John and Niki met up with Tanya outside of Parrax General Hospital that evening to visit Serena and try to see if he could accelerate her recovery. Tanya herself looked exhausted, apparently not having had a chance to sleep yet today.

  "Hey Tanya, are you okay?" John asked her. He opened his arms to offer her a hug, and she leaned into him, accepting the contact.

  "Living the dream, John." She replied, the sarcasm thick in her voice. "Just some family issues. Nevermind that, Dr. Estra is waiting for you up in Serena's room; she is very interested in seeing healing magic in person."

  "Well, let's hope this helps her." He said, smiling at her. "Is healing magic not common then?"

  "Not out here in the frontier of the empire. Closer to the central governments or the core worlds, the major hospitals might have a healer on staff, but for most things, the Auto-Docs do the work. Doctors like Estra and her staff’s job is to oversee these facilities, and provide human oversight to the machines. It is not very often a doctor needs to actually be hands-on with a patient unless it is something beyond what an Auto-Doc can handle."

  "I see. Well, let's go meet her then." He said, releasing her from the hug.

  The three of them made their way inside the facility, which just appeared to be a rge door with a green cross on it. Inside, the reception area had a very simir yout to the mercenary guild, with the reception desk in the same spot and a rge waiting room where the dining area was at the guild. Though instead of grey metal walls, everything was covered in white panels, giving the pce a sterile feel. Tanya ignored the receptionist and walked them over to an elevator, which brought them down several floors to the ICU wing.

  When the elevator doors opened, John paused before stepping out. In front of him was a Naga woman wearing a white b coat. She was standing or resting at eye level to John, with her body extending behind her almost twenty feet if he had to guess. She had pale skin, long light violet hair, and red eyes. Her smooth scales were a shade lighter than her hair, almost a pale pink instead of violet. She was smiling at them with her head tilted slightly to the side.

  "Good evening, Tanya! Is this the healer you mentioned earlier?" She said, her voice reminding John of a stereotypical southern belle. All she would need to do is say, ‘Oh sugar, bless your soul,' and he would think he was back home. Well, other than the serpent body, anyway.

  "You got it, Doc. This is John and his crew member, Niki. Everyone, this is Doctor Estra, the manager of this hospital." She replied, introducing them.

  "It is good to meet you, John. When Tanya and Ash said they had a friend who could use healing magic, I was excited to meet you. When they said you appeared to be a full-blooded human, well, that was even more interesting. Not to mention your memory loss. It sounded like my evening shift would become a whole lot more interesting. These scrapes and broken bones, while tragic, don't exactly provide one with a lot of mental stimution. The mysteries of the mind, however, are still being researched even today." She said at length.

  John wasn't exactly sure what to say about that, and frankly, she was beginning to make him regret coming here. "Well, I hope to be able to help. Can you show me to the patient? If it goes well, I would be willing to heal others who are here, too."

  "Of course. Please, follow me. Miss Serena is just down the hall." She said and gestured for them to come with her.

  She kept pace with John as they made their way down the hall, making some small talk about the patient's condition. John didn't pay much attention to her diagnosis, as he didn't really understand what she was saying, so he just nodded along.

  I'm a healer, not a doctor. Not to mention that I've apparently forgotten everything I learned back when I was an EMT back in the seventies.

  They made it to a room, which was a fairly spacious, white-walled space with two beds. Both were occupied, one with whom he assumed was Serena, and the other appeared to be Annie. "You have them in the same room? Don't you think that might be a bit problematic when Serena wakes up?" He asked.

  "It was an accident. It wasn't like she tried to kill her. Besides, neither should be waking up until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest, unless of course your healing can perform miracles." The doctor replied. "Until then, it is easier to keep our patients closer together for observation. Saves my nurses from running all over the facility."

  He wasn’t sure he agreed with her, but just nodded along. It wasn't his business. He walked over to the Dark Elf and looked her over.

  She was of a simir build to Ash, with dark skin and fairly short white hair. She appeared to be sleeping peacefully on the bed, and he couldn't visibly see any injuries at all.

  "Well, let me try this." He said, pcing his hand on hers, and closing his eyes. "Middle Heal! Cure!"

  Green light flowed from his body to hers, and he could tell she had several fractures in her spine and hips still. His magic flowed into the wounded areas, mending them and repairing the damage. He cast the healing spell again to ensure he got everything, then released her hand. When he opened his eyes back up, the doctor was passing a tool of some sort over her body while watching a monitor above the bed.

  "Amazing! The Auto-Docs here could fix this up, but it would be another two to three treatments. Your spell did as much as a css B Auto-Doc would. Can you repeat the process on the other patient, please?" The doctor asked him, her eyes not leaving the data she was reviewing.

  "Sure." He said, moving over to Annie and repeating the process. She was a heavily freckled, ginger-haired young woman with a pair of braids. It reminded him of Pippi Longstocking from an old children's book. Her injuries were in her neck and skull, but his magic seemed to work just as well.

  "That is excellent. I am very impressed with your mastery of this magic, John." She said, looking excited. "Here, come with me, I have a few more patients who could use your care!"

  "I guess I can- ACK!" John cried out when she wrapped her tail around him and dragged/carried him out of the room at breakneck speed. He could hear Tanya cackle loudly behind him.

  "CAPTAIN!!!" Niki called after him, but it was too te. He had been kidnapped by a Naga, and she wasn't letting him go until he was tapped out of mana.

  Two hours and twenty patients ter, John found himself sitting on an examination table as the doctor was scanning his head. They were alone in the room, with Tanya and Niki busy with the now awake Serena and Annie. The doctor was humming to herself as she was cataloging the dozen impnts that were apparently inside his head.

  "You know, I could have walked to the patient's doc." He said, trying to break up the silence.

  "It’s Estra, John. No need to be formal with me." She said, then ughed a little. "Didn't you enjoy the ride? Tanya mentioned you never met a Naga before, so I thought I would make your first meeting memorable."

  "Well, I will definitely remember that for the rest of my life." He said, ughing as well. "It was fun, at least once I got over the shock of being picked up like a rag doll. You are a very strong woman."

  "I am gd you enjoyed it. I don't get to do things like that often." She said, then started to frown. "John, did you know you have early-onset Alzheimer's disease and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis?"

  "Yeah, I am aware. My auto-doc on the ship is unable to fix it; it just manages the condition. I also have some issues with two of my discs in my spine and a few other issues," he replied.

  "Well, we can't work on your memory issues without fixing the root cause. I am unable to treat you here, but I can refer you to the First Ring Medical Center. They have an A-Css Auto-Doc there that can clean this all up for you." She said, sounding concerned. "Honestly, though, I don't see any other issues with the connections in your hippocampus. You shouldn't have complete memory loss."

  "Doc, what are the rules for doctor/patient confidentiality here?" He asked her.

  "Your diagnosis and treatment are no one's business but your own. Unless the courts request your records, everything in this room remains confidential." She said, now appraising him with those bright red eyes.

  Partial truth then.

  "Doc, I haven't lost my memories, at least not all of them. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I can’t reveal who I really am to anyone. I will say I am not a criminal, but I cannot be honest with my friends about who I really am. Not yet, anyway." He said, hedging the truth a bit. "Right now, I am a refugee in the Empire, working as a mercenary for the INP. For now, I need to keep it that way."

  "A man of mystery, are you, Mr. Wayne? Don't worry, your secret is safe with me." She said, still smiling at him. "That said, don't let anyone look at this list of impnts, else some may conclude who you might actually be." She said while sending him a copy of her scan to his Link. "You are a very interesting individual, John. I would like to get to know you better sometime if you are free?"

  "Ahh... what?" He said, then noticed her tail was starting to wrap around his body again.

  "I can be very persuasive, John. It's not every day a man of your stature walks into my den. Let me... take care of you."

  Is she another crazy woman?

  "Estra, what are you doing? Stop trying to wrap me up. I'm not a birthday present!" He said, jumping away from the table and her tail.

  To her credit, Estra stopped when he said so, but was pouting. "I'm sorry, I got ahead of myself, John. I apologize. Still, I would like to take you out on a date sometime. I promise I won't wrap you up again unless you ask me to... it is just the Naga way of flirting."

  "Sure... wait, I am seeing someone right now. I don't know how she would take it if I went out on a date with you, too." He said, thankful that Tanya and Katrina were both seeing him, even if it was just casually with Kat.

  Her face dropped a bit at that. "Pity. Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find me."

  "Of course. Anyways, thanks for the check up, but I should get back to Tanya and Niki now." He said and beat a hasty retreat from the room.

  Estra followed him, a small smile forming on her lips. One look at those impnts, and she knew he must have been someone of significance, and she wanted to unravel that mystery. It didn't hurt that he was easy on the eyes, too.

  Too bad he doesn't have any scales. I bet he would look incredible if he had jet bck scales.

  By the time John had returned to Serena's room, both the pod racers had fallen back asleep; the trauma they both received had left them exhausted. After a quick goodbye to Estra, the three of them left the hospital and headed towards the docks.

  "How did it go after ya were kidnapped?" Tanya asked John, so he filled her in on what had happened. She started to ugh about the doctor wrapping him up and asking him on a date. "So, did you say yes?"

  "No, I am seeing you. I suppose I am going out on a date with Katrina as well, as long as you don't mind anyway." He replied.

  "No, I don't mind at all. You should take her out; she seems pretty lonely here." Tanya said, holding his hand.

  "I don't know, Tanya. I don't think I am ready to be wrapped up in her tail again. It was a little too much for my poor heart." He said, letting out a little self-deprecating ugh.

  "It was hirious to watch from my side. She is a good-looking woman and a doctor to boot. If ya ever gave up the mercenary life, she could be yer sugar mama." She said, teasing him again. "Of course, if ya py yer cards right, I could be yer sugar mama too."

  "Oh yeah? I thought I was your sugar daddy. Didn't you want me to carry you around to different systems since I have a carrier?" He said, teasing her back. "I was even thinking of calling you my backpack."

  "Backpack, huh? I guess we can do that!" She replied, releasing his hand. She then fell behind him, and suddenly she jumped up and wrapped her arms and legs around him. "Onwards, Daddy! We have shenanigans to spread!"

  "You're a dork!" He said, ughing at her. He didn't tell her to get down, though.

  They made it to the Phoenix Hawk without issue, and Tanya got down off of him. He invited her in, but she begged off, needed to check up on Chris and Greg.

  "I'll see you tomorrow, John. Are we still on to practice?" Tanya said, holding his hand again. Niki, silent since they left the hospital, was holding his other arm now.

  "I honestly forgot. I don't see a problem with that as long as you guys are free." He replied.

  "Well... it depends if Greg comes clean with whatever bullshit he did. He disappeared when we left the hospital this morning and didn't return."

  "So you still have no idea what he did?" He asked.

  Her face dropped when he said that, and her tone changed from being pyful to something morose. "I actually do, John, but I need him to tell me from his lips. Actually, can I... can I sell you a few things to hold onto for me? I would ask you to just hold onto them, but I need the ownership to change hands officially so... so no one can take them."

  John kneeled beside her, looking her in the eyes. They were full of tears, and snot was starting to run out of her nose. "Tanya, what did he do?"

  "He gambled again... this time he bet it all, not just his stuff, but ours as well. Now that Serena lost her ship, she won't have a chance to win the regionals in two weeks, and at that time he will have lost everything. We will lose everything."

  John blinked a few times, and an unreasonable anger surged forth from somewhere deep within. Her Brother or not, his friend just fucked with the life of a woman he was starting to care deeply for.

  "That Mother Fucker!"