Hey guys! Thanks soooooo much to everyone who's faved/followed/reviewed this story so far. You have no idea how much I appreciate it! ^^ We left Tadashi in a pretty precarious position last chapter (Ooo, alliteration! Sorry, me getting easily distracted...) Now he's in the hospital, but things still aren't looking too good. What is his fate going to be? Well, read on to find out!
(Little side note: This chapter dedicated to my awesome friends Rebeccafairy and WDisneyRP-Honey-Lemon. Thank you guys for inspiring me to do this story and keeping me going on it! Love you both! :D)
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Doctors rush around the surgical room in the intensive care unit. They've been working on this case for the past ten hours, and they've gotten the boy stable, but just barely. Any moment his fate can go in one way or the other, and as hard as they are all working to save him, they know that it's truly in God's hands. Still, the fact that the boy had somehow managed to survive the fire in the first place is enough to keep them hopeful.
"Doctor Peterson!" a nurse calls, coming through the swinging doors and addressing the head surgeon.
"Yes, what is it?" Doctor Peterson responds, wiping his sleeve across his forehead to clear away the sweat and wondering what could be so important that the nurse is interrupting their life-saving work.
"Doctor Elephun wishes to speak with you," the nurse answers with an apologetic smile. "He says it's urgent." Doctor Peterson's gaze shifts slightly at the name. He recognizes the name of the practitioner, and he's seen the small man about the hospital from time to time, but on a personal level he knows very little of him. To be honest, he's never put much stock in the department that Dr. Elephun runs. The so-called "Human Robotics lab" that he heads down in the basement of San Fransokyo General Hospital has always sounded like more of a mad scientist's game than anything. But this situation is desperate, and if the little man knows something that can be of use…
"Send him in," Dr. Peterson finally says.
"Actually, he insists that he speak to you in the halls in private," the nurse tells him nervously.
Dr. Peterson sighs—he has no time for games. Still, he calls to the other doctors, "Keep working. I want that heart beat steady by the time I get back!" before doing as directed and heading out into the hallway.
"Ah, good day to you," he is greeted by the tiny but widely built figure out in the dimly lit corridor.
"A good day to you," Dr. Peterson replies , not feeling this to be the time for pleasantries when a boy's life hangs in the balance but forcing himself to be civil. "How can I be of assistance to you?"
"Actually, I believe it is I who can be of assistance to you," Dr. Elephun replies with a smile.
Dr. Peterson sighs and rubs his forehead. He has no patience for games right now. "What do you want, Elephun?" he asks finally.
"Ah, good." Dr. Elephun smiles even wider. "I see we are being direct with each other, so I won't beat around the bush—we want the boy."
"Beg pardon?" Dr. Peterson blinks rapidly, trying to decide if he's heard the little man correctly.
"Those of us in the H.R. department—the Human Robotics department, that is. We want the boy that you're currently working on," Dr. Elephun answers.
"Yes, I am aware of your department. But tell me, why on Earth do you want him?"
"Simple—we want to help."
"How can you help?" Dr. Peterson tries to keep the skepticism out of his voice, but a bit gets through and Dr. Elephun doesn't miss it.
"Com over here." Dr. Elephun waves his confused colleague over to the door of the surgery room and together the look in. "Tell me, what do you see?"
"A boy who's just sustained a lot of injuries and is lucky to be alive."
"Exactly. And what sort of future does a boy like that have?"
"Well…" Dr. Peterson lets a tiny sigh escape him. "Not much of one, I'm afraid. If he's lucky, he'll be able to eventually get around using prosthetics, but it's doubtful. So much of his nervous system and organs were damaged that it's likely he'll be nothing more than a human vegetable, if you'll forgive me using the vernacular."
Dr. Elephun nodded his head, as if this was the answer that he'd been expecting. "And the family? Have they been contacted yet?"
"Truthfully? We don't know how to locate the family," Dr. Peterson replies. "We know he was found at the wreckage of the San Fransokyo University fire, but there were a lot of people there that night. We don't have a list of who all was there, so we can't even begin contacting people who might be the next of kin. All of the personal identifiers on him were burned up in the fire. All we have is the picture from his driver's license that we found in his wallet, a very charred photo of some girl, and nothing more."
"So even if you manage to save his life," Dr. Elephun says knowingly, "he has nowhere to go, no one to take care of him, and no way to support himself. How long do you think the hospital's going to let him stay here? A month? A few months, maybe? Eventually they'll give up on him and decide to pull the plug, and all of this work will be for nothing."
Dr. Peterson feels his bronchi tighten slightly at the words "pull the plug". He knows that Dr. Elephun is right. Sadly, if they can't come up with a good reason to keep the boy alive and be able to guarantee that he's actually experiencing a good quality of life, the hospital would eventually order them to end the boy's existence and all of their efforts would be for nothing. Slumping against the wall in slight defeat, he turns his eyes in Dr. Elephun's direction. "So what?" he finally gets out. "We just give up?"
"No, no, no." The little man shakes his head vigorously. "That's not what I'm saying at all. What I'm trying to tell you is that I think me and my team in the H.R. department can do something to help. Actually, I think we can do more than just something—I think we can fix everything!"
"Everything? How is that possible?" Dr. Peterson stares at the smaller gentleman in disbelief.
"We've been waiting for a chance like this for years," Dr. Elephun responds, sounding almost giddy with excitement. "For quite some time now, I've been fascinated by the idea of using robotics in the medical field to help replace limbs and organs that people are missing. My team and I have had great success in creating these supplementary body parts, but up until now we've never had anyone who was actually willing to give them a try." The doctor looks up at his taller cohort pleadingly, all traces of his previous mirth gone. "Please, let us help. We may be the boy's only chance to ever live a normal life again."
Dr. Peterson bites his lip, trying to decide what to do. As fantastical as Dr. Elephun's ideas sounded, if he was telling the truth, this might be the boy's only chance. But can they risk it? Could he really entrust the life of the boy into the hands of this man who, for all he knew, could be a total quack?
"Doctor Peterson!" One of his fellow surgeons pokes his head out of the door. "We've got a steady pulse and the oxygen from the tank seem to finally be circulating into his lungs and brain—what's left of them, anyway. What are your next orders?"
Dr. Peterson stiffens his jaw, his mind made up. "Strap him down and prepare him to be move," he calls, his words directed to the man who'd asked the question, but his eyes on the doctor who was now smiling next to him. "We're sending him to the H.R. department."
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Ooh, things are getting interesting now! Just what exactly are they going to do to Tadashi? Well, we'll have to wait and see! At least we know there's hope now
And yes, for those of you noticed the reference, I did borrow the name of the character Dr. Elephun (Dr. Elefun in his source story, but I was trying to mix it up a bit!) from Astro Boy. No, it's not exactly the same character, and we're not doing crossovers (at least not yet…) but it just seemed like he really fit the bill for a doctor who knew what he was doing with robotics, and so he became my inspiration for this character. Anyway, hope y'all enjoyed, and I can't wait to see you in the next chapter!