Side story part 1: Whispers on the wind


The origin of the The Doctor isn't particularly clear. There are those who swear the doctor is a grisly monster and the product of marine experimentation. With talons sharp enough to cut steel and an insatiable blood lust which has only been sated by offering up 1000 marines. Others say The Doc, is actually a cheesy old man who likes to scare his patients into paying him,but is really just a goofball who likes french fries. As of late the stories of The Doctor have become somewhat of a popular urban myth or a bed time story for naughty children. in the wake of a rise in piracy, most people shake the stories off as just a product of the times. Far worse people actually exist out in the public most would say.


Lina stared at her drinking buddies who were having a good ol' time talking about the doctor. " Ooogaa booga booga, scarrryy docoocctttor", a fella would say as he chugged his beer and held his girlfriend in his arm. These fellas she was drinking with were really just your run of the mill fellows with nothing special about them. During her downtime she would sometimes come to the, Big ol' charlies, bar just to unwind and relax. She had a faint smell of iron about her and a fog which clouded her head. At her side was a medical journal she had swiped from a local clinic, which as of late was her current obsession. Ever since Lina had a run in with Melissa, aka the Frost Wimp, she had spent much of her time learning about human anatomy and practicing medicine.

The time was getting late, so she excused herself with a bow, " Thanks for having me tonight fellas and girls? gotta get back to work". As she turned away one fella, the same one holding the chick in his arms, grabbed her by the shoulder. He stumbled a bit but quickly recovered with a sly smile. " Eyy wanna join me and the missus for a three some"? Lina pondered what this meant, as she had never heard of such a thing. She rubbed her chin inquisitively before shaking her head. " Nah dunno what that is, got work to do". She left unceremoniously, but not without a few nosey drunkards opting to follow her.

The swordswoman jiggled her sword and pulled down her skirt reflexively before heading off into the night. There were several wanted posters on the walls, one of which was hers. She sneered and pulled off with a look of annoyance. The others behind her grinned, thinking they found something good. " So she was the one in the poster huh"? The woman retreated a bit and said, " Coo'mon charlee lez go shes probably nuts". He shook his head and said, " and that's a bad thin, doll face"?

Spoiler:

Side Story part 2:

The couple followed the girl down the battered streets of Alubarna. The city had been under assault by a steady stream of pirate activity and a lack of resources to fix the issues. Streets were splintered and raised unevenly from pirates exchanging blow out in public. It was becoming an increasingly common problem where it wasn't too uncommon to read a news story about a burnt down business district. Or to find yourself doing something as ordinary as going to shopping for groceries, only to find a person being thrown out a window. Basic civility was being pushed to its absolute limits as lawlessness rose as the number of royal and local guard had dropped. Although the marines tried to stem the chaos, their presence on the island was often rejected. While the law abiding citizen might be relieved to see a marine, the unruly ones cared even less for the foreigners. At the very least, a local Alabastan could empathize with the criminal and get them to settle down. It was during these tumultuous times that Lina was finding a surplus of, supplies.


The couple watched from the outskirts of darkened park, only having moonlight to light up the scene playing out. Even during this quiet scene, the sound of a window breaking could be heard. Although with the amount of that going on, most normal people such as Lina's bar friends were oblivious to it. in the distance they saw Lina scratching her chin when faced with a group of nicely dressed suits. Two large fellows were propping up a barely conscious man, in his mid 50's.

The woman tried to gasp, but the boyfriend covered her mouth before she could speak with the palm of his hand. " shhh", he said with an air of excitement. Lina on the other hand crouched down and looked at the wound, to find s grisly looking bowie knife stuck into his abdomen. " I'm surprised he's still alive", she said flicking the knife. The man cringed and two of his henchmen pulled out pistols on her. " What do you think this is? Some sort of game lady"? Lina already had an idea of who these men were, for she had treated a lot of gangsters in recent days. " East district, The Golden Lions, am I right"? She said with a grin being etched upon her face. As soon as the two henchmen went to pull their triggers, a whirr of wind sounded throughout the park.

The two fellows not propping up the wounded boss stood frozen before a moment. One tipped over and flopped to the ground with a wet thud. The other's forearm fell off with a wet slide, gun still firmly in his detached arm. Blood squirted like a fountain as he shuddered in horror. " Relax, you'll be fine. Wrap the stubbed arm up with your fancy suit and bring your headless friend along. The girl turned from the shocked men and glared at them, " now". The two holding the wounded man nodded with shallow breaths and followed along. " I expect the corpse to be at my lab within 10 minutes fool, or you'll take his place", she said with a deathly glare.

