Roy Harper is No One's Sidekick (imnosidekick) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2012-12-02 22:09:00 |
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Current mood: | accomplished |
Entry tags: | !complete, mayuri kurotsuchi, oliver queen (green arrow), roy harper (red arrow) ii |
"Say something to piss me off again, please."
Who: Mayuri, Roy, Ollie
When: Thanksgiving Weekend
Where: Mayuri’s Lab. Oh boy.
What: Experimental Treatments, Test Subjects And Irritation Factors. Roy gets an arm!
Rating/Warnings: R for language and medical trauma
Mayuri had dismissed all the lab techs and assistants for Thanksgiving. Not because he was a benevolent employer. He really couldn’t care less about holidays as much as he cared about science! It was more about not having imbeciles interrupting him during a brutal delicate procedure, that required his full attention.
Having everything mostly set up and ready to go, he waited patiently for Roy and whatever form of irritation deemed fit to be brought along, as a much needed stress factor. Science was exciting! Mad science, even more thrilling!
To really subject himself to the irritation, Roy had spent about an hour with Oliver so far. He’d even agreed to go somewhere in public with him, something he hated doing these days as it was. They’d grabbed coffee, at a Starbucks that Ollie had started bitching about, which had kind of sparked off the parade of irritation. Then, Roy had actually let Ollie put on the radio, though at this point, he was almost experiencing brain bleed from his choice of music.
“So, what’s the thing we’re going to?” Oliver asked, following the directions, and frowning as he came across the complex. “This isn’t some kind of snuff film is it?” What? It looked like the kind of place you would film one of those, that was for sure. Or even other kinds of shady porn. “Because I kind of brought the Arrow Gear along, just in case.”
“...You’re gonna change into that in a hybrid?” Roy rolled his eyes. “No, this is the place. I’m...” He might as well confess now, right? Or wait until he was inside. It wasn’t like Ollie could stop him now, was it? He opted to keep him waiting until they’d stepped inside. “So I’ve been seeing a doctor about treatment options for the arm thing. He’s come up with something AWESOME.”
“...It isn’t medical research guy from the net is it?” Oliver followed behind Roy, frowning deeply. “Because you’re not that dumb are you? Please tell me you’re not dumb enough for Mad Science...It IS isn’t it?” And Roy had gone too far inside for him to stop it now, clearly. What. The.Hell?
Only if it was whitewashed industrial complex snuff porn. With really poor lighting, so it might require some night vision cameras. That...probably wouldn’t make it less freaky or disconcerting.
Guess who was waiting for them? MAD SCIENTIST GUY. In full on black and white face paint. At least he had his big white billowy lab coat on. Once they were let in, Mayuri let out a long, cooing ‘ooooo’ at Roy, and then cast a curious golden-eyed glancing at, over to Oliver.
“Is this the annoyance factor that I requested? Excellent. Follow me to the prep area,” Mayuri said, motioning with the idle wave of one hand as he moved at a leisurely pace to one of the high security doorways.
“You bet it is.” Roy gave the doctor a little grin, confident that he had this and could go through with the process, whatever it actually turned out to be. It’d probably hurt, sure, lots of stuff hurt when you were trying to get better, he’d worked that out the time he’d actually gone through therapy for the shoulder. It occurred to him that, should this work out well, the shoulder would be totally new and probably better than it had been after the street injuries. The thought was actually a nice one.
“He can’t be serious about this...” Roy couldn’t do this. Just...no. Oliver followed behind, trying to get one of them to see reason. “Look, uh, doctor. He’s sort of not in his right mind right now, so you can understand how Roy got into this but really it’s not a great idea for him to...”
“Ollie. Shut UP.” Roy hissed at him, eyes narrowing. “I’ve got this, okay? Your job is to be you. Not run the show.”
“He is an irritation. You have chosen well. Have him continue to complain and attempt to circumvent your wishes, since it will make for some wonderful test readings.” Mayuri opened the door and showed Ollie and Roy into a prep room. “Neither of you are easily sickened by the sight of blood, I hope.”
Or he didn’t hope. He liked it when there were visitors, because it meant he could extract the DNA from them and keep it on file. So please, by all means, puke, flail, shed a hair? It was all the same to Mayuri. It was genetic fun times!
“Tch. You, irritation factor? Quiet yourself. Now, you. Test subject, number two,” Mayuri said, pointing a finger toward a hospital gown. “Put that on and prepare yourself. I will be making two long incisions, but if all goes well, I think you will be vastly pleased with the results.”
Mayuri stared at Ollie, in the manner of a...tranny psychopath elitist mad scientist who thinks his shit doesn’t stink. And, well, knowing him, he probably manipulated his own DNA so it smells like daisies, okay?
