José was righteously pissed off. He stormed around his room like an infantile tornado, smashing anything he could reach. "How the hell did one person kill FOUR of my Fixed Ideas? I don’t care about the fact that Stryk12 was there, I want to know how a HUMAN could’ve killed them!"

The wounded techno stood in front of him, leaning on a cane in order to keep her weight off her wounded leg. "Sir, that person killed my squad with two handguns, which she also used to cripple me. Stryk12 killed three with her damnable claws, and that bitch shot up the rest. Thankfully, we managed to put a bullet in her shoulder, so she should be dead by the time I finish speaking to you. After all, I created that poisonous cocktail we coated the bullets with."

José paused in his destructive spree and looked at Jess, who was the mansion’s weapons specialist. "So? For all we know, she could still be alive because she may be another one of those cursed renegades that father created before CyberSix blew him up. Now, on the twentieth, I’ll be in the city, having a meeting with several bounty hunters. After all, if your current grunts can’t do it, why not get some stupid money-grubbing normals to try it as well? Well, just because you’re the leader of that ‘group’ you’re going to be stuck on guard duty when I head in to speak with those hunters."

José cackled wickedly as he dismissed the emotionally crushed techno, then called another of the infiltrators into the room. "You. I can’t care less about wasting materials, resources, or personnel. I want M-17 here first thing tomorrow. She’s going to be one of my bodyguards during my meeting, and I couldn’t care less about the fact that she’s totally nuts because father bit the big one."

The techno bowed, saluted, and left immediately, leaving José to cackle gleefully.

Sara had explored the hospital, and found a recreation room that was unused after about twenty minutes away from her room. Standing in the middle of the empty room, and with one hand immobilized by the IV drip, Sara continued to practice her martial arts, focussing entirely on her kicks, many of which were of the ‘sneaky weasel’ variety. Sara’s fastest kick actually started off telegraphing a shot to the midsection, but almost invariably snapped around and either knocks the victim’s feet out from under them or knocks them to the ground with a boot to the face.

Finishing the shadow-boxing, Sara walked over to a chair where she had stashed a towel, wiping off the droplets os sweat covering her face as she listened to the polite applause coming from the door to the room. Sara looked over at the door as she finished towelling off her face, and saw Dr. Pearce standing there, looking even less like a doctor and more like a young girl. Sara smiled, sat down and asked "What?"

Dr. Pearce walked into the rec room, smiled, and gently examined Sara’s stitches in her leg. "Hmmph. You pulled the stitches during that little exhibition of skill. Still, it’s healing nicely, and I bet that it won’t scar. Now, care to tell me why you’re out of your room, practising marital arts?"

Sara grinned as she sat down on the chair that had held her towel, and gestured at the seat next to her. "I always practice once a week. Keeps me flexible, dangerous, and tightens the ligaments in the joints so I don’t have as many problems with dislocation as many people with artificial joints actually do. Besides, self defence is always useful."

Reba smiled. "You should see the jail cells full of kidnappers I help put away. Not many people expect to see someone like myself exhibit an adult’s strength."

Sara smiled and opened up a magazine that she had found to be interesting. *Huh. Considering that you are one, it’s not that surprising. However, the tensile strength of your muscles must be close to the level of steel, considering your lack of size and mass.* "Well, I’d be surprised too, but I don’t think that anyone can get away with kidnapping. Now, considering that you didn’t come here to discuss my training schedule, care to tell me what’s on your mind? It must be fairly heavy as it looks like your head’s about to fall off."

Reba chuckled as she hopped into the chair beside Sara, looking still more like a child. "Well, I wanted to know why you had your bones replaced and all. After all I don’t think we got to that yesterday."

Sara frowned, then shook her head. "My bad. When I was nineteen, I was infected with a virus that necrotized my bones. Three months later, and me attached to a heart-lung machine, and I was ready to sign anything in order to be able to walk again. This is the result."

Sara swept her hair away from her face, revealing the traceries of lines that cut across the right side of her face, then pulled up the right sleeve of the hospital gown to reveal the bandaged bullet wound in her arm. Finally, she pointed at her left thigh, where the stitches were visible against her pale skin.

"Before you worry, the virus is totally noncontagious. I was unlucky enough to catch it, but the virus is no longer in my bloodstream. It’s migrated to the more solid bits of me, and it’s not moving. Therefore, all you have to worry about is whether the fixers will try to grow me a new body part out of some spilled blood." Sara smiled, privately amused at the mental image.

