The world spun back into focus. I spun with it, except I didn't. Instead I lost my balance and fell over like one of those old people in those shitty medical alert commercials. I also for some reason just realized I don't have the weird crystal I took with me from the underground car park. When the fuck did I loose that? Probably in the chase with the healers inc asshole. In my defense I've had a lot of shit going on, so it's not my fault I didn't notice. Fuck, I'm talking to myself again.

Well, I'm allowed to be a little crazy after all the shit I've had to put up with. And that teleport, zero out of five starts, I feel like I want to puke but can't tell which end it's gonna come out of. It's like the room keeps trying to spin but my brain keeps telling it no. That's not even getting into the fact that my hearing wont stop fucking buzzing! I lay for a few moments, holding onto reality as the effects of the teleport gradually fade. It's funny, ever since I was a little kid I wondered what it would be like to teleport. Watching cartoons growing up where the heroes would teleport to the scene to do battle with the demons made it seem really cool. Let me tell you, me wondering if I'm going to puke and not knowing if it will want to come out my ass or mouth is not cool. Well, at least it's an item off the bucket list, even though it wasn't truly on the bucket list to begin with. That was normally reserved for things like, going to Canada to see how maple syrup is made, or dying before my retirement funds run out.

I get my bearings enough to shake off my thoughts and stand back up. Focus Lucy, god knows where they sent you. Probably better than being at that black site though, or is it? I should bite my tongue on that train of thought before it bites me in the ass instead. I look around, I'm in a large square canvas room? Is this a tent? Wait yes, its a tent, a fairly big one too. The floor is dirt, except for a metal pad nearly identical to the one I was teleported out on, just missing the big red button in the center. My hearing slowly restoring, I'm able to make out sounds coming from outside. Lots of different sounds bleed through a section of overlapping canvas that I assume is the door. The rumble of an engine rolling by, the roar of planes somewhere in the distance, the stomping of boots jut outside.

Suddenly the flap is thrown open, the sounds of the world pouring in past the man now standing in the doorway, the light pouring in masking his features. He takes one look at me and….

"Ha! You owe me fifty bucks Carl!" He yells over his shoulder.

"Faster than normal government bureaucracy so no major loss to me." A voice behind him replies.

"Damn your right, fifty bucks is worth not being stuck bored all day. I'll let you keep your money this time."

"How generous. Now calm down so we can introduce ourselves."

My eyes finish adjusting to the light beaming in from outside enough that I can finally get a good look at who's talking. Like most defenders, the man before me is slightly older, probably in his late thirties. Dirty blonde hair peaks out from under a combat helmet. But otherwise his kit is… light, consisting of a light ballistic vest over t-shirt and shorts. The most obnoxiously obvious thing about him however, is the wizard robe and hat he appears to be wearing over his very light armor.

A moment later the other man steps up next to him. This one definitely in his late forties, buzz cut brown hair, bushy beard, no helmet, but otherwise wearing a full set of light combat armor.

"I'm getting there." The first one replies.

"Sure you are. Greetings Lucy, I'm Carl, with a C. My overactive and off his meds compatriot is David. We're with Renders, we got the message you sent through that merc group just in time." The second man, Carl, replies, tapping the logo on his armor. Its indeed Renders logo, giving me a bit of peace. My message actually got through, thank fuck!

"Yea! We've been waiting forever, and were starting to wonder if they'd actually get you back or not. We're supposed to walk you over to medical to get checked out. Cool name thing by the way, how you doin that?" David asks, bouncing from one foot to another with energy.

"Uh, magic? I don't think I should talk about it too much." I reply, caught off guard by his sudden spike in energy.

David acts like he's gonna pop off another question, but Carl warns him off first.

"David, not our magic, not our place. Besides, she might not be allowed to talk about it." He says, before directly addressing me.

"Unfortunately I do have to ask, can you disable it? This may be the primary staging camp but that also means there's a lot of attention to draw. Best we not do that if we can."

