It took another two hours before the patient was allowed to be seen by anybody. Even when Charlie had seen much more gruesome sights through the years, the doctors were apparently not keen on having any potential fainting going on. They’d had enough of that already with some of the family that had visited those injured. If not for the annoyance of lacking efficiency, Charlie would have perhaps joked around it. Not now, though. His face couldn’t smile.

“Do you feel pleasure in standing around doing nothing or are you just too empty behind those eyes of yours?” Mara asked to his side as they both stood in front of the door that could lead them into Troy’s shared room. Charlie had to blink himself back at the moment, not having collected himself enough to realise what he was even doing at the current time. Sleep was needed soon, else he would simply collapse. How long had he been awake anyway? It was getting closer and closer to three days by now.

Heading inside, a very awake Troy was seen. The young man didn’t seem entirely happy about his new weight change, waving his right arm around the air where the left one had been. Once again, Charlie felt the desire to crack a joke about it. Was his destabilising mind really that keen to make fun of the younger one? It certainly seemed so.

“You look like shit,” Mara said at Troy with the bluntness of a well-used guillotine. “How’s the rest of your body?”

“I will puke the moment I move my head but otherwise I feel fine,” Troy answered with little hesitation, though he still steadfastly stared at where his other arm had been mere hours ago. Charlie supposed he could make some form of comfort soon. “I have no clue why but my left arm itches.”

“You don’t have one of those anymore, I’m afraid,” Charlie said as a quite acute observation from himself as he sat down on the bed. Looking at the way they had taken off the arm halfway up where the elbow had previously been, he started to frown. “Wasn’t it just your forearm that had issues?”

“There was too much damage to the nerves, apparently. Doctors thought it best to not take any chances that could lead to an extended surgery,” Troy answered bitterly. “It would have been great to at least move some part of it. Instead, I get an extreme itch that I just can’t scratch.”

“It will pass by itself within the next day,” Mara, the only one of them that had any degree related to psychology, said dryly. The woman had become much more lively the moment the energy had started to metabolise inside her. Colour was most certainly returning to her features, her hands didn’t shake as much anymore, and that look of pure annoyance made Charlie’s heart flutter with joy. Even when next to a person that had recently lost their arm, the large man couldn’t help but feel comforted in some small sense. The months spent making sure they weren’t caught finally seemed to be paying off at some level. “Or maybe you will feel it until the moment you decide to kill yourself to escape the sensation.”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Charlie agreed, not really listening to the last bit as much as he probably should have. “The doctor agreed to discharge you since a few others need that bed of yours. We’ll have to redress your new wound ourselves but I don’t think that’s going to be an issue. So… would you rather walk or sit in a wheelchair.”

Troy chose to walk, though first showing off brilliantly why there had been a bucket right next to the bed. Charlie silently wondered how much the little man had gotten to eat while inside the hospital. Afterwards, they got out as quickly as possible, meeting up with a certain Cassandra who Charlie hadn’t seen for a while.

“Did you find anything?” Charlie asked, never having had the chance to know for sure. Though, the smile on her face made the answer clear.

“I found a four-star hotel down the street that could accept us, though they’d require that we pay upfront,” Cassandra explained quickly. “I assume that’s something that we can work with?”

‘Do you have any chance at being able to fake a money transfer without connecting to the global network?’ Charlie questioned Adam through the still-running chatroom. They would have to shut it down sooner rather than later since they were leaving the tents in the next minute or so but the man would use the features until his last breath.

‘I could do it without changing anything but the local driver,’ the AI sent back to Charlie, making the man nod to Cassandra’s question. That made them all quickly leave the area, moving down the street while helping Troy move along. There were obvious balancing issues from the changed centre of mass, the man swaying to the side every time he tried to walk by himself. It would certainly have to be fixed soon if they were going to travel into the country.

Troy was luckily still wearing the earpiece, the thing still having a few pieces of tape clinging onto it from when they travelled through the river. Charlie felt the urge to rip it off to stop any chance of the skin turning red and painful but felt that it would likely compare to nothing when set again what the non-existent arm would feel like the moment the pain meds started wearing off. There were a few doses Troy would have to go through once they got back to the hotel. Even with modern equipment, there was nothing stopping human nerves from complaining.

The hotel itself was fine enough. Four stars certainly meant something in the country, the inside quite luxurious. They were attended to by a finer man in his forties who led them around the place before offering them the different rooms. Charlie just picked the one which could house all three of them without having an obvious sightline from the other buildings. That… did show a price with more zeros than Charlie normally dealt with but a quick brush with Troy’s remaining arm made it all paid for. They even got drinks for free, though the man doubted they’d be used for anything but disinfectant.

Looking over at Mara, Charlie reconsidered it for a moment before deciding to make sure that it would only be used for disinfecting possible wounds. He had no desire to deal with her drunk, especially when her liver was still only half-used together. Even with the healing done to her, it would still take a day or two before she could really start stretching. Her walking around was already a breach of the agreement yet Charlie had been utterly unable to stop her. Being told to ‘fuck off’ was too much.

