It had taken hours to get back to the clinic. The return trip from the shipwreck had been agonizingly long, despite Koyomi driving dangerously fast on roads that were questionable at best. All three of them had been shocked by Gerhad's sudden, and nearly frantic call for help.

Arriving at the clinic just as the sun was lighting the morning sky, Alita quickly follows Ido as he jumps out of the van and races for the clinic door. Koyomi lags behind in order to secure her vehicle.

Ido mutters a curse and Alita's heart jumps into her throat at the sight of the clinic's, her home's front door hanging open on one hinge, as if something smashed it's way out from inside. A small crowd of would-be patients had gathered on the sidewalk, none of them having dared approach the damaged door of the clinic. In her anger, she briefly wondered why no one had gone in to check on Gerhad, but realized that no one here would know anything about that. None of them were going to risk inadvertently causing further harm to the clinic that had so generously cared for them.

A couple of early arrivals hesitantly shuffle towards Ido as he heads for the open doorway. "Hey, Doc," one of them says, an older man, his features as weathered as his clothing, wearing a worried expression, "you guys okay?"

Ido's face is tight with anger, his manner distracted but his voice remains relatively calm, maintaining the more compassionate tone he tends to take with his patients, "We're fine, but the clinic will be closed for the day, I'm sorry." He hurries past the early arrivals, Alita hot on his heels.

As they pass through the ruined door, the concerned chatter of the people follow them in. "Who would do something like this to Doc Ido?" wonders one woman in a shocked voice.

Alita already knew the answer, and she burned to get out and hunt the bastard down, but first she needed to make sure the others were going to be okay.

They barely pause as they rush through the clinic, making their way towards the stairway to the basement, Ido cursing again at the additional signs of damage. Overturned furniture, smashed cabinets and equipment, items scattered about, some of the dividers Ido had put up to provide more privacy for his patients laying flattened and broken on the floor. Despite the destruction, it looked like Fenrir had been in too much of a hurry to make a thorough job of things.

"I'm going to check upstairs," Alita tells Ido, as she quickly makes for the staircase, wanting to ensure the place is clear, just in case. She halfway hopes Fenrir was stupid enough to lie in wait for their return.

Ido merely nods in response as he maintains his purposeful, hurried pace towards the basement.

She makes a rapid check through the upstairs, sweeping and clearing each room before returning to descend the stairway, taking multiple stairs at a time. Upon reaching the bottom, she meets up with Koyomi just now arriving. Her friend's normally cheerful face is grim and troubled at the sight of the scattered destruction.

Without a word, the two of them fall into step together and hurry down to the basement. Upon reaching the bottom, she and Koyomi turn a couple quick corners to see Ido crouched down next to a visibly exhausted Gerhad. The doctor and nurse are both huddled, backs to them over Jason's prone figure. All around Jason's head and upper body is a pool of scarlet heart's-blood. Gerhad's arms are covered in heart's-blood up to the elbows. More shocking is that, even under the mass of bandaging to stem the bleeding, Jason looks to be missing the lower half of his face. From the nose down, it's smashed and deformed. The rest of his face is discolored by bruising, swollen and misshapen. Gerhad had been able to communicate the problem to them as they drove, but seeing it first-hand was another matter.

At the sight, Koyomi lets out a shocked gasp.

Ido looks up at the sound, "Alita, I need you to get me a stretcher while I see to Jason." He gestures to Koyomi, "Help Gerhad up." He returns to ministering to Jason.

Besides working exhaustively on Jason, Gerhad had been sitting in nearly the same position, on a concrete floor for hours. Before their arrival, every time Gerhad had tried to get upstairs for better medical equipment, the little portable heart monitor she had Jason hooked up to would threaten to flat-line. So, she'd been forced to stay by his side to ensure he would remain stable. As it was, Jason had still flat-lined twice. Alita took it as a testament to Gerhad's skill that, even without better equipment, the nurse had managed to resuscitate Jason both times and keep him alive.

Koyomi rushes forward to help Gerhad shakily to her feet while Alita sprints back upstairs, her Berserker body traversing the distance far faster than an unaugmented human. It takes her a couple moments to find the folding stretcher Ido was referring to. Grabbing it up, she then hurries back down to the basement, practically skipping the stairs entirely. When she gets back to the group, Koyomi is supporting a painfully exhausted Gerhad. Alita's anger is newly inflamed at the sight of the puffy and bruised condition of the nurse's face.

It takes very little time for them to get Jason and the portable vitals monitor onto the stretcher and upstairs. As they climb the stairway, Ido quickly confers with Gerhad over procedures they'll have to use and any internal injuries that they'll have to probe for.

After getting Jason settled on the operating table, Alita retreats to give them room to work. Having helped out a little, she feels a compulsion to help out more, or more precisely to do something. She stands near the door to the kitchen for a moment, watching Ido and Gerhad work on the fragile, broken body of the man who spilled blood defending their home. The whole scene is a bitter, unwelcome reminder of what a cyborg attacker can do to a flesh and blood human body. It's too reminiscent of another fragile human body that Ido had worked on...

She forcefully pulls her mind away from that memory before the pain wells up too high, returning her attention to the current crisis. 'If it hadn't been for Jason, that might be Gerhad lying on that table, instead.'

Alita's emotions vacillate between relief and gratefulness that Gerhad is now safe, and self-recriminations that she hadn't been here to protect them herself. She quickly shakes herself out of it, and decides there is something she can do; she can clean up a bit and take stock of what supplies weren't smashed, preparing them for Ido's use as he operates.

Koyomi see's her friend begin moving to clean and comes over to her, quietly offering, "Hey, let me give you a hand."

