Mira paused behind me. I likewise ground to a stop and looked back at her. Snow drifted around her, settling on her beanie, halo, and shoulders. “You okay?”
My mikata looked back toward the hover bike parked on the roof and huddled into a poncho. It was one of the extras I ordered. “I- I don’t know about this- what if something goes wrong- how much do you trust this doctor- can we just leave?”
“Mira. Look at me.” I moved to her side, standing on my tippy-toes to even get close to her height. “You’ll be fine. Just breathe. I’ll be with you ever step of the way.”
”R-right.” She took a shaky breath and squeezed her eyes shut. “S-sorry. I just- this place reminds- sorry I can’t- can’t- you know- I’m so useless.”
”No you aren’t.” I pulled her into a tight hug. “And even if you were, it wouldn’t matter to me. I’d gladly bear the burden if it meant you were with me.”
”Ha- you charm all the girls like that?” Mira pulled away and wiped at her eyes with the edge of the poncho.
“Just the ones worth charming.” I chuckled and took a step back. “Do you want to reschedule?”
”No. Let’s- let’s just get this over with.” She shook her head, sending snow sprawling down onto the roof. She steeled her expression and hit the call button for the elevator before I could even get there. “What’s the worst that could happen- I might go brain dead- maybe it’d be for the best.”
“And leave me all alone?” I grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently. She felt extremely warm with the poncho’s climate control. “You’ll be fine. Nael vouched for the doc. They’re supposed to be a neuro specialist.”
The elevator dinged and we both stepped in. “I know, I know… What are the chances we can remove this thing- the halo feels so restraining- you’ve got snow in your hair.”
I pulled off my worn and torn Slashers cap and shook out my long hair. A few loose flakes fluttered away, melting when it hit the warm walls and floor of the elevator. “I don’t know.”
Part of me wanted to say it wouldn’t be a problem to remove the Halo Cortex, but I genuinely had no idea. I didn’t want to get her hopes up either. It’d be crushing to hear it was permanent from the doctor after I hyped up the doc’s capabilities.
Mira poked at the sidebars leading up to the chrome halo. “I should just cut them off- this poncho is super cozy- maybe you should’ve left me in the lab-“
”Never.” I cut her off. I’d noticed she’d been spiraling easier and easier these days. It was best to cut her off before she could start. “I’m far too selfish to leave my mikata stranded down there.”
“Any word on the- the corporation?” She trembled slightly even just talking about them.
It was my turn to squeeze my eyes shut. My hands clenched into fists tight enough to draw blood. “Saint is finishing up the article. I- I set them up too. It’s only a matter of time till they crash and burn.”
We went silent, both of us drifting into our own thoughts until the elevator doors dinged. We left and headed for Absolom Clinic, passing underneath the ancient tree in the middle of the courtyard. Its leaves had dropped, leaving barren branches fluttering in the snow.
Seeing the tree only brought to mind how unnatural the World Tree in the AEZ was. It hadn’t dropped its leaves. Instead, they took on a vibrant orange and pink shade like some kind of holographic tree. It was… disgusting. Or maybe I was only saying that because of my horrid connection to the thing.
I was one of the few people who thought that way. Most of the city celebrated the tree after it was revealed the oxygen quality in the city was rapidly on the rise. It only
took several hundred thousand people, and now the air was more breathable. It was a bit fucked up to think like that. Most people these days only thought in terms of benefits to themselves though.The bell over the door dinged loudly when we stepped into Absolom clinic. Two people chatting off to the side of the clinic looked up at our entry. One was Nael, looking as sharp as ever. He was in the middle of… was he polishing his chrome hand?
The other was a woman in a Medtech lab coat. She had long locks of brilliant green hair. Light tattoos across her skin pulsed with dim glows. She smiled gently at us when we walked in. The doctor had a faint mother-next-door vibe to her that felt a little weird. That, or I was projecting after my uncomfortable run ins with Mother.
”Shiro, Mira.” Nael stood and approached us. His hand returned back to normal and all the medical instruments ducked back under synth-skin. “This is Doctor Cumen. Doctor Cumen, Shiro and Mira. Mira here is the patient.”
”Hello, my dears.” She nodded her head politely. “I’m Doctor Cumen, Medtech neurosurgeon and brain specialist. I’ve seen the files… let’s see what we can do?”
”Anything would be better than this- I don’t trust her- we should leave, Shiro- this place reeks.” Mira blabbered out.
”S-sorry.” I tugged lightly on Mira’s hand. “The chrome messes with her thought processes.”
