Karron Rosent was not easily frightened. Some very intense criteria had to exist before he’d even let out a little scream. Right now, those criterias were being met. A critical error in his exo’s left leg, a dying AI drone, and a bunch of Splicers waiting at the only place that could fix either; he was utterly terrified. Sitting in his quarters, Karron didn't know how to prepare. This procedure would devastate his Corp’s budget, and that's assuming he even survived it. The sheer unknowingness of the whole ordeal was not something the metal-clad teenager was accustomed to; he was used to having a total and complete plan for everything he did. Now, he was going in blind, and he liked nothing about it. A half hour later, Notther walked in, not saying anything. Karron liked Notther; with her black cloth dress and nurturing attitude, she had an inexplicable talent for navigating the treacherous roller coaster that was Karron’s behavior.  She already was aware of the gravity of the day. The bullet wound on Karron’s leg was sparking and pulsing. He'd been shot by a Genner, a bullet that permanently changes the genetic material of whatever it hits. It was previously thought to be incurable, that anybody who was hit with a Genner was cursed to death. Today, however, history could be made, as a doctor on Khildrens Prime had developed a procedure that he claimed would not only fix Karron’s leg, but improve it. After a long and sleepless night cycle, Karron dragged himself out of bed. The wound was hurting more and more as time went by, almost to the point of his leg shutting down from pure stress, but Proubler shots kept that at bay. After another hour and 5 Proublers, Notther appeared at the quarter’s door. “Ready, hon?” She asked after a brief hesitation. She wanted to stay strong, but Karron could see her buckling on the inside. All that Karron could do was nod. He put his pointer finger and thumb together, and moved them in 2 quick circles. Sentien, the drone, sputtered and stumbled into Karron’s arms. Then, the boy eased into his personal low-distance skimmer and glided out the door. Not saying a word the whole way was the key to staying composed. Not through the hallways of the residential cruiser, not while the two took their places in the solar sailer, not any spoken contact. That was the only thing that kept either’s emotional state intact. The flight to Khildrens was long, so Karron was asleep within the first few hours. The exo’s mask immediately darkened, signaling to Notther that she could start to show her emotions. Tears dripped down her face for the rest of the ride. When the solar sailer pulled up to Khildrens, Notther gently awoke her companion. Maintaining the silence, the pair entered the hulking structure in front of them. The hallway swarmed with Splicers. Karron couldn’t stand them, so he took comfort in knowing that his suit would induce a near-comatose state on him once he entered the procedure. The skimmer navigated the hallways effortlessly, so it only took a few minutes to reach the doctor’s room. Once they entered, the doctor turned to face them. Karron had made Notther promise to never tell him the doctor’s name, as it made forgetting about him even easier. Karron’s skimmer docked on the repair table. The Genner wound’s pain was almost unbearable. Proubler was being pumped into the pulsing hole in an almost continuous stream; Karron couldn’t imagine what it would feel like without the pain-sapping substance. The exo covering the boy’s frame folded back on the contact zone, letting fresh air seep through the metal shell. It was unique; a feeling that Karron would never quite get used to. The doctor took Sentien out Karron’s grip and placed in in Notther’s arms. She was responsible for placing it in the repair station. Karron felt the suit preparing the coma-sleep, And it hit him. It wasn’t real. He couldn’t keep his coping mechanism running any longer. He was Jason Bell, the only kid in the world with his disease. Notther fell away; in her place was his mother. Sentien vanished; his mother was holding a plush robot. The operating room snapped into a hospital bed. The skimmer became a wheelchair. Khildrens Prime turned into Children’s Hospital. The exo morphed into a hospital gown. The coma-sleep mask became an anesthesia mask. Pretending was the only way to keep reality at bay. The last thought passed through Jason’s mind. “This has to stop.” The operation began.