After a month of extensive surgery, the doctors at the Olympian hospital spent countless hours trying to save Jayden and separate his hands from the controller his hands combined to. When they were satisfied with Jayden’s recovery, they woke him from a medically induced coma inside the safe and confined space of a hospital room. The doctors had to put his hands in a specialised cast to accelerate the healing process after they notified him that he would face complications for the rest of his life because of how his hands fused with the Xbox controller. Yet besides that, he was safe, and he had won.
Hank, Gorgie, and Dameo walked into Jayden’s room with wide smiles and some gifts on hand right after Jayden’s family met with him. ‘Now, isn’t it the hero of the hour!’ Hank cheered before he sat down next to him and handed him a box of chocolates, only to realise his embarrassment and placed it down by on the nightstand.
Dameo rolled his eyes, ‘how are you holding up? Feeling a bit better?’
Jayden shrugged with a grin. ‘I am still alive.’
Everyone chuckled in the room. Dameo pulled out a carton of beer from his bag and handed it out to share. Hank was on sipping duty, as in, he would pour beer into Jayden’s mouth whenever he felt thirsty. It was a small celebration, one that wasn’t needed or warranted, yet it was one they all believed they deserved. They chatted for a while, they told Jayden what happened while he was in a comatose state. Jayden couldn’t help but laugh to himself about the formation of a “hero” group. To him, it sounded like something that would only exist in comic books.
But the most important news to Jayden was the presence of the spirit had been eradicated. They caught the spirit early enough so it couldn’t reproduce and prevented it from spreading all over the internet. They used every method to detect the spirit and found zero traces of its existence after Jayden had beaten the game.
‘So, what are your plans after this?’ Jayden asked them with a wide smile.
Hank’s smile faded away, like he knew the answer wouldn’t be pleasant. ‘We go back to work. We still have a lot on our plate.’
‘Work? What do you mean? Didn’t we beat the spirit already?’ Hank and Gorgie looked at each other after what Jayden said before they decided to turn to him.
‘No, we defeated only one spirit…’
‘One?’ Jayden interrupted, unsure what Hank meant. ‘There was only one of them, and we killed it.’
Dameo took a deep breath before he could speak to Jayden. ‘We only killed the most hostile spirit of their species. There are still hundreds, maybe even thousands of them on Earth. We are just tasked with dealing with them until their extinction.’
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Jayden frowned, his heart beaming with determination. ‘Okay, so what do I need to do?’
‘Nothing,’ Hank calmly explained. ‘You are returning to the Order Discovery.’
‘What!? No, that can’t be right, I can still continue, I can still fight!’ Jayden raised both of his injured hands. ‘They can heal, they can get better. My mind is fine, it is just my hands!’ After Jayden finished, he coughed violently like his lungs were full of water and wheezed like he had lost his breath. Hank reached for Jayden and tried to calm him down so he couldn’t hurt himself any further.
‘It’s not your hands that I am worried about.’ Hank gestured to everyone to leave the room so he could talk to Jayden. Once everyone left, he took a sip of his own beer before he could explain. ‘Jayden, I’ve read your medical reports. You are lucky to even be alive. But… well… you are too injured to serve in the Legion. I have no choice but to remove you from the unit for your own safety.’
‘But… I can still serve. There are other ways to participate.’ Jayden pleaded, his eyes becoming watery with tears.
‘There is no other way for you to participate, not if it means risking the safety of the whole unit.’
A tear trails down Jayden’s cheek. ‘Please, I beg you. I don’t want to go back, not when I know I can do so much more! Please Hank, just let me return, even in an unofficial capacity.’
‘I’m sorry, Jayden, I really am.’ Hank rose from his chair and made his way to the door. ‘You’re a hero, you know that. No one will say it, maybe never know or remember. But I will, same for Dameo and Gorgie. However… we have to soldier on without you.’
‘But what will happen to me?’
Hank paused, unsure how to even answer that question. ‘You get to live a bit longer.’ Hank replied before he left Jayden’s hospital room. Leaving him alone with his broken hands and damaged lungs. A hero who saved the world, now cast aside when he was deemed too weak to continue.
The Order desired to control every aspect so it could efficiently fight against the threats of humanity. What people often forget is that human resource is just an additional resource. A number that would go up or down at a given moment. So, if a person was considered ineffective, the best choice was to dismiss them so that someone else could take their place. It didn’t matter if they were willing to fight on, or the stigma for leaving the Legion so young. What mattered was the Order would forever have a fit and prepared fighting force at the ready, regardless of the heroes they cast aside.