Meteora
Title: Mechanosurgery
Word Count: 374
"I don't care how much you're willing to pay," Jakob said, taking the velvet-lined case of subdermal nanotech implants and gently placing them back in the showcase. "I'm not putting those in you."
"But -"
"Listen, Az, I get it, you want Chris' head on a platter." He waved his hand dismissively at the entire showcase of high-end augmentations. "But this shit will kill you."
"You put it in humans," Azazel argued.
"Sure. With a thirty percent mortality rate." He cocked his head to one side, the gears in his neck grinding slightly, and thought for a moment. "Probably closer to forty, actually. Hard to tell with the mercs and the collectors and -"
"And you don't have any problem killing them."
"They're not my friends, first of all, and more importantly, they don't work for my brother." He nodded at Harvey as he pushed through the front door, the enormous arachnid crossing the shop toward the employee room with his lunch clutched protectively in two of his segmented metal legs. "You know what Kings will do to me if you drop dead in surgery?"
"I'm not human."
"Hate to break it to you, but in the mechanosurgery world you Turned kids don't count as hybrids." When he saw the scowl on Azazel's face, he winced slightly and picked up his polishing cloth again, returning to his previous task of meticulously wiping fingerprints off a mechanical hand composed of parts smaller than an average pocketwatch. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing it, personally. But you weren't born it, and that's kind of what counts."
"So you'd do it to Jaedyn."
"Course not. Neo Elves, man, they're delicate as rice paper."
"Or Sketch."
"Oh yeah, Sketch would be a prime candidate. Man, I haven't been able to work on a Lab-born in at least three years, it would -"
"So if I convinced him to do it, you'd do it."
"If you... Az, no, you are not coercing him into surgery."
"Jake, seriously, I'm appalled," Azazel said, feigning an expression of deep insult. "All this time you've known me, you think I'd do something like that?"
"I... shit, I'm sorry man, that was awfully -"
"I never said anything about coercing."
Word Count: 374
"I don't care how much you're willing to pay," Jakob said, taking the velvet-lined case of subdermal nanotech implants and gently placing them back in the showcase. "I'm not putting those in you."
"But -"
"Listen, Az, I get it, you want Chris' head on a platter." He waved his hand dismissively at the entire showcase of high-end augmentations. "But this shit will kill you."
"You put it in humans," Azazel argued.
"Sure. With a thirty percent mortality rate." He cocked his head to one side, the gears in his neck grinding slightly, and thought for a moment. "Probably closer to forty, actually. Hard to tell with the mercs and the collectors and -"
"And you don't have any problem killing them."
"They're not my friends, first of all, and more importantly, they don't work for my brother." He nodded at Harvey as he pushed through the front door, the enormous arachnid crossing the shop toward the employee room with his lunch clutched protectively in two of his segmented metal legs. "You know what Kings will do to me if you drop dead in surgery?"
"I'm not human."
"Hate to break it to you, but in the mechanosurgery world you Turned kids don't count as hybrids." When he saw the scowl on Azazel's face, he winced slightly and picked up his polishing cloth again, returning to his previous task of meticulously wiping fingerprints off a mechanical hand composed of parts smaller than an average pocketwatch. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing it, personally. But you weren't born it, and that's kind of what counts."
"So you'd do it to Jaedyn."
"Course not. Neo Elves, man, they're delicate as rice paper."
"Or Sketch."
"Oh yeah, Sketch would be a prime candidate. Man, I haven't been able to work on a Lab-born in at least three years, it would -"
"So if I convinced him to do it, you'd do it."
"If you... Az, no, you are not coercing him into surgery."
"Jake, seriously, I'm appalled," Azazel said, feigning an expression of deep insult. "All this time you've known me, you think I'd do something like that?"
"I... shit, I'm sorry man, that was awfully -"
"I never said anything about coercing."