[Silva] "I can't believe Auntie really broke three of your ribs just to prove a point."
Silva is standing at my side, looming over me and studying my bruises.
I lie in a bed in one of the medic offices. I'd been brought here after my "final test" to get an examination for injuries. I was stripped of my shirt and helped into the bed by Silva. She never left my side after I got beat.
Time to see how the Vault Breakers take care of their own, I guess.
The one door in the room creaks open and in walks a tired man in a lab coat. Dark brown hair, tan skin, hazel sunken eyes, rough stubble, and deep laugh lines creasing his face. He holds a clipboard and flips through the sheets on it.
[???] "Ymir Sorenson, you got off light. Heard the Chief even removed her limiter to give you a beatdown. Surprised you don't have any ruptured organs. Just minor internal bleeding and your broken ribs. Should be a quick fix."
He walks slowly to a swivel chair next to a desk in the corner of the room as he spoke. Once sat down, he turns away from us and then pushes himself backward until the chair rolled over to the bedside. Then he swivels to look at me.
[???] "We'll have to give you one of our lower grade stims for a quick fix. You're supposed to start training in a few days and this won't heal naturally in time if we give you a civilian procedure. You're also not augmented so a stronger stim isn't advised. The more you integrate tech into your body, the more you need."
[Ymir] "Heard those stims of yours just start repairing you on the inside the second you get it. That true?"
[???] "Yeah, kinda. It's an injection of nanites, really. They're designed to mimic your blood cells, no matter your blood type, and then travel through your system to locate damaged areas. They'll then seep into those areas and start to piece back together torn tissues and repair bones as well. Should take about two days to fix you up entirely with this stim. It's tech from a Vault that we got maybe some forty years ago."
[Ymir] "Sounds pretty cool, really."
[??] "Yeah, it's pretty cool."
The doctor smiles at me with a chuckle. A nice smile. Friendly. Warm.
Silva then asks a question.
[Silva] "Um..? That's really all the damage that happened, though? Just a few ribs and some bleeding?"
[???] "Bruising, too."
[Silva] "That's not what I mean."
[???] "Sorry. But look, this kid is tough. Last person to fight the Chief hand-to-hand was augmented and still ended up needing to go out on a stretcher. Both of his lungs got ruptured and his femur was snapped. Either she still held back or Ymir here is a monster like the rest of the Sorenson bloodline."
[Silva] "Auntie Harper really did that to someone?"
[???] "Huh? Yeah, it was routine training but a Runner got a little too excited and challenged the Chief. She hates cocky Runners so she beat him and shipped him off to my office. But wait, Auntie Harper? Who are you?"
[Silva] "Oh! Sorry, I'm Silva Dirge. Varun Dirge is my father."
[Eugene] "Really? Varun's a good friend. I'm glad to meet his child. I'm Doctor Eugene Atom."
[Silva] "Atom? So are you related to the Founder?"
[Eugene] "That's right. But he lived a long time ago. And my family isn't as dedicated to the Vault Breakers as both of your families. I'm just a D-Ranker in the Medic Corps."
[Silva] "Even still, it's nice to meet you, Doctor."
[Eugene] "Likewise."
Eugene turns to look over my bruising and then address me.
[Ymir] "I'm sure you want to get fixed up sooner rather than later. I'll prepare the stim and then return. Sit tight for a bit, yeah?"
He stands up and slowly saunters out of the room, the door creaks as it shuts behind him. Someone should replace the hinges.
[Silva] "So, you're a C-Ranker then?
[Ymir] "That's what Auntie said. Still gotta put it in writing somewhere, I think. I actually have no idea what to do after this."
[Silva] "You're the first in history, you know."
[Ymir] "That's right."
[Silva] "Don't let it get to your head."
[Ymir] "I won't."
[Silva] "I know you won't. You're not that kind of guy."
[Ymir] "Oh yeah, what kind of guy am I?"
Silva pulls the swivel chair over to the bedside and sits next to me. Silva smiles warmly at me and then takes my hand.
[Silva] "You're the type of guy who always thinks he's not doing good enough, but really you're doing a lot better than everyone else. You just do things better that others don't think about. You're better at paying attention, understanding other people, and lots of stuff. Not to say you fall behind everywhere else, either. You might be average at doing a lot of things, but that should be good enough. You're also the type of guy to spend an extra three years studying to get into the Vault Breakers because you thought you couldn't do it at the age your dad did. Everyone knew you'd make it in once you tried, but instead you showed up more prepared than any civilian ever has been for the testing."
[Ymir] "Hey was that teasing?"
[Silva] "A bit. But you still did that. And it's something I'm proud of you for."
[Ymir] "Says the Amazing Silva. When did you start training enough to handle that test in the pool? I know we were both beaten up by those waves, but you really pulled through better than I thought you would."
[Silva] "A year ago, maybe. Auntie Harper started training me a bit. Nothing too serious since I don't want to fight once I enlist. But she still thought I would need another year of training. I snuck out to enlist with you once I heard you were going to give it a shot today. I thought I'd have a decent chance if we went together."
[Ymir] "I feel like having you here for this was what I needed, too. You always pull through for me, Silva. I rely on you a lot."
[Silva] "Exactly."
The door creaks open again and in walked Eugene. Silva starts to stand up from the chair, but the doctor gestures to her and stay.
[Eugene] "No need to rise for me. I'm going stand up while treating the patient, anyway."
I laugh a little bit at his mild joke, but I feel a sharp pain spread rapidly from my chest. I cough twice, which doesn't help the pain, but then calm myself.
