The outside of the mayor’s building was full of crowd and vehicles. Fire trucks and ambulance were rushing through while the police tried to control the onlookers and media.
In the sky, Elementalist mutants were trying their best to control the fire of the explosion. The blue smog made the task more difficult than they thought.
Five helicopters were near the top floors to provide rescue in case of survivors were sighted.
Cleo - Felicity’s brother- rushed out of the building entrance with his hairs messed. He was accompanied by a group of four.
The media noticed him and directed their cameras on him.
"Dad and sis," Cleo fell on his knees with his eyes full of tears.
His depressed expression and the tears made even the numb-hearted media persons feel pity. They could imagine the suffering a man would feel at the loss of his father and sister.
"Cleo, calm down," A female police officer came to support him.
"It is my fault," Cleo lied dejected on the floor, "I shouldn’t have brought Felicity here."
His tears continued to pour down his face.
"Felicity is alive," A middle-aged policeman shouted, "She has been taken to the city hospital."
"WHAT?!" Cleo’s expression froze with his pupils dilating the size of a needle, "She is alive?! How could--- Ahh! Thank god!"
His wept while thanking the god but deep inside his heart felt empty at the news.
"Your father is alive as well!" An old reporter spoke, "One of the helicopters has rescued ten survivors and one of them is your father!"
"WH--that’s such good news!" Cleo sobbed with a happy expression.
"He truly loves his family," A guard muttered.
"He even blamed himself but thankfully his relatives are alive!"
"It would be bad to have a good guy like him suffer tragedy."
"The gods have listened to his wishes."
-----
ICU, VIP Zone, City Heart Hospital.
Felicity was lying unconscious on an examination table. From time to time, her body would tremble with blood leaking from the corner of her mouth.
"What has happened to her?" A male doctor asked.
"The sensors are showing an infection in her spine," A female doctor answered looking at a virtual screen.
"Start operation preparation," The male doctor ordered the junior doctors.
Outside, some distance away from the ward.
Zed dashed towards the ICU with full speed.
"You can’t enter!" A police officer guarding the ward stopped him.
Zed quickly removed a platinum card from his pocket and threw it on the officer’s hand.
"This is...?!" The officer looked at the card with disbelief, "An unlimited withdrawal card?!"
"Password is 1693," Zed ignored the dumbstruck officer as dashed forward, "Use it before I change my decision."
Zed reached the entrance of the ICU. He turned around as he heard the loud sobbing sound from a woman.
"Lady Kyla," Zed arrived in front of her.
"Zed?" Kyla wiped her eyes.
"Please take care of yourself," Zed said in a low voice, "She wouldn’t want to see you in this state."
"I know," Kyla said with a bitter smile, "But the doctors say they need to perform an operation."
"What?" Zed’s body shook.
"They say she was infected," Kyla informed.
Infected?!
Zed’s breathing turned rugged as an unpleasant thought struck his heart.
"Don’t tell me," Zed turned around and raced to the closed entrance of ICU.
He clenched the knob and in a second, it melted.
"What are you doing?" A doctor inside shouted as he saw Zed entering the ICU.
"You can’t be here!" A junior doctor shouted.
"Shut up," Zed tried his best to not lose cool. He stepped in front of the virtual console panel and eyed the report.
"Kid, get out!" A female doctor has enough of this boy.
How could he rush inside an ICU?!
Does he think it is a playground?!
"Are you idiots?" Zed turned towards the doctor who was about to perform a surgery on her.
"What did you say?" The doctor was offended.
"The recommendations you have set here would be useless," Zed moved to the examination table, "She has been harmed at a genetic level and operating on her spine would kill her."
"Boy, don’t speak nonsense," The doctor shouted with contempt evident in his voice.
A young guy dares guide him?!
He was someone with a lot of experience in the field of medication and he definitely didn’t need a lesson from a young kid!
The infection was clearly at the spine and not genetic level!
Even if it was at genetic level, how would a kid know this just from a mere glance!
The kid was a definitely a fraud!
No!
He was insane!
Zed ignored the doctor and instead, rolled Felicity so that her back was on the top.
"Stop!" The doctor put a hand on Zed’s wrist.
"If you don’t wanna die, get lost," Zed glanced at him.
