Chapter 10
Poliamida
(Verified Heavy Molecule)
- Location
- Beyond the Stars
In Nuclear Fire 10
With my legs hanging from the edge of the roof, I pulled a chocolate bar that I break in half. One half I keep, and the other I give to Taylor who receives it with greedy hands.
"So, just so we are clear," She says with her mouth full of chocolate. "I'm not going to wake up one day with an extra arm, correct?"
Why does she keep bringing that up? "No, Ladybug, you won't. I'm not doing something like that without your consent first."
"If you say so."
I can taste the doubt in her words. "Besides, it's not like I'd allow anyone but me to be the first to have extra arms."
She chuckles as she drinks from her bottle. "If you get four more you could then change your name to 'spider', a great match for my 'ladybug'. But what would you do with your shirts?"
"Oh, that's the easy part! I'm thinking about replacing my spine and adding several sockets in my back for modules that I can install. That way I can plug in the extra arms when I need them, and take them out when I don't."
There's a dripping noise and I see that Taylor is staring at me, the content of her bottle falling to the ground from her limb grip. "You know, I said it as a joke but now I'm genuinely worried about you doing this."
"Why would you be?"
"Well, most people have concerns about mutilating themselves." With the bottle now empty, she puts it back in her backpack so we can toss it once we find a trash can.
"I think we already established that I'm not 'most people'."
"True. Just be careful with it, alright?"
"Always."
Our break done, we move on.
Last week we went East from Taylor's home, so this time we go West, to Captain's Hill, and from there to the South into Downtown.
We move at a more relaxed pace, enjoying the sights and allowing ourselves to rest from time to time. I must say that there's something hypnotic about a city at night, especially if we talk about the nicer parts of it. Gone are the homeless people and abandoned factories of the docks, having been replaced by tall office buildings and nightclubs covered in blinking lights.
For a brief moment, we see Glory Girl in our visors, the star child of New Wave flying further south. She doesn't see us and soon we lose track of her as she takes a turn behind a skyscraper.
"You know, someday you'll have to interact with other heroes." I point out.
"I know, but not now. Not with these costumes and I want to make a name for myself before that."
"You don't want them to treat you as inferior." Can't blame her after Winslow. If she's going to talk to them, she wants to do that as equals. "Well, you did beat Kid Win and Aegis."
"Don't even remind me! That's one of the reasons why I want to change my costume."
Yeah, the entire concept of the 'masquerade' is absurd. As long as you don't have a super-obvious power, you can dress up as a villain, do whatever you wish, and then change it for a hero costume. At least it's something that we can make it work for our benefit. As long as Taylor isn't carrying the Psi Blade when she goes to meet them, they won't know it was her the one who attacked them.
"Well, it doesn't seem like you'll make a name here." There are some fights outside a couple of nightclubs, but nothing that the bouncers can't fix. "Want to keep going south?"
"No, Glory Girl went there. Let's go back to the trainyard, there we should-" And suddenly Taylor goes very still. "Someone just spilled blood."
That… is not good.
"What? Where?"
"There! A block and a half away."
I aim my visor following the line of her finger.
"Shit." What I see are three men in an alley next to an empty street. Two of them are standing, one holding a knife, and between them is the last one. He isn't moving and is losing blood fast.
We don't lose a second and teleport to a balcony above their location. For ten agonizing seconds, we do nothing but wait while the criminals empty their victim's pockets. I know that Taylor already wants to go in but I grip her wrist, holding her back. If she unleashes her bugs now, the robbers' panic could end up causing even more harm to the victim.
They are done and are already leaving, but we're ready too. We teleport to their backs and with a swing of the blade Taylor knocks them down in a shower of sparks. From her pockets, she pulls the zip-ties out, and I go check the victim.
It's not good. Not good at all.
He's well into his fifties and too well dressed for these parts of town. His head is bleeding but that's only superficial, maybe a bruise suffered during his fall. The truly bad wound is on his thigh. Evidence of that is his quickly reddening pants and the dripping blade of the knife.
He also seems to be unconscious.
"How is he?" Taylor asks me once she's finished with the robbers, panic clear in his voice.
