I had the harbinger from the Lake City job call me an uber to the airport, and headed back to New York. I pawned off some jewelry I pinched at a pawn shop, and spent almost all of the money on a bunch of medical supplies immediately. It's been a while since I've practiced. I started going into the library regularly and try to catch up on all the new medical developments. There's lots of people on the streets that can't afford medical care, and if I was going to be doing dangerous work, I'd need to brush up on the practical side of things too. There wasn't much I could do for people that needed medicine, but word got around that I could provide astounding triage, for free, and people started coming to me. No pay from it, and I burnt through all the money I got from pawning the trinkets, but I managed to get back into the swing of things. It's nice to be able to help people again.

Word has still been going around about my makeshift medical operation. I was concerned with what I'd do for money this month, but I had some guys offer me a moderate amount of cash for stuff they didn't want to - not couldn't - go to the hospital for. Treating gunshot wounds was the main culprit, but there were some guys who'd clearly been on the giving end of a beatdown too. I didn't want to think about it too much, because when I did it turned my stomach. Still, it gives me enough cash to keep a moderate stock of supplies, and put some away to cover my flights to get to contracts.
I've been sticking to at least semi-public places. Thought about renting a motel room just to have a place to clean myself properly, but the fear of being alone just raps my noggin.  It's ironic. Now that I have a chance to try to regain my standing, it's not one that I could go back to even if my disease were cured.
But maybe that's for the best. Aside from the unsavory types, I have the chance to help people who can't turn to anyone else. I used to live in semi-luxury, but now every time I have money to spare, I can't help but put it towards things that let me help those that need it more. The thought of not doing so chills me more than the cold nights on the New York streets.

With the money Baron gave me after the job, I walked North from Marcellus to Portage, and found a three transfer bus ride back to NYC. It took about a day, during which I used my gift to treat the wound from where the were-dog chomped down on my neck. Did a great job, if I do say so myself.
The urge to go and find some meth once I got back was strong, but I managed to resist. For the first day. After that, I ended up going on a four day bender. Woke up, and realized I really had to get it together. I knew if I managed to make it past the withdrawals, I'd be fine. On the 10th day after the contract, I knew the storm was over.

If Baron hadn't hit me with the cash, there's no way I would have been able to make it back home. I need  Not just to help myself, making sure I have what I need on the contracts. I asked some contacts I've been doing extralegal care for to have a room to work out of. One of them offered to let me stay with his cousin, for a cut of the profits and free treatment for his "crew". I agreed on the condition that he would at least reimburse me for the supplies. They're not that expensive, so he agreed, and I'm now regularly treating people who can't afford medical care properly, or who aren't able to go to a normal professional because they got hurt doing something illegal. I often have to perform this care while there's a ruckus in another part of the home from whatever the cousin is getting up to, whether having rowdy friends over or just watching TV loudly. Oddly enough though, I'm really grateful, because when the he's not home and there's nobody there for treatment, I have to steel myself to avoid sprinting outside. Every night, I have to exert myself to manage to sleep in the same room. I don't imagine I'd still be able to stay here if I were bursting into his room in the middle of the night babbling about the tentacle monster that's out to get me.

After the last job, Bev Good asked about my work in NYC. I don't really need help with what I'm doing right now, but she apparently has the ability to harvest organs and keep them in a pristine condition. It would be a shame for people who are dead anyway to have organs that don't go towards helping save lives, especially since the people in question would probably be violent criminals anyway. Two birds with one stone. I'll ask Shawn to look into it for me. I might also be helping her set up a clinic in another part of the city. There's a lot of people here and although my contacts are limited for now, it's certainly a big enough place for the both of us. We also considered starting up a league of contractor doctors with another man from the job, Dr. Elias.

She also mentioned she had contact with some muscle in the city and suggested goblins that were implanted with supernatural organs, but that as of yet, the three of us probably wouldn't be up for the job. Maybe I could convince Eric Baron to swing by for a bit of extra work. I hear he travels a lot anyway so a trip to the big apple shouldn't be out of the question.

My last gift seems to have coincided with a progression of my disease, but aside from my appearance I'm not feeling any ill effects. In fact, I distinctly feel much healthier than when I was out on the streets. My blood pressure is better, my heartrate is lower, and I feel sharper. I'm displaying symptoms of both leprosy and plague - both red lesions and swollen lymph nodes - and although I feel I can infect others at will now, it doesn't seem to be implicitly contagious. I'm starting to wonder if what I'm dealing with is less of a disease and more some kind of curse. Based on my ability to inflict the disease(?), I tried using four thieves vinegar to cure myself, but to no avail. Rubbing it on myself does seem to restore my ability to use my powers though. Emilio was freaked out the emergence of my buboes, but I assured him there's nothing to worry about. I need to figure out how to deal with being alone because I don't think he'll put up with much more of this.

I'm still practicing and my skills seem to have improved. I also got a reinforced medical jacket, some climate relevant supplies and some upgraded medical equipment.

So I arrived at the bunker in San Francisco and Boss Bear gave me these glowing orange vulture tattoos, introduced me to Iktan, a Honduran national, and after I had rested up from the last contract, asked us to find ninjas. We managed to track down a clan in decline and the three of us headed straight there.

We get to the area they're supposed to be in and Boss Bear told us to deliver his challenge, so I went up to one of these guys who was trying to pretend he wasn't looking at us and gave it to him. He asked to speak with me privately in an alley and Iktan came along while Boss Bear blocked the entrance from the small crowd that tried to follow us. I told him Boss Bear just wanted to talk to their leader and we didn't really want anything else, so he set up a meeting later that night at a temple.