”It’s fine. Multi-thought processing, hm? Is there no overmind or central processor in charge?” The doctor stared at Mira’s halo with an uncomfortable intensity.
“Not from what we could tell.” Nael replied. He moved over to the surgery chair and patted it. “Take a seat. We’ll get some fresh scans and see if anything has changed.”
Mira mutely looked at me, only moving when I gave her an encouraging nod. I had a feeling it wasn’t from having nothing to say- it looked more like she was forcibly holding her tongue so she wouldn’t slip again.
Over the next several hours, Nael and Doctor Cumen went back and forth running all sorts of tests and scans. They constantly talked in medical jargon I couldn’t possibly hope to understand. I tried to—I really did. It all just went over my head though. Most of it, anyway.
Eventually Nael knocked Mira out to adjust some of the neural interfaces so they’d be better attached to her nerves. While that was happening, Doctor Cumen finally started to speak like a normal person.
She looked at a terminal, running a loving finger along one of the brain scans. “It really is quite intriguing. This kind of tech is just so-“
”Ahem.” Nael coughed lightly while applying a fresh layer of synth-skin to Mira’s back. For the most part, the Shift ExoCore was a sub-dermal overlay. The black metal poked out along her spine though, and that was what Nael was trying to fix to no success.
Cumen glanced at me through the corners of her eyes. “This kind of tech is quite horrible, of course. Forcing this on an unwilling test subject is just—just reprehensible."
”Can it be removed?” That was the important question.”Either of them?”
”I can’t speak for the exoskeleton.” She motioned me over to look at some of the brain scans. “This Halo Cortex is a branch of biotech. It’s directly linked into her brain. We’d have to tear her brain apart to fully remove it, and that’s… well, at best she’d be brain-dead.”
I felt a massive weight press down on my shoulders. I had so much hope this doctor would be able to help. ”Th-then is there nothing we can do?”
“Not necessarily." Doctor Cumen zoomed in on a scan of the halo itself. “It’ll take some work, but we can shift this to have a core overmind. It should be less overwhelming than what she’s dealing with now.”
Won’t tampering with the halo mess with her head? They were biologically linked through the weird biotech Yellow Inc was using… I didn’t know. Biology was so out of my comfort zone. Why couldn’t this just be purely technological? Either of the pieces, for that matter.
”It’ll be fine, Shiro.” Nael called just as he finished up his adjustments. “We can put her brain in stasis while working. There won’t be any issues.”
”Chek.” Right, modern medicine was far beyond just simply cutting off the bad parts and slapping chrome on as a replacement. “Uh- about the connecting bars… is there a way we can remove them?”
”I can see how they’d be an issue. Maybe if we—wold that even work?” Doctor Cumen muttered. “It’s weird how advanced the biotech is, and yet the methodology is so primitive.”
”I noticed the same thing.” Nael said. “My best guess was the lab stole the idea and partial prints from someone else.”
“They probably stole parts of the original biotech too. It’s a weird merger between several different kinds. Cleaning it up should reduce some of the synaptic feedback. It’ll make it less painful for our patient.” Doctor Cumen shifted closer to Mira and ran a few more scans on the bars themselves.
My mikata, passed out on the operating chair, just laid there with her face scrunched up. Occasionally, she’d twitch like she was having a nightmare. The restraints held her in place though.
”So?”
“It’ll be a delicate process, but I can make some modifications.” Doctor Cumen started to write out a long list of components and then passed it to Nael. “You have all of this?”
Nael silently looked through the list. “Most of them. Why gravitic? That’s way too expensive to keep in a small clinic.”
”I was thinking of rigging up the halo to hover instead of being attached like this.” Cumen waved a hand to the halo. “It’ll make it easier to go about daily life.”
“I can get some.” I shifted from foot to foot when both their eyes locked onto me. “I have contacts in the flyer industry.”
“If she can get that…” Nael checked off the items. “I have most of this. I imagine the armor is to protect the halo?”
”And the Gravitic chambers… they’ll be a bit blocky.” The woman tapped on her chin. “Does your friend like animals?”
“Mira? As much as the next person.” I shrugged. There really weren’t all that many animals to appreciate in the first place. She always did have an obsession with cute and fluffy though.
“We can cover the chambers up as mechanical ears. It’d be a purely cosmetic change without far more work.” Cumen’s eyes flashed with something I couldn’t quite place. It wasn’t malicious though.
I stared at Mira. What did the woman want to add? Fox ears? ”We can ask her when she wakes up. Just- just don’t do anything cosmetic for now.”
