Ch. 12: Foreign Bodies

When Solvent and I finally make it back to the Apothecary, there's five patients waiting for me, with Catalyst offering them light refreshments. My team really is the best.

I heal them, one after the other, before entering my lab once I have a free moment. I need to make another smoke potion since I used mine at the summit. I focus my thoughts, cheating my power for a non-health recipe. Lack of a smoke cloud can kill me. Lack of a smoke cloud can kill me. Lack of a smoke cloud can kill me...

lack of smoke cloud, oak wood + ash wood + any plant thorn + matchstick + glass

It's never exactly the same, but this one is easy enough. I take all the reagents, and put them together in a vial. It takes a while, but slowly, they start melding together into a thick orange slurry. I add it into my coat with the others.

Using my power like this has downsides. First, it takes significantly longer, maybe ten minutes from start to end, and longer for each successive one. Even the slightest break in concentration can and will disrupt the process. My power is only malleable in the sense that if I envision enough things going wrong to my body via not having the required potion, it can be pretty flexible. Second, and most importantly, it's exhausting. Especially for the peripheral edges of what I've gotten my ability to do. So far, the mind control one has been the most I could branch out to. It takes two hours minimum to force my mind to make it. By the time I'm finished, my concentration is completely shot for the rest of the day.

Still, it works. Somehow.

I'm about to start on a general coagulant when the intercom in my lab chirps out. "Beaker, you've got a... visitor."

With a slight stretch of my shoulders, I feign enthusiasm and march through the automatic doors of my lab. I don't see anyone, but I do see something on my HUD. A green dot is constantly pulsing in and out, like a flickering lightbulb, just off to my left. "My thanks, Catalyst. I believe I shall manage this miscreant."

I point my cane in the general direction of the dot. "Reveal thyself, roustabout!"

The dot on my HUD solidifies, and with it, a person in a full body costume. A costume with a budget, at that, as it ripples in gold and silver layers in a beautiful lenticular texture. Whether its purpose is form or function, I can't tell, but it's eye catching all the same. The material seems to be inverted along the shoulders, knees, boots, and chest, keeping them cleanly the inverse color regardless of the angle the person takes.

"Beaker, I assume," the figure says.

I recognize this person once I hear their wispy voice. Defrag. They're not from Dudek: they're from either Chicago or Detroit, I can't remember. An actual hero. A scary one, at that, who can turn completely intangible.

After my typical overdramatic bow and introduction, I point my cane at him. "What business have you within the Apothecary, skulker?"

"Barkbite did say you stick to character. You know who I am, right?"

"The hero Defrag, operative of... Chicago, per chance?"

"Detroit, actually. Barkbite says you have a healing ability. A strong one. Is that true?" he asks, waiting for me to answer.

"My tinctures are physic, of the most potent-"

"Okay," he flippantly interrupts me. "Congrats, you've been enrolled in the Sanctioned Hero Program in an at-base support role. There's some paperwork, so..."

My heart almost stops. Sanctioned hero? Me? There's no way he's serious. I have a healing power, sure, but I'm very much not on their side. Or anyone's side, besides my side of me, Emily, Ishfaq, and Michiko. Is this a taunt of some kind?

"Rubbish!" I say, tapping my cane to the ground. "My unnatural power carries with it a great burden upon any who seek it out."

"What, the drugs, or the weird meat? We don't care." He seems to be getting impatient with me already.

I still have a huge debt to pay off. I have medical obligations here, like Highway. I have two employees who would be hard-pressed to find good paying work for elsewhere. I'd need an entire new facility. Judging by how the hospital treated me, I'm not that valuable to the people up top. But I can't tell him all that, can I? And I can't let either Ishfaq or Michiko see me actually considering it, or they'll think I'm disloyal to my people, regardless of what I decide. Not to mention Kingfisher and the Nightjars both know who I am, and if they're vindictive...

Fuck. If this asshole came here two months ago, I could have said yes.

"Bah. Debasing myself upon your sanctimonious altar carries no appeal. I see no value in lowering my stature to yours."

Defrag tilts his head in irritation. "You're joking. You're being given the chance of a lifetime, and you're trading it for... this?" He gestures out at the clinic in general, but his hand stops on Catalyst. "This isn't really a choice, Beaker. You can actually do something good with your power, and you use it to make money? You won't need money as a sanctioned hero."

What a piece of shit. He didn't even bother to ask Catalyst what the clinic was like, or he'd know we don't turn much of a profit.

"I tire of you. Either avail yourself to my services or begone!" I dramatically point my hand to the door, dipping my head down.

Defrag isn't impressed. "I said this wasn't a choice. We're giving you full amnesty for all the shit you've done so far, if you accept."

This was a veiled threat the entire time. Damn him, and damn Barkbite, too, for telling him.

"Your operating methods leave much to be desired. I offer my medical services unto a former foe, despite great risk to myself, and my reward is threats within my own Apothecary?"

"Don't be petulant. You know as well as I do that this is the only good ending for you. Whatever's keeping you here can be addressed, but you are coming."

