Night 66: Disciplinary Therapy Room 2 [M-U for Kurogane]

[damned_doctors]

If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. Perhaps it was an overused phrase, but it remained true since the phrase had first been spoken. Competent assistance was hard to come by these days, even in the medical field. It was a shame really, but the doctor supposed she could see the irony of it all, what with her latest subject laid out on the operating table.

Kurogane, or Youou, or even Aiden Cross for that matter, knew all about that. People let you down from the insignificant to the gargantuan. You just couldn't trust people these days, but that was a discussion best left untouched, at least until Sleeping Beauty woke up. Until then, the woman was thoroughly examining her utensils, having already noticed she was missing an important instrument.

To her, written instructions seemed to be rather fool-proof. A nurse is given a list to fill, and yet here she was having to do someone else's job for them. What kind of professionalism were they showcasing to these patients when they didn't look prepared? It was frustrating to say the least, but one she was sure her guinea pig could sympathize with. Forming a bond between patient and doctor was certainly any professional's dream.

Comments

[seekingmystrength]

When they'd last taken him, the resulting struggle had been hell for the orderlies as Kurogane had made sure of. This time though, they'd been much better prepared. The ninja had been there a long time and had done more than enough for them to know how he reacted. And, unfortunately, how much sedative it took to drop him. That was how they'd taken him so quickly this time, pretending to take his roommate instead and, in the resulting protest, drugging him with little effort.

Kurogane knew he'd lost this battle long before his mind slid out of a drug-addled rest. He'd let himself get taken, and he was pretty sure the kid had gone down for him having not expected as much. He might have even been taken as well. Kurogane would not have put it past Landel; this was how that bastard worked.

He cursed in his mind, yet did not let words sound as his response to awakening in the dark yet again. Words had done little the last time he'd found himself in such a position, so instead he chose to get his bearing. The restraints he could already feel locking his head in place and after gripping his fists to test, he found the same restrictions at his arms.

Damn he thought, opening his eyes finally without bothering to test any lower restraints. There was no point in trying.

This was how things worked.

[damned_doctors]

"Staying quiet won't help to prolong the inevitable," a pleasant, mature voice told him from behind. She had been at this far too long to mistake the telltale signs of a shocked or resigned patient newly awoken from the anesthesia. That was half the reason she stationed herself and her tools behind him so she could keep up the whole mystery aspect. It really helped with the ambiance and gave the atmosphere a quality of quiet fear and false hope that made a beautiful perfume.

However, judging by the notes taken from this patient's first session, he was a tough nut to crack, but she wouldn't have it any other way. In these rough personalities resounded the truly deep connections that made a doctor proud of her work and, of course, vaulted her work to a whole new stage of respect. She was sure they would being venturing far enough down to pluck those gratifying heartstrings.

After the loud tap of heels walking across the linoleum, the voice had a face to match it to. A woman stood beneath the bright lights of the operating room with her arms folded across her chest. Perhaps she was sentimental, but the doctor enjoyed the intimacy of knowing who was going to be helping you through the night. It was just common courtesy, or maybe that was the Southern Belle in her declaring.

"Either way, it's good to see you awake, Mister--Hmm, well, what would you prefer to be called? Kurogane, or Youou...?" She wanted to keep this as personal as possible.

[seekingmystrength]

No, staying quiet wouldn't delay anything, but it would sure as hell piss off anyone who was trying to get a rise from the ninja. He'd already made that mistake once this evening when they'd taken him. Not again.

His eyes lifted only a moment to the voice before he chose to close them in favor of his more accessible senses. By the sound, it was a woman this time, somewhere behind him and far enough away to be out of view given how he was restrained. When the sounds of footsteps brought her closer, he nearly gave in to the chance of seeing what trick Landel had given him this time. A likeness to Soma maybe, or some other from his world. As little as the ninja had done following Landel's "ordering" them to find the radio man, and with the amount of possibilities for who he might see...

"It was a man last time," he snorted suddenly, both as insult and fact as he continued to keep his sight removed.

