Albany stood and watched as the two doctors drained the liquid from the tank. Inside was the body of a young ginger man, subject 826. Every patient at the Indian Hill Facility had their own doctor to look after them and track their progress. Subject 826 was to be hers. She had nursed many patients and inmates before, but this was something new, even to her. She was told the superiors had big plans for this one. She wasn't too interested in their plans, she was there to do what was asked of her and that was that. She knew all too well she was in no position to question any motives or the authority. She knew her place.
She knew better.
The two doctors had brought the subject out of the preservation tank and laid him onto a patient transport table, he was to be taken to Albany's lab. The only time she wouldn't be attending him was when she was either sleeping or the rare few hours break she got.
At the beginning of her employment she was certain she didn't want to be working anywhere else. Now she regretted her decision immensely and kicked herself for being so stupid. The pay was good, she couldn't deny that. Her every need was taken care of and her quarters were comfortable to live in. But the true ethics, or rather the lack of them, had only been relieved to her later on in her employment. It was then she had realized just how tight the security was and how close everyone was watching. Every single one of her moments were questioned. If she didn't provide a suitable answer, well she didn't like to think about the consequences. It wasn't rare for her co-workers to be there one day then gone the next, as if they had disappeared into thin air. She knew that wasn't the case, but she never dug any deeper into the matter. She was scared what she would discover. The superiors here ran a tight ship. Once you signed that contract you had signed your life away. You would remain working for them until you expire, and if she had learnt anything from her years of working there, the employment would continue long after your heart had stopped beating. She was thankful for one thing, for now she was the one observing and testing and not the one on the receiving end.
Albany escorted the two and subject 826 to her lab and allowed them access with her identity card. "Put him over there," she said, pointing to the center of the room.
The two doctors pushed the transport table to the spot specified and applied the breaks. They then left without a single word.
She closed the door behind them and collected a few papers. She brought a pad and a file over to the small table beside her patient. After pulling a small recording device from her lab coat, she pressed the record button and set it down next to the papers. "This is doctor Albany Lux speaking. The date is the second of April 2016. I am situated in lab 306," she shuffled through some papers. "Doctor Strange had requested I alone will observe patient 826 throughout. I will be the one administering his treatment for the foreseeable future. Patient 826, formerly known as Mr Jerome Valeska, came out of his preservation tank ten minutes ago. Today I must perform routine tests and record my findings." She pressed the record button again to stop the recording. Albany took a deep breath and looked down to the corpse. "Good morning Mr. Valeska. My name is doctor Albany Lux and I shall be your doctor. Now, have you any pain anywhere?"
She received no reply from the corpse.
"Of course you don't." She smiled to herself. She brought her attention back to the papers next to her and scanned them. "Right, first things first, I have to wire you up. Don't move, I will be back soon."
The lab was a pristine white. She hated it, but she was told no personal effects were allowed in the work space. Figures. No one was allowed to be unique here. Everyone was expected to allow themselves to be programmed and become their robots.
A few moments later Albany returned, pushing a small monitor and a number of wires. She set up the monitor. It let off a small bleep as it turned on. Once she had plugged some of the wires into the device she moved over to Jerome. "This might be a little cold, sorry," she said, she placed a wire with a sticky pad onto either side of his head. A drip slid into his wrist. "I hate the feel of drips, so unnatural."
"You do know they can't hear you, right?"
Albany turned to see a fellow doctor, Oliver, standing in the doorway, arms folded and a smile on his face. "I like to think they do." She shrugged.
The dark haired doctor entered the room and joined her next to the monitor. He scratched his short beard. "If the brain isn't ticking, the ears aren't listening," he sang. He looked down at the body. "Patient 826 huh? Got your hands full there."
She looked to him. "What do you mean by that?"
"Well, it's Jerome Valeska isn't it? He was a right troublemaker when he was alive!" Oliver looked the pale figure up and down a few times.
"Really?"
He looked at her, surprised. "You...didn't know?"
She shook her head.
"You might want to do some research into this one then. Just so you know what you're letting yourself into." He turned to leave. "But I think you two will get along just fine. After all, you're not afraid of clowns." He smirked and left the room, closing the door behind him.
Albany's eyes fell to Jerome again. "Trouble maker, eh?"
The brunette sat at the desk in her bedroom. She licked her index finger and flicked the page over. She usually read the patient's file once and that was enough for her. But after her co-worker's warning, she decided to do a little more digging. She had discovered he was part of the group know as 'The Maniax', most of which were also deceased. She wondered if any of them were also in the facility. A group of mentally unstable individuals had escaped from Arkham Asylum a few months back. They later revealed themselves to Gotham as the Maniax. "So you're an outlaw huh?" she muttered to herself. "I always did like a bad boy." She glanced over to her clock beside her bed, was that really the time? She placed the papers back into a folder and got ready for bed. It had been a long day.
A dark room. Surrounded by silence.
Albany saw a small glimpse of light.
It was a tank.
She recognized the being inside. She approached the tank to take a closer look.
"Albany..."
She heard a whisper. She turned around only to find nothing but darkness behind her. She turned back to face the tank.
His eyes were open.
Albany jumped back and landed on her backside. She looked up to subject 826. She saw his mouth turn up into a mischievous smile.
Albany shot up in her bed. It took her a second or two to catch her breath. She looked down at her pajamas. They were covered in sweat. She lay back down with a sigh, it was just a dream. She jumped again at the sound of her alarm. Her arm flew over to it and slammed down on the button.