I think for a moment, then realize he's probably right. Hell, I might not have been in this situation to begin with if I had left it turned off. But hindsight is twenty twenty, no fixing the past now.

With a quick thought of my titles page, I give my answer by simply disabling the title projection.

"Not very chatty is she?" David asks. Carl just rolls his eyes in response.

"I was just forced to talk for…. I don't even know how many hours straight by a bunch of assholes who didn't even want to give me decency of clothing until I forced the issue. So no, I'm not feeling talkative." I spit back, not bothering to keep the irritation out of my voice.

"Fuckin….. Wow, I figured government deep state dudes would be assholes but damn." David.

"Look girl, I'm sorry you had to deal with all that. They want to check you over so let's get you over to medical. They can help you work through any of that a lot better than we can." Carl addresses me, motioning through the tent flap to the outside.

I wordlessly make my way out, the two defenders stepping out just ahead of me to lead the way. Stepping outside, it's apparent I got dropped into the heart of the base camp. It isn't as orderly as I thought it would be, but still neatly laid out none the less. Some tents are laid out in rows neatly next to one another, others by their lonesome. But it isn't just tents, many types of mobile trailers are deployed as well, some still with tire ruts in the mud leading up to them. Both the tents and trailers come in many shapes and sizes, from a few small ones about the size of an office, to some so large you could stick my entire high school in there and still have room. But with a tent that big maybe that's the point. The tents heavily outnumber the trailers, but the ocean of them stretches as far as I can see. Still, the surroundings tickle my familiarity, and a look at the nearby mountain pings a spot in my memory.

"Are we at the Shimmerview campgrounds?" I ask my 'guides'.

"No idea." Carl replies.

"Yep! Shimerview campgrounds on the outskirts of the city! They moved a FOB up here to expedite city clean up after the demons lost their primary foot holds." David helpfully supplies.

Huh, so we are close to the city. I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but frankly I can't bring myself to care enough. But that does make me wonder, where is everyone else? Like my family, or Anna and Charles.

"When am I going to be able to see my family again?" I ask my guides, who seem a bit taken aback and caught off guard by the question. To be fair, it is a bit out of the blue after walking in silence for a bit.

"Uhhh….. No…..Maybe?" David starts, only for Carl to cut him off.

"They were talking about trying to get your father in here soon. But something about clearances causing issues with the red tape."

"I'm a minor technically, shouldn't I have a guardian?"

"Your parents granted temporary guardianship or something like it to the guild. I don't know the specifics, you'd gotta talk to the lawyers for those. But as long as someone from the guild is with you at all times, you're technically not unattended." Carl replies.

"So, goes without saying, but don't wander off. Last thing we need is another guild or government agency snatching you up while screaming about unattended minor or some bullshit." David adds in.

"Yea, already had a few grab attempts on me." I comment, following my guides as we round a corner.

Instead of replying, David keeps looking over his shoulder past me while giving Carl a tab on the shoulder. Suddenly Carl lets out a curse and all but stops walking, stepping out to the side causing me to pass him before he continues following behind me at a few paces.

"Yea we noticed. Stick close, some people want your autograph, others not so much." David replies from ahead of me.

"Doubt anyone would try anything here. Good way to receive an express ass beating." Carl states as we continue to weave through the tent ocean.

I huff before replying. "Yea, but I thought that no one would try anything after I dug my ass out of a hole."

"Oh that's a story I gotta hear some time." David replies with a laugh.

"Focus David, they are definitely following us." Carl states.

"Who is 'they'? Is it those Healers Inc assholes?" I ask while trying to look over my shoulder for any obvious pursuers.

"Eyes forward. If they know they've been spotted they might swap to a more rash tactic." Carl tells me while motioning forward.

I reluctantly resume staring at the back of David's wizard robe as we continue to trod along. I'd really like to know who is following me. That's something good to know for obvious reasons. But my sudden guardians seem to think me acting dumb will help keep the trouble away. Whatever, I don't feel like being the victim of another kidnapping attempt anyway.

