Odyssia's room in the makeshift base just outside of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, is not lavish, but it will do.

Before the virus, an airforce base had been developed on the outskirts of the tiny, oddly named town. Still, construction had been paused for unknown reasons in 1984. This stroke of fate allowed Team Rainbow a base of operations while they work to combat the mutant plague now sweeping across the city. Now, the unfinished building is a hub of activity, housing the best military agents known to the world while spearheading a cure for that which seems incurable.

Odyssia's room in question is not unique when compared to every other room in the building. It's small, perhaps ten feet in length and ten feet in width, but that is enough to fit a bed and a dresser, all huddled into one corner of the room. It's dusty, that much is for sure, and even more so considering Odyssia hasn't yet developed the coordination needed to sweep with one hand, but it will do. Not yet a home, and perhaps it never will be, but Odyssia doesn't need a home to do her work. She just needs a space, and Team Rainbow offered it to her without any qualms.

This morning, however, is her first day of physical therapy with Gustave Kateb. Some part of her is nervous. Some part of her is angry. The most significant part of her is sad.

She needs time to grieve, but she doesn't allow herself such pleasantries. When she first entered the room, she slept through the night for eight hours, then as soon as she woke, she set up a makeshift lab in one corner of the room a few feet away from her bed. For as long as the sun dipped over the horizon, drenching the desert in blood, she spent her time raising blood samples in her remaining hand and attempting to set up a microscope in the middle of a small steel desk.

It's been a mere day since she awoke from her coma, and she's still navigating her new reality without her right arm. She was met with resistance, of course. Where she should have been able to adjust the microscope's focus while zooming it in with a separate nod, she was forced to instead take the time to do both things at the same time. The process had been slowed exponentially, and in the aftermath of such a frustrating process, it is only then that Odyssia settles into the nadir of her suffering with little more than an apathetic sigh to show for it.

When there's an extant knock at her door, Odyssia is still at her research table, holding up a small vial of blood to the flickering LED light overhead in hopes to spot dark spots within. With surgical focus and knife-like precision characterizing her eyes, she only offers entrance to the personnel at her door with a brief 'Come in!' to flutter from her lips. On command, the door opens, and there stands Gustave with two other strangers.

"Odyssia," Gustave greets her, a smile on his face as he enters. "Is this a good time?"

For what? Odyssia's tempted to ask, but her silent question is quickly answered when she glances behind Gustave, and at the two individuals he brought with him. One of them carries a disjointed prosthetic in her arms. A tepid smile grows on Odyssia's face.

"Ah, yes," Odyssia's voice is gruff as she speaks. "Uh… Just make yourself at home."

Her long, willowy fingers gently place the blood vials she had been inspecting in a small white tube rack. Now a complete set, leering at her from the steel research table, lackluster and filled with pestilence, Odyssia turns away from her work to gaze fully upon her guests. As Gustave enters, so do his followers, and the last one closes the door behind her so that all of them can stand together in Odyssia's room.

It's cramped in here, she thinks with a nervous twitch upon her maw. The room had undoubtedly never been constructed for more than one or two people, so holding four elite operatives is enough to make the space burst at the seams. Nonetheless, Odyssia leans against the edge of the research table, and she crosses her arms in front of her chest, automatically guarded before two new strangers. Lucky for her, Gustave's aura is ever peaceful and as tranquil as untouched waters. He soothes her worries with nothing more than a glance at her face and a reassuring smile.

"Odyssia," he begins. "I'd like you to meet the operatives I brought to help you with your arm."

Odyssia gulps. Gustave waves one arm to gesture at the first woman beside him. "Jaimini Shah," he introduces her. "Though she also goes by Kali. She prefers it, actually."

Oh, wow. WOW. Kali is intense. So intense that Odyssia can't look at her for too long, prompted to avert her eyes when Kali's burning black gaze pierces directly into her face. Some people can be described as lackluster, dull, and boring. While Kali's clothing fits such a description, a dark navy blue tactical outfit, her general aura defies such a reality. Not only is she tall, but she is also well-built, and her eyes never cease to both intimidate and deconstruct. Odyssia's suddenly convinced that if she looks the Indian woman in the eyes for too long, she will spontaneously combust or otherwise have her entire identity picked apart for the world as a whole to see. Though Odyssia can't possibly directly engage with this stranger, she will allow a polite word to pass.

"Nice to meet you."

Kali merely nods. Odyssia swallows thickly and turns her head to the side.

