Valentine, Sara[2000,03,24][F14][En,Fr]
[Black, Blue, Fair][5'1",100lbs][O+][Nodenomination]
[Blessed Soul]
“May it never be said that I choose the hard paths. I didn’t. I never choose the paths I walked based on easy or hard. I walked the path of good, no matter how high or low it went, and never abandoned a sou l to suffer.”
Commander Oswald of the Medic Corp, 1955
Standard Procedure
Mr Mirmen was pacing the front of the class as he read out the textbook the story of Exe Why Zee. An anonymous soldier during the International Conflict who is credited with being the first soldier to renounce their rank and nationality to be a neutral healer for all. Of course, it wasn’t that easy as being a different race and speaking different languages often led to more trouble. Soldiers wanting to kill them or take them prisoner. Yet the stories go on. Ending at Peace Day and the official founding of The Medic Corp by Exe Why Zee themselves, whoever they are. The medic’s origin was unknown, and was possibly multiple people around the world. The stories of Exe Why Zee, were always vague on the details of where, when, and who. Only describing the universal details like eyes and teeth in hateful expressions, and cries of pain as they worked to save the lives of who they could.
“Now class, pain is universal. It has to be. Pain is the acknowledgment of harm, and without it, you would get ripped apart and never know you need to recover. An important detail since acting on the world makes the world act back. Hit something with rock in hand and the rock hits your hand. Even if controlled. You will be harmed, and you will need to recover, and your body will tell you as much. That’s a part of survival.”
“However, this fact of the world has resulted in people prescribing meaning to pain itself. That without suffering there would be no meaning to life.”
“Well, as someone who can turn off their sense of pain, that ain’t true.”
“Still, if you, or worse someone else, suffers for something you want, then you inherently, instinctively, appreciate it more, but that’s easily attributable to the Sunk Cost Fallacy. The idea that the investment itself, this case the suffering, gives the finished product more inherit value.”
York raised a hand, “Mr Mirmen, that’s not quite the Sunk cost fallacy.”
“Not important.” Mr Mirmen waved him off.
Adrian tsked and spoke up, “Well I call bull. Sure, pain itself isn’t a good thing. Even I don’t like it, getting or giving, but a fight ain’t fair if one side doesn’t get hurt. If you’re so tough that nothing hurts then there’s no reason to fight.”
Mr Mirmen crossed his arms, “Interesting. A level of mutual harm is the difference between battling and bullying, but is the pain needed? Wouldn’t the inflicted damage be the same without?”
Adrian opened his mouth to speak, but was lost for words. His brow furrowed as he thought on what to say.
“I think I understand.” said XK-88, “I don’t feel pain the same way as humans do. It’s more a direct report to my conscious. I can ignore it if I want, but that simply deactivates my reflexive actions, or my subconscious you can say. Imagine sticking your hand in fire. A human would pull back by instinct, and suffer if they didn’t. I could stick my hand in and keep it there without a single bit of discomfort. My body is still burning and it’s telling me so, but nothing is trying to make me pull it out.”
“Your body is made of metal. It doesn’t burn.” Melissa Odinson noted from the back
XK-88 rolled his eyes, “It’s a metaphor. Point is, I can take damage and not feel pain, meaning no reflexively acting on it. I could willingly take a much larger amount of harm, which means I could bring myself closer to flat out dying, which yes, I can in fact, capital D, Die. So I would, being able to turn pain off and keep going, have more meaning to taking damage than suffering alone.”
“But if you can’t turn pain off, then pushing through it would add even more, umm… meaning?” Semy Largge added scratching his head, “I don’t know the right word to use.”
“Value is a fine stand in for abstract ideas like this.” Mr Mirmen offered.
“Okay, value. Suffering and pushing through adds value, right? Like when heroes fight villains and criminals.”