Alita stops with a glance at Ido and Gerhad, then responds just as quietly, "Actually, do you think you could get some coffee going? Maybe put together something to eat? No telling how long those two are going to be working, and it would really help to have something on standby for when they get a moment."

Koyomi's gaze lights on the pair at the operating table and back to Alita. "Sure, I can do that," she says understandingly.

Alita gives her friend a gentle, affectionate squeeze on the arm before sending her off, and getting back to her own task.

. . . . . .

After hours of work, an already-exhausted Koyomi takes a quick break, only to end up falling asleep at the kitchen table. Alita chooses to let her friend sleep, pausing to gently lay a light blanket over Koyomi. She then finishes cleaning up, her cyborg body able keep going for far longer with little rest.

All told, not a lot was stolen. Unfortunately, what wasn't stolen was largely smashed up, such as a couple of expensive pieces of equipment. What was stolen, was expensive and difficult to replace, like the medical nano-tech and the speed-healing drugs. Also gone, is the entirety of the clinic's savings to buy new drugs and supplies.

Hunting for bone fractures and internal injuries isn't the hours-long undertaking that Alita had thought it might end up being. Ido and Gerhad employ an old ultrasound device that Ido had only recently managed to track down and purchase just for use on Jason. Unlike the more modern electromagnetic and radar-imaging scanners, it doesn't offer the same level of detailed scans or the wide range of use, being predominantly used for scanning for micro-fractures in cybernetic parts. But having been modified by Ido, it does the job. The ultrasound scan reveals that a good portion of Jason's skull is a network of fractures of varying severity, as is the back of his rib cage. His spine, however, seems to have suffered the worst.

Jason's unusual properties mean that Ido will be hard-pressed to fix the damage left from Fenrir's attack. A great deal of time and resources will be needed, resources that they don't currently have.

Having finished cleaning up and getting things somewhat in order, she considers heading out to hunt, but can't bring herself to leave until she knows for certain about the operation. While considering what to do next, she's interrupted by the electronic keening of the heart monitor, warning that Jason's heart has stopped for a third time. Her gaze snaps to the operating table, and the scene playing out there.

Ido scrambles to resuscitate Jason, but is reduced to doing so without the benefit of a defibrillator's electrical pulse. Ido and Gerhad both move with controlled, professional urgency, Ido compressing the patient's chest while Gerhad administers salvaged emergency medications and adjusts the life support systems that Jason is now hooked up to.

Transfixed by the life-and-death struggle she can do nothing to affect the outcome of, she silently pleads, 'Hang on just a little longer...'

The seconds stretch into a minute. Then another. The timer until brain damage, then death ticks down and Alita's breathing slows to a stop. She feels Koyomi's presence next to her, likely woken up by the alarm, but she keeps her eyes on the struggle to restart the heart of the now lifeless form on the operating table. Anger burns at the feelings of helplessness, that all she can do is stand there and watch him die.

Just as the dread certainty begins settling in that they're about to lose the patient, the keening alarm breaks into the steady rhythm of a heartbeat. Relief washes over her, and she begins breathing again.

Koyomi exhales loudly next to her, and asks quietly, her voice hesitant, "Do you think he's going to make it?"

Alita gently places a hand reassuringly on Koyomi's arm, and tells her friend confidently, "I'm sure of it." If nothing else, she's sure that Ido and Gerhad won't rest as long as there's even a slim chance of saving Jason.

. . . . . .

Having finally stabilized their patient, Ido and Gerhad take a quick break in order to get a little rest, get some food and tend to Gerhad's minor injuries. Settled in around the table, Alita sits close to Gerhad, carefully cleaning the nurse's abrasions and bruising before applying a thin layer of anti-septic spray-bandaging. Koyomi sits nearby, looking as unhappy as the rest of them feel. Ido sits across from Gerhad, his hands wrapped around a mug of coffee as they listen to Gerhad finish relaying the details of her harrowing ordeal.

"After he dragged me down there, I convinced him that I couldn't open the strongbox." Gerhad winces slightly as Alita gingerly rubs a swab of disinfectant over an abrasion on her cheek, then goes on, "But he still managed to bust it open. I thought it'd be sturdier than it was."

"So did I," Ido says absently. "Clearly, I'll be shopping at a new vendor for a replacement." His tone is a little light, likely an attempt to lift the mood, and his expression conveys far more worry about her, rather than damaged property.

Gerhad pauses to collect herself before continuing, "When I heard a noise back towards the stairway, I saw Jason peeking around a corner. I tried to convince Fenrir it was nothing, but the bastard went to check on it anyway. Next thing I know, Jason lunges at him with some kind of device, and there was this explosion."

"I noticed some items missing from my worktable when we brought Jason up," Ido says. "From what you said, I have a feeling he rigged something using the equipment I was working on." He shakes his head in mild amazement, "It's a miracle he didn't lose more body parts when he used it on Fenrir."

Gerhad's tone becomes regretful, as if trying to apologize for not keeping Ido's patient out of trouble, "I had no idea that Jason would try something like that. I was trying to keep Fenrir away from him."

Ido firmly reassures her, "You weren't at fault for what happened."

Gerhad nods, letting out a short sigh. "Anyway, after I recovered from the shock of the explosion, I see Fenrir get to his feet. Jason had managed to badly damage him, but that only slowed him down. I watched him grab Jason and pin him to a wall, screaming at him about how he'd pay for doing that, how he was gonna slowly tear him apart.

"Then he slams Jason on the floor and starts beating him. I grabbed the nearest thing that looked like it would do some damage and drove it into Fenrir as hard as I could." She takes a deep breath and shakily lets it back out. "When he knocked me away, I was sure he'd come after me next. I was so relieved when he just grabbed the money and ran. But, then I saw what he did to Jason..." Tears well up in her eyes and she bows her head, burying her face in her hands as her body shudders from a single sob.

