[hider=Upgrade time]
The trip back fortunately didn’t go as FUBAR as the mission. For which Diamond was glad. She thought the initiation was tough, and sure, it was, but there they only were in danger of dying. Turning a bunch of friendlies into a pile of ashes was a bit too much to take even for her, and she’s seen some messed up stuff before. Frankly, she wasn’t certain how long it would be before some of them were kicked out, notably Aurelius who had the habit of doing massive collateral damage..

What bothered her most though was how useless she found herself facing those bugs. She just had nothing good to hit such an opponent with, and yet there were Grimm just like it. And to top it all off a Grimm with liquid for a body. Diamond wasn’t 100% sure before - the procedure she considered undertaking was fairly safe, but some risk was involved. Now though, she found herself without a doubt. The girl supposed that was why the professor wanted to wait until after the mission.

Speaking of which, Diamond froze as her eyes met that of professor Goodwitch’s. There were no words exchanged. The teacher scowled and looked at her datapad, before looking back up and giving Diamond a look, as if expecting her to react. The girl straightened up and gave the teacher one nod of the head.

Losing the scowl and taking on a more neutral expression that threatened to turn into a barely noticeable smile, Goodwitch returned the nod. “Meet me in an hour at my office.” she simply said before walking away to attend other business. Turning to her teammates, Diamond sighed: “Don’t wait for me with dinner today.” she simply said before walking off herself.

At the specified time, she knocked on the professor’s office. A sharp ‘Enter!’ ushered her in. When the door clicked shut behind her, Diamond stood still, not quite knowing what to do. A hand waved her to a seat in front of the table though.

“I assume our earlier exchange meant that you are certain about your decision. If not, kindly stop wasting my time and leave.” Goodwitch said, albeit in as non conflicting tone as those words could carry. When Diamond didn’t move a muscle, the professor relaxed a little. “I am not quite sure yet whether to allow you to proceed. I have to say your minimal experience is giving me some concern. If you lose control of your abilities, the end result could be quite disastrous. However that is a decision for you alone.”

“What I am more concerned with is that your mission didn’t exactly deserve a perfect mark. In fact a few people would like to see your team in court, something about mass murder. Care to comment on that?” Goodwitch inquired.

Diamond knew this game though. If there was any danger of legal process, it would have been happening already. No, the teacher was just trying to see if she would buckle under pressure. Fat chance of that. “They could try, and they might succeed with some of us, but I’d walk. The only thing they could have on me is the destruction of one of the trucks - suggestion there of, mind you - and that was to save the other two, so I doubt any reasonable judge would give me any trouble. As for the alleged murders, I have been gathering intel inside the settlement when that happened. Short version: I did what I was asked to do to the letter. If you want to fail our team as a whole, fine. But I don’t see a reason to obstruct me any further.” the girl said with a confident look. “As for the other problem, I would actually like to take an extra class, if that’s acceptable. It’s time better spent than botany if you ask me.”

Thinking for a while, Glynda finally nodded. “Are you aware of the dangers of the procedure?” she asked. Diamond affirmed.

“Very well then, if you are willing to undertake it I will not stop you, though personally I would advise getting at least some practice with other dust uses beforehand, but I can see how you would be in a hurry. I will send you the schedule of my other classes, I am sure yours and mine would overlap somewhere. The procedure is quite costly though, and what you specified is a dose that would last you well over the four years you will be studying here. How do you intend to fund this?” the witch continued her inquiries.

Diamond expected that one, and simply passed over her scroll with her bank account details displayed. It earned a raised eyebrow from Goodwitch: “I have my theory of how a street child came to possess such resources. I do not approve but I will admit to some degree of respect for getting away with it.” She sighed and took a sip of tea.

“But I can’t prove any of it and with the dose you are getting, I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you intend to actually keep doing what you study here for. Just know that If you betray that trust, someone will take care of you.” she said, and the look in her eyes was easily the most threatening Diamond has ever seen. Not able to openly deny the accusation under that gaze, the trainee huntress stayed silent.