"Nah, those guys looked like spiky hedgehog heads. They were funny to look at honestly." David answers my question.

"Could be hired thugs, I've had them sent after me before." I interject.

"Medical tent is just up ahead. Let's get you inside before we need to find out." David replies as we break into a large open area.

Many large pop up tents, the kind that's basically only a roof, intermittently cover the place. Well worn dirt paths split between them, and the grass under each is a dead brown. They've probably been here awhile. Almost all of them have some sort of quick deploy cots under them. None of them are occupied, aside from one a guy seems to be taking a sitting break on. A few grunts seem to be in the process of slowly tearing down the cots and tents, freeing up the space once more. On the far side, directly where we are headed, I see another one of the actual big tents. Except this tent has very obvious red crosses painted intermittently across its mud brown fabric. We beeline straight for it, crossing dirt paths and even cutting under a few tents to take the straightest path possible.

It takes us less than a minute to cross the field and enter the tent. Just as we press through the flap I look over my shoulder one last time to see if I can identify who is supposedly following us. To my surprise I easily spot a group of five men and a woman slowly entering the tent field area from the exact same spot we did. They're easy to spot because they all have Afros that seem to have spikes of hair sticking out of them. Spikey hedgehogs indeed.

The flap slides closed behind Carl as the last one in, cutting us off from the rest of the world. The inside of the tent is…. Barren? There's nothing in here, save for a half dozen soldiers standing around the room, but their equipment doesn't look like combat gear. At least not any kind of heavy combat. Though judging by the giant letters M and P slapped across their helmets, they probably weren't meant to be fighting.

"This medical tent is restricted. If your injuries aren't urgent you need to head elsewhere." The presumably leader barks at us immediately upon entering.

"We're with Renders. We have Ms. Bretmont with us and should be expected." Carl replies as he continues moving forward towards the back of the tent. Which I've only just now realized the tent seems to be cut in half by a dividing wall. Because this room is not nearly big enough for the whole volume of the tent.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Alright go on through, doctor should be expecting you." The MP replied flatly.

"FYI, we did have a tail on our way here. No idea if we cut it or not." David informs them as I'm herded rapidly across the tent and into the back. As I approach the divider, my two guards stand off to the sides, clearly not intent on entering with me.

"We'll give you some privacy. If you need anything just holler for us." Carl tells me as he gestures to the divider flap.

"Yea, and if anything really bad happens just scream. We'll blow up the wall or something and rush in." David adds on, causing Carl to facepalm and sigh. But it's a resigned kind of sigh. The kind people give when they've dealt with something too many times before but know they can't stop it.

I for one just ignore the shenanigans and push my way through the flaps into the back, vaguely hearing one of the MPs saying something about not blowing up the tent as the flap rustles closed behind me. I probably would have heard what he said clearly if I concentrated, but I don't care enough at this point.

The back of the tent catches surprises me, even though I was prepared to walk into an area full of medical equipment and machines staffed with doctors. Maybe I'm more surprised by the lack of such. It's a well equipped area, I see a scale, heart monitor, spare IV stands in the corner, some of those funny things they use to check your eyes and ears laid out on a portable counter. Yea its all medical stuff, but not really anything hardcore scientific. The closest thing to scientific I see is what I think is a portable X-ray machine stuffed into another corner. There is also a subdivided space sitting against the far wall, probably to give privacy if needed. And this place isn't swarming with lab coat wearing maniacs who look like they want to steal my bone marrow or something. It's only three people, two women and a man all in BDUs labeled with medical symbols, but one of the women is wearing a lab coat. Do medical doctors wear lab coats or something else? I know my family physician also usually wears one of whatever they are.

The man notices me first, looking up from his work organizing some paper work. He doesn't say anything, instead he smiles and raps his knuckles on the table. This gets the attention of the doctor and when she turns to look at him she notices me.