“I think you two are working under a limited understanding.” Samuel York interjected, “Humans can in fact turn our sense of pain off, it simply is not under our conscious control. Adrenaline allows for increased performance, though rather temporary. Still, we are capable of willingly taking damage.”
“Well Mr York, do you believe pain adds value to the harm taken?” Mr Mirmen asked, but before York could give his answer a knock came to the door. The door opened and Vice Principal Thompson walked in with a suited woman behind him.
“Pardon Simon,” Mr Thompson said with a slight bow, “But I need to pull Ms Valentine from class.”
“Why?” Mr Mirmen asked reflexively.
“That’s classified.” The suited woman snapped with sharper reflexes and Sara’s blood froze at that. She knew why they came for her, and she didn’t like it.
“Excuse you?” Mr Mirmen shouted back squaring shoulders and striding to the woman, “I hold the authority of an Army Captain. You don’t get to pull that bull on me.”
“Simon.” Mr Thompson said firmly stepping between the two.
“No, Tom, this broad doesn’t get to just waltz up into my class and-”
“It’s okay.” Sara stood and started walking to the front, “It’s okay Mr Mirmen. I know what they want. I’ll go.”
“You sure?” Mr Mirmen asked turning to look at her, “Cause I can escort this mook to the front door manually, if you don’t want to go.”
“Thank you, but it’s okay.” Sara said trying to keep a brave face.
Mr Mirmen narrowed his eyes and frowned watching her face, “Okay then.”
Mr Mirmen stood back as she walked out and the door was closed behind the three of them. Looking to the suited woman Sara asked, “How are we traveling?”
The suited woman checked her watch, “Teleportation, but we need to wait until it’s secured.”
“Oh, well How long-” Sara didn’t finish her question when the world warped around her, and was now standing in an empty white room. Mr Thompson was gone, but the suited woman was here. She smiled with approval.
“Perfect. I’m Agent Cass by the way.” The woman properly introduced herself. “Thank you for coming. It’s very important. Though, you’re the last person who needs to be told that.”
She was. This wasn’t the first time she had been asked to drop everything to be whisked away to someone who needed her help. She had been woken in the middle of the night, pulled out of movie theaters, and even had a date interrupted. She had the choice to go or not go, but every time she went. She had to. She was the only one who could do what she did.
Agent Cass walked over to the wall and grabbed a doorknob that was perfectly camouflaged in the white wall opening a door that was also perfectly hidden. Sara followed the lady into the main hall of an office building. It must have been rush hour or something because nearly every person in the room was in motion. Dozens of people jogged along or scanned over documents with phones in hand. Almost all of them were obviously demihumans. Some by the little details in their eyes and hair. Others by the way they dress and acted. A few of them by clearly being not human. Such as a ludoyashay, like Vlad and his brother Raz, who was tapping on a typewriter with incredible speed. A large demon kin, eight feet tall with another two added by black horns sticking through his blood red skin. He was carrying a tray of coffees and pastries trying to dish out orders in the chaos. Sitting next to the hallway we were turning down sat a short and snout possibly fae creature, maybe a gnome, examining and clearing a platoon’s worth of pistols.
“Busy day?” Sara remarked.
“Very.” Agent Cass answered. “Multiple ZKT events. Most by accident.”
Sara’s eyes widen at that. ZKT was code for possible world ending. They technically happened all the time, but that didn’t ease the nerves at the end of the day. Even if there were entire organizations dedicated to stopping them. Hell, that made it worse.
This wasn’t the first time Sara had experienced this feeling of detached doom, and so she was able to soldier on and into an elevator with Agent Cass. Pushing a button the elevator started to drop. Sara didn’t know if the floor they had started on was above ground, but she was sure they were below the earth when the elevator opened onto a hospital-like environment. Sterilized white tiles and walls with lights that just barely, but continuously, buzzed. Agent Cass guided Sara down the hallway to a window that looked into a room where a dead man laid. Still breathing through pure stubbornness and the miracles of modern medicine. The man had more gone than remaining.
