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The surgeon entered the room, a small wiry man with a bald spot hidden under his cap, his face hidden by his mask. A pair of thick glasses adorned his nose, which he pushed up with his wrist as he began talking. "Good afternoon everybody, hope we're all feeling good today...it's a Mr Tomorrow, yes?"

John didn't move, but somehow he managed to croak out a "Yeah..."

"Excellent! Mister Tomorrow, as I operate on you, the nurse will ask you a series of questions and show you some visual aids. This will help determine how much damage I'll be doing to you as the operation presses on. If there is too much, or you need a break, i'll stop the op. is that okay?"

"Whatever..."

"Aha, an eager patient! Lets begin shall we? Nurse, a number...hmm, I'll take a four, if you please."

The nurse handed him a scalpel, sharp as a razor, and he held in his hand like a pencil as he surveyed Johns naked scalp. The man had received his fair share of beatings about the head in his life, so it was slightly hard to distinguish between old scars and new, but two definately stood out - a hand-shaped imprint at the back of his skull, and the semi-purple, jagged skull above it.

"Looks like yiu've been to some strange places, Mr Tomorrow. You have a lump of softer skinin the shadow of a hand just under neath the entry wound to the bullet - this probably facilitated the bullets path through your thick skin and bone. I'll make the first incision just above that - nurse, please get the cutter ready."

"Okay ladies and gentlemen..." The surgeon said as he placed aside the scalpel and took up the circular saw, the shiny small blade whirring into life with the push of a button. "...Here we go."

He bent over John's head, the shaved skin peeled back from the back of his head to reveal his exposed skull, the bone as scratched and scarred as his skin. John was looking left and right, waiting for something to happen, the sound of the whirring blade deafening to him. Then he felt it - the vibration more then anything, as the bone saw sliced cleanly through the bone. Unknown to the surgeon, however, nobody had bothered to try and drain the blood that had built up in his head, and the man and the two nurses beside them were both sprayed with blood as the pressure was released.

"Ah geez!" The first nurse cried as her smock was sprayed with blood. The surgeon stood back for a moment, placing the saw down as the gyser began to die down.

"It's okay, its alright!" He cried, trying to keep his OR under control. "Dr. Sarona, perhaps next time, when the man who is having brain surgery for a injured brain, you could maybe release the pressure within before I can begin?!"

"Whats...whats happening?" John whispered, worried about what he could not see.

"Its okay, its alright, we've had a complication but we're fixing it..." The young nurse sitting beside him said, smiling at him reassuringly.

Above, the other nurses used towels to soak up the blood. The surgeon, having regained his composure, took up the saw again and began to cut, taking his time to take a big enough chunk out before stepping back, allowing the nurse to step forward to remove the piece of skull. The square chunk of bone, bloodied red on one side and a mottled purple on the other, was placed in a small bowl and put to the side.

John's brain was exposed, the fleshy pink organ stuffed wetly into the cranium. It looked like it was pressing against the hole in the skull, almost spilling out past the bone. like it had been inflated too big. There were several liesions upon the fresh, squishy flesh, much like tears in pieces of jelly. There were also many, many white lines covering the skin upon the brain.

"All the kings horses..." The surgeon breathed, looking at ntothing but a mass of scar tissue. "Mr. Tomorrow...you have a remarkable brain."

"...Thanks?" Was the quiet reply from beneath the table.

Clearing his throat, the surgeon took up a scalpel and a pair of forceps, and set forward to cut into the pink, squicshy brain.

"Okay, starting first incision..." The suregon muttered, taking a scalpel and, finding a scar around the same place as what the bullet's trajectory would've taken, using the X-rays as a guide, sliced into it as easily as pushing a hot knife into butter.

"Oh...oh that feels weird..." John whispered to the nurse before him. She patted his hand reassuringly as the doctor used a clamp to hold the incision open.

"Okay, we...whoa..." He breathed as he watched the incision he'd just cut begin to close, the clamp actually being pulled into the skull as the skin melted back together, forming a scar where the incision had been. "Dr. Sarona, i need you in here now!"

"Whats happening?!" John asked, his voice etched with concern as the nurse continued to hold his hand, patting it and trying to get him to focus on her as the other nurses ran to gather recording equipment.