"Oh hello, you must be Lucy." She says with a sweet voice and a smile as she gets up. "So sorry about my assistant, he's mute. I'm doctor Virginia. It's a pleasure to meet you after all you've done. I'll be performing a quick medical examination to get a feel for your health. If everything is fine, you'll be able to relax until you're ready to go. Though I have been told to pass on the recommendation that you stay and rest as long as you can." She finishes, walking over and gesturing for me to sit at one of those examination table seat bed things.

"Oh boy, more tests." I grumble as I reluctantly make my way over. I'm not very keen on being prodded again.

"Just a basic checkup to make sure you don't fall over dead without warning. Have you already had one?"

"Eh, kinda. Had some quacks calling themselves medics do a half ass of one on my original rescue flight. But I suspect the deep state wont share those if asked." I shrug.

"Oh dear, well just to be on the safe side I'm afraid I have to insist on this one. But any more advanced tests are up to your discretion." She says, pulling a cart filled with tools across the plastic matting floor. She directs me to hold my arm out as I sit down. Starting with a blood pressure monitor by the look of it.

She presses a few buttons on the device on the tray, causing the cuff around my arm to inflate. While that's running she pulls out her stethoscope and presses to a few areas, the cold metal sapping body heat but barely enough to be noticeable. The pressure on my skin is more feeling than the temperature difference, good to see my hot and cold tolerance remains unchanged.

Her assistant brings over a clipboard with papers on it, which she takes and immediately starts filling out. The silence continues on until the machine is done, at which point she writes down the numbers and starts taking off the cuff.

"Your heart rate is a little fast and your blood pressure is a bit above average, but the numbers are good for someone who's been through as much stress as you have." Doctor Virginia comments as she takes off the blood pressure cuff.

Yea, stress, we'll call it that I guess.

"Speaking of," she continues. "The other doctor over there is Dr. Ashley, she is a therapist specializing in combat trauma. She will talk with you later, and I highly advise you work with her even if you feel fine right now. I've seen many in my time who seem and feel fine at first but break down later once the shock passes and they start to process everything."

Hmmmm, I think I get where the doc is coming from, and I'm actually a little touched by her concern for me. Good to see I haven't gone full unfeeling yet. Little does the doc know I'm probably immune to ptsd…. Or that shit is going to slam me full force like a fully loaded truck crashing into a gas tank. In which case I'm screwed, so I'm really hoping it's the first option.

I give a light smile and nod my head in reply, which seems good enough for the doctor. She goes for another tool, one of the ones used for eye and ear checks. She pops one of those disposable caps on and starts with my ears, first my right, then my left.

"Hmmm. There seems to be no damage, but make sure to get rechecked frequently. I've heard plenty of cases where hearing loss creeps in because the damage manifests later. Hearing damage or loss is one of the most common disabilities suffered by front liners. The loud noises and pressure waves from explosions and spells are no laughing matter. I've noticed a strange lack of ear wax though, any idea as to the cause?" She asks pensively.

At first I don't quite understand what she means, then I put it together. Shit! Do demons not have ear wax? No, I had earwax after getting turned before, I remember cleaning it out. Does my new upgrade not make any? Could be that but that wouldn't make any sense, or would it? Maybe mimicry did it?

Then it hits me, maybe it was removed, cleaned, extricated, whatever you want to call it during my upgrade. I've only been out for half a day, my body hasn't had time to even make earwax. And that seems like something reasonable to tell the doctor, to an extent. I don't know how much I should blab about the whole legendary upgrade thing. I mean yea its my information to tell who I want. But I'm sure if I go mouthing off about it to everyone I meet, some light level military dickhead or politician will start raving about national secrets and restricted information or some bullshit.

Better to avoid doing that just in case, I can always spill the beans later. Then another realization fills my head, making it slightly less empty than usual. They don't know anything, which gives me a lot of leeway to bullshit. Yea it could backfire to varying extents. I obviously can't go all out and just whip out all my bits like 'oh yea, I'm just an upgraded human, it's cool guys'. My wing alone would probably get the nearest combat squad to mag dumb my ass, then twice over just to be safe.

