(Author's Note: Well, here we go again.)

[Some sketchy alleyway, ?]

Medic often wondered what if our bodies didn't have a nerve system to begin with - to never feel physical pain. The human body is a complex and callous system that puts everything together and stays that way until you hit beneath the dirt, therefore albeit fragile. Doctor Ludwig had found a solution: magical healing goop. He didn't lost his medical license for nothing so, he had to improvise, adapt, and overcome. With his scientific ingenuity and morbid curiosity, he invented the medigun and alongside that, immortality. Well, temporarily, at least.

Science can explain so many things, which involves the purpose of "time". Well, he and Engineer have a different perspective of "time". Time is garbage. Time is nothing but numbers slowly dwindling upwards, rather than downwards whereas humanity constantly relied on in terms of when to go to work, eat dinner, or age slow and steady, or when the new Kardashians show were starting. Somehow, both men achieved virtual immortality and what that means is, they're ageless. Seriously, how can a couple middle-aged men fight like animals and still feel like they're young? Solution: australium. The steroids of the future, and the past.

Substance may include: temporarily rendering oneself immortal, stronger bones and muscles, efficiency in intelligence, knack for beating people's butt for no apparent reason; if abhorrently siphoned out of user, will immediately degrade every cell, bone, and muscle; in order to remove Australium in one's body, must call your known expert immediately. (Or don't… If being nearly immortal makes you look awesome, why shouldn't you?)

It has it's own mentally negative side-effects. It drives people insane, when used too much. It drives them for power and nothing else but more power and senseless bloodshed. Take the Administrator for example, instead of the Mann Brothers. The Administrator cares less for human morals nor parties. Whichever side can supply her so much entertainment, it's all for her own pleasure. The Mann Brothers, they can still think sensibly good, knowing that what they are doing is wrong and are just fulfilling their deceased father's will; that they have to fight for it. The brothers were idiots, of course… But hey, who are we to judge? Just judge the Administrator, she told Soldier and Demoman to kill each other just so they could break their friendship. (Guess how that turned out.)

Anyways, now, here is Medic. Groaning in pain, laid against stinking putrid garbage bags and trash within a conveniently open dumpster. Where is he? Some damp alleyway riddled with more garbage and other refuse willingly to be refused. It smells like armpits, the glorious smell of farts, and pee and any kind of stink not worth to the nostrils. It also had some posters on the mucky walls but all of them are beyond comprehensible. Medic was finished groaning in pain and tried to get out of the dumpster. Landing on his feet on old concrete that has been stepped on in its better days, Doctor Ludwig brushed himself up and done some stretches to remove the pins and needles inside his skin and bones. A nice sound emitted out of his jaw after he fixed it. Almost satisfying but not enough to satisfy Medic as he's heard that sound before, numerous times on himself and others.

After adjusting himself, his eyes shifted to his surroundings. Damp, dank, beyond recovery and smells like cheap perfume marinated in a garbage disposal on a Thursday's one night stand. He smells like the surroundings too. One thing he later noticed that his Medigun and Medipack are absent, which gives most Medic mains panic attacks (unless you use the Crusader's Crossbow). The Medigun is part of what a Medic is; healing, protecting your team before yourself. The downsides are the lack of appreciation, patience of others, and team coordination (like most class-based FPS games!). Being a Medic main, you get used to it overtime. Think of your endurance (both mentally and physically) as a first time Medic as a trial but instead of listing off strengths that need to be exceeded and weaknesses to overcome, you'll go through something similar to the Five Stages of Grief.

