"Viktor, help!"

Viktor stopped what he was doing. That was Ren's voice. And what's more Ren was using his name, not "Doc." That was absolutely not a good sign. Without further delay, Viktor dropped what he was doing and rushed towards Ren's voice.

Ren was standing in the entry of the factory. A woman, bloody and unconscious, was at his side. He wrapped her arm around his shoulder to support her and used his other arm to hold her waist upright. Her other arm was the source of the blood. From the elbow down, her flesh was in tatters. Ren had made an emergency tourniquet by tearing the sleeve of his shirt to stop the bleeding to the best of his ability.

"Viktor!" Ren cried out.

Viktor was at Ren's side in a moment.

"What happened?" the scientist demanded.

"There was an accident," Ren stammered, "I was walking through the Factorywood and I heard a scream. I ran over. Ran as fast I could. They said her clothing got stuck in the machine. The blades tore her up. Her, her arm, Doc. It looks like my leg did. Please you got to help her."

"You do not even need to ask. Quickly, bring her to the operating table."

Viktor went to the woman's other side and helped Ren carry her to the workshop. They eased her onto the operating table.

"Strap her onto the table," Viktor ordered, "I do not want her falling off."

Ren took a deep breath and steadied himself. He moved her limbs with as much care as he could before strapping them firmly to the table.

"It's okay," he whispered as much to the woman as to himself, "it's all going to be okay. Viktor's the best doctor you could ask for."

"If you are going to stand there and panic," Viktor said as he pushed over a cart loaded with medical instruments, "I am going to request that you leave."

"Are you sure you don't need me?"

"I was able to successfully operate on you without aid. You do not need to worry, I can help her," he put a hand on Ren's shoulder and softened his tone, "if I do need assistance, I will call you. Does that ease your nerves?"

"Plenty. I'll, I'll just wait outside then," Ren agreed.

With the click of the door shutting, Viktor was left alone with the woman. He took a deep breath and a wave of calmness washed over him. This was his element.

"I will do more than save her," Viktor thought, "I will gift her a new hand."

Viktor filled two synergies with liquid, one with an anesthetic and the other with a hemostatic drug to help control the bleeding. He injected her, his practiced hands finding her veins with little effort. He monitored her breathing intently. Once he was sure that the drugs had taken effect, Viktor began his work. He started by replacing Ren's makeshift tourniquet with one of his own. Then, he proceeded to assess the trauma her arm had sustained and clean the area around it.

"Wound jagged. No clean cuts. Would be nearly impossible to stich back together without grafts. Ulna and radius both broken. Flexor completely severed. Extensor severely damaged. Amputation is best course of action."

Grabbing his sharpest scalpel, Viktor began to shape the shredded pieces of skin into neat flaps that would shape her stump and provide a base for her augmentation's socket. As always, he took care to ensure that none of the scars would line up with where her bones would rest and that the pressure from the socket would be evenly distributed.

Satisfied with her skin, Viktor moved on. Her remaining soft tissue, muscles, nerves and blood vessels were all ligated before being severed. The laser on his third arm helped to instantly cauterize the blood vessels, allowing Viktor more time to focus on shaping her bones. With an unwavering hand, he grinded away at the jagged edges until they were smooth enough to not agitate the muscle that was to be reattached to them. Next it was time for myodesis. He drilled holes in her bone and began to suture the distal tendon into these holes. Steadily, a cylindrical stump was beginning to take shape.

Minutes trickled into hours. Viktor worked on, his pace unchanged. The machinery in him was untiring. The woman's injury by this point had been transformed into a clean stump with a socket for the augmentation already in place. Unlike with Ren, who needed to learn to walk again, Viktor decided that this patient would not need to practice with a prosthetic before being augmented. Furthermore, what he planned to attach to her was not an experimental limb, but instead a tried and tested design.

Viktor unlocked a cabinet by his workbench. Inside was a collection of augmentations. They were an assortment of older models, works in progress, or simple designs to serve as a starting point. It was one of the latter that he selected for his patient. Although the design of this augmentation was simple by Viktor's standards, it was incredibly efficient and easy to modify. It was from this base that Viktor's own left hand was created.

"Unfortunate I could not speak to her. Knowledge about her occupation and daily life would have been beneficial. Augmentation could be modified to better suit needs. Will inquire when she awakens."

With a meticulous eye, Viktor cleaned the augmentation. He examined each small joint along the fingers, testing them to make sure their movement was up to his standards. The wiring responded to the appropriate stimuli and no defects were detected. Satisfied, Viktor began the final, and most delicate part of the operation; attaching the augmentation to the woman's nerves. This step always reaffirmed his decision to replace himself with metal. His mechanical hand never flinched, never missed, and never tired. It allowed him to accomplish tasks too delicate for most other humans and what made his augmentations the most advanced in all Zaun.

At last, the arduous task of connecting the nerves came to an end. Viktor looked over his handiwork and felt a deep sense of satisfaction. His patient was stable and could hopefully resume normal life in a matter of days. Now all that was left to do was wait for her to wake up. Viktor opened the door to the room and was about to call for Ren, but such action was not necessary. Looking down, he saw the boy. He had fallen asleep leaning against the wall by the door.

Viktor decided that aid in cleaning the operating space was not worth waking Ren. Disinfecting was a task that could be accomplished just as easily by himself. But before he left to sanitize the operating space, Viktor brought out the cleaning supplies and kneeled beside Ren. With the same gentle hand that he had used on his patient, Viktor cleaned Ren. He washed away the blood where it has spattered onto him. Though his clothes would still need a deeper cleaning, Ren's skin was cleared and the flames painted on his augmentation were once more shining unblemished.

The atmosphere in the old building was calm. The loudest noises were Ren's snoring and Viktor's own footsteps. Though part of Viktor wished to return to his interrupted project, the other part simply wanted to enjoy the serenity of silence and a job well done. Giving into the temptation, Viktor brewed himself a cup of ginger tea and, for the first time that day, relaxed.