But my eyes, hair, and maybe, just maybe my horns or tail I might be able to fudge in. If the tail was its old shape it'd be a hell no, that shit would get me shot in a heart beat. But with it now having that utility crystal on the end, maybe I can get away with claiming it's from the upgrade. Or I could go with the horns for sensory coverage. Being able to literally just sense people and things through walls is broken as hell. And I'm sure abusing the hell out of that would be very helpful in getting people to overlook the kinda looks demonic thing. They look a hell of a lot less demonic than they did before, now being made out of crystal.

But the tail would be free healing, damage, and a nice shield for when someone tries to cave my skull in. It's a tough decision. The healing part would probably play really well into my whole healer image. I could probably swing this, seeing how I had crystals before, and my upgrade is focused on crystals. But if I'm going to do this, I need to start early and ease into it. Just whipping it out later would be suspicious as fuck even if I claim I waited for fear of getting shot. But if I start easing into it now, claim the legendary shit is the cause of all the changes. I might be able to make it work. After all, a good lie has a little bit of truth in it, or something like that. It's a risk, a big one, but it'd be so nice to be able to have my tail out. What's that saying the old people used to use? Fuck it we ball!

"Mhhh, maybe. But I… I don't know if… certain people might get upset if I talk about it too much. Might want me to keep it a secret and all that." I meekly eek out, trying to give the impression I'm not sure if it's a 'safe' topic or not. The doc picks up on it immediately as she finishes scribbling down more notes onto her chart.

"Oh, I understand. I've had that before, patients delirious on pain and meds recounting horrors of the classified missions they were brought in from. The kind of stuff I'm not technically supposed to know about. It's fine though, my assistant and I have secret clearances, as does Dr. Ashley. It's probably why we were selected for this. As for anything personal, doctor patient confidentiality applies unless it's dangerous."

"I don't think it's dangerous, unless you count me as dangerous. But the legendary event…. Well it had some side effects."

"Oh? I didn't personally see the system prompt but apparently everybody within range got one. Do you think any of these side effects will cause medical concerns? Or is it more on the personal side?"

"I don't know honestly. It forced something called a race upgrade. Which caused changes, like my gold highlights, but also some other things. But the end result left me, basically pristine for lack of a better word, after the process finished." I mention as she starts holding the medical device over my eyes to get a better look at them. Not that I expect her to find anything unusual, mimicry should be making them look like normal human eyes right now.

"Oh really? I haven't picked up on anything out of the ordinary. I've heard on rare occasions magic skills or spells can cause alterations to the body. Usually they are temporary, but supposedly on rare occasions they can be permanent. Nothing I've ever seen or worked on though, different field of specialization and exceptionally rare."

"Well I'm pretty sure these are permanent. I'm using a spell I had from before the event to keep them hidden away because well….. I'm going to be honest they probably look really bad, like someone seeing me out of the corner of their eye and reflexively shooting me kind of bad." I stammer out, doing my best to keep my nervousness focused enough to seem like it's over the changes, and not the fact I'm hoping the doc wont catch onto my bullshitting.

"That's a bit dangerous, both not disclosing your hiding them and having them in an active battlefield. But you've also gone through something unprecedented so I doubt you have too much to worry about long term." The doctor replied nonchalantly as she put her tool down and starts writing on the chart again.

"You don't seem all that concerned." I reply, a bit put off by her seeming lack of reaction.

"I've seen and heard a lot of things in my time. Besides this is a military base camp, you've been continuously scanned by the demon detectors since the moment you got here. Also the MP's and two defenders are just a room away. So, what kind of changes are we talking about here? If you're willing to disclose them I may be able to give a little insight. But I'll admit again this isn't my area of expertise. Remember I am bound by doctor patient confidentiality, regardless of the secrecy level possibly involved." She responded cheerily.

