"She is not a plant. Her biology is not inherently compatible with what your instinctive use of your gate would do, so there would be an adaptation period during which she would be vulnerable and that could also be used as a vector to affect you.

"If you give her full access to your gate, she would be able to herself hurt you—"

"What are the risks to her, Doctor?"

"...you could kill her."

"I can already kill her."

"The process would be extremely painful, both physically and mentally, as all of her cells will be replaced several times over."

"Will she die of it?"

"She could... have a stroke or some other adverse reaction to the extreme pain... but no, the healing factor should be able to overwhelm whatever damage the process causes."

"Then make it happen. As soon as physically possible."

"Yes, Master Knives."

And that is how Yvette Marlowe wakes up strapped to an operating table, various tubes attached to every limb.

It does not take a genius to figure out from the information she has what exactly happened to get her here. Nai was confronted with her mortality. He did not want to be confronted with her mortality. So he solved that in typical Nai fashion. God damn it.

"We're going to need to have a nice long talk about informed consent," is the first thing she says.

"My apologies, Ms. Marlowe. It will be a painful process, but not a dangerous one; you are not at risk."

And then it begins.