“Fine, fine…” She looked oddly dissapointed. “We can start when you bring the Gravitic. Shouldn’t need very much. Just a few splinters.”
“I’ll be back in a couple hours then.” I needed to run by my speakeasy and set up the Crystalisation Array once more. I was out of Crystalised Elements to use with Transmutation. I’d been making a bunch of stuff lately on top of pumping out Blaze rounds to work with my coil-pistol.
”I’ll start disassembling some chrome.” Nael looked through the list once more and then headed back for his chrome bank.
The Medtech doctor stretched out, popping her back. Her white lab coat dangled loosely from her frame. “Then I’ll take a nap. Jet-lag is killing me. Oh—and Nael, dear? You owe me some drinks when this is over. I had to use my vacation hours to come out here.”
Nael called back from the chrome bank without a hint of remorse in his voice. ”Since when did Medtech give vacation hours?”
Doctor Cumen rolled her eyes, coolly muttering something under her breath. She headed off for the waiting chairs on the far side of the room. I checked Mira over one last time and then headed back up for my bike.
— — —
Two days later, Mira woke up from the modifications to the Halo Cortex. We were back in the long-term stay of Nael’s clinic once more. Funny, I’d been back here more in the past months than I had in almost my entire life. I never really stuck around after his treatments even before I had Quick Healing to speed the process along.
I closed my deck when she stirred. I’d been reading up on Saint’s newest article. It was another explosive one, directly calling out the council, Blue Crusade, and people of Aythryn City for their indifference toward Savant Labs. And, of course, he dunked on Tornado Arms heavily throughout. It was likewise back by the major media corp Inverse. Even if someone didn’t want to read about the article, he strategically leaked all of Tornado’s prints and data throughout to force them to read through it.
As for the other labs we were planning on taking out? They were already done. The Crusade made light work of any Savant Lab they were notified of. It’s just that their actual search for Savant Labs was rather poor. Granted, they were difficult to find in the first place. The job was fully done now. At least, if the flashing interface was anything to go by.
”Shiro?” Mira softly called out from the bed. She rubbed at her eyes roughly as if to purge them of nightmares.
”You’re awake…” I handed her a cup of water. “How do you feel?”
She sipped at it and her eyebrows flashed up in surprise. It was water from the canteen, so it was probably the best she’d ever had. “Like I was hit by a truck. Again.”
That would be all of the surgery. Although most of it was on her head, Nael did some other stuff around the Shift ExoCore. It still stuck out of her spine, but it wasn’t as noticeable. “I’ll go tell Nael you’re up.”
Mira stretched out a hand, gently grabbing my own just before I could stand. ”Can you- can you not? Just for a bit.”
“Chek.” I slid back into the chair and looked her over.
True to what Doctor Cumen said, the modifications were blocky. They were shifted behind Mira’s ears though, so they wouldn’t be in the way as much. Instead of the bars, it now looked like two small mechanical cubes stuck out of either side of her head.
The halo floated above the blocks completely suspended without any physical attachments. She’d have to learn how to be careful with it, but this new version should be much, much more comfortable to deal with than how it’d been. If Cumen was to be trusted, at least.
The halo itself was modified quite heavily too. It was slightly slimmer than it’d originally been. Now it was painted an urban gray to better blend in and look less eye-catching. It still had the golden glowy bits though.
“How’s your head?” I pulled out my phone and swapped the camera to act like a mirror. “They managed to make some adjustments.”
”I see that.” Mira waved a hand, passing it between her floating halo and the Gravitic chambers on the sides of her head. Her entire body shuddered with the motion. “That- that feels so weird.”
I pulled back my phone and slid it into my pocket. I needed to remember to get her one soon. I completely forgot when we went shopping. ”Your speech seems more in control.”
“I feel much more in control.” Her eyes drifted up to the corner of the room. “My head is quiet. There’s still five of me, but the other four feel… muffled, almost.”
I couldn’t help the smile that forced its way onto my lips when I heard that. She was recovering. Next would be the ExoCore, and then she’d be back and stronger than ever. My mikata wasn’t one to be put down by something like this, at least if the fire starting to burn in her eyes once more was to be believed.
For the first time since I pulled her out of the lab, Mira likewise smiled a broad, carefree smile. It was still fragile, but things were slowly starting to look up.
— — —
AN: Writing about the snow and everything is making me so excited for winter. Definitely my favorite season. I’m so looking forward to it!
Also, before anyone asks, the ears were a joke.