Continuing on, Doctor Ludwig - or, let's call him Ludwig for now - had a mild panic attack in his mind. But considering that it was the Vaccinator (the least used Medigun but flexible and versatile to use if you know what you're doing), he could care less. What's important though is the Medipack. Those things aren't easy to be rebuilt, you know, and neither does the antidote come for free or just scooped out of a cauldron that brews the stuff. That being said, he searched for it. Of course, he'd search for it. What else was he gonna do? Hang up posters? Like anybody has time to look for some fancy looking backpack. Within this alleyway, he searched in other dumpsters, trash cans, and trash bags. But whilst searching, he noticed himself on a broken mirror. He paused what he was doing and went to the mirror that was leaned against a wall - almost as tall as him, the mirror nearly shattered and the wooden frame was barely withered. He inspected himself through from it.

He noticed something different about himself. He wasn't wearing his usual clothes, in fact, he looked rather dapper as opposed to what a doctor would look. He wore the Scourge of the Sky from the Blue Moon Accessory and Wardrobe Shop from Mannhattan in Neu York, a Medicine Manpurse for syringes and such-like to keep someone temporarily fixed, and a Mountain Cap he used to wear during his peaceful stay in his hometown of Stuttgart, Germany. Could you believe that - other than tearing off body parts and putting them back together again - a madman like Medic would climb mountains as a hobby? A certain snow leopard who dreams of touching the skies would have a field day knowing about this man. Medic took time to appreciate himself, even striking poses like he was in today's Cosmopolitan fashion magazine shoot and featured on its front page titled as "Dapper Cadaver".

Something glinted from the mirror. Medic squinted at it. It was a rectangular shape with some peculiar designs of it. But when he turned around as it indicated it was behind him, there were sparkles, bubbles, and a face full of glee when he saw his medipack completely pristine unequally to its surroundings. He grasped it and cradled it like a baby, nurturing it as if it was living being of his own seed. He kissed it and he could've sworn, it kissed back. No matter, he got what he already wanted. He wore it on his back proudly before he looked around to his surroundings again. There were posters but then again, they were beyond comprehensible so, he doesn't know yet himself but sooner or later, he'll know. He just need a hint and all of it will be unveiled after he exits the alleyway, starting now four steps forward to the other side.

But the next step he paused abruptly after he heard screams and pleas of a woman behind his back. He turned his head around to see three men in thuggish garbs with knives and lead pipes threatening this poor woman with… Medic squinted at… With horns and a… Tail? That's weird but he neverminded it. He ought to know soon if they're real or not but then again, everything must be explained with science and proof. Just what a doctor would evaluate. Besides. who is he to judge? He begun approaching the ordinary low a man could express physically to unsuspecting others.

Two thugs held the poor woman and pinned her to the wall so she wouldn't break free whilst the other thug had her on knifepoint. She tried to struggle but her frail body couldn't allow her.

"Your money, now!" The thug holding the knife out demanded with a uneasy rasp.

"I don't have anymore left for myself - let me go," the woman whose worn only just rags pleaded for mercy. "I have Oripathy!"

"I don't care!" the thug aggressively scoffed, slapping her face open-handed without regret and it sounded he slapped her hard as he could.

She was sobbing earlier but now, she was sobbing so much louder that one of the thugs pinning her onto the wall had to shut her mouth with that stinking jerk-off hand. Her cries were muffled but from what Medic heard on his way was that tears are more louder.

"You Infected scum deserve to die," the thug at knifepoint said. "You don't have a goddamn place in this world and neither will the next!" He waved his knife at her before demanding again. "But considering that I'm in a good mood tonight, I'll let you live only if you give us your money."

But her frightened face and her eyes widened said it all. She doesn't have the money.

"No?" The thug then grinned. "Well, I guess we'll gut you up finding it then."

Just as the knife was about to land in her stomach, a third party came to intrude. Medic grabbed the stabbing hand in time to which the Thug looked up to see who it was. It was not the cops but just a man in a white coat. But the Thug didn't see his face as his own face met a nearby dumpster. Medic just started using this man's face as a hammer.

"YOU!"

slam

"DON'T!"

slam

"TREAT!"

slam

"FRAÜLEINS!"

slam

"LIKE!"

slam

"THAT!"

