I was not looking forward to Sanctum letting the pain was in at some stage. I touched a few places I couldn’t visually see and it wasn’t a good report. I needed more details though. As I limped down the side street with one hand on my smg in case of backup I pulled up my profile on my interface. It had been a while after all.
Name: Malcolm Beckett
Age: 10
Health:
Multiple Severe Lacerations
Multiple Compound Bone Fractures
Severe widespread bruising
Micro-tears across multiple ligaments
Missing Left Ear
Cyberload: Low
Endurance: 1
Reflexes: 1
Perception: 1
Insight: 1
Presence: 0
Skills:
Combat, Various: Level 0
Cybercombat: Level 1
Daemonology: Level 0
Engineering, Various: Level 2
Language, Various: Level 2
Negotiation: Level 2
Programming: Level 1
Stealth: Level 5
Subterfuge: Level 2
Tracking: Level 1
Tracing: Level 1
Abilities:
Kinetic Dispersion (KD, CS:B)
Adrenal Autotachypsychia (AA, CS:B)
Amygdala Adrenal Bypass (AAB, CS:B)
That would explain the weird hearing then. I guess the odd movements I was making in combat at times was the AAB trying it’s best to defend me as well, too bad there were so many of them. At least I didn’t break my own bones this time, just the ligaments.
Also, bruising? Since when does that warrant tracking Sanctum?
[When bruising is severe enough and effects deep enough tissues it can pose a distinct health risk.]
Huh. You learn something new everyday. How is my ear looking? Can it be salvaged?
[User has a severe deep tissue laceration down to the bone that has separated the flesh on the side of the User’s head from the bone, leaving the functional components of the left ear broken and the exterior separated from the interior. It would be a fatal wound in regards of blood loss if Sanctum was not managing the clotting around the wound. This also applies to several other stab and cut wounds.]
Damned gonk tried to carve me up. It’s been a while since I’ve been mugged though, I ended up waking up in the trash last time. At least I didn’t get my legs broken this time.
[User should seek medical attention immediately.]
Yeah, I’m heading straight to the clinic. Feeling a bit woozy now.
[Sanctum is attempting to manage the hormonal balance of the user but the scale of imbalance is very high.]
Okay then. Tired now though.
Emerging from the end of the small side street I reached the main street of this neighborhood. My state got me a few looks, especially from the gangers hanging around but I just shuffled off towards home.
I tried to zip up my jacket but my coordination wasn’t the best right now so I just left it. Then I realized that I left my knife behind, damn it.
The time it took to get to Marchand’s street was a bit blurry for me but I soon realized I’d reached it and turned towards the right hand side to head over to the lifting platform to the clinic.
Hopefully they weren’t too busy right now and they could fix my ear back on.
I buzzed the clinic gate and walked through to find Dr. Wood walking out of the clinic door with a look of concern.
“Mal? Get in here! What happened?” She asked while grabbing my arm and pulling me into the clinic waiting room.
“I got mugged, or attempted anyway. I held them off but they got some hits in.” I said drunkenly.
“More than some hits. Let’s get that coat off you and your shirt, your rig will need to come off too. Is it the red clasps to remove it?” Wood said as she sat me in a chair in the office next to the operating room.
I started pulling my coat off but my arm wouldn’t bend right when I noticed it was definitely broken.
“I think my shoulder isn’t right, broken.” I said.
“Oh Mal. Bo get in here, leave the machines alone!” Wood shouted into the surgery.
“What? What’s wrong? Oh. Damn Mal.” Dr. Nguyen said as he came into the office and saw me, he walked over quickly and pulled on some fresh blue rubber gloves from a little container attached to his apron.
Wood and Nguyen started undressing me as best they could and started treating my wounds.
“Why aren’t you gushing like a faucet? Have you taken any medication? Have you already taken a clotting agent?” Dr. Wood asked quietly as she pressed my head flesh back onto my head.
“No. It’s a secret. Nothing major. It helps me not die too easily. Still need help to be in one piece though.” I said blearily. The dizziness was really getting to me now.
“Is it something to do with what happened before? When you fixed what Marchand did?” She asked as she taped my head together and rolled bandages over everything.
