City 17. Wilmington Private Hospital.
The Wilmington Private Hospital, is a hospital established by the Wilmington Foundation which is owned and run by Wilmington Technology. The hospital is built solely to care for the employees and families of those who work for the Wilmington Technology group.
"In the Emergency Care Ward there are several public and private rooms filled with VAC Pods. When a patient in critical condition is placed in a pod, the gel inside places the patients entire body into a form of stasis.
From there, the doctors administer different types of solutions into the gel that help heal the critical areas to the best of shape.
For a patient like Frank, whose legs were completely crushed, the best shape that the legs can be restored to would simply be that of rebuilding everything essential to keep the legs. The bones and tendons need to be reshaped and sealed, while blood vessels and veins need to reform and solidify. Still, all that will ensure is that the legs stay healthy enough to avoid surgery. No matter how advanced the technology has become, even if the nerves can be recreated, the connection and pathways they hold with the brain were lost.
Frank will keep his legs, but all they will be is a constant reminder that he can't walk.
You'll find him in Private Room 27. He's asleep right now, but I'll have a nurse stop by and inject some AD Solution. That should wake him up." A handsome doctor in his early thirties walked two individuals halfway down the private hallway of the hospital. The two individuals, a man and a woman, both wore badges on their hips. In the woman's hand, a small blue-green crystal.
The man, Ortega, was the first to speak up. "I noticed you said he should wake up."
"Indeed. Normally, we let the patient recover and wake up naturally when placed in a VAC Pod, but due to the urgency of this case we will try to induce consciousness. Still, all the AD Solution will do is ask his body to wake up. Its up to the boy's mind whether he wants to or not."
Joan, the woman, was the next to speak. "How will we talk to him? Surely you won't remove him from the VAC Pod, right? Wouldn't that completely disrupt the healing process?"
The doctor nodded his head, a smile on his face, glad to get this question out of the way. "You are absolutely right. In a full submersion VAC Pod, it would be impossible to question the patient before the healing process was complete. Luckily, thanks to the nature of the incident, Patient Frank avoided most injuries on his upper body. We believed that letting everything above his waist heal naturally would be in his best interest, and authorized the use of a half-submersion VAC Pod.
It seems we are here, I'll have a nurse come back with the AD Solution needed to get Frank up. You can head on in."
As the doctor walked away, the two detectives walked into the room.
"Alright, Joan, tell me. What do you make of the case so far?"
Ortega looked at Joan as she paused. Her eyebrows furrowed as she began to speak.
"Two awakened killed in a freak accident and a disappearing truck."
"Those are the basics, Joan, surely that's not all you think"
"It pretty much is. But I'm not talking about the basics. The two awakened killed were from Wilmington Tech, right?"
"Well, yeah. That's why the kid here is getting treatment at Wilmington Private."
"Exactly, but what kind of awakened does Wilmington employ?"
"I see where you're going with this, Joan. Strength Awakened and Wisdom Awakened."
"Again, exactly. We both saw photos of the accident sight. Do you REALLY think that those two piles of former humans could have been strength awakeners? Even if a low level strength awakener would have also died in the accident, at the very least their body would look well enough to be open casket."
"Jesus, Joan. I get it. Still, soften up on the word choices once the kid's awake."
"Yeah, yeah. Let me continue. If we take everything into consideration, the parents must have been Wisdom Awakeners, higher level researchers for Wilmington Tech."
"You're right. But even if that's true, wouldn't their higher mental stats have alerted them of the incoming accident. Wisdom Awakeners like them get a complete overworking of the Mental capacity. Their brains take in and analyze everything, even if they don't want to. The angle of the truck's lights, the sounds of the truck crossing into the other side of traffic."
"About thirty things to alert them that an accident was about to occur."
"Right. Yet the accident still happened. They still didn't react. Now they're dead, and their son's in the hospital."
"That's why I think it was--"
"They were murdered?" A soft and broken voice came from the direction of the VAC Pod.
"Ah, shit." Joan sighed and looked away from the young child in the Pod. Even if Frank had heard the tail end of what they were talking about, it was still too much for any child to need to hear.
Ortega spoke up first. "We don't know yet, kid. We have to look at everything, only then can we determine what happened for sure."
"B-but, you just said--"
"He knows what he said, Frank," Joan spoke sharply as tears began to form in Frank's eyes. "But the accident only happened today. We still need to investigate a lot of things. Even then, we may never find out for sure what happened." Joan's voice began to soften as she continued talking to Frank, who had long since started to sob. "All you can do now is remain strong. And wait. Good things happen to those who wait. Trust in us, and our investigation, and we will do everything we can to figure out what happened."
"Really?"
"Yes, really," Ortega spoke. "All we need from you today is two simple things. First, do you remember anything from the accident?"
Frank's eyes closed for a moment. The reopened as he began to talk.
"No. I just remember talking to my parents one second, and then a bright pair of lights flashed into the car. After that I woke up here."
Joan looked at Ortega who nodded before responding to Frank. "Really bright lights, huh? Those normally wouldn't be on at this time of day, so that's really helpful, Frank. All that's left is this," Ortega said, pointing at the crystal in Joan's hand.
Walking over, Joan spoke. "We heard that you were supposed to test for your awakening today. All you have to do is put your hand on the crystal and you'll feel a pulse of energy. You'll glow for a second and if the crystal glows back at you, you'll feel different. As if something inside of you unlocked.
Joan reached out, bringing the crystal closer to Frank.
Frank reached out and felt the pulse that Joan had mentioned. A blue glow encompassed his body, and a second passed.
Nothing happened.
Refusing to let go of the crystal, the blue glow remained on Frank and another second passed.
Nothing happened.
Frank pulled the crystal from Joan, who had been unprepared. Holding the crystal with two hands, now, the blue glow stayed on Frank, though now slightly more dull.
Still, Nothing happened.
Tears formed in Frank's eyes as nothing continued to happen. The blue glow remained on Frank as it slowly faded away.
Nothing was happening.
Nothing was unlocked.
Tears fell and sobs rang. The blueish crystal crumbled away.
His parent were dead. His family gone. Now he had lost their legacy as an awakened family.
'If they were alive this wouldn't have happened.'
'If they were here, they would hold me.'
Frank fell unconscious. Filled with grief and sorrow and anger.
Joan looked at Ortega who was patting the head of the now asleep Frank. She rolled her eyes and turned towards the door, ready to leave.
Taking a step forward she stopped and furrowed her eyes.
"Hey, Ortega."
"Yes?"
"Where the hell is that nurse, and how the hell did he wake up on his own?"