Chapter Twenty-Four

New Arm...

The call had come in shortly before after dinner. Yang's friend had finally finished Matthew's custom arm and it was ready for pick up. Unfortunately, this meant he had to miss the fallout from the headmaster ordered prank. As he sat in the waiting room of Vale's local hospital the following morning, he couldn't help but smile as he thought about what was going to happen when him and Summer's combined team prank was discovered. 'They asked for it,' he thought as a woman with white hair dressed in military grab walked up to him.

"Matthew Rose," she said looking at him. "Yes ma'am," he said standing up. The lady smiled before saying, "I'm General Winter Schnee of the Atlas army. Come with me please." He followed her down a hall and into one of the open offices. "I take it you are the friend my Aunt Yang was talking about," he said as she closed the door behind him. "More like one of," she said before motioning towards a strange looking chair, "Please have a seat."

The chair in question looked like something from a dentist office, except it had a silver colored rectangle shaped box where the left armrest was. "Mind telling me what that thing is first?" he asked a little cautious. She smiled before walking over and placing a hand on the back of it. "If you mean the box," she said with a slight smile, "It is how we are going to attach your arm." "This is going to hurt, isn't it?" he asked slowly sitting in the chair. "Just like getting flicked in the head," she said.

Once he was settled in the chair, Winter checked to make sure everything was set up and said, "Ok, Matthew, I just need you to place your left arm in that box and we'll get started." He slowly did as he was instructed and flinched as he felt something poke his arm. "What was that?" he asked. She walked over to where a laptop was set up on a desk and said, "That would be a numbing agent for your arm. Now just relax and this will be over in a few."

"And when you say 'a few,' you mean?" he asked watching her. "One hour," she said leaning back in the chair, "So how is my nephew, Derek, doing?" "Other than his marksmanship needs work, Summer would know better than I would," he said turning his attention to the box, "He's on her team." "But you are his friend," she said calmly. "He's also been hanging out with his girlfr-" he started to say when he felt his tongue go numb. "Yes, Weiss did mention he had a girlfriend," Winter said pressing a few keys, "And yes, I know about your tongue going numb. It will only last for a few seconds."

The sound from the box filled the room for a few minutes before Winter asked, "How did you lose your arm; if you don't mind me asking?" "A claymore mine and Jacob Reigns," he said looking at the door. "Say no more," she replied. "Ok. Mind if I ask what exactly is this thing doing?" "It's creating your new arm and attaching it," she said looking at him, "It's a three step process. In step one; it assembles the arm and attaches it to the preexisting arm. Step two creates and connects the neural connectors needed for it to move and fell."

"What do you mean by feel?" he asked. "Basically it means that it's creating a new nervous system for your arm," she said answering his question, "And once it's finished; you will have an arm that looks and feels like your old one." "You're kidding?" he asked. She shook her head slightly as the laptop beeped before replying, "No, and step three has started. The machine is now covering your new limb." "Incredible," he said surprised.

"And just so you know, the reason your tongue went numb is because a set of micro-bots was sent into your body to measure the strength in your right arm," she said watching the monitor, "It did that to match your new one to the rest of your body." Matthew sat there in a stunned silence as he waited for it to finish. After once hearing another beep from the laptop, the lid to the box opened to reveal his new arm. "What do you think?" Winter asked walking over.

"It looks like my old one," he said stunned. She took ahold of his left hand with hers and lifted it up before licking the index and middle finger on her right then slapping his wrist. "Ow!" he yelled as he pulled his arm away and stopped. "Ow?" he repeated looking at his arm then at her. She nodded before saying, "Ow. That is the new nervous system for your arm. You will feel everything." He slowly slid the fingers of his right hand over the skin of his new arm and smiled. "It feels real," he said quietly.

"That is because it's covered in your own skin it generated during step three," she said leaning against the table, "So what do you think?" "If I wasn't already seeing someone and you weren't my best friend's aunt, I'd kiss you," he said wiping tears from his eyes. "This will tell you about your new arm and who to call if you have any questions," she said handing him a pamphlet before opening the door for him, "Now go kiss your girlfriend and make your own aunt jealous of your new arm instead." "Good idea," he said getting up, "And thank you." He gave her a quick hug before running down the hall.