Metalhide
I'm a medic. You two, I have to act fast while Metalhide performs a medical scan.
Inside the maintenance depot’s medical garage, Metalhide remains in military tow-truck form and activates his scanners. Blue lines pass over Mara and Eli beside the vehicle.
Mara’s scan maps bruising along her ribs, dehydration, and a spreading pattern of inflammation that does not match ordinary exposure. She gasps and grips Eli’s shoulder.
Mara
That hurts. Not the scan, exactly. It feels like something is moving under my skin.
The diagnostic sweep shifts to Eli. His results show the same inflammatory pattern, but alongside an unusual biological marker absent from Mara’s readings.
Eli
Is something wrong with me? Mara, why are you looking at me like that?
Mara
Metalhide, can you tell whether Eli’s marker is protecting him, or whether it means he is getting sick?
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine whether Eli's marker is protecting him or making him sick
“It seems more like a mutation that helps his system battle it out against the virus and the mutation is winning like soldiers holding the line then pushing farther”
SUCCESS (Good Reasoning, rolled -1)
Metalhide
Eli’s marker looks like a mutation helping his system fight the virus. It is holding the line, then pushing it back.
The scanner traces Eli’s unusual marker through his readings. Inflammation clusters around it, but the pattern is retreating from several organs instead of spreading.
A warning light flashes across Metalhide’s dashboard as the deep scan drains stored energy. The blue glow behind his armored panels dims noticeably.
Mara
So he is infected, but his body is fighting it? You are saying he might actually win?
Eli
My body is fighting the sickness.
Mara
What does that mean for him now, Metalhide? Can you keep helping him?
The scan settles on a clear result: Eli’s mutation is suppressing the virus. The energy cost leaves Metalhide’s diagnostic systems running dimmer, but the answer is certain.
Quest Complete
Discover why Eli is immune
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Good→Great
Quest Complete
Determine whether Eli's marker is protecting him or making him sick