The day of Cody's check-up had arrived a week after the Centipede Eldritch attack. As promised, Evan drove him to Morningstar City's DEA agency, where Heather awaited him. The drive was silent on the way, for the radio was off, and both Cody and Evan didn't talk. All the dark-haired boy did was stare out the window, thinking about three things: Keith Belmont, the Centipede Eldritch attack last week, and Lucien. Beside him, Evan took a glance at him before turning his eyes back to the road.
Soon enough, Cody and Evan made it to the agency. The building wasn't too short nor was it too tall and it was round. The windows were also like mirrors reflecting the light of the morning sun. There was only one feature Cody expected of the agency's structure: the color it was painted, teal. As the two walked into the building, Evan approached a receptionist and informed her of Cody's appointment with Heather. Once they received confirmation, they made their way to the agency's medical wing, where they waited to be called.
While waiting for their turn to be called, Cody kept thinking about his and Milo's hangout events last week. But then, Evan decided to break the silence between them.
"Got something on your mind, Cody?" Evan asked as Cody turned to look at him.
"Uh, yeah," he answered. "Just last week when I was with Milo, I learned something."
"Something?" the green-haired man repeated.
"Keith Belmont, the first Slayer. I saw a statue of him in the city, and when I asked Milo about him, he just told me everything he knew. Milo said Mr. Belmont and his team disappeared a long time ago and no one knows why. By chance, do you know what happened to him, Evan?"
Evan's breath hitched as he raised both his eyebrows. Then, he looked away and said, "I wish I could say I do, but I don't. Just because I'm a Slayer doesn't mean I know everything about DEA's past."
Cody frowned in response. But then, he heard a door open as a man dressed in a white lab coat entered the waiting room and called, "Cody Byrd?" With that, Cody and Evan stood up and followed the man to a room with a single rectangular table and a small, round object, presumably a scanner, attached to the ceiling. In that room were Scott, Mia, and Rich, who were sitting on chairs inches away from the table, but Heather wasn't present. Cody was confused by this at first, but Mia explained that Heather was currently doing check-ups with other Slayers and students. With that brief explanation, the man had Cody check his height, weight, and blood pressure; all three looked well. After that, the man provided the dark-haired boy with a teal hospital gown to change into before leaving the room to fetch Heather.
Scott assisted Cody in putting on the gown after he took off his current clothing. Finished with that, everyone waited quietly in the room until Heather finally arrived. Cody was instructed to lie on top of the table as Heather operated the scanner by standing near a computer. As the scanner was switched on, everyone watched as it slowly went down until it was above Cody's chest. Then, its light flickered on and it slowly went down his upper body before going back up. Meanwhile, Heather nodded to herself as her eyes focused on the computer.
As soon as the scan was complete, Cody was free to stand up from the table as Heather, Scott, Mia, Evan, and Rich walked out of the room. With the adults out of the room, he removed the gown and slipped his clothes back on before leaving the room himself, finding Scott standing in the hallway waiting for him. Scott proceeded to take Cody to an office where the others were waiting for them. There, Heather stood at a desk with a flatter-looking computer as Mia, Evan, and Rich sat in chairs near a wall. As Cody and Scott sat in front of Heather's desk, the latter turned the computer around to show two pictures of Cody's ribcage; the one on the left looked broken while the right one only had a few small cracks.
"Uh, what am I looking at?" Cody asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You are looking at x-rays of your ribcage, Cody," Heather answered, pointing her finger at both pictures. "The one on the left is your ribs last week when the Gorilla Eldritch attacked. The other one on the right is your ribs now."
"Huh. They healed rather quickly," Cody remarked.
"For a human, bones take at least four to six weeks to heal. Considering you're a Turned Eldritch..."
"I see..." Cody nodded. Then, he asked, "What's gonna happen now?"
"Things should go back to normal once classes resume next week," Mia replied. "But when that happens, remember to go easy on yourself from now on."
"Why?"
"You said it yourself, kid," Rich said. "We don't want what happened two weeks ago to happen again. That also means you getting injured like that."
"Right, I did say that," Cody said with a nod.
The room became silent for a few seconds before suddenly, Scott turned to Cody and asked, "Um, Cody? Could you please step out of the room for a bit? There's something I need to talk to everyone about alone."
"Uh, sure. Okay." With that, he stood from his chair and walked out of the office.
