23
Explosion 5
Even though Bakuda didn't have a bomb implanted inside herself, nobody wanted to take the risk that my nanobots missed something. I couldn't blame them. Shielder had protected Panacea as much as he could, opening up only a tiny sliver of his shield for her to touch Bakuda and heal the mad bomber. She didn't heal her fully - just enough to keep her heart pumping but in a coma. Even Panacea couldn't prove that Bakuda didn't have more than just a trigger in her - the mechanism tracking her heartbeat was inorganic, and nobody could say for sure that it didn't have a compact explosive inside of it.
After that, she was ushered as far away as possible while Shielder stayed behind to protect me. Then I had to perform open-heart surgery under expert guidance. There was a heart surgeon on my left and a bomb squad captain to my right. Through a robotic camera, the surgeon advised me on where it was safe to move my bots, then confer with the bomb squad member. I publicly displayed a control range of about thirty feet, which wasn't that much further than what I had already been doing often at the hospital. With Shielder, Glory Girl, and an armored truck in between us and Bakuda, I felt safe enough.
"Right there, that wire connecting to the SA node," the surgeon said.
"That's the main wire monitoring the heartbeat," the bomb squad member said. "We need to connect the backup battery and pulse generator to that line at the same time..."
"Um... which one's the the SA node?" I asked meekly. I felt stupid, but the last thing I wanted to do was accidentally blow up the city because I connected or cut the wrong wires. I hadn't been doing much heart surgery, since Panacea could take care of those easily. had been learning a lot about brains at the hospital, but not much about hearts. And remembering the actual names of things had been lower on my priorities than remembering what they looked and felt like through my bots.
"Right there," the surgeon said, pointing at the screen.
"So should I connect the wire before I cut, or...?"
"Connect it first," the bomb squad guy said.
"After," the surgeon said. They looked at each other and started another heated discussion. I just sat back and did nothing, hoping they would sort things out between them.
"There's literally a two-heartbeat cutoff between losing and regaining the signal! We can't risk that!" the bomb squad guy was saying.
"And connecting beforehand could potentially shock her heart! It could send her into cardiac arrest right away. What if the generator doesn't produce the right pattern? Clearly the other wires at the AV node and ventricular apex are monitoring her, too."
Those kinds of discussions went on for a good ten minutes.
"Okay, change of plans. We want you to connect these four wires so we can get a better reading on what those wires are actually monitoring..."
It took a while, but we managed to defuse Bakuda without any further explosions. After the heart surgery was done, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Except me and Shielder. While the bomb squad carted away the now-removed dead-man's-switch, now running off a system that simulated a heartbeat, I saw more people approaching. They were being escorted by the PRT and under the guard of a lot of troopers wearing very heavy armour.
Most of them were Asian. They looked tired, sick, and scared. They stopped down the street, in a cordoned-off area beside an already-destroyed building. Dauntless approached me. "Hello, Eunoia. We would like you or Panacea to help us with with a major issue."
I sighed, knowing my day was going to get even longer. "Let me guess, you need me to help you remove the bombs that were implanted?"
Dauntless nodded. "So you know about it already? Do you think you can?"
Lady Photon and Brandish both crossed their arms. "Panacea won't be doing this. We can't put her at that kind of risk."
I nodded vigorously, despite my own fatigue. I didn't want Panacea anywhere near these guys. I technically didn't either, but I could do the surgery remotely. I just needed to decide how far was "reasonable" without giving away that I could actually control bots across the city. While it would have been preferable to put as much distance between us, I would have to settle for "reasonably safe." I remembered how powerful the blast was from the first guy who had run into the ER. "I can try. Use the same setup we did on Bakuda."
Shielder nodded. "Don't worry. I can go for a while longer, too."
I was really the only one suited for it right now. No doctor would want to operate on a bomb. We didn't have remote surgical tools like those fancy hospitals in New York or Berlin, and bringing more bombs into the hospital was the last thing anyone wanted at the moment. I was the only one who could perform surgery from behind a bombproof shield from a tent. Armsmaster could probably assemble his own version of the remote robotic surgery tools, but it wouldn't be ready nor approved by the Protectorate yet. And Armsmaster wasn't a surgeon, no matter how good his Tinkertech actually was. We didn't have the time.