As soon as Medic was finished with his statement with some physical performance, the Thug who was holding the knife had a bloodied face, a pair of black eyes, broken teeth, and a crooked nose that is morbidly cracked. After Medic was done his business with the Thug, he tossed him aside and faced the two remaining thugs. Of course, they were infront of him with shiv and a lead pipe and the message conveyed earlier when Medic was busy with their supposed leader didn't go in their heads but rather went through like it was air. People like these never really put things into consideration after others like them are presented an example, especially when it had happened infront of their faces. At least they had their filthy hands off from that poor woman. Medic now tries to reevaluate this newfound situation.

"Jüngen, please," Medic tried to draw them to calm down despite the uncalmliness of what he did to their boss. "Zhere's no need to be hostile." His calm façade really is seamless but that's his character and nobody can argue anyway and anyhow. That's why he's the perfect psychopath everyone loves. (Don't know about Pyro though…) "I've only pacified your freünd as he vas acting a bit… Estranged." Oh, the irony.

"Shut the fu-"

passing train noise

"-up!"

Before the first Thug lunged his shiv, Medic sighed, commenting at the situation at hand as, "Vhy are people nowadays so unethical…?"

Ludwig immediately dodged from the side and didn't attack until the second strike to which the Shiv Thug opened himself for a vital exposure to which Ludwig's fist thrusted and collided with the Thug's face. That punch wasn't enough however, as the Thug stumbled backwards, he tasted what his boot's soles tastes like, and the Shiv Thug was on the ground; holding his face, nose, and writhing altogether. What's left was the Thug with the Lead Pipe, who was still poised to attack and hasn't learned quite a bit about watching his friends get beaten by some fancy pants who came by unexpectedly. The Lead Pipe Thug lunged forward trying to honk the Medic but he was quite a formidable opponent - see, it's a blunt weapon with a farther reach than just a flimsy shiv. Ludwig had troubles, of course… He evaded every attack but except one. It came as surprising as he wasn't expecting it to be a sucker punch to the face. He recovered immediately but not for long as a lead pipe smacked him upwards and got him landing on the floor.

Ludwig - dazed and somehow already out of breath, underestimating that this could've been a cakewalk - had a purplish bruise on his right cheek. He looked up to see the Thug reeling up that lead pipe but Ludwig ought to clap back by thrusting his boot into the in-betweens. That sure gave the Thug the pain he heeds unsuspectingly, forcing him to drop the lead pipe and with both of his own hands numbing the cringing pain located in the jingle balls. Medic followed this up with an uppercut that sent the thug flying before promptly landing on the ground that emitted a harsh thud against the mucky concrete.

Ludwig ventilated his breaths, labored and slow. Sweat coming off from his forehead and his bruise on his right cheek numbing but none of these are new, just the unfamiliar feeling was.

"You vant more, dummkopf?" Ludwig taunted as the two thugs he fought got back on their feet.

But they weren't poised for round two, they up, grabbed their boss who was unconscious with a bloodied, almost mangled face, and whimpered away. Ludwig was glad that they left because his body can't handle that much as he let's Heavy do most of the heavy lifting. Well, he does heal the man that will kill anyone, so no point arguing.

The alleyway quieted, at least at first. Ludwig thought his job was done but he then heard that same voice from before, a woman's-

"Please!" The woman with those weirdly gorgeous horns and that nail plugged behind into her tailbone, presenting him money that doesn't look any familiar to his face. It was a small stack of blue paper with neat designs. "Take it, it's all I have to thank you."

Ludwig was… Surprised. From his experience of helping, he heals his patients so they can kill in return. That's good enough for him. But this was different, all too different to his experiences. Half of him was obliged to take it but the other half didn't want to. So, what came out of his mouth was…

"Nein, fraülein," Medic said sincerely as he rejected the stacks of paper money. "You keep it."