Now sitting in the hallway, Cody patiently waited for Scott and the others to finish their conversation. While he waited, he looked around the hallway, watching as doctors and Slayers walked back and forth. Then, he heard something rolling toward him and he turned to his right to find a dark-skinned woman approaching his spot with a silver cart with wheels at the bottom. As she got closer, she brought the cart close to Cody's right side, not batting an eye at him when she did so. Cody watched as she walked away before turning his attention to the cart she left behind.
Cody looked on top of the cart, finding a silver tray holding a needle, a spool of thread, a tiny pair of scissors, and a white rag. Curious, he reached for the tray to pick up the needle, bringing it close to his face to examine it closely. From what he could see, the small silver rod was shiny and clean. Cody hummed before looking down at his left hand, and then turning back to the needle in his right one. He looked up at the hallway once more to make sure no one was watching him. Seeing no one noticing him, he sighed before looking back at the needle and his hand. With a deep breath, Cody slowly brought the needle to his left pointing finger, poking at the surface of its skin before pushing its sharp end into it. By doing so, he scrunched up his face as he quietly grunted in pain.
Pulling the needle out of his skin, Cody watched as black blood trickled down from his pointing finger to his palm. Then, the puncture he made closed up, not leaving a scar. Before he could do anything else, he felt something whoosh past him as it hit the wall next to him. Squeezing his left hand shut, Cody turned to his right to find an arm in a blue hoodie sleeve and a fingerless glove. When he looked in front of him, his eyes went wide and he became tense as he found the arm's owner: Lucien Nanami. Lucien was smirking at him, staring into his eyes with a face that sent chills down his spine.
"You know," Lucien began. "I've been seeing you around lately."
"Uh..." Cody gulped, not knowing what to say.
Lucien looked down at the dark-haired boy's hands, finding the needle in his right one. With a hum, he reached for it and snatched it from Cody's hand to have a closer look. Then, he looked back at the other boy and said, "Didn't your parents tell you not to play with needles, fresh meat?"
"Fresh meat?" Cody repeated. "Me?"
"Never mind that, newbie." Lucien looked down at Cody's left hand. "You pricked your finger, didn't you?"
"I-I-"
"Here, let me see." The eyepatch boy reached for his left hand.
"No!" Cody yelled.
Before Lucien could touch his hand, he felt someone roughly grab his shoulder. He turned his head around to find Scott standing behind him, sneering at him. Meanwhile, Cody sighed with relief, knowing he was safe for now.
"Leave him alone, Nanami," Scott firmly said.
"Tch." Lucien turned back to Cody and darkly whispered, "You got lucky this time, newbie." Then, as he shrugged his shoulder out of Scott's grasp, he stood up straight and walked down the hallway, putting the needle back on the tray as he did.
Cody and Scott watched as the purple-and-blue-haired boy walked down the hallway with his hands in his pockets, taking a left as he did. With Lucien gone, Cody opened his left hand again as Scott turned to the dark-haired boy, immediately noticing the black blood on his hand. With wide eyes, the blue-haired man went on one knee and took the boy's hand to examine it.
"Cody, did Lucien do this?" Scott asked in a panic.
"No, I did it to myself," Cody answered.
Scott raised an eyebrow before he noticed the cart with the tray holding the needle, thread, scissors, and rag. By looking at the needle, the blue-haired man quickly understood what happened. With a sigh, Scott took the rag from the tray and offered it to Cody, who gratefully took it and used it to wipe the black blood off his hand.
"You can't let anyone see that, Cody," Scott said before crossing his arms. "Every Slayer knows what color an Eldritch's blood is. You may appear human on the outside, but on the inside, you're still at Eldritch."
As soon as he finished wiping his hand, Cody looked up at Scott and nodded. "Yeah, I know," he said.
"If someone spots you bleeding, they'll immediately realize you're not human. They will know what you are in an instant and even detain you. I've seen it happen plenty of times. That's why I'm giving you these." Scott reached into his jacket to pull out what looked like a black pill bottle.
As the bottle was placed into his grasp, Cody raised an eyebrow and tilted his head. "What is it?"
Scott brought his face close to the dark-haired boy's ear and whispered, "It's a drug Turned Eldritch use to blend in with humans. It causes their blood to turn red every time they get wounded."
"Where did you find this?" he asked as Scott pulled his head away.
"Let's just say I know someone." Scott pointed at the bottle. "Take one of these every day, only one. Each dose lasts for about fifteen hours. Also, don't let anyone see it."
"Not even Milo?" Cody asked.
"Not even Milo."
Cody looked down at the pill bottle one last time before looking back at Scott and nodded. "I think I get it. I'll be careful when I'm using it, I promise."
With a smile, Scott put a hand on the boy's shoulder and said, "Good."