“We will start in five minutes,” Mayuri finished saying, “I will finish calibrating my instruments.”
With that, he disappeared into the adjacent room, and there was a bunch of whistles, bells, and hisses, that sounded more Frankenstein, than modern hospital.
That was a little ominous. All right, so more than a little just now. Oliver glared at the “doctor’s” retreating back as Roy started shrugging out of his clothes and into the gown. It would be nice to be able to do this with both arms soon, Roy thought, ignoring the glare for now. Not that he could keep that up forever.
“I did say you were here to irritate me.” he said at last, “but could you please, I don’t know, stop giving me the ‘You cut off my puppy’s head and shit down its neck’ look? I know what I’m doing, Ollie. He’s a DOCTOR.”
“I don’t CARE that he’s a doctor.” Oliver wanted to hustle Roy out of here right now, all of his instincts were telling him to do it too, but something held him back from that. “I care that he’s going to be cutting into you and experimenting with...what exactly? You didn’t even mention that part.”
“Remember how you and Barton and everybody else for the past four months have been after me to get a prosthetic?” Roy asked him, and then grinned, probably, at this point, more from nerves than anything else. “I found something better. He’s CREATED something better.” he added, tying a knot in the gown neck before throwing it over his head. “I’m gonna get it back.” he explained, eyes glinting.
“You’re going to...WHAT?” Oh that did it. That really, really did it. “You’re telling me that you’re meeting a STRANGER FROM THE INTERNET who’s going to cut you open, mess around and TRY TO REGROW YOUR ARM?” The thought itself was terrifying, the reality of the facility, those noises, and creepy geisha ass doctor wasn’t making it any better.
“He’s not a STRANGER.” Roy rolled his eyes. “I’ve been here for a pre-op and we’ve been discussing this for ages. God. It’s not like I’m that stupid.” Seriously. Ollie needed to get a grip. “Anyway. Just keep on doing what you’re doing, and it’ll all be fine. Oh, and it’s probably going to hurt a lot. The guy seems to like pain. So don’t freak out too much, okay. Let me at least pee first.”
Seriously. Priorities. Roy obviously had them.
Mayuri peeeeeeked his head around the corner, eyes all wide and oogly, and while Roy was getting ready to go to the little boy’s room, the mad scientist psycho tranny good doctor decided to address the stress factor. I.E. - Ollie.
“Ahhhh,” he cooed pleasantly, like he was shoving a needle through the head of a prized and exceedingly rare butterfly specimen, “from the rise of your voices, I see that you are being an excellent conductor of stress. Can you try to yell at him? I would like his nerves to be at peak stress capacity. The more high strung he is, the better the results will be.”
After all, it was a battle serum, meant for extreme circumstances and situations. Having some zen master use it, would mean that the incorrect amount of adrenaline was in the system, and they would end up with a pinkie finger instead of an arm, or a toe instead of a leg.
“And the operating room is ready. You will need to wear this,” Mayuri continued, throwing a billowy white lab robe to Ollie, followed by a vivid blue shower cap. And yellow rubber gloves. “Would you like some face paint also?”
It’s the height of surgical fashion, doncha know.
“This is a very bad idea.” Ollie informed Dr. Geisha, “Is this even....is there any chance this is going to work? Sorry. I don’t doubt what you know so much as... Well, it’s sounding pretty crazy at the outset. What’s the term I’m looking...longshot. “ He finished, sighing.
“Yelling, I can do that. I think he’s crazy and look, sorry but I thought we’d had the meeting strangers on the internet talk when I actually had legal sway.” In other words? He was pretty pissed off, yeah, and wondered why he was scrubbing in to come along. It wasn’t like he supported this at all.
“Uh, no thanks. Not really the makeup type unless it’s the occasional guyliner.”
Mayuri pointed an index finger at Ollie (the fingernail was painted blue, to match his hair), and said in an imperious tone, “You, Irritant with occasional guyliner! Continue your annoying banter and you will soon see my scientific masterpiece.”
That done, off Mayuri went, turning on his heel and heading toward the surgery room, flipping on lights and machinery with his elbows, and kicking rolling tables aside so that things clattered, the noise echoing throughout the torture chamber...uhh...room. We meant room. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. >.>
Mayuri used his elbow to turn on a intercom system, saying over it, “Test Subject, report to the operating room. We are ready to commence with irritation and simulated re-amputation.”
Fun times.
“Remind me to kill you later.” Ollie hissed at Roy as he came out. “None of this is even close to being okay. You realize that, right? What if he’s here to murder you? You remember the Craigslist Killer guy? The one that lured people in with PROMISES?”
