Chapter Thirty-Six - Healing
Chapter Thirty-Six - Healing
Alexis was pretty sure that the painkillers she'd taken several hours ago were still having an effect on her because, logically, she should have been in so much pain at that moment that even that thought should have been beyond her.
She shifted, then glanced down at herself. The temptation to vomit returned.
The wound was... grievous was the word. Starting near her groin, the cut rose up and then out, stopping a few inches short of her lower ribs. She was pretty sure she could see some of her pelvis, which was bad.
A lot of her blood had vacated her body as well, which was also bad.
Was that Hemo-Restore from earlier still acting? It had been hours, but--
Alexis slumped back down when a shadow moved over her. KYS. The servitor scanned her up and down, then shifted forwards, and almost immediately plunged two arms into her wound with very little care for how that felt.
Alexis almost vomited at the sensation of metallic limbs moving inside of her, but the servitor didn't seem to care. Soon enough, several veins and arteries were cinched shut, and the flood of blood slowed to a trickle.
"T-thanks," Alexis mumbled.
She needed...
She needed, uh...
"Alexis, are you well?"
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, good," Alexis replied. "Right, I need legs, please?" Legs were good for walking. A large set of tracks would do as well, in a pinch, but that's what 054-648 had and... well, he didn't need them anymore, right? She sniffled, then made an effort to refocus on the moment.
"I'm certain we can work something out."
A second shadow moved over her. Octavia?
"Hey, Ad Mech girl," the woman said. "You good?"
Alexis tried to move her flesh arm, found that it was too weak, then raised her mechanical one with the thumb raised. "Good," she muttered.
"Uh-huh," Octavia said. She scanned the room, then returned her attention to Alexis. "You've got healing shit, yeah?"
"Yes," Alexis muttered.
"Fuck... Thank the Emperor. I'll pay you back for it. Can you help Jeanne?"
Who was Jeanne? Alexis didn't know, but she was here to help so she nodded.
"Right, right, good. Stay here. Uh... not that you can walk away... uh... right, sorry, be right back."
Alexis really couldn't protest. So she lay on the ground and idly stretched her head back to look around.
CS-3-2/11 was standing guard not too far away. K84-321 was crawling closer, very slowly, with one arm, his metallic legs scraping on the ground behind him. KYS was hovering menacingly nearby.
The fight was more or less over. The Genestealers had lost whatever motivation they had once their patriarch died. Now it was just a mop-up operation.
"KYS, I'm fine," Alexis said. "Go get me a few more points, please?"
KYS stared at her, then bobbed her head and leapt away. A Voidsman further off shrieked in fear as she appeared next to him and decapitated the Genestealer he had been struggling with.
Alexis let her head fall back. She was aware that she was in immense pain, but the sensation was... detached. More like being aware that she really needed to use the washroom. It hurt, but it was endurable. Strange.
Octavia reappeared. "Okay, I have a space," she said before she knelt down.
Alexis gasped as she was casually scooped off the ground. A princess carry? She had never had that happen to her before; it was kind of nice, actually, and--
And then Octavia dumped her on a stretcher held by a Voidsman and another Sister of Battle.
Alexis tried to grit her teeth against the pain as she was jostled about. She was vaguely aware of KYS having some amount of fun some distance away, then the servitor noticed that she was leaving and hastened to catch up.
It wasn't long before they brought her into a room. It was small, with a relatively low ceiling and bare steel walls. There were lockers on one side, and a bench along the middle of the room. A break room? There was even a small industrial shower in the far corner and a pair of thread-worn cots.
This had to be some sort of small clinic, or maybe it was just a room that served a dozen smaller functions.
"Yeah, right there, on the bed," Octavia said. The worry in her voice was obvious. "Okay. Out. Yes, all of you."
There was a quick discussion that Alexis didn't quite follow. No one wanted to leave Octavia alone, it seemed, but they also didn't want to countermand her, so the standoff was awkward but short-lived.
Then the woman was leaning over Alexis again. "Jeanne is dying," she said without preamble. "How do I fix her?"
"Uh," Alexis said. "Vyper?"
"Yeah?"
"Yes, Alexis?"
Alexis licked her lips. Might as well... "Two Nano-Regenerative Suits, please. And can you get KYS in here? She knows how to use those. That's my medicae servitor."
"First, a quick update."
Kills Confirmed:
15x Genestealers
2x Genestealer Magos
1x Genestealer Patriarch
New Point Total: 955
New Purchase: Nano-Regenerative Suite x2
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
Points Reduced to: 915
Oh, that was a lot of points.
