《Tabula Rasa》Chapter 19: Born To Fight
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The bloodied history of Novo Prime made it clear that fighting was integral to survival, it was something that couldn’t be avoided for long. Lyn O’Hara embodied the idea of fighting in the truest sense. And when she became Abnormal her natural martial talent was enhanced even more. It would be a surprise to see someone like her struggle in a fight but that’s what was taking place.
Visette’s eyes were empty of all but focus, she slipped past a punch that was thrown by Lyn and performed a sweeping leg kick, knocking the latter onto the ground.
‘Shit.’ Lyn cursed in her mind as she rolled back to her feet. Visette didn’t take a pause and continued her assault.
Lyn was too distracted to think back to the previous few hours where Visette looked like a complete novice. It was clear that she hadn’t learned any particular fighting style but she began to learn and rapidly at that.
Everytime Vis made a mistake and was struck by Lyn she would find the source and correct it. To call her a fighting genius was an incredible understatement. Her ability to learn was extraordinary even when compared to the high standards of abnormals.
Visette began to throw a continued flurry of punches in quick succession, forcing Lyn to block them.
“Fine!” Lyn growled before dropping her guard and leaving herself wide open.
Visette seized the opening and fell right into Lyn’s trap. With a quick sidestep, Lyn became the one with an advantage, she wrapped her arms around Visette’s torso and lifted her into the air before slamming her down onto the mat. Visette knew nothing about grappling which gave Lyn the upper hand. Without knowing how to respond, Visette was forced to greet the floor.
A painful impact resounded in Lyn’s ears and she was momentarily shocked by her own actions. Truthfully, Lyn didn’t plan on teaching Visette anything for the first day, she just wanted to mess around. But after seeing Visette learn with no instruction, she started to get serious.
“...Sorry.” Lyn stood up and offered a hand to Visette.
Visette looked at Lyn’s hand before the gesture finally registered and accepted, letting Lyn pull her to her feet.
An awkward silence fell between the two and Lyn, not knowing what else to do, began to speak.
“...You have a medical examination tomorrow so let’s just call it day.”
Visette nodded in agreement and removed the gloves before offering up her hands to be cuffed.
As Lyn moved to restrain her, a thought sprung to the forefront of her mind.
“If she can fight this well right now, how good would she be after four years?”
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It was a thought that stirred up a strange feeling inside of her. After all, she had talent but she worked for more than a decade to reach her current mastery. In comparison, Visette seemed like a monster with an unreal learning ability. There was also the fact that she never showed a sign of complaint or asked for a rest.
While Lyn was distracted, Visette had her mind on the medical examination. She had to wonder if the blue swan implant or the nanites would come up during any testing. If it did, she would no doubt arouse curiosity and that was a dangerous thing for her in her current situation.
“Come on.” Lyn lead her away without knowing what was going through Vis’ mind.
…
The very next day, Visette was escorted to a room filled with medical equipment. There were x-ray machines and other tools that could be found on earth but none of it reached the level of complexity that Minerva was known for. It meant that Visette was more or less safe from having her secrets known.
“Please, look here.” A female doctor instructed, pointing to a vision chart.
Lyn sat in the corner of the room and yawned out of boredom. It was only when the doctor began speaking did she show interest.
“Did you know that her vision was far beyond average?” The doctor asked Lyn while examining Visette’s eyes.
“What are you talking about?” Lyn wanted to know.
“Well, for starters, I think her level of eyesight would at least mark her as a vision-based abnormal.”
“Really?” Lyn’s eyes widened on their own. They suspected Visette of having four abnormal traits, which was already unheard of, but five was incomprehensible.
“What are the levels of classification for...Abnormals?” Visette interrupted with a question.
“It hard to say since Abnormals are still a fairly recent occurrence we haven’t been able to do an in-depth analysis but it’s pretty easy to distinguish them. For example, an intelligence-based that’s type three and below can solve difficult equations in a few seconds. Type four or five would be the ones creating new theories and pioneering research. Still, it isn’t that simple for all of them.” The doctor was about to continue but Lyn chimed in.
“So what do you think her level of vision is at?” Lyn asked as she knew she would have to report it to Commander Wakefield.
“Well, there isn't any measuring equipment here, but if I had to guess, it's at least type-two but since she’s still young it could get better or slowly return to an average level.” The doctor mused.
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After that, they moved onto a few more physical tests that all returned good results. A few samples of blood were taken and Visette was given an x-ray. Of course, it would take at least a week to get readings back so nothing new was learned about her body.
So after concluding the end of the examination, Visette was lead to the isolated glass cell that would serve as her home.
…
A week passed quickly. In that time, Lyn chose not to spar with Visette directly. She thought it would be better to teach her the proper moves and then have a fair fight when the training was finished. She wondered if she would even be able to contend with Visette at that time.
Lyn found herself looking forward to that day, strangely enough. She increased her own personal training schedule and even cut back on her drinking habits.
As Lyn was on her way out of the facility, the doctor who examined Visette ran after her.
“Miss O’Hara! Miss O’Hara!”
“What?” Lyn replied with a slightly annoyed look.
“The test results arrived.” The Doctor panted as she was out of breath.
“Oh? Couldn’t you wait to show them to me tomorrow? Or have someone deliver them to Commander Wakefield?” Lyn clearly didn’t want to read a multi-page report and would much rather someone else take over for her. What would the results tell her that she didn’t already know?
“It’s important, please, you have to see it.” The Doctor pleaded.
“Alright, let’s go.” Lyn sighed begrudgingly.
They moved toward the on-sight medical lab set up specifically for Visette and various x-rays were strewn across an led board.
“So what is it that you wanted to show me?” Lyn asked.
“Look at this, Miss O’Hara.” The Doctor handed over an x-ray image.
“What it looks normal to me–” Lyn stopped mid-sentence as she scanned over the image. The image appeared to be normal until it reached Visette’s skull, once it reached that point the image was distorted.
“What the hell? Did your equipment malfunction or something?” Lyn asked.
“No, it isn’t just that one.” The Doctor provided more images but they all were the same. “I can’t say for sure what it is but we couldn’t process a clear picture of her head. But that isn’t the strangest thing you’ll hear. It appears as Visette will be unable to bear children for the rest of her life.”
“What do you mean?” Lyn questioned. Normally, it wouldn’t be an important detail but it became so when it was applied to Visette.
“It’s weird since she’s extremely healthy, but it’s completely true. It looks to be a natural affliction but it was...I don’t know how to say it, almost too natural. It’s as if someone performed surgery to ensure she wouldn’t be able to have children but...”
“But what?”
“There are no signs of an operation and I don’t know any medical lab who could even be that precise as to not leave any scarring or visible sign.” The Doctor almost got lost in thought but then produced another piece of shocking news. “Now, the most important thing is her blood.”
“Go on, I’m listening.” By now Lyn could tell that Visette was a complete anomaly by all standards so she paid attention.
“Her blood has an aggressive reaction to everything, and I mean everything. At first, I assumed she had a strong immune system but I was wrong. Viruses, diseases, antibiotics, her blood-cells attack everything that may have harmful side-effects. She may be the first Abnormal to have an enhanced resistance to sickness and disease.”
“Seriously?” Lyn’s jaw nearly dropped. Not due to Visette immunity to sickness but that fact that she had an incredible amount of traits for an Abnormal.
“We tried freezing a few samples and when they were thawed her blood was surprisingly still able to combat any foreign substances. And as great as it may seem, I don’t think we’ll be able to replicate the effects. We don’t have the tools necessary to do extensive research...If only we could get a hold of one of the eastern cities, I’ve heard that they’ve experienced a recent technological boom.” The Doctor seemed dejected at the low chances of solving the mystery known as Visette but Lyn had different thoughts.
“Hey, Doc...How many people know about her results?” Lyn asked.
“As of now, only you and me. The lab techs just helped me process the info so they don’t know anything about her.”
“Good, don’t tell anyone about this. From now on, everything you’ve gained today is classified information. I’ll call someone and have the results delivered to the Commander. Secure all of your files and make sure no one else has access.”
“Y-Yes, of course.” The Doctor nodded.
Lyn left and found herself that learning more about Visette only caused more questions.
“I wonder if it’s too early to start drinking,” Lyn mumbled to herself.
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