"Restrain her to the bed." A nurse ordered, and two male nurses gripped Summer's arms with force. It was necessary, however, because there was no purpose in her resisting. Either way, she would have ended up on the table. They dragged her body up onto the flat surface, cuffing her wrists and ankles with plastic restraints. They weren't quite as damaging to her skin, but with the previous wounds already there, they threatened to break the already ruined flesh underneath. Summer winced at the pain.
The female nurse had on a surgical mask and gloves. She couldn't see a badge or name tag anywhere on her person, otherwise she would have filed away the name for later. She vowed to take out anyone that had anything to do with her experiments there.
"Since your illness has progressed further in the decade you've been gone, we have to resort to more vigorous treatment." She said, never looking up from her clipboard. Summer said nothing, wondering if they were only faking their ignorance or if they actually didn't know she wasn't buying their lies anymore. Either way, Summer wasn't going to bring up the issue.
"Do you have the needle ready?" The woman asked one of the male nurses, who approached with a very long, pointed tool. Her eyes widened, heart skipping a beat.
'Needle?'
"It is ready to be administered." He came to stand beside her, poised to hold down her right arm. Summer tensed up, unsure of what liquid they had in the needle. It was red, and slightly viscous, but she was sure it wasn't blood.
"Administer when ready."
The man positioned the needle above her skin, and Summer closed her eyes, unable to watch it pierce her arm. She barely felt the prick, only a slight sting in the crook of her elbow. She was about to crack open her eyes, deciding it wasn't as bad as she had thought, when the sensations began to overtake her.
A very warm feeling of happiness overtook her, flooding her senses with a mellow giddiness. Her entire body relaxed and she went limp. A drunken chuckle came from her throat.
"What did you…" She couldn't finish her sentence, forgetting why she was even talking in the first place. A lazy smile carved its way onto her face, and she lolled her head to the side.
The nurse wrote more stuff on her clipboard. "First test: Administration of *Pipradrol. Result: Effective emotion enhancement." She nodded towards one of the other men. "You may proceed."
One of the male nurses came up beside her, but she was having trouble focusing on his face. The ceiling was bursting with colors, while faces just seemed to be blurry. Why couldn't they just let her enjoy the colors?
"Subject 711-A549, can you hear me?" She giggled.
"Your voice sounds funny…" She slurred, closing her eyes gently. The man shook his head.
"Don't go to sleep, we still have things to talk about." She frowned, trying to remember what they had been saying before.
"About what?" She asked.
"About your illness."
I don't…" She started, eyes cracking open slightly as she tried to think. "I'm…not sick." She finished. "I'm fine, it's ok. Don't you worry about me." She reached out to pat his head in comfort but her arm wouldn't move.
"Liam, why is your hair brown?" She asked, frowning once again. Liam's hair was blonde, wasn't it? Why couldn't she seem to remember?
"Subj-Summer, I need you to listen to me." He tried getting her to focus, but she just wanted to sleep. He gently shook her shoulder. "We need to know what's making you sick. We can't help unless we know."
She frowned again, feeling a sudden urge to scream. A very sharp pain went up her arm and she grimaced. It expanded to include her torso, then slowly down to her legs until everything hurt. Tears began to form in her eyes. "It hurts…" She whimpered. "Make it stop!"
"Subject is displaying symptoms of discomfort." The female nurse stated, writing more on the clipboard.
"Summer, the pain will go away if you tell us what's wrong. We need to know how to get it out of you."
"I want it to stop." She cried, trying to move her arms but being unable to shift positions. Her eyes were tightly shut and she couldn't see what was holding her back. The pain was simply to great.
"How do we get the illness out Summer? You need to tell us." And just like that, as quickly as it had started, the pain vanished. Her face relaxed once again, replaced by a quivering lip.
"I'm sorry…for being a bad person." Opening her eyes slightly, she looked Law in the face. "Don't make me leave the crew, I don't want to leave. I have nowhere else to go. I'm sorry I tried to run away." Trying to leave the crew on the island of women was a bad idea, but she was sorry.
"Subject is showing signs of hallucinations and problems with judgement of time." The nurse said.
"It's alright, Summer. Just tell me how to get the illness out and I'll forgive you."
She sniffed. "What illness?"
"How do we get Nemesis out? She's the one making you feel guilty and in pain. If we get her out, you won't be hurt anymore."
Yes, she wanted to be happy. But there was a voice at the back of her head whispering things. She listened intently.
"Stay strong, mortal. Keep your silence, or more pain will follow." She didn't want the pain to come back, so she listened to the voice. It was gentler and kinder sounding than Law.
"Tell me how to get Nemesis out, Summer."
"I don't want to be hurt anymore." She slurred, anger growing quickly through the fogginess of her mind. "Get away from me! I hate you!" She jerked against her restraints, causing a sharp tear through the broken skin already there. Blood began to drip onto the metal examination table. The male nurse backed away at her sign of aggression.
"Subject is beginning to flare out of control. The drug has taken it's full effect. Results: Failure to obtain information." The female nurse sighed before placing the clipboard on the table. "Take her off and send her back. We can't do much more for today."
She remembered the men undoing the things holding her down and being placed in a chair. There was another prick in her arm and everything went fuzzy.
"Doctor Mundy, sir." A voice called, and the man looked up from the papers on his desk. It was one of the male nurses, specifically, one that had overlooked the subject's first experiment.
"Please sit." He indicated the chair across from him and the nurse obliged. He looked very pleased to be invited inside his office.
Getting straight to the point, Doctor Mundy steepled his fingers. "What were the results of the test?" At this the man sighed, looking away.