And those crashes were ominous sounding. Extremely ominous sounding, that was for sure. He didn’t like it at all. “What about the one who ATE people that he met?”
“A. The guy in that last one agreed to be eaten, B, it’s legit, and C, I’m doing it anyway.” Roy said, as he reported in, and okay, tried not to throw up because he was kind of nervous about this, as excited as he was too. He swallowed hard at the simulated reamputation part. He didn’t like it. He’d still do it, and had no second thoughts but...
It was kind of like that period before a major surgery when you started wondering if you were going to die, and started thinking about whether or not you were going to end up in Hell if you died. Really, the Ollie distraction was helping keep that from being worse, Roy thought, as he tried to settle himself where indicated. “I see you’re still here.” he added to Ollie, in about the tone he’d used in the dreams when dealing with him, which he’d been finding you had to do a LOT these days. “Guess you’re not all THAT opposed. What? You need to keep up a front that you give a shit? Lost the real Roy cause you’re an idiot, so you have to keep a careful eye on the replacement that you never noticed? I’m completely ready, Doctor.” he added, in a totally different tone.
How could he even... okay, so Ollie kind of saw where it was coming from, but it was a damn low blow and he wasn’t exactly thinking clearly right now. “You want to be somebody’s experiment the rest of your life, Roy? Fine. The Real Roy’s sacrifices were worth NOTHING then. You go ahead though. Have fun. I mean, I’ll make sure you don’t die or anything but you’ve obviously made up your mind you’re a moron.”
Glare.
“Test subject, Irritation Factor. Welcome to the surgery room.” Mayuri held out both hands like he was unveiling a secret prize, when really it was a whole lot of surgical steel and one blindingly bright light shining down on a surgical table like it was the honored guest a freak show. Although, since Mayuri was standing under that light also, it was debatable if the scientist or the table was more intimidating. “Let us begin.”
“Come on down.” Ollie muttered dryly, “You’re the next contestant on Who Wants To Be A Scientific Aberration.”
“Yeah, thanks for that.” Roy rolled his eyes, not wanting to go ahead and touch the other stuff just now, even though he was glaring at Ollie over it before that little comment. He was starting to wonder if the Irritation Factor had been too much, and staring to wonder if he should actually be here, doing this, but instead of backing out, he nodded, even though he was still blinking at the honored freak show table. “Okay so. I can totally do this.” he muttered, under his breath.
“You can still back out.” Ollie felt the need to point out. “Sure, everybody else in on this’ll laugh at you but...”
“Smooth seas never made strong sailors, right?” Roy quipped, using something Barton had said to him during the beginning of this whole armless ordeal as he finished mentally preparing himself. “Beginning sounds great to me.”
He wasn’t gonna throw up. He could handle this.
Oh no. The Irritation Factor was working wonderfully. Mayuri was already staring at Roy with barely contained scientific delight, and it wasn't a far stretch of the imagination to picture him rubbing his hands together with malicious glee.
"On the table and the Irritation Factor can help strap you down. The last thing we need is you flailing and having a random growth occur," Mayuri told Roy the Test Subject, as he wheeled in a tray of surgical implements, and several machines that looked like a steampunk aficionado’s wet dream. It was seriously like that old movie, Metropolis, had thrown up machines. Never accuse Dr. Geisha of not caring about artistic aesthetics, as well as primary function.
On the tray, was a syringe filled to the brim with a sickly neon green liquid, that had bubbles forming against the inner surface. It wasn't exactly clear if it was caustic or if the air hadn't been removed yet. It was probably best to hope for the last bit, there, and not the first more caustic option. Or it might do more than what it was intended to do, like clean out one's insides with the equivalent of car battery acid. Unfortunately, Mayuri's done that to tissue before, out of curiosity.
One of the machines puttered and hissed out a puff of steam before it lit up on it's console, like the 4th of July. Mayuri wasted no time covering Roy with stuck on monitoring doohickies and whatsamacallsits.
They were ready to start! ...huzzah? We think.
“So, this is kind of veering into that steampunk puked on this lab category.” Oliver commented, as Roy hopped up on the table. “Straps? Random growth?”
What the hell have you gotten into here, boy? Someone was seriously getting coal in their stocking this year, that was for sure.
“Uh, are you comfortable enough?” he asked, once Roy seemed settled, before he went in for the straps and started securing them tightly. He didn’t want the falling off, or random growths. Random WHAT? “Are you saying he could grow a horn if we’re not careful?” He asked, and okay the mental image was kind of funny. It was deadly serious but...it might have made him lighten up a little about this whole thing. Kinda.