Reba smiled gleefully, then pulled out a small notebook with a pencil. " Well, that explains that. Now I’d like to ask you a few questions, and, if you’d like, I’ll answer some fo yours." Sara nodded, still leafing through the magazine and making notes in the margins of the articles.

"All right. Well, first question. What’s your real name?" Sara’s head shot up and she glared at Reba, who managed to endure Sara’s trademark Glare of Chilling Death for about three seconds before looking away.

Sara then spoke, in a tone that would have made standing naked in a blizzard seem positively warm by comparison. "Where in the nine levels of hell did you get that idea?

Reba pulled out some papers and grinned. "Well, if you’re really Sara D’Arnise, how did you manage to revive after being dead and buried for ten years, not to mention change into a twenty year old body from a ninety-two year old one?"

Sara chuckled, shaking her head. "You got me. However, I’m not telling you my real name, and I ask that you keep this either a secret, or alter the records to make it legit." Reba seemed uncomfortable with the idea, but eventually nodded. "Now, my turn for a question. You are a successful surgeon, MD, ER operative, child care physician, and general practitioner, but you have the body of a ten year old girl. Care to explain?"

Sara poked at the needle stuck in her left hand and mentally cursed herself for not being able to tell anyone she was left-handed. Reba looked at Sara poking at the needle from the IV, and absently slapped Sara’s hand as she swung her legs back and forth, looking almost exactly like a ten year-old. "Well, you didn’t tell me your real name, so I get to keep my secret from you. Question two: Where did you get that disease that ravaged you?"

Sara didn’t so much as smile, instead wrinkling her nose at the question. "Africa, near the Congolese jungle. I bet the bug is a modification of Ebola. Here’s number two for you. What’s your real age?"

Reba scribbled down something on the pad and showed it to Sara as a response. Sara read the number, smiled, and then tore the piece of paper away, crumpling it into a ball, which was thrown into a trash can nearby. Sara smiled and nodded. "Serves me right. I give you a detailed answer, you give me one. By the way, you look quite well-preserved for your actual age."

Reba looked at Sara and laughed, long and hard. Clutching her sides from Sara’s deadpan delivery, Reba took almost ten minutes before she could breathe properly again. "Whee that was funny. You should be a comedian, you know that? Well, back to the questions. How many of those giant green goons have you killed?"

Sara leaned back slightly, doing a quick mental count then simply said "Twelve. Eleven in this city, one in Canada."

Reba nodded and mentally scaled up her respect for Sara by a few notches. Just as Sara was about to ask her question though, Reba’s beeper went off, causing the doctor to sigh in annoyance. Looking at the message, Reba’s eyes widened, and she grinned. "Well, that’s it for question period. I just got a heads-up that a half dozen reporters want to interview you because you’ve been stomping greenskins right, left and centre. However, if you get back to their room before they corner you, you should be okay, as they’re not allowed in your room without your express permission."

Sara nodded and stood up, still holding onto the magazine and her own pencil, but, because of the design of the universally reviled hospital gowns, Sara accidentally revealed a tattoo on her back that stretched from the base of her neck to her waist. Reba noticed the tattoo, as it was pathetically easy to pick out, and she poked Sara in the arm to get her attention. "Hey, what’s with the tattoo? Mystical reasons, or something else?"

Sara frowned and looked at the floor as she began to walk towards her room. Finally, she looked up and spoke, in a distant voice. "To remember all who died because of me. Though Ouroborous is infinite, it makes sense that it would watch over the spirits of the dead."

Sara then continued to walk away, leaving Reba standing at the entrance to the rec room, utterly confused. *Well, she’s hiding something. It seemed to hurt her when she said that and my oath as a doctor prevents me from pursuing it further, as it would obviously hurt her. Whatever happened to make her get that tattoo, it was recent, and she’s still suffering because of it.*

Reba continued on her rounds, still wondering about Sara’s evasiveness, but she wasn’t allowed to think about it for long when she was paged to the ER.