"Y-you!" The doctor was about to chide him when he heard the stepping sound of another person walking in.
"Zed, you can’t be here!" Kyla was surprised by his actions, "I know she means a lot to you but we should let the doctors take care of this."
Kyla never expected him to barge in the operation room.
Just what was he expecting to do here?!
He was just a student so how could he help?!
He would be just messing this up!
The doctors looked at them and realized they were relatives of the patient but this still didn’t allow them to be here!
And where the heck was the police officer?!
"Kyla, I know what I’m doing," Zed took a deep breath, "And please don’t disturb me any longer."
If there was time, he would have teleported Felicity to his own lab but now the commodity he lacked the most was time.
There was no time to waste on transforming into Kiba, teleport her, and ready the equipment at the lab. The lab was designed keeping him in mind so it would take a while to set it for another person.
This is why he decided to do what the situation demanded. He pressed a finger on the virtual interface of the examination table.
"You think controlling advanced grade equipment is a piece of cake---" The doctor stumped with his eyes turning wide with surprise.
He saw Zed’s hand moving on the interface. The speed was so fast he couldn’t even realize what set of instructions he was giving.
"He knows how to operate?!"
The junior doctors’ mouth opened in astonishment. They knew it very well that it was no easy task to operate such equipment.
High-grade equipments were super sensitive. A single wrong command and the equipment might malfunction!
Kyla, on the other hand, looked in disbelief as a ring of light passed through her daughter’s body.
"He wasn’t blabbering nonsense earlier?"
The next moment, a holographic projection of Felicity’s body was in the room. A small virtual screen appeared behind the projection showing her genes.
"Whatever that infection is...it is harming her genes to damage her spine," Zed pointed towards her gene structure diagram and then her spine projection, "The genes are not only our source of power but they are also the source of pretty much everything in us."
"I-I know," The head doctor also noticed the irregularities in the gene sequence. The problem was not in the coding region but other parts of the genes.
He gulped down a mouthful of saliva knowing how gravely his plan was flawed. If he has tried to operate on her spine then it would have been useless.
"Just what is this kid?" The head doctor looked at Zed as if he was a monster.
How can a kid have such powerful observation?!
No!
How can this kid know so much at such a young age?!
"It is genes which carry the information on how our body behaves," Zed muttered with his expression turning cloudy, "The infection is destroying a specific part of amino acid sequence..."
He gritted his teeth in frustration after discerning how severe the situation has turned.
"W-what do you mean?" Kyla asked. She saw how everyone in the room has turned silent.
No one answered her question with everyone holding their breath. The junior doctors and the female doctor looked at Zed as if waiting for him to decide how to proceed forward.
Even the head doctor didn’t have any confidence even with all his years of expertise. He has never seen such an infection so how could he cure it?!
Zed took another deep breath to calm himself. He knew this was not the time to allow emotions to take control of him.
A single misstep might lead to an everlasting regret. With a new determination in his eyes, he adjusted his hands on the control panel.
"Activate the laser," Zed passed the instructions to the doctor, "We need to get rid of the infection before it does more harms."
"Y-yes!" The head doctor activated the laser equipment above. He adjusted the settings to pass on the genetic level.
"Inject her with SE-700," Zed told the female doctor, "Add 100 ml of RX-120."
"Yes," The female doctor hurriedly prepared the serum as per his instructions.
"Ready the cloning reactor," Zed turned towards the junior doctors, "NOW!"
"Y-yes," The junior doctors nodded.
"Kyla, please leave," Zed passed the final instruction before moving his attention to Felicity.
Kyla didn’t say anything and silently left the room.
-----
An hour later~
Outside.
Felicity’s father and brother arrived in front of Kyla
"You allowed that kid to operate on Felicity?!" Patrick shouted after she shared the details.
Earlier, Patrick was pleasantly surprised when he was informed his daughter was alive. He has lost all hope so the news of her survival brought him joy.
But now his heart jolted learning a twenty-something kid was treating his precious daughter!
"He knows his stuff," Kyla tried to explain.
She knew how absurd her words but she knew they were true.
She was very well aware if someone told her that Zed was capable of treating her daughter then she would simply consider it outrageous.
But after witnessing the dumbfounded expressions of the doctors she knew Zed was the only one who could take care of things.
