Chapter 30—Finding Treatment for a Lizard-girl
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Chapter 30—Finding Treatment for a Lizard-girl

Citadel Fist Floor- Medical Wing Date unknown (Evening)

Nath’aniel-

Basilisk lay on the gold and bronze table of the bio-bed. The Citadel automatically adjusted the heaviness setting of the void stone when her weight began to compromise the bed's structural integrity. Nath'aniel watched her as the biometric sensors calibrated and scanned her body. He had only known her for two days, and yet seeing the quiet cheerful girl in this state, somehow seemed to wound him.

Not wanting to get emotional, he turned away and looked at the medical wing's other patient. Laying atop a void stone bed was the fair-skinned red-haired short woman. The mage ignored the two guards that stood nearby, one of his constructs while the other was not.

He wrote an Appraisal spell on the sleeping form. Nath’aniel knew that she still was naked under the white blanket of the bed, as their condition demanded they act with haste rather than with courteous.

As the information from the spell appeared. Nath'aniel wasn't too surprised that the Northern Tribes-woman in front of him too had the X gene, as Magneto's explanation of what the collar she had been wearing did was proof of that. But what did surprise him was how much healed or past damage the small woman had taken. As he read the information the lights in the room became brighter and other systems seemed to act more quickly.

Exodus took a step closer to the sleeping redhead. “Had you given the power cell to Quicksilver you might be already working on Basilisk at this point.” The other man mumbled, across from him.

“Quinian power cells, while able to hold copious amounts of energy, are also designed to leak said energy on physical contact. And the Astral energy inside that cell, like all mystical energies, has a tendency burn and bind into organics in its raw state.” Nath’aniel replied, while also tapping some of the Norn-runes above the bed beside him. And while he waited for the Citadel to dispense the requested medicine he looked the other man in his glowing eyes, before adding. ”And had I done what you just suggested, I would have three patients in this Medical Wing instead of two.”

The double doors behind the other man opened, just before Erik and Elizabeth entered the room. She was speaking when the doors opened. “I still don’t feel right doing this Erik.”

Knowing what they intended, Nath’aniel wrote the rune for the Restful-Darkness spell before pressing it onto the top of the small woman’s head. By the time he was done the small cavity in the wall had the cream that he would need to treat the poor ex-collared girl.

"The guards may leave now," Nath'aniel said as he reached for the cream.

The hooded military construct at the foot of the bed sheathed its two long-bladed knives but didn't move. It instead watched Exodus and waited. A moment passed and no one moved. Nath'aniel didn't wait, he started applying the cream to the burns on the small woman's neck, and other already exposed areas.

"I still don't like it," Exodus grumbled but eventually left the room. And once he began to move, so too did the Assassin model construct. Both left the room, but neither seemed to want to leave the hallway outside.

Elizabeth walked to stand where Exodus had been before, as she looked down at the small Northerner with pity. “Erik look away." The mage requested as he reached up and pulled down the covering. Several cuts and burns were scattered over the small woman's chest, most seemingly ignored and left untreated.

The sight gave Nath'aniel a feeling of disgust and was tempted to grant his aid to their cause. But too much rested on his shoulders, too much knowledge and legacy, so the mage would do what he could to help, but nothing more.

“To think I would see a mutant werewolf.” Elizabeth said softly.

As he continued rubbing the medical cream on the woman’s injuries, both new and old, Nath’aniel observed. “I’m not sure what a werewolf is, but I think you’ll be surprised at how many of the monsters from your stories and folklore, you would learn were actually bearers of the X gene also.”

“You really think that?” Erik asked while watching the resting Bass.

As the mage continued to work, he pondered if it was time to mention the Great Truth to them. But too many could not handle it, so he instead just gave them some logic that would eventually lead them there. “The ‘Demon’ Exodus so hates was old, even in my time. Do you think it not possible that others awoke their powers in the interim?”

"You have a point." Elizabeth agreed almost immediately. This kind of surprised Nath'aniel, but at the same time, he wasn't sure what folklore or stories were being told today.