After Reba had gone down to the ER, Sara opened the door to her room and walked back to the rec room so she could relax. Flopping into the same seat where she had talked to Reba, Sara reopened the magazine she had been reading and making notes in. As she continued to make notes in the margins, her thoughts ran at a pace equalled only by the scribbles that allowed her to explain in writing what her opinion was on some authors. *Well, this one seems to thing that research on genetics will create nothing but modern-day Frankenstein monsters. I agree with some of his sentiments, but there’s a major problem in his reasoning. Namely, he has none. There is no proof that genetic engineering and research will create monsters, though it’s also a question of nature vs. nurture.*

*Oh well. It just means that I’ll have to shoot down some theories before they are approved by some asshole in the government who can barely find his ass with both hands and a flashlight.* Sara leaned over to a small table to get some paper in order to help compose a reply, and when she straightened up, she saw that a news crew was heading towards her general direction.

*Oh shit. I guess Reba was right, and now I get to pay the fucking piper. I should’ve stayed in bed today.* Sara sighed in irritation as the reporter, a weasel-like little man who seemed to have the contents of three containers of petroleum jelly smeared through his hair. After he spotted her, the reporter instantly weaselled his way to where Sara sat, still reading the magazine and making notations.

The reporter spoke first, and Sara instantly hated him, as his voice made her think of a mosquito’s whine. "Pardon me, but are you the person who’s been killing the members of the giant green goon gangs?"

Sara looked at him, totally devoid of facial expression, and spoke, keeping her voice low and dangerous. "What the hell do you think? An anonymous person enters the hospital with a severe GSW, and you ask a question that makes you out to be even dumber than you look? Are you even sure that you’re a reporter?"

The reporter, obviously unused to being so bluntly rebuffed and tossed aside, persisted, which earned him a glare that instantly cooled his blood. Sara spoke again, then stood up. "I will not consent to being on the news in any form, nor will I answer any questions. Now, I’m going to be blunt. Either leave me alone, or I will be forced to introduce your skull to the metal bars on the outside of the nearest window."

Totally dumbfounded, the reporter just stood there as Sara walked back to her assigned room. Halfway there, Sara noticed the news crew getting ready to pursue her, so she took a minor detour over to the nurse’s station. Whispering a few words to the duty nurse, Sara watched gleefully as the nurse stonewalled the newsies, basically threatening them with dire bodily harm if the reporters decided to stick around for any longer than thirty seconds.

Sara finished her walk to her room while chuckling, just imagining the shit the reporter would get into from his boss. *Well, that was interesting. We’ll see how he goes through with that story on the news at Six.* She walked into her room, mentally preoccupied, and instantly felt the familiar tingle along the back of her neck. Looking up, she instantly noticed the person sitting in the chair beside her bed. Sara let her eyes adjust to the faint light, then smiled when she saw that it was Erin Cheng. "Hey kiddo. Shouldn’t you be in school right now?" Sara walked over to Erin and shook her hand, mentally shaking her head.

"We wondered where the newest teacher had disappeared to, but Lucas told me that you were hospitalized yesterday. So, how did you manage to get shot anyhow?"

Sara wagged a finger at Erin and shook her head simultaneously. "Sorry kid, but the only clue you’re getting outta me is that the person who shot me was tall, dumb, and green. Still, you didn’t answer my question."

Erin smiled as Sara lay back down in the bed with a sigh of relief, and decided to give up the answer. "Actually, if you had looked at a clock within the last hour, you would’ve seen that school’s been out for the last hour and a half."

Sara groaned, knowing that she was going to have to suffer through at least one well-meaning but simple-minded visit by Lucas. "Aw crap. Do you wanna play bodyguard and keep Lucas away from me? Hell, if you do a good job, I’ll pay you fifty bucks."

Sara saw Erin’s eyes light up at the mention of money and grinned when Erin nodded. "So, what do you want me to do? Beat him up, or just keep him out of reach?"

Sara chuckled at Erin’s question and shook her head. "Just keep the gorilla from touching me. With my luck he’ll bust the stitches in my shoulder, and that’ll be a very bad thing." Erin smiled and nodded, then promptly switched her attention to the small TV beside the bed, which she had already tuned to catch one of the nonsense shows that Sara had outgrown when she was twelve.

Within an hour, Sara and Erin had given up on waiting for Lucas, and were playing poker for fun with a cheap deck of cards that Erin had found in the table beside the bed. "Hah! Full house! Try to beat that, Sara."