"Sorry," Gerhad says, her voice muffled by her hands. When she uncovers her face the tears have already dried, though her expression is pained, almost despondent. "I was just so… terrified of what he was going to do. That he would come back."

Her heart aching for what her dear friend has gone through, Alita immediately puts down what she's holding and wraps her arms around Gerhad. "We're just glad your safe now," she says quietly to her.

With both hands, Ido clasps one of Gerhad's hands reassuringly. Even Koyomi gets up from her chair and puts her arms around Gerhad and Alita, solemnly giving them both a big hug. Gerhad gratefully returns their shows of comfort and support.

When they part, Ido tells Gerhad, "Jason's stable for the moment, so I think you should try to get a few hours rest before we get back to work."

A look of determination comes over Gerhad, "No, I'm alright-"

"The amount of work Jason is going to need," Ido interrupts firmly, fixing her with a stern but compassionate gaze, "still needs to be planned out." He holds up the little data pad he was making notes on, "Most of his vertebrae will require replacing, probably his entire spinal column. His skull will also likely need a complete rebuild. There's a great deal that needs to be considered before we can proceed, and I can do that myself. Get some rest. You've more than earned it. I'll wake you when I'm ready to proceed."

With some reluctance, Gerhad relents, allowing Alita to finish tending to her hurts. It doesn't take long, then Gerhad heads upstairs. Alita watches her go, her heart heavy with worry over the woman's well-being after what she's been through.

"I suppose you had best get hunting," Ido says somewhat darkly. "I wish I could be out there, helping you hunt this bastard down."

Alita carefully collects the items she was using onto a small tray in the center of the table, using the activity to help her keep her temper in check. When done, she smiles affectionately at her foster father, "I know, but I'm glad you'll be here, making sure everyone's safe." She pauses thoughtfully for a moment. "Although, I think I should call in some help. I'd feel better if there were an extra body watching your back while I'm gone."

Koyomi looks up from staring into her cup of coffee, "You think Fenrir'll come back?"

As she stands up, Alita gives the young woman a rather grim look, "I think someone might've given Fenrir some prompting to come after the clinic in the first place."

"Nova?" Ido asks evenly.

Alita nods to Ido, "Everyone knows not to mess with this place, or you. So, it seems like a strong possibility." What she doesn't voice aloud, is this quiet fear that Fenrir's hatred of her made this all possible, and somehow made her at least partly responsible for her home and family being attacked.

Planting her fists, knuckles-down on the tabletop, she leans forward, "Whatever the case, I intend to get back everything that was taken, and put Fenrir down before he can do any more damage."

Pushing off from the table, she steps away and boots up her internal cell phone, mentally inputting a number for dialing. After just one ring, Roman's voice asks, "Hey, what's up?"

Crossing her arms loosely over her chest, she glances towards the operating theater, and the unconscious form lying there, "Roman, I'm at the clinic. Fenrir attacked last night while I was away. Gerhad and Jason were hurt. I need your help, can you meet me?"

There's the barest of shocked pauses, before Roman answers simply, "I'll be right there."

. . . . . .

With everything finally settled a bit, Ido reports Fenrir's crime to the Factory. Normally the Factory wouldn't care, since under any other circumstance this wouldn't involve Factory property or personnel. But Ido manages to get some of the stolen items tagged as 'Factory associated', since he uses them in his work as a Tuner, and that line of work classifies him as a Factory contractor. It's not much, but it allows a bounty marker to be issued for one Fenrir, rogue Motorball Paladin.

All that aside, Fenrir knows the city well, and no doubt has plenty of places to hide.

. . . . . .

Since the main entry is blocked until repairs can be made, Alita meets Roman at the side door, unlocking it and letting him in. Somewhat to her surprise, Roman didn't come alone. Even though it didn't take him long to arrive, he still managed to round up Saza and the brothers, Roberto and Banick. She'd called Roman because she felt she and Ido had a closer relationship with him outside the arena, but the others were also as much friends as they were teammates. Although, the brothers did try her patience quite often.

Once all four are inside, Roman whirls around and asks with restrained concern, "How are they?"

"Gerhad's upstairs resting," Alita responds. She gestures towards the operating theater, "Jason's on life support."

"Holy hell," Saza mutters. She gestures with a thumb at Roman, "We had dinner with 'em just last night. What the hell happened?"

Alita gives them the short version; Fenrir breaking in, attacking Gerhad, and Jason attempting to come to her aid with an improvised explosive.

Roman shares a glance with Saza, then asks Alita, "What do you need us to do?"

Roberto and Banick look at each other then Roberto steps forward, actually puffing his chest out, and confidently proclaims, "My brother and I will get to hunting Fenrir down immediately! He won't-"

"No!" Alita tells Roberto commandingly. She'd intended to have Roman safeguard the clinic while she hunted down Fenrir, but the added bodies give her another idea. It could take days to track Fenrir down alone, so… "Roman, Saza and I are going to track him down. I need you two to stay here and make sure everyone is safe until this is over." The brothers might be as good at bounty-hunting as they are Motorball Paladins, but in current circumstances, she was far more trusting of the judgement and experience of her two older teammates. She certainly didn't need the brothers grandstanding in some misguided attempt to impress her.

Banick steps forward to stand next to his brother. In an almost patronizingly reasonable tone, he says to her, "Roman and Saza aren't even registered hunters, but Roberto and I are. Please, Alita, let us help-"

Normally, Alita had little trouble enduring the brother's fumbling interest in her. Even going so far as to put up with their awkward flirtations, despite keeping the pair at arm's length. But her home and family had been attacked, and someone she had come to consider a friend lay broken and badly wounded. Her patience was at the breaking point.