Roy...hadn’t counted on straps being present, but he guessed it made sense. And then the needle came out and...seriously? That looked...well, like what he vaguely remembered from the snatches in his dreams, before the Martian girl there had tried to clear them for him. It looked horrific and he cringed a little looking at it.
And then, well, the monitors. The lab feeling. CADMUS. He got a little twitchy there. He wasn’t gonna show it, but...
Okay, yeah, the look on his face was...vaguely horrified now, and spreading into slightly more horrified. Kind of like that painting, The Scream? Yeah. That in slow motion as opposed to stationary. Oh Fuck.
“Uh Ollie?” he asked, a little quieter, and less bravado now that this was happening. “Say something to piss me off again, please?”
Maybe coffee had been a mistake.
Coffee was a horrible idea. The minute that Roy was strapped down and a heart rate monitor was hooked onto him, it was looking like it might overload. Mayuri, however, looked deeee~lighted!
"Ahhhh, you are under an obscene amount of stress. That might make the process even faster than I anticipated, if there is enough adrenalin in you." He snapped the wrist part of some surgical gloves after putting them on, in that disturbing way that doctors do before they give a prostate exam. It was probably a safe bet that anyone would volunteer to have a prostate exam at a time like this, rather than go through with whatever was going to happen. But hey, beggars can't be choosers. Not where science and scientific advancement was concerned!
Once Roy had his I.V. feed lined in for the necessary boost of vitamins to support maintaining bodily function and bone mass, Mayuri nodded to Ollie to say whatever he wanted to say. He prepped the area with iodine, eyed the monitors one last time, and picked up a scalpel. The blade moved in for the first cut of the x shaped incision that would cover the entire shoulder area and allow for amplified regrowth.
The scalpel was getting closer and closer and Mayuri's golden eyes shone with maniacal science glee! That first cut, without any sort of pain killer, was going to hurt like HELL, but once shock set in and blood loss started, the body would have suffered enough to regen properly. That was why the nuclear green goo serum there, was primarily for combat situations.
Wait wait. Was he not going to dose him with anything? Was that even legal? Roy reminded himself that it probably had something to do with having him too relaxed, and gritted his teeth in preparation for this. It was gonna be...something, he thought, and remembered being shot the first time. That had been pretty bad too, but he’d been okay. He could do this. He could...Probably.
“Stress. Heh.” he said, trying to laugh a little at the scalpel. Oh shit, here it came, and he wanted to escape now. Maybe this...oh fuck the maybe. This HAD been a really bad idea. Not that he saw a way out of it right now.
Ollie considered for a second, eyes getting wide as he realized, at the same moment Roy was, that there wasn’t going to be anesthetic involved here. That made it pretty hard to think about this kind of thing, seeing your kid about to get sliced into and all. It meant that he decided to go for something kind of appropriate to the moment.
“You know,” He said, as that scalpel seemed to get closer. “People stop checking for monsters under the bed when they realize they’re inside them.” What It was something he’d heard that had sounded, well, meaningful in Roy’s case that he hadn’t gotten around to saying yet. “Is that what happened to you, with all of this?”
How was that for irritating and also maybe a little distraction as best as he could do right now?
Too bad Roy was screaming obscenities like a little girl, wasn’t it?
"Tch. You are a very loud test subject," Mayuri commented, like he was telling the butterfly not to squiggle while the pin was pushed through it's face. Blood spread out on the table, dripping onto the floor with a sickening sounding but gratefully faint plopping noise, if one could even hear it past all the girly screaming of curse words and the Irritation Factor attempting to distract the Test Subject.
At the very least, Roy sounded like a girl and girl's screams were so much more lustful than men's screams. At least, that's what Mayuri thought. So he was thoroughly enjoying himself and taking it a little slower than he probably should be and humming a jaunty little pagada song tune as he finished the first long incision. Just to be a sadistic ass. But it's under the cloak of science, so that makes it all better.
He began working on the second incision, after using a sponge and a suction machine to suck up some of the bloody mess. This one, he had to work quicker on, because it might be joyfully lustful, that screaming? But it was starting to make his eardrums bleed. Eeesh.
Slicedy slice slice spurt gush glee!
“Yeah...” Roy managed, panting and gasping. “....See why... you had to do the straps now.” He added, trying for bravado, but failing kind of miserably. And he felt semi like he might pass out, but was trying not to do that because he didn’t want it to interfere. It just...
Well. There had never been any pain like this that was for sure. “You should...you know that guy from the Princess Briiiiideee, Ah...FUUUUCCCKKEENNGHGGHGTH!...Count Rogaine? Too bad he isn’t real. You could kinda combine his love of paAAAINNNNEERRGTH with helping people...NNNGYEETH.”
