Thank you all for reading this fic. I mean, I'm not even halfway through it and I already have more reviews than Asleep had! I'm glad so many people are into it, and I will write more for you people's benefit.
Fang POV
"What?"
That was Max. Ever-so-stoic Max, who never showed fear.
She looked terrified.
"Well," Dr. Martinez said, looking uncomfortable. "If this object continues to expand, Iggy will… die, to put it simply without using any descriptions."
I looked to Iggy. I was sure he'd be pale-as-pale, terrified, the picture of horror and impending death. And, in fact, he was pale, but I think that had more to do with how much blood he had recently vomited.
My point is, Iggy wasn't scared – or at least he didn't look it. In fact, he seemed calm, almost serene. I wondered why, then saw that Max was holding his hand.
I felt a pang of jealousy for a moment, then it vanished. I knew exactly what was up now.
I had no right to feel envy.
"Yes, but what exactly is this… thing?" Max asked her mom, rushed and anxious. Dr. Martinez answered quickly.
"Well, from the X-Rays," she started, pointing to the wall behind her, on which the photographs of Iggy's insides were displayed, "I can make out that it appears to be some sort of machine. If this were any ordinary object, I could give Iggy a surgical procedure to remove it quite easily."
"Well, why can't you?" Gazzy asked furiously. Obviously he wasn't dealing well with the whole 'Iggy's gonna die a gruesome death in which a machine claws its way out of his insides' thing.
Come to think of it, neither was I. I think I'm going to barf.
"Because, Gazzy," Dr. Martinez continued, sounding choked up. "See these?" She gestured at some sort of thin, noodle-y-looking strands branching off from the object, which appeared to be contained in Iggy's ribcage, and attaching to various points of his body. "These are… well, I don't know exactly what they are, but they have small electrical currents running through them. You can tell by the colors." I noticed that the wires had a strange color, a sort of mix of white and sparks of grey. "Anyway, these wires are attached to several vital parts of Iggy's body. This one," she gestured, "Leads to his heart. This one leads to his liver and kidneys. This one to his stomach, and those to his lungs." I watched as her fingers traced the pictures of the little wires that were inside my brother. "But these," she pointed to a tangled mass of the threads, "Lead to several vital points along his spine. These points control his movement, coordination, body functions, and neurological systems."
"And..?" prompted Max, ever patient.
"And," continued her mother, looking grave. "After examining the X-Ray closely, I have determined that if I try to take the machine out of Iggy, the force will trigger a chain reaction. The wires will flood each point they connect to with a large amount of electricity. You being the mutants you are, these electric currents wouldn't normally be enough to kill you. However, from their position, I can determine that at the very worst the currents will stop Iggy's brain from functioning and he will die anyway; at the very least, his entire body would be permanently paralyzed. However, based on my examination, I can also assure you that the possibility of him dying is one in a billion. The paralysis is much more plausible."
"Well, that's better than him being dead, isn't it?" Ella asked nervously. "Plus," she continued, "Angel can mindread. We could all talk to him and stuff, and Angel could tell us his answers and everything."
"Yeah!" Gazzy agreed, his face brightening. "And we'd take care of you, Iggy! We can feed you and all…"
Iggy looked up then. His eyes reflected fear. Terrible fear. I just hadn't seen it before because his face had been turned away.
Iggy may never look it, but his ranging emotions are fluent and ravaging. They are sometimes enough to drive him to severe levels of depression or rage.
I remembered Jeb's notes. His ranging emotions…
And Iggy… he's claustrophobic, just like the rest of us.
Permanent, full-body paralysis. The ultimate claustrophobic's nightmare. And add that to him being blind, it was all that worse. Iggy would never be able to live happily if he was paralyzed. I know he would rather die.
And besides that, there was the obvious side-effect. He'd have to be fed through tubes and stuff. He'd never be able to eat a single bite of any of his favorite foods, or drink any of his favorite drinks again.
And, duh, food leads to body-waste. And we'd have to take care of that.
Plus cleaning. And dressing.
Iggy would be permanently mortified. Humiliated. He'd hate us, but most of all he'd hate himself.
I would never force him to go through with that.
"No," I said. "Listen, let's see what Iggy has to say. We've all been talking like he's not even here. Whatever Iggy's decision, we'll have to live with it."
Everyone turned to stare at Iggy. Iggy looked up at me, a surprised sort of look on his face, which then turned to gratitude.
"Um… Dr. Martinez? Is there any other way?" he asked quietly. Dr. M frowned.
"Well… I don't know. The think is, this machine… looks as though it's being controlled from somewhere. If you guys could somehow find the controls, turn off the machine and detach the wires, you could remove the machine with little or no problem. Just the normal risks coming with surgery."
All six of us froze.
Then Max, Nudge, Gazzy, Angel and I turned to look at each-other. A silent message passed between us.
We all knew exactly what was controlling this thing. And we knew what we had to do.
We had to go back to the School. And beat them up until they fixed Iggy.
And we wouldn't give up until they did.
Well. How do you all like dem apples?
Anyway, thanks to all my readers. And Jeb's notes will be explained in the next chapter.
Please, review, so poor Iggy doesn't die.
REVIEW. FOR THE SAKE OF MY FRAGILE SANITY.
