(A/N: PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING --------
Hi my wonderful readers! Man, it really took me a long time to get to chapter one, huh? Well, never to fear, my writer's block has ended, and I'm back in the saddle (Er, so to speak...)! Anywya, some of this stuff is gonna get pretty trippy, which, in most cases that I've seen are often occurences when one experiences near death.
Ahem, anyway... I researched a bit on electricity, shocks, and what not, but I will say this, and only once: DO. NOT. TRY. ANY. OF. THIS. AT. HOME! Only 2,000 amps or more will kill you, and yes, amps are different than watts or volts, but I won't go into this - it really takes too long. So, that's all!)
~Kazuko's POV~
After that fateful day, every day that followed is the same d*mn story. I crack open my eyes, eat the food that's set out for me, and try to prepare myself for what's next.
Pain.
Unimaginable pain.
Brutus often comes in after I'm done eating, but hardly does at the same time each day. My guess is that he wants to keep me tense and guessing when the torture is coming...
Basically, he tries out the inhibitor collar's shock capabilities on me. Sometimes he cranks it up all of the way, other times he does short random bursts out of nowhere. But most of the time he shocks me while standing in front of me, taunting me as I gasp and writhe in excruciating pain.
But one thing always remains the same: Every time and the only time he leaves me alone, it's cause I've been rendered unconscious by his so called 'treatment'.
Even me, a little six year old, can tell that this is torture, and not a 'treatment'. Even now, it's all I can do to stay alive each and every day.
And yet, I often wonder how hard life would be on the other side... What I would do there, if I did happen to die.
Today I received a huge surprise. After Brutus came in, Mercy, Lex Luthor's right hand, strolled into the room. She took one look at me, and started chewing Brutus out. She clearly wasn't happy about my condition, that much was apparent.
But by this time, I didn't really care, nor did I listen in. At the time, I was using most of the energy I had to just try and stay awake from another one of Brutus's shock treatments. So all I could do was just lay there, staring at the sky shown through a skylight above, waiting for the inevitable torture with an air of weary acceptance.
After they stood there arguing, Brutus huffed something and led the way to one of the many control panels lining the room... The exact one that controlled the amps surging through my collar when he decided to hurt me.
I flinched, and struggled to raise my head, even through my body was screaming at me to just lie there. I HAD to see what they were up to, and managed to watch them with listless eyes. Mercy was messing with the controls, and occasionally asked Brutus a few questions.
Sometimes he'd just shrug at her. Other times he gave her a short answer, but he rarely gave her a full answer. However, I didn't know what they were saying, since I was already far away from them, teetering on the brink of darkness once more.
Just then, Brutus snapped something at Mercy, and swings around. When he does, he catches sight of me watching the two of them, and he bares his teeth in a silent snarl as he whips out his remote.
A familiar feeling of pain zips through me, and I can feel my body jerking around as it spasms from the electrical pulses.
Everything fades, until it's like I'm viewing everything as if it's from a movie. Mercy whirls around, and spots what Brutus is doing. She mouths something, and Brutus says something back to her. mercy's face hardens, and she lunges at Brutus, pulling back her mecha fist. I hear a faint crack, and some yelling when the harsh sound of fists meeting flesh reaches me.
By now, my eyes have drifted half shut as I feel myself slowly slipping on my tenuous grasp on life. To my relief, the pain in my body disappears, but I don't even have the energy to sigh.
A few seconds later, a shadow moves above me, and then I see a blurry halo of light outlining a brown haired lady, who is looking at me with a concerned and slightly panicked expression. She mouths something at me, but I cannot hear her over the static ringing in my ears.
'Who is she?' I wonder. 'What does she want from me? And why does she seem so familiar?'
I continue staring at her, and dimly realize that the black edges of my vision are creeping closer and closer to the lady's wavering face. I attempt to blink, to do anything really, but all I feel is my body slowly becoming impossibly heavy.
Then the burning warmth of a hand against my face... I feel the blow, but not the pain that I expected to accompany it. By now, I can't see anything, and it's completely dark. I can feel something shaking me, but even that passes when I finally drift free of the dead weight restricting me.
~Mercy's POV!~
When I walked into the lab, I couldn't believe my eyes. The once proud kid who spit on my boss was lying in a pile of filth inside her cage. She was so dirty I would have hardly recognized her if I didn't check up on her regularly, as per Lex's orders.