Naturally, actual surgeons stood beside me watching from a camera mounted to a bomb-disposal robot. Finding the bomb was easy, as most of them had large, messy sutures that hadn't healed yet. After an injection of local anesthetic, I started my work. I used my bots to inspect the bombs from the inside, in order to make sure there weren't any triggers linked to the skin. If we could just cut the bombs out, that would simplify things a lot.
I didn't see anything that looked like a switch. No additional wires, springs, or plates that were linked to the skin. If there were any, then they would have been triggered just from the victims moving around. That made extraction much easier.
We pulled the bomb out of the body. I placed it gently into a metal surgical tray beside the victim.
"Is... is that all?" my patient asked. "Are we done?"
"Wait, there's a signal coming from the bomb! Take cover!" Armsmaster shouted, bursting into the clean tent. So much for a sterile surgical environment. He scooped up the bomb into some heavy, reinforced box thing.
A few minutes later, he shouted, "All clear. Looks like there's a temperature sensor, but it's not a detonation signal, only an arming signal. We can reduce the risk if we raise the operating room to body temperature."
"Wait, I still have to clean the wound and stitch it up!" I said. I consulted with the surgeons about what else we needed to do, and followed their directions to finish up with this patient. From here, at least it was normal medical stuff.
Before doing the surgery, I wondered how good of a surgeon Bakuda must have been to implant so many people with explosives. If you thought bombs were her specialty, then she must have been quite a natural genius to also understand medicine that well.
As it turned out, you don't have to be a genius to perform surgery poorly. What potentially started as awe turned into disgust. Bakuda was no genius. Most of these people had deep infections and damaged organs. Some suffered internal bleeding, hematomas, and plenty of inflammation. She just shoved compact bombs inside of people, mostly near the neck and spine, and stitched them back up. If the bombs hadn't killed them, they probably would have died of septic shock or kidney failure within a week anyway.
I was amazed at the fact that she hadn't killed herself with that dead-man's switch. The mass-produced bomb implants weren't done as expertly as Bakuda's own heart-mounted detonation switch, which turned out to be a modified pacemaker.
While we waited to re-sterilize the operating room for the next patient, Armsmaster had quickly analyzed the extracted explosive from the first patient. The bombs were made for maximum boom in minimal space, and were detonated with a remote switch. They automatically armed themselves if they were removed from the body, detected through the temperature sensor, but someone still had to detonate them manually. So it hadn't been completely by accident that the man had blown up the hospital. That just made me more angry, but at this point we already had what remained of Bakuda. The PRT and Police Department could handle the rest of the ABB, and whoever else held detonators.
After we figured out the details, we were able to get into a routine, almost like an assembly line. I extracted the bombs, Armsmaster defused them, and the doctors made sure the patient survived the surgery.
Each one was still an involved process that took a long time and a lot of concentration. Even as I extracted the first few bomb implants, the group just kept getting larger. I think I saw at least fifty people that I had to go through with more arriving as the ABB conscripts, and plenty of Empire prisoners, got rounded up from the city.
I was going to need a lot of coffee.
By the time I got through the tenth one, I was feeling pretty drained. Thank goodness nobody could see that I had closed my eyes through my costume's visor, but my concentration was wavering and I was feeling mentally fatigued.
Why not take a rest? one of my brains suggested to myself.
Yeah, we can concentrate on this stuff for you, another said. We've all been paying attention.
It wasn't as if I actually needed to use my body for this... it was purely bots doing the work. Maybe I could just take a quick nap...
I couldn't believe that actually worked.
Aside from having to talk to the surgeons every once in a while, I could basically take short, fifteen minute breaks while my other brains did the work on the patient.
Maybe I could actually keep this up, and rescue everyone immediately. It would take all night... and even tomorrow, but with this kind of routine, I could handle it.
Don't worry, we got this, I told myself.
Yeah, there's almost a thousand of us already. We can work in shifts. No problem.
Take care of meself, real body. It's the only way the rest of us keep existing.
