Shaska sat down outside the office, holding her severed arm. She took her cigar out of her mouth with one of her tentacles and flicked ash off it, then growled "son of a bitch, this hurts. Where's that perv doctor?!"
Sure enough, Puerco was up to the top floor, quick as a whip (with Ruth the snake in tow), as soon as Shaska made the victory announcement. As he rounded the corner out of the stairwell, he saw Shaska sitting outside the office, down an arm. She looked up at him, and tossed her arm at him. "Catch!" she called.
"Holy shit!" Puerco shouted as he caught the severed arm. "Shaska, you—"
"Get crackin', kid!" Shaska ordered as she rolled her sleeve up. "Make it snappy!"
"I-I-I've never reattached a limb before!" Puerco stammered as he set down his bag full of medical supplies. "I don't even know if I have the right equipment!"
Shaska reached into her jacket and pulled out several wads of cash, then said "a million berries says you do."
"Shaska! It doesn't work li-"
"Or you can go find Doctor Isha in the infirmary. She's a whiz at grafting limbs back on."
"There weren't any doctors in the infirmary, though," said Puerco. "We went down there to fix the snake and there wasn't a doctor in sight!"
"Isha's not a fighter; she probably fled to the bunker in the basement with the rest of the doctors and nurses," Shaska explained.
"…is she hot?" Puerco asked, sheepishly.
"DOCTOR KID! REATTACH MY ARM, FIND SOMEONE WHO CAN, OR YOU'RE FIRED! MEET US IN THE INFIRMARY!" Shaska ordered.
"O-on it!" Puerco said, saluting with Shaska's severed arm. "Watch the snake for me!"
As Puerco ran off toward the basement bunker that was over ten stories down, Ruth slithered off of him and toward Shaska. The members of Worldwide Smoke who were in the office (and Zeimaru) stepped out into the hallway. Schwarz was covered in bee stings; Zinnia had been nearly impaled through the chest and was completely impaled through her gut, the glass spike still being there; Zeimaru and Lulupo were mostly unscathed, having not had any one on one fights against the executives of the company.
"Ruth!" Zinnia cried as she picked up her beloved snake, who was still wounded herself. Ruth gave a loving hiss and nuzzled into Zinnia's cheek. Then, Zinnia doubled over from the immense pain she was in, what with being impaled and all.
"Mmm, you darlings desperately need medical attention!" Lulupo exclaimed.
Schwarz grabbed his shoulders and muttered "s-so many bees…"
"Alright—ow—everyone—ow—while we wait for the perv—ow—doctor to get back—ow—let's get down to the infirmary," Shaska said. "Try to—ow—stop this bleeding a bit."
"Here, darling," Lulupo said, extending his hair toward Shaska and tightly wrapping it around her arm stump. "A hair tourniquet!"
Shaska puffed on her cigar and said "thanks, hair guy… girl… whatever. Still hurts like a bitch, but thanks." She then started walking toward the stairwell.
"Well, I'd say it's been fun, but it really hasn't," said Zeimaru, arms akimbo. "I'm gonna take off."
"Oh, come—ow—on. You should join Worldwide—god damn it—Smoke," Shaska responded, half-sarcastically.
"Mother, I hate you," he said earnestly.
"Look, I know I—ow—put my work first when you—ow—were little—"
"No! None of that!" Zeimaru interrupted, cigarette burning to ash in his anger. "You didn't just 'put your work first'! You emotionally abused and neglected us!"
"Happy birthday, kids!" exclaimed a twenty-seven year old Shaska, holding a large box.
"We're nine today!" exclaimed a young Zeiko.
"What'd you get us, mommy?" asked a young Zeimaru.
Shaska shook the box she was holding and smiled. "This is for both of you! Open it up, see what's inside."
The kids greedily took the box from their mother and ripped the top open. Inside was nothing but air. Or, water, actually. Zeiko and Zeimaru looked up at their mother, tears starting to form in their eyes. Shaska showed indifference as her face soured.
"That's right, you little brats. You gotta work to earn your presents in this world. Now leave me the hell alone and let me get back to my work."
"C'mon…" said Shaska. "We could always use another—ow—officer. I'll double whatever the government's payi—"
"It's not about the money, mom! It's about principle! Something you have none of," Zeimaru interrupted. "All your principles go to the highest bidder. It's all just berries to you."
Shaska winced, both at the pain of her numerous injuries, and also her son's harsh words.
"Goodbye, mother. Next time we meet, you'll be in handcuffs. I'll make sure to report this to Cipher Pol W2 and assemble a strike force to take you out. Assuming Minus World doesn't do it first."
Zeimaru turned on his heel and headed back into the office. The crunch of the broken glass under his shoes was brief, only lasting until he came to the hole in the wall and hopped out of it, bouncing off the air with his Moon Walk technique.
