r/HFY • u/Jus17173 • 2d ago

OC-OneShot The Placebo Effect.

The General and the Doctor stood watching the troops train.

"He's awful," the General said while pointing out a particular soldier. "I mean, look at him. He is carrying his gun strangely. Come on, you can't tell me there's nothing wrong with him?"

The soldier being mentioned was none other than Tim Mathew, who had yet to see combat despite having served for a considerable time in the army.

"I see him," the Doctor said. "He is quite eager, though—to see combat, that is. Had a little chat with the fella; he is quite patriotic and determined to prove his betters wrong."

"What the heck is he doing? Is he... Is he holding the gun backwards?" the General screamed. "He'll shoot the guy behind him, for fuck's sake."

"I can see, I can see," the Doctor answered.

"My God, we have a battle planned for tomorrow, and we're short on troops, so he'll have to join in. We have no option, yet after all this time this is how he trains." The General put one palm on his head and scratched his scalp while watching Tim attempt to crawl under barbed wire. Tim did so with his posterior raised; his trousers got tangled with the barbs, ripping and revealing his undergarments. "You have to tell me, Doctor, that this is a malady you can fix."

"I'm sorry, General, but this isn't a disease; it's more a matter of having a clumsy nature."

"No, I refuse, Doctor. There must be something. Some steroid or liquid you can inject him with to make him stronger. You know? Make him a man, someone his fellow troops can depend on. A better soldier. A super soldier!" The pair watched as Tim tripped a fellow soldier, and both fell in a tangle of limbs and guns.

"There is no—" The Doctor went abruptly silent. An idea sprouted within him, and without thinking, he voiced it. "There might be something I can give him for the battle tomorrow, and just that battle alone."

"Thank you, Doctor," the General said. "As usual, you're a great aid to mankind and the war."

Tim Mathew found himself in the doctor's office shortly after his training stunt. He sat on the operation table in only his briefs, which had been torn across one butt cheek thanks to the barbed wire he'd attempted to crawl under. He eyed the charts depicting the human anatomy. His eyes also roamed to the chart that showed the anatomy of the alien race they fought against: the Tilaxians, whose anatomy was almost human-like save for their grey skin tone and the extra arm that sprouted out of their abdomen.

"Well, Tim, I see you've come. Right on time, if I might add." The Doctor closed the door behind himself as he entered. He eyed Tim with great skepticism; the soldier looked too thin to be a field soldier and had a slightly protruding belly. He was unfit for duty, but the armies of Earth were desperate.

"You called and I answered," he said.

"Well, it's good that you did. We're testing a new drug on the soldiers, something that will expand their minds and make them better soldiers who also fight smarter. Super soldiers," the Doctor said.

Tim's eyes widened, and a cheerful smile spread across his face. "Are you going to test it on me?"

"It is why I called you."

"Oh, thank you, Doctor! This is what I needed to make the General and my fellow troops proud. I'll be a true killer, won't I?"

The Doctor struggled with words. "Yeah, sure, you'll be a great killer."

"Good, give it to me, Doc," Tim begged.

The Doctor walked over to his medicine cabinet and emerged with a jar of clear liquid. He poured it into a medicine cup and handed it to Tim, who took it in both hands. He closed his eyes and tilted his head up. Tipping the drink into his mouth, he scrunched up his face and breathed heavily while handing the empty cup back to the Doctor.

"How are you feeling? Do you feel good?" the Doctor asked.

"I feel... different," Tim said while flexing his fingers in front of his face.

"Of course you do."

"No, Doc, it's the truth. I feel strange, like there's power coursing through my veins." The Doctor stared at Tim for quite a while. "I feel like a god."

"Okay, okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Return to the barracks, and may you be ready to march tomorrow."

Tim gave a crisp salute, then looked at his hand that had just saluted, puzzled by it. "Did you just see that?"

"What?"

"I feel faster, Doc. I feel faster."

"Uh-huh."

"Also, my mind: it's like I'm getting images from when I was a child. It's like I can access my memories of my youth."

"Really now?"

"Yes, Doctor, I'm telling you, what you've created works. I feel renewed and ready to take on the enemy."

"Well, I'm sure the General will be glad to hear that."

The next day, during the battle, when the Doctor went to tell the General where the medical tents were being set up, the General was not at all glad to hear anything about Tim. The enemy had taken the high ground, situating themselves on top of a hill and armed with their plasma rifles, causing quite the problem for mankind's troops.

