Biohuman

The Next Day

Lee Seng's mind rolled with the information he found out yesterday from the soul orb. He decided he would do suicide sprints to try to clear his mind, but to his surprise, it didn't work. The door opened as Lee Seng sprinted past the middle of the room, to the 3/4s mark and turned back around and sprinted back to the door.

A man in a hazmat suit walked into the room with another person pushing a cart full of stuff behind him.

"You can leave the rest to me." Dr. Valentin told the helper. The helper nodded and moved back through the door. "You've spent three weeks in here and could get whatever you wanted, but you decided to workout, run and practice for those three weeks? They told you could have whatever you wanted if you requested it and the only thing you requested is those Dark Matter balls?"

"Better to keep the body busy than the mind." Lee Seng answered as he sprinted to the halfway mark and turned back around.

"Your dedication to practice is always superb. If only you could take that energy and put it to your patience and temper." The doctor came to a stop and rounded the cart. Lee Seng chuckled and moved to the doctor. "I hope everything's been okay for you here?"

"Mmm, it's fine." Lee Seng answered with heavy breaths.. "Oh! What about the others? Are they fine? Nobody tells me anything about them."

"Okay, I know you're curious but I need you to take a shower first so I can do the check up, alright?"

Lee Seng frowned and moved over to grab clothes piled in the suitcase underneath his bed. He pulled fresh clothes out and turned back to the doctor.

"Then you'll tell me?" Lee Seng asked.

"Yes, now go." The doctor shooed him towards the bathroom.

Lee Seng took a quick shower and threw his dirty clothes into the small corner near his bed. He sat on the bed as Dr. Valentin finished setting up.

"Let's do blood work first and then the check-up. I'll tell you after that, alright?" Dr. Valentin told Lee Seng.

"Mmm, fine." Lee Seng begrudgingly agreed. Dr. Valentin began his routine. He grabbed the syringes and pulled blood from Lee Seng and inputted them into vials that were connected to the laptop on the cart. Lee seng's prick healed instantly as Dr. Valentin pulled for more vials of blood before he finished. He capped the used syringe and threw it in the discard bin.

"What're you checking for?" Lee Seng asked.

"I'm checking for the specific toxins you were exposed to in the tunnel." The doctor replied. "Specifically the chemicals that are produced if breathed into your body. So it should show in your blood for quite awhile… That's why you are here long." Dr. Valentin's eyes glazed over the information and then sighed. "I guess we'll wait for a little longer. This'll give me most things from the check-up, too."

"So, will you tell me about the others now?" Lee Seng asked. Dr. Valentin nodded and sat next to Lee Seng.

"Manny and your other friends sustained varying degrees of direct explosion damage as well as burning from the fire or lightning. They spent the first week recuperating and undergoing the necessary healing for explosion and burn damage. Most of them were in pain because of that. Yamada and Walt sustained the least amount of damage in comparison to the rest, besides you. They started undergoing blood work shortly after they were fully healed and will probably be here for, maybe half a week. As for Manny, Miss Ok and Mr. Trainor, they won't get out for another two weeks. They recently started blood work for the toxins." Dr. Valentin explained.

"But wouldn't the toxins in our bodies be out  around similar times?"

"Everyone has different bodies. Some people get sick easier than others. Just with any illness, the toxic chemicals in your body disappear based on the person. Three weeks is the average time for a recent red zone."

"A recent red zone? I thought it was a yellow zone."

"That's what I figured you'd say. Alex told me you had a hand drawn map from one of the workers with specific markings for yellow zones… Sadly, it turned red recently and the workers were trying to clear it, but ran into a problem."

"A problem?" Lee Seng asked as the laptop beeped. Dr. Valentin nodded, standing up and rounding the cart to look at the results.

"There was a new mutation apparent in the newly red zone. Three weeks is the average time and if everything goes right… The rest will be about three weeks too…" Dr. Valentin slowly answered. His eyes scanned and nodded. "As for the chemicals within your body… They're all gone, which is good. You should be able to leave today and go back  to the dorm."

