"The next test for Subject 711-A549 requires three professionals. One to secure and maintain her restraints throughout the test, one to record the results, and one to work the machine." Doctor Mundy explained, drawing up a diagram of the experiment in question on the whiteboard. His back was turned to the rest of the staff, who were seated at tables facing him. He could hear them taking notes behind him.
"An extensive knowledge of the brain and its receptors is critical. Any error could prove to be fatal for the subject." He continued writing, one hand clasped behind his back professionally.
One of the neurological doctors stood beside him, listening critically to his proposed method of experimentation. Every once in awhile he would nod silently, rubbing his chin with his hand.
"I estimate it'll take between 15 and 20 milliamps to establish a connection to the subject's thought process and the entity within. We will also have to tap into the amygdala to take control of the emotional aspect of the brain. Careful precision with the placement of nodes is required."
"And how do you plan to accomplish this without having anyone in the room with her?" The neurologist standing beside him questioned. Dr. Mundy stopped his writings and slowly turned to his colleague.
"Dr. Hideki, what makes you believe there won't be any staff in the room?"
There was a drastic change in the atmosphere. All noise in the room ceased as the other doctors and nurses behind him realized what he was implying. Their note-taking stopped abruptly, and Dr. Mundy turned to see their startled expressions trained on him. Dr. Hideki cleared his throat, stepping towards him.
"Surely you must understand the dangers of putting anyone in close contact to Subject 711-A549. Two of your staff have already died while trying to perform necessary tests on her." Dr. Mundy narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"You would put emotional ties before the product of results, Dr. Hideki? I thought you were more rational than that."
"My only concern is the well being of my employees." Some of the staffers began to mutter, glancing between each other nervously. Dr. Mundy turned to address the gathering.
"Science is the pursuit of truth, is it not?" Several people shrugged, a few nodded and crossed their arms sheepishly. "That pursuit is certain to have risks attached, but has that ever stopped innovation before? The vaccination came about only because a live virus was injected into a human being. If nothing had been done on the small notion that someone could get hurt, no advances in science would ever come about!"
The room was silent, with most of the company nodding ashamedly to his words. Dr. Hideki still looked doubtful but in the end, he was a scientist. Results were the meaning of his work.
"Very well. You may choose three of my staff to assist in your project, but only from those who volunteer. They will decide to take part by their own volition and nothing more." The neurologist affirmed.
Dr. Mundy smiled, just a hint. "Very well. You have twelve hours to decide whether to take part in this procedure. For those who do, gather in my office at seven o'clock tonight. I'll be waiting."
He placed down the marker and departed from the room.
Facing Law, Bepo assumed a ready position. They stared each other down and waited, hands up and prepared for the other's first move. The bear watched his Captain's body language and even breathing carefully, finally deciding that he wouldn't act unless Bepo did first.
"Hya!" He called, instantly swinging his leg around to kick him backwards. Law's reflexes were sharp, and he shifted out of range of the attack. Not wasting any time or energy, he jumped forward with a kick of his own, grunting when Bepo's paws stopped it in midair. As quick as his Captain was, it was debatable that Bepo was even faster.
"Ha!" Bepo twisted Law's leg, sending him spinning towards the ground. He landed on his exposed back with a thud, knocking the wind out of him. Moving his center of gravity to his legs, he rolled backwards to stand up. His eyes widened when he noticed his first mate already coming at him with fists flying.
Bepo certainly wasn't going easy, something Law was very pleased to see. If they all wanted to become stronger and be prepared for breaking Summer out of this lab, they had to be on top of their game. Several days of hard training were ahead, and to do that, they had to perform their best with the intent to injure.
They sparred back and forth, both bear and man sweating heavily after several minutes of back and forth fighting. The karate session was more for Bepo's benefit than anything, so he could hone his already excellent skills, but Law knew enough to be proficient at it. Because his preferred weapon was the sword, he rarely ever resorted to hand-to-hand. It was still a good skill to know.