"And this is Rajni Hans," Gustave directs Odyssia's attention to the young woman next to Kali. Compared to the adjacent operative, Rajni is a breath of fresh air. Youthful, bright, and fresh-faced, Rajni acts as an interim stand-in to duty and progress, a brief, glittering light between layers of solitude and disaster. Though Kali's eyes are clever, Rajni's eyes are arguably moreso. Still, Rajni does not seek to make herself intimidating, and it shows. Her stance is open, her gaze is bright, and she looks to Odyssia with a smile that could make mountains move. For all intents and purposes, Rajni is the complete opposite of Kali. This fact makes it all the stranger that Odyssia could have sworn she saw them holding hands when they entered the room.

"It's nice to meet you too," Odyssia manages to Rajni, this time with less resistance. Rajni smiles back.

"A pleasure!" the woman says, her accent thick but flowery, as she brushes a lock of frizzy brown hair from her eyes with her free hand; the other holds a prosthetic. "Gustave's told me a lot about you. I hope I can help."

Odyssia looks to Gustave, and Gustave averts his eyes and clears his throat. "These two are members of a group that associates with Team Rainbow," Gustave informs Odyssia, only now glancing back at her face. "I was hoping we could fit the prosthetic and see how you take to it."

She takes a moment to respond, having zoned out on Gustave's face. "—Oh! Yes, yes, we can do that."

Rajni claps her hands together. "Great! Go ahead and sit on your bed; I'll get the prosthetic ready."

As instructed, Odyssia approaches her bed, then slumps down onto it with a tiny exhale. The past few days have been exhausting ones, entirely filled with life-changing events and sudden revelations. Rest seems so far from her frigid fingertips. No matter how far she reaches, it evades her grip, dangling in front of her at the end of a string operated by fate herself. Within seconds of placing herself upon the edge of her bed, she feels fatigue flutter through her veins like trapped butterflies. Upon seeing her eyes grow drowsy, Gustave sits alongside her, his legs inches away from hers.

"How are you holding up?"

Odyssia glances alongside her body. "...As well as I can."

A steadying breath from the man at her side. "These past few days must have been exhausting for you."

"You're a mind reader," Odyssia murmurs, unable to stifle her smile. "I was just thinking that."

"Not a mind reader. You are just easy to read," Gustave laughs.

"No fair," Odyssia grins, gently shoving Gustave on the shoulder. "I can't be that animated."

"You would be surprised."

She laughs again, and Gustave laughs with her, their gazes going forward and outward from each other. As Odyssia's eyes flutter up, she focuses on the brittle form of Rajni at the steel research table, clearing tube racks and microscopes from the surface to lay out the prosthetic atop it. Her eyes then go to Kali's figure, face hard as she reclines against an extant wall opposite of the bed, and then her eyes return to Gustave's profile. When she speaks again, she does so beneath her breath in a tiny whisper.

"Where do they come from?"

Gustave tilts his head to the side. "Paramilitary company from India called Nighthaven."

"Both of them?"

He nods.

"...They're so different from each other."

"Ah," he laughs. "They do strike quite an incredible pair, hmm?"

It's her turn to nod now. Rajni strikes joy, Kali fear. Both are keen predators, but Rajni grows strong through disarmament. In contrast, Kali ends battles before they even begin by puffing out her chest and walking as if she is a weapon of mass destruction. Of course, both are careful, thoughtful people. However, their individual personalities shine through to create an incredulous dichotomy when placed directly next to each other. "It seems like they shouldn't exist in the same space to me," Odyssia laughs beneath her breath.

"I can see where that may be true," Gustave agrees with a small smile upon his lips. "But they're very skilled, and Nighthaven has a lot of resources. If anybody could do this for us in such a short amount of time, it would be them."

Before Odyssia can respond, Rajni turns away from the research table. She presents the prosthetic, balanced upon her forearms, with an iridescent grin. "Okay, I've got everything set up," she announces. "Time to make sure it fits."

She's nervous. Odyssia doesn't realize it until she sees the glittering prosthetic brand new atop Rajni's arms, made just for her. Settling like a deep knot in the abyssal depths of her stomach, Odyssia struggles to hide the tremble in her voice but can't manage it. Her tongue forms words that tumble through the air in an acrobatic freefall. "A-alright. I'm ready."

Is she ready? She doesn't know. Either way, Rajni proceeds. Out of respect, Gustave lifts himself from the bed to allow Rajni a place to sit.

The prosthetic itself is a sinuous marvel of machinery. Neoplastic colored to match Odyssia's skin tone cover long, stretching wires and parts for the elbow and wrist joints. At the top, there is a hollowed-out chamber made to contain the remains of Odyssia's shoulder, meant to be attached through the use of canvas harness straps wrung tight around her chest and upper spine. Odyssia, brought to a heel by her own anxiety, struggles to touch it. It is as if it might evaporate upon her reaching for it, nothing more than a figment of her own imagination.

