Ignoring one of the pseudo-"peptide" or whatever the fuck kind of medication they were probably offering me, actual peptides do have various useful applications—though they weren't commonly referred to like that, take Insulin or even Creatine as an example.
For a brief description, Peptides are strings of molecules called amino acids and they are essentially the building blocks of protein.
I don't want to go deep in the rabbit hole with it but compared to other drugs, it had fewer side effects and since their byproducts of amino acids could be recycled by our bodies, it was much, much safer to take than the former.
But yeah, I've heard of different Peptides aiding in the recovery and strengthening of bones but not to the extent that allowed Jolene, a.k.a. The Senator or the Admiral's wife, to have the ability to reconstruct her skeletal system that fast, and slowly had them get stronger and stronger despite the rest of its body continuously decomposing.
'She needs energy from other corpses though so there's that as well...'
But back to our current situation, I completely shut down the Admiral's offer before it was given to me, and right as I was about to turn around, Admiral Burke slammed his fists onto the table as he shouted at the top of HIS lungs:
"I CAN ONLY TAKE SO MUCH DISRESPECT! LET ME FINISH WHAT I HAVE TO SAY AND YOU CAN DECIDE FROM THEN WHETHER YOU WANT TO DECLINE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE THE POWER TO PROTECT YOUR LOVED ONES!"
I slowly turned back to the Admiral as I bowed, "I'm sorry but I won't be able to protect my loved ones if I'm dead."
One of the doctors stepped up, "T-That's— T-This won't kill you at all! I-It just improves your body's ability—your bone's ability to recover a-and with enough doses, it gets stronger over time! Look at First Lieutenant Bartow—"
I rolled my eyes, "Again, I won't be able to protect my loved ones if I became an annoying piece of shit—"
"YOU—" Bartow was about to get right up in my face but the Admiral's voice thundered once again to diffuse a fight I wouldn't back down from.
"ENOUGH! Isn't his recovery from the beating you and that other~ Kuzma, was it? Isn't the recovery from the beating you gave him enticing enough for you?"
I shook my head, "Isn't someone like me who isn't in any of the shit you guys are peddling enough to tell you to stop messing with our bodies this way? Your 'roided-up fuck lost to me, what does that say—"
"Not to brag or anything, but if I'm at my 100%, completely focused, it's a one-on-one, and life-or-death with my blades on hand, no one could fucking touch me and the match will be over in a split second. Why the fuck would I need increased recovery if I wouldn't get hit and why would I need stronger bones if it would slow me down? Won't it just change everything I do things?"
"That's... That's something we haven't considered..."
"Look... I do believe our human shell is limited on its own and it's up to you all to advance us but I won't be able to plunge into it if there are already negatives that could affect how I do things and uncertainties waiting to blow up in our faces. Sure, Bartow's— First Lieutenant Bartow's recovery is amazing and all, but that's not for me. I'd rather take the freezer."
"What?" Everyone said at the same time.
"It's a cool-looking freezer, meshes well with—"
Admiral Burke cut me off, "That's why I want you to let me fucking finish!"
"Pardon?"
"I'm giving you the whole lot, you punk! And it's up to you if you use it or not!"
"Oh."
He shook his head, slightly defeated, "We haven't told you about the other ones here but it's enough doses for a handful of people. Let me tell you, I am on a cycle of what Bartow—and what my wife had as well—to further its research because yeah, I'm all for taking something safely but we wouldn't get there without any sacrifices. Can't you agree to that, at least?"
I glanced down before I looked back at him, "That's definitely true."
He lightly chuckled, "In the future, if this all goes well, you'd probably be one of the people benefiting from this—and you'd have to thank me and Bartow for that. It IS experimental and it DOES carry risks, but we've gotten far enough that the negatives are manageable, and with more time and more data, we'd be able to tweak it to the point it had a stronger effect but less of the drawbacks.
If not, less effect but less drawbacks as well, do you get me?"
"Min-Maxing, yeah. But what does the other shit do?"