It occurs to me he isn't impatient at all. He's happy to waste time grandstanding, it's just making him uncomfortable. Time to focus.

bodily pain when corporeal dispower, dry ice + hydrochloric acid + copper + Defrag blood

Knew it.

I shake my head, readying the nerve gas in my cane. I don't know what it will do to someone incorporeal, but I'm not afraid to find out. "Maintaining physical form is painful enough for you. Do you possess the stamina for a protracted brawl?"

He looks pissed now, not just annoyed. "You want to find out?"

"Have you not listened to my speech? I am a healer, first and foremost, and seek no quarrel. If you continue to threaten me, however, I shall do what I must to secure this site." I open my coat, showing dozens of small vials. "I remain available to you, I merely ask to be kept from your petty power politics. Is this such a ridiculous request? To be useful yet not beholden?"

"I'm going to have a long talk with HQ. For what it's worth, Beaker, I truly hope you regain a little sanity."

"I pray, after digesting our meet, that you are not blind to reason. Should you require alleviation of your corporeal pain, alert me in advance that I may concoct an analgesic."

With a parting grimace, he leaves the way he came.

Emily's head rests comfortably on my lap, as I gently scratch at the back of her neck. "So... I turned down a sanctioned hero offer."

She doesn't react beyond turning her neck a little more to the side. "That sounds like you. What else can I say?"

"There's nothing to say, I know I'm being stupid. And thank you, Em."

"So when do I get to meet the girl I spent hours on making a way for you to talk with?" She lets out a contented sigh as I move a little farther up her neck.

"Are you jealous?" I say, playfully.

She giggles slightly, filling the room with her warmth. "Hardly. Just figured she'd want to know the other half of her boss."

"Ehh... You'd have to wear a mask or something. She doesn't even know my name, after all."

"That's impressive. I figured you'd have let your identity slip by now."

"Yeah, me too. It's getting easier, though. I'm starting to feel more like Beaker and less like Vivian lately, since so much of my life is through a visor and modulator."

She turns her body around on the bed to face me, her lovely face looking up from my lap. "I'd rather have Vivian here. But, talking to yourself is healthy, right?"

Emily has been spending more and more time here, even having converted the storage room to a workshop, but she had to go home last night for something. I sleep better with her in my bed. Therefore, I didn't sleep well, which gives an explanation I'm satisfied enough with, as I try to keep my eyes open despite the hovercraft.

My eyes wander to Barkbite, who has been tapping his knees with his hands in the passenger seat. Maybe I just need a good argument to perk myself up.

"Barkbite, inform Defrag that I do not enjoy being threatened."

Immediately, his hands turn to fists. "What did he do?"

"Invited me into the flock."

All tension in his hands is released, as they rest easily on his knees. "Oh! Hey, congrats! I'm sure-"

"I politely declined."

His face twists so much that I can see his frown lines through his mask. "...oh. Uhh... okay. If you need me, though, I'm still around."

I was right. His reaction woke me up. "In what manner would I have need of thee?"

"I don't know. I'm just putting it out there. I owe you. The whole of EViRT owes you. Tiff really owes you, assuming this actually works."

"Indeed. You spoke of a hidden explosive which caused the damage, yes?"

"Yeah. She was off investigated something with the Nightjars HQ a few days ago, and tripped a mine."

"Fortunate for her that she is both alive, and beneath my knife."

"Don't say it like that. Creeps me out."

I chuckle under my breath, which comes out as two bursts of static. "Very well, Barkbite. And if I am truly owed by the EViRT, in lieu of flowers, send non-sequential bills and leave my practice be."

I check the list again. They managed to gather a lot of the reagents, though they're still waiting on their water guy to come back from the ocean. They're also missing crux, unsurprisingly, which is why I brought my own.

Barkbite and Solvent are both standing outside the bathroom I'm using as a temporary lab, mostly for the privacy. I consider dropping another smoke bomb to make it seem like part of my ability, but I doubt it'll fool him anyway.

I swish the vial of cat blood around. At least, they said it was cat blood. The other is nearly full with Barkbite's blood. I'm only intending to use a third of what he provided, but no need to tell him that.

The white phosphorus is exceptionally tough. When exposed to light, it turns into red phosphorus, which won't help. It's kept inside a sealed black container, and within that, a dark bottle with a cylinder of it. Again, I only need to use part of it.

I very carefully add all the ingredients for the severe burns cure, ending with turning off the lights and using my mask's low light vision to move the phosphorus into the bottle. Thankfully, the reagents actually work, meaning both Cavalcade's condition probably isn't in sharp decline, and that it's genuinely white phosphorus.

I bring four new potions out with me, and am once again led to the medbay. It's hard to navigate the maze of a building, but Barkbite knows it well. He opens the door for me, as I walk into Cavalcade's room.

"Hey, whoever it is," she says, voice notably weaker.

"Tis I. Permit me to dose you with a sleeping agent, remedying such extensive damage is extremely painful."

"Thank you. That's very kind. May I ask what you're doing?" There's an exhaustion that could be mistaken for impatience.

"Eyes, neck, skin."

"So what is it, like a transplant or something?"