At least, now I knew I could actually get the sleep I needed every night without worrying about lost productivity.
I think I must have slept all day after doing all the surgeries. I woke up when the sky was orange; I couldn't tell if it was dawn or dusk. It didn't matter. I felt like I deserved the rest. I was hungry, though, so I blearily wandered downstairs to grab a snack. The smell of cheesy goodness greeted my nostrils.
Dad was already there, cooking lasagna. "Taylor! You're up! Oh thank goodness... I was so worried when I heard about how many people with bombs were being brought to you..." Dad said, giving me a hug. He didn't let go for a while. "I... I couldn't bear it when I lost Annette... I can't bear to lose you, too."
"It's okay, Dad. I'm fine," I said. "My bots are pretty versatile, and Shielder made sure I was protected."
"You know I can't help but be scared. I'm just glad to have you back here, in this house. You ready to have dinner, sleepyhead?" My stomach answered for me with a growl.
The lasagna was good... not as good as Mom used to make it. I think that was why dad made it, though. It was mom's signature dish. I guess he wanted the reminder because he had been afraid of losing me, too.
After dinner, I was wondering what other people were saying about the whole event. I hadn't had any time to check the news or the forums since the hospital and the rest of town had been exploding.
Topic: Bakuda taken down by New Cape!
In: Capes ► New Capes ► North America USA East
►CorgiJockey
Posted on 29 April 2011:
It's confirmed that Brockton Bay has another new cape, and damn, you won't forget them. See pics here. So the entire city's on lockdown, the PRT is under siege so they can't afford to send any of their heroes out. Bakuda tried to hold the entire city hostage - either the PRT lets Lung go or she blows up bombs hidden around the city. A few days into the standoff, this new cape walks in to the hospital holding a completely mangled Bakuda. Ding dong, the witch is dead.
►ErrHed
Replied on 29 April 2011:
Holy shit, he's huge. Maybe he triggered during the bombings?
► Zomboni
Replied on 29 April 2011:
Damn. Look at the third picture. He's all like, "No, you don't get to die unless I let you die." Rumor has it he was forcing Bakuda's heart to keep beating until he got to Panacea.
►Bagrat (Veteran Member)(The Guy in the Know)
Replied on 29 April 2011:
ErrHed I've heard possible reports that he may have been around about a week before the bombings, as a member of the Undersiders. No concrete or reliable testimonies though.
► -==Gradius==-
Replied on 29 April 2011:
What can you tell us about him? Name? Ratings? Hero or fed-up villain?
►CapeGrape
Replied on 29 April 2011:
Zomboni not that far from the truth. She had a dead man's switch on her heart. Eunoia figured it out.
►Bagrat (Veteran Member)(The Guy in the Know)
Replied on 29 April 2011:
We don't know. But he arrived riding one of Hellhound's dogs, so possibly a villain and possibly a member of the Undersiders. That group took credit for hitting an E88 site before the whole Bakuda incident with no heroes involved or official reports. He dissolved into dust right in front of dozens of witnesses at the hospital after handing over Bakuda, so a Breaker rating is obvious there. Tentative name is Shadow Knight. Voice sounds artificial.
►CorgiJockey (Original Poster)
Replied on 29 April 2011:
Definitely one of Hellhound's dogs. So, Undersiders seem to be recruiting?
►Jacquengel
Replied on 29 April 2011:
They were obviously working with U+L a month ago. Maybe they just do a lot of one-off partnerships.
►Zomboni
Replied on 29 April 2011:
Oh dear lord I hope not. The results speak for themselves, don't they? He took down a Tinker in their workshop. I hope he isn't a villain...
►o0O-Jaynor-O0o
Replied on 29 April 2011:
He sure looks like a villain.
►SpecificProtagonist
Replied on 29 April 2011:
He looks hot.
►Wangarang
Replied on 29 April 2011:
He's working with villains.
Looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, hangs out with ducks...
►imfiringmahlazor
Replied on 29 April 2011:
He took down a villain and helped save the city, so I'm calling hero.
►Zomboni
Replied on 29 April 2011:
Don't jinx us, jaynor. Brockton Bay has enough villains...
