The Lightning Strike

Introduction

You softly cringed to yourself as you heard the heavy pants of Genos coming from the other side of the steel door. Sure, it was two inch thick steel, but no matter. The tiny crack in the door still let out a tremendous amount of sound, some of which you recognized; after all, a similar procedure had been done to your legs, your hips, and your entire hand.

The shrill screams, the groans, the panting, and the gasps of pain and fear: they were all sounds that you were familiar with, and you sympathized with Genos.

But he was lucky. Dr. Kuseno worked on only parts of him at a time. One week was an arm, another was a leg. Right now, your mentor was working on Genos's dominant arm, his right one.

You weren't as lucky as Genos. When Dr. Kuseno had saved you, he hadn't worked on you bit by bit. No, when he nearly resurrected you from the dead, he worked on you all at once. He replaced your crushed arm and leg bones with titanium bones; never again would you break your bones. Your right hand? Titanium bones, once again. But your hand was far too fragile and weak on its own. Now a sleek, metal casing with a special system was attached to your real hand, and Dr. Kuseno had somehow connected the nerves and muscle so now you could say that your new hand was sleek, titanium metal that you had spent years trying to make it look like the metal morphed with your forearm flesh. All of your fixtures had happened within two weeks, with hardly a break. Your recovery time was well over a year, but with Genos? His recovery time might as well be cut in half, and his breaks were lengthy to ensure survival.

Granted, he did have more injuries than you, but nonetheless, you still considered him lucky.

Another scream let loose from inside the room, an unfamiliar one that made you cringe, but it was quickly followed with a sigh of relief.

You checked the time from your watch. Six-fifty... you thought to yourself; it was earlier than usual, Dr. Kuseno must have finished early. Maybe the dinner that you made for Dr. Kuseno wouldn't be in vain.

"[Name]?" Dr. Kuseno called from inside. You snapped your head up in response to his call, and you sighed.

"Yes sensei? Did you need something?" Gently, you pulled on the door to crack it open to poke your head inside, but Dr. Kuseno was quick to cover up your view.

"Nononono, [Name]. You can't come in yet," he huffed, looking down at you. "I still need to cover up his operation arm so he doesn't frighten himself by the view, and I don't need you being scared either." You frowned and crossed your arms with a huff.

"I've already seen my hand and my legs being replaced, I think I can handle it," you muttered, hoping that Dr. Kuseno wouldn't catch it.

If he caught it, he didn't mention it. Your mentor simply sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, and you heard the cracking and popping noises and a sigh of relief from him. "Ah, now [Name], is dinner ready?" You nodded, earning a smile from Dr. Kuseno. "Good. Have you eaten yet?" Again, you nodded. "Ah, good." Dr. Kuseno patted your head and stepped back. "Please get my meal ready, and when you finish, set the morphine in for Genos, please. Supervise him while I'm eating so that he doesn't pull on or damage anything, I'm still not done."

You nodded. "Yes sir!" You bowed and quickly ran off in the opposite direction of the operation room, a million thoughts running through your head as you got dinner ready. Your body moved on its own, your mind was a whirlpool of thoughts.

Quickly, you set the table for the doctor, then reheated his meal before placing a generous serving into his bowl. Just as you finished placing a plate of the side dish down on the table, Dr. Kuseno entered the kitchen and patted your back in a thanks.

"Thank you, [Name]. It smells wonderful." Your guardian sat down at the table and clapped his hands together, saying, "Thank you for the meal!" before starting on it.