I take out a sleeping gas from my bag. "I will enjoy the reaction more when you observe it for yourself."

"That sounds really creepy. Is Barrrrr-" I uncork the gas, holding it under her nose before rapidly putting the cork back on. I have about forty-five minutes for this.

I take a pair of tweezers from my coat, slowly working out all the shrapnel that's safe to remove. She's going to have a hell of a time with metal detectors, regardless, since some are too precarious or deep to move without a lot more than forty-five minutes.

After the shrapnel, I take a needle, and inject her with a general healing potion for the aggravated wounds. I may want to double use needles... no, a fresh one for each. I'm a doctor, not an addict.

I poke my head around the door, gloves covered in blood. "Barkbite, in. Solvent, stay put."

Barkbite slowly walks in, half shielding his eyes from the state of Cavalcade. Only, she's okay. Clearly a living person, not a mangled body.

"Madame Cavalcade still lacks some extremities, but this can be remedied upon your oceanic-"

I'm cut off by Barkbite hugging me. Tightly.

"I am sodden with viscera! Release me, cretin!"

He breaks the hug, costume stained red in more than a few places. Idiot.

The sleeping potion begins to fade, and Cavalcade turns her head to see us both. "Did... it work?" She blinks a few time, not quite lucid.

"You possess vision, knave." I say, genuinely amused.

She reaches up with her untouched right hand, left still firmly casted in place, feeling for bandages. She moves her hand from her face. "Oh my god. I can see."

"And how did you touch your face?"

"What? With... oh my god..."

She sits up, a little too quickly, as Barkbite reaches out to steady her.

A shame my mask hides how much I'm beaming. This is what my power was made for. I haven't felt genuine pride in my work like this in years. For the first time since becoming empowered, for certain.

"Your legs, off hand, lung, and numerous other lesser wounds must wait until I am prepared, and you recover enough for your body to take the strain. I am not a miracle worker, in truth." I say, the modulator hiding my sarcasm.

"The hell you aren't..." Cavalcade lays back again, looking at her hand, opening and closing it a few times. "What else would you call this?"

"Merely the remedy of Dudek's finest physician. Rest. Drink water. Sleep. If you undo my magnum opus through aggravating existing injuries, I shall take it as a grievous insult." I fold my arms, blood on my gloves having dried.

Barkbite turns to me, dry swallowing with peeled open eyes. "I... I thought it would do something, but this..."

"Yes, yes, I am a fine physician. I will visit her only twice more, as such, do not contact me until the list is more complete."

"Yeah..."

I leave the room, closing the door behind me. "Solvent, accompany me to the hovercraft pad, wherever it lies."

"I do not know the way either," Solvent signs.

"I'm certain we shall discover it eventually."

Returning to the Apothecary, the waiting room is fortunately fairly empty, with only two waiting for me. One, a burly Bleeding Heart member scratching furiously at the back of his neck. The other, someone without any gang association. Maybe an office worker of sorts? She looks completely fine.

"Catalyst. Who first?"

"Neck guy."

"Neck guy!" I call out, as the gang member stands up, trodding over to me as I take him to the exam room.

I sit him down in the exam room. "What is it?"

"There's something in my neck. A tracker or something. I don't know."

Not the first tracker I've seen. No problem.

foreign body, remove foreign body + none + none + none

I'm convinced my power has a sense of humor. A crappy one. I roll my eyes as I feel how deep the tracker is buried. Barely subcutaneous. I should probably treat his neck, too, considering he scratched the hell out of it.

metastatic cancer, gunpowder +

Wait, what?

"Just a moment." I step back out of the room. "Lock Exam Room 1."

The door shuts tightly, sealing the person inside away. Solvent looks at me with confusion, followed by irritation from me not explaining it.

"Whatever is in his neck is more dangerous than metastatic cancer."

I hear pounding on the exam room door. Poor bastard. I can't take the risk of extracting it.

With a heavily muffled boom, an explosion warps the magnetically locked door, but fails to breach it.

"Fire in Exam Room 1," I say. Hopefully that turns the extinguishers on, but the system likely sustained damage... It'll burn itself out of oxygen soon, I'm sure.

I walk over to the remaining patient, who is frozen in horror at the explosion.

"Good day. What's wrong?"

"Umm... I don't know."

morning s-

"You are pregnant. Congratulations or sympathies. Now begone."

She hurriedly nods, and sprints out of the room.

"Catalyst! Contact Bleeding Heart at once." I order.

"Already on it."

I lean into the security room. The two on duty, a Bleeding Heart and a Kamakiri, look at me with boredom, having not heard the explosion.

"Until further notice, forbid any with unidentifiable implants, particularly trackers."

The Kamakiri goon looks at me in confusion. "Everything good, doc?"

"No. Tis not."

"A lovely day for a walk, is it not?" I ask Solvent, as the dark clouds start to let a few drops loose.

"Where are we going?" she signs.

"A neutral meeting ground away from the Apothecary. Zola himself seeks a private audience."

I watch someone try to subtly take a picture of me, and dramatically pose for them, tipping my hat and pointing my cane to the side. They laugh, and wave.

I wave back.