"Inconclusive. We can't be sure whether she knows about the entity or not, as the drug took its full effect much faster than we anticipated." He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the stare of his superior burning into his cheek. "If we could repeat the conditions perhaps-"
"No, we must move on to a new method." The Doctor rubbed at his goatee, pondering their next move. "What information were you able to discover?"
The nurse stopped staring at one of the trinkets on the desk, switching his gaze back onto the man. "She mentioned two names: Law and Liam. We assume they were members of the pirate crew she sailed with."
"Members indeed." He replied, taking out a file from his drawer. Placing it on the table between them, he opened it and showed the nurse the contents. "Law would be Trafalgar Law, the captain of their crew. Liam is one of the other members, most likely a medic or technician judging by their choice of clothing." He replaced the papers in the file, putting it away in the drawer it came from.
"Out of all the people in the crew, those were the ones she decided to think about under a drug-induced state." The nurse pondered. "They probably mean the most to her."
"Precisely. If she has emotional ties to these men, they may be the best method of extracting the entity, if we use her connection to right way. Consult Dr. Kemp about any medications or substances that could produce the effect we desire." The Doctor went back to his papers, effectively ending the conversation between them. He had a habit of cutting things off quickly. "Please return to your studies, Mr. Davis."
The nurse complied, wondering how they would use her two friends to their advantage.
It was a agonizingly slow process coming off of whatever drug they'd injected into her. Most of the next six hours Summer spent curled up in a fetal position on her uncomfortable bed, eyes wide with a terrible bout of shivering. It wasn't even cold, but her muscles refused to sit still.
"Nnngn…" Her whimpers of pain were the only sound in the little room, echoing against the porcelain white walls. She felt as if she were made of glass, her limbs being broken and put back together over and over again.
She felt alone, afraid, unwanted. Flashes of anger at herself and the Doctor pierced the epic sorrow she felt. The strangest sensation was feeling relaxed out of nowhere, at peace, despite being on the verge of a seizure from her nervous fit.
"Rest your mind and body, child. Don't lose sight of what's important to you." Nemesis chided, gently sending a wave of calming feeling through her body, effectively stopping the muscles spasms that racked her small frame. Her breathing became easier and the haziness that seemed to cover her eyes disappeared, replaced by the blindingly white walls opposite her.
"Family…" She whispered to herself. She would never lose her family. Especially to the Doctor.
It was several hours before anything interrupted the stony silence in her room. She had recovered mostly from the drug, though her limbs twitched now and then. She had resorted to staring at the wall for the time being. When the door opened and someone walked in, she didn't even glance in their direction. She knew exactly who it would be.
The Doctor had brought in a small stool, specifically for him to use when he 'talked' with her. Bringing it over to the bed, he set it on the ground and sat. Clearing his throat, he shifted his position until he was comfortable. And then he waited.
Memories of their previous talks flooded Summer's mind, most of which featured her pathetic attempts at convincing him that she was fine, that she wasn't sick, that she wanted to go home, wherever home was. She knew his game, to wait until she made the first move, spoke the first word, caved before him. Well, she was wiser, more experienced. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and waited in the strained silence.
So they sat there, her patiently waiting out his ridiculous mind game and him staring at her until she broke. The silence stretched on for minutes, hell, it wouldn't have surprised her if hours had passed before he said the first word. Surprisingly, her plan worked.
"I see you've developed a habit of silence." He commented, causing her to open her eyes. She still refused to look at him. "If I recall, you used to lament about anything and everything that happened to you."
She debated talking at all, because you never knew what was important information to him and what was just meaningless conversation. For all she knew, this was a test. Taking the precaution, she said nothing.
"Hmm…you haven't lost your stubbornness, however." He withdrew a slip of paper from his coat pocket, unfolding it before her. It turned out to be a thick set of papers: a newspaper.
"I assume that Viper didn't keep you much informed about what was going on in the world while you were escorted here. Perhaps you'd like to catch up on recent events?" He placed them on the edge of the bed, directly into her line of sight.
She didn't move, just stared straight ahead.
With a deep sigh, the Doctor pushed up from the chair with his hands on his knees. "Keeping silent won't prevent you from receiving treatment, you know. It only delays the inevitable." Without another word, he turned and walked out the door, and the lock was engaged a moment later.
Only a heartbeat later, Summer took the paper and scanned the contents, searching for anything related to her crew. On the front page was the headline "NEWLY INSTATED SHICHIBUKAI." There was no picture, so at first Summer skipped it. None of the other articles were related to them, so she scanned more closely.
The word 'Trafalgar' caught her eye on the front page, and she immediately started reading.
'Since the conclusion of the War of the Best, the ranks of pirates and Marines alike have taken a dramatic shift. The Shichibukai, Warlords of the Sea, weren't immune. After the resignation of Gekko Moriah, the open position that had remained vacant for so long has finally been filled…by none other than Captain of the Heart Pirates, rookie Supernova Trafalgar Law.
'It isn't known how he came to get the position, but his recent acceptance is known worldwide.'
'Law's a Warlord?' She wondered in amazement. He'd never indicated any interest in becoming one. His plans for finding One Piece had always been about his crew and his crew alone. The World Government was always out of the picture.
'Thank God, at least they're alive. At least, I hope all of them are…'
A surge of relief flowed through her and a small smile came unbidden to her face. She was a little disappointed there wasn't a picture, because she was still having a hard time coming up with her nakama's faces. She wanted a definite picture to confirm what was and wasn't true.
No one ese disturbed her that night and, not caring that she was under surveillance 24/7, she folded up the paper and hid it under her pillow.
Her sleep was nightmare-free that night.
*Pipradrol: A central nervous system stimulant now illegal for use in most countries. At one point it was used for interrogations during wartime. The drug would cause extreme emotional enhancement, making the subject more prone to talk freely. Some symptoms in this chapter are fictional for entertainment purposes only.
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