Chapter 222: [222] "CAPTAIN IS CLEARED"

Luc stood up, testing his right leg one final time. He planted his cleats into the dirt, shifting his hips left and right. The joint held perfectly. The fluid mechanics of his lower body had returned.

"Yeah, we’re done here," Luc said.

Rose stood up beside him, stretching her arms over her head and letting out a small, contented sigh. She didn’t look bothered by the cold at all.

She looked at Luc, offering a warm, grounding smile. "Play well on Sunday. Don’t do anything stupid. And don’t let stuff distract you."

"Never do," Luc replied.

Zara began walking backward toward the gravel path that led to the station. "Goodbye, Luc. Please don’t invite me to any more fitness shit."

"I didn’t even invite you to this one," Luc pointed out.

Zara called back, turning around and quickening her pace to generate body heat.

Rose chuckled, stepping forward and wrapping her arms around Luc’s torso for a quick hug. He returned the embrace, the thick nylon of their windbreakers sliding against each other.

"Call me after the match," Rose instructed, pulling away and stepping onto the path.

"I will," Luc promised.

He watched the two women walk away, their contrasting figures, one bright pink, one draped in dark oversized black, disappearing around the bend of the tree line.

Luc turned in the opposite direction. His apartment was located just over two miles away, bordering the edge of the district.

He initiated a slow jog. The crunch of his running shoes against the ground set a steady metronome for his thoughts. The cold air burned pleasantly in his lungs.

The notification from the league administration lingered briefly in his mind. A mandatory conference for all clubs. New rules. Structural shifts. The suits in Paris were maneuvering, preparing to alter the landscape of the sport. Valérie Laurent would be sharpening her knives, preparing for a boardroom war to protect the empire she was building at Stade Valois.

But that was later’s problem.

Luc had to report to the medical facility, secure his official clearance from Juliette and Detone, and step back onto the training pitch. He had to integrate with a squad that had just learned how to survive without him. He had to coordinate with Pinto, reassure the defensive line, and prepare to batter FC Côte d’Azur.

Luc accelerated his pace, his right knee operating flawlessly as he disappeared down the long, tree-lined path.

---

The examination table was cold against Luc’s bare back. He stared straight up at the harsh fluorescent light panels embedded in the ceiling of the medical wing. The sounds of the ventilation system were the only constant in the room, occasionally punctuated by the sharp click of Detone’s pen.

"Flex the quadricep," Detone instructed.

Luc engaged the muscle. The thick band of tissue tightened instantly above his right kneecap.

Detone placed both hands firmly on the joint, his thumbs pressing directly into the space just below the patella, targeting the exact site of the tibial tuberosity where Khalil’s cleats had made impact.

Detone applied pressure. First ten pounds, then twenty, increasing the load steadily to test the integrity of the bruised bone.

Luc kept his face blank. His breathing remained shallow and measured. The pain that had him days prior was absent.

"Any spike?" Detone asked, his eyes locked on Luc’s face, searching for a micro-expression of discomfort.

"Nothing," Luc replied.

Detone didn’t take him at his word. The interim head physiotherapist shifted his grip, moving into a valgus stress test. He stabilized Luc’s femur with his left hand and pulled the ankle outward with his right, testing the ligaments and forcing the joint to bear an unnatural load.

The joint held firm.

There was no laxity. No shifting of the bone structure.

Juliette stood on the opposite side of the table, holding a portable ultrasound scanner. She had her hair in a tight, professional knot, wearing her official league medical ID on her neck over a fitted black turtleneck. She watched the monitor intently as Detone worked, tracking the deep tissue density on the digital readout.

"The hematoma is fully reabsorbed," Juliette noted, her voice carrying clinical detachment. She wiped a line of blue gel off Luc’s shin with a paper towel. "The micro-fracturing along the bone surface is normal now. The tissue density is uniform."

Detone stepped back, dropping his pen onto the metal counter. "Get off the table. Let’s see."

Luc swung his legs over the edge of the padding and dropped to the floor. His bare feet hit the cold ground.

"Single-leg squat," Detone ordered, pointing to a slanted wooden board positioned near the corner of the room. "Twenty degrees of decline. I want to see the tendon stretch under full body weight."

Luc walked over to the board. He placed his right foot on the slanted surface, lifting his left leg off the ground. He extended his arms for balance and slowly lowered his hips. The angle of the board forced his knee to track forward over his toes, placing a stress directly onto the previously injured bone.

He hit the bottom of the squat, holding the position for five seconds. The muscle trembled slightly from the exercise he went on, but the bone itself felt okay. He drove his weight through his heel and returned to a standing position.

He executed five more repetitions without a single hesitation.

Juliette crossed her arms over her chest, a satisfied smile finally breaking through her professional facade. She looked at Detone and offered a single nod.

"He’s clear," Detone confirmed, picking up his clipboard and signing his name across the bottom of the medical evaluation form. "No residual inflammation. You are medically discharged from the restricted list, Captain."

Before Luc could even exhale a breath of relief, a loud thud sounded from the hallway, followed immediately by the sound of someone stumbling against the door of the therapy room.

The door swung inward, failing to catch on its hinges.

Cillian Doyle spilled halfway into the room, his shoulders catching the doorframe just in time to stop himself from falling flat onto the ground.