A Strange Sensation

For the most part, Saizomaru was blanking out the argument that the small girl was having with her much larger companion. He was too far in thought oh coming up with the best course of action to be bothered with listening to Sensoa's stubbornness. He was concerned that the large demon would not make it through the night before seeking treatment—and that was if the tanks would be operational within the next day. He needed to know the full extent of the damages done.

Yet when his name was called out by Kyuki he gave her some acoustic attention, though he continued to pace back and forth across the room. She said she could create any sort of material or compound aside from anything technically complex. As much as he wanted to tell her that he would appreciate any help she could give, it wasn't the case. Any immediate medical supplies they needed were already in the case.

"Unfortunately, what we do need is a complex piece of machinery," he said as he finally stopped pacing. He leaned his back against the wall and crossed his arms across his chest.

He continued to think. This wasn't going to be doable with just himself and the nurse. What he needed right now would preferably be an engineering team to try and speed up to repairs on just a single tank.

Then the plan clicked to mind.

"Zoe—You still have technicians working on the tanks, right?" he asked the nurse.

"Yes," she said with a nod, "we have a team working on them right now, but it will still take a while."

"Whereabouts are they located?"

"They are on the third floor."

The android smiled. He pushed himself off of the wall and turned to the briefcase of medical supplies. He rifled through some of the things, then began to pick out a handful of various items.

"A'ight, nurse, here's what we're gonna do: I'll need you to apply these healing gauzes on Barban's wounds there. Then, you're gonna bandage his chest back up. He's gonna need two bags of this blood here to up his blood cell count. If he goes into any sort of pain or shock, give him a single dose of morphine."

Saizomaru made his way across the room to where the window was. Flicking the latch, he pulled it open before hopping up onto the window sill.

"W-wait! Where are you going?" the nurse called out.

"Third floor. Gonna take a look at those tanks. be back soon! Love y'all!"

Then, just like that, the android jumped from the window.

Zoe resigned herself to her duties with a sigh. This was turning out to be an unusual day for her. "Okay… Better get started, then."

As she was instructed, the girl opened the bag of healing gauzes—patches made of sheep's wool that were soaked in a healing salve not unlike that which was used for the healing tanks. She made her way to Barban with them, taking a seat on the side of the bed and placing the pack beside her. She took a few out and held them between her fingers to keep them separated.

"This might sting a bit. I think." She wasn't entirely sure how a demon would react to the chemical.

Gently she placed the gauze on one of the wounds. If there was any sort of stinging pain, it would soon be dulled by a cool sensation like that of menthol. A few strips of surgical tape would hold the padding in place against the lupine's fur. Then she would begin to move on to the other dozens of wounds.

Zoe barely even flinched when Barban showed discomfort from the healing gauzes being applied. She was used to the motion, having seen and treated so many patients before Barban. It was a natural reaction as the healing fluid accelerates the healing process to the point that the neurons in the flesh become over stimulated, sending a panic signal to the brain that induces the pain response. But the sensation was quick to be relieved once the healing started.

The nurse gave a small smile when her patient had thanked him. "You don't have to thank me," she replied as she continued to treat the wolf man's wounds. "I'm a nurse just doing my job, after all."

There was only several more wounds left to address. She had to open up a second packet of gauzes just to have enough to fix all of those wounds. A good thing that they didn't dry out in exposure to the air.

"I'm not afraid of demons like everyone else," said Zoe as she began to place another patch of the salve-soaked cotton just under Barban's ribs. "My grandfather and my great-grandfather knew of a demon once. They said he was a hulk of a man, with fiery red hair and deep black eyes. He always wore prayer beads around his neck. They said he was just a warrior looking for strong opponents. They never once said he was a bad person.

"Then, eventually, he wanted to live a quiet life. He helped my great-grandfather, my great-aunt, then my grandfather run the Sayaki's Arts restaurant. Then one day… he just vanished." She paused for a moment as she held the last needed gauze between her fingers, fidgeting with it. "I wonder if I'll ever get to meet him…" She hummed as she placed the swab on the last wound.

