Chapter Nineteen
"So, you're saying that you guys're being chased by more super freaks like Linus!" Revy asked excitedly. Rock nodded. Revy whooped and pumped her fist in the air.
"Yeah! Sounds like shit's finally getting' interesting! The air's been getting super stuffy with your boring love life with Leatherface here! Still, even a stiff like you managed to get 'er a good birthday gift! That chainsaw'll be 'er new best friend!" Revy said, being much louder than she needed to be.
"Do you mind Miss Lee, if we stay in Lagoon Company's room for the night? We will assist in setting up defenses that might at least make it harder for the rooms to be infiltrated." Alric said. Astrid nodded.
"Do what you gotta… But if you keep me up, I'll murder you and bury your corpse at sea."
"Actually, an ocean burial might be quite a peaceful end to a chaotic life." Astrid said with a bland smile. Revy sneered, taking off her shorts and tank top and going to bed.
"Does she frequently strip on a moment's notice like this?" Astrid asked. Rock nodded.
"She was a pornographic actress before she became a gunman. Stripping in front of other people isn't something she's gonna be embarrassed about." Rock said. Revy flipped Rock off and walked into her room, flopping down on her bed and yelling at everyone else to shut up.
The rest of the evening was spent fairly silently applying traps and alarms around the room that would prevent intruders, but that would recognize those already present and not activate. Finally, around midnight, Alric sighed and sat down.
"We should be done setting up alarms and traps. It's not likely that we could be any better defended than we currently are." Alric said. Garda picked up from there.
"We do not believe that they will attack us tonight. Their healing may be above human levels, but they still need time to recuperate and reassess their plans. It's unlikely that they won't plan to kill everyone they believe is involved with us. That almost certainly includes Rock and Frederica, both of whom directly engaged in combat with them." Garda finished. Astrid started talking next.
"However, Dutch, Rebecca and Benny should not consider themselves exempt from their vengeance. While revenge won't be their primary objective, they may become cruel and unusual in getting rid of Frederica, Rock or any of you, and not simply because you are in their way, but because you embarrassed them. Their willingness to harm or even cripple you before they kill you is going to be almost certain."
"It would be advised that you go out in groups of at least two and always have at least one of us with you. Never travel without a weapon of some sort and ample ammunition if that weapon is a firearm." Linus said, picking up from Astrid. "It's likely that they will simply be observing your behavior for a time. They were caught off-guard. They won't cower from combat if brought to them, but they will avoid it for now if they can. It's what I would do if I found I was less prepared than I believed." Linus finished.
Benny, Dutch and Rock nodded. Frederica, who had joined them that night, simply on the chance that she was attacked while alone. She could take care of herself, but against superhumans, she figured it was best to have someone who knew how to take care of superhumans.
"I like your new chainsaw, Miss Sawyer. So you were the one that Rock bought that for, yeah?" Linus asked. Frederica blushed slightly and nodded.
"It was our anniversary. Rock was better prepared for it than I was." Frederica said in her gravelly, mechanical voice.
"You know, I think I have some regenerative serum that I could use on that voice box if you like. I would need a surgically clean environment to do it in to avoid contamination, and I would need to cut your neck open.
"But if I could re-injure your voice box in a similar way that as was originally cut, I could probably make it regenerate. It would only be a two hour long procedure at the longest. I was going to save this for myself if I was ever injured beyond my natural ability to heal. But I think you probably need it more than I do, yeah?" Linus asked, his fingers ghosting over the scar on Frederica's throat.
Frederica hissed and pulled a knife, striking at Linus, who dodged adroitly, grabbing the knife from her hand and flipping it, throwing it at the door where it stuck and vibrated for a second before going still. She didn't much care for people who touched her, especially in such a vulnerable area. She could probably count on one hand the number of people she would allow such an intimate act from. Shenhua and Lotton were two, and Rock was a third.
Other than them, she couldn't think of a single person other than herself for whom she would expose herself like that.
"Sorry, Miss Sawyer. That was inappropriate of me. I understand why you're so guarded in a place like Roanapur. I won't do it again without your permission." Linus said.
"You do not need to apologize. I am not angry." Frederica said. Rock chuckled. In Japan if someone attacked him like that, it would almost certainly be out of anger. But in Roanapur, where vulnerability was usually met with death, it was probably not uncommon to lash out defensively if someone were to touch him like that.
"Good… I'd still be happy to fix your voice box. There's about a 5% chance that it will simply regenerate to the original state and your voice won't be fixed. There's maybe a 10% chance that your voice will be different from before. I've done similar operations in the past, though never on a location as sensitive as the voice box, so there's maybe a 15-20% chance that something unexpected will happen."
"Is there any chance that something weird won't happen?" Frederica asked defensively. She didn't want to get her hopes up, but Linus's offer to help her like this was already causing her to feel a glimmer of hope. That scared her. She didn't want to be disappointed if it didn't work. But there was no way to know if she didn't allow it.