Well, this is going better than I expected. Figured I'd have to tip toe around the subject some more and ease into it a lot more. I still need to be careful, but since she seems receptive to it I'll keep going.

"Well, my uh, legendary changes include the aforementioned highlights. But it also gave me glowing eyes and well….. A tail." I stammer out, trying my best to sound meek, a bit embarrassed, and somewhat concerned.

The doctor, to her credit, only pauses and allows surprise to flash across her face for a second before regaining her professional composure.

"Ah well, that would be cause for concern given where you were found. And there are no other changes correct?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Well, the good news is that everything so far seems to indicate that this…. process left you in good if not perfect health. At least from what I am able to discern. Your alterations are a bit outside my field of knowledge, nor do I have the equipment to properly observe them. I'll make a note in your file. You will need to see a specialist in magic based biological alterations. Though given the origin of the changes I don't know if security clearances will be an issue." She finishes as she scribbles a few more things down on the chart.

I've never heard of a specialist on magic base biological transformations. Then again the doc said it was a rare thing. Either way sounds like someone I should avoid. I can imagine one look at my tail might get me in trouble. Then again I've never heard of a demon that can shoot lasers out of a crystal on its tail. Then again I also don't know much about demons. Gonna have to ask Charles about it later. Shit I hope Charles lived through that mess somehow, and not just because I need answers and advice. Well, as long as it's only one 'specialist' I need to avoid I should be fine….. probably.

"So that's all to it then?" I ask, blinking in surprise at how nonchalant and easy that was.

"For now, yes. I'll need to notify the chain that you have gotten magical modifications, given how it relates to your legendary event. But I won't give any specifics, that's still protected by privacy laws, especially since you are still technically a minor. Some one is going to want to question you on it but it is not going to be me. I'm only here to perform a checkup and act as an excuse to keep you away from the more insidious fools until your guardians and parents get here. Now hold your legs still please, I need to check one final thing." Doctor Virginia states as she picks up one of those knee whacker hammers.

Well, that's a good sign, I think. Then again she said it isn't really her problem. So for all I know I've jumped out of the frying pan just to set myself up to be spit roasted in the fire instead….. My brain could have phrased that literally any other way, and it chose that way.

A hard tap just below my right knee catches me off guard, making me hop in surprise a little bit as the leg twitches out in response.

"Sorry, was that too hard?" Virginia asks.

"No, I was just lost in thought. Surprised me a bit." I reply, going back to my internal musings as the doc says something then starts examining my other leg.

What was I thinking about? Oh right, might be setting myself up to get into even more trouble later mentioning the tail and eyes. But the doc seems to be buying my story, so that's a good sign. I don't know why, but I feel like my tail would be a great tool to have at my disposal. Might have something to do with the transformation fucking with my head. Or the fact that the damn thing has a mater disintegrating laser built in.

But overall, if I can get this to stick I won't have to worry about being outed if someone 'accidentally' sees me with them out. Maybe if I feel the scrutiny is low enough I'll try to slip in the wings and horns later. But probably not, that just seems like a really bad idea. Stack on to much bullshit and eventually someone is going to go 'hold the fuck up'.

"OK, everything seems to be in order. I'm giving you a clean bill of health. I can have a look at your alterations if you'd like but I will again admit it isn't my area of expertise. Or you can talk to Dr Ashley, or even just rest. I believe one of your parents will be here in an hour or two along with the Renders representatives." Virginia states, standing while finalizing whatever she's writing on her clip board.

Decisions huh. What's the best, i.e. least suspicious way, to play this. It might not be a bad idea to show my tail to Dr Virginia. Feels so weird she's named like the state. Either way, gauge her, her assistant, and Dr Ashley's reactions to it. After that, maybe talk to Dr Ashley. But for some reason I feel like that wouldn't be the greatest idea. Maybe something to do with the fact she's a psychologist that could probably dismantle my whole personality. But someone in my position probably should talk to her. What to do, what to do?

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