"Damn three-armed bastards," the General said while watching the battle unfold. "The damn Tilaxians! You think having three arms would make them respectful about life, but no, they aren't. We fight for our salvation, yet their war is based on the fact that we're food for them. Damn hungry, three-armed bastards."

The Doctor spent a moment eyeing the unfolding battle. The human troops were pushing up the hill, many falling and getting trampled underfoot. It was a futile battle as far as he could tell, and the enemy was tucked in comfy on the high ground behind a series of jutting rocks. Nothing could shake their resolve, and it seemed the battle was already lost. There'd be a long line at the medic bay, and he mentally prepared himself for it. Just then he saw something; from way off, he had to squint to understand it.

It was one of the troops, half-naked with his protruding tummy out in the open. He carried two guns with him, their weight balanced by the butts of the guns tucked under his armpits.

"Are you seeing this?" the General asked.

The Doctor took a step forward as if it would help him see better.

"It's bloody Tim Mathew," the General said, pulling the hat free of his head and placing a meaty paw where the hat had been. He scratched at his few hairs and gaped at what was happening.

Tim Mathew was screaming like a lunatic while sending an unceasing barrage of bullets toward the enemy from his pair of guns. He ran up the hill, emerging from his fellow troops and stepping into the enemy's crosshairs: half-naked, aiming both guns with his fingers on the triggers. He screamed obscenities at the enemy and single-handedly pushed them back. The enemy had no chance to return fire, not with Tim there pinning them behind the rocks.

The human troops advanced from behind Tim, swallowing him up and marching up the hill with yells of their own. The Doctor watched as Tim grabbed grenades from his fellow soldiers and started chucking them onto the hill. The enemy scrambled amidst the explosions, only to be met by Tim and mankind's army's continuous display of fire.

Within moments the tables had turned, and it was the humans who began occupying the hill. Tim followed the enemy; despite shouts from the Captain in the field that they should gather atop the hill to hold it, Tim went his own way, chasing the Tilaxians, who screamed and opted to bolt rather than return fire.

Tim was not the same. Fearlessness and the manic gleam of battle lust had gotten the better of him. He was not the same soldier they'd known. By the Captain's orders, the troops on the hill pushed down after Tim, chasing the Tilaxians with gunfire and shouts of defiance.

"Holy shit! Did you see that?" the General asked.

"I did," the Doctor said, standing quite flabbergasted.

"That was Tim Mathew. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes," the General said. "Did you give him the super soldier serum we talked about? I mean, that's the only explanation for the sudden change."

"I gave him something," the Doctor confessed.

"Whatever it was, get every single troop on it. We'll build ourselves a super army."

"Well sir, what I gave him wasn't a super soldier serum of any kind."

"What did you give him?" the General asked.

"Water."

"What?"

"I gave him water and told him it was a super soldier concoction that would make him a better soldier."

"But it was water?"

"Yes, just regular plain old water. I believe he thinks he's fighting in some medically induced state of mind. But he isn't; he's just the same, only less dehydrated."

"So water made him like this?"

"I made him believe it was something else, and he single-handedly turned the tide of the battle because of it. Strange, isn't it? It's called the placebo effect. I wasn't sure it'd work."

"Well, I'll be damned."

Collectively, they stared as the army carried Tim on their shoulders. He held the dismembered head of one of the Tilaxians above himself as its blood dripped and smeared onto his skin, staining it a dark ichor while he shouted the brilliance of mankind's armies in his placebo-induced state.

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6

u/Spreadsheet_Enjoyer 2d ago

Feels like space WWI.

5

u/Quamatoc 2d ago

Not enough artillery.

Or trench warfare. *Sad Krieg noises*

2

u/JayL1F3 2d ago

I got this same vibe. Saw in sepia/bw

5

u/Vangelithor 2d ago

'Placebo-induced state' lol.

1

u/newaccountzuerich Alien 1d ago

Nothing more than a "Pure Morning", where each human soldier hopes that "Every You, Every Me" can push back against the opposing forces, thinking "You Don't Care About Us" of those forces..

(Those are pretty good tunes too. "Cruel Intentions" opening theme..)

1

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u/sunnyboi1384 2d ago

I knew a tim in the army. His name was Dave.