“Yeah, it’s like that. Nothing major.”
Dr. Nguyen looked at Dr. Wood with a bit of a frown as he was working on my shoulder and placing my arm in a sling. Then I was leaned forwards so Dr. Wood could treat my stab wounds and bandage my upper torso.
“Right. So Mal, it’s not very medical but you’re all messed up. You’ve got a whole bunch of deep injuries that should be bleeding that aren’t so we’re just sterilizing them, packing them and covering them to heal. Fine. You’ve also got a bunch of fractures small and large that should be enough to make you pass out but you’re still trucking along so again, fine. You need to stay under observation in recovery for tonight at least so we know whatever is keeping you from bleeding out isn’t going to run out. Is that alright?” Dr. Nguyen said from where he was kneeling next to me.
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“Yeah, I’m tired anyway. I’ll get my pay from Marchand tomorrow. Did a good job today, first time netrunning. Was preem.” I said while smiling.
“Alright then. I’ve sent a message to your mom and Marchand. So I’ll just take you to the recovery room and put you on a bed in there.” Dr. Nguyen said as he helped me to my feet and slowly lead me to the recovery room.
As soon as I sat down on the soft bed I realized my arm was in a sling and I couldn’t move it properly, it felt weird. I rolled into a laying position and before I could even start to get comfy I passed out.
-
Uh. Huh? What?
Waking up in the recovery room was becoming too much of a common thing for me. Maybe I should get the doctors a gift or something. A card or a bottle of whiskey or something? Do doctors drink? I pulled myself up into a sitting position and found myself wearing only a pair of trousers. I roughly remembered removing my top clothes but who took my boots? Oh, they were across the room by the wall. Okay then.
Looking to the side I saw mom was sleeping in the visitor chair by the bed again. Another sight getting too familiar. As I pulled myself to the edge of the bed and put my feet onto the floor, which was tough with only one arm, mom woke up.
“Mal! Thank goodness! You’re alive.” She shouted and then hugged me into her embrace.
“It looks bad mom but it was just some teenagers trying to mug me, I only took a few hits because I didn’t pull out my gun. I’ll be fine tomorrow.” I said from inside mom’s hair.
“The doctors said you got your head cut and they broke bones though!” Mom said loudly. Still emotional. Not good for mom.
“Yeah a cut to my ear, it’ll be fine eventually. And broken bones happen, they heal too. If the ear ends up looking weird I’ll just get a synthskin ear put on instead. Seriously mom, a few days from now I’ll have all this off me and outside of some sensitive spots for a little while, I’ll be back to full form.” I said carefully. I needed to calm mom down so she didn’t get overwhelmed.
“Really? You’re not just saying that? You’re really okay?” She said, pulling me out of the hug and holding my head in line with hers so she could look right at my face.
“Mom, you’ll see. I’ll be fine. No funny business.” I said, confident in Sanctum’s skills.
Mom just looked into my eyes and then pulled me back into a hug. We sat there for a while in silence. She was scared again, by me. I wish I could hide this stuff from her but that wasn’t really possible unless I put her somewhere far away and only visited when everything was fine and that would likely depress her very quickly.
A knock at the door brought doctor Wood into the room.
“Good morning Mal, good to see you awake but I wish you’d lay back in bed instead of sitting up. Your braincase prevented harm to your brain and the long term effects of that damage but you still have several broken bones that need rest at least.” Dr. Wood said, she seemed to want to really open up on me but quickly pulled back her explanation when I gave her a hard look and looked at my mother for a moment.
“I feel fine Doc, I think I’ll be better resting at my home. It’s just some cuts and cracks, a few days rest and some crutches and I’ll be back to work before long.” I said with a smile.
“Hm. Well, I’ll get you some crutches then and you can be on your way. Just come back here if you feel any sort of weakness or dizziness and rest as much as possible, especially your arm.” Dr. Wood seemed unsure of me.
She was obviously suspicious of my healing and resilience after two big injuries brought to her door. She’d got to see my condition close up and was obviously not really believing Marchand’s spacer medicine story anymore. At the same time she was an operator doctor, she knew people would have secrets and wasn’t likely to go digging through me or my business. Not without reason.
