Odette's outfit
Chapter Seventy-Two
⚔ Genotype ⚔
Malia, Odette and Lydia walk into the hospital morgue and Odette instantly goes over and opens the cubby that contains Halwyn's body in a black body bag. She glanced at Malia and Lydia before unzipping the bag. He looks just as he did when he was shot and killed by Monroe. A large bullet wound is in the center of his head, and his chest is covered in claw gashes from his battle with Liam.
"Well, it's still here. Still dead. What else were we supposed to do?" Malia asked and Lydia sighed, "Figure out how a Hellhound led me into the woods to find another faceless body while being technically dead." Lydia said and Odette raised her eyebrows.
"Technically?" She asked and Lydia nodded, "I don't think I would have been led out there if he was fully dead." Lydia said and Malia made a face as she glanced down at the body. "I don't think we should be hanging out here waiting for him to spring back to life." She said.
"We don't have to wait if we can figure out how he was able to reach me." Lydia said and Odette raised an eyebrow, "How do we do that?" She asked and Lydia looked down at him and shrugged slightly, "We're just going to have to ask him."
Lydia lays still on a steel autopsy table with her eyes closed and her hands folded over her abdomen. Her head is inches away from Halwyn's in his autopsy cubby. After a moment, Malia, who was crouched down next to the table, peeks her head up by Lydia and Halwyn's heads.
"Anything yet?" She asked making Lydia's eyes fly open, and she rolls them irritably before she responds in a terse tone of voice, "As opposed to when you asked three minutes ago? No." She said before groaning and standing to her feet.
"Ugh. It's not working." Lydia said, "Maybe you should touch him?" Malia suggested and Lydia scoffed and rolls her eyes again, "That's ridiculous. There's no way-" She started to say but Malia grabs her hand and plants it on Halwyn's arm making Odette cringe slightly before standing up from where she sat on a stool.
"Anything?" Malia asked Lydia made a face, clearly not happy about touching a corpse, "Nothing." She said. Malia grabs Lydia's hand and places it on Halwyn's clawed-up chest, "What about now?" She asked. Lydia makes a noise of disgust, clearly grossed out, and rolls her neck as Malia holds her hand down, "Nope."
Malia takes Lydia's hand and places it on Halwyn's chin this time, much to Lydia's exasperation, "Now?" She asked as Odette chuckled when Lydia gave her a look. Lydia, who has clearly had enough, yanks her hand away from Halwyn and Malia and gives her a look, "Okay, stop."
Malia makes an equally grossed-out face as she gently turns Halwyn's head to the left, exposing the back of his neck to them. She then looks at Lydia and Odette, "I could try it?" She said and Odette instantly shook her head.
"You could damage his brain, maybe even more than that bullet already has." Odette said and Lydia nodded making Malia look slightly relieved by this answer and gingerly returns Halwyn to the prone position before beginning to pace around the room.
"How did it work last time?" Malia asked and Lydia sighed, "Last time, I was unconscious." Lydia said and Malia nodded slowly. "Unconscious..." She mumbled as she looked around the room, eventually finding a large steel surgical hammer and smiling, "Okay, we can work with that!" She said making Odette's eyes widen and look at her horrified as Malia banged it against the autopsy exam table to emphasize her point after explaining her idea.
"See? It will be quick!" Malia said and Lydia shook her head, 'No. Mmm-mmm. Not like that." Lydia said making Malia frown. "You want me to knock you out, right?" Malia asked and Lydia shook her head, "Render unconscious. Preferably without pain." She said before an idea popped into her head.
"Okay, this is what we're gonna do. You're going to press against my chest- hard- constricting the flow of blood and oxygen to my brain. It'll drop my blood pressure and render me unconscious." Lydia explained and Malia and Odette looked at her wide eyed, "That sounds totally unsafe." She said and Lydia nodded in agreement.
"Oh, extremely." Lydia said and Malia raised her eyebrows, "Are you sure?" She asked. Lydia sighed and closes his eyes for a moment, clearly conflicted about this plan, "No. But let's go." She said before clearing her throat and takes several deep breaths to psychologically prepare herself.
"No, no, no. Absolutely not." Odette said making them look at her, "Give me a second." She said before walking out. A couple minutes later Odette came back with a couple gloves, a small bottle, a syringe, a bag of cotton balls and rubbing alcohol. "What is that?" Malia asked as Odette put on the gloves.
"Ketamine. It'll do the painless rendering unconscious job just fine. And since I know how to use it and how much to use, it won't have any possibilities of killing you like crushing your chest would." Odette said as she grabbed Lydia's arm before rubbing a alcohol soaked cotton ball on it. "How did you get ketamine?" Lydia asked and Odette shrugged slightly as she filled the syringe with the drug.
