The vehicle took off through the streets.
Fitz peered up through the window to see the Calgary Tower after they passed through the gate into the city. Once a tourist attraction, the structure now served as a military observation deck to oversee the base and its surroundings. He hoped the Canadians would see an attack long before it hit Calgary, but he couldn’t help thinking that the tower could do nothing if the Variants decided to tunnel under the base’s defenses.
The truck eased to a stop. Fitz readied his rifle again, still suspicious that the Canadians might try something. The door opened, and Neilson gave them a nod to hop out. Ace helped Corrin back out of the truck, while the soldiers formed a perimeter around them at a back entrance to the hospital.
Standing outside the door, a doctor in scrubs with a head shaved bald looked at them, his piercing green eyes never leaving Corrin. For a second, he said nothing, clearly in shock.
“Doc, you all right?” Ace said.
“Jesus,” the doctor started, then blinked as if trying to dispel an illusion. “That thing… oh, God. I never imagined—”
“We going to do this or not?” Fitz asked.
“Ah, yes, of course,” the doctor explained. “First up is the CT scan.” He led them into the hospital, nervously glancing back at Corrin as they marched down the corridor, the soldiers flanking them. “We’ll get a three-dimensional look at his skeletal system, along with the anatomical layout of his soft organs. It won’t take very long, but…” The doctor studied Corrin. “Normally, I leave the patient in the machine alone. You don’t want an operator exposed to excess radiation, but is that going to be a problem?”
“No,” Corrin said with a slight growl, shuffling after them.
The doctor looked at Team Ghost as if he didn’t believe the Chimera.
“It ain’t going to be a problem.” Ace tapped the side of his rifle for emphasis. “We’ll be right outside, and he won’t try anything, right?”
Corrin gave a sad nod.
The doctor took them into another room off the hall, and the Canadian soldiers waited outside. Inside were two imaging techs, a woman and man each wearing scrubs. Both took steps backward when they saw Corrin, shaking slightly.
“We’re, uh, going to have to remove those shackles to do this,” the doctor said.
Dohi followed the doctor’s orders.
The doctor still watched Corrin suspiciously. But the Chimera didn’t struggle when Dohi and the staff undid his wrist restraints and laid him on the scanning bed of the CT. Once Corrin was settled, they exited the room, joining Team Ghost behind the observation window.
Through the glass, Fitz watched the bed slide toward the huge donut-shaped CT machine. They waited for nearly fifteen minutes as Corrin’s body traveled through the scanner.
“We’re all done,” the doctor said. “Quick and, uh, painless, right?”
Corrin gave the doctor an unamused look through the observation window. The doctor’s two imaging techs entered the CT scan room and escorted Corrin back into the observation room with the rest of them. Ace and Dohi stood beside Corrin, ensuring he didn’t move.
Images started to populate on the doctor’s computer, processing in real-time.
“The next test is going to be a few biopsies,” the doctor said. “We’ll head down the hall to an exam room, and—”
“Wait,” Corrin said. “I want to see what those assholes did to my body. Can I see?”
The doctor looked at Fitz for approval, and Fitz gave him a subtle nod.
“Sure, it, uh, won’t take long. Just a couple more seconds, and the images will be done processing.”
A black and white three-dimensional model of Corrin’s body appeared on one of the monitors.
“That’s it,” the doctor said.
Corrin’s eyes roved over the screen, his bottom lip trembling slightly.
Fitz scanned the skeletal structure. It didn’t look too different from a normal human’s, except that the ends of each finger and toe were long and pointed and most of the bones appeared thicker. He could see the shadows of the Chimera organs.
“I’m no doctor, but his organs look pretty similar to a human’s,” Ace said.
“That’s right,” the doctor said. “Beside the structural differences in his skeletal system, I don’t see many differences.” The doctor traced his finger along the image of Corrin. “Except here. That’s odd.”
Fitz noticed what the doctor was pointing at. A bright white speck.
“The contrast indicates this is about the same density as bone, but it is embedded in his muscle,” the doctor said.
Fitz’s stomach twisted. He looked at Dohi and Ace. “Could that be…?”
Their expressions told him they all had that same thought.
“I thought you said a battery wouldn’t last,” Ace said to Dohi.
Dohi stroked his goatee. “A battery wouldn’t last. But then again, these people have made all kinds of strange biological weapons. Maybe…”
“It’s my fault,” Corrin grumbled. “Death follows me everywhere.”
He looked down at his arm, and before anyone could stop him, he tore his left claw into his bicep. Skin peeled away to reveal glistening muscle.
The doctor stumbled out of the room with his techs.
Corrin dug into his flesh, howling in pain as he plucked out a metal capsule and pulled it from his flesh. Two small wires snapped off from where they had been attached to his muscle.
“Stop, Corrin!” Fitz reached out to the creature. His touch seemed to calm Corrin, who wept for the first time since they had captured him.
“I’m sorry,” he mumbled. Saliva dripped off his fangs. “Just kill me… just get it…”
“I got a better idea,” Fitz said.
Corrin glanced up with his golden eyes.
“If they’re still tracking this thing, we can send it far from here. Send the New Gods on a wild goose chase and prevent an attack on Calgary,” Fitz said. He took the bloody device, holding it like a hand grenade waiting to go off.
“Patch Corrin, up,” Fitz said. “It’s time we use him to our advantage.”
Ace grinned and Dohi nodded.
“You good with that?” Fitz asked.
Corrin grunted. “If I get a chance at revenge, then I’m more than good with it.”
