Pieces

[Lawrence Monday]

Dr. Opal Von Stein

Dr. Von Stein was sitting in her office when an urgent message crossed her desk. She was none too pleased every time the arrogant Zacarias Amengual came around her rehabilitation facility, but neither did she have any say in the matter. Orion funded the research, but it was his strings that arranged their resources. One of his little projects needed attention, so she grumbled and hurried to his beck and call. The only reason she complied with the project on these hallowed grounds was that the object on hand was himself a channeler. Every piece of data she could collect was valuable. Channelers were not easy to collect.

She entered a horrific scene, ordered that he be placed on the ground before he asphyxiated himself on the blood dribbling from his mouth. Seizures often induced tongue-biting, which he must have done. She knelt, scooped his cheek in her hands, and shone a penlight in his eyes. Very little reaction was a poor prognosis. She glared at Zacarias. He was obviously tortured. She wasn’t blind, but it was also obvious that the man did not want his project to die. Neither did she. She checked the readings from the scan-patch taken from one of the few untouched places on his skin, “you want him to die?” she asked. A smirk and she moved aside while stronger men carried Jay away.

“Put him in one of the unused rooms,” she started back up the stairs. That they didn’t follow her turned her on her heel. “He’s neutralized, I gave him the serum myself. I’ll dose him again if you’re worried about it, but he needs anti-convulsants and electrolyte balance or your project is going to be ruined.”

She crossed her arms, “They’re immune to infection, Zacarias, not to torture. Carve out his heart and he’ll die, I promise,” she waited impatiently for the man to come to his own conclusion.

A few minutes later, she was carrying supplies downstairs. They decided he wasn’t worth a bed in the ward, so she had to improvise on the disgusting basement floor. It’d be an hour or so before he woke enough for speech. She intended on being gone by then.