"What about the mutation you mentioned? Does that have anything to do with… us?"

"It was a monster mutation. Nothing more." Dr. Valentin looked at Lee Seng before scanning the blood results. "As for everything else… Your Dark Matter levels have increased about 4% since last time. I think it's going to taper off at some point. The Protocol seems to have slowed its progress after it hit the First Threshold. I gather it will be some time before it hits the Second Threshold. I would still be careful, though. The Protocol at this point has adapted to your body, roughly and might manifest itself in different ways."

"In what ways?" Lee Seng curiously asked. The talk with Keng popped up in his head and we wondered if 'talking' was one of them. "Like… talking?" The doctor looked up with a confused look.

"No, Protocols don't talk from the research we have." Dr. Valentin shook his head. "Why? Is it doing that to you?"

"Uhh, not really. Everything's been a bit fuzzy since the invasion, that's all." Lee Seng awkwardly chuckled.

"Speaking of the invasion, Alex mentioned something to me and the others." Dr. Valentin rounded the cart and sat back down on the bed with Lee Seng. "He mentioned that there were puncture marks all over the guy who hurt you and your friends."

"Puncture marks?" Lee Seng asked, confused. He was trying his best to act like he didn't know what the doctor was talking about, but found it hard with the information floating in his head.

"Mmmhm, puncture marks. There were puncture marks that went through the guy's body. His armor was fairly decent so normal pierce techniques wouldn't work with the katana you had. On top of that, his armor was cracked like something forcefully was trying to crush it."

"Strange." Lee Seng nodded. "What else did Alex say about this?"

"Well, the autopsy showed that the guy didn't die from the crushing or puncturing. He had very low amounts of Dark Matter and just happened to die. Which is weird because to my knowledge, none of the other students could've done it. Your Protocol could easily do the puncturing and crushing, but killing someone by draining them of Dark Matter? I doubt your Protocol could do that.

"From Number 9's report when you guys helped on the Goblin Invasion, you did show signs of manipulating actual Dark Matter… It's totally different from your gravity powers, too. Typically the Protocol manifests as your ability but in this case, it's just… Dark Matter. I wonder if you  could potentially manipulate and pull Dark Matter from others."

"That's a… theory." Lee Seng gulped.

"Well," Dr. Valentin patted Lee Seng's leg before standing and moving back to the laptop. "These are just theories but with constant checkups, we should understand your whole situation better with time." He continued to scan through the information and clacked away on the keyboard for a while. He closed the laptop after he was done and looked at Lee Seng.

"With that, I think you're safe to leave this place." Dr. Valentin nodded. "You have your checkup exam coming up. The rest of the students here will take it after they're discharged. If you're figuring out who you need for the field expedition coming up in three weeks, you'll have to figure that out soon after the exam."

"I was planning to group up with the others here." Lee Seng pointed. Dr. Valentin nodded.

"Just let your Specialization teachers know. They'll mark it. If the students here can't be cleared and okayed for the field expedition, you'll have to figure something else out."

"Alright."

"Anything else you need to know for school?"

"How is the school doing with the… whole situation?"

"This isn't the first time something like this has happened. Don't worry so much about it. I would just worry about yourself. The rumors about the Hound Invasion and you are quite big and aren't dying, sadly. I would keep to the Academy grounds and don't go anywhere… Well, it's not like anyone can leave without permission right now." Dr. Valentin shrugged. He grabbed the cart and started to push it towards the door. Lee Seng stood up and followed after him.

"No one can leave?" Lee Seng asked.

"Nope. It's a precaution because of what happened recently. You'll have to stick to the district grounds and try not to do much for a bit, alright?" Dr. Valentin answered, stopping to turn to face Lee Seng. "As for your ride, someone will be waiting in the front for you. Pack your things and knock at the door. Someone will let you out after I let them know, alright?"

"O-okay… Who's grabbing me?" Lee Seng asked. Dr. Valentin wheeled towards the door and knocked at it.

"You'll find out soon enough. Just pack up."

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