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This time he didn't bother to play dead. With an understanding of the situation, closing his eyes felt dangerous. He knew full well he could do nothing to stop whatever was coming. But to stay alert almost made him feel better.
He opened his eyes, and quickly assessed as much as he could with his limited mobility. There were two guards stationed at the heavy duty door. Not any guards he had seen at the prison though. It made sense to him, because this... place didn't seem to be physically connected to the prison.
His eyes darted about the room. It was unnaturally clean and white. The air was hard to breathe, because of the heavy smell of disinfectant and chemicals. He saw a couple other people in lab coats looking over some papers on an bland monotone desk.
His eyes finally landed on Doctor Pitch, who was on the other side of the room. He had a coffee mug sitting next to him as he typed on a computer that looked mounted onto the wall.
The metal felt cold beneath Yancy, and he could feel his wrists getting rubbed raw beneath the straps. As he stared at Dr. Pitch, the physical pain faded, as pure hatred for and fear of the doctor took its place.
He knew neither emotion would get him anywhere. Not if they were raw. If he could possibly harness the anger and let the fear increase reflexes... there would have to be a window of opportunity for him to try anything though. Mindlessly yanking at the restraints would only put them on guard and wouldn't get him anywhere.
But how long did he have? How much longer before they literally took off parts of him and added new ones?
The thought made him feel like vomiting. The heavy smell of chemicals with the unsavory hint of lemon that the disinfectants held wasn't helping his nausea.
Doctor Pitch pressed one last key. He picked up the coffee mug, and took a swig of it, before setting it down and looking at Yancy once again.
The Doctor looked tired, like last time, but more irritated as well. He got up " that set back our schedule. And showing up passed out had already heavily delayed things. We're on a tight schedule, Mr. Jones" he said sharply.
Yancy kept any emotionally charged words back. He couldn't have them more on guard than they were. He couldn't let them know how he'd love to smash the doctor's mug over his head...
" Why can't youse just operate on me while I'm passed out..? Youse ain't gonna do it with me awake, right?" He tried to keep his voice steady, but it still wavered.
Dr Pitch picked up his clipboard "Since all of this is done legally, there's technicalities and formalities that are required. One of which is the specific sedative they issued. In order for it to give a properly artificially induced sleep, the subject needs to be completely awake. You were hardly awake for 15 minutes last time, not allowing time for everything to be fully functioning."
Yancy tried to shift, feeling uncomfortable on the hard metal, only to feel the pain in his wrists again. He tried not to think about what was going to happen. He tried not to think about how they saw him as less than a rat here.
He forced those unhelpful thoughts back.
The two other doctors were now watching him as well. He turned his head to look at them. There was a woman, maybe in her mid 30s. She had brown hair pulled into a bun, a grey button up and black pants.
The other looked the youngest of anyone in the room. Yancy was 28, but this Doctor looked just a little younger. He also seemed the most anxious. The young blond doctor was tapping his pen absently on his leg. When Yancy looked at him, the doctor looked down at some papers in his hand as if there were suddenly the most interesting things he had ever seen.
Yancy took a note of that. Either this kid had a conscience and was anxious about what they were going to do, or he simply was afraid of Yancy. Although Yancy hoped it was the former, either could be worked to his advantage.
Dr Pitch spoke again, snapping Yancy out of his thoughts even though his words weren't directed at him.
"Weller, please make sure Jones stays awake for the next 20 minutes. I have to finalize the procedure paperwork" The Doctor said with tired irritability.
The young blond doctor ( Weller? Yancy figured it was his last name) nodded nervously. "Yessir" he said nervously.
Yancy tensed up, his throat tightening " Youse mean its gonna happen now?" He thought he would have at least a few days to come up with a way to get out, or even to just come to terms with it.
Doctor Pitch looked back at his computer " In approximately 30 minutes" he said flatly.
Yancy felt his body go completely cold. No time. It was all so sudden. He was so scared. 30 more minutes with his limbs, and just 20 more minutes till they sedated him. He couldn't even try to enjoy his last moments with his own limbs, because he was completely unable to move. He had no clue how functional the robotic limbs would be, and he was willing to bet they had no clue either. Why else would they be testing it? Now that he thought about it, did they expect him to fight for the country with these enhancements? The government who pushed him aside like this? Who deemed him less than a common lab rat?
It was all too much, too fast. He felt his world numb in an unpleasant way. He felt the table get tapped. Not harshly. He looked over and saw the young doctor " Mr. Jones, I'm sorry, but you have to stay awake" he said softly, anxiety lacing his voice. Yancy could tell that the young blond didn't want to do the operation. He clearly hated this.
Yancy took a shaky breath, and nodded. If he passed he could postpone this longer, but he had a feeling it would take more than postponing to get out. And he wasn't sure what that more would be.