Suddenly, after being knocked down again, Law produced two of Summer's daggers in his hands as he got back onto his feet.
"You're opponent is now armed. How do you counter?" Rushing forward, he thrust the blade straight for his chest, but Bepo was ready. Dropping down below the line of attack, and used his forearm to push the weapons out of Law's hands from below. The two daggers went flying through the air before landing in the softer padding of the training room floor.
"Hao-Ha!" He shouted, thrusting the palm of his paw into Law's chest. Deftly, Bepo caught one of the stray daggers in his other hand.
"Argh!" Law grunted, the blow sending him backwards and onto the ground. He knew immediately that it would probably leave a nasty bruise. Finally, the bear jumped and stood over his fallen Captain, holding the dagger to his throat. The two breathed heavily before moving again.
"I'd say you've improved your resourcefulness, Bepo." Law breathed, trying hard to regain his breath. The one thing about sparring with the bear was that he always posed a challenge, and the fight was always taxing. Stamina was key to winning a fight, and each time the sparring grew longer and longer. Law knew they were both improving, and that raised his confidence level.
Bepo dropped the dagger to the floor and held out his paw for Law. With a smirk, he took it, allowing the bear to help him to his feet.
"I'll be ready for when we face the people on the island, and for Viper." Bepo declared confidently.
"We all will." Law replied, wiping the sweat from his forehead. Looking down, his exposed chest was glistening with the stuff, and he went over to retrieve a towel from the rack. He cleaned himself off, watching as Bepo picked up the remaining dagger from the floor.
"These are Summer's, right?" He asked, to which Law nodded. "Why do you carry them around?" The bear asked.
The question caught him off guard, and he paused out of shock. "When we find her, she'll want them as soon as possible, so I'm hanging onto them to give them back." He said, hoping the bear would believe it as the whole truth.
He didn't.
"But you've been carrying them ever since she was taken. We didn't even know where she was for awhile. It doesn't make sense." With a sigh, the Captain idly shook his head.
"Sometimes things don't make sense, Bepo." He frowned, placing a paw under his chin in thought.
"You always make sense, Captain. You always know what you're thinking."
Law chuckled, pleased to hear what Bepo always thought of him. Bepo himself was a very deep thinker, though most of the time he didn't realize it. His sensitivity often hid that quality.
"You love her, right?" He asked, and Law's eyes widened.
"Why would you think-" He began, but the bear cut him off.
"Why can't humans just say what it is they feel?" Law was left speechless, and Bepo took the opportunity to explain. "Whenever you're around her, you smell different. It's like you're happier. And Summer always smells like that too, when you're around. It's pretty obvious, Captain."
"Bepo-" He wasn't sure exactly what to say, but the bear beat him to it.
"You would always tell me the truth, right?" He questioned.
"Of course." Law replied, and Bepo held out the two daggers to him.
"So, do you love her?"
The captain wasn't sure what to say. Before, he'd sooner swallow poison than admit something like that aloud. He looked at Bepo's expression of no-nonsense determination to find the answer, and he eventually sighed deeply, taking the daggers from his hands.
"…Yes, I do."
"Good. I think you need to love someone. I want you to be happy, Captain." He turned to leave the room, stopping before going through the door. Looking back at Law, he appeared to be back to his normal self.
"Now I just have to find a female bear, and then we'll all be happy." Despite himself, Law smirked, watching as Bepo closed the door. Law stood there, staring down at the two daggers that belonged to his missing nakama.
'Only you, Bepo, could get away with something like that.'
Summer had noticed a distinct lack of nurses and doctors in her presence since the drowning experiment. Perhaps they'd finally gotten the message that she was dangerous.
'Took 'em long enough to figure that out.' She thought in amusement.
Now, armored guards escorted her from place to place. And now in addition to the handcuffs, they also blindfolded her with a black cloth. The only times when nurses approached her were to bring her food. Even during those times, they had to be accompanied by at least two guards.
