It didn't take long for Nick to get completely lost in his gardening. They left him to it, albeit with a few soldiers to make sure he didn't get up to anything too nefarious. But judging by the unbridled joy on the kid's face, he didn't mind a single bit.

"Well," Major Geoffries cleared his throat as they headed toward the bunker's common area. "We'll see how that works out. Also, I've been informed that the doctor I sent for has arrived. You should make go see her."

"Oh, Tammy?" Chad scratched his neck. "Yeah, we've met. It's why I was late do dinner. She ran me through all sorts of tests and stuff."

The Major sighed. "Ah. Yes. She can be… eccentric, at times."

"You know her?

"I've never worked with her personally, but her reputation precedes her." Geoffries explained with a grimace. "We work with what we have."

"Eh, it's fine." Chad dismissed the man's words with a wave. "I don't mind."

The pair continued to speak as they walked – about plans for the coming days, things that needed doing around the bunker, and so on. Squawkers joined them, the parrot alighting on Chad's shoulder with a soft ruffling of wings. He still sent occasional glances around at the nearby cats, but for the most part they seemed to keep their distance now.

Huh. That's weird. Maybe they've made a truce?

"Hey, Squawk?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you friends with the cats now?"

The bird nearly choked. "Friends? Friends?!" He spat. "I could never be friends with these… things.

"Then why aren't they trying to eat you?"

Squawkers's eyes glinted. Chad wasn't particularly well-versed in reading parrot facial expressions, but he was fairly certain that this was a sinister one. "We aren't friends. We just have an understanding."

Chad's face turned confused. "Huh? What do you mean? Do you speak cat now?"

"No. But I did figure out how to keep them away. Watch."

The parrot turned to look at a black and white bobtail. Suddenly, its eyes widened and it leapt to its feet, scrabbling away down the hall. Squawkers watched with satisfaction.

"See?" The bird puffed out his chest. "No problem."

"Woah!" Chad blinked. "What did you do? Can you mind control people now?!"

"Er. no." Squawkers shuffled his feet awkwardly. "I just… sent a message. A telepathic one."

Chad's brow furrowed. "Wait. Can they understand English then? YOu said you didn't speak cat."

"No, I–" Squawkers sighed. "It sounds way less cool if I explain it…"

"Please?" Chad asked. "I really wanna know."

"...Well, uh, you know how I can talk and stuff?" Squawkers looked away. "Well, er… I can mimic noises too. Like other bird calls. Or… cans opening."

Chac cocked his head to the side. "Cans opening? Like…?"

"Geez, do I really have to–? Like cat food cans." If a parrot could blush, Squawkers certainly would have been. "So I can just… send that sound. Telepathically."

Major Geoffries chuckled to himself as Chad gaped. "That's… that's genius."

The parrot straightened again. "Really? No– wait, of course! Yeah! I am a genius!"

The rapid click of heels across flooring interrupted their conversation. A head of frizzy red hair popped up from below, eyes scanning the group until they settled on Chad.

"There you are," Tammy noted. "Follow me. We need to talk."

Before anyone could even think to respond, she was already headed back downstairs. As her footfalls receded, Tammy called up the stairs once more. "And bring your girlfriend, too!"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Chad shouted after her, but there was no way to tell whether the doctor had heard. With a heavy sigh, he put his face in his hands. "Why does everyone keep saying that…"

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Major Geoffries sipped his tea quietly.

"...Well!" Squawkers broke the silence. "Don't want to keep her waiting! I'll go grab Annie."

"Alright. Thanks, Squawk."

***

A short while later, Chad and Annie once again sat in Tammy's makeshift doctor's office on a pair of borrowed chairs. This time, Squawkers had joined them, interested in what the woman had to say.

The doctor stood near one of the walls. What had once been a plain surface was now cluttered with taped-up papers and hand-drawn charts, all crammed together in an incomprehensible mess.

"Alright." She crossed her arms resolutely. "Let's talk about your stats."

"Already?" That was fast,

He'd expected that this topic would wait until the next day at least. It was already fairly late, and Chad was honestly looking forward to getting some rest and that warm shower. Unfortunately, it seemed that he'd have to wait a little longer.

"I work fast. Now," Tammy slapped a hand against one of the papers on the wall. "Your current stat distribution is this, correct?"

Squinting at the paper, Chad pulled up his stat window.