Her brows coming together in a furious stare, Alita snaps, "I don't need help taking him down! I need help finding him. And I need someone to watch my home to make sure he doesn't make a second try while I'm out looking for him." One side of her mouth comes up in a near snarl as she grabs Banick by the collar and yanks him down to eye level. "Can the two of you do that, or not?" she asks through clenched teeth, her voice nearly a growl.

Moving just their eyes, the two brothers share a quick surprised glance. In a much humbler tone, Banick answers, "Yes, you can count on us."

Alita releases him, along with a calming breath, her temper cooling. "Good." She says more calmly to the brothers, "Thank you."

They respond with quiet nods.

She goes to let Ido know she'll be heading out, and to retrieve her Damascus Blade. When she returns to the main room, she finds Roman and Saza gathered in Recovery, around Jason's bed. The brothers are hovering near the door, outside the room. The regular chime of the heartbeat monitor, and the quiet, rhythmic susurrations of the life support system the only sounds as the four cyborgs look down at the heavily bandaged man.

The brothers look uncomfortable, like they'd rather be elsewhere. The two older paladins merely look grim and concerned. While aware that the brothers don't much care for Jason, for whatever reason, Alita can see that her older teammates really do seem to like the strange man.

At the sight of her, Roman asks with a subdued gesture towards Jason, "He doesn't have any augmentations. Hell, he barely has any functional limbs!What the hell was he thinking, going at Fenrir like that?" His tone is a mix of genuine concern and disbelief.

Pain momentarily tightens her voice as Alita responds simply, "He was trying to protect Gerhad." Her mind silently adds, 'He was trying to protect my home, when he could have just hid.'

Roman merely nods, his mouth pressing into a thin line.

Saza takes a deep breath, then says in a strong voice, "Let's find that fucker."

The three of them quickly head off into the city.

. . . . . .

Splitting up, they keep in contact over the cell net as their search starts with other local cyber-docs since that's the first place Fenrir was likely to go, after getting a hole blasted through him. The physician at one of the seedier clinics tells Roman that Fenrir had come through, gotten his arm working again as well as additional repairs, then left in a big hurry.

For the first day or so, the search goes slowly. However, after word gets around that Fenrir had attacked Ido's clinic, information starts coming to them from people Ido had helped over the years. Even so, the trail ends up going cold until an unexpected break hands Alita a new lead.

Balancing on the balls of her feet, forearms resting on her knees, Alita crouches on the roof of a tall, partly collapsed building overlooking the industrial area below her as she considers her next move. Her long black coat trailing out behind her, and her fierce countenance as she scans the city below would likely put any observers in mind of a predatory bird scanning for prey. The chime of her internal cell phone pulls at her attention, Roman calling her.

She answers it, subvocalizing, "What have you got?"

"One of Fenrir's teammates, Castille," Roman replies. "He's a hunter-warrior on the side, says he's tracked down Fenrir."

Alita recalls the other enemy paladin that had helped Fenrir in his pincer attack in the last game, the one she'd sliced across the torso after he'd crushed her leg. Suspicious, she asks, "Why would he help us?"

"He wouldn't say. If you like, I can put him through and you can ask him yourself."

After a moment's consideration of whether it's worth it to waste any time on this, she decides, "Do it."

A rough-sounding voice comes over the line, asking without preamble, "I got his location, you want it or not?"

"If you have him in your sights, why don't you just take the bounty for yourself?" she asks in a cold voice.

There's a heartbeat or so of silence. Then, his voice softened, Castille replies, "Some time back, before I got into Motorball, my wife was dying. We couldn't afford the treatments she needed to live so, out of desperation I went to Ido. Didn't know much about him, only that he helped people in need, and wasn't expecting much when I saw that little clinic. But he gave her the synthetic organs she needed, didn't ask for anything in return. I've payed 'im back since then, but far as I'm concerned, I still owe the man." Castille's voice becomes rougher, "Grinding each other to scrap on the track is one thing, that's the job. But Fenrir took this outside the track, he fucked with your family. So yeah, he's in my sights, but he's all yours if you want 'im. Figured you might."

Satisfied, Alita says, "I do. Where is he?" After Castille provides the location, she says to him more warmly, "Thank you."

"Good luck, hunter." The call ends without further ceremony.

. . . . . .

Reaching the provided location after sunset, Alita pinpoints Fenrir's hiding spot and takes a moment to ensure he's alone, before dropping in from the rusting skeleton of an old crane. It's a seven-story fall, that ends with her smashing through the rotting steel and concrete roof and into the large chamber that her target's holed up in. Before she even hits the floor, combat systems kick in, accelerating her perceptions and making time seem to slow. Straightening up from the landing with her sword drawn, bits of debris still sprinkling down, her low-light vision takes in the chamber.

A surprised Fenrir sits on a piece of rusted out machinery in a shallow alcove, the duffel bag of stolen goods sitting on the floor at his feet. A tiny stove is set up not far from the duffel, with a small pot of something set on the little heating element. Scattered around, she can see several discarded drug vials, some of them from her father's clinic.

Recovering from the suddenness of her entrance, Fenrir is getting to his feet, grabbing up a combat axe as he does. "Wondered when you was gonna show up," he growls, voice slightly slurred. "Somehow it figured that you'd be the one to find me." Despite the obvious signs of a drug binge, he's steady on his feet and looking clear-eyed.

Alita steps clear of the rubble around her landing point. As she does so, something catches her eye, partly buried by the debris. The body of a man, face gaunt with what appears to be weeks worth of facial hair, dressed in tattered clothes, unnoticed during her initial recon for another living presence in the area. However, it's the eyes, or lack of them that stand out. Dried remains of red hearts-blood mixed with streaks of blue cyber-blood around the brutalized and now-vacant sockets indicate that they had once been at least cheap cybernetics.

