( Volume: 4 Arc: "beekeeper" 6 Issue: 2/2 )

Chapter 144 : insides

"She said something to me," Julian insisted. "She said 'middle, middle…inside me'. What did she mean?"

"It could have been anything," Dr. McCoy said. "She was delirious."

"No—" Julian watched the doctor as he made notes on his clipboard. "She was conscious, she knew what she was saying. It was important to her…really
important. She even squeezed my hand."

"Phantoms of a fever, Julian. She was at 110 degrees Fahrenheit, of course she would say things like that. I wouldn't put store in it."

"Dr. McCoy," Julian said, his voice firm. "Please. Check her out—inside. I think she was trying to tell me that something's there."

"I am not risking my patient's life, over a psychotic rambling," Dr. McCoy said, just as stern. "I am sorry Julian, but you will need to accept that I know what is best for
Laura right now. Perhaps you should go, take a break. Eat and have a shower so you can think things over."

"I'm not leaving her," Julian said, his voice cracking. His stomach growled, betraying him.

"I'm ordering you to leave," Dr. McCoy said. "If you don't do it voluntarily…I will ask Ms. Frost to march you out of here via remote control."

…

Middle, middle…inside me.

Julian let the water flow through his hair, washing away the suds. The water felt good against his still-aching head. He wished the water could wash away the pain, as well
as the dirt; the words he'd heard Laura say, the words that Dr. McCoy told him meant nothing.

He didn't believe that.

What did she mean?

…

He was in the cafeteria, poking at a salad in an uninterested manner, when he suddenly figured it out.

"Kid," Logan grunted, stopping by his table. "How're you holding up?"

Julian glared at him in answer.

Logan sat down, uninvited, in the empty seat across from him. "What I saw…"

"Is between me and you," Julian said, his fingers tightening on the fork. "You saw what they did to her. They deserved much worse. I should have done it to every one of them,
every fucking one." His fork dropped to his plate with a clatter!

"We all have regrets, kid," Logan said after a moment. "Never regret not killin' someone. You're a better person for it."

Julian was silent. He looked at Logan. Would he know? This man, who seemed to know everything.

"Laura said something to me."

"Oh?"

Julian paused. "She said…she said she's got something inside her. Making her sick. She said...'middle…inside me'."

Logan frowned. "That's jus' the fever talkin', kid. She's been…filled with metal, course she's got somethin' inside her."

Julian shook his head. "No. She meant it. She knew what was going on. Logan—when you—when they did that to you—did they use something to stop you from healing while they operated?"

Logan stopped, his features wrinkled in distaste. He didn't like thinking of the procedure—he liked even less to talk about it—but now that the kid mentioned it, there was something there.

"Carbonadium," Logan growled, shoving his chair away from the table. Julian was right behind him.

…

Tink!

The sound of the tiny lump of carbonadium hitting the kidney-shaped metal pan on the other side of the radioactivity shield, as it was released from Dr. McCoy's forceps. His paw, inside
the glove, shook slightly as he saw the vile piece of metal that had helped cause his patient so much harm.

There was a black circle of dead flesh in the middle of the unconscious Laura's sternum, where the disc had sat, spreading its poison throughout her body.

"My word," he said, reaching over and lifting the pan into the cylinder that had been obtained for it. It was marked 'Radioactive Waste'. He closed the locks tightly and twisted the seal,
then picked up his cleaning tool and set to gently sucking away the contaminated flesh.

…

"Dear me," Dr. McCoy said the next morning. "Her fever has broken. She's dropped to 100.4. Still not ideal but…a dramatic improvement." He paused. "Mr. Keller…I must apologize,
for not believing you. I still fear it is too late for Laura."

Julian looked at the sleeping, blotchy girl, and was silent for a moment "She said…she couldn't see. She was scared. When I looked in her eyes, there was a film of metal over them."

"Hmm," Dr. McCoy fished in his lab coat pocket and pulled out a small optical flash light, then bent over Laura's head and propped open her eyelid. He examined her eye for a few
moments. "Yes, yes, I see…the odd metallic sparkle in her Aqueous humor…the fluid just outside her lens…"

"No, I mean a film," Julian said. "It was almost solid silver."

Dr. McCoy considered this, then stepped aside to let Julian look.

"Where'd it go?" he asked after a moment. Her eyes were almost green again, with several miniscule flecks of silver floating near the surface.

A moment later, they had their answer, as two flecks disappeared from view.

"…" Dr. McCoy frowned. "This is unprecedented. Perhaps her body is filtering the metal. I did not think it possible, but perhaps…"

…

Over the next three days, they watched in astonishment as Laura's swelling slowly decreased, her normal skin tone peaking through the bruising in minute patches. Every time Dr. McCoy emptied
the dialysis machine or carried away her bedpan, the fluids were full of bright, silvery metal, some settling on the bottom.

On the fourth day, Laura opened her eyes again, quite suddenly, and returned Julian's gaze. She did so quietly, her eyes shifting around the room in rapid movements, blinking, then repeating the pattern over.

She was very quiet. She responded in mono-syllable whispers; sometimes turning away when she was addressed. Julian sat in silence as well, wondering if he'd ever hear Laura laugh about
something stupid again, and feeling empty and brittle. He thought of the metal in her body, and realized what he had taken back from the facility was only a shell of the girl that he loved.

Kimura had the insides.

…

Later that evening, Laura woke up suddenly and blinked, then she looked over the bed and noted that Julian was sleeping deeply, his head bent forwards. She moved slowly,
her fingers reaching up to the bag of solution in the IV stand, picking it up, and holding it in a slightly elevated position with one hand. Her other reached down—down to where
she knew Julian kept what she was looking for—in the pocket of the jacket hanging over the back of his chair. Her fingers slipped in, recognized the packet by touch, and pulled it out.

It was a silver, foil packet, something used often by the couple, as other methods of birth control were ineffective against Laura's healing factor.

She studied it, then made a fist.

Snkkt… the tip of her claw emerged from her hand. Just enough for precision work. Slit! She very carefully targeted her claw to the center of the packet and pierced just one side,
then withdrew the cutting implement. Snkkt…

Leaning over, she let the package drop back into his pocket, then hurried to put the IV back in its original place.