A Scripta

...or "What the hell were you thinking?"

ECT (Electroconvulsive therapy) has been popularized as a punishing method of making someone compliant.  I first saw it in action in A Beautiful Mind, where they gave this treatment to John Nash to ease his insanity.  When he completed therapy, his emotions were flat.  He stopped taking the maintenance drugs because his inspiration had fled under the treatment, and his "genius" had gone.  In order for him to keep the genius, he needed to be insane.  This movie touched me because I was afraid of killing my own muse by doing the same sort of thing.  Still am.

So, yet again, I had written Mase into an unwilling corner having him be the homicidal/suicidal maniac that I know best.  In many of my stories with this sort of almost unforgivable anti-hero, I had cardboard supporting actors, not the rich tapestry of characters that I'm working with now.  It forces the muses to dance and not plod.

I know I have a heavy God-mode hand with Mase.  He's done plenty of twists and turns and this is just another curveball.  I'd like to make Dark Mase go away.  But he keeps coming back, no matter what I do.  I'll just make a villain on Freedom with his name and be done with it, maybe.

Okay, after that bit of meandering, here's the real reason for this post.  What's ECT and how did it fit?  When first starting research I used Wikipedia.  Shock therapy brought me to ECT.

Nate would know what the acronym means but probably have the same preconcieved notion that many of us do.  Hannah probably explained everything in detail and had him sign the consent form.  The treatment could have made him confused upon awakening, possibly with memory loss.  The typical shock is 800 milliamps for two seconds.  Nate's tougher than most - he's been exposed to Clockwork and Sappers - so he's used to being zapped. 

Other than amperage and duration, I pretty much followed the protocols in Wiki.  He was given a muscle relaxant (item: the muscles can contract hard enough to break bones), then general anesthesia.  The announcing of delivery was for story purposes, based on the yelling of "Clear!" when shocking patients whose hearts have stopped.  So my medical background is based on TV.

Upon awakening he was confused for a few seconds ("How do you feel?" "About what?")  He had no memory loss - he remembered his psychiatrist's orders.  It usually takes at least two or three sessions to feel any difference, but with him it might take longer.

It certainly calmed him down enough to go work with Vanguard for the day and not worry about meeting up with Fyre or Will.  He still misses Daisuke.  Unlike other days when he would actually tear himself away from the phone, he walked by it thinking, "I'll see him sometime soon."  He finally slept a dreamless sleep.

Mase has no idea how upset Frosty is, mostly because Frosty doesn't come right out with his emotions that easily, like his brother.  Mase hasn't seen Frosty since their parting, so Frosty doesn't know about the shock therapy.  Lodestar doesn't think it will work - if sappers can't get to him, what's to say this would? - and has a different idea.  It involves two people who hate Mase: Hisagi (Stronghold) and Havoc.  It also involves something Lodestar is very afraid of: Magic.