The woman wasn't expecting this much generosity. This man, at least to her, looked handsome. Fortunately enough, he was her savior. Dapper in style incomparable to hers; being in rags and looking homeless. Why would a possibly rich man help a inherent Infected like her? That's why she ought to ask… But Doctor Ludwig drew the first question out of her mouth.

"Vhat are you?" He asked curiously as he scrutinized her from top to bottom, inspecting her physique and her body traits - her dragon horns and her scaly tail. The woman was mildly weirded out when the man circled around her with his hand on his chin, stroking it as his eyes laid onto hers like she was a sculpture at a rather regal art museum.

"I've never seen such beauty, ja," he added to which she blushed from his comment.

After he was done circling around her, his eyes glancing from top to bottom, Ludwig evaluates what he perceives as circumstantial, at least for him. "I do not know what you are but from vhat I think, you have a lizard tail and… Horns. It can't be a demon's horns but zhat vould be absurd!" He laughter at his own comment, before it broke down into a nervous chuckle. Just guess what he's thinking, right now.

The woman - though weirded out by the man - gave out a cheery chuckle. "I'm not a Sarkaz, mister," she told. Like that word is going to make any sense to him. "You sound like you never seen a Lung before; they're all around the city!"

"Lung?" Medic asked curiously as this particular topic piqued his interest, not just because of his medical profession but the general situation he's in. When he was about to ask, the woman answered him before he could even say something.

"You're in Lungmen City," she answered him.

To which Ludwig processed the word Lungmen from every city known to man. But all of his time dedicating himself to travelling across the world in the name of medicine, he has never heard of a city called Lungmen. Though, either if this is a stupid question or a practical one, why would someone name their city after an organ for breathing? If it's a clinically metaphorical name for "inhabitable", they really are creative or just bored thinking of names. It's hard to come by just naming an African state known as Chad. (No, seriously. There's an African state called Chad, look it up.) But enough of that, Ludwig should ask some more questions. Starting with a request, humbly for her and for himself as well. Just to get the lay of the land.

"Will you tour me, fraülein?"

The woman was taken aback from this request. Why would a rich-looking man even dare ask a poor, scummy Infected like her to tour him around? The man nearly looked like a tourist and more of a… Doctor, to say the least, judging by his white robes and that insignia of a cross on both arms. Other than that, he looked unlikely to be a hero. She wondered how what happened earlier would turn out if the man infront of her wasn't to arrive like some Knight in shining armor. Unbeknownst to her, Doctor Ludwig - or any Doctor whose name is Ludwig - doesn't exist in the world of Terra. As a matter of a fact, he shouldn't exist in the first place.

Despite his smile although suspicious, the young woman couldn't help but be obliged to tour the man. So, she nodded quietly but eagerly. A second of silence passes and Ludwig's first question was,

"Vell, vhere to?"

[Lungmen PD. Headquarters, Lungmen City]

There was a time Swire, one of the influential members and faces of Lungmen, hadn't had another case of homicide involving non-Infected to Infected homicide come right to her way in a stack of files she's too tired to sort through and be bothered with constantly. It was when news reached out to the Lungmen City of the riots in Chernobog which ultimately went kaput from the entire world of Terra and left nothing but dust, soot, debris, and gore. As of now though, she is resting behind the table of her office. Alone and obviously, in peace of mind, free of any other ramblings and eye-tiring files she has to dent her eyes for. At least, Ch'En isn't around. That sure put even more serenity in Swire's mind.

But when the alarm rang in the headquarters, of course, Swire's always up on her feet and walking out of her peace time in her office to do some boring work that comes and goes repetitively. All cases of homicide were all but the same schtick but with a new coat of paint on each of them. But this time, it was different. She didn't hear the situation in the briefing room, instead, she just heard it from the flatscreen television in the cafeteria; the news reporter, reporting live in one of the prolific and wealthy districts in Lungmen City, that an unknown object came out of the sky tonight despite no known atmospheric disruptions according to the Multimethod Catastrophe Prediction System, further elaborating that there wouldn't be any frequencies of Catastrophes later (which was a relief).

