Beeping. An annoying persistent beep, was the first thing John heard when he returned to consciousness. Then a dull, aching throb in his chest, and head. Almost like when he'd taken a little too many mentats, and thought it was the smartest idea ever to try jet at the same time just as they kicked in. He tried sitting up, but found his entire body sluggish, refusing to react properly to his commands. Then his eyes opened, thankfully the lights in the room dim enough to allow him to look around without being blinded. Coughing a few times he turns his head to the left, seeing a heart monitor that was connected to his wrist with a weird plastic cuff.

That explained the beeping at any rate. Looking to his right he saw an IV stand with a tube going into his arm, filled with neon green fluid. With great effort, John managed to push himself into a sitting position. The hospital bed he was on was comfortable, at least compared to what he was used to. In the corner of the room sat a Caucasian male with almost black hair tied in a ponytail. Dressed in a lab coat, who was looking towards him. "Hello, I am Doctor Athi Christoph. I was the one to perform your operation, mostly."

Doctor Athi stood up from the chair, walking over to the side of John's bed, looking at the vitals on the computer connected to the various random medical devices connected to John himself. "You're going to feel some minor pain for awhile as your body adjusts to the new additions, you've been prescribed a rather decent painkiller to help with that. Do you have any questions?"

John looked at the Doctor, he almost reminded him of Doctor Amari in the Memory Den in an odd sort of way. "Yeah, why's my head feel like I just got out of a fist fight with a Deathclaw?" He asked.

Doctor Athi chuckled. "That's a side effect of the implant, we had to install one in your head as well, it'll keep track of all your vitals and communicate to the one located inside your chest when it should release radiation for your body to absorb in low amounts. Nothing serious I assure you." Athi reached over to the IV connected to John's arm, removing it and putting a gauze bandage with biomed gel over the hole as it began to bleed slightly. "Now that you're awake, you won't need that stabilizing agent anymore."

Looking at the IV stand, the bag still half filled with glowing green goop John looked back at Athi. "Stabilizing agent? The fuck is that?"

The Doctor shook his head slightly amused. "It was something to keep your radiation levels within acceptable limits for a Ghoul while the operation was done, and afterwards while the implants are adjusting to the data your body is giving them, but since you're awake, they should be running smoothly for now."

John was skeptical about all that medical mumbo jumbo, the most he knew was how to patch up bullet wounds, or stitch a cut closed, or the best practical use for certain fun chems. But, he didn't really have a choice but to trust this guy, anyone here, really. If they'd wanted to do some fucked up shit he was pretty sure he wouldn't have woken up after the anesthetic kicked in.

"I'm a bit fucking weary of all this, but I don't have much of a choice but to take you people at your word, so I will for now." John looked around the room again, noticing a small table on wheels that would lean over the Hospital bed if it was set next to it. It had his clothes, freshly washed and patched up by the looks of it, and even his gun.

The Doctor looked down at the screen again for a moment. "Would you like something to eat? You've been out for about a day, so I'll arrange for something to be brought to you."

John took a few moments to think about it. "Do you guys have Brahmin burgers in this joint?"

Doctor Athi nodded. "We do, yes. I take it that's what you want?"

"I want one slathered with enough cheese to kill a cat." John confirmed.

Doctor Athi chuckled again for a moment, then shrugged. "I'll have it brought to you shortly, if you need anything, tap the red button on the remote next to you, it'll call a nurse or someone else into the room to help. But do avoid trying to get out of the bed on your own, you're going to be here at least another day while the stimulants heal up the incisions." Athi walked out of the room, the door shutting behind him. It was almost like the doors in one of those fancy Vaults he'd seen, when he'd visited one or two of em that still had working power.

John looked at the television next to the bed on a weird hydraulic looking arm, reaching up and pulling it towards him slightly. He turned it on, flicking through channels with the remote before finding something that interested him while he waited. It was a movie called 'Attack Of The Twenty Foot Centipede'. It reminded him of a few old film reels he'd watched back in the Memory Den ripped from the head of that one Ghoul in the memory den, Kent Connolly was his name, he thought. He wasn't sure, he didn't speak to the guy very often. But Doctor Amari had managed to record a few old films out of the dudes memory so he wouldn't need to plug himself into a memory lounger every time he'd want to revisit the old movies.

It was only about fifteen minutes before a red colored unicorn with a crystalline coat trotted into the room, a tray floating next to her head carried in a red glow. That made John do a double take, then again he'd seen other weird shit while here. Silently shrugging to himself he watched the unicorn, which he only just now noticed dressed in a little white hat with a red cross on it, plop the tray onto the table, wheeling it to hang over his head. "Hello, I'm Nurse Lollipop. Here's your food, if you need anything else please press the red button to let hospital staff know." The glow died down to just the lid of the tray which floated off as the unicorn, or Nurse Lollipop as he'd just learned her name was, trotted out of the room humming to herself.

"....Lollipop? What kinda candy-floss ass name is that?" He muttered to himself after she'd left the room. Looking down at the tray his mouth watered when he saw an absolutely massive burger on two buns, with a side of fries. A small tray on the side of the plate had green leafy things he'd not seen before. Biting one, it didn't taste much of anything but it did have a crunchy texture. It also had slices of onion, he knew onions, and pickles too. How fortunate for him. Ignoring the green stuff, which he would later learn was called Lettuce, he added onion and pickles to his burger. A bottle of mustard and ketchup provided on the tray, he used those as well.

Heaven. John was never a religious man, not really. But the first bite of that cheeseburger nearly convinced him he was in some paradise the moment he bit into it. The cheeseburger was consumed messily, then the fries. Oh good lord, these tasted way better than the Tato fries he'd grown up eating on occasion in the Diamond City Market. Within three minutes of getting his tray, the food was gone, a bottle of beer to wash it down provided on the tray. Seems that Lorenzo guy had told them about his preference for alcohol with meals. Maybe, just maybe, if the food kept being this good, his time here wouldn't be nearly as shitty as he'd thought at first.

Then he was surprised when an Akun skittered into the room holding a 'get well soon' card. Squinting his eyes it took him a moment. "Suvill?"

Suvill made an affirmative hand gesture, not that Hancock knew what that meant, but he'd take it for a yes. "I have come to visit friend, after learning of your condition. And what happened to keep you alive."

That sounded dramatic didn't it? But at least John knew he had one solid friend here, even if he hadn't known the scaled guy that long. "Good to see you Suvill, surprised the hell outta me. How'd you find me anyways?"

Suvill waggled his eyeturrets side to side for a brief moment. "I merely requested to know the whereabouts of my friend from the officers who'd taken you from my home."

Nurse Lollipop walked back into the room, humming to herself again as her horn lit up and the now empty tray that held Johns food prior levitated towards her, and out the door. Suvill stared silently with one eyeturret while the other stayed focused on John. "I do not think I will ever become used to such Eponite weirdness."

John laughed. "You and me both pal, you and me both."

Author's Note

Hello all, I decided instead of writing one ultra big chapter, since I had a few segments planned in, I'd just write each one as its own little chapter instead, so as to spread it out and make things easier for me. As always, comment what ya think, I do like reading the comments :D