Dr. William Walter walked into the medical wing with a relaxed smile on his superbly augmented face, and his casual strides down the hallway made all around him unconsciously glance to peek at his impressively modified physique. This was a man who had reached the pinnacle of their craft, but the other doctors and nurses still gave Walter a wide breadth. It was not because they were afraid of the doctor himself, but because of his association with the Director.
Everyone in the building knew of his personal relationship with the ominous woman in charge of Hope’s Memorial, and aside from nurse Sarah who worked mainly in Reception, no one else dared to get too friendly with him for fear of retribution. Sarah’s spot in the hospital’s hierarchy was unique, so it was understandable why even the Director would give her some leeway, but the same couldn’t be said for the others.
In fact, if it weren’t for his well-known affiliation with the Director, the other hospital workers would have adored someone so dedicated to his art. He was the most complete among the doctors and surgeons working here, and his impressive body was a testimony to his mastery of the human form. Many nurses and doctors alike had lost their lives trying to court the good doctor, enamored by his abilities and magnetic personality, and it was only stopped once the Director made a Rule specifically to stop such an event from happening in the future.
That wasn’t the only change the Director made after the doctor caught her interest. More than a dozen unwritten rules were set in place to ensure that Doctor Walter’s position as the unofficial second in command of the hospital was unquestionable. It did alienate him from the others, and although Dr. Walter was generally a cheerful man to be around, he was equally unpredictable. It was impossible to know just how he would react in any situation, nor what, worse yet, who he would include in his infamous end-of-day reports to the Director.
Very few people wanted to risk getting on his bad side for fear of getting on his dreaded List. Any poor soul who was named on it would have an inevitable visit to the Director’s office, and no one had ever come back from one of those meetings the same. That is why the doctors and nurses were glad that his attention would be focused on the massive intake of new patients and interns. Anything that would distract him was a boon for the others.
William walked into the busy wing and surveyed the area before him. The place was busier than it had been for years, with every able-bodied nurse, doctor, physician, and other support staff working hard to process the sheer number of new patients that arrived recently. These new patients were irrevocably sick, with many who would unfortunately never get better.
The janitorial staff were working overtime just trying to get the various blood, body fluids, and other viscera off the floors. The yellowing floor tiles were slick with liquids as the rusted drains quickly started to overflow, and the decrepit gurneys were constantly wheeled from place to place. Other menials were carting off discarded body parts and the dying into the morgue, and they moved hurriedly out of the physician’s path, doing their best to make sure that their eyes never met the good doctor’s. Failure to do so would be a gross breach of the rules.
Dr. Walter navigated his way nonchalantly through the chaos of hospital staff to the front of the intake center and grabbed a spare rulebook. No one dared question why he had chosen to do so, although it could be surmised that he would want to review the intern’s guidelines since so many were present now. He flipped through the pages casually, whistling a happy tune, before putting the little pamphlet back and picking another one up. William read through several more before heading into a busy surgical theatre.
He slammed the door open and greeted the nervous doctors and nurses. The three interns almost fainted when they saw who had entered.
“Greetings!” he said with his iconic smile, the way that his mouth widened all the way to where his ears used to be was an impressive sight, “I’m here to supervise things, but no need to be nervous, I’m mainly here to make sure that the new interns don’t make any mistakes.”
The chief doctor in charge of today’s cure turned off the electric bone saw and quickly bowed to the new visitor. He was heavily modified in his own right, with the entire left side of his body replaced with various body parts harvested from the best specimens that could be found, but he was a far cry from the perfection that was William Walter.
His face still had most of its flesh intact, and his head had pockets of blonde hair that clung to the man’s rotting scalp. His left hand was surgically removed and a massive set of needle-sharp blades were attached to his stumps, yet his right hand was woefully unchanged. Alas, the chief doctor still retained much of his original body, a far cry from completion.
“Physician Walter,” the doctor greeted nervously, “It is an honor for you to supervise my craft.”
The various other hospital staff also bowed and greeted the Chief Physician. Aside from the clueless interns, everyone else knew just how important it was that today’s procedures go flawlessly. One could not afford mistakes when the chief physician came to personally oversee an operation. The new staff would have to learn the hard what it means to displease Dr. Willam Walter.
Dr. Walter nodded, his exposed windpipe wheezing pleasantly as he did so, and glanced at the subject of today’s operations. Lying on a cold, corroded metal table was a man of indeterminable age, his features were covered with grime and the corroding oils dripping from the various machines that hung around him. He was strapped onto the structure securely, but his struggles caused the leather restraints to tense and shake. His left hand was a work in progress, but the rest of him was still pink. For a person to have no augments at such an age showed just how neglectful he was.
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“What’s the files say on this one?” Willam asked as he surveyed the room. One of the nurses almost winced when he realized that he had forgotten to place the severed fingers into their proper storage containers. The nurse only hoped that the physician didn’t notice.
“One of the new patients,” the doctor answered quickly as he gestured to the squirming man, “he was caught neglecting his breakfast. He did not finish all of his allotted meal, but he was still deemed salvageable once today’s treatment finishes.”