Her gaze flits to to Fenrir's hands, catching sight of the dried blood on his thumbs.

Fenrir notices her discovery of the body and chuckles a bit erratically. "Serves 'im right, little shit tried to cheat me." His expression becomes momentarily melancholy, before snapping back to a malign sneer, "Or rather, he did cheat me. Won't be doin' that again, though, will he?"

She steps clear of the corpse, keeping her eyes focused on Fenrir, senses alert for any hint of ambush. Though she didn't see any sign of one, he could easily have an accomplice or other surprise waiting in the wings. "What could someone in his position have offered you?" she asks, with a nod towards the cadaver. She's not really curious, but she's hoping to learn if her suspicions are correct.

Fenrir takes a step forward, carelessly kicking the little stove aside, sending it and the pot that was on it clattering across the floor a few meters away. The hot contents spill and splatter across the rubble-strewn floor. The sight of it momentarily reminds Alita of the pool of crimson on the concrete floor of the clinic's basement.

"It was his eyes," Fenrir says, his voice a quiet mutter. "Strange, ice blue eyes that seemed to look right through you. And the things he told me, like he'd known me my whole life."

'Strange ice blue eyes?' A chill passes down her spine, her suspicions confirmed. Before she'd killed him, Vector's eyes turned a deep ice blue when Nova had taken over him. She spares one more glance at the corpse, feeling a pang of pity. 'One more lost soul, used up and thrown away by Nova,' she thinks bitterly, refocusing on Fenrir. 'One more to add to the bill that monster will pay when I finally get my hands on him.'

Fenrir goes on, swaying slightly, his expression almost dreamy with his eyes fixed on the cadaver at Alita's feet. "He knew things, secret things. He promised to help me get the life I've always dreamed of, that I've always fought for. That I deserve. All I had to do, was this one thing for him. He said it would hurt you, and I liked the idea of that. Just rob your old man's clinic and take every credit chip I found in there, straight to him. Told me he'd be able to take care of any bounty, and somehow I knew he could." His gaze turns baleful as it shifts upwards to meet her own gaze, "Then that limbless meat-sack fucked everything up. Didn't even know he was there, but that shouldn't have mattered." One side of his mouth twists into a snarl, "Only one arm, crawling on the ground like some insect? Dealing with him should've been so easy."

His gaze becomes momentarily distant as he shakes his head in disbelief, "Somehow he got the drop on me, blasted my systems to hell." His focus snaps back to her, "I finally manage to get here, and what does he," Fenrir nods towards the corpse on the floor, "tell me? That he'd seen what happened. That he saw me get run off. I tried to explain what happened, but he just tells me he has no use for me, that I was too weak!"

'So Nova used you up and threw you away as well.' Alita almost finds herself pitying Fenrir. Almost.

"Well, I showed him who's weak," Fenrir grinds on, his expression becoming progressively more hateful. "His promises may have been a load of shit, but that doesn't mean I'm goin' down without a fight. When I'm done, everyone is gonna be sorry I was cheated. Maybe after I'm done with you, I'll head back to that clinic. Pay that little insect a visit and see how he likes having what's left of his body slowly pulled apart, like human putty." His lips twist into a sadistic grin, "Wonder if he can still scream with no mouth. Maybe I'll pull the front of his skull off, but leave his eyes intact so he can watch his own brains splatter on the floor." The sadistic grin stretches into a leer, "Of course, I could also pick up where I left off with that cute nurse-"

His mention of Gerhad kills what little remains of Alita's restraint, instantly stoking her rage to a white-hot inferno. She snarls and bares her teeth as she charges at Fenrir with a speed and ferocity he clearly wasn't expecting from the widening of his eyes. Her Berserker body is faster and stronger than her Motorball body, and he was no doubt anticipating what he saw as her street body to be less powerful than the one used in the arena.

Despite his surprise, he reacts quickly enough to whip the axe up in an underhanded swing, a desperate attempt to strike her in the chest, an inner thigh, or otherwise force her into a defensive posture. Alita twists to the side just enough to avoid the full force of his attack, letting the edge of the axe-blade hit at a shallower angle, tearing a gash through her black bodysuit as it glances off the almost diamond-hard skin over her rib cage.

Momentum carries her forward as her right arm comes up over Fenrir's extended arm, sweeping upward to stab her Damascus Blade towards his face as blue plasma fire blossoms across it's surface. Fenrir drops to one knee just as her blade spears through the space his head had occupied a split-second before, and he turns in place, preparing to strike her back as she passes his position. Instead, she angles into him, slamming her smaller frame into his. He barely moves from the impact.

With his attention on the plasma-sheathed blade in her right hand, she had flattened her left hand during the charge, fingers straight, forming a blunt spear-head. Keeping her body in the way, he doesn't see the plasma field flare to life around that hand. The cuff of her long-coat's sleeve vaporizes under the searing energies of the plasma.

For an instant, their eyes meet. In his eyes is a triumphant look, as he knows that this close there's no way she can dodge his next attack, even with her speed. He's clearly convinced that his prey has made a deadly mistake. The triumph melts into confusion at the burst of light and heat that explodes between them as she drives her left hand into his chest, right through his heart. There's loud popping and chuffing noises as critical components of his cybercore are crushed and vaporized by both the kinetic energy of her strike, as well as the destructive energy of the plasma field.

The damage destroys Fenrir's primary nerve clusters, silencing communication between his cybercore and the rest of his body, instantly paralyzing him. With his life support system ravaged, blood flow to his brain ceases, and hypoxia starts setting in. It'll still take minutes for his oxygen-deprived brain to die. Alita has no intention of letting him live even that long.

Fenrir's face slowly goes slack, and Alita can see the life begin draining from his eyes, even as disbelief shines through. Shutting down her plasma emitters, she keeps her left hand in place to hold him up for just a little longer.

"The only thing you'll be doing," she says in a voice thick with suppressed rage, her face a grim mask, "is donating the parts to fix the man you tried to kill." Pulling her hand out of the cavity burned into his chest, she lets him slowly fall over. Once his body lies still, a quick stroke of her Damascus Blade separates his head.

Dropping the head into the duffel bag, she hefts the body onto a shoulder while grabbing up the duffel, and begins making her way out of the industrial ruins.

. . . . . .

After leaving the body and duffel with Roman and Saza to deliver to the clinic, Alita makes her way to the Factory and it's Regulatory department of Public Security, the turn-in point for all heads collected on behalf of bounty markers issued by the Factory. Stepping through the huge double doors, she doesn't outwardly acknowledge the Centurions that move to track her during her approach to the rebuilt kiosk at the end of the enormous hall. She knows what they're capable of now, and how to deal with them if they try anything.

She casually identifies herself to the deckman at the kiosk and turns in Fenrir's head. Collecting up the dispensed bounty of a paltry five-thousand credit chips, she turns on her heel and departs the facility.

. . . . . .

Weary from the days of non-stop hunting and the emotional turmoil of the attack on her home, she finally returns to the clinic where she greets Roman and the others, gathered in the kitchen. Around the room are little stacks of boxes and bags filled with what look like food and other supplies.

Looking around at the stacks and piles, she asks, "What is all this?"

Saza gestures grandly at the clutter and cheerfully declares, "Gifts, from you neighbors!"

Her eyebrows come up in surprise, "Really?"

Roman hands her a cup of steaming hot tea, "Yep. Everybody in the neighborhood heard about what happened to their local cyber-doc, and after everything he's done for them over the years, they wanted to return the favor. Ido turned away all but the most determined, however." He shrugs, one corner of his mouth raised in a faint smile, "Got the impression he didn't want people putting themselves out on his account."

Saza shakes her head in mild wonder and amusement, "Typical Doc Ido."

The weariness is momentarily banished by this show of good-will from the community. 'Neighbors coming together to help each other in times of trouble,' she muses to herself. 'Maybe this is the kind of world Jason grew up in. Perhaps that's one reason for his constant depression, he so hates what his world has turned into?'

"Guessin' you're gonna want to get some rest?" Saza asks her.

Alita nods, still halfway lost in thought as she sips her tea. "Yeah, been a long day."

Roman pats a nearby stack of gifted items, "We'll get this last bit moved then, and get outta your way. Dunno about Saza, but I'd like to get some shut-eye as well."

As the four of them get up to do so, Alita says to them gratefully, "Thank you for coming to help." She gestures with a nod toward the brothers, "All of you."

Her teammates accept her thanks with quiet nods, the brothers perking up and becoming visibly more animated at her appreciation. Despite her annoyance with their insistence on posturing for her attentions, the brothers had stayed to help out, and so she was thankful to them for that.

It doesn't take long for her teammates to put away the community's gifts, then they depart. She exchanges a good-bye with each one individually, thanking them one last time as they head out the door.

When the last of her team has left, she sinks into a chair, setting her cup to the side and laying the Damascus Blade across the table center. Crossing her arms on the table, she rests her head on them, closing her eyes. Just as her mind begins teasing at thoughts of what other enemies might come after her family on her account, Ido's voice from the kitchen doorway rouses her.

"Gerhad's resting in Jason's bed, so yours is open if you need it," he says quietly.

Straightening up, she leans back in her chair as it protests with a couple loud creaks, "Soon. How are they?"

Ido pushes off from the door frame and comes over to take a seat next to her, "Gerhad seems to be holding up rather well. Jason is stable, but I'm going to need to keep him in an induced coma for a while." He heaves a weary sigh, "He still has several days worth of surgery ahead of him." A light shrug of a shoulder, "I don't think he's suffered any brain damage." The constant frustration at not being able to use modern scanners to tell one way or another is audible in his tone. Putting a hand over hers, he asks softly, "How are you holding up?"

Turning her hand over, she curls her fingers around his hand, clasping it, "I'm doing well enough. Added Fenrir's bounty, such as it was, to help cover the cost of what he destroyed. Were you able to make use of any of the parts I sent back?"

Ido chuckles humorlessly at her referring to Fenrir's body as 'parts'. He nods, "Yes, not as much as I'd like, due to Jason's 'condition' but it helped. I'll certainly be making use of the vertebrae to rebuild Jason's spinal column, after I modify the parts for his physique. Fortunately the spinal chord itself is undamaged."

She nods wearily, glad that something was of use. "Is Koyomi still here?"

"No. She wanted to stay until you got back, but the brothers and I convinced her to get back to her work. I didn't want her falling behind and ending up in trouble she didn't need."

She nods again, giving his hand a gentle squeeze, "Good, good." Running her free hand through her hair, she feels the stress of recent events further melt away. But now that the hunt is over, and things have quieted down, she feels the thrum of that constant heartache.

She looks over at Ido, "Would it be alright to check in on Gerhad?"

One corner of Ido's mouth lifts in a half-smile, "She's likely still asleep, but I'm certain she wouldn't mind you interrupting to make sure she's alright."

Alita feels a pang of guilt at disrupting the woman's no doubt much needed rest. But having been absent for a couple days, she can't help this need to make sure the closest thing in the world to a mother-figure is actually safe and alright after what happened.

Ido leads her up stairs to Jason's room. When they get to the door, Ido steps aside and lets her go first. She quietly pushes the door open and sees Gerhad, still in her scrubs, lying on the bed snoring softly. Alita makes her way over to the nightstand and turns on the little lamp, then after a moment's guilty hesitation, gently jostles Gerhad's shoulder.

