[A/N]: Sorry about the late post, gang. I overslept ✌️😴
Anyway, we need to progress things from outside of Lucian's perspective too, so here's a chapter dedicated to following up on what'd be happening with Tammy.
We do get some Lucian and Oracle at the start though, to set up what'll happen in the next chapter.
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Chain Quest, Part III: Digging Graves
Description: You have ascertained the identity of the one responsible for Tamara Watson's brainwashing, and likely that of many others. Find the individual Alec Rave. From there sabotage his operations and set him on the path to his downfall.
Duration: 8 hours.
Objectives:
[1] Find where Alec Rave is hiding. [Completed].
[2] Hinder at least one facet of his activities. [1/?]
Rewards:
[1] Success:
• 100 EXP. [Ready]
• Basic Ability: [ Tracker II ]. [Ready]
[2] Success:
• 50 EXP per instance. [1x Ready]
• Basic Ability: [ Stalker I ]. [Ready]
Penalties:
[1] and [2] Failure:
• -25% Spirit for the next 24 hours.
• Temporary Cursed Title: "Mark of Shame" for the next 24 hours.
• Temporary Curse: Sight Haze for the next 24 hours.
• No longer possible.
[2] Failure:
• -25% Spirit for the next 24 hours.
• No longer possible.
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...
As told, Lucian made his way back to the Clock Tower. He sighed, staring up at the double doors with his arms hanging limply at his sides. They opened for him and revealed the same table from earlier in the night, lit by a single lamp from above and leaving the rest of the chamber in darkness. Instead of gear though, resting on it were two trays—one empty, and another filled with what looked like medical supplies.
"Leave the vials on the empty tray," Oracle said through the speakers. "Go treat your wounds as well. What you did earlier was reckless, but I won't leave you to just deal with the consequences on your own."
"That's awful nice of you," Lucian replied flatly.
He did leave the vials on the tray, but paused to stare at the medical supplies beside them. While his injuries were terrible in the moment, the pain was no longer as bad as before. He wasn't sure what exactly it was that caused it, but his quick recovery was obvious, and already compounding.
'Well, I did piss her off,' he thought to himself as he momentarily considered refusing treatment. 'Best to just do as she says for now. Like a strict big sister or something. Nowhere near as scary as mom, though.'
Since there was no way for him to pull up his padded leggings to get it out of the way, he needed to take them off entirely. After removing his boots, he went and did just that, noting in the process that the padding had been significantly deformed. Once his legs were free, he moved to sit on the lone chair before the table to dress up his wound.
"Oof," he remarked when he finally touched the great swathe of bruised skin. It took up a majority of his foreleg, stopping only centimeters from his ankle and knee.
"Yeah... that tends to happen when you get grabbed by what amounts to a gorilla on steroids," Oracle chided. "Seriously. What made you think that was a good idea?"
Lucian shrugged while working on his leg. The skin was raw and his bones ached when he touched it, but it was definitely better than before.
"I didn't think it was a good idea," he replied. "I just didn't wanna leave him loose, so I tried to contain and neutralize him. That's all it was."
For a moment, Oracle didn't respond. "I get it. You just did what you thought was best, but you're still new to this. You have to listen to people with more experience."
Now mostly done dealing with the nasty bruise, Lucian hung his head backwards over the back of his chair. "Logically, I understand that. Morally, probably for the best. Personally, though? Guess we'll see."
Again, his response made Oracle fall silent. "We'll see," she eventually agreed. "For now, you should get some rest. Take some time off for the rest of the night. I'll try and find Rave again, then we'll come up with a plan and move in to capture him next time."
Standing up, Lucian put his leggings back on, as well as his boots. "You know I can't do that," he said while refitting his gear. "I won't chase after the bitch again, don't worry. I know not to push a rat when it's cornered... but you can't expect me to just sit back when he probably has more victims tucked away in different storehouses."
"You really want to go through with that tonight?" Oracle asked.
Lucian nodded at one of the cameras. In the corner of his vision was the timer for his current quest, showing him that he had less than six hours left before it closed by itself. Though it was already completed as far as the requirements were strictly concerned, Lucian was a bit of a hoarder—and that went for more than just material things.
"A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do," he said while rolling his shoulders, "even when people tell him it's stupid."
Oracle sighed. "If you really insist on doing this, then fine. I might as well guide you. Just promise you'll listen this time."
Drawing a little X on the left side of his chest, Lucian grinned behind his mask. "Cross my once-dead heart."
He laughed while Oracle groaned from his little joke to himself, and walked out of the tower to go on a rescue spree.
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Hospitals. God, how long has it been since Joseph last had to visit one? Even now, his heart raced in his chest.
Hah. Look at him. Big, burly, hairy man, sitting on a hospital bench while wringing his hands, pale in the face and sweating buckets. Then again, how could he not? His baby girl was comatose. The worst part of it wasn't the doctors' inability to do anything about it—it was the fact that they couldn't even figure out the cause. As far as they could tell, it all just happened spontaneously.
