guinea pig in a twisted mouth.

[thegooddoctor]

WHO: Dr. Angelica Einstürzen, and the young vigilantes known as Trauma and the Pillowman.
WHERE: Angelica's secret laboratory.
WHEN: Wednesday, dead of night.
WARNINGS: Violence, death, and the above characters being themselves.
SUMMARY: Terry and Katurian bring the fight to the good doctor-- and she evens the score.
FORMAT: Quicklog.


[ The air was still stale, the place too long hidden underground without a human being inside it-- nothing but dusty vials, the hum of machines, and the flutter of wings in the rafters. Quiet, like a grave. But Angelica preferred it that way. Nothing but cold steel and glass, uninterrupted except by the cawing of the monster crows she kept as pets, bred from the gift of a single egg and matured into beasts in the year she had been gone.

She had meticulously cleaned away the debris, restoring her laboratory with a singular focus. The good doctor needed a proper place for her work, a place hidden from the world-- protected, beneath the earth. It was here that Angelica had spent the past week experimenting, on herself and what scant specimens she could hunt. Slowly, her vials filled with samples, her notebooks filled. This was a time of pupation.

Even now, in the middle of the night, Angelica did not sleep. Under the white light, she was a slender, pale phantom, her hands unnaturally steady as she pierced her skin with the point of a needle, drawing her own blood. ]

Comments

[goryteller]

[This was all so familiar. Angelica with the blade against his neck.

(Dear boy. Do you think that I won't hurt you?)

He was in costume this time, though, and Angelica's hand brushed against the fabric of his mask. His very, very secret mask. His identity was obscured underneath, but he suddenly felt so small.

(He'd be fine getting stabbed to death, he tried to tell himself.)

Time travel, time travel. Though he could catch Terry's eye, though he knew he should be able to dig into his past and escape, something failed in his momentum. It was as though he took a running leap and then got caught midair, his legs poised, his muscles rigid and immobile.

Something was wrong. Something caught them off guard.

He shook, trembled, and then he threw his hand over his shoulder, craning to press that cloth against Angelica's face.]

[demonspawn]

[ He froze. She was just there suddenly, somewhere between Katurian fighting beside him and that thing all claws and feathers in his face. He froze because he hadn't felt her, hadn't sensed her and she'd been so close. But her mind was closed off, as if protected by a winding labyrinth, leaving him wandering telepathically without ever finding the fears that should have risen from her thoughts to meet Nightmare's son.

There was a feeling tightening in his chest that he didn't recognize as his eyes fell to where her scalpel gleamed at Katurian's throat. It tasted bitter in the back of his mouth. It was... Powerlessness.

He was frozen, at a lost now that he suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of his own humanity-- until he saw Katurian move, that resistance making him force himself to move. He had to improvise, grabbing an empty glass beaker and smashing it on the counter, making it into something sharp before lunging at Angelica. ]

[thegooddoctor]

Little brat.

[ The doctor hissed as she felt that cloth brush her face, drenched in the telltale scent of ether. She twisted her head away with her teeth bared in a silent snarl, her arm moving in quick retaliation to bury her scalpel in flesh. The blade lodged itself between Katurian's collarbone and his throat, just missing the large vessels-- but close. Maybe close enough.

Angelica pulled back, shoving Katurian forward towards his charging ally. Even that brief moment of exposure to the ether made her head spin-- stupid brave little child, so very courageous even without his powers, but she so very much disliked disobedient children-- and she still had the other one to deal with. ]

You boys have been very. Very bad.

[goryteller]

[He knew when the blade buried itself in his neck. That sudden puncture, the way the air left his lungs but couldn't quite make it up his throat. The delayed searing, horrible pain. All the same, he expected more. Thunder, slam slam. End scene, slam slam.

The blood rushing in his ears provided the soundtrack as he was knocked forward, his hands struggling for balance. He felt his weight connect with Terry before his legs crumpled.]

