Cells at Work: Ebola

Chapter 1: Acquaintances

Day 4

Everyone felt it.

Every cell in the world felt the wrongness permeating in the air, and yet no one even dared to utter a guess on what it could be.

Nutrients no longer tasted sweet, Red Blood cells march all around the circulatory system in almost complete silence, and normal cells preferred locking themselves inside their homes rather than going out to play.

Something was coming.

And it was coming for all.

--0--0--0--

NK hated meetings.

As her name stands, she was a natural killer, an independent cell that would prefer to be out in the fields hunting the enemies of the world rather than waste her time on this boring meetings.

Every second spent here was a second not used in searching for the enemy. The thought pisses her off immensely. She was a hunter and hunters needed to prowl and not be kept locked in cages.

But alas, her presence was needed here. The threat to the world was so urgent that Helper T required all the senior cells in the immune system in this meeting in order to highlight the severity of the problem.

"Ugh, I hate this place," she muttered as she crossed her arms.

"Hush, keep your thoughts to yourself," the cell beside her warned.

Her lips formed a frowned as she turned her head to her left and saw a tall, well-muscled blond-haired cell wearing the military uniform of the Killer T Cell uniform.

"How 'bout you mind your own damn business?" she shot back.

KT let out a tired sigh as he turned to look at her. "Listen, we're meeting up with the big shots from the brain and the last thing we need is for them to find an excuse to boot us out from this place."

NK opened her mouth to counter but KT continued.

"I've seen them once and boy do they have giant metal sticks stuck up their behinds."

"Ok fine, I'll shut up!" NK raised her arms to the side in mock surrender. "And you too also have a giant metal stick stuck up your behind."

"Yeah, whatever," KT raised his hand to adjust his cap before straightening up to stand at attention.

Tsch. Blowhard, she thought as she opened her mouth into a cavernous yawn.

Aside from her muscle-brained colleague, other senior ranking immune cells were standing a line beside her. They were all gathered inside this dimly-lit conference room in the Hypothalamus, a small sector in the brain that regulates body temperature and appetite.

They were currently waiting for the other bigwigs in the brain to arrive since the matter to be discussed urgently already needed their help.

Everyone inside looked tensed and apprehensive. Like her, they all looked as if they wanted to be anywhere but here.

To the left of KT stood in attention Helper T Cell and Regulatory Cell, the strategist and regulator of the immune system respectively. Helper T wore his unjacketed military uniform while Regulator wore a rather sharp and fitting business suit that correctly accentuated her curves where it counts. Contrast that with NK's pragmatic attire of wearing a plain black tank top, cargo shorts, and boots.

The last cell standing after the two was Dendritic Cell, an annoying antigen-presenting cell that served as a messenger for the various contacts in the immune system. He had a mischievous streak of releasing embarrassing photos of immune cells so as to activate them to their full potential. NK was no exception, and she'd suffered numerous humiliating cytokine activations from his hands and much to his chagrin. The memory of her past still made her shudder, and she swore to kick his membrane someday if fate and schedule permits.

"NK-chan, you're glowering again," a voice to her right chuckled. "That's not good for your complexion."

NK quickly turned her head to her right and immediately shuddered. An elegant maid with a long hazel-brown hair now stood beside her.

Despite NK's reputation as a hunter, she had completely failed to notice any signs of the maid entering the room.

The newcomer tilted her head slightly to give her a warm, friendly smile.

"Lady Macrophage," NK immediately straightened her posture as she bowed her head low in respect to her former teacher. "I-Its a pleasure to see you again."

"The pleasure is all mine, NK-chan," the elegant maid also bowed her head in greeting. "And you have changed so much since the last time we saw each other. You have grown to become such a beautiful and mature cell, NK-chan."

"Uh, yeah, thanks..." she replied, blushing.

It was true, she had not seen her former teacher since her training in the academy. Lady Macrophage had many apprentices under her tutelage and NK was one of the youngest she had ever trained.

Lady Macrophage taught her various forms of martial combat as well as the proper wielding of assorted melee weapons.

She also taught her proper etiquette and the path of the maid, but she'd rather not remember any of her actions on this particular kind of training.

"The last time I saw you, you were only a head shorter than me and still very cute!"

"Ahahaha... Yeah."

"I know, perhaps you could join me sometime for some afternoon tea and, ah!" she clapped her hands. "I have some frilly dresses I simply would love for you to tr-"

"Ehh, maybe some other time milady," NK placed a hand on the back of her head as she bowed her head again to apologize. "Patrols have been busy come of late... "

"Oh, I see..." Lady Macrophage's smile wilted into a frown. "I guess it couldn't be helped then."

"Yeah, sorry," NK let out a nervous laugh as she thanked the heavens for letting her avoid a fate worse than death. There were just some things in her life not worth revisiting or, heaven forbid, reenacted.

However, the thought of seeing her former teacher disappointed made her stomach churned, and she had this urge to say something more. "Uh, maybe after we finish dealing with this crisis we could meet up again?"

Almost like a switch, Lady Macrophage's face lit up.

"I would love that, NK-chan." Her teacher beamed.

"Eh?" NK froze. A cold chill ran down her back as she suddenly realized what she'd just done. "Ehh?!"

"Then I'll call you again after the dust settles, alright?"

"Well, uh milady, what I meant to say was-"

The door on the other end of the room burst open, and a cell in a dark business suit walked in followed by a train of cells wearing heavy black cloaks.

The room immediately went completely silent.

All immune cells in the room straightened up as they waited for the other group to settle down. The cell in a business suit remained standing while the ten cloaked cells stepped on an elevated platform where a long table and a row of seats were already prepared for them.

The ancient ones have finally arrived.

-----

A/N:

Originally Posted on Dec. 4, 2018