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Birth of an AntiHero
Chapter 123 – “Am I… Am I brainwashed or somethin’…?”

Chapter 123 – “Am I… Am I brainwashed or somethin’…?”

Mr. Abrams: “(After all, if the children were to scream from seeing this pair of magically frozen nurses, Dome might come back and investigate. I don’t plan on dealing with him when he’s… like that.)”

Dome: “Oh…! I swear I’ll – I SWEAR that I’ll FIND you! RROOOAAAAA! You pieces of shit!!”

*Vwish!*

Mr. Abrams: “He came from the left, and headed straight down the ‘right’ pathway, instead of the one I came from. Good. With any luck I’ll also be able to meet Leos. That should give him enough time to calm down.”

*Knock – knock!*

Ms. Daisy: “Who is it?”

Mr. Abrams: “It-”

Oliviera: “SHHH! Don’t answer it! What if it’s that Earth – shaker?”

Ophelia: “The...what...? The Earth – shaker??”

Oliviera: “Yeah. Whoever shook the Earth just now, duh!”

Ophelia: “I don’t think that’s what happened Olivier-”

Mr. Abrams: “It’s Mr. Abrams, your homeroom teacher.”

Oliviera: "Oh thank heavens! Somebody on MY side!”

Ms. Daisy: “Come in, sweetie. I’m almost done, examining Ophelia’s arm.”

*CREEEAKK!*

Mr. Abrams: “What’s wrong with her arm?”

Ms. Daisy: “Nothing physically. However...Her arm tenses and spasms out when I try touching the area she claims it got torn apart. Muscle memory I’d call it. The arm itself is as if it was never severed at all – but it reacts constantly. I’m not certain if it’s her brain that memorized the incident, sending warning signals throughout the body or if her body just remembers the event really well by itself. I’m leaning more towards muscle memory, but I’m hoping it isn’t a serious trauma.”

Mr. Abrams: “I always considered muscle memory a form of trauma.”

Ms. Daisy: “Well, yes and no. It IS a type of trauma. Normally, however, once the brain sends signals to the … *Looks at a confused Ophelia and Oliviera*

Erm, normally the problem revolves around NOT having the lim. Your brain might still think its there, or you might remember the feeling of having the missing limp and pain comes with it. Varying circumstances effect when surges of pain arise. Fortunately for all of us, however, Ophelia HAS her arm attached. No matter what, this is the best news we’ve had all day. But what I’m worried about is that this is actually a different sort of trauma. If this muscle memory is just her being afraid of that painful feeling when she lost her arm, then that’s fine. It can hopefully go away with time.

But if this trauma is only a small part of a BIGGER problem, such as immense guilt...the same guilt that she of course, is no doubt feeling after witnessing the loss of her friends…

I think that... by blaming herself with far too many what-ifs to be played off as normal overthinking, her mental state deteriorates. If this is the case and NOT a simple muscle memory issue; then the severity of her trauma shouldn’t be underestimated in the least.”

Mr. Abrams: “What do you think caused this...miracle? I haven’t heard of any hero or villain still alive that can revive the dead. Healing an arm? Yes. Many. But genuine revival without major defects…? That’s playing God with the dead. I wonder…”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Ms. Daisy: “As a rule of thumb, ALL revival techniques have a major defect inflicted upon the dead as a ‘warning’ not to mess with life.

They also usually aren’t allowed to be revived a second time. Then there’s the issue with not living short lives, facing bad luck like always being targeted or something… There’s a whole slew of problems people like that end up facing. Those that govern over ‘death’ and ‘life’ simply don’t want ‘em to live a good life. If anything, they’re treated more like The world’s ‘reprieve’ during troubled times where a whole plethora of death is around the corner. It’s both a great power to have, and at the same time ALWAYS an awful omen for what’s to come.

But I don’t think this is a revival superpower.

If this were a revival technique, her body would still remember this pain. Just like it’s doing right now. Yes, the evidence leads me to believe it’s just a powerful method of restoration and nothing more, but… She has no major defect. I can’t imagine the powers that be allowing a revival ability without restrictions placed on the revived!”

Mr. Abrams: “… What about Ophelia’s residual pain? Maybe the trauma itself is-”

Ms. Daisy: “Nope. Not powerful enough a defect or recoil. Normally it’s something obvious, like a missing finger or back pain or only the physical body and soul were both healed, but the mind was driven close to insanity. Personality defects are a common setback too. They can be worked around or lived with, but never changed or gotten rid of. Well, I certainly don’t have an answer to fixing a defect born from revival.”

