Another Day 1: The Battle Within (Trauma Center mini-CYOA)

A) scalpel right down the middle.

BGM: New Blood: Code Blue Stigma

---

You whip out the scalpel and move it towards the cluster of GUILT.  "Well, let's see what happens if I try to cut it, then?" you ask no one in particular.

"Well...  I don't really have any better ideas," Dr. Powell says.

You slice the scalpel straight across the center of the mass.  Three of the bulbous lobes erupt as you cut, leaving behind huge pools of blood.

"The vitals!" Dr. Shepherd calls out.  "His BP just dropped like a rock...!"

Patient Vitals: 59
Dropping

"Dr. Powell, stabilizer!" you order.

"Right," she says, preparing the syringe.  While she injects the patient, you drain the pools of blood.  The remaining clusters all move closer together as soon as the way is cleared.

"Chiral reaction... dropped a bit.  But don't do that again!" Lily warns you.  "It looks like a lot of the patient's blood is passing through the GUILT...  You need to find a way to slow the blood flow before trying to extract the-  What!?"

You turn away from Lily just in time to see a tendril lash out from the center of the GUILT.  It lashes out quickly, before you can react, slashing across each of the three aneurysms in turn.  All three burst.  The tendril relaxes, beginning to lazily drift in a clockwise motion around the operating area.

"This is bad!" Dr. Powell yells out.

Patient Vitals: 40
Dropping quickly

Three more aneurysms form around the operating area.

"Don't let it near any more of the aneurysms!" Dr. Wright yells over the speaker, her voice unusually panicked.  "Either find a way to stop that... tendril thing, or treat the aneurysms before it reaches them!"  Looking at the speed of the tendril, you could probably remove each of the aneurysms ahead of the tendril before it makes it to them.  Dr. Powell... might not be able to, but she could at least stop it from reaching two of them.

"So that's how it's going to defend itself...?" Dr. Quinn adds.  "Make sure you don't try to attack it again while aneurysms are still present!"

While they talk, you and Kelly both administer a dose of stabilizer.

Patient Vitals: 52
Dropping quickly
3 burst aneurysms
3 active aneurysms

(A) Begin repairing the burst aneurysms
(B) Begin extracting the active aneurysms
(C) Attack the main body (choose tool)
(D) Interact with the tendril (choose tool)
(E) Start pumping vitals with stabilizer

You now have direct control over Kelly.  She operates at about half your efficiency.
(1) Begin repairing the burst aneurysms
(2) Begin extracting the active aneurysms
(3) Attack the main body (choose tool)
(4) Interact with the tendril (choose tool)
(5) Start pumping vitals with stabilizer

"Dr. Powell, treat the aneurysms before they burst!" you order.

"You have an idea?" Lily asks.

"I'm just going to try grabbing the little bastard...!" you answer.

You grab a pair of forceps and grab hold of the tendril.  It freezes in its tracks, but holding the tendril leaves you unable to do anything else.

"It stopped!" Samuel cheers.

"Don't let it go!" Alice orders.

You can only watch as Kelly begins treating the aneurysms.  She starts with the one closest to the tendril's path.  From your perspective, it feels like she's moving painfully slowly, as you can only watch the patient's vitals tick down.  Eventually, she moves to the second, then the third.  By now, the tendril is beginning to struggle against your grip.

Just as she finishes closing the third aneurysm, the tendril breaks free of the forceps.  It suddenly lashes out wildly in a large circle, completing a rotation around the center mass of GUILT in less than a second.  The already-burst aneurysms remain untouched, and the tendril resumes its lazy orbit.

"...That could have been really bad," Kelly sighs.

Patient Vitals: 45
Dropping
3 burst aneurysms

Greg Hawke:
(A) Treat the burst aneurysms
(B) Attack the main body (choose tool)
(C) Attack the tendril (choose tool)
(D) Stabilizer

Kelly Powell:
(1) Treat the burst aneurysms
(2) Attack the main body (choose tool)
(3) Attack the tendril (choose tool)
(4) Stabilizer

OK, first of all, Gray.  You gotta tell me what that bloody avatar is, it looks familiar but I can't place it and I absolutely hate when that happens.

---

"Dr. Powell, the vitals," you say.

"On it," Kelly answers, preparing a syringe.

Whil Kelly injects the patient with several rounds of stabilizer, you begin repairing the damage from the burst aneurysms.  Gladari was "nice" enough to excise the bulges for you, so you take advantage of its work.  You drain the pools of blood, remove the destroyed tissue, and bring the two ends of the open vessel closed.  A few quick stitches later, and you're ready to go again.

While you were working, Gladari continued its lazy circling.  You did notice that when it drifted over a pool of blood left by one of the burst aneurysms, it briefly sped up, but it returned to its normal pace as soon as it passed.  It hasn't been doing nothing, though.  Another aneurysm's formed.  Coincidentally, it formed directly behind the tendril as it passed...  "Was it coincidence?" you wonder.

"We're out of stabilizer," Kelly informs you.

"I've already prepared another jar," Lily tells her.

"Well, you're certainly on the ball," you compliment her.

She stares at you dispassionately, as if to say "Focus on the surgery."

Patient Vitals: 69
Stable
1 aneurysm
Stabilizer low

Hawke:
(A) Attack the main body (choose tool)
(B) Attack the tendril (choose tool)
(C) Treat aneurysm
(D) Stabilize

Kelly:
(1) Attack the main body (choose tool)
(2) Attack the tendril (choose tool)
(3) Treat aneurysm
(4) Stabilize

And it's just a sketch of a character from FFXIV my friend did for me, CDM.

Not who I thought it was. But apparently she's the Maelstrom commander lady or something? I dunno. I may get into FFXIV, eventually. I'm just not sure my toaster can run it. ANYWAY. TC running his own thread off course. TC needs to get back to TC.

What Emppy of laser and fire said

B, Scalpel.
1, constrictor.

B 3