"I worked here all summer. I know where they keep everything." Odette said before gently sticking the needle into Lydia's arm and pushing down the plunger. She pulled out the syringe and tossed into the red waste bin. "You'll start feeling that in about ten seconds." Odette said as she threw away her gloves before gently grabbing Lydia's arms when she saw her eye lids start to flutter before gently lowering her to the ground.
"How long does ketamine last?" Malia asked, looking away from Lydia and at Odette who shrugged slightly, "Anywhere from five minutes to thirty but for her it'll probably only feel like one minute."
About ten minutes later Lydia suddenly gasps awake making Malia and Odette run over to help her up. "He's not dead!" Lydia said then pauses briefly to catch her breath, "Halwyn's not dead..." She said. She leans on the autopsy table for support as she looks down at Halwyn's motionless body. "And I know how to save him." Lydia said, glancing over at her friends.
⚔
Odette, Lydia and Malia, in navy blue scrubs, masks and cap, wheel Halwyn on a gurney into the radiology wing. When they make it into the room where the MRI machine is located, they remove their masks and caps while Odette checks the hall before giving them a thumps up to signal no one suspected them.
"Step one, complete." Odette said as she walked over to Lydia and Malia, "Now, how do we turn this thing on?" Malia asked. Lydia pulls out her phone and holds it out so that Malia and Odette can see the screen, which reads MRI Technical Operations Manual. "We read the manual." She said and Odette chuckled and shook her head, "Don't need it. I helped Melissa with this a few times."
After a few minutes they move to the observation room, where Odette typed something into the computer. Malia and Lydia watch over Odette's shoulder as she uses the controls to put Halwyn's body into the MRI machine. After a moment, imaging of his brain comes up on the screen, which Odette uses to show them the bullet.
"Look- see that image artifacting? That means the bullet is ferromagnetic. Probably steel. It'll react in the MRI. We'll increase the magnet's power, and the machine will pull the bullet right out." She said and then turns to look at them wide eyed, "Ready? It could get messy." She asked and Malia huffed.
"I've seen messy." Malia said and Lydia nodded in agreement, "Go for it." She said. Odette was about to hit the start button but paused when she notices something on the screen that causes her to frown and move away from the button. "We can't do this." She said making them look at her.
"What are you talking about?" Malia asked and Odette shook her head slightly, "The bullet- it's not just steel." She said then points at one of the images on the screen. "Those fragments around it..That's silver. The bullet was coated with it. Silver won't react in the MRI. We pull that bullet out, and he'll start to heal." Odette explained and Malia nodded, "Healing is good!" She said and Lydia sighed and shook her head.
"He's a Hellhound. He'll heat up. When he does, that silver is going to melt." Lydia said said and Odette slowly nodded, "And seep right into his brain." She said.
"So, what's a little silver?" Malia asked and Odette sighed softly, "Argyria. Silver poisoning. And we have no way of getting it out. I don't know if I could heal that." Odette said and Malia looks at Halwyn with a defeated expression. "So, if we take out the bullets, he dies again." She said and Odette and Lydia nodded.
Malia is anxiously looks out of the small window in the door to the MRI room to ensure that there is no one coming who could blow their cover. After a moment of seeing nothing, she returns to the observation room with Lydia and Odette, who both is clearly conflicted by their dilemma.
"There has to be another way." Lydia said and Malia nodded, "Yeah... If we had more time, I'm sure we could figure something out, but we don't. Someone is gonna come through that door any second now and bust us. Our last shot at figuring out how to beat the Anuk-ite might be laying on that table, so we need to make a decision right now." Malia said.
Lydia rolled her eyes and gives Malia an exhausted but exasperated look, "You don't mean "decide"- you mean "do it."" She said and brushes past Malia and begins pacing as they talk. "Yeah, I think it's the right decision. If it were Parrish, he'd want us to do it. He would sacrifice himself for everyone in Beacon Hills." Malia said and Odette sighed.
"But Parrish would be able to make the decision himself. We don't know what Halwyn would do." Odette said and Malia thinks for a brief moment, "We kind of do." She said making them look at her with raised eyebrows.
"He built Eichen. He froze himself for years so that he could be ready to fight the Anuk-ite. The first thing he does when he's unfrozen is start hunting the thing. If that's the only thing he's ever cared about... Then he'd want us to do this." Malia said and Odette thought for a moment before nodding slowly, "She does have a point." She said looking back at Lydia.