"What the h*ll, Brutus!?" I exclaim. He just looks at me with a flat expression, and snarls, "What?! I'm doing my job, Mercy!"
I frown at him, and point towards subject K.A. 594301. "No, you're not. You were supposed to make her more amiable and acceptable to Lex's demands, not... this!"
I move towards the cage, and rake my eyes over her, noting her poor condition and the dried remnants of blood (among many other questionable things) covering and welding the inhibitor collar to her neck. As I peer closer, I note with disgust that there is pus oozing out of some open sores underneath and around the collar.
It was obvious that the frequent use of the shock function of the collar caused this. I turn around and glare at Brutus.
"You used the shocking mechanism way too much on her Brutus! Look at her, she's practically dead!"
"Exactly." He replies, smirking at me. "It was the only way that I could prevent her from attacking me. I think she still holds a grudge against me."
'Somehow I doubt that, Brutus. I think that it is you that holds the grudge, not her...'
I shake my head and let it go. "Have you at least recorded the amount of amps it takes to make her paralyzed?"
"Um... No."
I pull an exasperated hand over my face. 'I knew this was going to happen... So much for trying to keep Lex's prized pet safe and sound. He's going to kill me for this!'
"Have you at least reset the controls each and every time you do shock her, or do you amp it up a bit more?" I tightly hiss, barely resisting the urge to throttle him.
"Uh, what?" He brilliantly replies, staring at me with the most stupid expression on his face.
"Ugh, just show me the controls!" I exclaim, throwing up my hands in exasperation.
"Fine!" He snaps, and leads me over to one of the many controls surrounding subject K.A. 594301's cage.
I lean over the controls, and tap the history/ log panel and wait for the readings to pop up. When they do, I can't help but gasp in dismay.
"More than 3,000 mA?! Brutus, this is way too much! Even mmost superheroes would have a hard time getting up after that!" I cry.
I hear no response, and I turn to him. "Did you just hear what I-"
A cry cuts me off, and I whirl around to see Brutus grinning as he cranks up the inhibitor collar's remote dial as high as it can go, watching as K. A. writhes on the ground in pain.
"Brutus, shut if off!" I yell at him.
"No way! This b*tch was mocking us! She need to be punished, and I'm the one that's gonna do it!"
I grit my teeth, and lunge forward. I quickly bring up my right mechanical fist, and sock him right in the jaw as hard as I can. Brutus lets out a yell, and I quickly snap up the remote to dial down the shock cpapabilities to zero.
I glance over at Brutus, and see that he's out cold. I nod to myself, and then rush over to the ominously still child in the cage. i kneel beside her, and check the pulse on her wrist.
Nothing. I quickly arrange her head so it's on my lap, ignoring the fact that the grime on her is curenlty making its way onto my freshly ironed skirt. I quickly lift up her chin, and feel for a pulse on her jugular.
I grit my teeth, and inwardly spew curses at Brtutu's idiocy.
"No. No, come on kid, stay with me." I murmur, lightly slapping the kid's cheek in an attempt to revive her.
"You gotta hang on, kid. Stay awake just a little longer. Help's on the way."
But to my dismay, I see the girl's once bright eyes begin to dim as they glaze over. I sigh, and drop her limp head on my lap as I begin to get ready to try and revive her.
First I roll her over to access the back of the collar, only to discovert hat the whole thing is one bloody disgusting mess.
'D*mn it, even the scanning screen is completely covered with this stuff! D*mn you, Brutus!'
I quickly shrug off my jacket, and take one of my special pens out and whip it at the alarm/panic button near the door. It smashes the glass, and hits the ultrasensitive button, activating the whole system.
I then take the jacket, and hastily spit on it and frantically rub at the sensing screen. Finally I can see the dark reflective surface, and hurridely press my thumb against it. The system beeps, and the collar unlocks, but I see that the whole thing has been fused with the subject's skin.
"Sh*t." I hiss. I grimace, and firmly grip the front of the collar with both hands, before ripping it off. Contrary to what I was expecting, only a small trickle of blood and pus oozed out from the now open wound. I then waste no time and rip up the scarce amount of clothing covering the child's torso, and lay her head back down on the ground, tipping her chin up to the sky.
'That makes sense.' I suddenly realize, as I start reconfiguring my arm. "The heart isn't working, so there's nothing to pump the blood and pus out of the wound.'