However, Erik waited a moment till he said his opinion. "I always wanted to believe that we were the next stage of humanity, the next step in our evolution. But if people have had our powers for thousands of years, that kind of breaks that theory. And you Nath are hiding something from us.”

The mage was almost done with the treatment, as he shook his head, but did not comment on the accusation. As he returned the blanket to cover much of the small woman, Betsy asked. “How long will she be out?”

“With the spell I cast on her, she should be enduring a rather pleasurable dream, add in the warming sensation of the soothing cream, and I suspect that she should be out for the rest of the night and part of the morning.” He answered hopefully, before shrugging and adding. “But then again, she seems in better health than I would have expected. So either she heals fast. Or the collar is designed to be more punishing towards those who aid the wearer, rather than the wearer themselves.”

Nath'aniel then leaned in close to her, and she also leaned closer before he whispered. "But to be completely open, people like you were very rare in my time, so I'm a little outside of my comfort zone here."

“You’re doing great.” She whispered back. Elizabeth then pulled a stool over to sit on. She was supposed to wander into the wounded girl’s mind as she slept and try and learn as much as she could about their enemies before these ‘mercenaries’ could attack again.

With his job done, Nath'aniel walked over beside Erik. They watched her breathe for a time, the mage knew that he needed to wake her soon. There were details that his Appraisal spell missed and the results of the biological sensors gave him worry as the data that came to either a harsh conculsion or there was a major piece of infrmoation missing. As such they needed to be clarified before he could begin healing her. But Nath’aniel also knew that he was not specialized in healing, it was only his own illness and his attempts to fix it that he knew what he did, and gave them anything of a chance that he can help these people. So perhaps his own difficult past was finally brought something of a blessing for a change.

“Is she dying?” Erik asked

“Yes.” He stated.

"She saved my life today. She has saved all of us at one point or another in our five years of fighting together. Do what you can for her, please?" Erik turned to look at him near the end when he asked.

She wasn’t getting better. Her body had taken too much abuse in too short time they were out, and it was too much for it to handle it, so he needed to act. Treating Erik both times was simple and easy. With no risk, but this, she could die if he didn’t do it right. But she would also die if he stayed frozen in his indecision and did nothing.

Knowing this he moved forward, he was about to close the partition, but Erik followed. He saw the worry in the other man's eyes, so when he should have been awakening his patient Nath'aniel took a moment to clarify something with the man.

Nath'aniel did not gesture nor did he posture, he just calmly stated. "Disciples and patients outrank guests here. But given your relationship with her, I will permit you to remain. But should you voice a complaint or interrupt the proceedings, I will spell from your ass through the doors, and fix them at another date. Do we understand each other?"

Erik saw the seriousness in the mage's eyes and nodded, then stepped to the foot of the bed and waited. Seeing that the other man both understood and was behaving, the mage moved and gestured. When nothing happened Nath'aniel realized that he had forgotten to will the Heavenly energies into his finger, before he rewrote the Blessed-Waking spell. The second time he did before pressing it to Sam's forehead.

Nath’aniel took a deep breath while he waited for the spell to do its work. But only a second passed after that breath when Bass gasped awake. He took a moment to cast Numbing-Skin on himself before asking. “How are you feeling Samantha?”

She smiled at the sound of his voice, but it took a couple of seconds for her eyes to focus on his face. Once they did she replied. “Hey pretty, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Sam?”

The mage smirked but held back his smile. Then he explained. “You are hurt. And right now you’re my patient, so please understand that I want to separate our work from our personal lives. So while you are my patient, you are Samantha. And while you are just my friend you are Sam. Ok?”

She was quiet for a time before she asked. "I am dying, aren't I?"

Nath’aniel let his smirk spread into a fake smile before saying. “We all are, but hopefully not today.” Her mouth moved into a smile behind her large nose at his response. After a second, the mage asked. “But before I can begin, I have some questions. Some are rather personal. But I will not let the information leave this room.”

The psychic energy he saw had increased tremendously telling Nath’aniel that Elizabeth was focused on the other woman, and he felt that Erik was respectful enough to not say anything. Sam’s smile lessened as she thought about it, but after a moment she nodded.