“Sweet mercy.” Sara whispered, “What happened to him?”
“Do you need to know that for the healing to work?” Agent Cass asked, “I’m actually asking. I’ll tell you either way.”
“No. I don’t need to know anything, and maybe that’s better, but still. What the hell?”
“Long story short, someone fired a shot aimed at destroying the world, and he stepped in front of it.”
They walked into the room. The beeping of the machines no longer muffled by the walls drilled into Sara each time. She walked up to the man and looked him over. She could smell his insides. It wasn’t that terrible. It just smelled like raw sewage.
“Is he conscious?” Sara asked, “The healing won’t work if he can’t feel it?”
“Feel it? What do you mean?” Agent Cass asked.
Sara looked at her confused, but then remembered how she asked if she needed to know what happened. “This is the first time you’ve seen this. My healing power I mean.”
“Yeah, I was told your powers were unmatched. Aren’t they?”
“They are, but…” Sara tried to think of how to say it but gave up, “I guess I should just do it and see if it works.”
Placing a hand on the man’s shoulder Sara started the healing. A dim light came from where she was touching and spread across the man’s body. If you were to listen closely you could hear what sounded like a choir singing. Of course it was currently being drowned out by the sound of the machines. Especially the heart monitor that started beeping faster and faster as the man’s heart started to race. One hundred beats a minute, then two hundred, and three hundred after that. It continued to climb up into the four hundreds and was nearing five hundred when he finally awoke screaming at the top of his lungs. Rather he would have if not for the hose jabbed down his throat.
Sara stopped the flow of power and stepped back as Agent Cass stepped forward trying to hold the man down. Shouting as she half grappled the man. “Danny! Danny! It’s okay! You’re okay! Let me get this tube out of your throat.”
“Cass.” The man called Danny said as his voice was freed. He was calm and looked around, “What happened? What’s going on? Where’s the girl? Where’s the bastard?”
“Relax, it’s all good. You saved the world Danny, and then I saved you.” Cass explained, “I then went to grab this girl. Apparently, she can heal you.”
Danny looked over to Sara and sighed in relief. The heart monitor dropped back down to a hundred and he said, “Oh, the Valentine girl. That explains that.”
“Explains what?” Agent Cass asked.
“Why I felt like I was in the VIP zone of Damnation. Why didn’t you wake me?” He looked at Sara with the highest level of annoyance, but she didn’t have an answer to that. A moment later he sighed and with humble sympathy said, “Apologies, I’m sure my dumbass rookie partner is to blame somehow.”
“Hey, I pulled your ass out of the fire, literally,” Cass said
“Yeah, but I had to jump in there to save your dumbass. You have a gun for a reason dumbass.” Danny said.
Cass glowered at him but then turned sad and mumbled under her breath, “Sorry about that.”
Danny huffed, “Oh don’t be like that. If this job was easy they wouldn’t hire dumbasses like us to do it. They get some educated pansy to do it, and just shoot him when he asks for a raise.”
Danny laughed and Cass smiled until Danny’s laugh turned into coughs and the heart monitor started going off again.
“Danny, you okay?” Cass asked.
“I need more healing,” Danny explained
“Couldn’t you use another method now? Like Blue Water?” Sara asked. Her powers weren’t actually the only healing power on her scale, but it was faster. Near instant. Blue Water was the most common recovery option for Agents, but that took time.
“Aye, but every day I’m in a tube I can’t be fighting. But every minute you heal me is one less hour in the blue. So if you don’t mind.”
“I will, if you want, but…”
“The pain. The more you heal, the more it hurts.” Danny closed his eyes and thought for a moment. Looking to her again he made an offer, “I tell you what. I’ll tell you what happened while you heal me. If it gets too much for me to talk then you can stop. Fair?”
Sara nodded. “Okay, fair.”
She started the process as Agent Danforth, his actual name, started the story.