“Don’t be an idiot.” Oliver said. from on the other side of Roy’s head, where he was managing not to get sick from all the blood and sheer gore going on, and steeled himself to be an asshole about it, because if Roy was going through all of this he might as well have a good result, right?
“Then again.” He leaned down a little. “The fact you’re here is kind of implying idiot already. I mean,really, Roy.” he decided to go for the typical parent line that had never failed to piss Roy off before. “I don’t think Robin would get involved with something like this. He’d never make Batman worry like that.” Headshake. “ANY of the Robins for that matter.” Because he’d worked out from the dreams there had been a couple. “They’re not stupid enough to do this.”
“You know, fuck YOOOU.” Roy hissed, the words ending on an odd note. At least now the cutting seemed to have stopped. Didn’t mean it didn’t HURT but. “You’d never get this.You’ve always had EVERYTHING you ever wanted. You wouldn’t understand it, you didn’t grow up with YOU.”
Irritation factor? Right back on track. Good job, Ollie!
The Irritation Factor was doing an exceptional job at being irritating! The heart rate monitor showed just enough fluxuation to give Mayuri cause to free the bone from muscle and scar tissue, grab the nuclear green goo in the syringe, and POUND it into the shoulder, cramming his thumb down so the goo came out of the needle with extreme force.
What? He wanted to make sure it was going to hold up under combat medic pressure, too.
The liquid burned like fire incinerating every vein, muscle, sinew, right into the bones. The instant it hit, everything cellular began to bubble and jut outward. Off to one side, Mayuri grinned - his teeth showing a faded yellow hue to them - he yanked out the syringe, throwing it over his shoulder. Then he hunched over a monitor, eyes wide and glassy, as he read the read-outs of heart rate, brain scans, and the vitamin and supplement infusions necessary to offset the cellular building blocks the serum would pull from the body. It was like his version of Christmas morning, he'd been given all the best kabuki makeup in the world PLUS cake, and the sound of screaming was his favorite Christmas carol.
"Ooooooooooo," cooed Mayuri, giddily.
The Irritation Factor had done his job well! The Test Subject was so irritated and stressed out, that it probably would cut down the reformation from an hour or two, to less than thirty minutes of bubbling, coagulating, mind-scrambling, excruciating pain! Scientific SUCCESS!
Roy’s face had gone completely white at this point. Completely white and he’d totally forgotten what he was focusing on, or if he’d been focusing on anything, or had BEEN anywhere else before then. All he knew right now was that there was a lot of...gurgling at his shoulder, that it BURNED worse than anything involved in losing the arm had, and that he couldn’t do anything, couldn’t really SEE anything other than a blinding white light, and that he couldn’t even try to form words anymore. He just thrashed, involuntary, against the straps, while inhuman sounds came out of his mouth and from between his teeth.
Oliver? Had gone pale too at that, but he didn’t quite know what to do to help here. Irritation seemed to be the KEY thing going on here, and important to help Roy through it, but he didn’t seem to be noticing it right now, so he doubted it’d help much anymore. What he WANTED was to gather the kid up in his arms, run him out of there, then come back in and put an arrow through Dr. Geisha Madman’s throat. What he DID was glance at Mayuri questioningly instead.
“That’s...normal?” he tried, hoping he sounded like he wasn’t about to freak out here. Because, well, he didn’t deserve it. At all. Despite the fucked up motives and what they might be? The guy was trying to help. Or seemed to be. He wouldn’t have gone the whole equipment and vitamin IV and safety precautions if he wasn’t.
All the same, he wished that he could make it better.
"Tch," was the noise that Mayuri made, before he began to talk like he was trying to teach a pack of monkeys how to bioengineer bananas with basic lab equipment. "That is entirely normal. Over the course of one week, I cut my finger off a grand total of twenty-one times, and my hand off three times, and my leg off at the knee, once. As you can see, they are perfectly proportioned and I am fully mobile. If he can endure this, then he can endure anything from this point forward.
“The pain is from the body straining to sap the necessary genetic material from itself in one fell swoop. That is why he is full of supplements and stress is necessary, to make the procedure go faster. Under combat situations, should a soldier step on a landmine and lose his foot, this serum and a supplement pack can be carried on their person and self administered, so that the foot can be grown back with the greatest of haste. Certainly, it takes a few seconds longer for the bone to set. And for a soldier who had their foot blown off by a landmine? I have not figured out how to replace the shoe. They will need to carry replacement garments in their packs as well. Hmph."
He couldn't be expected to do EVERYTHING, after all. Mayuri tilted his head to one side, blinking with wide eyes at the gelatinous bloody glob that was forming at Roy's shoulder, as it spread out, and began to grow and grow and grow. The pain had to be blinding. But that was fine. It still all sounded like holiday songs, to Mayuri Kurotsuchi. He even started humming something that sounded like Jingle Bells as he waited.
