Ch 8: More Than Human

I started to regain consciousness. Worrying about my legs, I reached down to soon figure out that my left leg was still bandaged; however, my right leg felt smooth, almost metallic. I opened my eyes to see Blake and Jaune standing by my side with frightful looks on their faces. What happened? Why are they giving me that look? Freaked out by the silence, I lift the blanket covering my legs revealing a smooth metallic surface that replaced my right leg. WTF HAPPENED. Jaune looked at my distressed face while Blake started to tear up. "Mako, they couldn't save your leg," Jaune mutters in a solemn voice, "Neither good they save your left hand." What? How had I not noticed this? Jaune continued to talk as Blake began to start crying. "You won't have to worry about rehab though, the joints and motor control are now conjoined with your spine," he said in an optimistic tone. "However, when they did this they had to cut into your back which is why you probably feel sore back there, this is because they replaced your lower vertebrae with servos and motors and shit like that. Finally, you may have your left leg but besides the muscles and skin the bone had to be entirely replaced by metal."

This is too much to comprehend. Come on Mako keep it together. I started to tear up as well. "How long have I been out? Is Ruby okay?" I ask desperately.

"Yea Ruby is fine, a quick surgery dealt with the fragments that caught her in her chest. But Mako, you have been out for a long time," Jaune says in a quiet voice.

"How long?" I ask again out of desperation. My question is filled with silence until Blake finely speaks up and breaks the news.

"Mako you have been in a coma for almost 2 whole months," she started to cry again, "they weren't even sure if you would make it." I finally look down at my chest and fully realize the severity of my injuries, the scars and burns that covered the right part of my torso. "The doctors say you were lucky that you were turned to the left when the blast went off. Otherwise, the same fate would have happened to the left side of your body, or worse." She continues crying and buries her face in my pillow next to me.

God, I have never seen her like this. I can't believe she is even here. I can't imagine why someone would want to look at me in this state. "Finally I have some good news, the school covered the cost of the surgeries and augmentations, and you don't owe a cent," Jaune stated once again with optimism.

"Jaune you don't get it man, I'm a monster now, and I'm like a fuckin Frankenstein!" I yell at him.

"It's not that bad Mako, it could always be worse," He responds. He is right, it can always be worse. Blake picks her head up off the pillow and tells Jaune politely to leave. He walks to the door and looks one more time at me on the hospital bed and waves goodbye which is followed by him closing the door.

"Mako, Jaune forgot to mention one other thing that was important to your survival, your semblance. Had any other person been effected by that much fire they would be ashes now. The doctors said not to worry though, you can still use your semblance to spark fire with your right hand." Blake states, "Also you can't imagine how worried I have been about you."

"Why would you be, I'm a monster now! You see all the scars, the prosthetic leg, and burns Blake how can you still love me?" I ask clenching her hand.

"Mako, you are being hard on yourself, you honestly don't look that bad being all roughed up and all. Besides, your face is just as cute as I remember it, and I love you for who you are. Also, the doctors said besides the scars from the augmentation on your back, the burns will more than likely go away with time thanks to your semblance. I don't care what you think I am thinking about when it comes to your new appearance, all I want to do now is take you back to your dorm, and out of the hospital so you can rest." Blake finished. As she began to roll me out of the hospital, I lost conscious.

- Several Hours Later -

I woke up to find myself in my bed back in my dorm. Was it all just a dream? I raised my left arm from beneath the blankets to reveal my metallic hand. I clench it and form it into a fist in anger only for it to be lowered by someone else's hand in bed, by Blake's hand. "Mako, go back to sleep its 2 o'clock and you need your sleep," she mutters.

"I see you helped yourself into my bed," I smirked. She laughs a little and responds.

"Well someone had to stay with you." She laughs again and rolls over straddling my legs and torso. "I'm just glad you are okay," she says in a calm voice as she rests her head on my chest, wrapping her arm around me in a hug. I'm so lucky to have a girl who cares this much. This goes through my mind as she plants a kiss on my lips which I return to her with another. I look up at her one more time as we both clothes our eyes and go to sleep.

- The Next Morning -

The next morning I wake up before Blake does and gently move her off my chest. She is so cute when she is asleep. I throw on my combat dress and grab my weapons. Glimpsing at my watch I notice that it is 6 am. Damn it's early, good time to train though. I exit the dorms and head towards the training room were dummy trainer bots are waiting for me. Let's see what new tricks I can do. I snap my fingers igniting my fist with red hot flame, waving my hand across my blade in a horizontal motion it too becomes infused with fire. Good to see I can still light my blade. But now I can only do this with my right hand. I glimpse at my left prosthetic hand and form it into a fist as I toss my blade into my right hand. With my metallic hand in a ball of a fist I strike the dummy trainer droid and crumple its chest cavity. Holy shit, I've got quite a punch now. I then sense I'm being watched and turn around to see none other than professor Ozpin.

"I see you are learning of your new found strengths Mako," the professor smiles as he says this. "The school put a fortune into you, using the best prosthetics and metals money could buy from the SDC. We are lucky Mr. Schnee was willing to give us a discount on the order. Mako, I don't want to dehumanize you or scare you, but you are no longer merely a student learning to be a hunter like your father, you are a weapon with now unimaginable power. Your new hand and leg are practically indestructible as you can already imagine and you hand is modular so if you felt the need to attach a weapon or item to it you could. Lastly, the augmentations they added to you, the reasons for your scarring on your back, have increased your pain tolerance significantly added to the fact that your reflexes were also buffed by the procedure."

I glimpse down at my hand, its silver metallic color shimmers in the light. "Why me Professor? Why funnel all that money and all of those resources into a student who hasn't even been here a whole year? What if it is a mistake?" I ask him in a solemn tone.

"Mr. Scatterfall, I have made more mistakes than any other human being has in their entire life, but I know for a fact that there is something special about you that neither I nor you have yet realized. In other words, I have a gut feeling that you are just about to come in contact with your full potential. Therefore, I am giving you one order to follow by for the next couple of months. I want you to train like never before, I expect you to be here every morning honing your skills so you can be the best you can possibly be." He finishes saying this and turns around and starts to walk out of the room. I myself turn around and continue training on the droids. I hope he is right, I need all the strength and the best skills I can possibly obtain if I want to truly take down the WF and Torchwick, not to mention the grimm. Is this truly what I was meant to be? A weapon fighting other peoples battles, or was I part of a much larger scheme that encompassed more than I could ever imagine? Only time would tell.