"Bad. He needs an ambulance." My visor helps me to locate three cell phones, two that seem to belong to the robbers and one to the victim. "I'll make the call. You take his pants off."
"What?!"
"He needs first aid, Ladybug! So take his damn pants off!" I'm angry and we have no time to waste, but thankfully she doesn't ask any more questions and moves to do as I say while I call the emergency line.
The phone rings three times and I can feel the sweat running down my back. "911, what's your emergency?"
"I have a stabbing victim in an alley between-" I use my visor to look at the nearby street sign. "Seventh and Wisconsin."
"Understood. Who am I speaking to?"
Yes, yes, I know the routine. "Independent hero Tech-Priest with independent hero Ladybug. Victim is a fifty-year old male. We incapacitated his attackers, but the victim is bleeding from his thigh."
"Very well, sir, I'll need you to-"
"I know how to perform first aid!" I look at Taylor who has just finished with the man's pants. Shit! Why didn't we bring bandages?! "Ladybug, here. You talk to the lady and give me the blade." She gives me a nervous nod.
While Taylor gives further details to the emergency personnel, I use the blade the cut open the shirt of one of the robbers. It's not the cleanest of clothes but it'll have to do.
Shit. I know the theory of how to treat deep wounds like these but this is my first time actually doing it. My hands tremble. There's so much blood and it keeps flowing out!
No, no! I can do this! I have to do this because I'm the only one here who can.
I push on, lift his leg, and tighten the piece of cloth around the wound.
The makeshift bandaging is quickly turning red too and my hands are sticky with blood, but it's done.
"Tech-Priest! They ask if he's conscious!"
I pinch underneath his armpit. He groans. "He's breathing. Reacts to pain but he isn't-" And that's when he opens his eyes.
"W-what's going on?" His voice sounds weak.
"He's conscious!"
"Did you hear that?" Taylor asks the operator. "Yes, okay."
While she keeps talking to the phone, the man's eyes switch from her to me. "Who are you?"
We must look scary with our balaclavas. Even more reasons to switch costumes soon. "Independent heroes. Try not to move, you lost a lot of blood." I take my coat out and place it over his chest. The night is cold but he needs it more than I do.
"What happened?" Ok, he sounds coherent. That's good!
"Well, we aren't sure but once you get out of the hospital the police will want an interview with you."
"Uh, yeah." His eyes flutter open and closed. Damn, I need to keep him conscious!
"Do you have family, sir?" A bit of a gamble here that I hope works.
"I have a son. He's twenty-five."
Perfect! I can use that. "Really? Does he have a girlfriend? My sister's about his age and looking for a boyfriend." Taylor goes very still with my comment.
He chuckles at that. "I'm sorry but he's taken. And my wife likes his current girlfriend for once."
"Oh, well. She'll have to keep up the search."
And that's when we hear the sound of several sirens. An ambulance parks at the entrance of the alley and in come two paramedics carrying a stretcher. Behind them come a couple of cops that replace the zip-ties of the robbers with handcuffs.
We move out of the way to give them room to work, and I pick my coat back.
"W-will he be okay?" Taylor asks one of the paramedics.
"The knife seems to have missed the main artery, but he'll need to be looked over at the hospital." And that's all they say before loading the man into the stretcher and from there into the ambulance. It speeds off and they are on their way.
The policemen do their part loading the criminals on their car, sparing only a moment to ask us some questions about what we saw and did before they, too, drive away.
They didn't even offer us to stay and speak to a PRT representative! It seemed that a simple assault and robbery isn't worth the Protectorate's attention, or there might be some jurisdictions in-fighting.
Once alone I turn to look at Taylor, who I find staring at the pool of dry blood.
"Ladybug, are you alright?"
"Yes, yes. Just… let's get out of here."
"Yeah, let's." There's a nice roof across the street, over what seems to be a restaurant that only works during the mornings. I set the beacon and in a blink, we're on top of it. "Would you want us to-" And suddenly I find myself being hugged by Taylor. "Ladybug?"
"Sorry, I just-I just need a moment."
I hear sobbing. And it doesn't just come from her. Shit, just now I realize how much I'm trembling.
