บท 69: Meeting The 'Kind' Doctor
"And this man right here is our comatose corpse," Liam heard from outside the room. Quickly, he closed his eyes.
"What happened to him?" another voice asked as the door creaked open slightly. "He looks healthy to me."
"He might look fine laying face-up, but turn him over, and you'll see why," the first voice replied.
"What happened?"
"One day, he just appeared out of nowhere with his entire back melted off. His skin was dripping onto the grass when we found him. He was brought inside, and since then, he's been like this."
Liam heard the sound of the door closing, followed by footsteps leaving. Slowly, he opened his eyes and attempted to sit up, but the pain in his back was unbearable. Gritting his teeth, he pushed through it and eventually managed to sit up, finally able to look around the room he was in.
His eyes flew around the room as he absorbed as many details of his situation as possible. 'Looks like I didn't reincarnate again,' he thought with a sigh of relief after inspecting his body. Then, he noticed a camera placed in one of the upper corners of the room.
'Ah, I must've already been spotted,' Liam thought. He decided to scan the room once more, hoping to find any clues about where he was.
As he looked at the hospital bed, he noticed something lying on his pillow. Reaching for it slowly—since every movement brought sharp pain—he grabbed the broken metal pieces and brought them closer to his face.
Observing them carefully, Liam realized, 'These seem to be pieces of the belt's core that I saw earlier.'
His mind got occupied with thoughts until the sound of a door clicking open snapped him back to reality. His eyes shot to the door, where a woman with black hair and a lab coat stepped inside.
'Oh. That's fast,' Liam thought.
"Good afternoon," the woman began. "My name is Dr. Cecilia Reyes. I placed you in this hospital after you were critically injured and found by my students."
The name felt familiar, but Liam couldn't immediately place it. While he tried to recall where he'd heard it before, he replied, "I'd stand up to thank you, but it doesn't look like my back will allow me to do that." He offered a small smile. "My name is Liam Hawthorne. Pleasure to meet you."
"That's alright," Dr. Reyes said with a polite nod. "Your injuries were so severe that I'm surprised you managed to survive, let alone wake up from a coma after two months."
"Two months?" Liam repeated, surprised.
"Yes. You were unconscious for two full months," she confirmed.
'Two months… that's a long time,' Liam thought, processing the information.
"I understand that might come as a shock," Dr. Reyes continued. "I'll leave you to process everything. If you experience any discomfort, please call using the button beside your bed."
"Thank you," Liam replied politely.
Once the room was quiet again, Liam closed his eyes and began scanning his body. Everything seemed fine—until he reached his back. His skin was still scarred from the explosion, but something else got his attention: grey pieces on most of his back. A melted substance had fused into his skin.
Examining the pieces more closely, Liam realized, 'These are parts of Incursio. They must've fused together with my cells after they both got melted down during the explosion.'
With that in mind, Liam looked at the camera in the corner of the room. 'I want to test some things, but that camera has to go.'
Placing one hand behind his back, Liam summoned a construct of a whip. Pain went through his body as he swung it, but the whip hit, smashing the camera.
'I probably have about a minute or two before she comes in,' he calculated, remembering how quickly she had arrived earlier.
With that in mind, Liam summoned Incursio around him. He focused inside of him, feeling a small connection to the armor from his back. As he looked further, he noticed white energy flowing through his body. Wherever it passed, it altered his cells, changing his skin's resistance.
The feeling was really comfortable, spreading warmth all over his back as the energy worked to change it. However, when Liam tried to manipulate the energy, attempting to focus all of it to his back, it ignored him.
'It still won't let me manipulate it,' he thought, annoyed. He decided to switch his tactics, he tried pushing his own energy to guide Incursio's to the right places, but the two forces fought, struggling for dominance. Realizing this wasn't working, Liam stopped interfering and let the white energy flow freely like it was doing before.
'Well, that didn't work out,' he thought. He continued watching the proces when something strange happened.
As he watched, he noticed a new energy—a yellow one—entering Incursio from his right gauntlet, where he had been holding the belt pieces. The yellow energy spread throughout both his body and the armor, thinning out a lot as it covered every inch of his body.
The moment the yellow energy reached his back, the pain returned in full force. It attacked the dead cells, burning through them and slowly regenerating healthy flesh. Liam gritted his teeth, enduring the pain.
'This isn't just healing,' he realized. 'Incursio is changing my skin to make it more resistant to burns, while the yellow energy is focused purely on regenerating it.'
The yellow energy dove deep into his cells, slowly merging with both him and Incursio. However, the regeneration process was painfully slow—nothing remotely close to the speed at which mutants like Wolverine or Deadpool heal.
Liam's thoughts turned to the belt. 'If that dimension wasn't the actual Akame Ga Kill world, it might've been a simulation or memory created by Incursio. If that's the case, it could've remembered more energy or bioelectric patterns from past enemies.'
'If it was actually the dimension, then Incursio is just using the current energy to adapt. Which could also mean that there are more of these remains in there.'
Footsteps echoed through the hallway, interrupting his thoughts. Quickly, Liam unsummoned Incursio and prepared for the visitor.
The door opened, and Dr. Reyes stepped inside. "It's not polite to destroy other people's property—especially when those people saved your life," she said, walking over to inspect the broken camera.
"I don't like being recorded," Liam replied casually.
"I used it to monitor your health. Now, what will I do if someone else gets injured or sick?" she said.
"Oh yeah, forgot about that," Liam said nonchalantly. "By the way, where exactly am I?"
"You're in Milbury Hospital, in the U.S.," Dr. Reyes replied.
The answer caught Liam off guard. 'Milbury?' He frowned internally. 'If I remember correctly, the place in that movie wasn't called Milbury—it was Medfield or something.'
Liam nodded before asking. ''When can I be released?''
"To make sure you survive, you'll need to stay here for a while," she continued. "Injuries like yours are highly susceptible to infections. I also need to confirm something important for your recovery: are you aware of your mutant ability?"
"I'm not a mutant," Liam thought for a moment, before answering with the truth.
Dr. Reyes misiunderstood his hesitation as fear of discrimination or other past traumas. "Don't worry. We're not like those people from the outside world. Everyone here is a mutant, this is a facility for young mutants, teens who need some extra care before they can go on to live healthy adult lives." she said kindly.
"I'm really not a mutant," Liam repeated once more.
Unconvinced, she smiled gently. "Whenever you feel comfortable sharing your abilities, just let me know using the button beside your bed. The world outside might treat you differently, but rest assured, you're safe here."
With that, Dr. Reyes turned and left the room.
After Liam watched her leave, his expression changed. 'Why are women so good at lying?' he wondered, irritated.
As the door closed behind her, Liam heard more footsteps approaching from the hallway.
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Donnuuu
Donnuuu It turns out I can not change the book cover to a picture of Illyana :DepressedPepeEmote:.
Also am well on my way with saving up extra chapters for christmas release :).
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