didn’t act soon... “There must be something else we’ve missed! I’ll keep her stable, Markus, you check with the ultrasound!”
“You’ve got it, Val.” Markus replied, completely calm, as Valerie invoked her Healing Touch. Even though the patient’s vitals were now stable, the atmosphere was tense. If they couldn’t solve the problem before Valerie’s Healing Touch stopped, the patient would likely die.
Elena took the ultrasound and carefully checked the area. There were pockets of poison everywhere within the organ, much to the surprise of everybody present.
“I guess this was its last-ditch attempt to finish off the patient.” Nicole muttered.
“It’s okay, I’ll deal with this.” Markus replied, before drawing the star shape himself. He knew he’d have a better chance of saving the patient if he used his power, and it wasn’t worth risking things. The familiar sensation of time seeming to slow around him took over, and he began.
With Valerie’s help, he cut across the shadows and began draining the strange blue poison, and the two of them sutured the small incisions they’d made. Elena and Nicole could only watch tensely as this scene went on before them.
Nicole vaguely wondered if this was what it was always like for Elena, watching the operation go ahead in such an odd way. It was hard to keep up with Markus’s movements, and the intense look of concentration in his eyes was obvious to anyone. Valerie, too, was deeply concentrating, her movements smooth and precise, and she was making the whole procedure look totally simple.
Seconds later, the two of them snapped out of their state of concentration, looking slightly dazed.
“Elena, how is she looking?” Valerie managed, shaking her head slightly to clear it.
“She’s fine now, Dr. Blaylock. Her vitals are slightly below average, but she’s stable.” Elena reported, looking pleased. Valerie smiled back, her expression relieved.
“I’m glad to hear it. Are you okay, Markus?”
“Yeah, I don’t think my headache’s so bad this time. It should clear up soon enough.” he replied, looking more relaxed than he had a few moments ago.
“Good to hear.” Valerie said. “I’ll close her up, then.”
Soon enough, Valerie had sutured and bandaged the incision and they were done.
“What a relief. I was worried for a moment there that we were going to lose her.” Markus said softly. Everyone looked at him.
“Dr. Vaughn, with you and Dr. Blaylock working together, there’s no way that patient would have died.” Elena said firmly, her voice and expression entirely serious.
“No, Elena. That’s not true. The thing is, even with that power, there are going to be people I can’t save. People Valerie and I together can’t save. That’s the way things are.”
“Why don’t you focus on the good side of things?” Nicole asked him, trying to be encouraging. “You saved her life, right? She’s going to be fine.”
“Nicole’s right, you know. We did fine, Markus. Socordia’s gone, and the patient should be okay now. Even Elena said she was stable.” Valerie pointed out. She shifted slightly, uncomfortable. Whenever Markus convinced himself things would turn out badly, it was difficult to make him think otherwise.
“I guess.” Markus shrugged. “At least she’s safe, like you said. Let’s go.” He gave the three others a smile that didn’t show in his eyes. “I’m sure Dr. Cromwell will want to hear all about the operation.”
“He’ll bug all of you for details if you don’t tell him, seriously!” Nicole did her best to smile back, trying to lighten the serious tone somewhat. “I’m sure you know what he’s like.”
“Yeah, I know. We’d better go and see him, then.”
And the group headed out of the operating room and towards the lift. When it arrived on the third floor, they immediately headed for Dr. Cromwell’s work area. As soon as he noticed them standing there, the doctor’s face lit up with curiosity.
“Well! How did the operation go?”
“We treated Socordia, and the chiral reaction from the patient is completely negative.” Elena said confidently, giving Dr. Cromwell a bright smile.
He returned it, and his curious expression turned to one of excitement. “I’m glad to hear it! So the Socordia medication was a success after all! I was anxious about it, but I’m pleased that you all returned with good news!”
“We’re just as relieved, Dr. Cromwell.” Valerie replied. “Your team did a great job with it.”
“Thank you very much for your information, I appreciate it.” Dr. Cromwell replied, clearly very pleased with the news. “This is a very good sign, especially as we’re likely to see more Socordia cases in the future.”
