Pain. Headache. Numbness.
Dexter opened his eyes and stared at the green filtered light. He breathed in and the familiar scent and taste of Fusion Matter engulfed him. He soaked in the energy for a while then felt a shifting beside him. He turned to see Edd.
"Double D?" he asked sluggishly.
"Yeah, Dex?" came the slow reply
"What happened?"
"I don't know. I feel terrible."
"I do as well. It feels as if I have been torn apart and reassembled."
"Ditto."
They stayed there for a while, just immersing in the viscous goo. There was something that touched them and they sat up, groaning as they hit air.
"What?" Dexter asked after he swallowed the Fusion Matter in his mouth.
He saw the Professor there with Computress by his side.
"Oh, you're alive," Utonium sighed. "I thought I'd killed you for a while there."
"It feels like we are dying," Dexter muttered. "Yes, Double D?"
"Of course," Edd sighed. "But what did we expect from that detonation?"
"We expected to be far away."
"Yeah…"
"So what happened?" Professor Utonium asked.
"Well, we created the Defuser to get rid of Fusion Matter," Dexter said softly. "Fusion Matter is written into our very DNA. Therefore, we just purged ourselves of Fusion Matter. Or almost did. If we had been any closer to the Defuser…" He trailed off, the implication hanging there, unspoken but menacing.
"Ow," Double D groaned as he stretched. "Note for future reference, Dex. Use a remote detonator."
"Best idea ever," Dexter agreed.
"Come on. Let's get your vitals," the Professor said, helping Dexter out of the large square container full of Fusion Matter. Edd was next and they were helped into comfortable chairs.
Computress did a full bio-scan on both of them then projected their stats in front of them. Dexter stood shakily and began scrolling through them, leaning extremely close to the holo-screen to see. Computress opened a compartment in her side and took out a pair of glasses. Dexter took them gratefully then reviewed the statistics.
"We need to add a new stat for the two of us, my love. Fusion Matter ratio. It is a simply constructed program. I added it to the computer in my lab."
"I shall reconnect to it and rescan you."
Five minutes later they were staring at the new stats. Dexter and Edd frowned.
"This won't do. They're way too low, Dex. We need a longer soak."
"What is it supposed to be at?" Professor Utonium asked curiously.
"At least a one to two ratio."
"That's not even close to being right."
"We need more Fusion Matter," Dexter said as he and Edd hurried over to the container, climbing in and settling down again.
"Does it not regenerate as long as you are alive?" Computress asked.
"Yes, my dearest love, but more slowly for us than for other Fusions, seeing as how we're still part human."
"I would like to study you two, with your permission," the Professor said.
"I would as well," Computress said softly, looking at Utonium shyly.
"Can you say, 'I have a crush on the Professor'?" Edd teased.
"Her feelings are amusing, to say in the least," Dexter agreed, smiling at him. "I fear I will never understand love. Feelings have never been my strong suit."
"Mine either," Edd agreed. "But I have learned a lot from my time with Marie."
"Are you two talking?" the Professor asked.
They both looked at him. "Yes," Dexter said with a nod. "It is a link that we share because of what we are."
"Fascinating."
Edd and Dexter sat through several tests, during which they realized that they wore nothing but shorts. They were complacent until they grew tired then the Professor eased them down into the goo. He and Computress were finishing up looking at the results when the two boys sat up again.
"Professor?" Dexter asked shyly. "What do the others think of us?"
The man paused. "They…have mixed reactions. Your close friends and family don't care. The others are more afraid of you, what you can do, what you are. The ones who saw you take down all those Fusions are extremely wary of you. They fear you will turn on us."
"What do you and Computress think?"
The Professor smiled. "I trust you. You seem sane and stable, and you act like you have a will of your own."
"And I can tell you are the same Dexter that I have been with through all these years," Computress said matter-of-factly. "Now, you must rest. From what you said, your Fusion Matter needs replenished. So lie back down and sleep. You need it."
Dexter and Edd glanced at each other then lay back and fell asleep almost immediately, feeling a strange peace. Things really were going to be alright. Somehow.
While Professor Utonium and Computress trusted them, the others wanted little to nothing to do with them. They slowly grew miserable in their medical lab prison. They were monitored closely by the KND, who kept weapons trained on them the whole time. One day, they could take it no longer.
The container of Fusion Matter that they slept in had a valve that rotated the green goo to keep it fresh. One night, they got in and, once the lights were out, zoomed out and back to DexLabs. They got to their pool and surfaced, breathing a sigh of relief.
"It is nice to not have a gun pointed at my face," Dexter sighed delightfully.
"Agreed. Now, I want a nice shower," Edd said and they stood and headed for the showers.
An hour later, they sat in the computer room with towels wrapped around their waists. Besides Dexter's glasses, they wore nothing else, and Dexter found himself staring at the scars that decorated his friend's head.
"Do they ever hurt?" he asked when he realized Edd saw him staring.
"You mean phantom pain? Or real pain?"
"Either."
"It doesn't feel like phantom pain. I get severe headaches where I feel like my skin's being split open."
"Does it last long?"
"Sometimes it lasts a day or two, but usually it only lasts a few hours."
"I am sorry," Dexter said softly, not knowing what else to say.
"Eh, I'll live." He paused. "What're we going to do, Dex? I can't live like that."
"I know what you mean, Double D," Dexter sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "They do not trust us. Months ago, I would have agreed. Now…Now I am not sure. Maybe we should have died when the Defuser went off."
Edd nodded, and when he spoke, his voice was quiet. "It would certainly have solved our little problem." He paused. "How is the Professor doing with your schematics?"
"He is almost done with the second Defuser," Dexter said; they had discovered that a Defuser was only good for one use. It completely fell apart afterward.
The two boys stayed up late before dashing back to the Professor's lab. Their sleep that night was troubled, dreams of torture filling it. The thing that pained them the most, though, was that in the morning, they would get no sympathy from the KND member pointing a gun in their faces.