It seemed to be hours, but it only took a few seconds to prepare, but now I'm ready. I lay the girl's head down on the ground, and rub the two detachable paddles together.
"Clear!" I slam the paddles down onto one side of her chest, and below her heart. I wait for a few moments and feel for her pulse...
Nothing.
I have to do this twice more before I am rewarded with a slight fluttering pulse underneath my fingers.
'Thank god. I thought I had lost you, little one.'
I sigh, and tip the girl's head back again and begin doing CPR on her. Just after I giver her my 230th compression and breath, the door to the room slams open, and several people flood in.
I ignore them as they rush around, setting up various pieces of equipment. Instead, I focus on the job of keeping the girl underneath me alive. One of the female doctors kneels by my side, and I switch off with her.
I wipe my face with a warm wet towel given to me by one of the people waiting nearby, and wipe my face with it. With my face now clean, I look up to see another doctor waiting with a specialized mat that is used to cushion an unresponsive patient.
Working together, the female doctor and I quickly lift up subject K.A. so the mat can be slid underneath her. I step back, seeing that my job is done, and watch as the female doctor swiftly takes an oxygen mask passed to her by one of the other doctors, and slips it over the girl's face.
Soon the clear plastic fogs up in time with her faint breaths, and I let out a relieved sigh at the sight of her pained expression relaxing slightly.
I nod at the other doctors waiting nearby, and step around the girl's still body to get out of their way.
"Mercy, over here." A voice says. I look up, and upon seeing Luthor, I swiftly weave through the bustling people and arrive at his side.
"Sir." I say, greeting him, without even questioning how or when he got here.
He nods at me and gestures over to the swarm of people surrounding subject K.A.'s body. "How is she?" He quietly enquires.
I grimace, and reply, "Not good. That idiot over there was using the inhibitor collar's shock capabilities to shock her into unconsiousness. According to the log history, he was going way beyond the normal parameters set for her.
And, judging by the amount of dried blood and who knows what else that was on her, and the fact that the inhibitor collar itself was welded onto her skin, I'd say that it's been going on for quite some time."
Lex lets out a heavy breath, and neutrally says, "How high was the amp set at?"
"Brutus said he had no idea, but the last recorded time on the log said that it was set around 3,000 mA at least." I shake my head. "Frankly, I'm surprised thaat the kid hasn't died yet from this kind of treatment."
Lex nods his head, his face slightly troubled. He glances over at an unconsious Brutus lying on the floor nearby, and a smile twitches at his lips.
"I assume you did that?"
"Yes sir, he was refusing to give me the shock dial, let alone turn it off. So I had to take matters into my own hands."
Lex nods again, and smiles approvingly at me. "Thank you, Mercy. If it wasn't for your quick thinking, this project would have all been for nothing, among other things. I knew I could count on you."
I nod, and stare at my feet, already knowing what he meant by that. "Thank you sir. That's very kind of you."
Lex shifts, and clears his throat. "Alright, I have another buisness meeting in an hour. Keep me updated on the situation here, and how she's doing."
"Yes sir."
I focus on watching the scientists and doctors bustling around as Les's footsteps fade away. By now, the doctors have rigged up a portable IV stand, adn are hanging several bags from it.
Several more are working on feeding the tubes from the stand, and drape it along the wall on pegs until they slip through the cage through a small, almost unnoticible hole in the glass near the wall. Another doctor takes these lines and then attaches them to the IV line already placed in the girl's wrist.
With that done, the doctor hurries away, and reveals the female doctor from before kneeling beside the girl. She has a tub of solution beside her, and is using it and a small cloth to clease the open oozing wounds around the girl's neck and chest made from the inhibitor collar's removal.
I watch as she carefully dabs at the wound, occassionally redipping a different portion of the cloth into the solution and then using it to carefully clean other patch of angry inflamed skin. I notice that she only uses a specific portion of the cloth once, and when she's used moth of the cloth, she casts it aside and grabs another cloth to start over again.
I flinch everytime the cloth touches the red rawness of the child's open skin, and imagine the severe pain of having her wounds treated like this.
'Thank god she's unconsious. I don't know how we'd do this otherwise...' I thoughtfully muse to myself, feeling a swell of pity and sympthy for the fallen girl. 'She must have been strong in heart and spirit to have surived this long... It's amazing that she held out this long too... Poor girl...'