Good, she'd probably need those, on account of the whole... leg situation.
KYS was soon in the room, administering the medication, and with that, Alexis felt a wash of clarity pressing against the haze that she hadn't even noticed clouding her mind.
"Oh, that's nice. Thank you, KYS. Um... hi, Miss Octavia. Pleased to meet you."
Octavia looked up from where she was next to Jeanne. The young Sister of Battle was... not looking so great. She had novitiate armour on, and that had done nothing at all against the Patriarch's attack. His claws had really done a number on her insides, but it looked like Jeanne was alive.
"Your friend has the Omnissiah's own luck," Alexis said. "If that attack missed her vitals."
"I don't know 'bout that," Octavia said. She smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I'm Octavia, by the way. Sister... Novitiate of the Order of the Shattered Glass. Uh, Vyper said that you were another Vanguard?"
"Oh! So you do hear her voice in your head," Alexis said. "You're also blessed by the machine spirit?"
"I don't know about that," Octavia said. "But if she keeps giving me cool shiny things, then I'm happy enough. Uh, sorry about your leg?"
"I was going to replace it eventually," Alexis said. She pressed her hands on the cot and shifted herself, then felt the rather unpleasant feeling of her colon shifting around. "Uh, maybe more than just the legs."
KYS pulled away from Jeanne. Already the woman's colour was returning and the wounds in her chest were slowly, slowly closing up.
Octavia let out a sigh of relief. "Damn. That was... a lot."
"Yeah," Alexis said.
She chewed on her lower lip. She... yeah. She needed to spend her points. "What have you been buying, mostly?"
"Me? Armour and cool weapons," Octavia said. "You?"
"Ah, Servitor parts and, uh, limbs?" She wiggled her metallic hand as a demonstration.
"It is entirely normal for different Vanguards to pick different fields to specialize in, usually based on their past experiences, interests, and cultural heritage."
Alexis and Octavia's eyes met, and she knew that the other woman had heard that too. "So, uh, do you mind if I... buy a new torso?"
"Oh, please, go ahead."
"Okay, thank you. You seem very nice."
Octavia chuckled, then rubbed at the side of her face. "Thanks? I might get something too. I wasn't good enough in that fight. I need... shit, something to resist Psykers, and something to make me better in a fight."
"You seemed pretty good," Alexis said.
"I could be better."
Alexis hummed, then let herself fall back and closed her eyes. "Machine spirit? Ah, Vyper?"
"Yes, Alexis?"
"I need... a new lower half, please."
"Of course. You have a Tier Two cyberware catalogue which offers a wide range of options from relatively inexpensive temporary options to some very high-quality replacements. What do you want out of your new lower half?"
Alexis licked her lips and thought about it. She wasn't a front-line fighter, and honestly, probably never would be. "Something that'll let me move pretty fast. Something rather tough. And maybe if I'm replacing my digestive system, I might as well have it be better, right?"
"Understandable. Reproductive organs?"
"Reproductive organs?" Alexis asked.
That earned her a look from Octavia.
"Uh, nah, I don't want to have babies in me, that's gross. If I want to reproduce I'll do it with a test tube, as the Omnissiah intended."
"Noted. Price range?"
She worked her jaw. She didn't want to cheap out on this. That would be stupid. But at the same time, she wanted enough points to upgrade all four of her... all three of her friends. She blinked back the sting. That would be... call it 500 points. 200 for both CS-3-2/11 and K84-321 and an extra 100 to get KYS outfitted even more.
Not that she was going to upgrade her friends here. "Call it two hundred points?" Alexis asked.
Octavia whistled. "Those will be some nice legs," she said. It was a joke, of course, but Octavia was just standing nearby, one glove removed so that she could hold onto the insensate Jeanne's hand and carefully rub it.
"I don't want to have to replace them too often," Alexis said. "Vyper, anything good in that range?"
"Indeed! For 180 points I can combine a set of legs and a lower torso modification. The legs are made of an advanced titanium alloy, with ball-joints at the hips and an armoured lower-waist. The feet will take some getting used to, but they'll allow you to adjust your height with ease and can be fired like a spring to let you jump further and faster than before. Personally, I find them quite graceful in design. It'll come with a new lower digestive system that is far more efficient than your organic one. Though you might have to get used to emptying out your internal waste canisters once a week or so. Don't worry, they can be rinsed and reused!"
"I won't have to poop anymore?" Alexis asked.
"Wait, what?" Octavia asked.
***