got bored and, after my last thing, decided introducing the kidney king even in scraps might help a bit to explain things. the tl;dr of it is he's a world-class backalley surgeon. That's basically it.

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When we stepped inside, we ended up in what looked like an ancient waiting room. Wood paneling, uncomfortable chairs, and racks of magazines. A bored looking woman sat at a desk, absentmindedly filing her nails while playing with her band. A green door was behind her, tile suddenly cutting into the dated carpet.

She looked up when she got around to noticing us, sitting up straight. "Can I help you?" Her tone was that of boredom.

Maya was the first to speak, stepping forwards. "We're here to see the doctor."

What must've been his secretary gave a wave to the seats. "Take a seat, I'll let him kno-" Her words fell short as the door behind her slammed open. Out of it strode a wolf, clad in scrubs and a blood-stained surgical apron, scalpel in one hand and burning cigarette in the other.

"Ms. Watson, do me a favor and cancel my three o'clock, would you? This is taking me longer than I expected." Then, turning a bit, his eyes widened. "Oh dear, is it that late already? My apologizes, uh," his fingers waved in the air a bit, trying to remember our names.

"We're the ones here with Unity," I said slowly. I can't remember for sure a lot of things, but I do know how strange the entire situation felt to me. The man was supposed to be a back-alley surgeon, the kind you go to when you have no other choices. Yet there was no sleaze, no sense that you'd wake up in a tub filled with ice. Overall he seemed relatively friendly.

"Ah! Unity!" He said with a smile after a quick puff. "Well, just give me one second to set these down and wash up!" Then he left, the sound of clattering metal ringing out before running water from what must've been his operating room. He emerged soon afterwords, still wearing his scrubs and holding a cigarette, but sans the apron and scalpel. "Now then, I believe we must be properly introduced. I am," his hand went to his chest in what was either a gesture of hubris or politeness, I'm not sure which. "The Kidney King. And you are?"

Each of us gave our names in turn, stopping on me. "And I'm Kestrel. Forgive me for asking doctor, but shouldn't you be finishing up with that patient?"

He raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "Oh, no, no. That's no patient. Just some poor sap who was shot in the head or something. I never ask for too many details." His hand waved dismissively and he explained, "No, I was just harvesting him. Put him on ice for now, he'll be good a few hours from now."

"Harvesting?" Ramses asked. "Why the hell don't you just clone organs? It'd be a lot less grisly."

"Cloning is, not an option for everybody." The King told us. He began to wipe his hands a bit despite there being nothing on them. "It can be easy to forget that, working for a corporation I'm sure. Oh sure, the middle class can afford it, but there will always be those who can't. Not to mention the fact that criminals can't exactly just walk into a hospital with the Council's Warfare laws. But, I'll spare you a lecture on class structure."

Ramses scoffed at him, but Derek took the opportunity to speak. "So, forgive me for asking, but what do you do with the parts you can't harvest?"

"Are you here for business, or to get an intimate knowledge of how I run things?" The King said with a growl. But, after a second, I think he sighed and told us, "As much as I hate to admit it, I deal with cannibals. I don't appreciate the thought of selling them 'food', but I need the funds. Bodies are already hard enough to come by, making sure that they're obtained fairly." The King then held out his fingers ticking them off as he added, "No murdering for the organs, no children, and of course nobody that will get me in trouble."

"Everyone else is fair game?" I asked.

He nodded. "It's all strictly business. After all, I can hardly call myself the best if I have to do good by harming others."

"First, do no harm." Derek mused.

"Exactly. I may have to reap from the dead, but it all serves a good cause. Besides, most of these people were probably organ donors anyways." When silence passed for a whole minute he said rather flatly. "That was a joke."