This was the first time Lungmen City was struck something from the sky that wasn't the cause of a stray, incoming Catastrophe. Swire considered it weird but she digress. This intrigued her the most, just because she wants to see the object for herself but since one of the top shelf politics of Lungmen City suggested that a containment crew would be performing said extraction of the object right away, most notably mentioning Rhine Lab, with a spice of Rhodes Island, with some due respect.

So, why bother if someone else would do the job for them? Seems like a waste of time just driving there, only to see it gone by the time she arrives. So, it's just back to going through boring files and sorting it either way: homicide or abuse.

But as soon as Swire turns around, she heard a rather peculiar voice. It annoyed her just hearing it, one after another, her brain cells popped. It was her… Which was unbelievable, all things considered since…

"Swire, you lousy desk whore," Ch'En snarked from the end of the hallway, carrying her gear on the way to the transport trucks outside the headquarters. "Let's go!"

Ch'En was supposed to be meeting up with Rhodes Island's influential pharmaceutical doctors. Swire sagged her face boorishly, knowing the fact that her worst enemy at the other side of her office cubicle will be partnered with this dashing beauty that deserves the respect she needs like a loquacious woman of fashion and wealth. There was rumors of Swire dating a certain doctor in Rhodes Island but can you even believe in fake news nowadays?

Ch'En disappeared from Swire's eyes which was a relief because in her eyes, she sees a centipede worth crushing underneath her high heels. But orders are orders, unfortunately, she went to go take her gear off the top shelf from her personal armory and jogged off to the transport van. Hopefully, it's a separate van. She'd rather sit right next to some handsome man with huge muscles and a clear history of daring achievements than with a bustling powerhouse bitch such as Ch'En. But then again, everything that makes Swire moral contradicts her subconsciously because after she entered the transport van (with four other passengers dressed in full SWAT gear and riot shields), there was Ch'En and her stupid face Swire just wants to butt her head into until it turns into a deep crater. Worst part yet, she sat right next to her. Why she didn't just order a passenger to move over, she doesn't know. Probably by the fact that something fell from the sky and it wasn't a Catastrophe event. Which is strange because in all of Swire's (or even everybody's) horrific experiences of the past Catastrophes, this particular event was bizarre.

What on Terra has possibly fell into orbit anyways? Only one way to find out.

"So… What is it?" Asked by a man in a hazmat suit, taking notes on his notepad.

His partner crouches at the sealed container containing the object that fell out of the sky. Inspecting it a little too close before a bright light almost blinded him and forced him to almost jolt back. Startled, he immediately stood up before replying to his partner's question, "I don't know," as simple as that. "Honestly, if it's not a fragment of a Catastrophe, then I don't know what is."

"So what you mean is this is the first time something fell out of the sky that isn't a calling card for Catastrophes?" The other commented, writing down his notes. "This isn't a satellite or anything, it's just…"

Upon closure inspection, it revealed to be an "ominous looking book".

"...with a bomb on it."

After a few minutes, the supposed officials of this incident - the Rhine Lab - entered the containment room where the anomaly is being contained. A young woman approached the two men whose guarding it. Silence is her name, throwing vials of rejuvenation is her game - and probably some smarts of being a renown scientist but whatever. She looked… Bored but that's her occasional look, all the time. She's an owl so, looking bored is normal for the likes of her kind. She was greeted by the two men present in the area and gave their evaluation and said evaluation would be underpraised as Silence would take this matter onto her own notepad, writing the essentials of her views and the two men's logic about the anomaly; that it came flying down from the sky, destroying a two-story building and leaving five dead and twenty-three wounded within and near without it's premises, has no Catastrophe matter into this incident, and believing it to be a sort of satellite. But what kind of satellite is an ominous looking old leather and hard covered book with an unlit bomb pressed against it? Only time will tell. Her findings will be presented once there is enough explanation to support the coexistence of this anomaly. For now…

"I told you, Swire," Saria's familiar voice rang out of the room, sounding displeased apparently. Silence exited to see Saria discussing the situation "like civil people do" with one of the influential people within the Lungmen Police Department.