He breathed in deep and finally parted his hands, just to rub his face down while letting out a sigh.
'At least Wayne Enterprises sponsors nearly every hospital in the city... can't imagine how terrible the bill would've gotten anywhere else.'
Wayne-funded hospitals were the best of the best. If their services weren't available to the people, Joseph would have put himself in an early grave just to get insurance for Tammy to receive the best care possible. While he didn't struggle to support himself and his daughter, any more expenses would have stolen away the comfortable life he'd built for both of them.
Finally looking up from staring down at nothing, Joseph cast his gaze over his daughter in her bed. She was so pale... so skinny. He never even noticed because she always wore baggy clothes while at home. Had she always been that way?
No. That couldn't have been the case. He'd always taken good care of his baby girl. It was only after she graduated high school that he began to grow... complacent.
"She's a growing woman," he reasoned every time she did something he didn't quite understand.
'I should've been more involved with her... shouldn't have started to let go...'
Joseph clenched his jaw at his inadequacy, though he took solace in the fact that he could still consider himself something good in Tammy's life even now.
On the other hand... there was Alec. His daughter's boyfriend. Joseph was convinced that it was a normal thing at first, that Tammy only chose him over her old girlfriend because they were a better fit. Because he was good for her.
That Alec hadn't answered any calls while Joseph's baby girl was hospitalized was extremely suspect, especially since it happened during a supposed date with him. He could have been a victim like her, of course... but somehow, deep in the pits of his stomach, Joseph doubted it.
He leaned back in his bench, and it creaked beneath him as his considerable weight shifted. Draping one elbow over the backrest while leaving his other arm limp on his lap, he breathed a silent prayer to God. He'd never been particularly religious, but... well, even in a world of alien superheroes and villains who used technology that bordered on magic, it couldn't hurt to hope.
Joseph flinched on the inside, schooling his expression and posture as the room's door opened. In came the usual doctor, one whose name he'd already forgotten more times than he was comfortable to admit. A nurse followed meekly behind him, who quickly made her way to check in on Tammy. The third and last person to enter was another doctor—one that Joseph had never seen before.
While dressed as professionally as any other that he'd met so far, Joseph noted that this new doctor must have been called in from elsewhere, if the nurse and old doctor's body language were any indication. There was also something... off about the new doctor, though Joseph kept that thought to himself. He was exhausted and afraid, after all. Restlessness did things to a person's logic and senses.
"Mr. Watson," the old doctor greeted.
Joseph couldn't remember his name, so he simply replied, "Doctor," while nodding.
The old doctor turned halfway and gestured to the other new one with him. "I'd like you to meet Doctor Jones," he said. "There's been an update in your daughter's case. We believe that he might just be able to help."
Joseph's breath hitched. "Is this true?" He asked, turning to stare into the eyes of Dr. Jones.
Dr. Jones nodded with a solemn slowness. "Indeed," he replied in a soft, almost whisper-like voice. The corners of his lips turned upward ever so faintly. "I must first introduce myself, Mr. Watson. I am John Jones, a neurology specialist. I've seen cases like your daughter's before, and I've come to offer help."
Shaking his head involuntarily, Joseph turned Dr. Jones' words in his mind. "'Offer,' Doctor Jones...?"
Again, he nodded. The solemnity in his movement was deeper this time. "I must also inform you that the treatment is... experimental. You should understand that there are risks. Right now, I am only here to inform you that an avenue to her recovery is available, if tenuous."
Joseph looked down. Was he really doing this? Slowly, reluctantly, he looked to Tammy in her bed again. Though weak and pale, her sleeping face looked too peaceful for him to want to disturb.
He bit down on nothing as indecision gnawed at him.
"Mr. Watson," said Dr. Jones, breaking Joseph out of his spiraling mental space. "You don't need to decide right now. Please, take your time. I will always be available."
Joseph gave him a long, hard look, searching for something in Dr. Jones' even eyes. His face was so plain, expression irritatingly placid. Knitting his brows, he shook his head and asked, "Has this procedure succeeded before?"
"It has," Dr. Jones replied.
"More times than it failed?" Joseph prodded.
Dr. Jones replied again. "Many times more."
Joseph filled his lungs with air, and blew it all out through his nostrils like a bull would have done. "Give me some time. I'll ask for you when I have an answer."
Nodding, Dr. Jones turned around and said, "Take as long as you need, Mr. Watson."
Politely, Tammy's old doctor gave his own nod and turned to leave as well, and the nurse followed them out of the room soon after.
Weary, Joseph's body felt as if it had doubled in weight. On shaky legs, he went down on his knees beside his baby girl's bed and held her hand.
"I hope I'm not making a mistake by doing this," he said through sobs that bubbled up from his chest. "I promise on your mother's name, whatever happens next, I'll always be with you."
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[A/N]: One chapter to wind down from the last one. Pace picks back up again next time.