The one armed man nodded and picked up his friend's body and rushed after them. The bar couple's eyes were bulging, both were left speechless as they soiled themselves in their little corner. "dd-d-d-dd-d-oct-r", was all she could utter over and over again as her boyfriend tried to console her to no avail. Although to them Lina was a cold blooded murder, in reality the only people she treated were exactly that. Traffickers from the underworld often sought her out with a strange pattern of flashing lights which she was not sure of how they came to be. All she knew was whenever she saw em, some criminal would come to her for help. These people were often injured due to their own nefarious activities or well deserved retaliation. The man she was treating now, a commander in The Golden Lions, is known for a prostitution ring and kidnapping children to feet their gang's signature pet. A runt of a lion from the New world who feasted on live children. Whenever she encountered these people, they were always treated as customers and well, supplies for her new endeavor.

Out of curiosity she wondered why certain cells in the body didn't regenerate, such as the inner ear cells in the cochlea. But in particular, she wanted to determine what makes the cell itself stop working. Her current focus was on the telomere. These gangsters, were actually proving to great test subjects for her work.

Spoiler:

Side story part 3:

The boyfriend stood up and began to continue following the group when his girl latched onto his hand, "Where are ya going...". He pulled her up and dragged her back up to her feet and said, " we're going to see this through to the end and call the authorities". She shook her head and yanked back to no avail, with grit teeth and tears streaming down her cheek. He pulled with a vengeance, but to make a point. " What do you want? I'm not forcing you to go too". Although he knew exactly what she was trying to say through the huffing and puffing, he had something he needed to do. The two locked gazes one final time before he ran off to chase the group headed away from the park.

Lina ended up leading the group of 4 down the street and into what seemed to be an abandoned warehouse district. The group entered a dusty chamber, which was strong with the musty smell of iron and burning bodies. It was a coarse rough stench which nearly made the gangsters collapse instantly. She swiped her arm against an operating table, full of wrappers, ketchup stains, and bits and pieces of human flesh. She tapped the table before moving over to a dirty cart full of operating instruments. She would carefully pull out scapels, needles, and other necessary surgical instruments and toss them into a sink. " Hurry up, place him on the table", she'd say coldly.

" Are you sure this is okay doc? This place is...", he'd say trailing off as his eyes met a pickled hand. The girl opened a fridge to reveal various bags of unknown meat, in vibrant crimson stained bags. Blood dripped to the floor and among the different shelves. She pulled out a clear bottle of liquid and began to sterilize the top with an alcohol wipe. " The two looked at eachother with a look of hesitation, before their boss groaned in agony. His face wrenched with pain and his breathing was started to quicken. " Grrr he's not gonna make it. Put em on the table"! As they dealed with the boss, one armed fellow was now covered in blood and had a blank stare on his face. " One arm, leave him in the tub in the corner. You're welcome to wrap yourself up, gauze is in the 5th cabinet". He nodded and went on with his business, while the boss was placed on her operating table.

" Alright fellas, he's slowly bleeding out but the moment I take the knife out, his intestines might fall apart", Lina said as she pulled out a grisly looking needle. Its chamber was thin, barely 100cc's but its needle was nearly 6 inches long. With a show of strength and dexterity she ripped his shirt down the middle while avoiding the knife, to expose his chest. " What...are...you gonna do to the boss"? The man had stammered and felt lost as she continued to prep for surgery. She continued on unabated and began to pull the stream of clear liquid into the chamber and flicked the syringe a few times to get the air out. " This is a CNS depressant, it's made from dewgong blood separated by a centrifuge and mixed with the scaled two pronged scorpion. It will relax and sedate your boss".

The two nodded as if they understood, but were still horrified by her lack of emotion as she dealt with him. " hehy heyyy WHAT'S WRONG WITH HIS BREATHING"? Lina glared at the stammering one, who was muttering things under his breath but unable to express himself. " Keep him down will ya. It's a central nervous system depressant. Your boss won't feel the pain because it blocks the pathway of his nerves to through the spinal cord. While making his body slow down for about 3 hours at a ti---". The man just nodded slowly and the other actually tried to grab her as she spoke. Lina grasped his wrist and squeezed hard. " Try it again, and you'll be joining your bud in the tub".

