Beauty X Beast ~ Thirty-One!

“Don't say something like that!” Danielle tried to shove the Beast’s extended limb to the side, only to find herself pushing against something with as much give as a stone wall. “Get out of the way. If there's nothing you can do, at least let me!”

“I'm sorry… I can't.” The Beast growled at her, shifting his arm to push her back gently. “You don't have the training to do this without killing him outright, and that means anything you do in your attempt will only end up harming him.”

“So… after all this time, he's going to die now?” Henri chimed in, his voice carrying a note of relief in it that set Danielle's teeth on edge.

“Father!” Danielle spun on the man, ready to take a swing if he made even one comment showing he was happy with this result. “You can't be seriously pleased that he isn’t going to survive? This is an Artificer! He gave me access to his home, his library, and he even taught me directly. I've learned so much, progressed so far! He's even achieved Breakthrough while I was here, based on some of my theories! To say he’s changed even over the last few weeks would be an immense understatement, and-”

“Oh.” Henri’s soft comment hit Danielle like a slap across the face, and she went silent as he nodded and took a tentative step closer to the dying man. “I see. I didn't realize that you… I see. Beast, I… I can save him.”

“No. You can't.” The Beast turned to face them fully, standing to his full, menacing height. “You don't seem to understand me when I told you that I actively cannot allow him to be harmed by someone-”

“Someone without training, correct?” the Tinkerer stated heavily, continuing to step forward slowly, as though approaching a large, cornered dog. “Let me tell you a story. Long ago, when my daughter here was barely taking her first steps, I didn't work only on toys. I worked on the most intense cases of surgery those coming home from the war needed to undergo. The reasoning was simple: what is working on someone during surgery, but making changes to an engine as it’s running?”

“I cannot take that at face value,” the Beast snippily replied, his voice taking on a sharper, mechanical sound as the deepest parts of its runescripting took over. “Please give Comte LeKrout space as he-”

“Would you accept an oath?” Henri questioned, his eyes dark as he held out his right hand. “You fully understand how important it is for me to have full use of my hands, yes? Then I’ll pinky swear to you, Beast. I’m fully trained in the delicate art of surgery. I will be able to complete this surgery, and if I'm lying, I offer both my pinkies, once this is over. I ask again, will you accept this oath?”

Bright white light had nearly taken over the usual blue, shimmering sheen coming from the Beast’s crystalline eyes. After a long moment, the deep blue fully saturated its eyes once more, then the machine stepped out of the way. “I accept your oath. Please save my master… or I’ll be forced to end you for being the one to kill him. I can only ask for your understanding in this matter.”

Lifting its hand, the Beast snapped the scalpel off of its own arm, handing it over to Henri. The man accepted the tool, nodded, and stepped forward to stand over the inert form of the Artificer. Danielle came closer, only to find her way barred once more by the Beast. She watched as her father, his hands trembling slightly, prepared for the most high-stakes upgrade he’d ever performed. He took a deep breath, glancing down and running a critical eye over the single tool that had been given to him.

“A scalpel is a great start. Can I get some clamps, pliers, and an extender to keep the tissue open as I cut through?” With each request, the Beast snapped off a small part of its own body, handing it over without question. The lights above them suddenly increased in intensity, flooding the area with intense, stark, white light and driving away all shadows. 

With a glance at his daughter, Henri began speaking, even as he lifted the scalpel with suddenly steady hands. “I’m about to perform a heart transplant on an individual whose life is flowing out of him, even as we speak. If there were any other option, we wouldn‘t be doing it this way. I’ve no idea if this young man can feel what’s about to happen, or if he’s deeply unconscious. I can only hope it’s the latter.” 

After a moment of mental preparation, he placed the blade on the exposed skin of the young man's chest. Next to Danielle, the Beast tensed, gears beginning to spin up, steam building to a boiling point. “The first incision is crucial… it must be precise, to avoid unnecessary trauma. Whether he can feel it or not, the more perfect and controlled I am, the less time it will take him to recover.” 

With a firm push, the blade glided through the skin, muscle, and connective tissue with practiced ease. As blood welled out, Danielle found herself absolutely transfixed by what she was seeing—both the surgery itself, as well as the way her father moved with such knowledge. She found herself speaking her thoughts aloud before she realized she had even opened her mouth. “I never even knew you were part of the war… especially on the side opposing Verdelune. Were you… were you actually a spy working against them?”

“Now is not the time.” The Beast’s nervous energy caused it to nearly swing its oversized arm into the Enchantress, but she fluidly and gracefully swept out of the way of the accidental attack. “Ah! Apologies… that was… that was-”

“Don't worry about me, Beast,” Danielle soothingly stated, keeping a cautious eye on the deadly dangerous machine. When she saw deep concern and even fear in the stiff metal face, she realized her time spent cultivating her connections with the automatons had all been leading to this point. Recognizing that she was likely the only person in the world who could read the Beast's subtle cues, the Enchantress firmed her will and set about working to keep the Beast calm so her father could work. 

“LeKrout’s going to be fine. Trust my father. He’s the absolute best at repairing whatever mechanism he needs attention. To him, I'm sure this is no different at all.” 

Henri hadn't slowed his pace even for a moment, his hands moving with the practiced precision of a master surgeon. The Tinkerer continued to speak quietly as he essentially unzipped the man laying in the pod, but let out a soft grunt, yanking both the Beast’s and Danielle's attention back to what he was doing. “Rib cage is separated… heart is revealed. Subject is within a deep state of… I’d almost say hypnosis? Blood flow is minimal but… Beast. To remove his heart is to kill him. What do I-?”