"What?! Thats not how it works!" John cried, becoming more agitated. "I heal marginally faster then most people - not any faster then that!"

John's body was weird like that. The knife-injury to the hand he'd procured several hours ago had already closed over, almost completely healed. A broken bone or internal, organ injury? Several weeks, possibly a month, before he was back to full fitness.

But his brain? Well...who knows what their brain could do.

"Doctors..." One assisting nurse piped up. "I have some telekinetic abilties. I cant lift anything bigger then a few pounds, but i'm sure i could assist with holding the brain matter back long enough for Dr. Jameson to retreive the bullet..."

"Yes yes..." Dr. Jameson muttered, readjusting his grip upon his scalpel before letting out a small breath. "Okay nurse...lets make this work."

"Yes doctor..." The young woman said with a small nod, moving to stand beside him. Holding her hands up to the opening in John's skull, she opened her palms up wide, before curling her fingers slightly and turning her hands inwards, as if about to draw open a curtain. "I'm ready....make the incision."

Dr. Jameson nodded....before leaning forward and slicing the fresh scar open. Immedaintly the skin peeled away, much like when a fire curls plastic, the nurse moving her fingers apart gently, holding the wound open with her mind, trying to keep the blood flow to a minmum as she did. Dr. Jameson didn't stand on ceremony - he cut forward quickly but with presicion, cutting towards the cortex - before finally finding it.

"I need forceps!!" He said drastically, grabbing them when they were put before him and, leveling them at the wound before inserting them into the pink, bloodied hole -

- Before his entire body went stiff, jittering as electricity flashed through his body, his hand grasping the forceps crushing them in his palm before they were finally snapped off, the telepathic nurse beside him crying out as he fell back, his skin and coat smoking. The woman stepped forward to keep the wound open, the forceps now floating in the air within the center of the wound - she was trying to reduce the damage as much as she could, but she was not practised - beads of sweat were already forming on her brow from the strain.

"That wasn't me!" John cried, the nurse before him trying depserately to keep him focused on the cards she was presenting him. Deer...tree...house....window....dog....kitsune....man....woman....the number three....a star....number 48....

A couple of nurses rushed into the room, having been scrubbing and prepping for the surgery before his unfortunate accident. They rushed to Dr. Jameson's side, gripping him by the shirt and pulling him away from the operating table, allowing the telekinetic nurse and Dr. Sarona all the room they needed.

The nurse let out a low breath as she relaxed her hands, bringing one around to mime grasping the forceps, using the other to mime brace the brain matter, the organ immediantly trying to close over the forceps and the bullet they were clutching - but the nurse was faster, spiking her fingers and opening them like a blooming flower, holding the wound apart as she drew her other hand back...

...To extract the bullet and the broken forceps, the bloodied lump of lead clutched tightly between the prongs of the forceps as it floated through the air into the dish awaiting the bullets arrival on the table.

"I=is t-that i-it?" The girl stammered, her muscles visibly shaking now as she tried to keep the brain open. They still needed to scrub out any remaining debris from the broken forceps - but those were nowhere near where the bullet had been, a lump of scar tissue already formed around where it had nestled.

The nurse relaxed, letting out a puff of air as she let her arms flop down. Immediantly, John's brain sluiced back together, the wound closing up even as his bone reformed over the hole. His skin seemed to unfurl itself from the sides it had been cut, connecting together by small sinewy strands before coming together completely. His hair sprouted forth, each individual strand forcing its way upward towards the glaring OR lights before flopping down uselessly.

John was squinting as all this went on. His head felt very, very strange - like pins and needled, but not quite. When the feeling finally stopped, he looked down at the nurse who had been asking him questions. "Thats it?"

"Thats it!" The girl said with a smile, closing her book and standing to allow him to sit up, the big man pushing himself off the table to swing his legs over, remaining sitting on the table as he looked to Dr. Sarona.

She'd done it. He could actually feel the difference - his muscles didn't feel like they were about to explode, his head didn't hurt, his eyes felt normal. "...Thank you Doctor." He said sincerely, lifting his hand to feel the back of his head. "...I am in your debt."