Shaska bowed her head solemnly; partially from her son's words and the guilt of her actions, but also due to the immense blood loss.
"Let's get you downstairs, Shaska, darling," Lulupo said, scooping her up in his hair and heading toward the stairs, with Schwarz and Zinnia following after.
—
Puerco made it down to one of the lower floors, where the other weaker officers of the crew (Ren, Roxanne, and Johnson) were waiting, along with the Worldwide Smoke footsoldiers, all licking their wounds from their first major battle.
"Back so soon?" Johnson asked, before noticing the severed arm Puerco was carrying. "…whatcha… whatcha got there, Puerc?"
"What's it look like, bird?"
"It looks like Shaska's arm," Johnson responded as he shifted back to his fully human form.
"That's because it is. I don't know how to reattach limbs, but apparently there are non-combatant doctors and nurses on staff here who do. They're hiding in the basement, and I'm gonna need an escort to get down there because who knows how many stragglers there are scattered throughout the building."
"I was wondering why there was no one in the infirmary…"
Puerco turned to Ren and Roxanne and said "lllllllllladies? You wanna join me?"
Ren gave a scowl, then passed out from blood loss and her adrenaline wearing off after being beaten senseless by Shostagyovich not too long ago. Puerco, for his part, rubbed his chin with Shaska's severed hand and said "hm."
"Hey, Birdson, you wanna help bring her down to the other doctors? We're kinda on a time limit before this arm decays. Shaska's on her way down after us."
"My name is Johnson," to which Puerco mildly snickered. "But sure," he said as he scooped Ren up in the arms of the JHH-42.
Johnson turned to the rank and file of Worldwide Smoke, who were scattered about the floor.
"Alright, guys and girls, form up! I want the ten least-injured of you to follow us down to the basement. The rest of you, head down to the infirmary on the seventh floor and patch yourselves up. Do I make myself clear?"
Freddie and nine other Worldwide Smoke grunts ran up to their commanding officers and gave a salute. Johnson held up his normal hands and said "no need to salute, you aren't Marines."
"But we need to show deference to our superiors!" Freddie exclaimed, not relaxing.
"And as your superior, I say there's no need to salute."
Freddie nodded and finally relaxed his arm, and the other nine grunts followed suit.
"Come on, guys and girls, let's go to the basement!" Johnson ordered, to which the grunts saluted again, much to Johnson's annoyance.
"I'm coming too," said Roxanne, stretching her arms. "I got some action in, but I need more experience."
Johnson and Puerco nodded, and the three of them (and the unconscious Ren) headed for the basement bunker, followed by the ten grunts.
—
Roxanne, Puerco, and Johnson (along with the ten grunts and unconscious Ren) found themselves in the basement of Kemurchant HQ. They had some minor skirmishes with straggling Kemurchants, but they were subdued without much effort or injuries.
The basement of Kemurchant HQ was very large, filled with all sorts of supplies necessary to run a world-spanning corporation's headquarters. In the back, however, was a large metal door that resembled the entrance to a bank vault, similar to the one found in Shaska's room on the Robinson where she stored her massive, massive wealth. Right outside the door was an audio transponder snail, along with several video transponder snails that provided a visual feed to the inside of the bunker. Puerco stepped forward and banged on the large metal door as hard as he could.
"Who goes there?!" called a feminine voice over the transponder snail.
Puerco looked up at the video transponder snails and waved with Shaska's severed arm, while Johnson picked up the receiver of the audio snail.
"The name's Johnson, we're here on behalf of Shaska the Greedy and Worldwide Smoke. We're your new bos—"
"Well," the voice on the other end interrupted. "You know what they say: meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Though I'm sure whoever 'they' are didn't mean it quite so literally. Whatever, we're not working for Shaska again; she's just… awful."
Puerco grabbed the receiver from Johnson and said "hi, Puerco here. I'm the head doctor for Worldwide Smoke. Or, rather, the only dedicated medical professional on the crew. Now that we're annexing Kemurchant Enterp—"
"Pass," the feminine voice interrupted again. "Us civilian employees will find work elsewhere. Shaska's a nightmare to have as… well, any kind of superior figure. I've heard how she treated her kids."
Puerco started waving Shaska's severed arm in the direction of the video transponder snails.
"Ya see this?! This is Shaska's arm! She'll die if Doctor Isha doesn't reattach it!" Puerco called into the snail's receiver.
"Doctor Isha? Oh, so she actually remembered my name for once?" the voice said.
"Are you Doctor Isha?"
"What do you think, Puerc?" Isha asked.
"Ugh, it's Puerco, not Puerc!"
"Look, I'll stitch her arm back on, because that's my job as a doctor. But I'm not getting involved with Shaska any further than that. Not only is she a bitch, we've heard about her recent exploits on the surface!"