***
We had just finished handling a gang of small fry hooligans when we got the call. A report about a working of magic energy down south. We rode down to no where Virginia to an old farmstead, but things started adding up wrong fast. From the first sight of the property, I could tell something was off. There were three buildings, a house, a barn, and a shed. All three of them looked like they were old and dilapidated. Like their last use was a hundred years ago. Sounds about right, right? Except they all seemed to be in the same state of decay and were evenly rotten across all three buildings. Not impossible, but it was uncanny for a structure to fall apart at an even rate. Just something you pick up after a few decades.
So we started to search the buildings. Starting with the house. It was completely barren. No furniture, no pictures of anything, and not a single pot or pan in the kitchen. After a quick scan of the shed and barn to find them equally empty of tools and equipment. That’s when I knew for sure this place was a setup.
***
“Wait, Couldn’t they have just taken the tools with them?” Sara asked.
“That’s what I said?” Cass added.
“A few things here and there. Sure, but everything?” Danforth said, “Either some professionals came through there or no ever lived there.”
“So then they moved, maybe to another farm, and did hire professionals.” Sara proposed.
“I also said that,” Cass explained. “But Danny shot me down quick.”
“Because if they could afford to hire professionals, then they could afford new tools.” Danforth explained, “You can’t put importance on every rake and shovel. Someone made that place just how it was, and I even double-checked.”
***
After I answered Cass’s rookie question I called HQ to do a deep check on the property records in Virginia. The records seem to be straight and true. Both on the digital and analog records dating back to the hundreds, but the tell was deeper. Back during the Mutant Revolts, there was this big push to make digital copies of all analog records.
They called it The Great Crunch of Ninety-Two because it took so much manpower to keep everything going straight and smooth between all the destruction and in-fighting. It was that bit of chaos where an error was made, because there was a drafting of a roster for all the files that needed to be transferred over called The Crunch File.
It too was stored in both analog and digital files, and the filing was listed on both, but the analog was missing a completely different listing. There were only so many listings per page, and you couldn’t edit the whole thing. So I had HQ contact the Federal Data Storage and asked about a possible copy. Luckily the very page in question had been faxed once showing a perfect alignment of listings sans the one we were at. A smoking gun so far away it might have been a sniper rifle, it was the proof that the place was a front for something.
***
“That’s a really small and very specific detail.” Sara pointed out in disbelief.
“Oh yeah,” Danforth chuckled, “Would you believe me if I told you it wasn’t the first time such a detail had cracked entire cases through?”
Sara thought for a moment, “Honestly, I don’t know.”
“I wouldn’t.” Cass said shrugging, “Not for a moment. And I was there.”
Danforth tsked, “Fine then, I’ll just continue the story.”
***
So with my suspicions confirmed we started to search the area. We scanned the entire property. Through the fields and around the perimeter. We didn’t bother searching the house. If the entities at work were capable of faking official documents they wouldn’t make it possible to find their secret by following dusty footprints. The shed was a lifted building and the barn had all dirt flooring. Cass didn’t detect any magic. So we stomped through the grass and brush, but there wasn’t anything obvious. The field was overgrown with weeds with no clear breaks and no trees. Another slip, because while an entire forest wouldn’t spring up, over a hundred years you would see at least a few saplings, but the whole field was grass and bushes.
We spent about four hours scouring the property and were just about to call it in when I saw it. Reflecting the setting sun was a stabilization pond. A hole you dump your waste in and let nature handle it at her own pace. Common enough in rural areas, so it wouldn’t draw attention from those in the know, and those not in the know just saw a pool of dirty water. A perfect place for a secret.
It was a good size hole, about six feet deep and twenty feet across, with the water itself being shallow. The drain pipe was about three feet wide and covered in overgrowth, but we cut through it to find it widened to be over seven feet just a few steps in. We had found the entrance, but to what, we had no idea.