"We got the situation under control," Saria stated. "Our cleanup crews had already been doing their part since they first came to respond to the celestial panic."

"Are you sure that a building is worth "cleaning" up?" Swire pointed the Elephant In The Room. "Structural damage and medical finances aren't Rhine Lab's forte, are they?"

Saria groaned just talking about this displeasing discussion with Swire but she has to grudgingly entertain. "That's why Rhodes Island lended their help with us to evaluate the problem easily and efficiently. Rhine Lab is still short-staffed due to the fact Rhodes Island also found another anomaly in Chernobog, at this time."

This struck Swire a skeptic look in that smug face of hers. "How come? Could you please elaborate on that?"

Saria's voice faded out when Silence heard a sound from the containment room and thereon, return to know what is amiss. That was when another problem had take shape. Watching one of the two men, from a distance, holding the anomaly with his own two hands with eyes shining upon it like a golden ticket on the way to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Instead of interfering, she decided to watch which was a bad idea because…

Medic had gotten on the streets of the poorer side of Lungmen City, which almost resembled like Hungary's impoverished neighborhoods during the 1980's, following this woman as she toured him. He stood out to the rest of the people present because of how he dressed, obviously looking like a Stand User in the plain open and nobody would even suspect if it's even him who probably dissected a sixteen year old's frog. Either way, Medic could already listen to the sneers, snarls, and gossips behind his ear due to just his mere presence, he's already causing a fuss.

But what's been bothering him are the people's appearance… All of them have tails and ears of a certain or specific animal. Everywhere he glanced, he could've sworn he saw a fat Asian man with black bags under his eyes and ears like a Panda, a girl with a wolf's tail… Was that a turtle shell on that old woman's back? Whatever world he was plunged into, he is sure that this world is not what it seems. But what else is there anyway, if he could find a Russian man whose a bear, how ironically deliberate would that be.

Then his stomach said something… It was time to eat.

His tour guide paused to look behind her to see that the tourist she's supposed to be touring around this poor part of the city is now smudging his face against the glass pane, looking at a grocery store (that isn't in neat condition and obviously looked like one of those stores you'e find in Boston, United States right at the corner) and their edible products he has no knowledge of but at least, looks delicious. She promptly stood behind him, ignoring the faces turning to the seemingly deranged man with a quenching hunger.

Something has struck her since she met him and took him to the fewer unattractive sightsees of this side of the city. She hasn't asked for his name yet, neither did she told hers either. Right now, it won't be too late to ask now anyway so…

"Mister-"

"Fraülein," Medic cried out to which the young woman gave him her full attention. "I vant to eat. Vhat do you vant?"

Awfully understandable accent of unknown descent but whatever, she cluelessly replied, "Twink… ies." Which sounded more like a question rather than an answer.

"Alright!" And just like that, Doctor Ludwig enters the store jubilee like he has just received news of his wife getting pregnant and is giving birth soon. Like, he's ever going to have children of his own.

Then the woman commented to herself about him, "This man's first person to ever walk in that store after a month." Well, the real question is… Does he have the city's legal currency?

While the young woman waited outside, Doctor Ludwig browsed the aisles with a shopping basket, dumping a buttload of Twinkies (not even checking if they're expired or not) and other stuff that looked interesting in his eyes. This included… A Shampoo Bottle, five cartons of milk (then again, he doesn't know if they're expired), a package of sugar, and a CD mix of some rapper whose main icon is that of a penguin. Also, some other stuff the author wasn't bothered to mention. Anyways, after picking what needed to be dumped in the shopping basket, the young woman was left outside to be bewildered by the fact that he appeared to be stocking up for the apocalypse or something. But then again, judging by his looks, he is rich…

Or at least, she hopes so.

