[MHHQ - locked to those who'd be there]

[_megaman_x]

X PINpointed himself and Harpuia, holding Phantom's device, directly into the incoming patient ward of the Hunter medbay. Across the ward, there were a number of triage examination alcove stations along the walls. One station had a humanoid medic looking over a human Hunter's dislocated shoulder. Several stations further down was another

Comments

[bloodemerald]

There were no more outbursts; Harpuia simply stayed quiet, and all but grafted to X.

At the same time was the faint murmur of Phantom's presence, not quite 'awake' but aware nonetheless.

[_megaman_x]

X quietly continued to pet Harpuia's hair. A few minutes later, the door opened.

"You had better not be aggravating those injuries, X." Lifesaver said as the doors closed behind him. It might not have been the most polite sort of greeting, but it was Lifesaver's way of saying he was concerned for his new patient's well-being.

X looked up from Harpuia and smiled to see the Hunter's CMO. "Nice to see you too, Lifesaver. This is Harpuia."

Lifesaver nodded in greeting. "So I see."

"Harpuia, this is Lifesaver, the Hunter's Chief Medical Officer."

Lifesaver walked up to the exam bed, sizing up X and the smaller reploid sitting on the bed. "Am I going to have to patch you up too, X?"

X shook his head. "No. I'm not injured."

[bloodemerald]

Harpuia lifted his head just enough to eye Lifesaver, make some kind of squeak-hiss kind of little noise, and then scrunch down again.

Not terribly reassured, was the former Daeva. Not by someone that huge.

[_megaman_x]

"Good. Then I won't have to deal with you trying to sneak out of recovery early again, X."

At Harpuia's scrunching, X shifted to pet his hair again. "It's okay. He's here to help."

Lifesaver paused at the squeak-hiss and raised an eyebrow, though it was a bit hard to tell under his helmet. He glanced from the cringing Harpuia back to X, who was still holding Harpuia. "Well? Are you going to let me work or are you going to sit there hovering?"

[bloodemerald]

All things being considered, Harpuia would have just as soon stayed right by X, or had X stay right there, or however it would have worked. Unfortunately, he wasn't exactly going to have that option for long.

Good thing he wasn't really clear on that. Maybe.

"... I didn't do anything to him."

[_megaman_x]

Lifesaver blinked at Harpuia's response. "No one said you did."

X pet Harpuia's hair once more before shifting to pull back so he could look into Harpuia's face. "You're going to need to lie down so we can scan you. Alright?"

[bloodemerald]

"I ..."

Harpuia stopped in mid-protest, and -- with some hesitation -- detached himself from X and gingerly settled himself down on the bed.

He was not, however, laying on his back, but rather on his side. And Phantom's module was still clutched close.

[_megaman_x]

Lifesaver eyed Harpuia for a moment before moving to start programming the scanning equipment. At the same time, he contacted X over private comm frequency.

[Just what is this kid's story, X? This isn't the same one that was in here before, is he?]

X pet Harpuia's hair in reassurance before responding to Lifesaver.

[No. This isn't the same one. He's mentally fragile right now, Lifesaver, so try not to be too gruff with him. He's scared.]

[Doesn't he know I'm not going to hurt him?]

[I told him he's safe here, but he's not confident about it. He's been badly abused, Lifesaver. Doctors altered him physically, and I fear mentally, against his will. He's afraid he'll be changed more.]

[*growl* Whoever those so-called 'doctors' are, they don't deserve that title. What they deserve is a fist in the face and a boot up their arse.]

[You don't need to convince me of that. Listen, I know it'll slow things down, but it's important he knows what you're going to do before you do it. It'll help reassure him you're not going to

[bloodemerald]

Throughout the exchange between X and Lifesaver, Harpuia -- quite oblivious -- was peering around the room and twitching his winglets nervously.

Once Lifesaver spoke, his attention riveted onto the medic; wide-eyed, he stared for a moment before nodding once, slowly.

"Scanning ... is fine."

[_megaman_x]

"Good." Lifesaver nodded as he adjusted a control panel and several sections of the equipment activated and extended from near the head of the bed

[bloodemerald]

Harpuia had not at all wanted to stretch out on the bed. On the one hand, it left him either vulnerable to being ambushed (being face-down) or in considerable discomfort (with his winglets pinned against the bed); on the other, stretching out meant not keeping Phantom's livemetal close

[_megaman_x]

As the scan finished, Lifesaver frowned down at the results. The scanner extensions shut down, the curtain of light vanishing, then retracted. X stepped forward to the bedside and lightly rested his hand on Harpuia's near shoulder. "You can move now." X murmured down to him before looking up at Lifesaver.

Lifesaver scowled down at the results. Whoever had done this deserved a hell of a lot more than a fist and a boot. He hoped they got what was coming to them and then some - as uncharitable as that might be for a doctor to think.

Lifesaver frowned down at the second set of results.

[And just what, exactly, is this?] Lifesaver followed that up with a brief data-dump to X on the results for the module.

[That, would be Phantom. Harpuia's brother. And no, he's not supposed to be in that device. He was forcibly implanted into it.]

[I am a doctor, so I do not say this lightly. But if you meet the ones that did this I want you to shoot them... a lot. *pause* ...Maybe not fatally, but they'd deserve it. This is beyond

[bloodemerald]

As soon as the scan had completed and the light had died down -- immediately after X touched him -- Harpuia rolled over just enough to lever himself into a sitting position, draw up his knees, and curl around the livemetal, winglets quivering. Somehow, throughout his contortions he managed to stay in contact with X.

He more or less stayed silent throughout X and Lifesaver's conferral, unless one counted the occasional soft murmur that seemed to be directed towards Phantom. At least he wasn't trying to rabbit away now that the scan was completed.

When Lifesaver spoke aloud, he lifted his head to eye the medic briefly; then nodded, once, in apparent agreement. Then he looked towards X.

"... what about Phantom?"

[_megaman_x]

As Harpuia curled up, X resumed petting his hair. He glanced down at Harpuia as he spoke, then up at Lifesaver. "Is there anything you can do for the module?"

"I'm not familiar with the design of the device. It's low on energy and there is some damage. I'll need to scan it again and go over the scan results to determine how it recharges. I want to get you hooked up first, though." As Lifesaver directed that last to Harpuia, he pulled several feeder lines out of the solid base of the exam bed. "Which of your connector ports do you want me to use?"

[bloodemerald]

Listening again, Harpuia nodded reluctant acceptance of the need to give the livemetal module a second, deeper scan before anything could be done. Phantom was notably silent; but then, attempting to reserve his energy as he was, perhaps that was not so odd.

Harpuia shivered, violently, at Lifesaver's question even has he answered.

"Not -- not my spine. They lock --"

Clearly that was a bad thing as far as he was concerned.

[_megaman_x]

X rested his hand on Harpuia's shoulder at the violent shiver.

Lifesaver frowned slightly. That sort of reaction was disturbing and cause for a closer look at the scan results.

It only took him a few seconds to review the results in his head and he had to keep himself from scowling (didn't want to scare the shaken boy, after all) at the information on the spinal ports. It was a hugely invasive, exposed cluster of ports that hooked into just about all of his systems, and locked the connections in place. The way it was set up almost seemed designed to allow invasive control, with or without permission.

"Alright. We'll use the one on your abdomen. Can you dismiss your armor now?"