Yancy had a hard time staying in the present, and keeping his mind from drifting. The young doctor, out of desperation, started a conversation to keep him there and awake. Maybe even calm down the poor prisoner. The young doctor was told the basics of Daniel Jones. A dangerous man who killed his own parents. All sources, even Daniels own court statements, said that his parents were good people. They hadn't done anything wrong.
Evidence showed that Daniel was truly a monster, but what the young doctor was seeing was simply a terrified man. A terrified human.
" My name is Benjamin Weller" The young doctor said, trying to start a small conversation. "You don't have to call me Doctor Weller or anything. Benjamin or even just Ben is fine with me" he said
Yancy looked at him, surprised at the casual tone. It wasn't like the others, who were acting like it was a normal day. It was like Benjamin was truly trying to start a conversation and comfort him.
Yancy took a breath " I'm Yancy. I don't like being called anything else.." he muttered.
Benjamin nodded, but wasn't sure where to go with the conversation from there. The air was tense and still thick with the smell of the disinfectant. Yancy took a hold of the conversation.
" Youse clearly don't wanna be here, doing this." He said bluntly.
Benjamin shifted uncomfortably " I... Don't" he said softly
" So why are youse here? Why not quit?"
The young doctor looked around. He told himself it was just to keep him awake. He didn't want to tell Yancy anything personal, but if it could keep him up...
" I never had a lot growing up. My sister was always sick, so I decided when I was young I would go into making the world a better place. I decided to be a doctor. I'd never struggle financially like my parents and would help people like my sister. I graduated early from highschool and soon med school. I was offered a contract for this, but they never really told me everything about this. They told me experiments, yes, but they didn't tell me it would be forceful. They didn't tell me it was going to be this big. I guess I should have realized how sketchy it was, but I didn't, and now I'm under a contract."
Yancy looked at the ceiling. " Funny how a single moment can damage everything, hm..." Yancy said softly.
Benjamin looked at him for a moment, surprised by the sincerity of his statement. How regretful his tone was. " Can I ask something personal?" he asked
Yancy looked back at him again " I guess..."
The young doctor blurted it out " Why did you do it? Why did you kill them? You don't seem like a..." he trailed off.
" A monster?" Yancy finished
Benjamin nodded nervously, worried he had crossed a line.
Yancy looked at the ceiling again " I don't usually talk about it, but incase is the end of the line for me, someone might as well know the truth... I was honestly a good kid. And my parents were good parents. I got good grades, I had good friends, I was in the theater club, and life was good. But at around 16 I dabbled in some stuff I shouldn't have. And things got bad fast. I got involved in illegal stuff, and substances. I didn't realize how truly dangerous all of it was until I was neck deep in all of it. My uh... new 'friends' got involved with another group of friends. A gang war. It went deeper than physical violence. They wanted to hurt each other on the deepest levels. They saw I had a good relationship with my parents" his voice cracked.
He took a moment to regain himself. Benjamin felt pity for him. The story only made Yancy more human to him. And that made doing what they were doing harder for Benjamin.
Yancy was soon able to continue " I was 18. They threatened me. They put a gun to my head and told me if my parents weren't dead in a week, I'd be. I was young and stupid. Two lives for one is hardly a bargain. A life in jail wasn't worth living anyways. My parents were good, and I had messed up. I regret it every day. Everyday I wish I would have lived that week to the best I could have. Everyday I wish I spent that week with them and just accepted the end. But I didn't. My mind was skewed. I was scared. I went home that night, and I did it. I didn't even consider going on the run. I immediately turned myself in. The guilt was too much, and it never faded..."
Benjamin watched him with wide eyes. He wasn't sure what he had expected, but it wasn't that. He wasn't expecting anything truly laced with guilt. He didn't think it would be so human. He had figured it was some fit of rage, something unhinged. Benjamin wasn't sure what to say.
Dr. Pitch finished the paperwork and got up, grabbing a syringe. Yancy realized they had been talking the 20 minutes. Benjamin looked at Dr. Pitch, dreading the upcoming events.
Doctor Pitch flicked the syringe to get rid of any air bubbles. The female doctor came over, also ready for the procedure.
Yancy felt his heart practically stop.
Time was up.
Yancy opened his mouth to try to say something. He wasn't even sure what he was going to say, but he felt the sharp needle stick into his neck. He gasped in pain, and his eyes watered. This was it. When he woke up he wouldn't be fully him. And he never would be fully him again.
His mind went fuzzy before it went blank. His mind seemed to go to sleep before his body. His head flopped to the side, as he was unable to hold it straight anymore. The last thing he saw was Dr. Pitch set down the syringe, before his body fell asleep as well.
He was dead in front of the vultures.
Authors Note: Thank you so much for reading so far! As always, I have so much planned. This is going to be so much fun. Also this chapter might have gone WAAAY longer then I meant. Oops. Anyways, have a great day!