His face twisted in agony, but he nodded in acknowledgement. Still lost as ever, but he couldn't stand to see his boss writhe in pain." J--jus help 'em!", he'd exclaim with the same fervor as before. She let go of his wrist and shoved him across the room with a single push. Without another word she injected the man who went from convulsing, to barely breathing in the a matter of seconds. " Alright, now's the hard part", she said with a grimace.

Spoiler:

Side story part 4: Get a'long little fella

Lina edged closer to the man and began to pull out the knife from his stomach, revealed a small torrent of blood and his internal organs in its wake. She was rather surprised the man had actually avoided getting stabbed in the intestines for the most part. However his large intestines were busted and were beginning gush despite the downer lowering all his bodily functions. Lina swiftly removed the organ and began to sew up his insides to prevent further blood loss. The grunts looked at Lina with terrified expressions, both were too afraid to speak. Yet all they could do is gawk at the unbelievable sight before them. "Do you have to treat him like he's some sort of object"?

Lina shook her head and said, " No but it helps keep me from screwing his insides up buddy".With the insides done she sewed the man back up and signaled for his goons to take him away. She was just finishing up a few things. While blood from a soggy baggy flowed into his veins, she was gathering up some supplies in a small pouch. " Alright if the pain sucks give him 10cc of this dewgong blood. I'm out so you'll have to extract more", she said in a calm and dry tone. The two had thanked her reluctantly and began to move their boss away and out of her little hovel.

With all that said and done, Lina began to pull out her meager equipment. Just a microscope she snatched from a marine base, some petri dishes and other vials of god knows what in a little rack to the side. The girl began by examining some dying cells of man she had just recently iced. Although she put them in a solution to preserve them, the cells were still sputtering out under her stethoscope. " First one's a dud", she said while jotting down a few notes. Each subsequent batch of cells from said man had actually been duds. She sulked for a few moments and began to toss out corpse and all his body parts in a furnace.

Upon returning she found a spilled smashed vial and her last petridish of the dead fellow still under the microscope. " what a bother... eyy wait a sec". She looked down again to find a black culture of cells within. Cells which were previously dead were suddenly reproducing at a rather alarming rate. Lina's eyes gawked at the culture's nuclei was like a sphere of darkness which was spreading like wildfire. This growth however, only lasted a few minutes before the cells stopped reproducing however.

Side story part 5: Undeath


Lina examined the tag on the vial which had just dropped. It was some island whale blood she had fermented a few days ago. Generally island whale blood is toxic to humans,but no one has ever really understood why. Studies show that upon ingesting their blood in improperly prepared meat, that it causes a person's heart to stop during digestion. Island whales in other studies Lina had read before are so massive, that it's been theorized Island whales had some sort of biological function which allows them to grow for almost their entire lives. What's more is the meat of the whale is highly coveted due to it not going bad for several weeks, allowing ill prepared fishermen to store it without needing to salt it down. She grabbed a few rotting body parts and prepared a petri dish for them. " Let's see what happens...", she said with bated breath. Again the cells in the culture which had ceased functioning hours ago, seemed to sputter back to life with a vengeance.

Lina's eyes were shocked when the blackened nuclei revealed such pronounced features. It was similar to a staining effect, because during the split phase she could see these masses of what she didn't realize to be chromosomes, multiply and spread like wild fire. " invasive....wierd", was all she whispered under her breath as she saw the cells actually start to fall apart. Within minutes the dead culture had sprung back to life, before spiralling out of control and causing all the cells within to fall apart.

Side story part 6: Need more supplies and subjects

The first half of the next morning was rather simple for the girl. She went down to the market to buy up their whale meat. The tiny swordsman paid double for unprepared meat, much to the dismay of the dock workers. They shrugged it off nonetheless, one even charging triple per pound. Lina happily obliged to their dismay and transported a few hundred pounds of meat back to her little warehouse of a lab. She prepared large pots with metallic racks to stand over the pots in order for their blood to drip into them.

The second half of her day, was a little dicier. She traveled across the other side of town, toward the harbor to meet with a few, shadier types of people. After inquiring with the barkeep at a place called, "Rckey's den", she found herself sitting on a background couch. It was leather and silky smooth, properly worth more than most people's homes in Alubarna. The man sitting before her at an extravagant desk was the broker in this deal. He claimed to be sell anything and anyone for a price, which made things easy for Lina. She looked about the room for a bit, taking notice of the three grunts stationed in the room. 2 at the door and one next to the broker.