Gerhad's eyes flutter open, accompanied by a deep intake of breath. When her eyes focus on Alita, she smiles wearily at her, "Oh, hey. How'd the hunt go?"

Alita kneels down next to the bed and gently clasps Gerhad's flesh hand, "It's over. I got back what I could, but Fenrir had traded some of it away."

Gerhad nods, the smile fading into a gentle frown as she sighs tiredly, "Well, at least you put that bastard down. Last thing this place needs is another one like him running around."

Alita nods agreement, "One less to worry about." She gives the older woman's hand a gentle, reassuring squeeze as she says quietly, "I just wanted to check in. Sorry to wake you."

"S' okay," Gerhad replies, her eye's already drooping shut again. "I'm just glad you're back..." then she's snoring softly, already sinking back into sleep.

Quietly getting back to her feet, Alita softly plants a quick peck on Gerhad's forehead. After turning out the light, she and Ido quietly leave the room. As they head down the hall and descend the stairs, she fills Ido in on what she learned.

Ido looks unsurprised. "Another one of Nova's sick little games. Playing god with all of our lives." His normally pleasant expression hardens into a furious scowl.

Alita says nothing, there being nothing to say.

Having reached the main floor, Ido leads her into the Recovery room, correctly assuming that she would want to see Jason next. For a very brief disorienting moment, memory hits her of Hugo lying in that very bed in his new cyborg body. Nothing like the bed's current occupant, who's body seems to reject cyberware.

She can't help but wonder, how differently things would have turned out if Ido had tried to have Jason placed into a Total Replacement body. Total Replacement augmentation requires just about everything but the brain and maybe a bit of spinal chord be replaced with artificial systems; bones with metal alloy endoskeleton, muscles with servos and artificial equivalents, heart and lungs with cybernetic life-support systems and so forth.

But with Jason's condition, his brain would have failed to connect to any of the sensory systems of it's new vessel, and he would have been completely paralyzed. Not requiring any kind of connection with his nervous system, the circulating blood supply would continue feeding oxygen and nutrients to Jason's brain. He would be trapped in endless darkness, unable to escape it, unable to die. What kind of suffocating, disembodied hell would he have been unintentionally subjected to? How long into the twenty-eight day period of cyberware 'attunement' before his mind unraveled from the seemingly endless sensory deprivation and he was plunged into howling insanity? She shakes off the unsettling thought.

Ido stops at the foot of the bed, hands clasped in front of him as she continues on to stand beside the prone, almost limbless figure wrapped in bandages and hooked up to what almost looks like every life support system in the clinic. Under all the bandaging and tubes, what was once a rather handsome face, still looks like a bruised and deformed mess.

"Even after we get the worst of this fixed, he's going to need a lot of reconstructive surgery," Ido remarks quietly. "And some of it's going to be guess-work, since I only have a couple of photographs to work from." His mouth twists into a rueful frown, clearly regretting not having prepared for a contingency none of them saw coming.

Recalling one of her and Jason's infrequent conversations, she says in a soft voice, "He once told me that before coming here, he'd only ever been in three fights in his life, child-hood scuffles.A bloody nose or two. The attack in the street was the worst he's ever been through."

With a slight shake of his head, Ido comments, "Most people in this city have had to deal with a bit more than a few child-hood scuffles in their life." He lets out a short sigh, "Sadly, I'd say Jason may very well be ahead of the curve at this point."

She reaches out a hand and gently runs the tips of her fingers over the bandages covering Jason's shaven scalp, and the surgical scars that she can feel crisscross it in precise patterns beneath those bandages. Silently, she wonders, 'Another time-lost castaway. Only he never found the kind of refuge I did, not until now, anyway. Thrown hundreds of years from his home, all that way to end up like this...'

"Do you think he'll be able to make it here?" she asks quietly, letting her hand fall back to her side.

A measured pause, then Ido says, "I wish I could say for certain. I can't even imagine what coming here was like for him. When my family and I were exiled, Iron City was a bit strange, but not a complete unknown. That little bit of familiarity helped us more easily slip into a life here."

He gestures towards Jason with a nod, "For him however, it was such a sudden transition. To be so abruptly dumped into a world so different from the one he'd lived his whole life in. There certainly weren't augmented cyborgs walking around, capable of dealing such serious damage to a person. Then too, there were laws, and systems in place to provide at least some measure of protection. Certainly more than what we have here."

He shakes his head slowly, "I have to wonder if he keeps trying to act like he's still back in his own time. He's too willing to rush to another's aid, too ready to reach out to anyone who looks like they need help. There are a lot of people out there who see that kind of behavior as a weakness, and prey on anyone who does that sort of thing. Iron City is very unforgiving towards anyone who shows such compassion. He needs to adapt, somehow, or it's not going to end well for him. He simply doesn't have the strength or power needed to behave like that without significant risk of either ending up right back in this clinic, or worse."

Alita takes that as Ido indirectly telling her, 'he doesn't have your strength and power.' But then, no one else in Iron City does. Ido had once said to her,'You're the only one built for this.' She remembers Hugo mentioning, 'The strong prey on the weak down here.' Jason doesn't have Ido's reputation, or even basic fighting skills to protect himself. He doesn't have Koyomi's street smarts or connections. In fact, this strange newcomer basically has nothing.

She considers the similarities between her and Jason's situations, at least at surface level. The world he's described coming from is one she can't even really imagine. It's too far outside of the only frame of reference she currently has. Aside from the tiny fragments that all too rarely rise up from the dark abyss where her memories should be, this one city with it's floating counterpart and massive space elevator comprises the totality of her known world.