After hitting over to the counter, Medic smiled at the cashier (and the owner of the shop) which was a middle-aged woman that looked like an aunt who never came out to her parents at a younger age as a lesbian than any normal teenage-looking American woman with an apron and a visor named "Belle" or "Claire". At least, it wasn't an Indian behind the counter… That would be really, really way too cliche. But who is Medic to judge? He can't anyway since he's associated with a team of eight other mercenaries whose intelligence compared to all of them lies of a peanut to a mind going mega just turning up that dishwasher; a very, very merry band of a so-called dysfunctional family.

"That would be three thousand dollars, please…"

"Ah! Eines second, please…!"

He then gives her a wad of dollars… United States American dollars, that is, to which the cashier ultimately refuses because of the obvious.

"I don't accept foreign money, sir," the cashier sincerely told, with a bored face. "You ought to pay in Lungmen dollars or get out of my store without the stuff you're…" Air quotes… "Buying."

Doctor Ludwig, shocked to know that the universal money (who even says that nowadays) is being refused, then argued peacefully to which the cashier answered back… But with steam fuming out of her nose. "If you can't pay, then leave! Or else, I'll have to call my boys on you."

Medic was awfully worried about that. He didn't want anymore trouble but all of those groceries, all of those sustenance waiting to be ingested and shriveled up for more - will it all but for naught? He wasn't the type to give up that easy, considering that he's a doctor and doctors generally don't give up on a life on the brink of death (unless if someone as a better hat with a rarer unusual effect, then none of that matters anyway). But in the name of food, well, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what appetite Heavy eats from time to time. So, he dug through this bag once again…

And to his surprise, he grabbed something he didn't know had.

The cashier was audibly irritated now that two minutes have passed and this bumbling customer infront of her hasn't paid for his groceries. When she was about to speak up to hurry his ass up and decide whether he should pay or leave, a large ingot was dropped on the counter. She laid her eyes on it like she was an entitled eight year old at a mall, asking for her mother to buy her this particular doll because it piqued her interest. She laid eyes unto what is known to be Australium.

Yeah, that Australium. The stuff that Australians use to be smarter, stronger, and live longer to the point, it's almost is like cocaine but essential to the economy at least. Or what's left of it after some guy nearly naked with a du-rag, a Male thong of the American flag, and a pair of black boots influenced Mann Co. and their ineptitude to produce upgrades and a brand new production line of Heavy Weapons for someone Heavy enough to carry them - to which the production line will never ever begin assembly in the first place and probably never will be that it became a running joke that had gone stale over the past months.

Even the young woman whose stayed outside the store gawked from the window.

Medic made clicking noises from his figures and the cashier immediately got half of her attention onto him since the other half couldn't believe this shiny, golden thing that would make her triple - no, quadruple rich and finally let her children have better education and a better roof to live in. His smirk said it all. "Vell, vill I take my stuff und leave, fraü?"

The cashier's face didn't change at all, stuck in a shocker. But she did heard the words that came out of his mouth so, she nodded as a response. The next thing she watched was the man merrily walking away with a bag of groceries in between his hands like it was just another Tuesday afternoon, off to watch football or something. All she could do right now is… Stay like this for a couple of minutes until she screams, running over to her husband and kids, telling them they're gonna be rich as hell. No need to thank the good samaritan, patience has gave you the luck you needed most.

For Medic though… Australium is almost useless to him because the answer is obvious. The key to immortality is to "trust someone who lost their medical license", until then, you're literally going to feel why your heart is weighing you down like you're weighing dumbbells. That's when you wish you had a second reevaluation upon taking the surgery firsthand. In short, immortality sucks physically.

First, there was an explosion. Then another explosion… And another one… DJ Khaled "Another one"...