"My my, what a cute little thing. What might I help you with today little lady"? Lina blushed and took a head count of everyone there one more time. " I need 10 test subjects, preferably criminals. Your three stooges will do,but I need 7 more", she said with a blank expression. The broker gulped because of her reputation,but he didn't falter. " So what do you mean my men? My employees aren't for sale, little one".


She cocked her head slightly to the right and said, " awww but you said anything was fer sale. I need some bad guys to experiment on". The man laughed and snapped his fingers. " I think we're done here little one. The fine print is, anything I want to sell just like any other bus---HEY STOP". Lina's eyes had a dull blue hue when she grinned. She dodged the first shot when she sensed the killing intent coming from one of his goons. The second she strafed preemptively as the aura on his hand turned red. She didn't worry about the guy next to the broker because his aura didn't change, he remained still, a light gray that was too afraid to fire. The pair of grunts went pale before she knocked them out. Giving one a knee to the ribs which broke them outright and the other, she slammed into the wall, before tugging at him and throwing his head into the nearby window. The glass shattered and the bar itself went quiet.


"What do you say mister broker? Are we gonna do this the easy way, or the hard way?", she said with a slight coo. The third grunt surrendered as the broker called into the rest of his goons. Lina had them bound at the wrists before hauling them off to her lab. Those who came quietly were instructed to kneel on the floor while those who struggled were tossed onto the experimentation table. A few grunted and cursed at her,but Lina wasn't too worried about them. The screamers were gagged as she began to prepare different batches of whale's blood.

" first up, ten cc of refrigerated island whale blood". The man who she approached gasped and shook his head violently. As she injected him in the arm, a huge growth appeared on his arm. It was bubbling and blackened due to the loss of oxygen. Smaller growths appeared throughout him, followed by heavier breathing and black and blue skin. " First subject reacted as expected. His body's cells multiplied too quickly to maintain homeostasis".

One of the calmer men yelled at her with tears running down his cheeks, " HEY HEY WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!? YOU KNOW ITS BAD FOR PEOPLE RIGHT"? Lina chuckled and lifted up the dead man, extracting a little bit of his body as a sample to check under the microscope. "Eeyup, all his cells exploded, poor bastard". Lina was shaking her head and taking note of this, because straight injection was far more severe than the initial reports in the studies had suggested. As she was perusing her books on the subject, she ended up tossing a vial at the screaming man in order to shut him up. " shhhhhh", she said as she went back to reading.

In her next experiment she ended up heating the blood before injecting it. " Perhaps at 98.6 degrees, the blood reacts differently"? The one berating her tried to headbutt her. However Lina just placed her palm on his head and pushed him down. " No no no no, no, stay still little fella". 10 cc's were injected into the man's blood stream, but to no avail. He ended up sputtering out and dying in the same bulbous manner.

She looked at the studies again and thought about the ingestion part. " Let's try this", she said after scooping up some vomit into a cup. She mixed about 16 ounces of vomit with 16 ounces of whale's blood. With this injection the man didn't sputter out of control, bur rather the single arm for which the injection occurred had grown to the extreme before hemorrhaging blood. She scratched her chin and began to ponder what about the vomit affected the blood. So she took a drop of each, mixed onto one slide before checking it out under the microscrope. As it turned out, there was some sort of change within the blood, because it was much less active and in some places, actually dying. "perhaps its the Ph"?

Lina tested it with everything from acidic to household cleaners. She nodded as neutral to lower ph made the blood react in a hyper aggressive manner, with a ph of 1 nearly destroying itself. While a lower ph, resulted in almost inactivity to the point where the blood cells stopped reacting. However even with the changes in ph, the whale's blood was highly sensitive to overall ph and ends up changing whenever its injected into the human blood stream. However Lina found that lower initial ph leads to faster more hyper reactions. Resulting in one man's brain exploding and coming out of his ears. While lower ph lead to a slow build up which took hours to finally kill him.

Lina rubbed her chin and pondered for a good long while as she cleansed her self after a long day's work. She wasn't sure what the island whale's blood was doing to the dead cells, but in living beings it causes rapid cell multiplication that leads to the cells ripping itself apart. In her dead tissue samples however, these varying degrees of growth showed more invasive characteristics. To the small swordsman doctor she hypothesized that the whale's blood was actually affecting the cell itself and taking it over, but she wasn't entirely sure the nature of reaction.

"More work to be done...", she said with a sigh.

Spoiler: