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Oliver in an unprecedented turn of events is the one who offered to escort me to get my injury checked out. Everyone looked at him like he'd grown a second head when he volunteered, but he just shrugged and jerked his head at me to follow him without any further explanation. I was too stunned to do anything but trail after him.

As we walk down the corridors together, I ask him the question that bothers me the most about all of this, "If I have regeneration, why didn't it show up until now? I mean, I've been hurt before." Ethan's bruises come to mind. I push on, "If the barrier doesn't affect-"

"You always talk this much?" This guy has got to be kidding me. I open my mouth to tell him exactly what I think of him, but when he catches sight of me, he chuckles darkly. "The doc will talk you through it."

"What if I want to hear it from someone on my team with the same skill? Is that so hard to understand?"

Oliver rolls his eyes so hard I swear I can hear them. He cracks his neck before answering, "I didn't pay attention to the technical shit."

"Strong words from the mission team hacker." He laughs again. It sounds as it should from someone who never talks. Rusty and cracked.

His hands are shoved deep into his pockets, but I can see them clench into fists before he spits out at me, "Point taken."

Unbelievable. I really thought I had him too. "Soooo...?" I lengthen the word purposely. Maybe badgering him is the key. Even if it's not, I don't want to give up yet.

Oliver lets out an aggravated breath, "The red head doesn't talk this much."

Him mentioning Nuri has me wanting to push his buttons even more. He makes her feel like she isn't good enough on a near daily basis. Not that she'd ever tell him that. "Of course she doesn't. Why would she want to talk to someone who doesn't give a damn about her?"

I must have said something just a little too close to home because Oliver stops in his tracks and glares down at me, "Don't talk about things you don't understand."

"Oh, I understand. I understand that you tried to switch partners right in front of her. I understand that you would rather grunt at her than talk to her. I understand-"

"Nothing," Oliver cuts me off, "You understand nothing. I didn't want another partner period. Let alone one that I respect the hell out of because I don't want to watch someone else die to defend me. Especially when I'm tasked to reroute shit instead of just blowing it up!" His chest is heaving and his eyes have gone wide. He shared more than he meant too.

He stalks off without another word, and I scramble to keep up with him. I clearly owe him an apology, but I think that will only make things worse. Apologizing would be announcing the fact that he let me in enough to see a side of him that's still bleeding. I have been so eager to find out what happened the day half the team was wiped out, but hearing a piece of it now feels like a violation.

When we've finally made it to the medical hall, Oliver runs a hand over his face before putting his mask back in place. "You can take it from here." He turns but throws a parting shot at me over his shoulder, "For the record, tonal verbal cues and hand gestures in the field are better than words. I'm protecting her."

Shame swirls through my entire body. I've misjudged him. Completely misjudged him even knowing how deeply he felt for last partner. I contemplate telling Nuri, but something about the way he said it makes me feel like I would be betraying him. Oliver has spoken to me more in this one conversation than he has since I met him. I'll keep it to myself, at least for now, I decide and walk into the medical track entrance hall.

Inside there are a few denizens waiting to be seen. The woman behind the desk greets me with a polite, efficient tone, "How may I help you today?"

I lean in closer, not sure what the protocol is here. It'd have been nice if Oliver had stuck with me until I was checked in because now I have to find my own way to talk around the whole serum situation. Does this woman even know about it? "I was injured in training, and I was sent to be checked out."

She nods, looking me over before writing something down on a clipboard, "Name?"

"Samantha Hargrove."

This time her eyes light with recognition. Pushing back from her chair abruptly, she uses a key card to open the door to the left of the desk, "Come with me." The minute the door swishes shut behind us, she loses her cool professionalism, "Tell me you got regeneration to go with the speed. That would be amazing because Ryan-"

"Hannah," a sharp voice has Hannah snapping her mouth shut. A man in the medical track uniform appears out of the corridor. His wrathful dark brown eyes pin poor Hannah in place, "I'll take it from here."

At the clear dismissal, Hannah flees back the way we came. Typical. Someone in this place is loose with information, and I have them snatched from me before they get to the good stuff. I stare at the man in front of me, whose face still looks murderous and is fixed on Hannah's retreating steps.

"That was rude." I've had too long of a day to be congenial. I'm not sure I ever was anyway.

The man's gaze lands on me. He's got to be around Rick's age based on the grey that's started to infiltrate his dark hair. "Let's get you into a screening room."

I follow him, but I can't stop myself from saying, "You should apologize to her."

"Hannah knows better than to talk like that in the open."

Right. Patients are back here too in these rooms. I'm not really sure if I care if the whistle is blown on this whole thing. Let everyone find out what's been happening to them. The doctor must have picked up on my unspoken sentiment because he arches a brow at me as we enter the screening room.

It's larger than ones I've been in before, and there are five people already waiting inside to take scans of me. I have to put on a dressing gown, and they are so eager that one of them tries to help me take my shoes off, "I can do that myself, thanks."

The woman, who still has a hold of my laces, flushes red before backing away from me. I shimmy into the gown behind a fold out privacy screen in the corner, and then the true madness begins. They must take dozens of scans in between probing my hip, asking questions about my fall, and finally viewing the footage of me smacking into the wall right in front of me.

I grimace as I watch myself in real time go down hard. The doctors look back at me with wide grins and feverish eyes. The urge to get out of here before they decide to dissect me instead of help me is overwhelming. They aren't looking at me as a person. They are looking at me like I'm something to rip apart and inspect.

"As nice as this has been, can one of you tell me what's going on?" The sarcasm in my tone isn't lost on one or two of them.

The woman who clutched at my shoes earlier comes forward, "Regeneration has manifested in your system. Anyone else wouldn't have gotten up after a hit like that."

I scoff, "Oliver already covered that."

"Yes, well, I'm sure you found out firsthand that this doesn't keep you from feeling the pain."

The memory of the hit makes me flinch, "Got it. I just heal faster." She nods. "With the barrier down, how much faster?"

She and the doctors around her grin again, "Very fast."

"Why now?"

"Regeneration manifests strangely."

Great another non answer. I'm starting to think Oliver couldn't answer my question to begin with. "Is that it?" Light laughter floods the room. This is the weirdest doctor appointment I've ever been to in my life.

"Regeneration wakes up when the barrier is lifted, but it doesn't activate until-"

"Until I'm hurt." I whisper the words to myself. Hannah's unfinished sentence finishes itself in my head. Ryan's injuries when he was trained. His black eye from Archer. The bruises on his chest from me. This is something Ryan didn't get from the serum. Something that makes me different, maybe too different. If, as Ryan and Rick seem to think, the Elders were rushing the process before, what will they do now that they know I can heal myself? A shiver runs down my spine at the thought.