We get to the temple and arrive at this table with a bunch of these guys sitting and drinking tea. Boss Bear tells the guy at the head of it that he wants to fight to the death for control of the clan, and stares at him giving off this crazy hostile energy. The old guy agrees. No weapons, and Boss Bear will spare him if he accepts surrender. We go to the dojo and Boss Bear warms up on some training equipment, and I give him a shot of some of my new inoculating juice just to make sure he comes out on top. Can't have the guy dying on me just after I've changed shops.

The fight starts out fast, Boss Bear trying to grab him, missing, and just barely avoiding a clobbering. The old guy breaks the inoculation in a single strike and lands a few good hits on Boss Bear, but the thing turned into a slug fest and he wore him down with endurance. Knocked the old guy out with a lightning punch - sparks coming off his fist and everything. He had me patch the old guy up, and we're in control of a ninja clan. I had them give me some tips on herbal remedies since I don't have access to proper pharmaceuticals yet, and when we got home I set up a little greenhouse to start growing these things on my own. It's not much, but it's a start.

I ended up not doing too much this month. I guess most of my organization was busy so I focused on my medical work. The goons go out and find people, blindfold them, bring them to a motel we've temporarily rented, and I patch them up. Unfortunately, still no access to pharmaceuticals. Might need to figure out how to get my hands on them myself. Or how to make them. Maybe I could get something related to that.

I'm also getting a better idea of the nature of this disease I contracted. Nothing ever came up when I had tests taken, but initially it seemed to just be a weird, antibiotic-resistant variant of leprosy. Then the buboes started popping. I don't think this is a disease. I think this is some kind of curse. I've hit a brick wall on how to deal with this through medicine, so I'm going to start looking into other approaches.

A few days after the contract, Boss Bear decided he had something he wanted to try. He had a knife belonging to a powerful contractor, and he wanted to trade it for whatever we could get. He asked me to back him up on this, and of course, I obliged.

He had one of the ninjas go to deliver a note, and sent some of his men out to collect the guy at a coffee shop in San Fran's little Russia. It was a bit of a wait, but the guy eventually got there and Boss Bear challenged him to a one on one fight for the knife. The guy declined, and Boss Bear got bored, called him a coward, and delegated negotiations to me. He offered a few pieces, notably some jerky that ostensibly reproduced the effects of my Field Surgery, which was interesting, but not terribly useful. After some talking, he offered a band, half white, half black, that could determine, once per day, if someone was telling the truth. That caught Boss Bear's attention, but this guy really wanted his knife back, so I whittled him a bit more and we got this ridiculous military suit out of it. Boss Bear was happy enough to get the ring, so he let me have the suit. It's not exactly a doctor's uniform, but it should be pretty nice for contracting.

I think I have a plan achieving my goal now. The panacea I've made is effective, but the scale on which I can produce it is too limited. I'd never even be able to make a dent. I need something that can be deployed in a larger quantity. I've been doing a lot of studying towards this goal. I'm going to need to branch into proper biochemistry. I've also begun constructing a hermetically sealed lab in the MAUL bunker, complete with UV lights to detect contamination and an air filtration system.

Given the symbiotic relationship with my own disease that has been developing, I think I might be able to use my own body to concoct a vaccine against any disease I'm able to contract. I just need a bit more power from the contracts and the proper environment to do so first. I imagine I'll be expected to continue contracting during that time as well, so I'll need to reinforce the TOP suit to prevent its seal from potentially being breached.

Was pretty packed between jobs this time. I'll handle it in order.

One of the boss's many right hands had a clone problem. Specifically, a clone of him was off causing trouble. Crane managed to track him down, and me, Iktan, and the hand in question: Snake Bear, headed out to Louisville, Missouri to take care of the clone. I sniffed him out and Snake Bear had an animal his clone had been manipulating keep track of his position. Convinced the clone to go out for drinks after some soup kitchen work, but I guess he was suspicious of me so he asked me our plan and tried to set up a counter ambush. I passed it over on the comms just before we failed to make the rendezvous, shielded myself, and booked it. Iktan and Snake Bear collected the clone, Iktan came to pick me up, and Snake Bear executed his doppelganger by drowning him in the lake.

Boss Bear finally got back from whatever he was up to and had the werewolf girl I collected married off to Crane, shotgun wedding style. Easiest way to conceal a woman, apparently.

Once the girl was secured and welcomed into the fold, I made preparations for my work. I had three things I wanted to accomplish: Develop a drug to enhance the muscle, as per Boss Bear's request; develop a suppressant for symptoms of lycanthropy in preparation for the development of a cure, at my own prerogative; and develop a weaponized delivery system for lycanthropy, as a little present for the Sons of Salem.

I prepared a few things to extract what I needed. A silver scalpel, a silver kunai for one of the ninjas, and a tranquilizer dose. And some raw meat, to trigger the transformation. It went mostly according to plan. The men weren't able to hold down the werewolf, but they were able to restrain her long enough for the ninja to tranquilize it. After that, I had them back off while I went toe to toe. Nearly tore through my barrier, but I was able to hold my own until the dose took effect. After that, I had her chained up while I went to get my samples. I don't know why I didn't think of the chains beforehand. Oh well.

Collected four samples: Skin, blood, saliva, and after a short surgery, a sample of the transformed lycanthropy organ. I got a few leads. The saliva could be used for infection, the organ was a good sample to work out means of suppressing it, the blood and the skin were valid sources for serums, procured occultly or with science and medicine. Since I'm in the precursory stages, I created a delivery system for silver to the organ to dull the effects of transformation, which seemed to be successful: it partially suppresses the transformation, and gives much greater self-control went transformed. Definitely a big start.