"Fine… You can do it… But only if Rock is there." Frederica said. Rock gasped, pointing questioningly at himself. Frederica nodded. He was one of the few people she trusted almost unconditionally.
"I'd be honored." Rock said. Frederica turned to Linus.
"How much will this cost?" She asked. Money wasn't really an issue for her. She was doing very well with her business. But it would be good to know how much she would be spending.
"Well… Normally a procedure like this would cost around the equivalent of 100,000 American dollars. But for you, I'll only charge you the cost of the equipment along with a minor work fee of… Say 1,000 dollars?" Linus suggested. Frederica scowled.
"Why so cheap?" She asked. Linus shrugged.
"Consider it a mitzvah… A good deed. I've done a lot of evil in my life. If I can even begin to make up for it, I guess. I want to warn you that the chances that it won't work are notable. Not huge, but significant. I've never done this operation on someone whose wound has so completely healed over." Linus said. Frederica nodded.
"I will take that risk… So long as you can promise me I won't die." She said. Linus laughed.
"Of course you won't die. The worst that will happen is that it won't work. There's a minor chance of a bacterial infection in the affected area. But antibiotics which I will give you would take care of it within a week." He said. Frederica nodded.
"I will take this surgery. How soon can we do it?" Frederica asked.
"That depends. Do you have any location that is sterile that we can use as an operating room?"
"My boss has such a room. Hold on." Frederica said, taking out a cell phone. Linus pulled out a gun and shot it, though, doing no damage to Frederica's hand in the attack. The phone was destroyed, though. Frederica sighed. "Alright, why did you do that?" She asked.
"Use my phone. Yours is likely to be traced." He said. Frederica nodded and dialed Chang's number.
"Y'ello? Bai Ji-Shin Chang, at your service!" Came a friendly voice.
"Hello… This is Sawyer. I want to know if I can use your operating room. I have an… Acquaintance who plans to do an operation and he needs a sterile environment."
"Sure… Who's getting the operation done?"
"Me. He's going to fix my larynx and voice box."
"Really? Huh, and I thought I was in contact with the most advanced medical practitioners in the world." Chang said with a laugh. Frederica nodded.
"Well, either way, you're welcome to it. But I expect you to be available for work on Monday." He said.
"Alright… Goodbye." Frederica said, hanging up and turning to Linus, who took out some medical tools and injections.
"We'd better get going now. Ludmilla and her crew heal fast, and they won't hesitate to use the substance that makes them heal faster. By tomorrow, they'll be good as new and ready to plan anew." Linus said, sweeping Frederica up in a bridal style and leapt from the window.
Rock jumped from the window as well, grabbing his weapons first and rolling upon hitting the ground, getting into a standing position and running almost immediately.
"Good evening, Mr. Chang. It's a pleasure to see you again. I apologize for coming so late, but we figure, with the threats on our group right now, it's best if we finish this little surgery as quickly as possible, yeah?" Linus asked. Chang shrugged and opened the door to the operating room. Linus walked in and took Frederica's vitals, seeing that she was normal and he injected her with a black liquid that put her to sleep almost immediately.
Rock sat down, putting on surgical clothes to prevent any contamination, holding her hand gently.
"You're a good man, Rock. No matter how you've fallen from your conventional humanity, you're still a good person." Linus said, taking a scalpel, removing it from its individual wrapping and slicing open directly on the scar, taking a look at Frederica's vocal chords and her voice box. He cut the scarred ends of the two parts very carefully and injected them with a small amount of regenerative serum.
As they began to heal, very quickly, he watched to make sure that no further scarring took place. Over the next ten minutes, he observed and when they fully sealed and stopped bleeding, he nodded and closed the opening on her throat, injecting it with more regenerative serum and then watched over twenty minutes while the throat sealed itself. He then turned to Rock.
"If all went as planned, she'll wake up in five to eight minutes and be able to talk. Her voice will be raspy at first, mainly from misuse. It will get better over time. I recommend voice exercises. She can sing if she prefers to practice controlled use of her voice, or just plain old voice exercises if that's easier.
"I think she'll enjoy singing. She says she was a good singer before her throat was cut. She could sing in multiple languages… She was from Ireland."
"Ahh… So you'll have a girl with an Irish brogue, yeah?" Linus asked, taking a look down at Frederica's throat, which was almost completely healed. It was still a little red and the line on it had not turned white yet. However it was quickly sealing over and becoming less and less visible. Over the next few minutes, it turned white, then began to blend with her skin color. It never fully became the same color as her skin, but it was less visible than it had once been, even her old scar.
Slowly, Frederica woke up, her eyes opening and looking around at Linus, her eyes widening and grabbing him by the throat, her fingers constricting until she remembered where she was and she let go.
"I'm… Sorry…" She rasped, her eyes going wide. She put a hand on her throat, feeling around for the wraparound electrolarynx. Not finding it, she felt tears filling her eyes.
"I… Can talk…" She whispered.
