Meeting Li

AN: This chapter is a flashback, beginning immediately after the secretary christens our friend Gordon.

Gordon smiled at the secretary.

"Gordon... I like that name."

In the waiting room, the TV no one was watching flickered briefly, showing a strange suited man. The man smirked, and the picture returned to normal.

The receptionist directed him to wait for a few more minutes, which he did, before being bustled off to a room by a busy nurse.

Gordon took in his new surroundings- an uncomfortable hospital cot, which he was seated upon smelled of fresh antiseptic. What most caught his attention, was a pile of old tattered medical books in a corner.

"I might as well do something to pass the time," Gordon murmured, picking up one of the largest tomes. Idly he wondered why he wasn't concerning himself more about his amnesia. Inwardly he shrugged.

"I am who I am, no matter who that is."

With that thought, he began reading, translating the Latin roots of the anatomical terms easily.

After an hour of reading and cross referencing terms in the anatomy textbook, he felt he had a fairly decent grasp of the musculoskeletal system.

Just as he was about to turn to a new section, the door to the room opened and a woman of Asian descent walked in him. Her striking blue eyes took Gordon in from head to toe from behind thick-framed square glasses.

Her inspection complete, she held out her hand to shake hers.

"Hello Gordon, I'm Dr Liah. Eloise said that you came here with amnesia?"

"Yes." Gordon placed the book he had been reading aside. The title, Gray's Anatomy, did not go unnoticed by the doctor.

"It's safe to say you're either a sharp one or you were bored out of your mind," Dr. Liah said and grinned widely.

"I don't know. Only one section really appealed to me -"

"The nervous system?" interrupted Dr. Liah.

"Surprisingly no. The musculoskeletal system, if you can believe it."

"Ah well. Let's see what's wrong with you. Off with your top." This was said with a mad glint that should have been accompanied by the shrill laughter of a stereotypical mad scientist.

Gordon raised an eyebrow.

"Aren't you going to ask me any health related questions at all first?"

"Hmm. You're the first person who's caught me out on that, and you're amnesiac. I think we can definitely say there's nothing wrong with you in the intelligence department. I'd like to get down some stats to work with though."

Gordon nodded and shucked off his fraying t-shirt.

Dr. Liah raised an eyebrow. She then set her stethoscope down, and gestured at him.

Gordon looked questioningly back at her.

Li, as he began to think of her, had pointed again at his torso. Gordon looked down and saw what she was likely referring to. Scar upon scar marred his skin. In fact, there were even a few on his arms that he hadn't noticed.

Dr. Liah stepped up to him, closely examining the scars, giving commentary.

"These look like claw marks" she said while prodding gently at his back.

"This here is an acid burn if I've ever seen one" indicating a patch near his shoulder, and her gaze moved toward his neck"

"Either you play with barbecue forks too much, or someone tried to play Dracula with your neck."

"These look similar to knife wounds although they could be claw marks as well. These are fresher than the rest." She went on for some time in this manner before grabbing her stethoscope again.

"So what's the verdict Li?" He grinned. Dr. Liah glared at him for a moment, then laughed, before her face and strange blue eyes turned serious again.

"My guess Gordon, is that you probably are better off the way you are now. You've had a traumatic life"

Dr. Liah completed her examination and aside from a slight myopia, or nearsightedness, Gordon was a perfectly healthy individual.

"Tell you what Gordon. I'm friends with the university's physics professor, I think he has a spare room in his house. As for work, you can do odd jobs here at the hospital."

"Sounds good."

Another thank you to my reviewers! You inspired me to not abandon this story!