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

The android went into a freefall once he had jumped from the fifth storey window. He passed the fourth. Then, as he approached the third, he held out a hand to grasp hold of the ledge just outside of one of the large exterior windows. He pulled himself up, then perched on the concrete rim. Looking inside, he spotted one man inside—an old janitor with grey, balding hair and a thick moustache. A metal finger tapped on the window thrice to grab his attention.

The janitor was startled, to say the least, jumping at the sound that came from outside. He turned and froze was he saw a large, armoured figure by the window, who gave a wave to him. He nervously waved back.

I need you to open the window, mouthed Saizomaru as he pointed to the latch on the inside.

Me? the janitor lipped back.

Yeah! You! Hurry up and open it! Saizomaru was losing his patience quickly, even if the guy was old.

The janitor fumbled a moment, trying to figure out where he was gonna lean his mop. He decided to just drag the bucket and mop with him as he approached the window. He turned the latch and opened the inward-swinging window.

As the breeze rolled in, so too did the android, placing his hands on the top of the window frame before swinging his legs inside, using the momentum to carry the rest of him in.

"Damn it's cold out there," joked Saizomaru as he closed the window behind him. "Hey there! Technician, come here on behalf of the Arctic Institute. I'm looking for the healing tanks. Know where I can find them?"

The old man turned and pointed down the corridor. "Down the hall, make a left, keep going until you find the double blue doors."

"Coolio." He patted the janitor on the shoulder as he stepped passed him. "Keep up the good work, Stan." With that, Saizomaru continued on down the corridor, following the directions the man gave him.

"Huh. I guess one person can make a difference. 'Nuff said." With a smile, he continued to mop the floor.

Zoe did not respond immediately. After she placed the last gauze on the final wound, she picked up the back of leftovers and used some of the surgical tape to seal it back up. Then she began to open the pack of bandages that contained a few thick rolls.

"I'm not sure," she responded finally. "Could you sit upright for me?"

As she waited for him to do so, she stood up from the bed and turned to Barban. Using her other hand at an anchor point, she began to unravel a couple of meters of the bandaging. Starting at the center of the lupine's furred chest, she looped the cloth around his body and began to wrap it up loosely—any tighter would end up restricting the demon's breathing and possibly damaging the cracked ribs.

"All I know is that he was around when by great-grandparents were around," she continued while she began to make rounds around Barban's chest and torso. "That was about a hundred years ago. They say that he never aged in all those years. I guess demons really are immortal." She smiled at that. At least in a chronological sense they were immortal. Physically, they were just like everyone else, if what had happened to Barban and Sensoa was any indication of their body's mortality.

"How long have you all been on Earth?" she asked as she wrapped the last few loops of bandaging around the lupine, taping the end of it to his back to hold it in place. Then, she got up to retrieve the two bags of donor's blood to fix onto the IV stand.

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

Metal footfalls carried Saizomaru towards the next corridor where the janitor had told him the healing tank ward was. It didn't take too long before he found himself in front of those blue double doors. Each one hard a small port hole-shaped window at head height.

Peeking in, he could see that there was only a few lights on, though there were some construction lamps in place where the engineers needed some better lighting to do their work. Twenty healing tanks in total, six on each of the sides of the room, were lined up in various states of disrepair. Most of them had not even been worked on yet, with only half a dozen of them being actively seen too.

Saizomaru gently opened the door as to not startle the workers too much. Slowly he stepped inside.

"You guys looking for an extra hand?" he called out in a quiet voice.

The workers stopped what they were doing, looking up towards the doorway. They were met with the tall, titanium-layered humanoid, but none of them spoke. Instead, a few of them turned to one of the men standing down the center passageway, who was holding a clipboard and pen. Then, that person began taking steps towards the android.

"Sir, this is a restricted area," they called back as they walked towards Saizomaru. "I'm gonna have to ask you to leave."