I suddenly shake myself from my thoughts, and chastice myself. 'What am I thinking?! You should feel sympathy for the enemy, Mercy! She'd tear you apart if she had the chance! Now no more of this!'
A small sound catches my attention, and I surface from my thoughts to find a doctor quietly standing near me, clearly waiting for me to notice him.
I nod at him, and he breaks into a nervous smile. "Miss Mercy, we've assessed the patient. She has several severe burns covering her neck, chest and hands. Miss Marie-" He gestures at the female doctor who is now wrapping the girl's wounds on her neck down to her chest, "-is just finishing up, and will give you the rest of the details before she goes on standby. The... Ahm, patient may have more injuries, but it's hard to tell for now."
He sighs, and polishes his glasses. "The fact is, it's also common for patients suffereing from electrical shock to have abnormal heart rhythms, along with having trouble breathing. So we'll keep her on a 24/7 watch for now, just to make sure nothing goes wrong."
I nod, and ask, "What's the likely prognosis?"
"It's unlikely to tell if she'll pull through for now. These first twenty-four hours will be critical for her, but after that it will be more and more likely that she'll pull through."
I nod again, and dismiss him. Then a thought strikes me, and I stop him by tugging on his lab coat sleeve. "Yes, Ma'am?" he polietly asks.
"Would you mind taking him out with you?" I rhetorically ask, jerking my thumb at a now stirring and groaning Brutus.
The doctor gulps, but he shakily nods at me and works on dragging Brutus's limp form out the door, and accidently hits his head on the doorframe on his way out.
I snicker at the sight, and shake my head at the heavily sweating man. 'He's obviously had previous run-ins with Brutus, and knowing what kind of man he is, I doubt any of them were plesant.'
I patiently wait until the female doctor named 'Marie' finishes with cleaning and bandaging the girl's hands and arms. She then takes out and carefully puts away all of the equipment, and then walks over to me.
"U-Um..." I look up from where I was staring into space, thinking about nothing, and see the woman staring in front of me, nervously twiddling her thumbs.
"Yes?"
"I-I'm supposed to be o-on call until 12am tonight in case something happens... I a-also need to change her bandages then, so I'll n-need to have you o-open the c-cage then." She stammers.
"Alright," I breath, suddenly feeling very tired. "If you'd give me your number, I can let you in when it's time, or let you know if something's amiss."
"O-Okay..." She mutters, and quickly rips out a section of paper from the clipboard she's holding, and scribbles on it before handing it to me.
"Thanks." I tell her, smiling slightly. "i appreciate all that you've done, and I'm sure Mr. Luthor does as well."
"Oh, t-thanks!" She exclaims, a blush decorating her cheeks. She then dips her head at me, and then scurries off like the timid mouse she is.
"Humph. She'll just be constantly pushed around here by everyone if she continues to act like that. She should really grow a spine..." i grumble to myself, then sigh. "No matter..."
i flip open my cell, and call Luthor, giving him the same details that were given to me.
"I see. Keep me updated on her status, Mercy. That'll be all." *Click*
I snap the phone shut, and tuck it away before going into the cell to check on subject K.A. 594301. I crouch beside her, and examine the white bandages on her with critical eyes.
"Wow, that collar did a number on you, kid. You have a heck of a lot of bandages on you, that's for sure." I whisper to her, gently brushing a loose strand of her hair back from her head.
I sigh, noticing how much grime is really on her and think, 'They really stand out against all of the grime on her... It kinda bothers me...'
I check my watch, and see that it's still early in the afternoon. 'Who knows when i might get another chance like this...'
I glance around, and with nothing else to do, I gather some stuff, and settle down to give the girl lying near me a sponge bath.
When I do, I find numerous scars on her body. And when I clean her hair, I am surpsised to see that it's a mix of black and white that shines with a faint blue tint in the right light.
After drying her hair, I exit the cage, and lock it behind me, and settle in a chair to wait out the next few boring and lonely hours.
(A/N: Ta Da! Wow, that was a lot to write! To the side, is a partial pic of Kazuko's hair looks like. Hopefully I'll be able to upload what the white side looks like later. And beside the pic is an instrumental that I think is pretty fitting for Kazuko's yearnings, hence, the title of the song: A tune of yearning. That's all! See ya, and please, vote, comment, and fan!)