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Eldritch Horror? No, I'm A Doctor
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The smell hit them immediately.
Thick. Metallic. The scent of blood so concentrated it made the air taste like copper. It coated the back of the throat, impossible to ignore.
"What the fuck," Major General Axel muttered, his hand instinctively moving to cover his nose.
A shiver ran down his spine. He was a Mythical rank hunter, veteran of countless gate raids, but something about this smell made his combat instincts scream danger.
Behind him, Daniel walked with all the blood drained from his face. His eyes were wide, darting around the reception area. His breathing had become shallow and rapid.
And Colonel Steven Bright was shaking.
Both Axel and Daniel turned back immediately, their military training kicking in despite the circumstances.
"Colonel, you good?" Axel asked, genuine concern in his voice.
Steven pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his face. Sweat had beaded on his forehead, running down his temples.
"Sorry. Just a little PTSD."
Daniel's jaw dropped. "PTSD? You?"
What the fuck, Axel thought, staring at Steven.
This was Colonel Steven Bright, the man who'd led charges on the front lines for fifteen years. The man who'd killed not only monsters but humans when necessary, eliminating rogue hunters and traitors without hesitation. His nickname was the Iron Blood Soldier, a man who could remain stoic in any situation.
And now he was claiming PTSD?
Holy shit, how badly was he traumatized by the implanting process?
BRRRGGHHH.
The sound of retching echoed through the clinic. Violent, guttural barfing that made all three men freeze.
"Huh?" They turned in unison toward the source of the sound.
"Who the fuck is barfing right now?" Daniel whispered. "Is that bastard Varyn?"
The retching continued for several more seconds, then stopped. They heard the sound of a toilet flushing.
The bathroom door opened.
Walking out, wiping his hands on a paper towel, was Nox. The plague doctor mask turned toward them. The black coat swished slightly as he moved.
"Hmm."
The pressure hit instantly.
Not physical pressure. Something worse. The weight of being observed by something that shouldn't exist. The feeling of standing before a predator that looked human but wasn't, couldn't be, shouldn't be.
It was the uncanny valley effect multiplied a hundredfold.
Axel felt his chest tighten. His breathing became difficult, like the air had turned thick. Beside him, Steven had gone completely rigid. Even his shaking had stopped, his body locked in place by pure instinctive terror.
Cold sweat poured down both their backs. Every survival instinct they possessed was screaming at them to run, to get away, to flee from whatever was wearing that mask.
Thud.
The sound of something heavy hitting the floor came from behind them. Both Axel and Steven turned their heads quickly.
Daniel had fainted, foam coming from his mouth. His eyes had rolled back in his head before he'd collapsed.
So fucking reliable, my second in command, Steven thought grimly.
"So," Nox said, his voice muffled by the mask as he continued walking toward them. Each footstep seemed impossibly loud in the silent clinic.
"What are you guys doing here? Are you here to assist that bastard?"
The doctor cocked his head slightly. The glass lenses of the plague doctor mask reflected their faces back at them, distorted and wrong.
"I'm sorry!" Axel blurted out, cutting off whatever Nox had been about to say.
Both the Colonel and the doctor seemed to have question marks appear over their heads.
"We're not here to assist them," Axel continued quickly, his words tumbling over each other. "We're here to detain them. They went out of their way to try to harm a civilian, so we came here to stop them."
The silence lingered for a moment. Nox stood there, unmoving, that masked head still tilted at that unnatural angle.
"So you came to arrest them?" Nox asked finally.
"Yes." Axel straightened, trying to regain some composure despite the terror clawing at his chest.
"The military isn't full of bad people, but some are just bad apples. The ones that ruin the image of the rest of us. We came here to stop his actions before they escalated further."
"Is that so."
It wasn't a question. Just a flat statement.
"Can we hear your side of the story?" Axel asked.
"We need to file a proper report. What exactly happened here?"
Nox seemed to consider this. Then he gestured to the chairs in the waiting area.
"Sit. This might take a while."
Steven and Axel sat, leaving Daniel unconscious on the floor. Neither of them had the mental energy to deal with reviving him right now.
Nox remained standing, his posture relaxed.
"It started when they walked in. Five soldiers and the Brigadier General. He came in with threats, veiled as official business. Talked about gray zones and human experimentation. Standard intimidation tactics."
"That sounds like Varyn," Steven muttered.
"I told him to cut the nonsense and just discuss the procedure like a normal customer," Nox continued.
"He didn't like my tone."
"And then?" Axel prompted.
"He tried to use his abilities on me." Nox's tone was conversational, like he was discussing the weather.
"It didn't work."
"You resisted?" Steven's voice carried a note of understanding. He'd warned them. He'd told Varyn not to go. But the bastard hadn't listened.
"I did." Nox didn't elaborate on how.
"But the attempt made me angry. Very angry. When someone tries to get into your head, to control your thoughts, it's personal."
Steven nodded slowly. He could understand that. The violation of having someone try to dominate your will was worse than physical assault in many ways.