Last time. He'd been a lot less used to this place by then, quicker to jump to conclusions. The face had been all too familiar then, but now he knew better. No matter what they showed him, he couldn't take anything as it appeared. He gave himself a firm reminder of as much before reopening his eyes once more, glare persisting.

[damned_doctors]

"So it was," she agreed cordially, keeping that pleased smile on point and ignoring the fact he hadn't answered her question. It was a pity people so easily underestimated women, especially in this line of work, but it made her triumphs all the more rewarding. This surly man would come to appreciate that reward in due time. "I hope you aren't too offended by the change in staff, or gender... But I assure you I will bring a new 'perspective' that you might find, dare I say, refreshing?" Her self-appreciative titter followed Kurogane from his side to the back where she disappeared from vision. It was a shame that he couldn't enjoy the joyful little pun with her, but there were other equally important matters to attend to first.

"But since you brought up your last visit, let's talk about it." Something squeaked on sticky wheels toward the man, a large, rather old machine with an assortment of knobs that was positioned beside operating table by his head. "Any problems with your new arm--And please, don't be afraid to nit-pick. Any feedback we can get from out patients helps us in future endeavors."

[seekingmystrength]

His arm. The hell it was. As much as he'd put it to use, he hadn't let himself think for a moment that the thing was his. Or that it had belonged to who the last doctor had claimed. A copy, or some magic. He didn't know and didn't care. The thing was useful, that was it, but it wasn't his.

And like hell he was going to talk to her about it. He cared nothing for whatever "perspective" nonsense any one of Landel's underlings wanted to spout at him.

"Whatever you're going to do, just get it done with," he spat, uninterested in playing along with her.

[damned_doctors]

"Oh, come, come now, don't be shy!" the doctor encouraged as she turned on the machine beside him and adjusted a few settings. A few rough words from the patients were par for the course, after all they never understood how well they benefited from these experiments. All of their work and research was to improve them as people, or animal in some cases, and they got very little in the way of gratitude. It was a damn shame.

"Everyone likes to know how well their experiments are progressing. I'm sure even your father would be proud to know he is still lending his son a hand in death, quite literally." Her cherry red lips pinched into a self-satisfied smile as she tried to keep another titter from escaping. She was on a roll tonight with these puns! "But if you truly have nothing to offer, we may as well 'get it over and done with' as you like."

Putting on a pair of sterile latex gloves, she opened up a tube of blue gel and placed a dollop on a flat metallic disk. It was connected to the machine beside them both through several colored wires. "Since you wish to remain so tight-lipped about the condition of your new arm--" The doctor continued, wiping down Kurogane's arm with a disinfectant as she prepared him for a quick test. "I will have to run my own test to see how receptive all those intricate little nerves are for myself..." Eventually, the disk was stuck to the top of his shoulder. There were several more stimulus disks she had to prep and stick to the man's arm before any real work could begin.

[seekingmystrength]

Of all the doctors, he had to end up with someone who was honestly cheerful about what she was doing. Between her attitude and her poor taste in jokes, it was all Kurogane could do not to growl in his usual response. Laying her out would have been the other option, though since he was unable to do as much, he wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of thinking she'd earned anything more than cold silence.

Which is what he gave her as she continued. He noted everything that he could sense - the cold wetness of first a cloth, then something more that remained stuck to him; he couldn't tell what. Even with his travels, there were still many things he was unfamiliar with, a majority of them related with the technology the other Tomoyo had introduced to him in Piffle. Whatever she was doing was probably something like it. That had been the case last time at least.

With her so focused on his left arm, Kurogane used that to at least give the restraints on his right side a bit more testing. His other arm, the one that he would still call as being his own, tensed and relaxed as he opened and closed his hand slowly. The sedative was taking its time wearing off, and his reactions would be slow until it did. If he wanted to attempt breaking things, he couldn't be handicapped from such drugs.

[damned_doctors]

A few more stimulus disks were effectively glued to the man's arm before she was satisfied to take this another step further. When she turned on the machine, it made a high-frequency hiss, barely visible to the human senses. "This is an ECT device and it delivers electric currents through your body. Normally these neat little devices are used on patients with emotional or mental instability, not for testing nerve damage, but where would mankind be without exploring new territory, am I right?"

