Michael sat in the waiting room, tapping his feet on the ground as if he was bored. Xortaal sat with his legs crossed, he was reading a holographic book, the language on it unknown to Michael.
Michael leaned over Xortaals' shoulder, "What are you reading?"
"Reports of a terror attack in the leisure district." Xortaal replied, "You can't read it, can you?"
"Nope," Michael replied lazily.
"You'll get translators implanted into your eye soon enough, don't worry."
The doctors used lasers to slice off Gabriel's arm with cutthroat precision, producing a perfectly straight cut off where Gabriel's arm was before.
The metal arm lay on a table, waiting to be implanted. It was sleek, made of a dark alloy, and segmented in a way that mimicked human arm structure. Thin, glowing blue lines ran the length of the arm, pulsing like veins.
Small drones lifted the arm and slowly drifted with it toward Gabriel.
When the arm reached him, it seemed to grow slightly, the veins in the arm reaching out towards Gabriel's stump. They attached themselves to Gabriel's veins, allowing blood to flow through them. The light blue color changed to a crimson red.
The arm seemed to move by itself as it attached to Gabriel, latching itself onto his shoulder perfectly.
A nurse came to them in the waiting room, "The surgery's done, you can see him now."
Xortaal and Michael walked into the operating room just as Gabriel woke up.
Gabriel opened his eyes and said groggily, "Did it work?"
"Of course, it worked," Xortaal reassured Gabriel, "How does it feel?"
Gabriel lifted his arm in the air and flapped it, "It's... weird. It's so light, it's like there's no resistance at all."
"You'll get used to it." Xortaal looked at the arm, "I had them work something special into it. Try pulling that scalpel over to you."
Gabriel lifted his arm and concentrated on trying to pull the scalpel.
It slowly lifted off the counter, then shot towards Gabriel's arm. It floated effortlessly at the palm of his hand.
"Woah! Did you get them to put a magnet in my hand?"
"Exactly." Xortaal smiled gently at Gabriel, "Now test its strength, punch me."
"What?" Gabriel was confused.
"Punch me in the stomach." Gabriel looked at him, confused, "Don't worry, it won't hurt me too much."
"O-Ok," Gabriel said reluctantly.
Gabriel pulled his arm back, loading up his arm like a shotgun. He thrust it forward, directly into Xortaal's stomach.
Xortaal flew back, crashing into the wall with a bang.
Both Gabriel and Michael looked at his arm in bewilderment. Xortaal stood up, smiling.
"Are you okay?" Gabriel stared at Xortaal.
"I'm perfectly fine, don't worry."
The strength in Gabriels' new arm was egregious, sending Xortaal into the wall felt like only a fraction of its true strength.
Gabriel admired the sleek, black arm.
Xortaal walked toward them, "There are a few more operations you need to undergo."
"Such as?" Gabriel asked.
"You need an ocular translator, that one is mandatory, and I would recommend a muscle-fiber enhancement, and I would want you two to get lung enhancements as well." Xortaal informed them, "Get these before your training, and I have no doubt that you two will pass the hunter exam with ease."
"Hunter exam?" Michael and Gabriel both blurted out.
"Yes. We have tests before you can become the lowest level hunter, a junior assistant hunter."
An alarm blared in the room, and a doctor rushed in, "You must clear the room please, a patient needs emergency surgery."
"Let's go." Xortaal beckoned them toward the door.
They walked into the bare, white corridor, leaving the surgery room behind. They walked back the way they came, weaving between doctors and patients.
They got back to the lobby, and the police were there, fending off the horde of angry protesters as if they were zombies.
A lone police officer was standing to the side against the wall.
The police were wearing black armor that covered their bodies completely, their faces covered by a riot helmet. They were carrying riot shields, they were blue energy shields, built to deflect blows.
The crowd had turned feral, biting and scratching at the armored police officers. Some broke their teeth on the police's armor and some broke their nails.
...
*A few minutes before*
"They're protesting peacefully. There is no need to send over the police." Said the police chief.
"Sir, do you see that," He pointed at a man flying on a hoverboard toward the crowd at breakneck speed, he was covered by a black robe with a hood, making his identity unknown. The man in black threw something circular at the crowd. A thin, pink smoke rose from the impact location of the circular object.
The crowd looked at the smoke, breathing it in. The next moment, a member of the crowd went crazy, she rushed at another protestor, biting his neck and drawing blood.
"Send the riot squad, now!" shouted the chief.
"No problem, sir."
...
Gabriel and Michael backed away from the crowd, who were slowly advancing and pushing the police back.
"Xortaal, why are they doing this?" Michael looked at him, "They were being peaceful before."
"There's a range of things it could be. Give me 2 minutes to speak to the commanding officer." Xortaal walked off toward the officer who was standing against the wall.
"What should we do?" Gabriel shouted to Xortaal.
"Sit down, you'll be fine."
...
Xortaal arrived at the lone police officer. The officer had a name tag on his chest reading 'Trels'. The officer was hulking, around 10 feet tall, his muscles about to rip through his uniform. His skin was a deep black. He had scales covering his face, with a dragon-like head. He had 2 deep black eyes and a long scaley neck.
"Good afternoon, Captain Trels," Xortaal politely addressed the officer.
"Hello, Xortaal," Trels stared down at Xortaal, hulking over him by at least 3 feet.
"Is there any idea on what caused this?"
"We think it was White Eyes," Trels looked unimpressed.
"Al'vied? Or Vrenno?" Xortaal questioned Trels.
"Al'vied, thankfully," Xortaal looked relieved with this answer.
"He probably used Hummer Spinal Gas then."
"He did, chief saw the pink gas on cameras. He flew up on a hoverboard and tossed a ball of it." Trels explained.
"Good. I have the cure in my ID space, clear the area and tell the officers to get their masks on."
"No problem." Trels walked towards the crowd of bystanders, shouting at them to clear them out.
He then shouted to the officers to put their masks on, as Xortaal began to float above the raging horde of protesters.
The officers, equipped with their masks, held back the protesters for as long as they could.
A hole opened in the fabric of reality beside Xortaal, he reached in his hand, pulling out a small pouch.
He opened this pouch and sprinkled powder down onto the horde.
The horde instantly calmed down, before falling asleep promptly.
...
Gabriel and Michael walked back toward the entrance, meeting with Xortaal.
"What was that?" asked Gabriel.
"They were poisoned; I just used the antidote to cure them."
Gabriel looked at Xortaal, "What was that hole in the air?"
"An IDS. Inter-Dimensional storage."