A few days.

It had been a number of days since he had escaped from prison. There had been a riot at the Arkham State Penitentiary, and the news had spread quickly. Of course. If this had happened back in the , let's say, 1920s, it wouldn't have done so. The man cursed inwardly at the heavy usage of the 'Internet' and the television; far as he knew, he was on the KIA/Killed-In-Action List. The prison and local police were still investigating the large building for survivors within the bloody aftermath. Not to mention, it had to be cleaned up.

Now, Howard Phillips.

The mad doctor's former partner while still in prison. Dr. Phillips had wanted to work with the inmate, because of the incident 13 years prior that killed off the Phillips sister. A zombie. More accurately, a re-animated corpse. It was what brought together the two- an unlikely occurrence for the two doctors.

But not unusual for the city of Arkham.

Arkham...

He was easily halfway across Massachusetts by this point. The doctor had his sights on the town of Cooms. It was the last town he had read vaguely about in one of the books at the prison. Apparently, the town had one of the best hospitals in the country- And it paid its employees a bunch too, so he wouldn't have to worry about the expenses of his re-agent.

He could easily settle into the staff members there. He had forged documents about Howard Phillips, posing as him since the day of the riot. Having gotten his hair dyed the exact color of Howard's- dirty blonde, he also had made up an excuse for needing glasses, so both were covered now.

The male glanced up from his place on the bus.

Good.

One more stop until Cooms. The next step in his plan. He had to smile, as the bus started up again.

Meanwhile…
There would be a beautiful, busy view from Cooms' Adams Hospital, out of the patient's windows. In the halls, there were also plenty of windows to gaze at the trees surrounding the hospital and down the streets. Multiple people walked down the streets; cars drove to and fro, while conversation buzzed into the mixed atmosphere of sounds. A perfect picture of a sunny afternoon in the city.

One particular doctor moved away from gazing out of the tall window in the hallway, now focusing on someone approaching him.

"D-Doctor Cain! D-Daniel…" There was a panicked look in the other male's eyes.

Dan narrowed his eyes in concern. ''What, Steve?''

Steve motioned him to follow, which Dan did so. "Brittney just went into critical and—"

That's when Dan noticed a new blonde male doctor walking with Dr. Cotton; Dr. Cotton was chatting away to the otherwise straight-faced male who nodded occasionally. The blonde looked so familiar- it almost eerie.

Was it him, or did they remind him of Herbert West?

Herbert West.

A shudder went down Dan's spine. Ever since Dan had met him, things didn't feel right. West had been utterly obsessed over his work, his research, about bringing back the dead with his re-agent. For awhile there, Dan worked with him. But it soon got to a point where Dan couldn't take it anymore- with the human experiments. He then turned his back on West, turning him into the police. That had been thirteen years ago; it seemed like a century since then.

Steve waved a hand in front of Dan's face, which twitched slightly at the sudden wave of flesh in front of his face. The brown-haired doctor finally shook his head, glancing down at Steve, blinking a few times.

"How long did I space out?''

"About a full 30 seconds, dude." He followed Dan's line of vision to Dr. Cotton and the new doctor. "Oh, that's the newbie. Dr. Phillips."

Phillips. Of course. No West. Good. Just… Good.

"I'll introduce you two later." Steve was the type to do that, being the friendly type. He now motioned Dan to follow him, who quickly followed.

Herbert stared after Steve and Dan's disappearing forms for quite a little while, discretely. He leaned against the window's sill, waiting as Cotton copied some forms in the Printing Room.

Dan…

That was undeniably his former partner. Multiple feelings presented themselves in that very moment- hurt, betrayal, hatred, longing-

Wait, longing?

He… A part of him still saw Dan as his friend.

That better not interfere with his revenge plans. It shouldn't. The former-prisoner shoved away his feelings- they didn't need to get in his way. They were useless.

He pushed himself away from the sill, as he saw the other doctor exit out of the room, holding up the papers in success. "Got 'em." He said, striding down the hallway at a quickened pace. Herbert quickly followed, matching his pace. Cotton held the papers out to his partner, who took them and started to look over them. Cotton started to talk out loud.

"Brittney _. Age 45. Recurring cancer in the breasts. Five years back, she was admitted to Miskatonic University Hospital—" The blonde had to lift his eyebrows. You'd think they'd shut it down after two massacres. Last he heard, it had renovations done in the early to mid 90s. "—with the diagnosis of Stage 3 cancer from a lump in her left breast. It had been driven out of her system in approximately 8 months. The cancer had just returned 3 weeks ago. She'll be one of your first patients. You'll be working with Doctors Cain and Cogan."

Herbert shot a quick glance over to the other.

Seriously?

He hadn't accounted for that to happen—to work with Dan again. Hell, this might be trickier than he previously thought. Nevertheless—he couldn't present two different fronts in this hospital, could he?

