Chapter Sixteen: Fever
"Burning up? What do you mean?" Jester asked, grabbing Blade into a hug.
"The kid put the whole thing in medical terms so I don't remember a lot of it. But I think he said it had to do with his injury fighting off uh, . . . something. And since he wasn't suppose to be physically active post-surgery . . . I really don't remember what he said. But I do remember him saying that since the formula is our blood, our life's fluid or something, it reacts like blood and develops its own 'mun'ty system to protect us and itself." Torch said.
"So he does have an infection?" Six asked.
"A fever." Tunneler corrected. "We have a very, very simple and basic anatomy and blood vessels so we're not as well developed as we used to be. A cold could put us in bed rest for as long as measles or double pneumonia used to back in the early 1800's. It could even prove fatal if we're not careful."
"Oh, my aching legs." Six groaned as he despised bed rest. That and Barbie.
"But we're puppets! How can we fight off a high temperature if we can't even put a wet, cold rag on our heads? We'd splinter!" Jester stated.
"Gel packs." Pinhead said.
All the other puppets turned to look at him. "Wha-?"
"Gel packs." Pinhead repeated. "Like ice bags. Women use them a lot and it comes in various sizes. I remember one woman who put a blue gel pack on her eyes to help with the irritation from her contacts."
"Since when do they have those?!" Six asked in a whiny manner.
"Since the 80's!" Torch said. "For a cowboy, you don't get out much."
"Well yeah, I'm a living puppet. People'd freak if they saw a piece of wood moving on its own."
"I've got three words for you cowboy: Remote. Control. Toys." Torch growled. "Have you not heard of Hot Wheels?"
"Since I have no idea what you're talking about, I'm gonna say no." Six said stubbornly.
Any further arguing was silenced when Blade started coughing again, but this time some of the formula came up with it.
"We need to get him help and fast!" Jester cried.
The scorpion made one final turn and landed. The velociraptors jumped off and carried Blade inside a tunnel and they emerged in a room full of medical beds and there were creatures running around everywhere.
One raptor went up to a computer and started typing away. A few seconds later it returned and three of them rushed Blade down a hall, the other two keeping the other puppets at bay, one chittering with Torch.
"Where are they taking him?!" Jester demanded.
"Intensive Care, Cyborg Division." Torch answered. "Why Cyborg?" he asked himself, scratching his head.
"Oh! That's right! I completely forgot about that!" Tunneler said, slapping himself in the head. "Remember the brother said his brother made the original formula as a healing potion for cyborgs. I think Blade's in good hands." he said, feeling extremely relieved. The others relaxed at that, Jester especially.
". . . what?" Torch asked.
"Oh, just something the brother said." Six replied and looked around for a seat and sat down.
"What'd he say? What brother?" Torch asked.
"Just stuff about the formula and who originally made it." Six answered and covered his eyes with his hat.
Torch flared his eyes for a moment and quietly growled "Dipshit" and went off on his own. None of the others were watching him so they didn't see him go.
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When Jester woke up he was surprised he fell asleep in the first place, he looked around and noticed that the hospital room was far more busy than before. The raptors that had taken Blade earlier were running around tending to other patients and trilling, cooing, barking, and squawking away.
He was wondering what was going on and looked around for Torch.
"Torch? . . . Torch? . . . Tor- AAAAHHHHH! SPIDERS!" he screamed and dove under Pinhead who had woken from the high-pitched scream.
"Wha-? What is it?" Pinhead asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes and stretching.
"There's no spiders in space, Jess. Go back to sleep." Six mumbled and rolled onto his side.
"There are too spiders in space and we're surrounded by them!" Jester whimpered, crawling under Pinhead's sweater to hide, making him laugh.
"Jester, get out from under there! Stop! You're tickling me!"
Tunneler woke up from all the noise and flinched when a large tarantula skittered by, hissing, and was followed by three rats. He looked around and there were more spiders, but not all of them were tarantulas. He recognized some as Daddy Long Legs, black widows, a few jumping spiders, and house spiders.
"What the devil is going on? Where did all these spiders come from?" he asked.
"We're in space. There's no spiders here." Six grumbled, wanting to sleep some more.
"Yeah, well, there was no such thing as aliens either, or mechanical velociraptors or a FLYING SCORPION FOR THAT MATTER!" Jester yelled from inside Pinhead's sweater.
"I think these spiders are like those raptors, completely mechanical." Tunneler said, observing the medical room they were in.
The spiders paid no mind to them, skittering past and over their heads and some were weaving their webs and applying them to casts and securing gauze like medical tapes. There were some patients that were completely wrapped in webs the way Blade used to be and were being carefully tended to by the tarantulas and none of the patients seemed bothered or frightened by their appearance.
Then he got a good look at the patients. They were all animals. Rats, mice, squirrels, birds, lizards, snakes. There was even a turtle wrapped in webs! But he didn't see any that looked to be cyborg.
"Guys, I don't see Blade anywhere." he said.
Jester popped his head out from under Pinhead's sweater. "What?"
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Blade's mind slowly came back to consciousness. Everything was still dark but he could hears noises coming from his right. He didn't remember much about what had happened, just that he was in immense pain and he could feel the formula bubbling inside of him. But he seemed fine now. The pain had stopped and the formula had quieted down, but he felt groggy like he had been when Decapitron blew up the hotel's lobby during his fight with Sutekh.
"Jester . . .? . . . Pin . . . ?" he whispered before losing consciousness again.