Even so, her left palm touches the prosthetic forearm, and she marvels at the physical feel. Rajni allows Odyssia to familiarize herself with the object for a few moments before gently lifting it upwards. "I'm going to put it on you now," she murmurs. "Is that alright?"

Odyssia nods, swallowing thickly. She suddenly becomes aware of Gustave's eyes on her, as well as Kali's, although one pair is noticeably softer than the other. The burning sensation their attention leaves on her skin follows her even as Rajni carefully slots the top of the prosthetic onto her shoulder, then raises the harness strap up and over Odyssia's head and beneath her left arm. When the prosthetic's socket has been appropriately fit onto Odyssia, her residual limb slotted snugly into the receptacle, Rajni leans back and looks up at Odyssia's face.

"Soooooo," Rajni begins, low and brimming with excitement. "How does it feel?"

Odyssia doesn't even know where to begin. "Uh…" she stammers. "It's a little loose around my shoulder, a little too tight with the harness."

Rajni nods, her eyes immediately filled with recondite information and keen focus. She puts her hand up to her chin as she leans closer to the prosthetic to inspect where Odyssia's skin ends, and the prosthetic begins with greater clarity. "Ah," she hums. "I see. Our measurements must have been slightly off."

"M-measurements?"

"Yeah, Gustave measured your shoulder while you were out," Rajni continues. However, she speaks on autopilot, obviously thinking of machinery rather than history. "Just in case you did want a prosthetic. That helped us make it so quickly."

Kali speaks up for the first time since Odyssia has seen her. "We already had a blueprint developed and a prosthetic in progress. We just had to make a few adjustments to tailor it to you."

Rajni nods. "Though it does look like we had some margin of error. I'll have to edit the socket a bit. Kali, could you write that down?"

"Got it in my head."

"Right, right," Rajni laughs as she leans back from the prosthetic. "Too sharp to need physical reminders."

Kali rolls her eyes, though Odyssia doesn't mistake the tiny upward quirk of her lips, stifled only by the intense woman turning her head away. In the absence of a response, Rajni continues, adjusting her spot on the bed to bunch her legs beneath her and relax her hands in her lap. "Aside from the fit, do you think you could try moving it?"

Odyssia pales. "I didn't know I could move it."

A laugh, good-natured, feel-good to the point that it washes tension away from Odyssia's shoulders. "Of course you can," Rajni smiles. "That's the point of having one. It's myoelectric, so it responds to your muscle movements."

Odyssia looks down at the foreign object where her flesh-and-blood arm had once been. It's a pretty piece, carefully curated from decades of dedication. Still, it's not hers, and it doesn't feel right when pressed up against her shoulder. Whatever she does, it feels impossible to even shift an item that has never been hers to move in the first place. "I'm not sure how."

Silent until this point, Gustave speaks up from Odyssia's bedside. "You've felt phantom pain before, yes?"

Odyssia shudders. "...Yes, I have." Of course she's experienced phantom pain. Disconcerting doesn't even begin to explain the experience.

"Then you often feel as if your arm is there even if it is not?"

Another nod from Odyssia.

"Harness that," Gustave then urges, voice low and encouraging. "Imagine your arm is there, and try to move it."

Concern etches its way across Odyssia's features, prompting her to turn her head to look Gustave in the face. Still, his eyes are so confident and bright that she feels compelled to trust in his proposed plan. Though hesitant, Odyssia looks back at the above-elbow prosthetic. If he says that she can do it, then who is she to argue? She can't deny that she has a significant amount of confidence in the doctor, and even though she feels as if she has just met him (even though they have reasonably been together for a month now), she would potentially drop from a cliff if he told her it was safe. Not that they would ever be placed in such a situation any time soon.

So she gives it a try. Odyssia feels her arm stretch out before her as if it had never been removed nor broken in the first place, and she envisions her fingers flexing, a clear image engraved upon the surface of her mind. The prosthetic doesn't move.

She tries it again. She imagines her fingernails, her knuckles, her palm, and the microscopic lines etched into it. The prosthetic remains still.

At this point, Odyssia glances back at Gustave out of the corner of her eyes. Undeterred, he nods and encourages the third try.

Again, she flexes her imaginary hand. This time, the unthinkable happens. As if a key has unlocked the world before her, tiny pneumatic joints within the prosthetic relieve pressure to make the artificial pointer finger roll down into half of a fist shape. Overwhelmed by her success, Odyssia begins laughing, both overjoyed and shocked, only to feel salty tears drip down into her teeth.

Oh. Oh, dear. Odyssia's crying.

It's no grand display, nothing more than a few rivulets from the corners of her eyes, but no less meaningful. Luckily for her, celebration from her around her drowns out her feverish thoughts of why am I crying? Just stop crying. Rajni erupts into a cheer, and Gustave offers a large smile in support. "I knew you could do it," Gustave chirps through the glory. Even Kali joins in, albeit with nothing more than a stoic smile, half of it brought on only by seeing Rajni smile.