[demonspawn]

[ It made him stagger, made the broken glass fall from his hand when he felt the unexpected weight of Katurian hitting him. Terry fumbled to catch his friend, trying to keep him from hitting the ground too hard and sinking to his knees, trying to be careful because God, he can already see so much blood.

That distinct, unfamiliar sense of powerlessness comes again hard enough to make him feel sick. He hasn't felt this way since high school, when he was Terrance Ward, the bullied outcast, and not Terrance Ward, son of Nightmare.

He forced his legs back under himself, getting a grip under Katurian's arms and trying to pull him away -- too slowly, much too slowly -- urging Katurian with a hint of desperation he didn't know he was feeling: ]

You gotta get up. Come on. Stay with me. Can you hear me?

[thegooddoctor]

[ It was so very satisfying, that sweet tone of desperation she could hear in Terrance's voice, the coppery smell of Katurian's blood. They were, in the end, only children. Stripped of their powers, they were so vulnerable. So unlike their last encounter. The tables had turned.

And Angelica knew better than anyone-- bad children needed to be punished. The needed to learn.

She let Terry pull at Katurian's body. She knew they wouldn't get far. The futility of the gesture amused her. But she wouldn't make them wait long, oh no. She had something special for Terrance Ward. Angelica reached into her coat for a needle, stalking towards her two would-be vigilantes. ]

Whatever do you think you're doing, dear.

[goryteller]

[He heard Terry's voice. And he heard Angelica's.

He wanted to tell Terry to run, that he was fine, really, but all he could manage were gurgles, sick and wet and punctuated by inhales that didn't quite go deep enough. Behind the voice modulator, they sounded inhuman, a machine's roar. He wasn't aware of the scalpel still buried in his flesh, the exposed metal handle brushing softly against Terry's shirt like gentle fingertips.

He pawed at his partner with gloved, bloody hands.]

G-Gha--

[Go. Let me go. He shoved at him, desperate. His legs slid on the floor.]

[demonspawn]

[ He didn't know what to do. She was coming closer now, and he could hear those wet, injured sounds Katurian kept making. It made his stomach twist violently, the way it reminded him of watching MVP die back home -- his fault, like this feels, but worse this way, with Katurian bleeding out and the impending threat of Angelica's approach. He had to do something, this wasn't working.

Maybe it was the adrenaline, the desperation, but Terry knew the only way he or Katurian stood a chance of leaving alive was to deal with the doctor, and deal with her fast. Now. Before she could finish them off. He eased Katurian's body to the floor, hard eyes on Angelica, letting her get closer before he moved, suddenly, to grab another glass beaker off the counter, lunging to meet her in one last ditch shot. ]

[thegooddoctor]

[ She almost didn't feel the pain, so singular was her focus on killing the boy, the treacherous young demon who repaid her good will with betrayal not once, but twice. The feeling of the needle sinking into the skin and fabric, piercing Terrance's arm was sweet, and pushing the poison into his body was only that much more satisfying. She had meant to give Katurian a swift death-- the poor thing, he shouldn't have struggled-- but this, this would be a slow death. The neurotoxin would slowly spread, shutting down his muscles until his very lungs could no longer push air in and out. The boy would suffocate.

It was only then, with the needle shoved into Terry's arm, did she realize what he'd done to her. Her vision exploded into red, wetness running down her face, sharp pain where shattered glass had penetrated--

She made a hideous sound, backing away with a hiss of breath, hands clawing at the glass, pulling it out viciously, even as her fingers slipped, slick with her own blood. ]

You bastard. You nasty little half-breed. I'll destroy you--

[goryteller]

[While they struggled, Katurian's gurgles grew softer, less frequent, until he was nearly quiet on the floor, the only sound an occasional rasping breath. His throat was a well of blood. It was getting so much harder to taste the air.

(And then the little girl choked to death on her own blood. The end.)

He fumbled for his communicator with clumsy hands. He pressed keys he could barely feel. HE IS GOING ON A TRIP, he told his pre-set filter, the people that matter. HE IS FINE.