“That’s brilliant.” Oliver said, and he meant that, really. He sort of didn’t like being spoken to like he was a.... a really big stupid monkey named Ollie but scientific types GOT that way when you didn’t see their brilliance right away. It kind of reminded him of a messed up version of Batman or something, in terms of the explanation.
“It’d save a whole lot of good people.” He mused, thinking out loud now, as he got a look at the doctor’s hands, and then the knee. So far as he could tell, the guy was actually telling the truth. It was kind of hard to be fully happy about this, what with his instincts kicking in here telling him to rescue Roy and get him out of there, and lock him in a basement somewhere until he turned fifty eight, and his hands were clenching as Roy let out another strangled little shriek, but...
“He’s stubborn enough he’s going to be glad he had this done, that you met online or whatever it was.” He said at last, more trying to convince HIMSELF here. “So that’s...that’s a good thing. Is there anything anybody can do now though, while that’s happening? I get you said his nerves need to be totally alert so no drugs or anything but uh...would ice or something do anything one way or the other?” Pause. “Sorry. I’m not used to seeing him in pain and not being able to do anything to stop it.”
No doubt he was going to get sniffed at for being sentimental or something, but, well. This was his kid, you know? The one who’d gotten them both in trouble when he’d written a ‘what I did over summer vacation” paper about killing people at the war, who’d ruined Thanksgiving in the most hilarious way of all, and who’d actually hugged him before high school happened. He couldn’t help it right now.
“Shut...Up...” Roy hissed from between his clenched teeth. “It’s fine, Ollie. I’m...” This was followed by a stronger wave of pain, of burning and bubbling and OH GOD WAS THAT MOVING AROUND? “It’s...worth it.” The last part of that ending on another shriek.
"Pain is a transitory condition, unless it is chronic. Then the person suffering either seeks help, or kills themselves. That is not my concern," Mayuri stated with the idle wave of his third new hand in the air, like he was delicately shooing off a fluttering moth, but in no rush to do so. "There is no ice in a dessert or in a mine field. One does not stop and ask for ice, after they have their limbs blown off. For the time being, the pain seems like it is enough to drive one to the point of insanity. But that will pass after reformation and as the nerve endings are finished being formed and are conducting themselves properly. Look there, do you see?"
Mayuri lowered that hand and pointed at the glob that had just spurt out to form the lower arm. No, it wasn't as fast acting as it was in his dreams, but Mayuri had adjusted and applied his knowledge for the physical realm. It was much easier to manipulate reishi, even in a scientific sense. All of his accomplishments would need to be readjusted to compensate for this slow and sluggish state of being.
"Shortly," he continued to tell Ollie, and vicariously to tell Roy, "the hand will form, and the fingers will burst out, from that. This test is invaluable, as it is for a whole limb. Certainly it could eventually create new replacement organs, but that is in the far off future and would require much, much more trial and testing. It can not replicate a head or a brain, as that is too much trauma, and a replicated brain would not contain the memories and learning compiled there. Even so, this is a good starting point. The data and records will be enough for submission to the military for their testing and application. So it is worth it."
Mayuri was, of course, already working on the blueprints for a replacement brain for himself. Because that's how mad scientists roll and he couldn't let his brilliant mind go to waste in the event of a catastrophe. Heaven's forbid.
Replicated brains were kind of an awesome concept. True, memories wouldn’t be there, but think what that could do in Alzheimer’s research for one. Or, and this felt like something kicking Ollie in the shin, for stroke victims. But no, Ollie wasn’t gonna think about that right now. He was with the OTHER person he had failed right now and going to focus on that part.
Well, mostly. Okay, so focusing meant watching as Roy got a lower arm again. And being distracted by it. “Oh wow.” He said, little smile crossing his face. “That’s great. That’s seriously awesome.” As far as the pain control went, well...okay, he was sort of distracted from thinking about it now.
“Oh my god, already?” Roy peered as much as he could at the ARM that was coming back in. He’d felt it, sure, but he’d felt so many things in his arm that wasn’t there for the last four months that seeing it was something else entirely. Seeing it was pretty damned amazing. He would have smiled but oh CHRIST THAT HURT.
And all right, so there were tears streaming down his face already, so it was hard to tell that he was crying from relief too, but he definitely was doing it. It was coming back. He could pick up a bow really soon. It...sustained him. Kinda.
