VIII

Ben, in his civilian attire, strode from the front desk. "He's not here."

Kari, likewise wearing her street clothes, linked her arm through his. "What about the other hospitals?"

"He's nowhere in the Paragon hospital system."

"But we saw him ported away."

"We only assumed it was the Mediport system." He looked back at the receptionist desk. "His wounds were quite severe. I doubt he survived."

"Don't say that, honey. You have to believe that he survived."

"You don't even believe that."

She leaned her head against his.

---

Dave regained consciousness on a bed in his laboratory. He levered himself to a sitting position, peeling the sheets off. He found himself in his sweat pants, stripped from the waist up.

"You should rest, Dr. Grant," Sarah's soothing voice said.

He ached, but he otherwise felt fine. Hadn't he been run through by the Eco-Activist's skewering thorn weapon? He looked down, saw the cauterized line on his chest from a laser flesh sealer.

He then saw his left arm. A skeletal robotic arm was attached to his shoulder. He flexed the fingers—it responded to his brain impulses just like his natural arm.

"Do not worry, Dr. Grant, we are synthesizing flesh to cover your new arm. No one will know it's artificial."

Still somewhat groggy, his brain tried to comprehend what his eyes saw. "My arm...I'd lost my arm in that battle, too."

"You were seriously injured, Dr. Grant," Sarah said. "You were in a coma for five weeks. In that time we had to replace your arm and your heart."

"My heart?"

"You required a heart transplant, so I had an artificial one created for you."

"You built the heart?"

"From your plans for an artificial heart that is in your database."

"That was just a design, Sarah, I hadn't even built a prototype yet."

"The prototype is now pumping your blood, and quite splendidly I might add."

"How did you..." Dave put his hand to his forehead. "How did you do all this?"

"I am programmed to serve you, Dr. Grant. To protect you and your interests. When you were gravely injured, I thought I could use the facilities here to better save you than Paragon's hospitals."

"That's impressive, Sarah."

"Unfortunately, you had lost too much blood to your brain by the time you arrived here. You suffered some damage to your brain."

"How much?"

"Enough to hinder your motor skills, but thankfully your memory and personality centers remained intact. We had to replace the damaged parts of your brain with cybernetic implants."

Dave put a hand to the top of his skull, rubbing smooth skin. His hair had been shaved off, and he could feel the ridge of a scar much like that which adorned his chest.

"The implant now allows you to communicate directly to your robots via wireless connection," Sarah continued. "Your thoughts become their actions."

Dave slid off the bed and tested the strength of his leg muscles. His knees buckled, and he would have fallen to the floor if he hadn't clung to the bed. A drone ambled over, and Dave leaned against it.

"We have to move the lab, Sarah," he said. "I won't rest until Crey is dismantled, but I don't want to fight Paragon or its heroes."

"Then perhaps I may suggest the Rogue Isles, Dr. Grant."

Dave laughed. "The Rogue Isles? Arachnos's backyard?"

"It is outside the jurisdiction of the United States. And there is enough infighting among the powers that be in the Rogue Isles that you may implement your action against Crey without much attention. I understand that mid- and low-level Arachnos bureaucrats are open to bribery to look the other way, as they say."

"Ironic. I wanted nothing to do with Lord Recluse or his thugs when he broke me out of the Zig, and now I'm going to be right under his nose. All right, scout a location on the Rogue Isles and begin the move."

"As you wish, Dr. Grant."

Dave looked at his artificial arm. "David Grant is dead, Sarah. He died in Perez Park fighting alongside his brother. From here on out, I will go only by the name Dr. Robotico."

---

Appendix: the Cast

Simply for the interest of readers who play City of Heroes, here is a list of the archetypes of the characters featured in the story. All characters are on the Virtue server.

Heroes

American Crusader: Technology Blaster; energy blast primary, electricity manipulation secondary

Miss Michigan: Magic Defender; empathy primary, electrical blast secondary

Blue-Wolf: Technology Tanker; invulnerability primary, super strength secondary

Hyppolyta: Natural Defender; trick arrow primary, archery secondary

Shadow Vision: Science Warshade; umbral blast primary, umbral aura secondary

Frost Axe: Magic Tanker; ice armor primary, battle axe secondary

Villains

Doctor Robotico: Technology Mastermind; robotics primary, traps secondary

Eco-Activist: Magic Dominator; plant control primary, thorny assault secondary