by neoraichu

Tek stared intently at a bioscan of a humanoid lifeform.

"What's up, doc?" asked Ace as he lazily looked over the coyote's shoulder.

"Zadavia asked me to look over a medical scan for her," he replied evenly.

"I didn't think you were a medical doc there, doc," he mused.

"I'm not. Mainly I'm looking to improve her cybernetics to help compensate for physical damages."

"Something looks familiar..."

"It should," he answered, "This is the latest scan of Stygian Skunk."

Ace gasp.

"From what I see here," he added, "When Fudd shot her in the back of the head, he damaged both of her Occipital Lobes."

"Those are important, right?"

"They are if you value your sight," he replied, "Damage to this area can cause anything from blind spots to outright blindness. The left lobe processes the right field of view and the right lobe processes the left field of view. This part of the brain is also tied to perception and recognition of things like faces."

"So what are you designing?"

"I'm developing an outside processor to compensate for any loss of function in the Occipital Lobe region."

"Skunk's been gone for two years now," replied Ace, "Why ask you to help now?"

"Two years isn't a long time for stasis. Zadavia told me they looked into every other means of healing her brain. The brain is very difficult to fix."

"I see... So you're the last resort?"

"I guess you could say it that way..." he answered, "So I'm coming up with a way to bypass the damaged areas. I'm designing a pair of cybernetic eyes for her. They're going to be hardwired to go back to a neo-occipital processing unit that's going to be attached to the back of her cyberskull. While I was at it, I added some extra features like night vision, flash suppression, infrared scanning and ultraviolet imaging. If she's close enough, she can even use X-ray vision to see through obstacles that aren't radiation shielded."

"Uh-huh."

"I'm also using nanobots to improve her cyberpart alloy in the parts like the skull to give it much greater resistance to shock and damage. They'll be stronger too. I'm adding retractable claws to her hands and feet... because I'm sure there's a lot of uses for them."

"How long will that take?"

"Since they're operating while she's in stasis, it's going to take a few months. While it's safer, the process of operating through stasis is also much slower."

"I hope it works," said Ace as he remembered her kisses even to his cheeks.

"Me too."

Ace slowly walked into the hallway where he found...

"Been listening long there, Lexi?"

Lexi dabbed the tears from her eyes with her sleeve.

"I take that as a yes," he replied as he placed his arms around her shoulders.

"I miss her so much," she sniffled.

"Me too," he answered as he leaned closer and gave her a kiss on each cheek.

"But... she could be blind... or not be able to recognize us..."

"With Tek on the job, she has the best chance possible of not having that happen."

Lexi leaned forward to press her face into Ace's shoulder.

He wrapped his arms about her shoulders and held her tightly against him.