We drew our weapons and started down the tunnel. We walked for about a mile or so putting us under the fields by my count, and the walls were all covered with patterns of runes. I couldn’t tell what they were for, but I could feel they were weaved into a massive web that stretched across the entire property. Eventually, the tunnel ended opening up to something like a missile silo. At the bottom of the silo was a circle of people chanting something. I couldn’t tell what.
We found stairs going down and descended trying to get closer. Turned out the place was a full-on maze with disconnected hallways and stairs going up and down. Doors lined the halls going into different rooms. Some storage with boxes and crates. Some sleeping areas with bunk beds like a barrack. We were about half way down when the rookie got us in trouble.
***
“Bull. That wasn’t my fault.” Cass shouted, “The other thing sure, but that guy would have seen you just the same.”
“Yeah,” Danforth agreed, “But I wouldn’t have yelled at the top of my lungs telling everyone we from the DDH.”
Cass blushed at that, “Oh. Yeah. Sorry.”
“What happened?” Sara asked so Danforth could continue
“We got caught and ended up in a fight. Turned out there were near a hundred people there, and they all had guns.”
***
We had to fight our way through after that. They mostly had Thirty-Two Standards, but some of them had special assault weapons. We only had Big Shots, which would down anyone it hit, but we only had so many rounds.
***
“Were you killing them?” Sara asked before looking away, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t.”
Danforth waved her off, “It’s fine. Yeah, we were. Mostly me, but to be fair we tried to be peaceful until they shot me.”
“With what? It had to be a big gun.” Sara asked.
“Nope, just a standard. That’s not what caused all this, but it was the first blood of the fight.” Danforth continued
***
After they got me we were a lot more aggressive. We tried to call it in and get backup, but our comms were blocked by the runes. So we had to fight our way through. Problem was the place was a true maze and we didn’t make any markings to follow back. Every path seemed to only go deeper and deeper. Rooms started to be filled with more intense supply. Armaments, explosives, and tools for magical workings. We were starting to get an idea of the scale of operations these people had to be working on when we found them.
A room with a dozen people, bound and gagged. All with sacrificial marks. After that the plan changed. Whatever this was, we had to stop it now. I ordered the Rookie to free the people while I turned to face the army of cultists. I went from aggressive to all out. Cutting down waves of the bastards. They tried to rout me, but didn’t realize that surrounding me put them at the disadvantage. Not a one of them were prepared for me.
I cut through whoever stood against me and made it to the center again where the chanting circle was still in effect. They were starting the real working of the magic when I stepped in. Twelve hooded mooks surrounded a platform where the head mook stood. I told him to stand down hoping we could finish this clean, but instead the bastard started to monologue about how it was all too late. I tried to explain that we had secured his victims and his plot was over. His response was to pull a knife out and stab himself in the heart. Triggering the whatever it was they were doing.
Suddenly the whole silo was filled with chaos. It was like a hurricane, an earthquake, a volcano, and a meteor strike all just barreled in and started beating the shit out of each other. The undermooks were swept up and ripped away. Their body rose up and into what they had formed. A portal. Not into the domain of greater beings, but into the Abyss Beyond Here. They were trying to destroy everything. Not just the earth, or the universe, but the all of everything.
***
“People can just do that? Just destroy reality?” Sara shouted in disbelief. Sure, she knew ZKT events happened all the time, but those often would be isolated to destroying just mankind if allowed.
“Oh no. Absolutely not. Such a thing would be impossible to do on just the material plane alone.” Danforth explained, “It would take a working big enough to get the actual heavyweights involved, but you can try, and you can fail in a big way. The working they had built up would have been enough to crack the earth apart, but luckily we stopped the bulk of it. They would have wiped out the majority of the state of Virginia, but there are insurance policies for such thing.”
“Like The Grand Genie.” Sara said off handed, “Or getting help from Doctor Obvious.”
Cass was shocked by that, “Wait, you know about that?”
