DD 302 Ch 37

The doc motored away with a handheld electric saw while the first patient moaned and stared up at the ceiling.

“Are you just cutting it out?” I asked him, surprised at how primitive this procedure was starting to look.

“He has an adventurer’s body. That means he’s tougher and more drug resistant than an average citizen. He’s got enough sedatives in him to take out an elephant and as you can see he’s still awake.” The man grumbled. Grumbling had become a common occurrence for the doctor while he was working.

“I think the saw is the problem.” Des pointed out, oh so helpfully.

“This is a mechanical scalpel. Again, it is the tool we use for adventurers.” He said and focused on his work. “And no, I’m not ‘just cutting it out’. While we’ve found a cocktail to sedate both the host and the threadspawn, simply removing the worm causes multiple organ failure. And any attempts to revive we have made have failed, as if the patient has been dead for too long.”

“But they aren’t dead right now.” I said.

“Correct. However, when the worm is forcibly removed we’ve verified that it kills the host in such a way that prevents revival.” He continued.

That fact was concerning to me in more than one way as I shared a look with the rest of my group. Revive was a backbone that so many adventurers relied on as they continued down the  risky path of diving the dungeon.

“Maybe give him a break.” Crimson leaned on my shoulder. “The guy looks like he could take a dozen nights sleep and still be tired. Also, we need him to work for us without trying to use that scalpel on us.”

“I can still hear you.” The doctor said loudly over the whir of the mechanical scalpel. “The worm has to be killed and removed from the body instantly. Our best attempts have been with lasers to minimize the damage to the host.” He gestured at the articulating arm above the table.

“Huh. I bet I could do it better.” Crimson commented.

“Yes, well from what I’ve heard and seen from you, I’d rather use my laser. It has far more… precision.” He grumbled and shot us all a glare that said to leave him alone.

I backed off, only Charlotte hovered nearby having taken it to heart that she might be the one performing this in the future. “So…” I glanced around at my party.

Felin was leaning against her spear looking bored, while Penny was stoically standing as if in a constant state of vigil.

“I’ve seen worse.” Felin said, her tail flicking back and forth behind her.

“Just let the doctor try his method on those two and we can get a third if needed.” Penny said, pointedly not watching what was happening on the operating table. “Though, I’d like to get out of here as soon as we can.”

“That goes for all of us I think.” I said. This place felt like I was playing with matches next to a powder keg. 

As if the world were listening to my thoughts, a sudden bang slammed against the operating suite’s doors, the double doors bending inward at the seam where they met and the bar across them warping.

“Are you in there, doctor? You have no need to use the suite. Your research should have ceased,” the voice boomed from outside.

The doctor looked up from his work, panic flaring in his eyes.

“I’ll handle this,” I said quietly, already shifting toward the door. Based on his fear and the state of the facility there was no need to check if this was a hostile. Anyone moving around the facility freely was a problem to solve.

We didn’t need to communicate after all the training Crimson and I had done together; slipping into a coordinated effort came naturally. We’d fought too many times not to know how the other moved.

Both of us were by the door as Crimson nodded reaching out towards the handle. Her often playful blue eyes were sharp like twin spikes of ice.

“Doctor,” the voice barked again, and the doors bowed inward a second time, nearly giving way.

Crimson ripped them open before the next strike landed. Her whip lashed past the first figure in the hall, coiling around the neck of the second. A flick of her wrist yanked the body forward, its neck bending unnaturally before she slammed it onto the floor.

[Sword of Omens] flashed forward and the first figure who was still mid-swing toward the door, barely had time to register shock before my blade slid cleanly through his neck while he was stunned. He dropped in a heap across the threshold.

“Bring them inside,” Crimson said briskly, already kicking her victim across the floor.

It began to revive, the threadspawn in the corpse trying to get it back up, but her heel came down sharply, killing it again and cracking the floor.

“Stupid worms,” she muttered, then glanced up at the doctor. “What would you do with the ones I dropped off?”

He hesitated. Even for a man used to blood, Crimson’s casual brutality clearly rattled him. “We… put them in the freezer,” he said at last.

“Directions would be helpful.” She put her hand on her hips and he jumped.

“It’s nearby. Down the hall to the right. Go past several corridors, and you can’t miss it. The whole thing hums like a dozen beehives.” He swallowed audibly. 

“Great.” Crimson smiled one of her classic predatory smiles. “We’ll go throw these two in there. I assume we can just pop them back up and freeze them? That stops the Threadspawn from doing anything?” It was the politest she’d sounded all trip.

“Yes,” the doctor said quickly. “Threadspawn are still living creatures. If you freeze them, they go dormant. Technically neither host nor worm dies, but they might as well. To thaw them out, we kill the host, warm them, and revive them.”

Several of my party members turned to me with interest in their eyes.

It was an interesting technique, but I had bigger concerns. As I looked down at the Threadspawn, another thought struck me.

“If these two go missing, what are the odds they send more?” I posed it as a question to the room.

“They’ll come looking eventually,” Penny agreed.

“That means,” Crimson said, “we should probably start doing something about the Threadspawn. We’ll have to anyway.”

I nodded. She was right. Even if we got the cure, we couldn’t walk away and pretend none of this affected us. Not when the nest was here on Earth’s surface. I wasn’t a hero, but I couldn’t leave such a ticking time bomb at my back.