Erin slapped her cards down, revealing aces and queens. "Sorry Erin, but you’re in the toilet. Royal Flush. Any last words before I nudge the lever?"

Sara grinned maliciously as Erin groaned at her loss. "Dammit Sara! That’s your ninth straight win against me! How do you do it?"

Sara pointed at the deck of cards. "It’s simple, really. I’m damn lucky, not to mention that I’ve been stacking the deck every time I shuffled it."

Sara smiled at Erin’s frustrated scream, then had to block a punch aimed at her head. Instead of using her arm to block the possibly punishing blow, Sara blocked Erin’s wild swing with the plastic tray that had held her lunch. The impact, angled enough to deflect the blow away from Sara’s body easily put a divot in the hard plastic tray, and scraped off a fair amount of skin from Erin’s hand, causing the teenager to start swearing like a banshee.

Sara looked at the injury for a few seconds, and totally deadpan, decided to proclaim her judgement. "Ow. You should get that looked at."

Sara then was hard-pressed to keep from hyperventilating from laughter, as Erin’s swearing took a more creative and descriptive bent. When the long torrent of verbal abuse ended, Erin agreed to Sara’s advice and convinced the duty nurse to clean and bandage the wound. Soon afterwards, and bored of card games, Sara and Erin had tossed three deck’s worth of cards at each other, creating a fairly massive mess.

After the cards settled, Sara picked one of the queen of spades that had landed next to her, absently flipping it over, under and around the knuckles of her right hand, making the card speed up until it was not much more than a blur. Less than two seconds later, a soft ‘whoosh’ was heard, and Erin bit off a curse as she turned her head and stared at the card stuck into the wall next to her left ear. Mentally, she was scared at the fact that she was sitting with someone who could probably kill her with a playing card, but also exhilarated at the prospect of learning something new.

"Wow. Where’d you learn that trick?" Sara flipped another card into the wall, not bothering with making the piece of laminated paper dance over her knuckles first, then responded while absently tracing Erin’s outline with another volley of cards.

"I taught myself that when I was hospitalized back in my university days. Honestly, I think that hospitals are the most boring places in the known world, short of a lawyer convention. Hold still now, this last card will take a bit of concentration, and i don’t think you’d appreciate a scalp wound right now." Sara smiled as Erin looked like she was going to bolt and run from the room, but threw the card anyhow, easily parting Erin’s hair down the middle with it.

"Ha! Last time I did that, the person moved and nearly lost an ear. Suffering from a coronary yet?" Erin swore at Sara for a good five minutes before calming down, then ducked as Sara flipped another card into her hand. Sara grinned at Erin’s reflexes, then placed the card onto the table.

"Gotcha. C’mere you. I want to show you how I did that." Erin watched as Sara slowed down her card flipping to what could amount to a crawl, then tried to copy her as Sara launched the card into the wall. Erin’s first attempt bounced off the wall, and the rebound smacked her in the forehead, but Erin got better in the next hour as Sara perforated the wall repeatedly.

As the clock slowly crawled towards 5 PM, Sara knew that visiting hours would be over in about half an hour, and was secretly relieved that Lucas hadn’t put in an appearance. Then, Murphy’s Law took over and she heard him ask the duty nurse what room she was in. *Damn. I was hoping someone upstairs would like me, but I guess not. Well, maybe I can make him squirm.*Sara motioned Erin to sit beside her and shut up, then grinned wickedly as she flipped four cards between her fingers. *This’ll put the fear of me into him.* Lucas walked into the room, holding a shopping bag in his left hand, and froze instantly when he heard four thuds around his ears. Looking around, he saw the four playing cards embedded in the wooden doorframe just above and below his ears.

"Umm, I could come back later, but then I’d have to give someone else this foot-long sub." Sara’s eyes nearly doubled in size at the mention of real food, then she bust out laughing, waving Lucas to a seat, and making Erin wonder about Sara’s mental stability.

After calming down, Sara nudged Lucas and pointed at the bag he had brought in. "Okay. Seriously now, what’s in the bag?"

Lucas grinned and pulled a litre-sized bottle of Polar Ice vodka out of the bag along with two glasses. "Well, I saw this in the corner store, and I noticed that it’s Canadian. I thought you’d like a drink from home."

Sara grinned and nodded, looking like an enthusiastic teen. "Actually, I don’t like vodka that much; I prefer the Dragon’s Breath. But what the hey, I need something to dehydrate me."