"So I responded," Nox said simply. "The three soldiers passed out immediately. The assistant, Emily, managed to stay conscious but was incapacitated. And the General was on his knees."
Axel and Steven exchanged glances. The image of Varyn Helles, the beautiful, perfect Brigadier General, on his knees and terrified, was hard to imagine.
"And then Emily attacked me," Nox said, his voice dropping slightly.
"From the shadows. With a poisoned dagger."
"Fuck," Axel breathed.
"The poison was from a Pale Python. Cataclysm rank venom." Nox pulled up his coat slightly, showing a small tear in the fabric.
"She managed to pierce my coat and break the skin."
"But you're alive," Steven observed.
"I have some poison resistance. Convenient." Nox let the coat fall back into place.
"So at that point, they'd attacked me twice. Once with mind control, once with poison. I decided they'd earned their procedure. It was a self defence"
Steven's face froze. "The... Grafting Room?"
"Yes. The room used for grafting. The one you went into, Colonel."
Steven felt his throat go dry. "Well, at that time I called it the Old God Sacrificial Room."
"Haha." Nox's laugh was slightly muffled by the mask.
"I remember. You were quite vocal about the decor."
"Haha." Steven gave a dry laugh in response. Well then, he thought, whatever happened, they're fucked now. Completely fucked.
Axel's complexion had turned grave.
"Doctor, I want to apologize again, on behalf of the military, for their actions. What they did was completely out of line and against military regulations." He paused, then asked the question he needed to ask.
"Did you kill them?"
"Hmm." Nox seemed to consider this.
"What's your definition of killing?"
"Huh?"
"If you mean are they still breathing and conscious, then no, they're certainly still alive."
Axel became more and more stunned with each word. That wasn't a comforting answer. Being alive didn't mean being whole. Or sane. Or even recognizably human.
Nox gave a slight nod, as if reading his thoughts.
"Well, let me show you the result first. It will help you understand better."
He turned and started walking toward the hallway. Toward the red door at the end.
Steven and Axel exchanged one more glance. Then, with visible reluctance, they followed. Steven grabbed Daniel's collar and started dragging his unconscious body along. No point leaving him alone in the reception area.
They walked down the hallway. The fluorescent lights hummed overhead. The walls were painted jet black, completely normal. But the red door at the end seemed to pulse with each step they took toward it.
Axel's military bearing was perfect, as always. His back was straight, his stride measured, his face neutral. But Steven, walking slightly behind him, could see the small tells. The way Axel's left eye twitched when he looked at the door. The way his jaw clenched. The way his hand kept moving to his weapon, then stopping, then moving again.
He's terrified, Steven realized. A Mythical-rank hunter, and he's scared.
Steven had to suppress a laugh. Not from amusement, but from the sheer absurdity of it. They were three high ranking military officers walking toward a horror show, and one of them was unconscious, one was barely holding it together, and Steven himself was having PTSD flashbacks.
This is fine. Everything is fine.
Nox pushed open the red door.
The blood stained hallway stretched before them. The hospital tiles covered in dried gore. The walls splashed with arterial spray patterns. The summoning circle in the center, symbols glowing faintly with a blue light now instead of red.
And at the far end, they saw the pile of clothing.
Five sets. Perfectly folded. Military combat uniforms and one dress uniform. Boots lined up neatly beside them. The exact number that had walked in with Varyn.
"Why are their clothes..." Axel started to ask, then trailed off.
In the far corner of the room, huddled against the wall, was a figure.
Naked. Hugging her knees. Shivering violently.
It took both Axel and Steven a moment to recognize her.
Emily.
The second in command to Varyn. The shadow walking infiltration specialist. Always professional, always composed, always following orders with cold efficiency.
Now she sat there, completely broken. Her eyes were vacant, staring at nothing. Dried blood covered parts of her body, though it wasn't clear if it was hers or someone else's. She rocked back and forth slightly, making small whimpering sounds.
Axel and Steven took several seconds to recover their composure.
Neither of them particularly liked Varyn. The man was a manipulative bastard who'd gotten away with too much for too long.
But Emily was different. She'd been a hard working soldier, always cheerful, always reliable. At least, she had been before getting assigned to assist Varyn.
After that, she'd changed. Become cold. Distant. Like a loyal dog that only responded to one master.
There had been rumors she'd been brainwashed.
"So, Dr. Nox," Axel said carefully, his voice controlled despite the horror he was witnessing. "Where are the others? We only see Emily now."
"No, that's all of them," Nox replied cheerfully.
"Huh?"
"I said that's all of them."
"But we only see Emily." Axel's voice rose slightly.
"Don't tell me... you wouldn't..."
"Yes." Nox sounded proud now. He walked over to Emily and gestured at her like a sculptor showing off his masterpiece.
"Behold. The first human to have five brains. A mind capable of functioning beyond what normal humans can achieve."
He turned back to Axel and Steven, and even through the mask, they could sense he was smiling.
"I just made you the first super soldier. Pretty cool, right?"