“Sure, I’ve been pulled in for all kinds of clean-ups. I’ve seen such things first hand.” Sara explained but then frowned down at Danforth, “But the thing about those insurance policies is they don’t cover everything. If you’re as powerful as you’re describing yourself, then something like The Grand Genie couldn’t bring back Virginia and you. Especially if you were at the heart of the event”
“Yeah, but that’s kind of whatever.” Danforth shrugged nonchalantly. “I would be dead for real, and Cass would need a new partner. That’s the job.”
“Well, you didn’t die.” Sara pointed out, “So what happened?”
Danforth looked to stare at Cass who blushed in embarrassment as he continued.
***
I hadn’t given up hope yet. I was trying to figure out if there was a way I could stop the boom, and I was more than accepting of ideas that I would survive. The working was a gateway, and I’ve worked with gateways before. If I could destroy the base of the portal I could make it collapse into itself, but that’s when the Rookie came in. She apparently had the same idea, but in a stupid way. She tried to blast the way with her raw power and ended up strengthening the damn thing.
After calling her a proper idiot she explained how she thought she could blast through. I then used some language too rude to repeat in front of a highschooler to explain how if I couldn’t break it then she couldn’t, and how she only made it worse. I could still probably undo the working, but not before it went off, but I didn’t have time to worry about such things. I had to act. So I completely-
***
“Oh damn!” Danforth jolted forward and padded his body.
“Is the pain too much?” Sara asked cutting off her powers.
“No. Quite the opposite in fact. It’s gone. Completely gone.” Danforth pulled his covers off and looked at his body, “Wow, I’m completely healed.”
“What? That’s impossible.” Sara said also looked him over, “The damage done to your body. You can’t block the pain out. The healing won’t work if you do.”
“I didn’t block anything.” Danforth stood out of bed and stretched, “It just stopped. What does that mean?”
“It means the healing is completely done, but it’s more than that,” Sara explained. “My power heals the effects of old age and disease. Deep damage done to the body over time. That’s the most painful of all.”
“Makes sense. I feel like I’m twenty-five again.”
“No it doesn’t. That’s the kind of torment that breaks people’s minds.”
“Well, I have a high tolerance for pain,” Danforth said pulling a cigarette out of a nearby coat. “I don’t ignore pain. I just accept it and move on.”
“That’s impossible. I’ve never met anyone who could do that.”
“Well, you’re only fourteen.” Cass spoke up, “There was a lot of stuff I never saw until I joined the Department.”
“Exactly.” Danforth wrapped the coat around his body. “You can say you never met someone like me, but now you have.”
Danforth turned his head and smiled at Sara. She frowned. They were technically right. There was no reason for Sara to think she had already seen it all. She just sighed, “Well, how did it end? How did you survive and save the world.”
“Like I said.” Danforth started to the door, “Destroyed the base of the working. After that, I blocked the rest. I survived because Rookie held me together after. Now excuse me, but I need to go report in. Come on Rookie.”
“Wait. What about the girl?” Cass asked gesturing to Sara.
“I know how to get back home.” Sara said, “It’s fine. Promise.”
It took a moment for Cass to accept that, but then just nodded with a, “Alright then. If you say so.”
The two agents left the room leaving Sara behind. She watched the door close and then looked to her hands. She had been doing this for years now. Healing heroes and agents on the brisk of death, and listening to them struggle to tell their stories through their suffering. This had been a first. First time someone managed to be completely healed by her powers.
She thought back on the story. The long bits of rationality and notes of detail. She realized that during it all Danforth never mentioned what kind of demihuman he or Cass were or explained how their own powers worked. Only vague notes of blasting power, which could have been anything.
Secret keeping was an important skill in these lines of work, but pain and suffering broke down rational thoughts. Yet, Danforth only gave away the basic details of their mission.
After a minute Sara stood up herself and walked out to find the first person she could. A desk reception at the center of the medic rooms. Sara knocked on the counter, “Excuse me. I need to return to West Progress High School. Lunch is about to start soon.”