Lucas poured the drink into the glasses, and after toasting Sara, he took a swig of the drink. As soon as he swallowed, he nearly gagged at the strength of the drink. Sara smiled before taking a sip to gauge the sheer power of the vodka, then emptied the glass down her throat in one smooth swig.

Finishing the glass by flipping it over and planting it on the table, Sara grinned and waved her hand in front of her face, making sure she hadn’t gone blind. "Whoo! That’s some good stuff. Then again, by my standards, it’s only middle of the road. Hey Erin, You’re about eighteen right? Try this." Sara foisted a second glassful over to Erin, despite Lucas’ objection, and chuckled as Erin went into a coughing fit from a sip.

"So, what else do you have in there? Hopefully you have at least one book on biology in there." Lucas nodded, pulling out a book from the bag, which he gave to Sara. She flipped it to the table of contents, looked at the detailed listings, and grinned. "Aw, thanks Lucas. I’ve been meaning to get this thing for at least a month. Yeah, this’ll be great. I’m going to spend a lot of time poking around in this thing, and I might just use it in parts of the class to boot. Have you talked to Six yet? I bet she’s bored out of her mind by now."

Lucas smiled faintly, and Erin giggled like she was ten as Sara realized she was rambling. "Actually, she’s out and about, so don’t be surprised if you get a visit at around Nine tonight. Oh, yeah, just a warning; according to her, you have about six more scorch marks on the ceiling of your kitchen due to her efforts to cook."

Sara grumbled for a few seconds, but smiled when her verbal antics caused both guests to laugh. "Well, it’s getting to the end of visiting hours, and I’m feeling somewhat tired, so can you two scoot? Don’t worry about the book, but you better take the vodka before the nurse shows up. I’ll probably be out of here by tomorrow, so I can, and will, take over the biology class by Thursday. Have fun, and give Six this."

Sara grabbed a small object that was on the nightstand, then put it in Lucas’ ham-like fist, closing his fingers over it. "Tell her to wear it over her heart."

Lucas opened his fingers to look at a small metal brooch of two older people holding hands with a child. He nodded, slightly choked up by the emotion apparent in the small gift. "I will. I’ll see you tomorrow sometime, okay?"

Sara nodded, then looked at Erin. "Just to be nice Erin, I’ll get you something as well, but I’m not going to be able to get what I have in mind until Friday morning. Oh yeah, because you managed to complete your ‘mission’ I’ll pay you as soon as I’m out of here." Erin nodded, looking happy, then motioned Lucas out the door before she left as well. Sara smiled as she overheard Lucas asking what Erin’s mission was, but she tuned out the response.

*Hmm. Let’s see, it’s almost 5:30, and I’m feeling somewhat tired. I guess that’s because my blood count still isn’t back up to exceptional levels. I wonder where that midget Pearce went? Probably had to stuff someone’s guts back in after a car accident. Well, I have a few hours before Six somehow appears, so I may as well see how my leg’s healed. I may grumble about nanotechnology, but I have to admit that the accelerated healing is a godsend.* Sara decided to go back to the rec room for a little while, and when she had arrived in the room, she redid the routines she had completed that morning. After completing the last one, and wiping the sweat out of her eyes, Sara prodded the thigh wound and smiled when she felt that the wound was not much more than a small cut, having sealed completely.

*Heh. The doc’s going to have a conniption fit when she sees that I’m disobeying her orders. Oh well. At least I feel better than yesterday. Hopefully I can get these stitches out by the end of today, as it can get pretty annoying to have a foreign body stuck in an appendage. Well, my arm also feels better, so by tomorrow I’ll be able to go through my usual routines instead of this attenuated one.*

After glancing at the clock, Sara went back to her room and looked at herself in the mirror that was hanging in the mini-bathroom that was part of the room. *Eh. I look better than yesterday, that’s for sure. I wonder when Six is going to make an appearance. Lucas said about Nine, but I trust him about as far as I can throw him. Erin seems nice, if motivated by money a bit much. Still, I remember when I was the same as her.*

Sara was interrupted in her musings by a faint tapping at the window, surprising her. Opening the window, Sara neatly stepped back far enough to avoid being knocked over by Six as the cyber entered the room feet first and at high speed. "Well, you seem to be doing fairly well. Are you sure that hospital food is completely inedible?"