"I did it," Odyssia repeats to herself, incredulous. Even she can't believe it, grinning as she swipes her left forearm across her eyes to rid herself of the tears.

"I'm so proud!" Rajni exclaims, buzzing with such excitement it looks as if she is physically restraining herself from hugging Odyssia in a fit of joy. "I'm just so glad it works!"

Odyssia can't help but join in on the festivities. "Good thing it works," she agrees. "I would have thought I was broken."

"No, no, no," Rajni tuts, moving her hands towards Odyssia's opposite, remaining arm to lift the harness strap from beneath. "You're great. It would always be a prosthetic problem."

Rajni lifts the harness strap up and away from Odyssia's chest. "Anyways, we need to work on the design for a few days or so," Rajni announces as she slips the prosthetic away from Odyssia's shoulder. "Just to make sure it fits you nicely. We want to ensure it's comfortable enough so it doesn't chafe too bad-you know, since you can't wear a sock."

A lot of Rajni's talk doesn't make much sense to Odyssia. At this point, the least she can do is smile and nod as the prosthetic fades from her upper body. "Got it," affirms the woman.

Rajni retrieves the prosthetic in her arms and removes herself from the bed, the sheets shifting beneath her. "In the meantime, I think the Doctor-" she gestures to Gustave with a shrug of her shoulder. "-Is gonna be doing some physical therapy with you."

Gustave agrees in the corners of Odyssia's eyes. "Yes. Since we're going to be making your left hand your dominant one, we'll need to help it relearn everything."

Odyssia smiles, albeit wearily. It's just one thing after the other. The physical therapy would be unbearable if it wasn't Gustave administering it. As Odyssia thinks this, Rajni returns the prosthetic to a long canvas bag she had laid across the research table, and her lips further form more words. "But, that should be all from us for a few days," Rajni adds, albeit distracted by zipping up the prosthetic into relative safety. "We'll be coming back to you when we've finalized the product."

Kali rises to her full height, having previously been leaning against the wall. "Are we ready to go?"

"Yep."

"Okay," Kali murmurs as she leads the exit from Odyssia's bedroom, pressing past the now-open door. "Goodbye, Gustave, Odyssia."

Gustave waves, Odyssia just smiles. "Nice meeting you two."

"Glad to be working with you," Rajni enthuses as she slings her black canvas bag around her shoulders, turning her head over her shoulder to wave at both of them. "See you guys later."

With Rajni's exit comes silence as the door swings shut behind them. Left with Gustave alone in her room, Odyssia's left to sit on her bed and contemplate the whirlwind that had just occurred, a meditation session only interrupted as Gustave's body disturbs the bed. He sits alongside her, and Odyssia releases a breath she didn't realize she had been holding.

"Wow," she breathes, exhausted. "That was…"

"Intense?" Gustave suggests.

"Yeah, probably. They were really cool. And also really scary."

"Even Rajni?"

Odyssia turns her head with a knowing smile. "Being really nice doesn't mean you can't be scary," Odyssia confirms. "I'm sure she's seen her fair share of stuff. She just hasn't let it affect her."

"Good eye," Gustave chuckles. Odyssia hears a latch at her side, and she looks down to find that Gustave has just produced a small white first-aid box, and now he opens the plastic top to cut strips of gauze from a dwindling roll.

"I can see this whole prosthetic business was an excuse to change my dressings," Odyssia jokes. Gustave offers a low trill in response.

"I have to make sure you don't get an infection somehow."

"Well," Odyssia begins. She tries to touch Gustave on the shoulder, but as he sits on her right side, the side without an arm, the only thing she can do is imagine placing her palm upon his shoulder. As if he can feel her phantom touch, he glances up from his work to look at her, eyes shining bright as he stares into her face. "I appreciate it. All of it. You have no idea how much it means to me to be helped like this."

"I-..." Gustave smiles, a genuine look that pierces Odyssia in the heart to the point of faint chest pain. He's a tired man, already graying at such a young age, but in this light, with this expression, he looks younger than he ever has.

He pauses, his mouth open, thinking of his following words carefully. In times like these, Odyssia wishes the man had abandoned his caution because there's something on his mind beyond what he says next, the only thing he means to say after having discarded his first thought. "I'm always happy to help."

So he continues. Into the night, he tends to Odyssia's shoulder, sharing witticisms and thoughts throughout the process. There is some laughter, some quiet, somber moments, and a lot of hope. The world rages outside of the base, from mutants to authentic apocalyptic scenes. Still, at that moment in Odyssia's bedroom, the rest of the world doesn't matter. Chaos fades away, and all that remains is Gustave's sweet stability.