►Point_me_ _the_Sky (Verified Cape)
Replied on 29 April 2011:
I almost thought he was a villain. Was ready to punch him out until Eunoia ran out there.
►Zomboni
Replied on 29 April 2011:
Hey, does this mean Shadow Knight's going to get the full bounty? That's massive, it usually takes a team to take out a Tinker inside their lair.
End of page. Jump to page: 1, 2, 3, 4. Next Page
After working through all those surgeries and bomb defusals, the bounty on Bakuda had been the last thing on my mind. In fact, I had completely forgotten about it until someone mentioned it online. I supposed it was only fair that I shared the cut with the Undersiders. I looked up online how I could collect the bounty - the money I had originally stolen from the Merchants was running out. Even dividing the prize five ways, two hundred thousand dollars went a long way. Not only that, maybe it would be a chance to officially register as a hero, and give them the proper name instead of everyone calling him Shadow Knight.
I guess I had been running with the Undersiders too much lately. I needed to do some proper hero-ing with him. People needed to know he was independent and not a member of the Undersiders.
I searched for other threads where my name was showing up.
Topic: Eunoia Sets World Record for Surgeries Performed (maybe?)
In: News and Events ► North America ► USA East
►Wakkamole
Posted on 29 April 2011:
Ok, I know that world records set by capes are always going to be questionable whether or not they actually count. But I think this one might be eligible. Long story short - before Bakuda's siege on Brockton Bay, she took a ton of people hostage, implanted bombs in their bodies, and forced them to fight for the ABB. At the end of it, I think there were a total of 62 conscripts who survived and needed the bombs removed.
Unlike Panacea, Eunoia is not strictly a healer. She's a Tinker who just happens to have tools useful for medicine. She's learning and being trained in medicine like a normal person.
So, those 62 people with bombs in their bodies? Eunoia removed all of them, with the help of Shielder (in case something went wrong), Dr. Vanderson supervising, and Cpt. Lestat also supervising (bomb squad). She did all of them in under 24 hours, with the help of the rest of the Brockton Bay General Hospital staff.
That's gotta count for a record, right?
►|||1llII||1|
Replied on 29 April 2011:
I dunno, doesn't medical tinkering still count as a cape power though? I don't think it counts.
►DaUsualSuspect
Replied on 29 April 2011:
If it counts as a cape power, then Panacea's got her beat. She's healed a person a minute during Endbringer fights.
►BeGentleImNew (Veteran poster)
Replied on 29 April 2011:
I thought powers aren't eligible for world records?
►Tiedieded
Replied on 29 April 2011:
Don't be so negative, 11l1l. It's still an amazing achievement.
►|||1llII||1|
Replied on 29 April 2011:
I wasn't saying it wasn't impressive. I'm just saying it falls under cape powers, so it doesn't count as a world record.
►|||1llII||1|
Replied on 29 April 2011:
BeGentleImNew Exactly!
►Queueueuew
Replied on 29 April 2011:
DaUsualSuspect, does Panacea's healing count as surgery? She doesn't have to cut someone open and sew them back up again, but she's done stuff that normally would require surgery.
►DaUsualSuspect
Replied on 29 April 2011:
That's kind of splitting hairs, isn't it?
►Queueueuew
Replied on 29 April 2011:
When there are world records for most bubbles blown while holding a spider in your mouth, I don't think having separate categories for "healing" and "surgery" is too much.
►silvermann
Replied on 29 April 2011:
Hey don't you disrespect spider-in-mouth bubble blowers, it's right behind underwater basket weaving on the ocho league
►Wakkamole
Replied on 29 April 2011:
Queueue seriously? I have to look that up.
And I think this is part of why she should get the record. Most healers just bypass the whole surgery thing. Eunoia actually had to go through the whole process like other surgeons, she just got to use better tools to do it.
►CapeGrape
Replied on 29 April 2011:
Well, if we're talking about capes who cut people up and put them back together again, what's Bonesaw's record?
►CorgiJockey
Replied on 29 April 2011:
CapeGrape oh god don't joke about that shit
►_-YoY-_
Replied on 29 April 2011:
CapeGrape aaaaaaand I'm suddenly not interested in who's done the most surgeries any more
►Wombocombo
Replied on 29 April 2011:
are villains even allowed to have records?