She looks down at her hand, flexing the fingers slowly, feeling the power that runs through her body even in that slight movement. 'Dumped intothis alien world, nowhere to go, no one to turn to.' Memory comes to mind, of her first time waking up in this clinic. 'Not even a kindly doctor to help him settle in. He spent all that time on that little farm, trying to find a way home, but there isn't one. His home is gone, dead.' An idea begins to form, and she clenches her hand into a fist, 'But thanks to him, this little home of mine isn't.'

Abruptly, she turns to Ido and asks, "Instead of sending him off after you fix him up, why don't we keep him?"

Ido's eyebrows shoot up, and he is so taken off-guard by her question that he almost takes a step back. Half-jokingly he replies, "'Keep him'? He's not some stray pet-"

She waves a dismissive hand, impatiently interrupting him, "That's not- you know what I mean. Why can't he just stay here?" A gesture at the figure lying on the bed, "Hasn't he been helpful around the clinic? He's taken up quite a bit of the load for you and Gerhad, making life that much easier, and he's never asked for any kind of payment. He's just pitched in and done what's asked of him. All that while being stuck in a wheelchair. How much more so when you get him up and walking again?" When Ido just stands there looking at her, she continues her argument with a more emphatic gesture at the bed-bound figure, "And that's not even counting what he was just now willing to do for us. He risked his life to protect Gerhad! To protect our home! No money reward, no special favors, nothing! He saw someone in danger and he just jumped in! How many other people could you count on to do that?"

Ido loosely crosses his arms as he considers her a moment, wearing the faintest hint of a smile. "All good points. If you feel that strongly about it, and want him to stay, then I'm willing to abide by your decision."

'That seemed rather easy,' she thinks to herself, certain that Ido would have had more to say on the subject of giving the man a more permanent place in their home. "Really?"

He shrugs, "Yes. After all, you're right. He's asked for very little, and been an immense help. This recent event certainly casts him in an even more positive light. Then there's the fact of his, shall we say, foreign status. All things considered, this may be the best place for him. At least for the foreseeable future." His tone shifts, becoming more cautionary, "Just remember, even with all that we've learned, there's still quite a bit about him we don't know. So, be prepared for a few surprises, alright?"

She ducks her head in a relieved nod, "I will." Though she doesn't foresee any trouble, if there is any then she's more than willing to put an end to it. With the matter seemingly settled, she leaves Recovery and heads into the main room, intending to head to bed.

Ido follows her out, and asks her, "And would those be the only reasons for wanting to keep him around?"

She stops and turns to look at him a moment, before inquiring, "Why do you ask?"

Ido glances back at Recovery, and Jason, "I just get the impression there's more you're not saying. Something's worrying you." A shrug of one shoulder as he gives her an awkward little half-smile, "More so than the usual. A father can tell these things." He steps closer to her and gently puts a hand on her shoulder, "Please, talk to me. What is it?"

She quietly sighs and turns aside, as she orders her thoughts. "Well, ever since that fight in the alley..." she trails off, uncertain of how to word it delicately.

"When we first ran into Grewishka?" Ido gently prompts.

She turns back to him, "Exactly. Ever since then, I've been noticing that, well..." her brain continues to fumble over a good way to put it, without upsetting him.

Remembering how that encounter went, realization dawns on Ido and he nods, one corner of his mouth turned up in a knowing smile, "You've noticed your old man's maybe not as fast, nor as strong as he might have once been?"

Relieved at his understanding, she says apologetically, "Something like that, yes." When it looks like there's no bruised ego, she continues more confidently, "And I know you have your reasons for not wanting augmentations. As for Gerhad, well, she's got a real talent for healing-"

Looking as though he sees what she's getting at, Ido interrupts, "True, Gerhad isn't a fighter, and I'm, er, not as young as I once was, but what about you?" He can't quite bring himself to state the obvious.

Alita opts for more direct honesty, and does state the obvious, "I'm going to Zalem. I don't know what'll happen when I get there, or what it's going to be like afterwards. But I think some kind of precautions are in order. Jason may not have been combat trained, but he was a soldier. He's obviously willing to put his life on the line to protect others." She briefly holds up one silvery fist, "You give him a strong, new body and I can teach him how to use it, how to better protect others and himself."

"So," Ido says, sounding a little sad. "You want to make sure we'll be okay, just in case." Silently, he adds, 'In case my little girl doesn't come back.'

Earnestly, she looks up at him, "I want to make sure that everyone I care about most are going to have as little to worry about as possible. And I think, based on what he's done so far, Jason would also like to see all of you protected. And if he wants to be able to safeguard the people he cares about, then he's going to have to learn a few things. He's going to have to adapt."

Ido takes some time to mull that over. "True, Jason was a soldier," Ido replies finally, his voice even, "but what if he decides he has no interest in any of that? Have you considered the possibility that, with everything that's happened to him, he may not want anything to do with fighting?"

Her voice carries an earnest, steel resolve, "Then I'll convince him that by going this route, he'll be able to keep this from happening to himself, or anyone else, ever again. If he really wants to protect the people around him, this is the only way he'll be able to do that." She puts on a more reasoning tone, "He went at Fenrir practically bare-handed. He has a warrior's heart, if he were to pursue that potential, he could make a real difference. He'd be able to ensure that you'll all be that much safer if..." she almost says 'if I don't come back.' Instead, she finishes, "if anything else should happen."

Having seen that look in her eyes before, Ido knows there's no dissuading her. She's made her mind up. He sighs rather heavily, worried about how Jason might react to this, considering what the man's been through and his mental state. Ido pulls her into a hug and gives her a quick kiss on the top of her head, "Alright, sweetheart. Just, don't push him too hard?"

She returns the embrace warmly, and nods, "It'll be fine." She intends to make certain, that if Nova ever tries anything again, things will turn out much differently. Neither he, nor his puppets will find easy targets here ever again.