It was strange to wake up while under the effects of local anesthetic. Several parts of Thunderlane’s body, particularly his jaw, remained numb while the rest of him ached. He tried to reach up and touch it, but discovered that he had been strapped down to the operating chair.
"Don't move," Tick Tock ordered. "You took quite a beating. One of your molars is cracked right down the middle, and your jaw is badly fractured. I wouldn't try to speak unless you want to make things worse."
The doctor grabbed a small loop of wire from his operating tray. "This should help. Hold still." He looped the filament around Thunderlane's broken tooth and yanked his hoof away as the wire snapped shut, pulling the two halves together with a tiny click. Thunderlane felt something squirming in his jaw as the wire slid into his gums and made contact with the fractured bone. Had he not been completely numb, he had no doubt that he would be in unspeakable pain.
His jaw now reinforced, Tick Tock set about fixing the rest of him. "I could’a beat him," Thunderlane groaned. His words were transformed into gibberish by his numb mouth.
"I'm sure," Tick Tock said. He caught Thunderlane's look and smiled apologetically. "No, really. You've got some deep cracks in your hooves; you kicked him so hard that you nearly made yourself lame. Most ponies wouldn't survive a beating like that."
And don't you forget it, Thunderlane thought. Tick Tock asked him to move his wing, and he tried to obey. "The joint itself doesn't look damaged," he said. "That's good. It's moving, which is also promising. I think you’ll be good as new after a few weeks of therapy."
Thunderlane wasn't looking forward to that. "You're lucky," the doctor continued. "The blast was only an inch away from your spine. You could have been crippled." Then, without changing his inflection in the slightest, he asked "How much were they going to pay you for my sister?"
All at once Thunderlane realized how incredibly vulnerable he was in his current position. Even if he hadn't been strapped down, he was in no shape to defend himself. "That's crazy talk."
"Crazy?" Tick Tock asked. He'd probably had lots of practice talking to sedated ponies. "We'll talk crazy, then. How much?"
For the first time since meeting the scrawny earth pony, Thunderlane felt uneasy looking at him. He remembered seeing a movie once about a serial killer, a monster that could casually talk about his love life while browsing through scalpels and needles like he was trying to decide which candy bar to buy at a gas station. He didn't like to admit it, but the idea that ponies like that actually existed sent a shiver down his spine every time he thought about it.
Now he was alone with one of them, or at least it felt that way. The doctor's cold, clinical attitude felt immensely wrong somehow. He looked past Tick Tock and into the hallway, hoping to see one of his friends there to offer support. "Anypony there?" he called.
The only pony near enough to hear him was Vision, who peeked curiously into the room. Something dark and unsettling glinted in her eyes. "Anypony else?" he asked quietly.
"It's just us," Tick Tock assured him. "Physician-patient privilege and all that. Has it ever occurred to you that you're in a very dangerous line of work? Given your job and temperament, I think it’s safe to say you'll be under my knife often. With that in mind, I want you to listen to me very carefully. Can you do that?"
Tick Tock spoke with the same tone that most ponies would use to deliver a death threat. "Good. I want you to understand that I'm not going to hurt you. I'm a doctor, and you're my patient. When you're on this table, you're safe. You have my word."
The doctor waived a small flashlight in front of Thunderlane's eyes and frowned. "I don't think you have a concussion," he muttered to himself before returning to his previous train of thought. "I'm not going to take advantage of my position. Even if we don't like each other, we're on the same crew. We've got the same problems, the same enemies, and more than enough of both to go around.
"I'm not interested in making this life more difficult than it already is. I've given up everything to help somepony that I care for very much, and I'm trusting you to respect that. We've all got loved ones, after all. I'm sure that you care for somepony just as much as I care for my sister."
Thunderlane glanced at Vision while her brother rambled on. She glared at him, betrayal written all over her face. “I look over my shoulder enough as it is,” Tick Tock continued with a heavy sigh. “I don’t like you, but we’ll just have to coexist. I can’t see this working any other way.” He jabbed Thunderlane’s shoulder with a small injector and calmly trotted out of the infirmary.
Vision watched her brother go. Before she followed, she spared Thunderlane a wary look. "Also, I can kill you with my brain."