“Well, now that that’s taken care of, the last piece of the puzzle is the place. Fortunately the school’s infirmary has the equipment, so you will not need to leave the premises. And you will be able to keep up with your homework and studies during your recovery.” she reminded her, and Diamond had no doubt it caused the older woman a good deal of sadistic pleasure.

“And about said recovery, it varies from individual to individual, usually from a few hours to a few days. I’m sure the doctors will tell you more. I’ll also inform the rest of the faculty of your situation and excuse you from the classes you might be missing. Telling anyone else is up to you. When should I schedule it?” the teacher asked.

“As soon as possible. I would like to be ready for next Friday.” Diamond answered, earning an approving grunt from the professor. After a few seconds, Goodwitch looked up: “Why are you still here Ms. Frost? Go get ready!” Snapping a quick nod, Diamond promptly vacated the office and headed to the infirmary.

When she arrived, a nurse was already waiting for her. “Wow. Best way to spread information is to tell a woman.” Diamond snickered, earning a giggle from the nurse. “Please excuse the staff, it’s not too often we do a procedure like this. The doctor is downright ecstatic.” the nurse confided while giving Diamond a body hugging grey suit. “Go take a good long shower, we need you as clean as possible so the tank sterilizers won’t have to work overtime. I’ll be along shortly to help you put this on, it needs to adhere to the skin and it tends to stick and tangle up together.”

Diamond took the garment and followed the instructions. It indeed took them ten minutes to put the sticky material on right. When she emerged from the changing room, the doctor was already waiting. “Ah, Ms. Frost, good! Sit down please. I am legally obliged to tell you about the procedure, please excuse the rant.”

“You are about to undertake a dust infusion procedure.” the doc begun reading the pamphlet, “You are aware that there is a risk of a bad reaction of the selected dust variety to your aura and that there will be a notable recovery time after the completion of the surgery. Such negative reaction may include but is not limited to nausea, irritation of skin, erectile disf… never mind and in an extremely volatile reaction, death. The procedure will be done using the dust shunts and requires full narcosis in a life support tank. You undertake this willingly and understand that in case of your aura rejecting the infusion, no treatment of the following complications will be covered by your health insurance. Please, sign here.” he finished, giving her the document. A quick scribble later, Diamond was lead into the operating room.

Two techs scurried around, finishing the assembly that dominated the center of the room. A glass cylindrical tank half the time as tall as she was, with pipes and cabling running to and from it. To the sides it was surrounded by a metal staircase and behind it on the upper level was a catwalk which would be used to get inside. “I need you to walk up Ms. Frost, then leave the rest to us.”

Diamond did as she was told. She didn’t have any doubts about wanting the end result, but now that she saw the infusion shunts that ended in some particularly painful looking needles on one side and hoses on the other, she couldn’t help but get a bit weak in the knees. But alas she’s gone too far - now there was no turning back, not if she didn’t want to feel ashamed of herself in the foreseeable future.

Once up on the catwalk, two medics grabbed her by the arms and one gave her a shot with the sedatives. Within few seconds, Diamond was blissfully asleep. It wouldn’t do her well to see herself being connected to life support equipment, lowered into the tank and being skewered by the shunts on several places along her back and down her arms before the tank was finally flooded.

The doctors waited an hour, monitoring the patient’s vital signs. When she appeared stable, they ran the test. A small dose of each of the kinds of dust was pumped down the shunts to measure her body’s reaction. The chief surgeon smiled when no red flags were raised, and gave the procedure a green light.

Over the next two hours, a good amount of Freeze and Kinetic dust was pumped down the shunts and into Diamond’s nervous system, blending and binding with it. Fortunately for the girl, it appeared she took the substance in without any complications. Once the infusion itself was done, the medics pumped a dose of regenerative gel down the shunts before disconnecting them. Now it was only up to Diamond to wake up.

[hr]
As the anesthetic started wearing off, Diamond started waking up into a great discomfort. She felt as if she was floating. She must have still been in the tank then. The girl didn’t muster the courage to open her eyes yet, but she did try to move around for a little bit. The resistance of her surroundings only confirmed her earlier guess. Strangely, the suit made her feel quite comfortable once immersed in liquid.

