Bionica: Origins

Chapter Seven

Siren leads me and Ratchet out of her room and into a med room, where she sits Ratchet in a chair by the examination table. She then proceeds to roll a sheet of paper over the table and have me lie on it. After this she pokes around my torso. If there's a worse pain than someone poking a grenade wound, I haven't felt it yet.

"Okay," Siren says. "Let me first take a minute to formally apologize for shredding my best friend's torso."

"Wasn't your fault," I reply through gritted teeth.

"Now let me explain what I'm going to do so I don't freak you out," Siren continues. "It doesn't look like the shrapnel is too bad; you've got some little tiny pieces which will be hard to take out, but for the most part they're a good size. This should be quick and easy, but the only problem is that I don't have any anesthetic with me. And I can't wait any longer to do this or you're going to bleed to death."

"Just get it over with," I say. I prepare for the worst.

"Okay..." Siren slips on a pair of latex gloves and grabs some tweezers from a cabinet. As she begins, I have to clamp my lips shut to keep from screaming. Ratchet sees me and slips his good hand into mine. Somehow this lessens the pain.

Ratchet bends down to talk to me. "Focus on me," he says. "Look into my eyes. Don't think about her. Concentrate." I do. I look straight into his eyes and nothing else matters. He has such pretty eyes. They're red, but they're such a dark red that they're almost brown. And I find that I can't look away from them. I search his face. He has lavender streaks in his dark, spiky hair, and the look of concern on his face tells me he really does care. All that flirting... was it all outside of his personality? Could it really just have been to get my attention?

"Okay, that's done," Siren says.

I jolt out of my stupor. "Really?" It didn't feel like that long. "How long did it take?"

"Maybe an hour," Siren replies, slipping off her gloves. "Some of that stuff was really in there."

I spent an hour staring at Ratchet and it felt like five minutes. God, I'm beginning to fall for him, aren't I? I look down at my side and see it neatly stitched up, the threads black and ugly against my skin. Siren grabs a roll of bandages from the cabinet and starts wrapping it around my waist. She tucks the end of the bandage in and says I'm done with that. I get up, wincing. It hurts, but not as much as it did before.

Siren takes up a needle and an IV bag and pulls a chair up for me by the examination table. "It's obvious you two are meant to be together," she says, smirking and letting Ratchet lie down. He looks up at me and smiles.

"Well, I'm okay with that."

I smile back at him. For a moment, we share a gaze that seems infinite. And I enjoy it. Then Siren cuts in by jabbing the needle into my forearm.

"Hey!" I shout.

Siren shrugs. "You need more fluid. I gotta get it in there somehow."

"You could've waited until we were done," Ratchet mumbles.

"Uh, Ratchet?" she starts. "You want me to tell you what's going to happen or am I gonna wing it?"

"Please don't wing my surgery," Ratchet whimpers.

"Fine. It looks like I crushed your shoulder, so I'm gonna have to cut into it to replace all the bones. I'm going to use a natural bonding agent to help fuse the bones and get you back fighting quicker. I'll put a cast on it and you should be back on the battlefield in about two weeks. That work?"

Ratchet nods. "As long as I don't die during all this."

"I think that can be arranged," Siren says. She starts the surgery. It's hard and obviously painful work, but I squeeze Ratchet's hand through it all and he seems to relax. Soon enough it's done, and he gets up to let Siren put a proper sling on his arm.