“I see,” William replied, “And what would the procedure be for such an infraction?”
“Of course, it would be-”
“Not you,” Dr. Walter interrupted before gesturing to one of the cowering new staff, “I want to hear it from the interns, I believe the rules state that each of them should know the proper cure for such cases.”
The new staff quivered in fear as the full force of the Physician’s attention was upon him, “Yes! I uh… the files say that a full modification of his arms is enough.”
“Is that all?” Dr. Walter asked.
“Yes?”
The physician sighed, “Failure to address me by title… that’s quite unfortunate because your answer was correct, intern Adrien Smith.”
The intern’s eyes went wide in shock. Adrien had been so intimidated by the doctor’s presence that he had forgotten that little caveat. There were just too many rules for a new intern to follow, after all. He felt the slow tendrils of dread creep up; he had been in the hospital for long enough to understand what it meant to break the rules.
“S- shall I call for security?” one of the nurses asked, his hands already reaching for the intercom for the Discipline Department.
“Normally yes,” Dr. Walter answered before pulling out a little pad of paper from his coat, the others all felt nervous seeing the dreaded List, “But I will make a note of this personally and let the Director deal with this issue.”
“Yes, of course, sir,” the nurse answered quickly.
Now Adrien was sweating profusely. He didn’t know what a visit to the Director entailed, since he had only arrived here recently, but he knew instinctively that it was something to be avoided.
“But, I- I didn’t mean to forget your title, sir! I don’t even know your name! I was going to add it after, I swear!” the intern said, “I’m sure you’ve made a mistake!”
The other veteran staff all flinched.
There the idiot went to break one of the biggest rules in the entire Hospital: never question the words of a Physician, especially if that Physician was William Walter. The temperature in the theatre immediately dropped and an intense sense of dread and suffocating nausea infected every corner of the room. It seemed that the Director herself took notice of this blatant disregard for her rules. No one other than William could even move at that moment as they felt the full force of the Director’s displeasure.
Walter shook his head in disappointment, his demeanor still appearing calm, but the veterans knew that this facade would quickly break, “And you just had to say that… I will make this part abundantly clear for everyone present.”
The physician’s face distorted in rage, his once calm visage turning monstrous in moments, and his voice rose to deafening levels, “I, Dr. William Walter, never make mistakes! Do you understand me?”
Everyone in the room aside from the target of his rage nodded quickly.
William turned to the first doctor, his puss-filled eyes red with anger, “Get me security, right now! I want him contained until my talk with the Director!”
The other man practically lept to the intercom. Within moments a set of Disciplinary staff rushed through the door, but even their massive gene-enhanced bodies hesitated when they felt the sheer displeasure of the Director’s aura coupled with the seething figure of the Physician. The security quickly recovered when they saw the familiar scene and dragged the paralyzed intern away.
“D-do we take him for holding like usual, Dr. Walter?” one of the two guards asked.
“Do I have to spill everything out for you?” the furious doctor shouted, “Use your brain! This isn’t the first time that someone broke the rules in front of me, and I have his name written down already! What do you think you’re supposed to do?!”
“Of course, sir,” the other guard answered, “We’ll keep him for the Director, sir. Sorry, Dr. Walter. I’ll make a note of what happened!”
One of the nurses stepped up to give her report to the Disciplinary staff, “I’ll tell him what happened! To give a full report later!”
“Go, both of you!” he screamed again, “Get out of my sight!”
The two Disciplinary staff and the nurse quickly left after, and the Director’s gaze slowly lifted from the surgical theatre once she saw that the situation had been resolved. The other staff finally let out a small breath of relief.
Dr. Walter’s mood instantly recovered as his bright smile returned, “Now what was I talking about again?”
“The procedure, sir,” the chief surgeon answered, “You were questioning the new staff about the procedure.”
“Oh right!” he said happily and turned his attention to the next intern, “Alright, can you please tell me what the cure is for this particular patient?”
“Of course, Physician sir!” the woman said quickly, “The procedure for his infraction is the complete modification of his arms, Dr. Walter, sir! We are to use standard replacement procedures outlined in guidebook 103, sir!”
“Excellent! That’s the correct answer! How long have you been here for?”
“This is my second day, Dr. Walter, sir!”
Walter thought for a moment, “Hm, so you’re still too early to help out with the actual surgery.”
“Yes sir!” she agreed quickly, “That will not happen until the seventh day, sir!”
“Alright, then observe quietly,” Dr. Walter nodded and dismissed the interns, “And for the rest of you here, please continue with your operation; I am here to simply observe. I’m sure that you will finish such an easy cure without issue.”
The others quickly went back to work, not wanting to risk the Physician’s wrath once more. They were quick and efficient, having done similar procedures a thousand times already, but they could only afford to relax once Dr. Walter was satisfied with their work and left their room.
Similar events played out two more times as the Chief Physician made his rounds in the surgical wing, and many a poor intern and unwilling patient were doomed to have a private meeting with the Director in the not-so-distant future. The other hospital staff were only too happy to have all the attention turned to the new members, and they all relaxed once the physician’s daily quota of observations was met.