►CapeGrape
Replied on 29 April 2011:
Why not? A records a record
End of page. Jump to page: 1, 2. Next Page
That was also where I decided to stop reading. I know most people weren't taking it seriously, but I didn't want to think about being compared to one of the Slaughterhouse Nine. It was nice that people were actually paying attention to the things I did, though. And not a single person had the slightest suspicion that Eunoia and Abyssal were the same person.
I felt like taking a break today. Hell, I didn't think anyone would argue that I deserved it.
While I was still being lazy at home, I received a text from Tattletale. The Undersiders were going to pick up their share of the bounty money for Bakuda's capture. In addition to the PRT's kill order and prize, there had been some fairly large contributions from several of the corporations based around Brockton Bay, including Medhall and Fortress Construction, as well as many other smaller donations that added up. In total, the bounty had been increased nearly one and a half million, because there were quite a few vested interests in ending Bakuda's reign of terror quickly.
While I wasn't exactly hard on money at the moment, even one-fifth of the prize was almost three hundred grand. Nothing to sneeze at. I didn't know what I would do with the money just yet (or how to transfer it from Abyssal to me without raising tons of red flags) but it would be better to have the money on hand, rather than not. Windfalls like this didn't come often.
At least I didn't have to get out of the house.
Using the bots in the street, I took a peek around the area of the PRT building, as well as the streets between it and the Undersider's base. It didn't take long to find the group of them walking in broad daylight. Bitch had her dogs with her, leashed and in normal dog form. They were mostly sticking to side streets and alleys, not doing anything villainous, but they had their masks on. I formed Abyssal not too far from them and joined up.
"Hey big guy, nice of you to join us," Tattletale said with a wave.
Abyssal nodded and quietly walked with them. Their costumes weren't the flashiest, but people were been giving them a wide berth. With Abyssal in the mix, I just hoped no overzealous PRT agent or hero would try to come arrest them.
Thankfully, the only people who gave us trouble were right near the entrance of the building. We didn't even make it to the gift shop when the front door slammed shut and steel shutters closed down over it. I could see some PRT agents above, aiming containment foam sprayers down at us. Over a loudspeaker, someone said, "State your purpose!"
"Seriously? We have an appointment. This is supposed to be a truce!" Tattletale shouted back. More quietly, she whispered to Grue, "Are you recording this?"
"Yup," Grue confirmed, holding his phone out.
"I almost want to see the shitstorm that'll come from them breaking the truce," Regent chuckled. He, too, was recording with his phone.
Fortunately, his wishes didn't come true. After a short pause, the shutters opened again and the doors unlocked. In the foyer of the building was a much larger number of PRT troops, though. In front of them was Armsmaster.
"Tattletale. Grue. Hellhou-" he began.
"Bitch," Bitch snarled at him. Her dogs, sensing her irritation, started growling as well.
"The PRT designation has her listed as-" Armsmaster explained.
"Well we don't work for the PRT, or did you not notice?" Tattletale said with a fake smile. "Either you get her name right, or we all get to choose each other's names, Bluebeard."
Armsmaster scowled. "I'll look into updating the database. Regent. Shadow Knight..."
"ABYSSAL." His voice rumbled through the lobby of the PRT building. I could even sense some of the shelves in the gift shop rattle. It certainly caught everyone's attention. Thankfully, the PRT troops' fingers weren't that itchy, and nobody got sprayed with foam.
"I will make sure all the names will be corrected," Armsmaster said, clearly annoyed. "Now, if you wouldn't mind, we will need to verify some details to validate your claim on the bounty. The truce is in effect, we will not attempt to unmask you or arrest you for any previous crimes during this visit. Right this way, please..."
He led us to a room that I had been familiar with. Ugh. At least this time I wasn't alone. There were multiple chairs and we all sat around the table, but the interrogation room still wasn't any friendlier.
