The low tone buzzing of a bright light beaming down on Brian's face jolts him awake suddenly. With his vision in a complete haze and his hearing still coming too, he hears the sounds of two people talking with muffled voices. The ceiling of the room slowly spins as he begins to regain his senses.. feeling the heavy after effects of being put under for an extended period of time. He attempts to raise his head slightly only to feel an intruding weight and stiffness in his neck... he feels a dramatic shift in his overall weight and heaviness almost to the point of feeling held down. He hears the sounds of tight, new chrome creaking with every slow, ginger movement he makes as he finally sits up with his head resting on the back of the padded chair. He hears the sound of a door sliding closed which grabs his attention, looking over at it too late to see who left. Through his blurred vision he sees various tools and equipment around him covered in blood alongside gauze, rags and syringes. The amount of blood surrounding his area makes it almost hard to believe there's no corpse nearby. The remnants of a frantic yet surgical overhaul lay to rest like a storm that recently blew through and now rests silent.
"Mornin' love." He hears from a soft, feminine voice hes never heard before as his blurred vision continues to adjust. The bright lights beaming down on him are suddenly clicked off as he glances over in the direction of the voice. He looks over to see a woman in a white, blood covered tank-top with black jeans and boots sitting in a chair off to the side smoking a cigarette. She's petite and coated in tats, running down from her neck to her finger tips along with a spattering of various piercings complimenting her make-up and short white hair.
She has one leg raised up onto her desk with her other foot resting on the bottom of Brian's chair itself as she takes another drag observing him closely as he comes too. He shifts his weight in his seat to face her, causing the chair to squeak and creak under his now heavy weight. Still in a haze... he lays his head back onto the seat feeling restless and failing to get up. The woman finally speaks.
"Easy honey... its gonna take some time. Take it slow." She says in a calm tone before taking another drag of her smoke.
"Wh- what...?" He says, barely conscious closing his eyes tightly and putting his hands on his forehead. The weight of his hands catches him off guard as he quickly removes them to hold them up and look at them making sure they're still his hands.
"Titanium vanadium bones." She says in response to him before continuing. "You got lucky. I don't just keep complete skeletal structures just lying around... especially none your size." She says while raising her eyebrows. "Afterward, i figured.. there's no way he's gonna be able to move around any good with that amount of added weight... so I went ahead and hooked you up with some Bionic Joints as well... definitely shouldn't have any problem carrying the load. Your chrome to ganic flesh ratios are pretty stable and in a good place."
"N-..no no no.. you can't-" Brian says straining to sit up in his seat. He feels the ganic flesh of his muscle tissue adjusting to the weight and denseness of his new and dramatically improved bone structure... the tissue squeezes and contracts around the chrome as metal and meat are forced into harmony.
"As for your... pokes and slashes, well... stitching was the best i could for your ganic... Gotta say, that's gonna make quite the badass scar there." She says with a grin gesturing to the long slice from the Tyger Claw mantis blade going down from his jawline, past his neck, down to his chest now patched together with some high quality stitch work. "Blood Pump should take care of you from now on." The woman finally pauses briefly, taking a deep breath and resting her back up against her own chair.
"She must really care about you." She says matter of factly in a genuine tone
"No no... i'm not taking any of this... reduce spec." Brian says without making eye contact in an exhausted tone.
The woman giggles with a smile "What..? hahaha it doesn't work that way. You should know that by now. I saw the traces of previous work you've had done. Figured considering how conditioned your body already is to the process that the steep jump up in modification wouldn't give your nervous system much of a problem."
With no energy to protest or bitch about it inhales deeply before plopping his head back onto the chair and exhaling... taking a moment to shift subject.
"I'm guessin' you chipped her Sandy huh."
The woman raises both her eyebrows, shoulders and black, tool tipped ripperdoc hands at the same time.
"She ask ya to do that too or did she just wake up to it." He asks in a mocking tone
The woman quickly sits up in her chair and aggressively leans toward him. "Hey, this isn't a fucking arts and crafts project alright? You were half a flatline when she drug you in here. Didn't even have time to help her while i was working on your ass... she ended up having to take care of herself."
"Who are you...?" Brian asks looking directly at her.
She breaks eye contact with a frustrated expression on her face before standing up and walking over to one of her shelves. He strains to finally sit up fully, hanging his legs off the edge of the chair as he stretches and glances around the place briefly. She comes back over with a small brown paper bag handing it to him.
"Immuno blockers.. DO NOT start taking them right away... From what i could tell... your nerves took to the chrome... extremely well honestly. They're just in case... for now.." She says walking back to other side of the room.
"Where's Zaunya."
"Outside... waiting for you." The woman chuckles before crossing her arms and leaning up against a wall. "Hm... funny... she once told me she doesn't wait for anybody anymore." The woman pauses for a while thinking deeply, debating whether or not she should express something before leaving the wall and slowly walking toward Brian with her arms still crossed. "I don't know who you are... but... I honestly haven't seen her like this in well... quite a long time."
"Like what?" He asks. She stops before Brian looking at him deep in his eyes.
"Alive." She says raising her eyebrows with a serious expression on her face. Brian breaks eye contact as he looks away thinking deeply. She walks past him sitting down back at her desk.
"You were never here. I'm sure that's obvious enough." She says glancing up at him before looking back at her computer. "Shes got deets for you." She says gesturing over toward the exit door. Brian finally gets up off of the chair... the weight of his body thuds to the ground with a subtle but heavy impact. He feels the dense, heavy bones underneath his flesh struggle to catch up with the rest of the neurological responses firing off throughout his body. The bones lightly jostle around underneath his flesh as they softly settle and catch up with every movement.
The new weight distribution catches Brian off guard as he struggles to regain his balance and stumbles a bit. He gingerly walks over to an opened locker containing his clothes and gear which he slowly puts on... working his coordination and range of motion. He makes his way to the exit door before hearing the woman's soft feminine voice speak to him a final time causing him to glance back at her over his shoulder.
"And don't worry... I'll be seeing you again."
The door to the exit slides open as Brian walks out.
Chapter ManagementEdit Chapter