Lydia sighs, knowing Malia is right, and walks toward her, Lydia hesitates for a moment before nodded slightly. Odette sighed softly as she reaches to place her fingertips on the sliding switches for the magnetic component, eventually getting the nerve to slide them up all the way to increase the magnetism and remove the bullet.
The girls watch as the the MRI machine begins to revive Halwyn by pulling the bullet out of his brain. After a moment, Malia and Odette frowns worriedly, "Something's wrong." She said making Lydia look at her, "What is it?" She asked and Malia focused on her hearing.
"His heartbeat... it's too fast, and erratic." Odette said and then suddenly, Halwyn begins seizing, his muscles spasming painfully as the MRI continues to do its work. The girls all look at each other with alarm as Lydia anxiously taps Odette's hand, "Turn it off! Turn it off!" She said.
Odette wastes no time hitting the buttons on the keyboard in an attempt to turn off the machine, "Hurry!" Malia said. Though Odette manages to successfully turn the MRI machine off, it takes a few more moments to fully power down, which is just enough time for it to forcibly yank the bullet out of Halwyn's brain.
Halwyn, now conscious, stops seizing and instead roars in pain at the top of his voice, his eyes blazing with fire and his fangs extended. The lights flickered for a moment before completely shutting off, sending the whole hospital into a blackout a brief moment, the back-up generator kicks in.
The girls run into the next room and stare open-mouthed at Halwyn, who has just stood weakly to his feet. It soon becomes obvious that his fire-based healing power is already starting to kick in to heal him of his wounds, as a steam-like aura can be seen around his body. Halwyn turns towards to them and growls under his breath.
"Where is it?" He growled before trying to lunge toward them, but ends up getting woozy and falls into them, forcing them to gently lower him to the ground, leaning his back against the wall. Panting for breath, he frowns in confusion, "What's happening?" He asked. The girls share a grim look before Malia speaks up.
"The Anuk-ite is destroying our city, that's what's happening. And we need you to tell us how to kill it." Malia said and Halwyn looks overwhelmed by this news, and Odette's expression is devastated as she tries to get Lydia and Malia's attention, "Guys..."
Malia ignores her and continues to question him, "Does it have any weaknesses? Is there a weapon that we can use?" Malia asked. "Guy!" Odette said louder making finally stop talking as she and Lydia looks at Odette, who nodded to Halwyn's face.
They all look alarmed when they see molten silver beginning to pour out of his nose. Halwyn brought his hand up to his wipe and wiped some of it off before looking down at his finger then back at the girls with wide eyes, "What did you do to me?"
"I'm sorry... It was the only way to revive you." Lydia said and Halwyn chuckles darkly at her, "Revive me so I can die?" He asked. "No, so you could help us. Tell us how to stop it." Malia asked and Halwyn, who is now bleeding silver from his mouth as well, sighs defeatedly, "You can't stop it. You can't kill it." He said and Odette furrowed her brows. 'But you did..." She said making him look at her, "I trapped it." He corrected.
"Well, how do we do that?" Malia asked impatiently, "Don't let it find its other half." He said. "How do we know it hasn't found it already?" Lydia asked and he looked at her grimly, "Because you wouldn't be alive to tell me." He said before pausing to take a deep breath.
"Keep them apart. It's still weak." He said, "One of them isn't so weak- it's supernatural." Lydia said making Halwyn look at her with wide eyes. "A shapeshifter?" He asked and Odette nodded, "A Werewolf." She said making him look at her.
"You can't let the two halves merge. If you do, you won't be able to catch it." He said and silver begins to bleed from the gunshot wound in his forehead, and he groans in pain as the silver poisoning spreads throughout his body. The girls look at each other with guilty expressions, clearly saddened by what they've done, "We shouldn't have done this. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry." Lydia said.
Odette glanced down at his hand before slowly taking it and squeezing it. He weakly squeezed back as black veins trailed from his hand to hers making her cringe slightly. "I-I can't heal you." She said in a slight whisper but he still looked at her thankfully as silver now pours out of both of his ears and his right eye as well as his mouth, nose, and open wounds.
"Okay, listen to me. If it finds its other half... if the two become one... do not look at it." He asked and his eyes start to flicker orange-red with fire as more molten silver runs from his eyes like tears, and he starts gasping for breath and Odette took more of his pain away making him look at her
"You can't. It will kill you with a look." He said before taking one last raspy breath as his body goes weak, and his hand goes limp in Odette's as the black veins disappear. The girls look devastated by what happened to him and their role in it and share a grieving expression. Odette stared at his body with slightly glossy eyed as she talked a deep breath before letting go of his hand.