Pain was my ever present shadow and though it faded, I could see its outlines even on the brightest days.
That sounded like a line from a really pretentious poet, but it was exactly how I felt right now.
The reason I hadn’t gone to a surgeon in all this time wasn’t just due to the cost. The cost was one thing but the other was that I was a mutant wisher. It meant that I didn’t have an exertion factor, that I could be smart all the time without breaking or bending the laws of physics.
Any doctor with the right equipment would notice that right away, especially if I underwent surgery on a nerve specific problem. It was a pain, literally.
My own diagnosis was that it was a nerve problem. A part of my left leg had been cut and for some reason, that cut refused to stop hurting. I assumed the nerves were damaged and would need a replacement or something, though neither Mochi or I were well versed enough in the medical field to understand what was actually going on.
And that was why I found myself sitting in a room with a masked individual.
It was risky, but it was also necessary.
Generally, I kept ahead of the pain. I took my medicine at certain intervals. If I ignored it then the pain would come at me all at once.
But I was running low on painkillers and finding a new supplier meant doing all kinds of background tests and testing their samples before buying them.
I just didn’t have the time.
We were in some empty building at the edge of the city and two large hired wishers stood just outside the door. The healer was well known by a few vigs and villains, and they had all touted her efficiency. Biomancer, now that was an interesting power.
It was dangerous, not as dangerous as controllers but dangerous enough. With the proper practice, you could breed diseases like no other. And when you could control the small cells of life, you had yourself a very capable business.
Healers.
People had many reasons to avoid hospitals and healers were more capable than what a lot of medical care could provide. A Major villain who had just gotten his back caved in by a rising hero would pay out however much he needed to fix himself.
They were faster than doctors, more capable, but just as expensive, if not more.
I had undercut this one. Her name was Penicillin but she was able to deal with injuries as well as anything else.
I was naked, or at least I felt naked. I was laid on top of a table, mask covering my face and my entire left leg was exposed. There were many things at play to get to this point.
The guards, for example, were being paid by the both of us. They were mercs who could be hired out for any kind of work and these guys had a good enough work history to be trusted. Their job was to prevent me from attacking her and vice versa.
Two guards, one man and one woman stood outside the room listening silently for a single trace of conflict.
The masked woman stood there, her bare hands pressed against my thighs and sending her power into my nerves.
It was intimate.
Not in the sexual way, just in the human touch way. I hadn’t touched a person like this in ages and in all honesty, it wasn’t a pleasant feeling. I wasn’t scared but I certainly wasn’t comfortable.
“What’s with the name?” I asked, trying to make minor small talk.
“A mask needs a good name to stand out from the others,” she murmured, seemingly still focused on my thigh.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Yeah but Penicillin? That’s a strange choice.”
“That’s why it works so well. I need a name that’s mine and mine alone. If you research me, all you find is what I’ve done, not what some other masked with the same name.”
“Never thought of it like that,” I replied.
“Really? You put no thought into your name?”
“The opposite. A lot of Crows out there running around in a lot of different cities. But there wasn’t one in Oak City so I could still be identified without being easy to find.”
“I thought heroes profited off the fame,” she replied, moving her hands down and under my knee.
“Relax,” she added.
“Not a hero. And attention is a bad thing for a vigilante. The more people know about you the more people know your powers and abilities. Villains can plan around that and being in the media means that you become a significantly larger target.”
“Must be difficult,” she replied, pressing one hand firmly against my thigh.
I flinched and then I messed up.
“So, what’s it like being a doctor?”
“Its not so bad. The hours are-”
Then she stopped and backed away.
“Sorry,” I cut in. “My bad, its just that you pressed my thigh hard and I got mad-”
“How did you know?” She whispered.
“Your cadance and tone. You’re trying to relax me and engage in the conversation without focusing on it, as if you’re trying to lull me while inspecting my body at the same time. Look I’m sorry, I’m not prying I’m just in pain.”
She looked at me, standing still from the side of the table, then nodded and went back to my thigh.
“So,” she continued. “You’re a tinker, holmes-type?”
“More general,” I chuckled. “I have a good grasp on most topics after giving them a certain amount of time and dedication.”
“Exertion?” She asked.
Now that was a personal question but I had violated a boundary. I had named her job and she had confirmed it. It was rude of me to do that.
“Don’t have one, I’m a mutant,” I replied.
She nodded and kept staring at my leg for an instant.
“How’d this happen?”
“Got injured and it healed but never in the same way again.”
“Did the injury coincide with the wish?” She asked.
Now it was my turn to be surprised. She looked at me with a blank face, but I knew there was a smile underneath that mask.
“Yes,” I answered. “Why?”
“The damage to your nerve is… well its not there.”
“What?”
“It’s strange. Nerve pain can be due to a lot of reasons but the main one is nerve damage, either physical or caused by disease. Now you can have pain for idiopathic reasons as well, specifically pain caused by your own body with no noticeable signs of damage. But…”
“But what?” I asked.
“I can fix that, all of that. I can fix pain and make it go away. Your pain isn’t caused by any of those things… its just there. When you made your wish and your leg got healed it sort of enhanced everything within that moment. Your biology has been changed to include that pain.”
“Well, can’t it be altered?” I asked.
“Well, maybe but I also noticed something else as well. Your nerves are hyperactive, especially the one on your leg and this is more than just pain or hurt. It's more like the nerves are thinking.”
“What?”
“Your whole body is hyperactive but from what I can tell the nerve growth around your leg is much bigger than normal and that part has developed its own pseudo brain all across your thighs and has been handling a lot of the thinking for you.”
“You’re saying I think with my thighs?”
“And all the nerves spread throughout the rest of your body, but I’m afraid that repairing your thighs might mean-”
“A loss of my intelligence,” I whispered.
“Yes,” she said with a sympathetic nod.
Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.
“So its either hurt and be smart or don’t hurt and be stupid.”
“Not exactly,” she replied. “I think you would revert to a person of extreme intelligence, still a wisher if only less capable.”
“Ha,” I laughed. “I’d barely be at the Minor level.”
She didn’t say anything to that.
I got up and hobbled angrily to my suit which was sitting there and watching in the corner. Mochi was watching. I wonder what she would say.
“Wait,” the healer said. “I’ve sent you my blackline contact information, one that I won’t shut down anytime soon. You can use it to contact me for treatment if you want to. And I know someone who can supply you with painkillers, a trusted source. Just contact me when you’re ready.”
I looked at her. She didn’t seem like she was lying. She seemed sincere.
“Why?” I asked.
“You’re in pain,” she said plainly. “No one should be in pain.”
I gave her a small nod then I got in my suit and left the building.
Please leave a rating or review. It would help the fiction tremendously.
Thanks for reading!