"She didn't murder that ci—" Puerco tried to say before Isha cut him off again.
"I'm not talking about the alleged mass murder. I'm talking about her financial crimes that have Cipher Pol W2 after her greedy ass. The less us fish folk have to deal with the World Government, the better. Those of us who have worked for her know damn well she at least has enough of a heart to attack civilians."
Isha sighed, then continued with "alright, fellas, open the door. Let's go… see Shaska again," with a great deal of reticence in her voice.
The locks on the large metal door unlocked with a loud clang, and slowly the door opened inward. Inside the vault-like bunker was rations that could feed hundreds for a month, along with a large crowd of humans, fishmen, and merfolk. A mermaid of around six feet in height and thirty-two years of age cut her way forward through the crowd. She was wearing a white lab coat that clung to her shapely curves, and blue pants over her light blue split tail, indicating her as an older nurse shark mermaid. Her stunningly beautiful face was framed on either side by dark blue hair with lighter blue highlights tied back in a long ponytail, along with large, round glasses, and she had what looked like a lollipop in her mouth, in between her razor sharp teeth.
The mermaid sauntered over to Puerco, whose eyes promptly turned into hearts and popped out of their sockets as his tongue flopped out onto the ground.
"She IS hot!" Puerco shouted in his head.
"What's up?" she asked, taking the lollipop out of her mouth. "I'm Isha, head doctor of Kemurchant Enterprises for the past ten years."
"I-I-I'm Copuer… I mean Erupuco… I mean…"
"Worldwide Smoke's Doctor Puerco, yes," Isha said, seemingly not noticing Puerco fawning over her beauty. She snatched the severed arm from Puerco's hands and examined it. "You didn't think to put this thing on ice?"
Puerco's eyes turned back to normal. "W-w-well, I-I…" he stammered.
Isha put the lollipop back in her mouth and said, "no matter, it looks like it was a clean cut. Shouldn't be too much of a problem to reattach it. Where is the old bitchface? I mean, Shaska?"
"The rest of the troops are up in the infirmary. Some of them are pretty hurt, too," said Roxanne, wiping away Puerco's drool.
Isha casually tossed the arm up and down and said, "I'll sew this sucker back on, but don't expect me to do anything else for you guys." She turned back to the crowd and exclaimed "KE Medical Corps! We got a job to do!"
The members of the crowd who were in scrubs stepped forward and put on medical masks, then seemingly nodded in unison. They stepped out of the bunker and followed Isha, who turned on her heel and headed up the staircase to the ground floor. They didn't really pay attention to the unconscious Ren being held by Johnson.
Puerco frantically pulled out his baby transponder snail and dialed up Shaska as soon as Isha was out of earshot.
"Huh…? What is it…?" Shaska asked, somewhat delirious from all the blood she had lost.
"Shaska! It's Puerco! For the love of all that is holy, be nice to that Doctor Isha! She's a total babe!"
"Don't… don't boss me around, doctor ki—"
"I'm serious! Do whatever you can to get her loyalty back! I'm gonna try to woo her!"
Johnson, Roxanne, and Shaska's eyes shot open at this.
"Uh…" they collectively said.
"I'm dead serious! We must have so much in common as doctors!"
"…go for it?" Johnson reluctantly said.
"I'm gonna do it!" Puerco exclaimed, hanging up the snail and taking off for the staircase.
"Wait! What about Ren?" Roxanne called out, pointing at their crewmate's unconscious body. "You said we would fix her up down here, but then all the other doctors took off! You gotta at least stop her bleeding!"
Puerco came to a screeching halt and looked over his shoulder. Ren was still being held in Johnson's robot arms, eyes whited out with blood pouring down her face and missing several teeth. He rolled his eyes and said "ffffffine."
Johnson and Roxanne, in turn, rolled their eyes too. Roxanne put her hands on her hips and replied with "oh, please, don't let your job get in the way of your love life."
Puerco's expression soured, and he pulled out some medical supplies from his backpack. "Put her down, I got this," he said.
He treated Ren's wounds. "She needs plenty of rest now. Drinking plenty of milk will help regrow those lost teeth."
"Milk?" Johnson asked. "But, teeth are—"
"Hey, who's the doctor here?" Puerco retorted. "C'mon, let's get her to the infirmary so I can catch that hot mermaid doc—so Ren can rest."
Johnson rolled his eyes again, while Roxanne started off for the staircase, face in her palm.
—-
Isha and a few members of the Kemurchant Medical Corps made it up to the infirmary, where they found Worldwide Smoke. Most of the corps broke off from the main group to treat the wounded Kemurchants that were scattered throughout the building.
"Alright, let's see what we're dealing with here," Isha muttered as she opened the door to the infirmary.