As she brought in a pair of crutches I got up onto my feet and her and mom got me into them without issue and I hobbled out of the room without a problem. I said goodbye and thank you to Dr. Wood and Dr. Nguyen who was sitting in the office.
Me and mom walked back to our home and I hobbled in to find Lla sitting on the sofa neatly. I paused in the entrance of the apartment and we just looked at each other for a moment as mom moved past and started making some food at the kitchen counter.
“You forgot you were letting me stay here didn’t you?” She said as she sat there.
“Honestly? I literally only just remembered you existed. The whole of yesterday is kind of a blur to be honest. You’re still welcome to stick around though so don’t you go worrying, this is just a random failed mugging, my own thing.” I said as I started hobbling into the room and settling into a single seater sofa. I put my crutches to the side of the sofa.
“You got mugged? You went out with two different guns on you.” She said with a frown.
“Yeah, I didn’t use them. Might have brought some bad attention. There were too many of the muggers though so I got all messed up. Didn’t get mugged though, so it’s not all doom and gloom. Managed to put down a few and the rest ran off.” I said, as I settled back.
“Ooh. Super operator Mal takes on overwhelming odds and comes out the winner?” Lla said with a raised eyebrow as mom put down a bag of staries and a mug of soup for each of us on the coffee table.
“I wish, you’ll notice they don’t really show the aftermath in the action movies. The broken bones being set and bandages and painkillers and stitches and what not. It’s all ninja fighting and instant kills with none of the clean up and recovery. I got told before that no one really wins an actual fight. Even the winner walks away injured, likely for life.” I said, conscious of mom listening from across the room where she was cleaning up the counter.
“Have you been hurt badly? I heard something about broken bones and you look pretty rough.” Lla said.
“I’ll be fine, a few scars and some time to heal a few bones and I’ll be fine. Might need a new ear depending on how it heals but that’s more a cosmetic thing than function. Took a slice there so we’ll see when it’s healed. Nothing serious.” I said, hand waving the injuries away for mom’s sake.
“Well, tough guy. I hope you get well soon. Until then I guess you’ll be keeping me company here. I’ve decided to stick around if you’ll still have me.” Lla said.
“Yeah, no issue. I’ll sent a note to Marchand to get a bed in the spare room. Ah, damn. Mom, did the doctors send my kit here? My guns and so on.” I asked as I was about to eat a starry.
“I picked up your boots here and brought your rig and guns and so on last night. They are in your room for now.” Mom said.
“Ah, thank you. I’ll need to repair the rig and maybe a new coat, the old one likely took a few nicks. I’ll get some shopping done eventually. I lost my knife too.” I said, thinking about costs of things.
“I can pick you up some clothes, no problem. As for the knife, you’re likely better off finding something for actual combat yourself, I don’t really know what to look for.” She said, crossing her arms.
“No problem mom, thanks for the help.” I said, giving mom a smile.
“I’d like to help too but I can’t really go anywhere. I can try fixing your rig though, I’ve fixed a few pieces of my brother’s gear in the past. Usually just patching his clothes, sheathes and holsters. Just leather and fabric stuff. I’m not so skilled beyond that stuff.” Lla said uncertainly from the side.
“That’d be nova Lla, you don’t have to feel obligated to help out though. This is all on me really, I should have just ran or something. I might not have got away unhurt but I’d likely have taken less injuries. I just didn’t want to leave behind too many enemies for the future. I’ve seen that backfire before.” I said, touching my shoulder.
“Hm. Yeah, some gangers see people getting away as a sign of weakness. They think they need to prove their strength by hunting down the people that run.” Lla said, solemnly.
“You sound like you’ve seen stuff like that.” I asked indirectly.
“Yeah, my brother saved my from someone who I ran away from when I was seven. He had a weird fixation on me. For months I would see him in the area and the food cart people said he was asking for a girl like me. Rivaan waited for him to come back when I told him and confronted him and beheaded him right there in the street. No idea what the details were really but I’m still glad for it.” Lla said.
“Yeah, there’s some real messed up folk out there. Glad your brother kept an eye on you.” I said.