She wasn't looking for an answer from her moody patient. In fact, the silence only encouraged her to continue speaking. "Now this model is a bit dated, but she's so dependable it seems cruel to replace her after all the decades she has helped us." From behind the machine, she produced a rubber bit in her hand and held it right in front of his face for him to see. "But she has her problems, you could say. I'll spare you the medical mumbo jumbo, since you are so eager to see this experiment through as quickly as possible, and simply say that you may want to bite down on this, because it'll be quite the shocking ride."

[seekingmystrength]

The little he knew about electricity had been explained in various worlds as "the thing that made the lights work". Something similar to lightning, or so he'd understood. The ninja had never taken complexity well, particularly when he didn't need to know anyway, and that hadn't registered high on his priority list. So when the woman attempted explaining things, he wasn't able to follow, though that may have been her intent in the first place.

What he did know was that he wasn't putting a thing in his mouth that one of them offered. He only glared at the small thing held out before him, mouth shut tight and teeth grinding.

[damned_doctors]

Her waxy red lips pinched at the sides and dimpled her cheeks as she huffed lightly at his display of bravado. "Suit yourself," the doctor remarked amiably enough, tossing the bit onto the rolling table beside her. Without the rubber bit it did make the experiment all the more enjoyable as the man damaged himself out of misplaced spite or machismo. Men were so funny that way.

"I would say hold on tight, but, well," she laughed above him, eyeing the restraints that kept him in place from head to toe. "It looks like you've got that covered." Without further ado, or any more hilarious puns, she flipped the switch and started the current of electricity flowing into his body. It flooded every bundle, every fibrous chord of nerves that connected his entire body to his brain. The doctor focused on the spasmodic reaction of his muscle in his arm from shoulder to fingers, making sure none of it was dead tissue. Still, she couldn't help but enjoy the way his body seized like a drowning fish. That was always a delightful bonus to her experiments.

[seekingmystrength]

The ninja may have seemed to be calm, if aggravated over the situation, however he had remained on guard the moment his thoughts had cleared. He couldn't know what she was intending to do to him, but he was prepared regardless and would keep control where he was able.

Refusing the bit, however small an action, was something he took as a victory. A short-lived one as any thoughts of triumph went flying from his head along with anything others he may have had.

One flipped switch and Kurogane may as well not have even been introduced to what was happening to him - all explanations had been wasted breaths on the doctor's part. Only his body reacted now, jerking against the restraints wildly with the flowing currents. Whatever control he'd intended to either keep or take was gone.

[damned_doctors]

Soon enough the current was disconnected, and the doctor began pulling the stimulus disks off his arm and into a sanitary receptacle beside her.

"What a trooper you are! Didn't even scream once, I am thoroughly impressed." Her smile was as delightfully sadistic as before as she complimented him. Truth be told, most patients seemed to lose the capacity to scream when electrocuted. It made the body clench down, tightening the vocal chords as well. But as an empathetic doctor, she certainly knew that comforting the patients was an important part of recovery.

"Well, it is safe to say that the transplant is working perfectly. No signs of any dead cells... This is wonderful news!" As she cooed over the handiwork, the doctor wheeled the machine away and came back with another, this one was tucked in front of his head so he couldn't see it from any angle. "When some people lose a limb, they swear they can feel the phantom pain of the leg or arm they lost. Curious, isn't it? It is mystifying how little we truly know about the human brain, or perhaps such pain comes from that dark hole in our hearts we call a soul... Do you think your father can still feel the itch of his limb he lost to you? Can you feel your father? I'm sure he is still a part of you spiritually..." She was talking to no one in particular, it just helped the process of deduction as she began prepping. Soon enough, though, her cheerful banter turned solemn.

"Tell me, Kurogane," the doctor continued beside her bound patient. "Is your friend Fai still with you? Spiritually, I mean!" Her laughter certainly suggested the ambiguity was purposeful.