On that note, I remembered the few bots that I still had stuck inside the ventilation of the building. Man, they were old. Practically an ancient design by my standards. I wanted to replace them, but for now I wanted to keep a tighter lid on Abyssal's bots. Didn't want to give away the secret to his powers. I didn't even have his "smoke" aura on right now; I made sure I left no traces of bots from him that could be picked up later by Armsmaster.
I did use those old bots to listen in on what was happening... which wasn't much. Mostly what was already to be expected; people scrambling to have countermeasures ready against the Undersiders just in case (talk about a paper-thin truce), people confirming and securing the money, others still assessing damages from the ABB and Bakuda, people responding to Empire activity, and so on.
Eventually Armsmaster came back to join us, flanked by four PRT troops. Not enough to outnumber us, but just perfectly even. Probably some kind of symbolic gesture. Either way, the room was getting pretty crowded.
"Let me do the talking," Tattletale whispered to her team.
"Alright then. What were each of you doing at five p.m. on the twenty-seventh of April..." Armsmaster began.
The phone rang. As in, my home phone. Dad answered it, only to shout upstairs to me. "Taylor! It's for you! New Wave!"
"Thanks, dad!" I shouted as I picked up the phone. "Hi! What's up?"
It was Vicky on the line. "So, the Protectorate and Wards need some healing. I'm taking Ames over there, you want to join?"
Crap. I specifically wanted to stay home so that I wouldn't be associated with Abyssal, not be in the same building as him twice in as many days! Having him come to the hospital was a necessity, but now?
"Uh... I'm not sure if I'd be of much help..." I said, trying to find a lame excuse not to meet more of the city's heroes.
"Come on, it'll be great! They'll love you! I'm coming to pick you up in ten, be ready!" Aaaaaaand that was Vicky. Of course I didn't really have a choice. But maybe I could turn this to an advantage? Abyssal was already there, in a room, with cameras, and had been there for a while now. Maybe this would be a good thing, as long as I could act well enough.
I knew Amy dropped by the Protectorate or PRT bases to heal the heroes after major battles, and Bakuda certainly counted. While the Protectorate certainly had a lot of advanced (and Tinkertech) medical resources available, nothing could quite match Panacea's... perfection. Even when the heroes were mostly better, the Protectorate needed its capes in top form as soon as possible so they could go on patrols. Even minor injuries like a sprained ankle could be deadly, and given how outnumbered the heroes were compared to the villains, they couldn't afford to have their members sititng on the sidelines. Apparently they had a standing contract with New Wave for Panacea to do some "touch-up" healing once a week, and after every major incident.
I just hadn't been called since none of them had major brain issues... supposedly. Still, I wondered if they actually needed me, or if Vicky was just being a good friend and teammate inviting me along.
"Ready to go?" Panacea said as Glory Girl dropped the two of us off at the building.
"Yeah," I said. Abyssal was still in the interrogation room, while Tattletale was explaining all the details. I think they were still trying to clear up the various effects of the bombs and the order they struck in order to explain the state of all the bodies the investigators were finding under the collapsed building.
Meanwhile, we were escorted up to their little infirmary. It only had a few stretchers and basic medical supplies, plus a few Tinkertech things, presumably built and maintained by Armsmaster. Two of the stretchers had severely injured PRT agents; Panacea went to them first.
A few minutes later, Miss Militia walked in. She looked like she had gotten some burns along the side of her body; other injuries had mostly been patched up and covered with bandages. "Panacea! Good to see you here, and thanks again for coming."
"It's no big deal," Panacea said. "Were these two the worst ones?" she asked, indicating the men she just healed.
Miss Militia gave a heavy sigh. "Of the survivors, yes. If I could get a touch-up..."
Panacea touched her, and a few seconds later, Miss Milita was ripping off the bandages and showing smooth unblemished skin underneath. "You're a real miracle worker, Panacea. We won't waste your time. Instead of giving the grand tour today, we'll have everyone come to the infirmary. Faster than pushing all the paperwork for Eunoia's security clearance," she explained. She extended her hand. "Nice to see you. Again, I'd like to apologize for the issues with Shadow Stalker. We're currently conducting an internal investigation."