The two doctors soon came upon one room, a detour of Doug Cotton's. The slightly taller male stepped into the room, a single room. There was a sadly smiling male laying underneath a couple of covers.

"Hey, Doc." They called out towards the cold eyed man standing in the doorway, who nodded.

"Christian. I trust you're feeling a bit better today?" It was customary for a doctor to say such a thing, but there was no caring within Cotton's voice. He went further in the room, now checking a clipboard. There was slight tension in the area, between patient and caretaker. Christian and Cotton never did see each other on the same page, but there had been no notice (or ignoring the situation) of that by other staff members.

Christian nodded. "Yeah, a bit…" He said with a frown, coughing a bit weakly all of a sudden.

"I have some bad news, Christian." Cotton started, which caused a deep unsettling within Christian's stomach.

"W-What?"

"You have one more week to live." Cotton said coldly.

"WHAT!?"

"You have one week until you die."

"I heard you the first time!"

"Then what's the problem?"

Christian glared about to cuss out the doctor, but Herbert quickly butted in before the conversation could go downhill anymore. He approached the sickly patient, standing only a couple of feet away from Christian now with a small smile.

"At least you don't have to worry about dancing yourself to death, right?"

Awkward silence.

Very awkward.

Both doctor and patient both stared at each other, then to Herbert. "Really?" Christian hissed, not appreciating the dark humor.

"Cotton lifted his eyebrows. "I can understand the attempt at humor, but it is misplaced, Dr. Phillips."

Herbert gave him a bit of a scornful look, before Cotton grabbed Christian's paperwork, then motioned for Herbert to follow him. Soon, they arrived at Britney's room, which was already occupied by Dan and Steve who were busy looking over paperwork for their patient. All Dr. Cotton had to do was clear his throat, and both of them looked up. As Herbert made eye contact with his former-partner, he had to push away the thought of strangling him right then and there.

Memories quickly flooded back-

Him and Dan meeting for the first time. He was probably off-standish.

Them passing by in the hallways of Miskatonic.

Him coming to 666 Darkmore Avenue. Wasn't the best first impression for Dan, appearing naked like that.

Meg being creeped out by him.

Dan discovering him shooting up re-agent.

Numerous adventures dealing with the dead and un-dead. Dealing with a decapitated head.

Being split up briefly because of his own near-death experiences.

A bunch of others.

Then the most recent….

The time they were in court together. Together—for the last time, until 13 years passed, at this given moment.

He may have expected Dan to move out, but to turn him in?

Let him rot in prison?

No, not at all.

And oh, how it deeply stung.

Steve stepped forward, calling out Herbert's fake name, snapping the blonde out of his thoughts.

"I'd like you to meet Doctor Daniel Cain, Howard." The same height-ed male smiled towards Herbert. Then a slightly worried expression came across his face. "I can call you Howard, Dr. Phillips, right?"

Herbert nodded with a careful smile. "You can." He didn't even try to change his voice, only his tone.

Steve seemed relieved at that. He nodded with yet another smile, gently putting a hand on Herbert's shoulder. "Okay, good." Then he lowered his hand by to his side. Standing back now, he placed a gentle hand on Dan's arm, guiding him over to Herbert. "Dan, I'd like you to meet Howard here. He just started today too!" Steve exclaimed.

Dan looked at 'Howard' and smiled a bit. He held out his hand. "Hi." God, he looks familiar…

"Hi, Dan." Herbert shook the other doctor's hand. So strange to say his name again.

Dan narrowed his eyes. That greeting too…

Steve clapped his hands together. "Alright! You—"

Cotton quickly interjected, which Steve rose his eyebrows towards. "If I may have a quick word with Dr. Phillips?"

Steve blinked at him. "Uhm… Sure."

Herbert followed Cotton off to the side, while Steve was frustrated until he walked over to Dan and started to talk about Britney's new condition.

"Yes?" Herbert questioned, as he started to play with a pen, trailing his vision away from the empty bed to Cotton's steady gaze.

"…Are you really Phillips?" Cotton said quietly, as he leaned in towards the other, eyes studying him closely.

Shit.

I couldn't have been figured out. Impossible. Herbert showed him a casual smile and laughed a little. "Of course I am. Who else would I be?"

"I think you've been a bit off."

"And?" That didn't guarantee anything.

"Your fate at that prison riot in Arkham… Rumors are going around that you either went insane, or committed suicide. Some say you even got dragged off to Innsmouth by its natives. So which is it?"

Innsmouth? What would that horrific town want with him?

Herbert shrugged. "Well, obviously I'm here now, aren't I? Don't believe such odd rumors…"

"I'm watching you, Howard." That were his final words before he brushed past Herbert, which made the latter stare after him as he left the room.

Already.

Slight trouble.

Though it shouldn't be hard to handle, could it be?