Getting to the room, the people filtered through the apartment. It had several bathrooms, two semi-large bathtubs as well. There was a fine view, three coolers with aged drinks, and enough snacks to feed a family of thirty-five. Charlie had no care for such pleasantries, instead checking for the possible security options. The camera outside the room was fitted to show off the data at the door, making it possible to see the faces of anybody coming by. Mixing that in with the bullet- and explosion-proof windows, the large man began to understand why the place was still in operation. It was a bunker in its own class, though one which could still massively overcharge for people trying to get inside.

The moment Charlie finally was sure about the various security-options, memorising how they worked, making absolutely sure that the other people knew as well, and then what plans were in play if intruders came about, he went to bed comfortably. There were several beds to choose from but no real thought was put into choosing which he wanted. The one that sat closest by his body the moment everything was confirmed was the one which he chose, laying down upon it.

At least the man imagined that he must have done so, having fallen into a deep slumber the moment his back finally relaxed. Everybody else in the room had… differing reactions.

“You got thrown through an industrial-class security panel, fell forty metres down into a freezing river, and then had to get an amputation because your arm got manhandled?” Cassandra questioned as Troy sat down in the chair. He still felt a dull itch around the area his left arm was supposed to be. Even when he had still been in possession of such a limb, there had never been such an irritating sensation put upon it. If it didn’t stop soon, he wasn’t sure how he was going to fix it.

“You should meet Dr Fidelis before you start thinking so low of him,” Troy noted as he itched his left shoulder. There was still a small stump of sorts at the base, though it was currently bandaged all the way around. He needed to figure out how to change that when he had the chance. He had no desire to risk another form of removal. Was it even possible to remove shoulder blades? The man had no desire to find out or risk figuring it out the hard way. “When we were still at the facility, I saw him run through a solid concrete wall while chasing us. He didn’t even falter during that either.”

“I… am not sure that’s possible for a human to do,” Cassandra said slowly, picking her words with careful grace. “Isn’t there an issue with mass, energy, and all that stuff?”

“You underestimate the extent these augmentations change you,” Dr Hale said from the side, speaking once more. Troy truly was happy to see the woman not having any issues with her speech anymore. Even that slight look of worry had all but disappeared, replaced with a look of constant, utter hatred. It was good to have her back in fighting shape. “Some of the physical feats it allows you to do can seem impossible to the more stupid minds of your generation.”

Going hard with the critique already, Troy supposed. Cassandra certainly seemed taken aback by the slap from the older woman, though a business smile quickly appeared after that. Was she already used to that form of treatment? That couldn’t be healthy. Even Troy was annoyed at Dr Hale sometimes, even if he understood where she came from.

“You must be quite the expert to make those claims,” Cassandra started with a smile still running. Dr Hale looked on with a blunt face, seemingly not caring about anything in the world. Nukes could drop in every single city and it wouldn’t be enough to make the woman raise her eyebrow. That was certainly respectable, Troy had to give her that. “What did you say you worked with?”

“Perfecting torture of newborns,” Dr Hale answered. That… was an accurate description of her previous job, though it was clearly misworded to make it seem quite offensive to the other party in the conversation. But, Troy assured himself, there was no way Cassandra would ever fall for such-

“So the one who did the harm suddenly feels bad about it after twenty years?” Cassandra began to question, that smile wavering. Troy just looked on, unsure of what he thought of either of the two. “Or were you just scared that they would remove you the moment that you completed your goal?”

“My death has always been included in every plan, though all were destined to happen many years from now,” Dr Hale said. “After the first run was complete, I was meant to help make sure we could do it again and again for all eternity. In essence, I was helping make the perfect child soldier factory. Do you have any more questions that won't make sense to ask?”

Cassandra kept quiet for a few seconds before calming down silently.

“I believe I will do us all a favour and get some rest,” Cassandra noted, clearly not comfortable with how her position in the group was shaping up to be. “I wish you all good night. Get some rest while you can.”

Dr Hale moved along to do the same a few minutes afterwards, leaving Troy to sit at the empty table. Halfway through his silent adventure of sitting, he instinctively tried to scratch his head. Unsure of why that didn’t work, he saw himself failing to do so due to a missing arm.

… That wasn’t entirely surprising seeing as it had been several hours since it was removed at that point, yet the minor act of not being able to do something so routine threw the man off balance. Some tears might have been shed at that point. Nobody alive could prove it, though, all witnesses were quick asleep.

‘Be sure to drink before you go to sleep to rebalance your fluids,’ a certain AI who was supposed to act as a rock for five more minutes reminded him. Troy just sighed at that, grabbing one of the free water bottles to chug before moving along. At least it allowed him to get in the few remaining pain meds that were mandated. They helped him fall into the world of sleep quickly enough as well.