She was glad they were feeling some of the fear that she had felt for so long. The consequences may be less food rations and no privacy, but the hushed whispers and quickened steps made it all worth it. Now, if only she actually got to see what affect she had on them, but that damn blindfold was in the way.
Right at that moment, she was being escorted to another testing room. They hadn't mentioned, as always, where they were going or what was going to happen, but Summer wasn't worried. Ever since getting to see her nakama alive and well, she'd been in rather high spirits.
'You'll never break me, Doctor. I'll kill you before that happens.'
The guards slowed to a stop before opening a door in front of her. They pushed her through, and she walked in slowly, trying to avoid hitting anything that might be in front of her.
They shoved her shoulder forward, and she hit against something hard. A pair of hands undid the handcuffs. All of a sudden, who she thought was the two guards picked her up by the shoulders and knees and lifted her onto some kind of table. It was soft, however, and so Summer came to the conclusion that it was a cot or bed.
Her hands and feet were immediately restrained once more with leather straps. Being the person she was, she couldn't help but blurt out what went through her mind.
"So, you're into bondage, huh? I've never tried it, but it's supposed to be pretty kinky."
There wasn't a response, which she was a little disappointed in. Not even a laugh.
'Tough crowd.' She thought.
"Preparing subject for testing." Who she thought to be a nurse said behind her somewhere, and she tried twisting her head towards the noise. Her actions earned her a nice smack from one of the guards.
"Stay still." He said gruffly.
"Tch." She hissed in annoyance, but otherwise complying with his order.
The next instant, someone was holding her head still from the top and her chin, and something cold was pressed onto her neck. She gasped aloud, but they didn't say anything about it. Another one was placed in her hair, and then a few more.
The inability to move her head or see, coupled with the strange things they were placing on her severely raised her anxiety, and she retaliated the only way she could.
Sensing something approaching her face again, she thrust her head out and bit whatever was there.
"AH!" A female screamed, and Summer quickly came to the conclusion that what she had in her mouth was a gloved thumb. Something made of metal clattered to the floor and there were pounding feet. The guards tried pulling her head back, but she only bit down harder on the woman's digit.
"AH LET GO!" She tried yanking her finger away, but Summer's jaw was as strong as steel. Her teeth clamped down as hard as she could, even making her face hurt from the force, and in an instant, her teeth went all the way through.
"NO! AH, OH MY GOD!" The resistance immediately stopped but the thumb remained in her mouth, realizing a little in disgust, she spit out the woman's severed finger and spit the bloody taste out of her mouth. Initial spurts of blood had splattered over her face, and the warm liquid was cooled by the stale air in the room. The woman's screams echoed off the walls, and the guards finally slammed Summer's head against the cot. She smiled up at them, despite not being able to see.
"Be careful, I bite." She laughed darkly, and the staff could be heard trying to comfort and help the injured nurse. The whole room seemed to be in chaos, but Summer was thoroughly enjoying herself.
"Enough." The intercom spoke, quieting the noise, and even hushing the bleeding nurse to only strangled whimpers. "This test will continue, regardless of the circumstances. We must get results."
"I'll be happy to give you your results, Doctor. Just let me loose on these guys and you'll get your precious results!" Summer shouted, provoking the guard to slam her head into the cot again. Each time seemed to be more violent than the last.
"Science comes with risk." A male nurse said, seeming to find resolve in the statement, as if it held some sort of meaning. "Penelope, we'll get you medical attention after this is all over. Right now, just do as the test demands. Results are everything."
The woman sobbed again, but Summer heard the shuffle of clothing and she assumed the woman had stood up. They moved around a little, and this time while they put whatever the circular things were in her mouth, they covered it with a gag made from some kind of cloth. Probably a sheet from the cot. The little cold things were stuck in all sorts of places on her head, even underneath her chin. Some sort of machine was turned on, and one of the male nurses spoke.
"Let's begin the test."
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