Gunn took a deep breath before opening the door to the office of Dr Sparrow, where he had first had his mind upgraded.
Dr Sparrow was bent over one of his patients, examining the scar tissue around their eyes.
"Good, good," he said, then turned to Gunn. "With you in a minute."
He returned his attention to his patient. "So I want you to keep those glasses on for a full week, give those fancy new retinas time to adjust. Then I get to see you in 14 days."
The patient thanked Dr Sparrow and left.
"X-ray vision. Very now."
"Something's wrong with the implant you gave me," Gunn explained.
"Well, I doubt that... Gunn, isn't it?" Dr Sparrow replied. "But let's take a look."
Gunn sat down in the newly vacated chair while Dr Sparrow hummed and lifted up the instrument he needed. He looked through it into Gunn's eyes.
"Ah. The imprint is fading... don't blink... your neural path modification has almost completely reverted."
"I'm losing it. The law, the languages, the strategy." Gunn's voice was worried.
"Oh, acute Flowers for Algernon syndrome," Dr Sparrow chuckled. "It must be sheer torture."
"Well, fix it! Put it back!" Gunn was almost hysterical.
"Well, no offense, counsellor, but your insurance plan wouldn't cover what I charge to wash my hands. You were given that upgrade because the Senior Partners wanted you to have it, and if you're, uh, losing it, well, they wanted that, too." Dr Sparrow's smile was unnervingly chipper.
"Why would they do that?" Gunn asked.
Dr Sparrow laughed. "Well, you never know with them."
"I can't lose this. This power, these skills, they've... they've changed me, given me..."
"Meaning? And to have it taken away, it's... heartbreaking. Though I do think Cliff Robertson captured the poignance of it more elegantly."
Gunn stood up. "I'm not going back to who I was."
Dr Sparrow paused. "Well, maybe, maybe not. See, I, uh... always have a few things going on the side. Currently, I have a lot of capital sunk into a shipment that's being held up at customs."
"Drugs?" Gunn asked.
"Goodness, no. I make my own drugs. No, just an ancient curio, a collectible I hope to turn a profit on. If I was to give you the permanent upgrade, I'd say that, uh, you'd be more than able to cut through all of my red-tape problems."
"I don't make deals with people like you," Gunn told him defiantly.
"And believe me, Charles, I don't make deals with people like you. Not the person you really are, the ignorant street muscle...the high- school dropout... I would, however, love to make a deal with Charles Gunn, Attorney at Law." Dr Sparrow smiled deviously, knowing the lawyer would play right into his hands.
Gunn stared at him for a long moment, expression conflicted.