After months of constant negotiations, the first responder strike of the Association is still going strong. This afternoon's most recent meeting between the Association's heads and the union's representatives hit an all time low as voices and tension rang high. In response, the government has issued mandatory participation in instant dungeon rescues and recoveries by every major guild until things become resolved… ~click.
Mick grimaced as she shut off the TV that was playing in the lab's staff room. The atmosphere felt bitter as the staff on their break groaned.
"Ye dun need ta be listenin ta that bullshit while yer tryin ta take yer breaks." Mick lectured before turning to Marcie, who was studying some dossier notes while attempting to eat her meal. "Marcie, come see me when yer done."
Some were curious, others smirked and teased thinking that perhaps she was in trouble for something. She really wasn't sure what it could have been. She had been working on concocting some new elixir for the field teams. It was one thing to recuperate them physically, but it was another thing entirely to recuperate them mentally.
As it stands, it has fallen mostly to smaller guilds to manage the instant dungeons up until now. The Atlas Guild was considered a medium-sized guild, but didn't have the power and sway in the community like some of the larger ones.
"Maybe with the big guilds being forced to participate in instant dungeons now, our field teams can finally take a break…" Some of the lab techs muttered amongst themselves, obviously finding an excuse to avoid the demands of their jobs momentarily.
"Yeah, but, right now, the instant dungeons are our main source of income. We lost our permit rights for established dungeons when this strike started. So until the next auction, we're stuck," heir co-worker griped. There was a difference between such dungeons and most guilds could manage more steady profits if they managed to get a hold the the permit rights to the more permanent dungeons.
Marcie understood the desire for such rights. Instant dungeons were unpredictable, dangerous and the portal only lasted for a finite amount of time before it would grow unstable and implode upon itself. But the more stable dungeons could be farmed for resources. Thankfully, the government had put in place laws that guild permits only lasted so long and at the end of the permit period, the dungeon would go back to auction. This prevented the big guilds from monopolizing on them and helped fund the rescue programs and other public systems.
But the issue of dungeon permits wasn't really something that Marcie had the energy to think about. She had trust that the guildmaster had a plan for such things in the future. Her focus was fixing her problem and finding ways to help the guild.
Finding Mick took a bit longer than she anticipated. He wasn't at his usual stations. Instead, Marcie found him in Dr. Mosley's office along with Richard, Antonio, the guildmaster and a few others whom she was still struggling to learn their names. This was indeed quite the meeting. Marcie had some idea as to what it was about, as there was also someone she didn't recognize at all, but wore a doctor's outfit that matched the scrubs of the section alpha nurses from the hospital.
"Ahh, Miss Bromley, you made it." Dr. Mosley interrupted the chatter as someone closed the door behind her. "We have some good news…"
Richard and Antonio had both been near absent in the past few weeks, they were obviously worn on their faces from overwork, but held the look of someone who had successfully achieved something important. The guildmaster looked calm as always, his expression unwavering in its steadiness, but the other staff present seemed more nervous. Marcie couldn't tell if it was an excited nervous, or a worried one.
"We have been consulting with the hospital and may have come up with a solid plan to extract your passenger. Though, there will be some great risks. Unfortunately, simple surgeries and traditional methods won't work on it." Dr. Mosley began his explanation. It looks like this was going to be a group effort, requiring people of all kinds of skills to accomplish.
"Marcie, you'll be takin off tha schedule next week fer this. Ya can't wait ne longer ta get rid of tha thing. We ken see it slowly suckin away yer life. The doc thinks its bout ta reach maturity. So it's now er never." Marcie wanted to raise a fuss at taking off so much time, but Mick stopped her protest immediately. "Aint no buts lass. We've ran outa time."
The meeting took a while to get through, with the doctors going over the steps and details of the procedure. Some of the lab techs managed to alchemize a serum that should render the creature's nervous system numb and hopefully will not be able to notice that it is being extracted. But this will also leave Marcie temporarily vulnerable as it will also have to go through her system as well. They are hoping that creating the serum to have a delayed effect might work.
"Basically, the anesthesia contains a type of magnet that attaches itself to the flow of mana. You will need to use your mana to direct the serum to the parasite. Once we can confirm the serum has taken effect, we will begin the extraction process." The doctor pointed to some anatomy charts as well as scans of her body from her time in the hospital.
"Captain Wells and Lieutenant Carmello will also be there to assist with the procedure. Captain Wells has been able to utilize his new fortitude skill on another person and Lieutenant Carmello will be standing by as a healer. Their job will be to keep you medically stabilized during the extraction process."
By the looks of it, the whole room felt an air of unease. "This… has never been done before Marcie. It's uncharted territory, but we don't have time to find a safer way. Ultimately, it is your decision to go through with it." The guildmaster chimed in and handed Marcie the forms necessary to consent to the highly unorthodox and experimental procedure. But he was right. Marcie has run out of time to search for another way.
She could feel every day the parasite becoming stronger and more demanding as her body has continued to grow weaker. She knew it was reaching that point when her therapy had begun to progress backwards ever since she awakened. The way her face slowly started to look more grey and hollow over time and the recovering potions gradually became less effective.
"Alright…" Marcie lamented as her nerves stirred. She shakily signed the forms and the date had been set to five days from then. Marcie was scared. She was scared that things would go horribly wrong, but she was also scared of letting it be and dying anyways. However, beneath that fear felt the smallest pin prick of anticipation and perhaps of hope.