The nets weren’t enough. It seemed like the creatures grouped up and made an escape plan. The ape shape squirrel things blinded V3, a horde of crabs flayed the ankles of V1 with repeated pinches, and Vegis and V2 though they got out untouched but then their shirts exploded off of them and a small plate like creature were hugging the back of the ruin clothes. Vegis threw the net in his hands and restrained the 2 beasts while V2 ran towards the alarm and slammed it.
It would take 20 minutes for the guards to change their gear and come down so Vegis and his clones were on the run from the horde of test subjects. Vegis used bits of magic like bright flashing lights to blind them and strong gusts of wind to stop them from getting close. The main way Vegis kept them away was by forming a flame inside a compressed ball of air in between his hands and collapsing it by clapping. This caused the ball to implode with a bright light, a loud bang, and both a shockwave and an omni directional blast of wind that sends Vegis away from the pack and sends the little shits back.
By the time the security team came down to this floor, Vegis was dead tired, had cuts all over his body, and burns starting from his hands and covering his arms, V1-3 had large swaths of their skins removed which revealed flesh and some bones. Vegis had to be sent to the infirmary and the clones were put into their pods. The squad managed to capture most of the creatures but some managed to hide from them.
Vegis woke up staring at a pure white ceiling that shone with an intense light. He sat up with a groan, sore from his struggle. Vegis checked his body, and it was mostly healed. The only sign of injury he had was that both of his hands and parts of his arms were red from the newly healed skin and flesh. He did not know if he needed to leave now or later so he just crossed his legs and started to replenish his mana.
He felt the mana in the air enter his lungs and slowly dispersed with the blood, slowly saturating his body. But as it flowed to his hands, intense pain shot from the red areas. Vegis made a small yelp and stopped circulating his mana. This sign of distress must have sent an alarm that sent a nurse to him. “Hello there. I heard some pain and wondered if you are well.” they said as they entered the Vegis’s area. Vegis nodded and explained his issue. They thought about it for a couple of seconds before responding. “Okay, it seems that you’re experiencing mana burns. We’ll just need to do a small test to make sure and tell you what you need to do.”
Vegis nodded at this and the nurse left. After half an hour, a doctor came in with a weird contraption and the same nurse behind him. Vegis waved at them and the doctor started to talk. “Hello there, Vegis. This nurse has told me that you may have mana burns. Just stick your arms into this machine and we will see what's the problem. Vegis did as he was told and the machine started to make noises for several minutes before paper started to come out.
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The doc checks the papers and then puts them into a folder. “Well, it seems that you have second degree mana burns. It seems like you over exerted yourself quite a bit for non-combat personnel,” said the doctor after he was done putting away the results. “You can still use your arms physically but if you flow mana through the red areas, you will experience pain and may cause permanent damage.” Vegis frowned at his news and asked, “How long do I need to wait for this to be healed.” The doctor replied with, “Oh, for your case, probably 2 months, but you should be able to use it lightly after 2 weeks.”
“When can I leave here?” Vegis said. “You will be able to leave today in an hour,” the doctor said as he was leaving the little booth Vegis was in. After a hour passed, Vegis walked out of the infirmary and headed to the check-in building. He got in, checked out of his shift, and got out. He then walked to the cafeteria, ate and headed to the dorms where he then slept.
Vegis woke up in his room and walked out to the hall. He then went down a floor and checked how his clones were doing. They seem to have healed their skin, but not all their muscles. Given a day or 2, they should be fine and ready to continue to practice. Since he could mess around with the clones,Vegis decided to just decide to stay on the first floor and hang out.
Vegis saw several people coming in and out of the building, and even the day shift person for his shift. Vegis spent most of the time just watching the screen for the day and then going to his room to sleep. The next day, he saw Oak, Mac, and Cheez hanging out in the lounge playing a table top game.
Vegis walked over and started to hangout with them. They asked how his day was, why his arms are red, and other things about his shift. After Vegis answered them, Oak said, “This is why I hated working in the labs compared to the wall. So much weird bullshit might happen compared to being on the wall.”
Vegis nodded at this and asked, “Is the north just as bad or what?” to which Mac answered. “Oh, the north station is much better than here. Much more automation and more LSN bandwidth. There is no restriction there. Though it is much hotter and has more activity there.”
Cheez continued where her sister left off. “There is also field testing if you are part of the wall. The rotation cycle of the guards is much slower compared to us for safety concerns of the facilities.” Vegis nodded at this and asked, “What’s the worst thing you have experienced here in the south station compared to the north station?” This caused the group to pause and think for close to 10 minutes.
Mac answered first with a single sentence. “There are more explosions here compared to the north station.” The others nodded at this and then Oak spoke up. “I got attacked at the north station a lot but I think the worst thing that happened here was the frostbite I got in my first rotation here.” Cheez answered last with, “I have broken so many bones here but north station had some of the worst things in the labs you will ever see.”