Sara laughed, nodding as an answer to Six’s question. "Well, you definitely look better than yesterday. Just between you and me, but the nurse swore blind that you looked like death warmed over when you pulled that stunt yesterday."

Sara suffered through a light headlock and noogie, but got Six back with a poke at her ribs, catching Six off guard. "Gee, thanks for that ringing endorsement. Lucas told me you managed to blast some holes into the kitchen ceiling. How’d you manage to do that?"

Six shrugged and mouthed ‘Stir-fry’, earning a glare from Sara. "Geez, thanks. Y’know, I’m going to have to suffer through a mountain of repair bills for that part of my house before summer. Anyhow, didja get my gift through Lucas?"

Six nodded and showed Sara the brooch pinned onto the underside of her collar. "I like it. However, I can’t understand how you got it while stuck in here."

Sara smiled and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Actually, I got it the last time I was in the park. A vendor was selling them, and I got that one for you because you tolerated me for most of the week. Wear it in good health."

Six, surprised at the explanation, stood there for a few seconds, then leaned over and hugged Sara. "So, what brings you here, other than concern for my well-being?"

Six sat down beside Sara and twitched the bed sheets into place. "Well, I was wondering where you had wandered off to the morning before you got shot."

Sara looked askance at Six for a few seconds, then chuckled. "Right. You think I believe that? Actually, I had a drink from the outdoor café near that giant statue in the park. I think that you want to ask something other than that. What is it?"

Six frowned, but being caught, had to answer. "Okay, I give. I want to know where you learned to shoot like that. Stryk told me what you did, and the only other people I can think of with your level of skill are either in the military or are Olympic contenders."

Sara shrugged. "I’m Canadian. That explains part of it right there. Also, I’ve explored areas that were ripped up by major warfare in pursuit of unique biological specimens, and you can’t go through an area like Afghanistan without being well-armed, and able to shoot the hat off of someone’s head without mussing their hair."

Six grimaced as she worked through the evasive answer, but caught onto the right thread quickly enough. "So, your family took you out target shooting when you were a kid, and you’ve only been getting better as you get older."

Sara nodded, pleased with Six’s deduction. "Got it in one. Actually, there are some bits that have been glossed over, but i won’t hold that against you. Oh yeah. If you ever gain the mobility to go around the world, avoid Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran like the plague. Everyone there is either xenophobic, sexist, or both."

Sara then looked over at the door to the hallway and sighed as she caught the brief flicker of a long coat that was too low to the ground. "You can come in anytime doc. I won’t bite. I already have enough problems to deal with without being tested for rabies."

Six’s eyes widened fractionally as Reba walked into the room, scuffing her shoes on the worn tiles. Leaning in towards Sara, six whispered. "How do you do that?"

Sara grinned and shook her head. "Trade secret. How d’you do doc?"

Reba brightened up and sat down on the chair pointed at by Sara, just in time to catch Six’s nod of greeting. "Well Sara, your blood work came back this afternoon, and, to be honest, I’m completely stumped. This dilemma I’m in has given me the excuse of sending a sample to a friend of mine who may be able to shed some light on the chemical cocktail that you call your blood."

Sara grinned to herself, knowing exactly why her blood would give even aan expert hematologist headaches for months on end. "My friend may be coming over at about Ten, maybe Ten-Thirty, so try to be awake for then, okay?"

Sara nodded quickly, then asked the most obvious question. "So, what’s the name of your friend?"

Reba paused for a few seconds, wondering whether she should reveal the person’s name, then decided to tell the truth. "His name is Doctor Anthony Zacharias. I’ll be surprised if you don’t know of him."

Sara frowned at Reba for a few seconds, then replied. "Who hasn’t heard of him? Not many people know him personally, but even I’ve seen his effect on the world of Quantum Physics, despite the fact that I have little interest in that field. One quote attributed to another quantum physicist was that his effect on the field is like a child carpet-bombing anthills with M-80s." Her statement set off a cluster of child-like giggles from where Six was sitting, and made Reba double over in a coughing fit.

Six got up and hit Reba in the upper back to interrupt the coughing, then wiped the tears out of her eyes as she explained why she had cracked up. "That sounds like one of his competitors. Dr. Zack has managed to rewrite about half the ‘immutable’ laws of physics, quantum and otherwise. As a result, a lot of people in the sciences are quite willing to try and disprove him, no matter what the expense."