"I'm here on loan from the military's technician and engineering team," the android replied, albeit a lie just to get through this guy. "The boss man says we need to get these things up and running yesterday, so I'm here to give assistance."

"Sorry sir but, unless you have a clearance notice, then I can't allow you in here. Please leave."

Saizomaru glared at him. He let out a sigh as he put a metal hand on the shoulder of the man's shirt. His fingers curled a little, enough the grab some of the cloth. "Okay, look… buddy… friend… I have a man upstairs with a huge ass hole in his stomach that needs immediate attention and probably won't last the night. The only thing short of a miracle that's gonna save him is one of these tanks.

So you got two options: You either move out of my way and let me work my magic; or I throw you out of my way. What's it gonna be?"

"We need all the help we can get, boss!" one of the workers chimed in from across the room. "Come and give me a hand with this one if you just need the one tank fixed quickly!"

Saizomaru had turned his gaze to the worker as they spoke, then returned his attention back to their boss. The man was visibly shaken and remained silent. With no clear objection from him, the android smiled and let go of the man's shirt, patting him on the shoulder instead.

"Good to know we got some smart people in here," he mocked before walking past the man. He made his way to the in-repair tank, kneeling down in front of it. "So… what's the issues we got here, then?"

A few weeks was an incredibly short time. Zoe wondered how quickly they had come to acclimate to human livelihood so quickly, especially considering that demons weren't exactly regarded highly in recent times. It didn't surprise her one bit that they were finding things difficult in trying to establish a home here regardless of where they tried.

"You will be able to find a good place to live, I can assure you," she said. She continued setting up the drips, attaching the hoses to the open ends of the two bags of blood. "The cities have been cautious of demons ever since news of Badman City spread. However, you might be able to find a home in the countrysides. Not many people there are able to get television or radio, so they might not know of what had happened.

"Hold still. This might sting a little."

A single, one-inch long needle jutted into the lupine demon's arm. A small adhesive patch kept t in place, sticking to Barban's fur and flesh. Zoe turned a small valve on the neck of the IV bag, allowing the red liquid to pour into the tube and inject into his arm. "If all else fails, you'll be easy enough for you and your feline friend to pass off an zoanthropes. The sleeping one could pass himself off as a vividly-dressed human." She couldn't help but smile at that.

But his words about living long enough left a cold feeling in her heart. "Do not say things like that," she chided him in a soft, gentle tone. She reached over to run a hand over the fur on top of his head, even giving his long wolf ear a rub. "If you are as tough as you say you are, then you will live a long life… provided you don't suffer too many of these injuries."

She hummed as she turned back to the case of supplies. In one hand she pulled out an injection syringe, and in the other a bottle of anaesthetic. Between her fingers she grabbed another roll of bandages.

"I think your friend will need some assistance until Saizomaru returns," she said. She made her way over to where Sensoa was, sleeping as much as he could. She stabbed the needle into the cork of the bottle before filling it with the clear liquid. Carefully she leaned over him and gently pinched on his flesh to inhibit the neurons near his wound. She gave him a dose of the anaesthetic near the wound to help numb the pain he might be feeling.

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

"Ruptured intake lines," the worker responded as he pointed over to a huge hole in the wide plastic hose. He began pointing at other areas around the inside and outside of the tank. "Wiring's knackered. Drainage valve has been welded shut. Most of the electronics are faulty. The glass chamber needs heavy repairs. Oh, and the circuit board is completely fried."

Saizomaru hung his head and sighed. "Oh, is that all?" he joked with no amusement. He reached into the interior of the base of the chamber where the drainage valve was. Gripping his fingers around the cog wheel-shaped handle, he gave a sharp tug, echoing a snapping noise as the fused metal fractured from the force, leaving the rest of the coupling intact. "Problem number one solved."

The engineer could hardly believe that this android had enough strength to pry open a fused valve so easily.

As he stood up, Saizomaru looked over to where the other tanks are. "You reckon we can salvage some of the parts we need from the other tanks?" he asked.