[Eugene] "Whoa now, don't do anything to hurt yourself. I've got the stim here. I went over your data that we got in your testing and cleared you of any risk with this treatment. After I give this to you, I'll need to keep you here and examine your reaction just to be sure. Give it twenty minutes, then I'll send you home. Most of the repairs occur while you sleep so just get a bunch of rest and drink water at home. Sound good to you?"
[Ymir] "Sounds great, Doc. I'll be sure to take it easy."
Eugene approaches the bedside and examines my arm. He grips it and taps around with his free hand. He's looking for a vein. Then he pulls out a silver container, about the size of a cigarette case. He opens it, removes a short plastic cylinder, and looks at it closely. I don't know what he's checking, but as long as I'm safer because of it, then keep doing what your doing Doc!
[Eugene] "Alright, this here is the stim I'm gonna use. You're gonna feel a pinch once I inject it."
Eugene pulls off a cap from the injector to reveal a small needle. He prepares my vein to receive the injection. Then I feel the pinch.
A half-second of pain and then nothing. I watch the injector drain of fluid. It isn't much at all. Will it really be enough?
[Eugene] "Okay. We're all done."
Eugene removes the needle and swabs the spot with alcohol. A small bandage is placed on it right away.
[Eugene] "I'll be finishing some paperwork at my desk. If there's no issues in the next twenty minutes, come see me and I'll just have you sign out of treatment. All costs are totally covered for Vault Breakers, by the way."
[Ymir] "Thanks, Doc."
[Eugene] "Silva, you can keep the seat for now. I've got another chair in here somewhere."
With that, I watch him walk over to his desk area and pull a foldable metal chair out from behind a cabinet. Can't be comfortable, but I guess he's a really nice guy for choosing that seat over his normal desk chair right now.
[Ymir] "Hey, Silva. When are you supposed to get your results?"
[Silva] "Oh? I didn't tell you, I guess. Commander Vasquez let me know that I've been evaluated as an E-Ranker. I'm going into the R&D corps."
[Ymir] "Yeah? That's great! We'll have to celebrate once I heal up."
[Silva] "Oh that sounds great. You and Auntie Del should come over for dinner."
I talk with Silva for a bit about this and that. Some things we haven't been able to catch up about yet. We see each other frequently, but we both have our own lives still. We both study all the time. Both of us because of our passions. That becomes a lot of what we talk about.
Twenty minutes pass by in a flash. I don't feel any weird side effects from the stim at all. Moving around still hurts. It's obvious that I'm not going to have fully repaired ribs in twenty minutes. But something surprised me.
All the bruising on my body had disappeared. I don't see anything wrong with me on a surface level. This stim stuff is crazy!
Silva helps me up from the bed and over to the desk. Walking is actually pretty awful.
[Silva] "Hang on."
Silva leaves my side and goes out of the office. She comes back pretty quickly, dragging a wheelchair.
[Silva] "Don't push it. For today, I'll help."
[Ymir] "Y'know, that sounds like a good idea."
I wait for Silva to bring the chair over and I sit down. I get my feet up on the rests just fine and sit in the most comfortable way I could fit.
The seat isn't the best seat. It's a general use wheelchair that the Medic corps provides for patients. Still, it beats walking home with broken ribs.
Silva pushes the chair and walked us over to the desk. There I see Eugene scribbling through various forms on his desk. He doesn't look up at us right away.
[Eugene] "No issues since you took the stim, I take it?"
[Ymir] "Nothing. My bruising is gone already, though. Is that normal?"
[Eugene] "Not normal. Let me see you."
Eugene is seemingly shocked by my answer. He lifts his head and looks over at me. I still haven't put my shirt back on. Figured he might wanna see the bruising, too.
With a few invasive pokes and prods, he checks over my torso and doesn't find a single bruise. He tests some of the areas that he remembered were especially dark with more pokes.
[Eugene] "No pain in these areas?"
[Ymir] "Well when you poke me a bunch, my ribs still hurt. Other than that, I don't feel the bruising."
Eugene sits back on his metal folding chair and closes his eyes. He hangs his head back and remains silent for about a minute.
[Eugene] "Come back once you're fully recovered. Even if that's before your training day."
[Ymir] "Something wrong, doc?"
Eugene lowers his head back down and looks me in the eyes.
[Eugene] "I don't know yet. Bruising should have gone away after a few hours. I was expecting it to take until the evening. Especially with how badly you were beaten. I need to see about running some tests. I'm gonna be running this through the Chief directly."
[Ymir] "Well, uh, yeah. I can be here once I'm healed. You sure I'm fine to leave?"
[Eugene] "Can't hold a patient for healing fast. Plus you should get going home, yeah? I'm sure you need to tell your family about today."
[Ymir] "Sure thing, Doc. Thanks for taking care of me so far."
[Eugene] "It's what I do. Oh, and please sign over here."
I'm handed a clipboard with a blank sign-out sheet. I fill in my name and the time of my departure.
Silva had walked away for a moment and came back with my shirt. I slip it on with some discomfort, but easily enough. We both say a goodbye to Eugene before Silva wheels me out of the office and into the hall.
We chat while she walks us both through the Medic corps building. She takes us towards a connecting hall to the main building.
This place is really built like a bit of a maze, but most things are pretty easy to find if you familiarize yourself with the layout. It's almost like this place was designed with a Vault layout in mind. Keeps the Runners and Scouts on their toes.
Silva has been here plenty of times with Uncle Varun. She always told me that they'd hide away in one of the labs and look at crazy things that were being researched. She never met people since Varun was breaking so many rules by doing that. Silva had no problems telling me all about it. We kept all of each others secrets.
Finally we arrive at the main building. We leave out the entrance together. Time to go home.