Sara chewed on her lower lip for a second, then grinned. "Yeah, like that 30 billion euro supercollider in the Black Forest. For some odd reason Reba, I think I like you. Now, why don’t we violate some rules and play a game of poker?"

Six smiled and shrugged, and Reba gave in after Sara pointed out that she probably hadn’t had a break since Seven that morning. Soon, Sara had raised the stakes to Truth or Dare mixed with the game, and was lucky enough to convince Six to either give up the name of her significant other or walk around the room dressed like Reba for five minutes. Naturally, Six decided to go for the dare, and when she lost the hand, both Sara and Reba had a laugh as Six grumbled her way through the routine, mocking both the diminutive doctor and herself.

Soon, Reba was playing cards while trying to stand on her head, and Sara was wearing Six’s hat as a ‘trophy’, but had managed to become ‘lackey-for-an-hour’ to Six when she healed, and Reba had a promise from Sara to sing ‘I’m a little teapot’ before being discharged from the hospital. In less than five minutes, all three were laughing, mainly because Sara decided to imitate several infamous characters from movies in their respective accents, though her Scarface imitation was spot-on. The three women calmed down soon enough when Reba saw that it was Ten, and someone had just walked out of the elevator.

In less than a minute, someone knocked on the door, and Reba opened it, revealing a tall man, wearing a long coat and hat, and apparently around fifty years old. Reba smiled when she saw him, despite barely coming up to his waist, and Six got up to greet him with a handshake and muttered greetings. Sara waited patiently for someone to introduce her to the man, but she could guess that he was Anthony Zacharias.

Soon, Six turned back to Sara and simply pulled the man over to her, eventually relinquishing her grip on the man’s coat sleeve. "Sara, please meet one of my trusted friends, Dr. Zack. Dr. Zack, another one of my newer friends, Sara D’Arnise." Sara smiled and offered her left hand to be shaken. Zack took the offer after a few seconds of hesitation, then realised why Sara had offered her left hand when he saw the bandages covering her right shoulder.

Surprised, he squinted at the bandage for a few seconds, then raised an eyebrow as he finally got around to shaking Sara’s offered hand. "My lord. That looks quite painful. Can you tell me how you got such a nasty wound?"

Sara’s irreverent side instantly shone through, and she smiled. "Pretty simple explanation doc. I got shot by something big, dumb, and green. Worst thing though, is that I could’ve avoided the leg wound if I had been a few seconds faster." Dr. Zack raised his eyebrows at that remark, but changed the subject. "Well Miss D’Arnise, Reba sent me a sample of your blood this afternoon, and I can honestly say that I’m totally baffled by what your blood has in it. I found several metallic compounds, trace amounts of radioactive isotopes, and several chemical traces that managed to stump even me."

Sara grinned, privately proud in the knowledge that she had once again stumped one of the leading minds in the world. "Also, when I scanned part of the sample with an electron microscope, I saw that those metallic compounds were, in actuality, highly advanced nanomachinery. Can you explain how you have that technology?"

Sara glanced at Six, who shrugged, then made a decision. "I guess so. If you managed to examine my blood at a level to clearly pick out the nanotech, you’d have a good chance of noticing a nasty little virus going about its business too. That virus has managed to devastate my skeleton over the course of several years, and as a result, I have those little robots to maintain what’s left of my original bones. Charles Sorbie was the person who did the necessary surgeries."

Seeing an identical blank look on both Six and Dr. Zack’s faces, Sara chuckled slightly and nodded towards Reba. "You probably know who he is. You want to fill them in, or shall I?"

Reba nodded, smiling, and sat down in the chair where she had been playing cards. "Dr. Sorbie, despite being retired, is still considered one of the most influential doctors in Canada. Back in ‘97, he decided to shoot down all the objections and replaced a HIV⁺ patient’s elbows after they had been worn down by skeletal damage. He’s famous in the world of prosthetics for developing the first successful artificial elbow, and he’s also assisted in the development of artificial ‘slider’ type joints, such as the ankle and wrist prostheses that have wormed their way onto the market over the last few years. It’s pretty advanced stuff too."