SPLOOT! There was the hand, and in a series of five smaller and crunchier and gooier sounding sploots, four fingers and a thumb. Mayuri cooed with delight again, clapping his own hands together and rolling his eyes in their sockets, so great was his glee that this was a raging success and he had found a most excellent and determined test subject. Not to mention the finest irritation factor he'd ever encountered!
"Give it another minute for the skin and for your bones to solidify," the 'good' doctor told Roy, "and then when you feel confident and the pain has subsided, I want you to begin by moving your fingers and touching them to your thumb, then rotate your wrist, followed by bending your arm at the elbow, and rotating the entire arm at the shoulder. Should there be any flaws, I will give you a blood transfusion and we can saw it off and start over."
That sounds fun. Better hope that it works already, Roy!
There it was. And it looked...well, okay so far. Roy stared at it through the diminishing pain, that was still kind of OH GOD WHAT THE FUCK WHY, and he smiled. He actually smiled after all of that. It wasn’t just a hand, it was...well, hope for the future, really.
“I’m gonna shoot again.” He told Ollie, who he noticed looked pretty pale right now. “I’m gonna shoot, and find Speedy, and we’re going to both kick your ass for being you.” He said, grinning wider, as he waited out the time period, and tried to not think about it being sawed off if he had to. Let’s hope it didn’t feel that way.
For now, he settled on just staring at the hand, and hoping, really hoping that this would go right for him. A few minutes passed as the pain faded about as quickly as if he HAD been given something for it, and he turned to Ollie, giving him a little nod.
“Uh thanksforbeingthereforme.” he muttered at him, and then set to work trying out the fingers. It was weird at first because the feeling again, the actual physicality of bones was different. Welcome though. He glanced at the doctor, trying out the motion still.
“Hey, so far so good. Geez Ollie, you look pale. Maybe you should sit down.”
"If you fall over on the equipment, Irritation Factor, I will saw both your legs off and regen them. One after the other." Meaning that Mayuri had no qualms about gathering further data by doing that, and he'd simply saw off one leg, inject the serum, wait for regrowth, and then it was on to the other leg. Because that is also how he rolls.
He set to work sticking needles in to test the nerve conductivity, same as he had done to Roy's shoulder, before. At least there wasn't any phantom limb syndrome to content with, because this time he was doing that in the actual arm that was meant to be there. ZAP! "Ahh, all is mundane and as it should be. You will have full use in a matter of hours, Test Subject, and then you will be able to shoot the Irritation Factor as much as you desire."
Because, hey, if he did that, then Mayuri could use Ollie as his next test subject for who knows what else.
"...I do have some nerve paralysis chemicals that I am working on. He is nearly paralyzed anyway," Mayuri mused to himself, only he was speaking aloud as he thought, and fixedly staring at Ollie like he was weighing out the possibilities. "Perhaps I should test it right now. Oh, not on you, Test Subject. I need you in fully working order and it might possibly eat away at your flesh by causing necrosis. It has some...less than favorable side-effects, at this stage."
No one wanted to see those tissue samples. Seriously. Do not want.
“Nerve paralysis.” Ollie perked up a little at that, even though he was making REALLY sure not to get near the equipment in case he damaged it. “You know, someone and I were talking about finding a science guy to help with...stuff. I don’t know if you’re interested but I could pay really well if you were interested in...I shoot things too. And arrows laced with something like that could be awesome. Would you possibly, when that stuff is ready, be willing to sell? It would make things so much easier when I have to shoot people.” And he sounded serious too.
And a little deranged.
"My expertise is not only surgically based, but also chemically," was Mayuri's response, as he unhooked Roy and began to release him from the restraints. The blood? It was aesthetically pleasing enough to Mayuri, that what hadn't been suctioned or wiped up immediately, could stay there for later consideration. Seriously, this guy helps the supposed 'good guys'. No joke. Death really is impartial, innit? "My hobby is also creating explosive materials. I am certain we can work out a deal, as long as you agree to provide me with the data I need on how effective they work on your foes or objects you are shooting at."
Like, if he wasn't already deranged before? That got ramped up a few more notches, for good measure. It was highly likely that Dr. Kurotsuchi would lace a few of those arrows with highly questionable things, but a paycheck was a paycheck, and without actual testing - no matter how questionable it was - there was no way to tell how more...practical...applications could be worked out.
"I agree," Mayuri announced, since he always had the time and willingness to test things, and needed bodies to either test things on or test things with. "It is a shame that I can not infect you with surveillance bacteria. I have yet to work out how to recreate it. Yet, I mean."
And Ollie was fine with making things a little more...questionable really. He probably wouldn’’t go around telling Bristow about what he was working with, or where he got it if it came to that, but shadowy areas? Were not that much of an issue where he was concerned. There were lots of grey areas he was fine with walking in.