At her gesture, Nath'aniel asked. "Your body is severely injured. But for some reason, your body isn't sending nor receiving pain sensations. So I need to know is that normal?" Sam didn't answer right away, so he rephrased his question. "When was the last time you felt any type of pain?"

A yellow tear fell from her left eye as she thought back, but eventually, she answered. “Umm, when my second set of arms. Ah, when they emerged from my back. Is that right?” the fact that she wasn’t sure worried the mage.

But she didn't need concern, she needed help. So he reached out to her closest hand and held it. It was her lower right, and by all rights, she should be screaming given the burns and the pressure he was applying to it. But she still seemed to be comforted by the act, as her smile returned from the act.

“Next question.” he waited till she nodded a second later. “What do you feel when something touches you, like right now, I’m holding your hand but how much of it do you feel?”

Her working eye looked away before she answered. "Not much at all. It's like I am wrapped in a thick duvet. Part of me knows it's happening, but if I get distracted it might as well be happening to someone else. Does that make me less of a person? That I don't always know what's happening around me?"

“You are you. No matter your obstacles, you are as you are meant to be." Nath answered as he had asked a similar question when he was sick, and his father had given him the same answer.

Taking what she had said, much of his confusion had been answered. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t worried, so she asked with more yellow tears falling from her working eye. “Be real with me. Am I gonna die?”

"Not if I can help it." was his only response, before writing another Restful-Night spell, casting in on Samantha, and causing her to pass out, into back out into her dreams.

But before she fell asleep she whispered. “Love you.”

The comment caught the mage by surprise. And he froze even after she was out of it.

“Can you heal her?” Erik’s question dragged the mage out of his surprise.

Nath'aniel did the math of the required materials needed to treat her, knowing that the question wasn't 'if' to him, but was worth it. He delayed the answer, by citing the complications that he knew about. "The difficulty isn't in the if, it's in the how. It's in her nature. Her large beak isn't just there for show, it has multiple channels for her to breathe with, and more than half are melted, fused, or are just gone. How do I keep her alive while healing it? I would need to literally tunnel into her nose temporally to heal her eye and tear ducts. And heal her nose later."

“Why don’t you just put a tube into her throat, bypass the nose completely, and heal her face all at once?” A feminine voice suggested. Both men turned and looked at the speaker. Elizabeth was standing in the opening of the curtain. “They did it in Grey’s Anatomy…what? I watch tv shows too.” The two men continued to stare at her as she tried to explain, so she crossed her arms as she spoke.

Then the two men looked at each other. Then Erik shrugged before admitting "She's right, the lungs don't care where the air comes from so long as they get it. So you could insert a tube anywhere along the airline."

After she took another step toward her wounded friend, Elizabeth asked. “So you are not going to magic her better?”

Nath'aniel walked past the head of his patient and tapped the Norn-runes on the bio-bed as he spoke. "No. Using healing spells would be a waste of time, as they aid what is already there. If the body is too damaged, it needs something more real, more physical to aid it. Magic for all its wonders still has rules to it. Such, as the rule you cannot revive the dead."

He knew that using a regeneration serum would heal her face and arms. What Nath'aniel needed to decide on is what approach he would take to heal her internal organs. His Appraisal spell had missed that some of Samantha's digestive organs too were damaged from the thundering surges, and had busted. Thus open organs were leaking their acids and fluids into her body. While this was bad it would take time for the waste to cause permanent damage. So they too would need to be treated just like her second heart did. Meanwhile, a journeyman Cleansing spell would take care of any internal spills or other problems. So the question now was how to get a healing agent into her.

‘Perhaps like their tube idea, there is a more direct way to heal these organs.’ The mage pondered. While the bio-bed made containers that would be used to store the regen solution. His mentor would never have allowed him to just put a healing agent directly into the body. But since he already had to clean her system anyway, what was one more thing for him to remove from her.

'Yes a simple cut, and then pour the regeneration serum into her, with the biosensors working I can watch as the agent works and Cleanse her before any side effects can form.' Nath’aniel rubbed his hands together as he had formed a method of treating her, but any additional work would need to wait till after he had taken care of her injuries. Someone as cute as her deserves the ability to feel the world around her.

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