“Yeah, I’m glad we could help.” Nicole added.
“Anyway, we just thought we’d stop by and tell you, doctor.” Valerie said.
“Once again, thank you. I’ll see you later.”
“Bye!”
They headed back towards the lift and towards the main floor. The whole trip down, Markus was tense and his dark eyes were filled with worry. Valerie and Elena were nervous too, but they were doing their best to keep it under control. At Caduceus, you did your best to help, and once the operation was over, it was best to just keep going and concentrate on your next patient.
“When’s our next operation, Elena?” Markus said eventually, which caused the nurse to jump a little with surprise.
“Another Avaritia patient, I think.”
“That should be no big deal, right?” Valerie said in her best attempt at a cheerful tone. Markus gave her a quick nod.
“We’ve done so many that we can probably do this one in our sleep.”
“It’s Operating Room 2 this time.” Elena added, relieved that he seemed to be snapping out of his gloomy mood.
“Then it’s no problem.”
They went straight for Operating Room 2 when the lift stopped and opened, and got ready to begin.
Elena grabbed the chart and began reading the details off of it as soon as they were ready. “Our patient is 12 year old Simon Finley. He recently came down with a serious case of Avaritia which we assume is mature form, but luckily for us his vitals are relatively high and stable, so it shouldn’t be too bad.”
“A kid, huh?” Markus sighed. “Unfortunate. Let’s do our best to save his life.”
“We will. That’s why we’re doctors.” Valerie responded. Her brown eyes were filled with confidence, and Markus couldn’t help but feel somewhat glad to see her being her usual determined self. Whenever he was feeling like he couldn’t go on any more, it was always Valerie that persuaded him to keep going.
The operation went relatively smoothly for the most part, and while they were working the patient’s vitals only dipped a little bit. The immature Avaritia were quickly and easily dispatched, and the two of them were so focused that the mature Avaritia seemed simple enough.
As Markus was suturing the patient and bandaging, Valerie finally felt able to relax. During the operation, there was always the chance that things could go wrong, but as soon as that bandage was on, it was a sign that things would - or should - be okay. That was the way she saw it.
“Good job.” she said to him once he was done.
“It’s no big deal, Val. You helped a lot too.” he replied, scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably. “And you as well, Elena.”
“I didn’t really do anything, Dr. Vaughn, but thank you!” Elena stammered.
“You helped find Socordia earlier, you helped check the chiral reactions, and those are all useful things.”
“They’re just part of my job, doctor.”
“Have we got anything else?”
“A couple of other operations, and then you’re done for the evening.”
“Good to hear.” Markus commented, tightening his tie a little more for the sake of having something to do than for appearance’s sake. “Let’s go.”
While Markus, Valerie, and Elena were busy operating, Dr. Tsuji and Dr. Everett were patrolling the rooms and making sure the various patients were okay.
“It’s looking fine so far, huh, Kanae?” the tall man said, looking at the black-haired woman beside him.
Dr. Tsuji pushed her glasses up before she commented. “Yes, it seems that all the patients are in good condition, including the Avaritia patients. That’s good.”
“Yeah. We’re doing well here so far.”
Dr. Tsuji nodded, but before she could say anything more, the room’s patient’s heart monitor let out a low, sustained beep. Flatline. “Quick, Dr. Everett, fetch the defibrillator!”
Her tone was commanding, and Dr. Everett was aware that the situation was too serious for him to say anything. He rushed off, and returned moments later with the defibrillator.
“Are you ready, Kanae?”
“Of course I am!” came the terse reply. Dr. Tsuji’s eyes were shining with anxiety behind her glasses.
“Stand clear then!” Dr. Everett replied, before applying the paddles to the woman’s chest. A shock of electricity, but no reaction from the woman. “Okay, I’m upping it to 300! Stand clear, Kanae.”
She gave him a half-hearted withering look that said she knew what to do, but she didn’t comment. Yet again, no reaction.
“Upping the voltage to 360!”
A shock of electricity again, but the monitor stubbornly refused to return to its regular rhythm of beeps. Dr. Everett tried a few more times, but it made absolutely no difference. Eileen Williams was dead.
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