“Surveillance bacteria. Sounds uh...intense.” He didn’t think it was a pity at all, really. Not considering how badly today had hurt Roy. “But yeah, I’d definitely be willing to share info. I mean, you’ve got to KNOW and all, right?”
Ollie’s grin at this point wasn’t nice. It was downright sociopathic. But only for a second there.
The first thing Roy did, once he was up was race over to the doctor. He wanted to hug him, but he instead settled for holding out the hand to shake. “You just saved me.” he told Mayuri gravely. “And I’m never going to forget that.”
"Certainly, or else there will be no room for improvements or further modification," was the mad geisha scientist's response, sounding very much like a evil mastermind who was plotting out new and improved ways to induce pain and suffering, for the betterment of society. It was a good thing that Mayuri wasn't a politician or in the military. Mayuri's tone and demeanor was barely veiled sadistic intent. But that was normal for him in this world and the world he came from. And in the world he came from, in Soul Society, he had far, far less qualms of dissecting people or eradicating them, even if they were his own men. Which wasn't his concern, because if one can't use their own men as living bombs to stop intruders, then they shouldn't have signed up with a captain who was a scientist. Hmph!
Of course, that couldn't be replicated in this world. Not yet, it couldn't. Mayuri was already working on a way to create living bombs, but he was testing on small rodents of the pest variety. He'd eventually work his way up from there. Mayuri was also already working out clever anime cartoony designs for his new creations, like a cartoon bunny with a carrot that had a lit fuse coming out of it. Boom Bunny Brand explosives, by Mayuri Kurotsuchi! Exceeeeeeeellent.
"I think we have an arrangement. Should I someday create surveillance bacteria, I will infect you with it, and be able to gather more data that way." Before Ollie could protest, Mayuri attempted to sound reassuring. Emphasis on attempting to. "Do not be alarmed. It isn't contagious or capable of being spread. Otherwise, too much data would spill in from others that I care little to nothing about, and would rather have tissue samples from. It is otherwise harmless and can not be manipulated to mutate into something deadly, remotely. Now, you, Test Subject. Is the arm satisfactory, or would you like to start over again, should it be somehow lacking?"
How comforting.
“The arm’s great.’ Roy said quickly, and damn he was freaked out. Was it possible to feel like you owed somebody everything and appreciate them for that but think they were a generally creepy person who you’d want others about? That was where he was standing right now. “It’s amazing...Want updates and progress reports on getting it back up to speed?” Because he’d do those if he wanted. He’d do about anything for Mayuri right now, actually.
“I...okay.” Ollie managed, because what else COULD you say to that. He didn’t ask anymore questions about the bacteria right now, since it seemed pretty far off in the future and everything. And the harmless part was a good deal. He could live with one little experiment in exchange for explosives and such. He really could. “That sounds like a good deal, really.”
Of course it did. Anything that would get him out of here faster he’d probably agree to right now.
"I would appreciate an ongoing progress report, for my records," was the scientist's reply. "Although I haven't had any issues or side-effects from the serum, every person's biological makeup is different, and so anything such as sudden muscle weakness or changes in sensation should be directed toward me, as soon as they happen. However, I have full function and you should, as well. If so, I can strengthen the dose and we can start over."
Fun times! Mayuri may have sounded a little too happy about the potential prospect. It was probably better to hope that wouldn't be the case.
It was then that Mayuri handed Roy some supplement capsules and a wet nap to wipe his stained shoulder off with. Because it wouldn't do to have him walking out of there with gore all over him.
"My my," sing-songed Mayuri, pleased with himself and the plethora of scientific prospects this arrangement would provide, "this will be the beginning of wonderful experiments and live testing. You are free to leave, as soon as you are able to walk without retching or passing out. I will not clean up after you, so if you pass out in a pool of your own vomit, you can wake up in it. Take a supplement every six hours for the next three days. Stay hydrated and get at least eight hours of sleep. You should be entirely back to normal tomorrow and able to practice as you normally were able to."
He waved a hand like there was no need to gush, because he knew he was damn brilliant.
He really really was damn brilliant. Roy nodded from a daze as he cleaned himself off, getting the blood off. “I’ll definitely keep in touch.” he said, “Thanks for letting me participate and all. This is...this is so amazing.” He was going to get the bow back out tomorrow. He’d start slow and such but still.
“I’ll try not to throw up, yeah. Cleaning that would be a pain so I don’t really want it to happen.” Roy said, starting to walk around the room slowly, to get back his sense of balance and everything. It was thrown back into normal, but he’d adjusted so much it would take a couple of minutes.
Despite the pain, and hoping he wouldn't have to go through this again? He would have if he had to. It was...so good to be back.