Inside was a sight not unusual to her: numerous wounded soldiers. Shaska was barely holding onto consciousness, even with Lulupo's hair tourniquet. Zinnia still had a glass spike in her gut, while Schwarz was scratching at his bug bites to the point they bled.
Isha held up Shaska's hand and said "show of hands, who needs help?", which earned her a glare from Shaska and Lulupo. Schwarz was too distracted by his bug bites to care, while Zinnia was confused by the expression.
"Hah… Quit… being a… smartass, Isha!" Shaska exclaimed, blowing smoke as ash fell off her cigar and burned her clothes.
Isha took her sucker out of her mouth and said "tch, that's no way to talk to your doctor. C'mon, let me get a survey of the damage."
She walked over to Shaska's bed and started looking over her, rubbing her chin with the severed arm. "Let's see… besides the missing arm, we have wounds in the other arm and several tentacles. I can fix all this, but it'll cost you."
"Hah… hah… I'm beyond loaded… just… get to it…" Shaska panted.
"It'll do us all well if you snuffed your cigar while I'm treating you," Isha said as she dug through the cabinets for anesthesia and equipment to reattach a severed limb. She put on gloves and a surgical mask and got to work.
It took a while, but eventually, Shaska's arm was reattached and her other wounds were stitched up. The other doctors removed the spike from Zinnia's gut, and Schwarz's bug bites were treated with a special lotion. Puerco, Johnson, and Roxanne, along with their squadron of grunts and the unconscious Ren, made their way into the infirmary as well. All of Worldwide Smoke was now in the medical wing of Kemurchant HQ.
Shaska sat up and flexed her reattached arm, making sure each finger worked properly. She looked at Isha and said "thanks, I owe ya one."
"You owe me about forty million berries actually," Isha responded dryly.
"Chump change," Shaska said. "But more importantly, you sure you don't wanna work for me agai—"
"Yes."
"C'mon, doctor girl! We need a whole team of high-quality doctors if we're gonna take on that king guy!"
"King guy?"
"Allow me to explain, darling," Lulupo interjected. He explained Worldwide Smoke's newly declared war on Minus World, and how Balthasar von Esens was bent on world conquest to install a regime even more totalitarian than the current World Government.
"Wow, that's interesting, but I sure don't care!" Isha exclaimed.
"Dammit! We're losing her!" Puerco shouted in his head. "I gotta do something!"
Puerco ran up to Isha and said "from one doctor to another… I—we need you!"
"And I'm not working for Shaska again!" Isha declared. "Things were running smoothly under Miwagyo! Then you had to swoop in and beat her up!"
"Actually, we killed her," Schwarz said bluntly as Shaska lit up a new cigar.
"Killed her! So, why on Earth would I work for you again?!"
"State your price and I'll pay—" Shaska tried to say.
Isha interrupted with "you can't buy your way out of every situation, Shaska! Something you need to understand is that every single KE employee, from the grunts, to the civilians, was thrilled when the board kicked you out for your tax evasion and book cooking! Under no circumstances will I work for you again!"
"I can't believe I'm going to do this again…" Shaska thought. She got out of bed and bowed down in front of Isha, her head touching the ground.
"Please… Doctor Isha. I need you and your medical corps on the Robinson. The fate of the entire world rests on it."
"And if I refuse…?" Isha asked.
"Then soon, Fishman Island itself will be brought to kneel under that king guy's rule. We need an entire crew of doctors for our navy."
Isha crunched through her sucker, threw away the stick, and pulled out another one and unwrapped it. As she stuck it in her mouth, she said "whatever you're paying that kid, I want double. And I'm gonna be the one in charge of medicine, not him. How old are you anyway, kid?"
"Tw-twenty-one…" Puerco sheepishly replied.
"Still a fledgling. From now on, I'm your boss," she said, looking at Puerco and leaning down to his eye level. His eyes turned into hearts in response.
"Th-that's a-okay with m-me!" Puerco stammered, tongue tied.
Isha tapped Shaska's head with her fin foot. "Stand up, dammit. I'm not the freaking queen."
"I'll let you be my queen…" Puerco muttered.
Shaska stood up and adjusted her tie, saying "we good now, Isha? You gonna help me?"
"Was that not already implied? I don't like you, but I guess I can help save the world. Just keep me away from the front lines, 'kay?"
"It's a deal," Shaska replied. She turned around, looking over her employees in the infirmary.
"Alright, everyone! From now on, Kemurchant Enterprises is being rebranded as Worldwide Smoke! Go and round up the Kemurchants and gather on the ground floor! We'll put a signal out to all nearby branches to gather on Fishman Island! We have one week before we engage with the enemy."
She blew smoke and flicked ash off her cigar, then said "next stop, Vicks Davis Island!"
TO BE CONTINUED