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Titan Heart Part 29

Neither Dr. Kroner nor Ryan had the time to second-guess each other. Once Ryan made his request, the doctor ran back to the control room. 

One of the assistants tried to get his attention, but the doctor waved them away as he focused on the AR control panel. What he needed took thirty seconds of menu navigation to find while Ryan shuddered on the operating table.

"You'll only get an instant."

Ryan's words echoed in Dr. Kroner's mind as he set up the paternity test. Thankfully, the giant's biometric information was on hand already because of the nanites in his system. 

Fortunately, the clinic had access to the civil registry. Otherwise, they would have to wait for the information to be released to them.

As the doctor raced to fill out the forms, the implication of what he was doing started to creep in. 

Ryan wants me to run a paternity test against John Sr, The Immortal. If he really is his son...

Dr. Kroner swept his gaze over the read-out detailing Ryan's past torture.

Then how the hell did this happen to him?

The doctor's career during the Gene Wars brought him in contact with the Titan General more than once. Each time Dr. Kroner left the meeting in awe of the man's sheer drive. The Immortal's story was a legend, but only the public part of it. 

Few outsiders, except the Titans themselves, knew the full extent of what had been done to the famous revolutionary. 

Soon the doctor had the paternity test information completed. The left side of the AR screen displayed the biometric data for John Sr., The Immortal. The opposite side of the screen filled in with the prepared info for Ryan's data. 

The team of assistants crowded around their own AR screens as they watched what the doctor was doing. Then, as the true enormity of who might be lying on their operating table settled in, the team started to freak out. 

At first stunned, the team of assistants quickly began to tremble as fear crept in. 

The same assistant who teared up when they watched Ryan's skeleton fill with scars clenched their fist. Just beneath her own fear was a swell of pride and admiration.

Of course, his son wouldn't die from something like this.

Righteous determination filled each of them as they continued to watch their AR screens.

Despite the stressful night, Dr. Kroner never felt nervous until now. Longevity and experience afforded him a cooler head than his assistants. 

However, the consequences of Ryan's condition and what the doctor was about to do scared the veteran surgeon. No matter how he looked at the injuries, the doctor could only see evidence of a Lunatic.

The radical moon-based Intellegen supporters were a threat the Unification Army battled to this day. 

Ryan's face appeared on the screen, next to the Titan General's, and Dr. Kroner's doubts vanished. Their facial features, eyes, nose, and jaw matched perfectly. However, that wasn't what convinced the doctor.

The same look of determination and internal fire which radiated from John Sr.'s eyes was echoed less than an hour prior by Ryan.

When the young Titan declared that only he could fight back against his torturer and that tonight was only the first step.

Without a doubt in his mind, Dr. Kroner hit "continue" on the screen.

Despite his own certainty, Dr. Kroner's heart pounded with anticipation as he waited a few moments for the test results to come in.