Palming her back, I aim at the edge of the roof. "Let's take a seat."
She nods. We make ourselves comfortable and from my backpack, I pull out another bottle of water. Taylor accepts it and pulls her mask off. "This part is never mentioned in hero stories."
"People like stories about big heroes defeating villains in epic battles. They don't like the parts of normals being stabbed in dark alleys."
"I know it happens, but-" She takes a drink, and then uses the rest of the bottle to wash her face. "It was too intense."
"I know."
"I got nervous when we fought those gang members and the Wards last week but, shit! It wasn't like this. That man almost died!" She presses her palms against her eyes. "How did you know what to do?"
"I read several books on first aid." I also attended several training sessions but I better keep that part to myself. "But believe me, they don't prepare you for the real deal."
"You were great. I don't know what I'd have done if you hadn't been there." She cleans her face with the sleeve of her shirt. Then she looks at me, trying to smile. "Say, what was that about your twenty-something sister?"
I shrug. "A half-lie to make him think about his family. That usually helps when you're fighting for your life."
"Why only 'half' lie?"
That… is a good question. Did I really just say that? I guess that I've truly started seeing Taylor as family. "Well, you aren't twenty-five."
"Thank you." She hugs me again. "If we hadn't found him-"
"Don't!" I interrupt. "Don't think about the maybes. They lead you to insanity."
"Yeah, I know. And we did save his life, didn't we?"
"That we did." At least I hope so. Knife wounds are nasty, and we can't know if the man won't suffer further complications at the hospital. Better not to mention it. Or think about it. Shit! Why didn't I build the medical gun from Starcraft? It could have fixed the guy no problem! Deus Ex has medkits but they aren't as good! They are only one-time use for starters and I don't have the resources for that!
Adam Jensen had a self-healing module powered by a bio-cell, but I can't implant that in any person that gets stabbed, it would be ridiculously expensive!
But…
Can I make it mobile?
And that's when a realization comes to me. The blueprints I have from Deus Ex are mostly static and I can't modify them in a way that changes their function. But I can mix them with the items I built with Starcraft.
Psi Blades built inside my arms like Jensen's blade! Eye implants with the properties of the Ghost Visor! And if I look at what the Mecha Zerg Drone can do… it already has subroutines for repairing itself and Zerg structures, so if I upgrade it with the Health System implant... and maybe add some of JC Denton's nanobots to the mix… I'll have a device that can interface with a human body, repair it, and then detach itself to continue working on something else.
It's brilliant! And stupidly expensive! But less expensive than what it would cost me to fully implant a person with the upgrade!
I feel someone poking at my shoulder. "Tech-Priest?"
"Sorry, what?"
"You have that look where you have an idea."
I don't know what 'that look' is, but she isn't wrong. "That's because I just did. I think I can turn the drone into a mobile medical unit, but I'll need a couple of days to build the upgrade."
"Will you need more materials?"
Normally building the nanobots would be insanely expensive, but if I piggyback their functions into the Drone's own systems it'll represent a massive cut on the final price.
"Thankfully no, just time." This technology… would be extremely useful in case of emergencies. Like an Endbringer attack. And that reminds me that I have less than two months until Leviathan's Canonical arrival. I'll have to get ready for it. "I'll need a lot of metal to turn the current drone into a factory that I can use to produce more."
"Yes, having more than one will be useful." It's so nice that Taylor sees things my way. "How much metal are we talking about here?"
Yeah, that was the difficult part. "At least three or four ship containers. Maybe with the stuff they have inside too."
"That's a lot of metal."
"Indeed." I'll also need to think about a place where to put it. It'll have to be big enough to house the installations, but far away from people so randos can't stumble on it. "But let's think more about that tomorrow. I think we both need a rest."
"Yeah." Taylor nods and puts her mask back on. "Let's go back home. I'll have time in the coming days so I'll use the mornings to search for stuff."
"Remember not to do anything stupid while I'm not around!"
"I don't think I can do anything stupid without you around to inspire me."
"Ha! But seriously, do be careful when you're alone."
"I know, I know."
She puts an arm over my shoulders and we teleport back home.
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