And then he heard Angelica scream oh so beautifully and he thought Terry must have won, thank fucking god, and a part of him forgot his condition in that promised victory and so he tried to push himself off the ground.

His arms collapsed underneath him. He choked, the sound so much closer to final than the other ones he made. He noticed this, even, thought about how exciting this was now that he didn't need to worry about Terry. (So he thought.) He wanted to hear every sound he made. He wanted to hold onto every sensation, cherish every feeling in this beautiful, failing body. He could write so much.]

[demonspawn]

[ He thought it too, that maybe he'd actually gotten her, that maybe now he and Katurian would get away. But the slight stinging pain in his arm drew his attention to that needle, its contents -- whatever they were -- emptied into his system. His heart clenched. What was that? Was it poison? How long did he have?

Quickly, he ran back to Katurian, hoping that Angelica would be distracted long enough for the two of them to get away. He knelt down, shook Katurian's shoulder. ]

Hey -- hey. Come on, we gotta go.

[ He hesitated. Then reached out to check for a pulse, hoping that tingle of numbness he felt in his finger tips was just his imagination. ]

[thegooddoctor]

[ Terry was a dark moving blur through the haze of red and searing pain. Angelica gripped the nearest counter top, her gloves slick with blood, sharp teeth bared like the monster she really was. All that sticky sweet pleasantry, that mask of humanity-- that was gone, replaced with the deepest desire to rip Terrance's organs free from his body.

She groped blindly for a weapon, anything sharp enough to cut the boy into ribbons. ]

[goryteller]

[He still had a pulse, but everything in him was fading fast. His breathing came out in delayed, half-chokes. Under his blood-soaked mask, his skin was white and sickly. His lips were blue. He promised himself that he would hold onto every feeling, that he would really try to appreciate what was happening to him, but within seconds he was lost in those feelings, swallowed up in the sensations like an ocean wave. Drowning.

Huh.

When Terry touched his neck, he raised his head to look at him. He managed something like a laugh (almost soundless, a pocket of air in a sea of blood) before his eyes rolled up in his head and he went down.]

[demonspawn]

[ He was shaking. Just a faint tremor. Maybe from exhaustion, or stress, or adrenaline, or the fact that Katurian had just died -- or maybe it was the poison he could practically feel his heart treacherously pumping through his all too human body. Weak. His fingers dropped from Katurian's faded pulse to grip his shoulder tightly. An apology to his corpse. An apology for what he was about to do.

Run away.

Because he could already tell his body was shutting down. He felt nauseous, his head pounding, the numbness spreading from his fingertips up his arms. He was going to die -- for real this time, if he couldn't get away from whatever it was that had killed his powers. Angelica. This place. And he could see Angelica trying to recover, still standing even with the mess of glass in her face. Terry couldn't wait any longer.

His grip tightened on Katurian for just a moment before he let go, stumbling towards the door. Struggling to make his failing body obey him enough to pull it open, staggering out into the night air. His legs felt seconds from giving out -- he just had to get as far as he could go. ]

[thegooddoctor]

[ She could hear the sound of the boy's staggering footsteps. The blur of his form was moving unsteadily towards the door. There was a quiet click as it shut behind him. The noise she made was a soft snarl. Fine. Run then, boy. He could get away from her, but not from the toxin already spreading through his limbs to his lungs. He wouldn't get far. And inevitably she would find him again -- and his friend, too, if he revived in the City.

She always found them. The bad children. Even Heine hadn't been able to run from her forever.

Now, it was time to heal. She would lay down behind closed doors and become a pupa, quiet and dormant for a few hours as she metamorphosed into another body. This one would regenerate, make her whole again. All the while, Katurian's body would be waiting for her. And when she awoke, she would put on a clean dress, and she would put that cooling corpse on the operating table. She would pull her favorite scalpel free from his throat. She would take off his mask, his costume-- fold them, set them aside neatly. She would clean the blood.

Then, tenderly, she would cut his still heart out of his chest. ]