A Complicated Web

Chapter Fifty Six: Decision Making

Kally wasn't prepared to see Dr. Bosch enter the room at the next changing of the guard. The doctor, however, was more than happy to see her awake as he strode over towards her bed after exchanging information with the medic who'd just left the room. He glanced briefly over at Hiro, making sure everything was as it should be, before pulling up the stool Loki had used earlier.

"I understand you're having some gross motor problems," he stated as Kally tried to sit up. He put out a hand to keep her from trying too hard. "And while I'm still not sure how your episode was triggered, I'm not surprised. Everything I've found points to a sort of restructuring of your system, which means your body is going to need time to adjust to the changes. Liken it to running a marathon and having to recover afterwards, though I'm sure it will be a bit more on the extreme end in your case."

Kally bit the inside of her cheek, resisting the urge to chew on it. She'd tried chewing on the other side before remembering the still massive bruise she held thanks to . "I was afraid of that," she admitted. "So now what?" she gestured helplessly to the room around her with a shrug of her shoulders. "I mean that doesn't exactly bode well for our plans now does it?" She didn't miss the fact that Hiro was still unconscious.

Dr. Bosch gave her a bemused expression. "Sarcasm is a good sign," he noted. "At least you have your wits about you." He set his tablet to one side after double-checking it. "But you're right. It does make things a bit more difficult in the short term. However, I think it will help in the long one. At the very least, it gives me a good excuse to delay phase two of their little DNA tests."

That was the second time Kally could remember having that mentioned, though she wasn't sure what all phase two involved. "I'm not sure I know what that means," she admitted. Part of her wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

The doctor sighed. She had a right to know what they'd planned for her, even if he didn't agree with it. There was always the chance someone would go around him to implement it if he wasn't careful. "The plan was to harvest some of your eggs to make sure they are compatible with Hiro's DNA. If they are, they plan on fertilizing them, which means they'd need a host for the resulting embryos."

Kally did manage to sit up halfway at that announcement. "What?! Are you kidding me!? That's a total violation of my rights! They can't do that!" Part of her wondered just who'd they'd use as a host for any resulting embryos, and that same part thought it might be her. If that were the case, they had even more reason to bust out of this place.

Dr. Bosch tried to quiet her, more than aware that even though the cameras in this particular room didn't record sound, their voices could still carry out to the next area. They might not be on the same system as the other cameras in the facility, but he knew Ms. Kendrick checked them regularly. "Shh," he admonished urgently. "I've gotten them to postpone anything of the sort. At least for now. I've managed to explain away your symptoms as a form of radiation poisoning from the teseract. As far as they know, you're currently not medically stable enough to proceed without significant risk of complications or death."

The teen allowed him to gently push her back against the pillow as she chewed on her cheek some more. "You could have kept that to yourself," she sighed. "You didn't have to tell me." Though part of her was glad he had. It explained a lot of the random comments she'd overheard. And possibly the half remembered visits of different medics injecting stuff into her IV line that she felt sure wasn't pain killers or antibiotics. She'd just been too out of it or unable to move to do anything about it. And, since she wasn't sure if she'd dreamed that or not, she didn't bring it up now.

"You deserved to know the stakes we're up against," the doctor replied as he straightened out her IV tubing. "As is, I'll be treating you as a convalescence patient to allay any suspicions, so I'll need you to play along. We'll start with the typical walking and the like to help your muscles relearn whatever they might have forgotten with this change. I'm sure you'll need it anyway."