Mr. Abrams: “What of a reality warper? Would the same rules over death apply?”

Ms. Daisy: “Probably not. *Shrugs* But I’m not exactly a reality warper, now am I? I suspect there might be limitations to what we mortals can do, but…”

Mr. Abrams: “But the Gods or higher dimensional beings not BORN here...they may be different. Is this what you’re getting at?”

Ms. Daisy: “Yep. You hit the nail on the head, darlin’.”

Mr. Abrams: “And Oliviera? What of her … head?”

Ms. Daisy: “I didn’t check thoroughly, but I DID notice something shiny in her hair where she said she felt the impact. I’m gonna check her out real good next – right after this one. *Slaps shoulder*”

Mr. Abrams: “But, I-”

Oliviera: “AHEM! Listen Mr. Abrams: the whole WORLD began to shake and I was just so scared! It was almost as bad as waking up in that creepy forest full of icky bugs, grass … and villains! What was that, did a Big monster superhero fall over or did an alien invasion destroy parts of the world?!!”

Ophelia: “For the last time, Oliviera, it didn’t seem like the whole world was shaking. Look out the window – see? People are walking around, calmly. What kind of people would be calm if the world was being invaded?”

Oliviera: "Excuse me - WEIRD people would! Did YOU try asking EVERYONE ON EARTH how they would feel if the world suddenly got invaded?? If not, then STOP assuming! You CANNOT just assume everyone would be panicky during an invasion, when all of those people out there can just all be weirdos.”

Ophelia...I didn’t...but the likelihood-”

Mr. Abrams: “Alright, enough! The building shook, Oliviera, but that’s all. And I already took care of it, so there’s no longer any reason to fear: I promise. For now, trouble’s over.”

Oliviera: “FOR NOW?!?! I-”

Mr. Abrams: “Oliviera! Ms. Daisy, can I ask you to let me read your-”

Ms. Daisy: “Memories? Sure, go ahead. In fact, while you’re at it: go ahead and erase all of those memories of that scoundrel husband of mine. They ain’t worth keeping with the way he’s been treating me! Jus’ feel free to dump ‘em away and discard ‘em!”

Mr. Abrams: “…I will not be doing that, Ms. Daisy. Only checking for signs of brainwashing. I’ll begin, then.”

Ms. Daisy: “Brainwashing? Ah o-okay. Boy, I sure do hope I’m clean!”

His eye stare fiercely into hers. For Abrams, this act is natural. He does it with everybody he meets and ‘checks’. It’s become a bad habit, but a habit he doesn’t particularly mind. As they say, ‘one’s eyes are the windows to their souls’. It’s just common behavior for him to do so at this point.

For both Oliviera and Ophelia, the sight before them was just weird.

It persisted for roughly 30 seconds before he finally removed his eyes form hers. She couldn’t help but ask with nervousness:

Ms. Daisy: “So… So what do you think? Am I… Am I brainwashed or somethin’…?”

Mr. Abrams: “...No. No you are not. I think I saw somebody suspicious, but that investigation will have to be postponed. Next is-”

Dome: “GAAAAAH! MY – MY FRIENDS! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE TWO OF YOU!!”

Mr. Abrams: “...”

Opening the door revealed exactly who was screaming...and why.

Two floating corpses with whitened eyeballs and their mouths open wide…

Were completely blocking Dome from entering through Ms. Daisy’s examination entrance.

Mr. Abrams: “Haah. Dome, stop screaming. Those two ‘friends’ of yours are the very cause of the building vibrating. I asked to read everyone’s memories before allowing anybody to work on the children. In hindsight, I should have asked the same from the two of YOU, but I trusted that the children were fine in your capable hands. THIS pair, however, were rather unfortunate. The building shaking? Yeah: that was all him *Points to Billbert* and she *Points toward Raftia* attempted shooting the other 4 nurses as well as my two students!(plus the half – dead guy) Anything you’d like to mention about your friends?”

Dome: “I……… I barely knew ‘em.”

Mr. Abrams: “They were BRAINWASHED Dome. I don’t think(At least I hope) they were responsible for their actions. Speaking of which; you WILL agree to allowing me in your head...right?”

Dome: “Well, actually I-”

He didn’t wait for Dome to finish that sentence. His eyes flashed, and Dome entered a trance. 15 seconds passed...

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