"Really? I see," I said flatly. Internal investigations didn't exactly fill me with confidence. What were the chances that the Protectorate found themselves not guilty of any wrongdoing? I didn't hate Miss Militia; she was one of the most genuine heroes in the Protectorate. But one good apple didn't fix a basket of rot. "Well, I'm glad you weren't hurt too badly." I don't think I could have said the same if Sophia had been caught in one of those explosions, though.
Miss Militia nodded. "As soon as we knew bombs were involved, we took extra precautions. The Wards were kept away from the bomb sites completely. And... well, Bakdua seemed to do more damage to her own people than to us."
I scowled at the memory of all the surgeries I had to do. That woman had been completely insane. She had probably been more damaging to the ABB than the Empire or the Protectorate.
"Yeah... we've seen it firsthand," I said.
"So who's in tonight?" Panacea asked.
"Assault and Velocity are here too. Dauntless and Battery are out on patrol tonight, and Armsmaster is... busy with several things right now." I could see the disapproval in her eyes as she mentioned the last hero.
"Really? Where is he? He tends to jump right into the thick of things," Panacea said while she put her hand on Miss Militia.
"If he isn't conducting more investigation into Bakuda's bombs, then he's fixing the Rig. Oni Lee did a number on it; he insisted he get it back to tip-top shape before sleeping. He also says he's getting inspiration for his own Tinkertech from the bombs, so he also wants to do what Tinkers do... He's running on painkillers and stimulants at the moment."
"I... might need to take a look at him later," Panacea said. "Well, you're good to go. No brain injuries or shrapnel. Sorry, nothing for you to do, Eunoia." I just shrugged.
Miss Militia sighed again. "Armsmaster insists he's 'optimized' his health. Thanks for that, Panacea. I'll send Assault in."
She was out for only a minute when Assault came walked in. Aside from his usual costume, he also had a briefcase.
"Sorry, Panacea. No time for chitchat. There's an important handover I have to do in a few minutes."
I checked in on the interrogation room, and yes, Lisa was finishing up the story already. She naturally omitted what happened exactly, using a bit of plausible deniability to her advantage. She did leave in enough detail that it couldn't be faked, detail that could be corroborated. Naturally, everything lined up with what the Protectorate had found when they arrived to clean up the aftermath. Short of taking selfies with Bakuda, it was as close to confirmed as anyone could get that the Undersiders, and Abyssal, had been the one to take her down.
"Thanks Panacea. You're an angel," Assault said.
I actually had a patient to heal. One. Yet another PRT trooper who had suffered under a bomb blast, but one with weird effects. Panacea healed what she could, and I had to fix up a few ruptured blood vessels in his brain. No wonder he had been feeling headaches.
While I worked on this patient, I watched Assault enter the interrogation room through Abyssal, this time holding a briefcase. He took a look at Abyssal and whistled.
"So... nice suit," he said. "I don't suppose you give many hugs, do you?"
Abyssal simply remained completely still as a statue.
"I suppose not. If you need a hug, just let us know. Hugs are free!" He continued to joke.
"Assault. This is a formal bounty handover," Armsmaster reminded him.
"Alright, alright. Strong, silent type eh? Maybe we can be partners. I'm the weak and loud type, we totally cover each other's bases." Assault continued to attempt to get a reaction. I personally tried to hide my giggle while Velocity was being healed by Panacea.
"Assault..." Armsmaster warned.
He sighed and put the suitcase on the table and opened it up. "One million, four hundred and twenty-two thousand dollars in unmarked, non-sequential bills."
"Now that's what I'm talking about," Regent said.
"Damn, that's a lot of dough." Even Grue couldn't remain completely stoic at the sight of that much cash.
"It's up to you how to divide the cash. Would you like to divide it now, or decide amongst yourselves later?"
"I think... it's up to the big guy here," Grue said, turning to Abyssal. "I'll be honest, he did do most of the work."
Tattletale got up and motioned for Abyssal to bend down. She whispered into his "ear" so quietly, even my own bots could barely hear her. "Please, please, just split it evenly five ways. If you feel like you deserve more, I can make it up to you and more, later."