Stats

STR - 42*

All: 17 (17)

Right arm: 10 (17 + 60 = 77)

Right hand: 3 (17 + 60 + 66 = 143)

Right forearm: 8 (17 + 60 + 176 = 253)

Right upper arm: 7 (17 + 60 + 154 = 231)

DEX - 15*

All: 9 (9)

Right arm: 1 (9 + 6 = 15)

Right hand: 2 (9 + 6 + 44 = 59)

Right shoulder: 1 (9 + 6 + 22 = 37)

Right upper arm: 2 (9 + 6 + 44 = 59)

CON - 30*

All: 12 (12)

Head: 1 (12 + 6 = 18)

Right leg: 1 (12 + 6 = 18)

Left leg: 1 (12 + 6 = 18)

Right arm: 5 (12 + 30 = 42)

Right hand: 1 (12 + 30 + 22 = 64)

Right forearm: 2 (12 + 30 + 44 = 86)

Right upper arm: 3 (12 + 30 + 66 = 108)

Right shoulder: 4 (12 + 30 + 88 = 130)

It took a few moments to compare the two – moments that Tammy spent tapping her foot impatiently. With those recent constitution points he'd spent, the screen looked more lengthy and intimidating than ever. But eventually, Chad nodded.

"And you still have ten available points?"

"Yup," he confirmed. "I wanted to get some advice before using them."

"Good idea," the doctor snorted. "Because as it stands now, you should be dead, paralyzed, or in such excruciating pain that you might as well be paralyzed. The fact that your spine hasn't been ripped out of your back, much less warped from sheer tension? That's a small miracle in itself."

Annie quickly stood and ran a hand down Chad's back with a frown. "He did have spine problems, when he got back with Jerry. But now it's tons better. Why?"

"I dunno," he shrugged. "It hasn't hurt in a long time, though. I thought I was just doing good with balancing out strength?"

"Unlikely," Tammy shook her head. "That's not what these numbers say at all. But I don't really care about that. What I do care about is how to use it to our advantage."

The woman fixed Chad with a pointed look. "We have three options here. One is to optimize for defense and health to make sure you can actually make it to the portal and not get killed by a stray rock to the head."

"I'll be fine," Chad tapped his head. "I just put a constitution in here. I could headbutt a rock and win."

"We should test that," she said simply before continuing. "Option two is to still focus on your arm, but optimize flexibility and usability by using a combination of all three physical traits. It's what you have been doing, but we'll do it better."

"The final option…" Tammy paused. "Is to double down and up everything into strength."

The room went silent as Annie and Squawkers slowly turned to look at Chad. He tried to hide his grin.

Calm down. She didn't say it was a good option. Just that it was one.

"Which one do you think is best?" Chad asked with as much of a poker face as he could muster.

"Not option one. It fails to take advantage of your biggest asset," Tammy explained. "Option two is better, but still pales in comparison to option three. Especially considering the other resources we have access to. Such as her."

Annie dragged her eyes away from Chad to see that the doctor was pointing at her. "Me? What do you mean?"

"I mean that we don't need to use his stats to make him more flexible. Not when you have skills to do that." Tammy's eyes flicked up at the Massage Therapist tag. "That skill, when properly applied, may be able to counteract the effects of excess strength and give him the flexibility he needs."

"I…" Annie opened her mouth, then closed it again. "Can we really do that?"

"We'll need to test it, but I'm fairly certain." Tammy slapped a hand against another sheet of paper. At least, considering the results you helped with earlier.

Chad finally allowed his grin to spread. Suddenly, he was wide awake. This was a dream come true. Someone else on his side, not just saying he could put more strength in his arm, but encouraging it? Maybe he was dreaming.

"It has its drawbacks," Tammy continued. "If you have suffered from hypertension and muscle pains before, this may aggravate those conditions again. But considering we don't know the strength of that portal, we may need to take the risk."

He thought the proposal over for a moment, then turned to his friends. The grey parrot was still staring at him intently as Annie gripped his shoulder.

"What do you think?"

"...I don't like it," Annie admitted. "Even if I can make it work, I don't like it. I don't want you to be in pain again."

"I know." He set a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. "I get it. But I can handle pain! Especially for something like this."

With a final sigh, she nodded. "I know. I know you can.But the least we can do is make it minimal, right?"

"Right." Chad turned to his other shoulder. "Squawk?"

The bird stayed silent for a moment longer before letting out a long sigh. "I don't know what I expected. Really. Guess I should've seen it coming though… Let's do it."

With that, Chad turned back toward the doctor with a nod. "Alright. Option three it is."

The doctor grinned, a hint of manic glee in her eyes. "Alright. I'll be interested to see how this goes."