"Yeah, should be able to," the man responded as he looked over his shoulder. "We'll have to recalibrate the software if we change out the circuit board though. Plus we're gonna need to get a team to reinstall the glass."

"I am the team." The android placed his hands on the side of the massively cracked glass chamber. Then, without any effort, hoisted it from the base and carried it off to the side. Now everyone was too busy gawking at his feats of strength rather than working.

"So, who's got one that isn't broken?"

It was apparent that Sensoa wasn't going to wake up any time soon. Zoe continued to deliver shots to the sleeping demon, forming a hexagon of pinpricks around the wound to ease the pain all around it as well as numb most of his abdomen. At least he wouldn't wake up in pain now.

"That's the name doctor Pars gave me," she replied to Barban as he inquired about the android's full name. "They were 'war-buddies', so I was told. Saizomaru was the captain of the earth's military's black-ops unit, while doctor Pars was the corporal of one of the medic divisions. Other than that, I do not know much else about their past relationship."

She placed the roll of bandages on the bedside stand next to Sensoa. She went back to the medical gaze and took out a packet of gauzes, though much larger than the ones that she had given to the lupine. She opened the pack as she made her way back to the sleeping one, then placed it over the large, gaping hole in his side.

"I was planning of bandaging him up," she said with a gentle sigh, "But I guess that will have to wait until he wakes up. This will stifle some of the blood loss for the time being."

Zoe took out a wet wipe from the pouch of her apron, wiping off the green blood that was on her hands. She looked down at it, sighed, then placed it back into her apron"A shame that your friend has a different blood type from you. I would have at least been able to keep his blood cell count stable if he did."

She turned to Kyuki and gave her a gentle pat on the head. "It will be fine. We are safe here. Nothing will happen to them so long as they are here."

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

Bright lights from sparks and flames and plasma filled a small section of the room from the tools used. Blowtorches let out a high pitched fizz as they began to weld metal to metal. Angle grinders cut through steel with a loud volume. Batteries hooked up to the console's diodes created small sparks as electricity was fed into the system long enough for one of the workers to run a diagnostics kit to recalibrate the software.

"How long are you planning on being here for?" the worker asked Saizomaru as he tapped the keys on a small electronic notebook on his knees. "We could really do with your help."

"Until I need to recharge," the android replied. Laying prone on his back, the upper half of him was under the base of the healing tank surrounded by wiring, tubing and other electrical and mechanical parts. A small gout of plasma came from his makeshift blowtorch on the tip of his finger, welding shut the cracks that were inside with a piece of titanium rebar. "About eight hours—ten, tops, if I disable all non-critical functions."

By now there were a couple of other engineers working on the one tank. Saizomaru had advised that it would be more productive to get one tank operational at a time to help with the influx of patients that needed it, as opposed to spending too long trying to get all of them running at the same time.

"At least we'll be able to get at least two or three of these things working by the end of the evening," the worker praised with cheer in his voice—the first time all day. "Maybe more if they're not any worse off than this one is."

"Sounds good," replied Saizomaru. He turned his body to the side a little, noticing the plastic intake hose that had the hole in it. The blowtorch nozzle retracted back into his finger, and a different one protruded in its place. A fizzing noise echoed from inside the console as a black, expanding foam poured from the nozzle around the hole's perimeter, circling inward towards the center until it was filled completely."This polycarbonate foam should keep the hole sealed."

"The hell is that?"

"Plastic-like foam that fused to itself and whatever other plastic it is applied to. Shock resistant, flame resistant, frost resistant—I highly doubt it's going anywhere. Best solution for this kinda thing short of replacing the whole damn pipe."

"Gonna have to pick me up some of that stuff for next time."

"Yeah, have fun forking out your monthly pay on this stuff. It ain't cheap."

"And you're able to afford it?"

"Mate's rates, bro."