The Beast inserted a massive, clawed finger into the pod. A moment later, a weak, flickering red light sprang up, enveloping the Artificer's body once more. “The stasis field is in place for an incredibly limited window of time. Note the flickering—each time it goes out, even for a fraction of a moment, his normal biological deterioration continues. The damage is not stopped; it’s merely greatly slowed.”

“Then we move faster.” Henri’s voice remained calm and determined as he carefully set about trimming the surrounding tissue. As he clamped the major arteries and blood vessels, Danielle could practically feel the Beast’s anxiety growing, and she began subtly moving around the space, forcing him to take his eyes off the surgery to ensure she wasn’t getting any closer to his unprotected creator. 

“Almost done with the first part. I just need to sever this tube and these veins with extreme precision, leaving just a little extra close to the heart that can be used to amalgamate the mechanical heart with the healthy biological system.”

“Tube?” The Beast rumbled with a clear threat in his tone, causing Danielle's efforts to be for naught as he swung around to put his full attention on the surgery. “That is the aorta!”

“Yes, exactly,” Henri calmly agreed, his focus unshaken by the accusatory words. Quickly and carefully, he cut through the artery—just as cleanly as he had cut off the indignant shout of the Beast. From there, he firmly gripped the heart and slowly lifted it, trimming away anything the connective tissue holding it in place. 

Finally, the heart was free.

“Danielle! Catch!” As her father thrust the heart at her, definitely not throwing it, the Enchantress numbly accepted the organ, her eyes wide with a mix of horror and fascination at what she was seeing. “Put it in a jar or something. It'll be a good conversation starter in the future.”

“What in the what?” Even as her hands turned bloody from holding the organ, her eyes were drawn to an immense number of markings, which were covering nearly the entirety of the flesh. A quick check confirmed that each of the sigils was a single, solitary, golden ‘X’. She shook her head slightly when she realized what she was actually seeing, “How many oaths has he sworn, crossing his heart each time? He literally has a heart of gold.”

“Please hold your questions until the end. You, stand aside. With the damage done, every move forward from this point is a rescue operation.” The Beast moved forward, a single step bringing him to his master's side as he pushed the Tinkerer out of the way. 

A vast array of precise tools and implements extended from his arms, which broke down to a level Danielle had never before witnessed. Dozens of tools became at least a hundred, and the mechanical heart he held was spun and adjusted until it was perfectly positioned within the chest cavity, aligning it with the severed blood vessels and arteries. “Tinkerer. Do what you need to do. Call out for any assistance necessary.” 

“The first step is connecting the main hose—aorta, that is. Yes.” Danielle looked up, her brow furrowing at the intensity in her father's eyes, the way sweat had begun pouring from his forehead. “I need to ensure a leak-proof connection, Beast; how well can you suture using this thread?” 

Apparently deciding the question didn’t deserve a reply, the automaton got to work, swiftly sewing up the first connection with a fine, durable thread. “It seems you are lucky that I at least came prepared. What is next?”

“This blood vessel, then this artery, continuing around the heart in a star-shaped pattern to make sure we aren’t over-tightening on any one side.” Henri stepped back, allowing the Beast to quickly follow his instructions, joining the mechanical heart into the body even as the red light of stasis flickered dangerously. “The heart has been successfully connected. At this point, we are in the phase of rescuing and stabilizing the subject.”

“He is Comte LeKrout,” came the beastly snarl as the machine worked with a speed and precision no mere human could match without specialized skills granted by the system itself. “I am finished… all that remains is to activate the heart and seal the chest cavity. For the replacement to begin its function, I need to end the stasis. But once I do, it is gone for good. Are you sure it is time to do so?”

“I can only hope for the best, just like you, Beast.” Henri stated in a serene tone, glancing over at his daughter only once before nodding. “Do it.” 

An implement dove into the pod, and the red light vanished nigh-instantaneously as the Beast tapped on the heart a single time. It glowed brightly, then… nothing. Danielle felt a yawning chasm open in her gut, her eyes fixed on the inert heart. With a surge of panic, she lurched toward her father, driven by a fierce need to stand between her father and the inevitable punishment the automaton was sure to mete out.

But the Beast showed no reaction at all. 

After only a few long seconds, he began running his implements along the open chest cavity; beginning to seal it by suturing all open wounds, then carefully removing the rib expansion tools. More sutures followed, before finally his arms retracted and began to fold themselves back into their normal state once more. “The procedure is complete. We will closely monitor him to ensure there are no complications, but the initial results were… promising.”

“Promising? It worked? I didn't see…” If she were not literally holding a poisoned, slowly rotting heart in her hands, Danielle would’ve slapped her open palm to her forehead. “Of course there's no heartbeat. What am I thinking? It doesn't need to pulse to send blood anymore.”

“That is correct. Please hand over the Comte’s heart; I will properly store it away.” The Beast took the sad lump of damaged flesh then turned back to regard Henri. “You did well, Tinkerer. Your steadiness and focus were crucial to the success of… what's wrong with you?”

*Ahem…* Henri was breathing with some difficulty, though he kept a strained smile on his face. Moving carefully, he positioned himself behind the now-only-sleeping Artificer to make sure the man was between himself and the Beast. “I don't suppose you’re willing to do another brief surgery? It seems, well, it seems lying during my oath has caught up to me.”

He held up his hands, showing where both of his pinkies had turned black… and lines of infection were already starting to creep into the healthy skin below.