The first thing Saria saw after she had opened her eyes was that she was lying hard on the concrete, second was the surrounding rubble that wasn't there before when the explosion began. She grunted, brushing the pain that was crushing her before she was on back on her knees, then her feet. Bruises on her face since she had some of the debris fly forward to her face before she got knocked out. Looking around, she sought out the situation. There were responders arriving to the scene, trying to evaluate what to do before doing it. Saria then realized something…

"Silence!" She yelled to, trying to get an answer back. "Silence, where are you?" Her cries weren't enough.

She went to the tent that was there, now it was just a torn up large jigsaw piece of deflated tarp. Saria rummaged across the debris and then some, before she saw a feather. A brown feather with some streaks of near-white. She dug through more and already, she wasn't hoping that Silence is dead; more rather, how Ifrit would react of Silence is dead and that's no bueno. In retrospect, she herself hasn't met face-to-face with Ifrit but in frames of pictures that separate her and the angry Jalapeño. As per some inner shades of security, Silence wouldn't even let her see Ifrit. If you put it like that, who's who at the faults of child custody?

After digging through a little bit more, Saria eventually found Silence… Was crushed under the concrete debris and pieces of tarp. She pulled her out of there. She wasn't so sure about Silence, but thank Goodness, that heart of hers is still beating but faint. Saria ought to bring her into proper health administration or else that pulse goes kaput. Silence's feathers are plucked like a whole featherless chicken just on it's way into the oven.

Another explosion erupted nearby. Saria didn't pay half of her attention to it considering there's a dying woman in her arms that still has her custody papers or something. It was oh-so-majesty of Lungmen Police Department and esteemed Swire, who looked appeared far less than esteemed with foundations of makeup, heirlooms and veils of gold that could bring her weight down the runway fashion show at Downtown Lungmen.

"What the hell is happening?" She cried out to one of the policemen on stand-by and awaiting for orders (for goodness sake…) in full gear, to which the policeman replied of something big causing havoc and is just passing by the more richer avenues of Lungmen; And when the policeman mentioned something big, it usually means for anything that involves a Catastrophe event. But just as she feared, it was something much much much different. This time, however, it wasn't as problematic as hearing Ch`En bicker infront of her office desk, running her tap about something that was supposed to be her own problem, not Swire's. (At least that's what Swire thinks so, believing in her own right.)

Speaking of Ch`En, where is she? Swire could care less, her position as police chief is on the line here, and nobody is ever more eligible to take that job title than her.

Those explosions are bothering her so, there's no time to waste now.

The ground tremored.

"Vhat vas zat?" Medic inquired with concern, whilst he ate his twinkie. He has to be honest though, he hasn't felt the good sensation of eating good food bought from a cornerstore at some sketchy neighborhood that might be filled with muggers and rapists. "Zis is gutt food, by the way."

"Hm? Oh yeah," his tourist swallowed her bite of her own twinkie before answering the man. "It's probably just the city's engines; we're probably turning to another direction." She took a bite again.

Ludwig realized that something again, he's not where he's supposed to be. He's completely foreign to everything here. That made him skeptical - this city has engines? Engines usually comes with something that aligns that of a machine, and that machine he's currently thinking now is a car. So, he's speculating here that this city is moving on wheels. Spectacular as that may be, humanity hasn't peaked or piqued to the couple more hundreds from 1970… Unless…

"Fraülein," he called to her attention and easily got it, meeting her eyes with his whilst chewing her own twinkie. "Vhere vas my manners - vhat ist your name, fraülein?" He asked kindly, like a proper gentleman would of a supposed physicist of medicine.

She blinked before answering him, just articulating that strange accent of his. "Oh, my name is Xiau," she answered him simply. "What's yours mister…"

"Doctor," he corrected her.

"Mister… Doctor?"

"Zat vould be strange, jawhol," Ludwig admitted her "assumption".

Xiau simply shrugged before continuing to finish her twinkie. "Maybe but who am I to judge."