"Mom! Don’t be naive," Celo protested while shaking his head in disappointment.
"I would never forgive you if---" As Patrick was in the middle of saying, he heard the door opening.
Zed walked out along with the head doctor.
"How is she?" Patrick rushed to the doctor.
"She is alive but..." The head doctor didn’t continue.
"Zed, tell me," Kyla noticed his dejected expression and she felt a bad premonition.
"Her spine is damaged," Zed’s eyes were closed as he muttered, "The real issue is her gene---"
Before Zed could finish, a punch landed on his stomach.
"It is your fault!" Patrick rushed to land another punch.
"Stop!" The head doctor caught Patrick’s hand, "He saved your daughter’s life!"
"What did you said?" Patrick looked at the doctor.
"None of us could have saved her," The doctor explained with a heavy expression, "But he was able to save her by controlling the damage."
"This..." Patrick and Cloe glanced at Zed.
There were traces of blood on his lips, but he didn’t say anything.
"The situation was never ideal but he did what not even the best doctors could have done," The head doctor continued with traces of respect in his voice, "You should be grateful to him."
"Zed, thank you," Patrick turned towards him.
"You don’t have to thank me after the damage she has undertaken," Zed said as a drop of tear fell from his eye, "And I did deserve that punch."
"No, sir, you saved her," The head doctor respectfully said.
"If only that was a thing to rejoice," Zed ignored the doctor and others as he walked away.
After gaining his current powers, today was the first time he felt something he has never felt.
Despair.
He stepped forward with his vision blurred.
...
A few minutes later, he stood in front of a washbasin. He glanced at his face in the mirror.
"Felicity," Zed muttered in a barely audible tone, "I’m sorry."
He opened the tap and took a handful of water in his hands.
~splash~
In the washroom, the loud sound of splashing reverberated.
The water touched his skin and wiped away the signs of tears.
[[Sir.]]
Claudia’s voice came from his cell phone.
[[We would treat her.]]
"...."
Zed continued to splash more water on his face.
[[Don’t fault yourself for something you had no control over.]]
"...."
[[You couldn’t have used your full powers in that situation.]]
The moment he summoned his full powers, the sky would be covered with dark clouds and golden lightning. Just the very aura of the lighting would dissipate every living being in its vicinity into nothingness.
Back when he faced Akshobhya, he has to teleport to the wasteland in order to ensure he wouldn’t harm Felicity and others who were in the range of his powers.
This time he couldn’t do this since his goal was to save life and not kill.
"If I was a bit earlier, "Zed continued to splash on his face, "Then she wouldn’t be in this pain."
[[You can’t change what has passed.]]
"I know," Zed looked at his eyes in the mirror, "If not for that particle."
The nanite was more troublesome than he dared imagine. It was able to create permanent damage to her genes before it was destroyed.
The bothersome issue surfaced afterward.
No matter how he tried, he wasn’t able to make her spine fully work like before.
The current cloning technology allowed organs to be repaired and replaced. The spine was repaired but the nerves didn’t respond.
Only then he realized the true extent of the damage the nanite has caused.
It has permanently destroyed a fragment of data on her genes which not even the cloning could undo. The data was responsible for the functioning of the major part of the spine.
While she could control her upper body, she wouldn’t be able to control the lower parts of her body.
She was handicapped.
For someone like Felicity, this was the worst form of torture.
She was someone who liked to roam around and get on adventures.
But now...
[[You have to think about the future and not the past. She wouldn’t want you to blame yourself.]]
"You’re right," Zed closed the tap, "Now is not the time to think about the past and nor blame myself."
[[I have started running virtual simulations for her treatment in the lab.]]
"Good," Zed took a tissue and wiped his face, "Let’s get the work started."
[[There is an issue though.]]
"I know," Zed’s expression twisted with his eyes full of killing intent, "To undo the damage we need to experiment on those particle."
[[Yes. We need a good amount of those particles for research.]]
"Find me the revolutionaries," A hint of gold appeared in his pupils while his hairs turned golden, "No matter what it takes."
[[Understood.]]
"They don’t really care about living, right?" He looked in the mirror as his transformation into Kiba completed.
[[Yes. They don’t fear death.]]
"Then let me make them regret being born."