What the heck was she getting at? Not that I had a problem with splitting it evenly, but why was it so important to her? Still, nearly three hundred grand was more than enough to solve most of our family problems. Beyond that was just greedy, especially when I still had methods to make more money myself. I had no reason to really deny her that if she needed it so badly.
Abyssal nodded to her.
"We'll divide it up five ways evenly," Tattletale declared. They counted out the stacks of bills and sorted things out with the heroes as witnesses. It was probably something they did to prevent potential infighting later on. They also had us sign forms stating the exact amount of the bounty we had taken, and so on. Funny, none of us had ever thought to actually have a cape signature before, so we mostly just wrote our cape names down in sloppy handwriting.
"About fuckin' time. Let's go," Regent said, as soon as the money was distributed. Bitch grunted in agreement. The Undersiders filed out quickly.
"Wait up, Abyssal. We'd like to invite you into the Wards or Protectorate, depending on your age. Solo heroes tend not to last very long in this city; we would be able to help you with backup and training," Assault offered. "Or if you just want to come in for power testing?"
Yeah, no chance of that happening right now. I had him shake his head, and walk out as well. Assault and Armsmaster escorted the group out.
Back in the infirmary, we were all done as well. Panacea had done an excellent job as usual, while I felt mostly useless in comparison. We, too, were packing up and stepping out. What a coincidence. Then again, I could still use this.
The elevator doors opened, and we were just managed to catch sight of the Undersiders about to leave by the front door.
"You!" Glory Girl was the first to react. Her aura flared, and I was suddenly afraid of my friend. "I'm gonna –"
Distantly, one of my other minds seemed to notice my emotional reaction to her aura.
Huh. Why so afraid?
Is that what being Mastered feels like? Interesting.
The calmer, objective analysis by my distant, unaffected brains did actually help me deal with the effect.
She paused when the PRT troops escorting the Undersiders turned on her instead.
"Whoa, Glory Girl. We're currently under truce. They're picking up the bounty for taking down Bakuda," Assault told her.
Glory Girl seethed, crossing her arms, but didn't do anything more than glare at the Undersiders. I didn't realize she still had such a huge grudge from the bank incident. I couldn't think of any other time they had ever interacted. Tattletale, thankfully, kept her mouth shut and quickly hurried out the door, even yanking Regent out with her before he could taunt my teammate.
Abyssal followed not far behind them, coming down the hallway. He was definitely quiet for his size, and Glory Girl shrieked a little when she finally noticed him right beside her.
I chuckled. Still, I needed a bit of my acting chops here. Thank goodness for separate, cloned brains. I didn't think I would be able to do this if I had to concentrate on both myself and Abyssal and act like we were really separate people with only one brain.
I waved.
"Man, that guy is seriously giving me the creeps. How can you be so friendly with him?" she whispered to us while watching Abyssal nod at me.
"He's probably nicer than he looks," I said. I made Abyssal walk towards us.
"Oh shit, Eunoia, be careful. What does he want?"
He opened up his pack of money and handed me two stacks of bills. Exactly $20,000. "Oh, wow. Thanks," I said, trying to look as surprised and excited as I could. Now I had an excuse for why I would be able to spend a whole ton of extra money in the short-term, while I worked out how to spend the rest of the money later.
I decided, in order to be less suspicious, and to be nice, to give Panacea some of the reward too. Abyssal handed two stacks to her as well.
"What's this for?" Panacea asked, looking immediately suspicious. I suppose people occasionally thanked her or gave her gifts for her work, but she had obviously never healed Abyssal before.
"BAKUDA," Abyssal replied. After all, when it came to "defusing" the villain, she had been just as important as me at keeping the villain alive long enough.
Abyssal nodded again, and then walked out the door. I made sure he went far out of sight, I sent him disappearing into the shadows. The money, I separated out into individual bills and used my bots to transport it through the sewers towards my house.
"Damnit, I was hoping to get some too," Glory Girl said with a pout as we left the building. "Well, next shopping trip is on you guys!"
Panacea and I groaned in unison.
Author's Note: After heroing comes healing.
This is a chapter that I felt like I had to rewrite several times, ugh. Minor ideas and issues that kept messing up with the plot flow. Still not completely satisfied but it serves its purpose for now, I guess.