That did pathetic little to help with how cold it was. She was fucking freezing! Couldn’t they dial up the heat a little?

But then the mother of all aches exploded along her spine and arms. She flailed around, her hands rubbing the arms where she could reach them, but only slightly helping with the irritating feeling. There was a cracking and smashing  sound she couldn’t quite place. It did get somebody outside to notice though, as a weird sound registered against her eardrums. Diamond couldn’t help but think she was being flushed down a toilet.

The tank indeed drained, slowly lowering her to the floor. She finally opened her eyes, shakily standing on her own legs again. “Please remain calm and still Diamond, we’ll have you out in no time.” a voice she couldn’t identify told her. No problem. She wouldn’t move if they demanded it of her. It was bloody arctic there!

A harness was lowered down the tank and then lifted her up, transferring her to a gurney. Once she was lying down, her awareness once again waved the white flag and she fell asleep for a few more hours.

[hr]
She woke up again, glad for the multitude of pillows under her back and arms. The slight haze on her mind meant that somebody very thoughtful pumped her full of painkillers. No wonder - she had a look at her arms and saw the marks where the shunts went in. “Ah, you are up! How are you feeling? The nurse from before asked, leaning over her and shining an annoying flashlight into her eyes.

Trying to move her limbs around a little bit, Diamond found out she was good enough to sit in the bed, and did so. “Hey take it easy!” the nurse panicked, but calmed down once she saw Diamond was doing fine. There was something different with her. She couldn’t point a finger at it, but there was something there she did not feel before. She took a deep breath and was surprised when she could see it despite being in quite a warm room.

“Do not worry, your body is still adapting to the dust. It’ll be leaking out for a while, so to speak. Just be glad you did not choose something like Fire dust.” the nurse tried to lift her mood. Diamond actually chuckled. “I can feel it. It’s nothing like I imagined from what I’ve read. I don’t really have words to describe it, but… I just know… it’s there. It’s like an extra arm, or a pair of eyes...” she said excitedly, watching her arm as she flexed it in front of her. A blue flash ran alongside the veins in her forearm and a small cube of ice appeared in her palm.

“It could be a result of your semblance requiring great degree of mind control to use, much like the dust you now have in your system. You just might be a natural.” the doctor said, coming over from the hallway. “And about the leaking, we’re adding some medical glass to your bill. When you flailed your arms around in the tank, half of the glass from the LS tank just blown up into the room.” he said, an amused smile spreading on his face as he saw Diamond’s jaw hanging agape and eyes avoiding him in embarrassment.

“Any other side effects I should be aware of?” she asked. “A few. It is very individual how the body deals with the dust circulating through it. From what we could say, it did not affect you all that much, but there is something.” he said, holding a mirror over her shoulder. “Cool!” Diamond giggled when she saw a blue pattern on her back, as if she got inked. “That’s not all.” the doc said, holding the mirror in front of her face. Diamond gasped. It wasn’t as big a change as her back and it was still her lovely face. But her eyes now had a faint eerie blue glow to them.

Diamond made a remarkable recovery, something the doc credited to her good physique and, in his words, mighty fine aura. Even then it still took several hours and a good, long sleep. At least she had the sense to shut down her scroll so it wouldn’t wake her up. If something really important happened, her team certainly would have asked the faculty of her whereabouts. In any case, she was walking back to the dorm by Saturday four o’clock. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and took a step in, her hat pulled into her face. “Guess who’s back!” she said and pulled the hat up, giving the team a shining blue glance.

Something was amiss though. Aurelius seemed to have shrunk overnight and grown a few bits he didn’t have before. Diamond couldn’t say it wasn’t an improvement though - quite the opposite. “Hey Boss? Who’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen and where’s Moneybags?” she inquired about the nature of the change in the room’s occupants. Oh yeah, Oswald was still there, as unnoticeable as ever.
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