“What are you proposing, Crimson?” I asked, already bracing to not like her answer.

She grinned, confirming I was not going to like what she was about to say. “We take out as many of the bastards as we can. Even if I’m having a spat with Scaredy Cat, I can’t leave a Threadspawn spawning ground on Earth. Not in good conscience.”

I sighed. “You’re right. We can’t let our dispute with the president of the UG cause harm when we can prevent it.”

“I’ll stay here,” Charlotte offered immediately, watching the doctor’s hands even while speaking, making sure that his work continued forward. I smiled, finding myself once again thankful for Charlotte.

“We need that cure first,” I agreed.

“I’ll come with you,” Des said, already perking up at the prospect of action.

Penny nodded. “I can message you if anything happens, and you can portal back.”

I looked around as a basic plan solidified.

“Sounds good to me. Felin, you’re staying with Penny.”

The Nekorian bobbed her head enthusiastically, ears flapping. “Yeah, all we have to do is babysit the creepy doctor. Shouldn’t be too hard.”

The doctor scowled, making Felin cross her arms and give a huffy hiss. “Don’t deny it. You are creepy. Normal people don’t enjoy cutting up bodies that much unless they are butchers.”

“This is science,” he sniffed.

Felin gave him a placid smile that miraculously communicated both ‘Shut up’ and ‘You’re wrong’ simultaneously.

“Some of us have work to do,” he muttered.

“Well then, let’s go,” Crimson said, already striding out. And though we’d been given directions, the faint blue glow in her eyes told me she was scanning for her own route as well.

She sprinted down the hall so quickly that I had to activate Sprint to keep up.

Des launched herself after us, demonic wings forming as she strained to match our speed. Even so, it was hard for her but she kept up. Crimson’s training was brutal, but even casters didn’t get to skip strength and agility work.

The hum grew louder, exactly as the doctor had described. By the time we reached the larger chamber with several roll-up doors, it really did sound like a swarm of colossal bees.

Six slouched figures stood inside.

As we entered, they jerked upright all at once like puppets being yanked by the same strings or perhaps like predators smelling blood.

I shot forward, stabbing one through the gut and spinning to strike the second. But whatever momentary “boot-up” process the Threadspawn required was already over. The second lunged before my blade could bite into him.

Des and Crimson were dealing with their own two. A bolt of magical darkness burst from Des’s hand, slamming into one of her targets before it even managed to fully rise. It didn’t put up much of a fight. Even though the wound was minor by adventurer standards, it was enough to drop the Threadspawn for a moment before it began to twitch and revive.

I couldn’t watch Des’s encounter more, knowing she could handle herself. And I had my own trouble to deal with.

This Threadspawn, like those in the penthouse, moved far faster and hit far harder than their adventurer levels should allow. But now I knew more about what I was facing. This time, I did not think of them as adventurers at all. I thought of them as glass cannons.

[Earthstomp] rippled across the floor, the tremor knocking both of mine off balance for a precious second. My blades slid into that opening, cleaving the second one’s head clean off before dancing over to the first and finishing him as well with a sword through his chest. He went down in a heap. and even as he began to twitch with revival, I sliced his head off too, preventing the ability from taking hold.

Pausing, I looked up at my two companions.

“They’re really icky,” Crimson stated, rolling her two toward the doors with her boot.

“Well, at least the freezers are still on.” I nodded, trying to look on the bright side.

Des gave me a strange look. “I guess you’re right. The Threadspawn don’t need the freezers anymore, but I guess they also don’t care about conserving energy, do they?”

“No, they do not,” I chuckled, using [Shadow Arm] to drag my two corpses into the freezer and letting the cold roll over them as I began to cast Revive.

Revival took hold a moment later. The Threadspawn stirred a tiny bit, the cold slowing them to a crawl as frost was already forming on the hem of their clothes. Clearly, the freezers worked as advertised.

Even I was having trouble warding off the chill, and I had significantly more stamina than any of these adventurers. Opening and closing my hands, I tried to keep the blood flowing.

“Come on,” Crimson said, nudging me with her elbow. “We’ve got more to do before you can curl up in front of a fireplace and get warm.”

“I can think of more entertaining ways to stay warm,” Des threw out, looking over at me with a longing look.

I shot her a smirk tempered with a warning. Crimson might have her own ideas, and those often included training. I looked over at Crimson, noting her expression.

“Worried?” I asked her quietly.

She scoffed. “Me? Worried? Why would I be? Have I ever not been strong enough to deal with things for you?” She playfully flexed in front of me.

I smiled back, projecting as much confidence as I could. I already knew Crimson didn’t want to call the demons for help, even if I could convince the demons to simply put the infected on ice. Crimson’s ego had taken a hit in the penthouse. She had always been superhuman, the best of the best. She had been able to manage anything humanity threw at her.

But the Threadspawn and the rest of the deeper races were something else, and they were starting to test her limits.

“They seem easy enough if you don’t get stuck on defense,” Des said, brushing her wings off with a flick. “No matter how fast or strong they make their human hosts, at the end of the day they’re still squishy. They can’t stand up to any of our attacks.”

I nodded in agreement.

“The best choice of action is sneak attacks, then.” I smiled and drew my daggers. “Which is great for us.”

AN - Sorry. At this point I know a little how I tick and between the holiday/travel and coming home to a few problems I got a little overwhelmed. It ate my buffer and I apologize for missing a few days.