"No, no, that's quite alright," said Zoe, giving a little wave of her hand in gesture to not do so. "It would be best to let him get some rest until he needs to be moved again. I'm sure Saizomaru will not be too long with the repairs if he's as good as he says he is."

The woman took a seat on one of the spare chairs against the wall. Right now there was not much that she could do. Barban was as taken care of as he could possibly be—only time was going to heal those wounds now, although the healing liquid in the gauze was going to speed up the process by a considerable margin. Sensoa was not going to be done much about, the wound requiring a deal of healing liquid and time to heal fully. The only thing she could do was dress his wound and make sure he was as comfortable as he could be.

Yet the room had a sense of sombre tension about it. Despite everything being well as could be and them being in the best possible hands, both Barban and Kyuki were still worrying about their larger friend. While it was true that Sensoa was close to death, the fact that he made it out in one piece more or less was thankful enough.

"You were able to bring him to medical attention," replied Zoe. "That's what matters right now. Try not to think of what happened before. Just rest and heal."

Zoe smiled back at Kyuki as she was talked to. As much as she was a qualified nurse, her bedside manner wasn't one of her virtues. She would try her best to comfort them, however.

"You do not need to thank me," she said. "I am just doing what needs to be done. It is my job, after all." She pondered in silence. She couldn't help but twiddle her thumbs as he interlaced her fingers in her lap. "I am just sorry that there is not much more I can do for the moment. The only thing I can do right now is wait for further instructions, or at least until Saizomaru comes back."

She turned and looked out of the window. "I just hope he does not take too long…"

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

An hour had already gone by. Saizomaru and the three other engineers were hard at work trying to get the healing tank in working order. tool cases and power tools were laid strewn about around the base of the machine along with various different parts. sheets of metal plating and steel panels leaned up against the wall beside it, leaving the interior components exposed while everyone made the final adjustments.

"That's the last of the circuitry," called out Saizomaru from inside the base of the machine. He took his hands away from the wiring he was fixing into the terminals, then pushed himself out from under the base. "Do we have life?"

One of the workers flicked on the power from the mains. There was a subtle, low-pitched hum. Then the man smiled as the console screen lit up a neon green. "We've got power," he replied.

"Are we getting any electrical surges?"

"Not at the moment," another worker responded as he peered from over the top of the laptop screen. He tapped on a few keys, bringing up the electrical monitoring statistics. "But I can only view the console wiring and monitor the tank's standby power consumption. We won't know until we get it activated."

"Sounds like a plan, then." The android pulled himself back under the base of the tank. "A'ight, Emerl—I'm gonna need to to get this thing active and filled. Saph—keep an eye out for any shortages or malfunctions while the tank is running. I'm gonna stay here and made sure everything is fastened tight and nothing comes loose."

"Got it," the two workers called out in unison. Emerl began tapping at the touch screen of the console, taking the tank from standby mode and inputting the command to start filling the tank. The flow of liquid echoed as it was being pumped from somewhere, flowing into the pipe work, then into the tank. Slowly it was starting to be filled.

"All reading are normal," called out Saph. The readings on the monitor were reading at a steady two-hundred volts with no fluctuations. All of the components inside the machine were showing green—normal operations were in progress.

"Not seeing any faults or gives in the equipment from out here," added Emerl. He paced around the machine from left to right, scanning for any parts on the chassis that was struggling or beginning to fault. There was none that he could see. "Everything all good in there, Sai?"

"Everything's good here." The skeletal structure, wiring, pipelines and electric components were all visible to the android as he switched to electromagnetic view. Thermal visions was showing everything running at a moderate temperature of forty—the cooling systems were working at full efficiency, too. "Not seeing anything out of the ordinary. I think we're just about done here."

The workers were all for giving high-fives all around. Saizomaru pushed himself out from under the tank and back to his feet.

"Good job, guys. Now that this is working, I need to go collect someone. You guys good for putting this all back together while I'm off?" The men all gave a nod. Saizomaru made his way out of the room on his way back to the fifth floor, opting the use the window like he did before.