Reba seemed about to continue on the history of Dr. Sorbie, but was stopped by Sara shaking her head and gesturing for her to talk about something else. Reba, getting the point, then tapped Sara’s arm and started speaking again. "Actually, the damage done to Sara’s skeleton is comparative to osteoporosis because the bones first became porous, but they had also softened to a level approximating that of cartilage."

Sara glared at Reba, knowing that the diminutive doctor had hacked into some sealed medical records to get that information. "Not many people should even think about hearing that info Reba. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t hack into a level-seven medical seal just to satiate your curiosity."

Reba grinned and showed off the fact that she was cleared up to level eight by waving her ID card in front of Sara’s nose. Dr. Zack nodded as he absorbed the information, then turned back to Sara. "I noticed that your arms are rather heavily scarred. Now, is that caused by a side effect of the nanotech, or is it something different?"

Sara grinned. "Well, the results manage to wreak havoc on metal detectors. The bones in my arms and legs are a non-magnetic alloy called duraluminum. Naturally, because most of my bone marrow went with the originals, I have a host of new problems to deal with, such as not being able to replace my blood at a natural rate."

Dr. Zack nodded, pulling at the ends of his moustache as he thought for a few seconds."Oh. Interesting. Reba, may I have copies of Sara’s X-rays? I might be able to get some more information from them, especially when dealing with the effects her skeleton has on the rest of her system."

Sara raised an eyebrow as Reba nodded, feeling slightly torqued about being talked about like she was an automation. "Gee thanks. Last I checked, I’m not a cyborg, nor am I dead. So, do you want my opinion of what’s in my blood?"

After seeing everyone nod, Sara grinned and showed off the completely sealed wound that had been in her leg. "That is the result of the nanomachine surplus in my blood, but, basically, the metal content is caused by the actual frames of the machinery."

Sara paused for a moment, thinking about the most plausible explanation of the isotopes that were found in her blood. "The isotopes are new to me, but I can probably be correct by guessing that they are the power sources for the machines. Now, I might suffer from a form of cancer in several years, but until a better power source is developed, I guess I’ll have to live with the risk of chemotherapy in the future. Hopefully, the only thing that’ll happen is that I’ll be a blip on a Geiger counter."

Six passed her hand over her mouth, trying to suppress a smile caused by the exasperated tone Sara used. Zack himself, despite his best efforts, was also smiling, but Reba was more interested in the completely healed wound. "Wow. This sort of regeneration is amazing. If you’d let me, I’d happily publish an article in the local Doctor’s Journal, just to smash some of the established thinkers into their own mistakes. A lot of the older doctors don’t keep up with current medical research, and the fact that nanotechnology can be used to heal injuries will really shake them up. I wonder if it could be used to restore damaged nerve fibres?"

Sara shrugged, then tried to hide the fact that she was exhausted and about ready to fall asleep, but failed. Reba noticed Sara trying to hide her yawn, and asked for Six and Zack to leave so Sara could get some rest. As Sara was about to object, as she was enjoying the mentally stimulating conversation, Reba rounded on her. "Sara, just because your wounds regenerate quickly doesn’t mean you get free reign of the hospital. Now, on doctor’s orders, you have to go to sleep now. Also, because you’re the hospital’s wonder patient, you’re getting a double portion of what they call food."

Reba ignored the groan emanating from the bed, realizing that a double portion of slop is still slop. "I pity you too, just so you know."

Sara’s response was an unmistakable vulgar gesture, so Reba laughed and got ready to usher the two guests from Sara’s room. Sara spoke just as Reba opened the door, making them pause for a few seconds. "G’night Reba. I’ll see you tomorrow morning. Good to meet you Dr. Zack, and I hope you have some luck on your research. Six, good hunting, and try not to get crippled, okay? I won’t be out there to save your skinny butt if you get ambushed."

With that, Reba virtually pushed Zack out of the door, going with him to the elevator, and allowing Sara and Six to exchange smiles and a handclasp before Reba returned from getting the elevator to stop for Dr. Zack. Just as Reba was neatly ushering Six out the window, Sara grinned and waved at Six, causing the Cyber to overbalance and drop down two floors, leaving an echoed "Oh Shit!" before she managed to grab onto a ledge and avoid another three stories straight down. Reba, before leaving herself, gently squeezed Sara’s hand, then exited the room, closing the door behind her. Sara was left with her thoughts for another half hour before she finally fell asleep, grateful for the oblivion of her dreams.

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