Warning! Mild torture sequence.
Disclaimer: adapted from the AC cinematic trailer, title is a play on the name of 2006 film A Scanner Darkly.
This is the last one-er before MoP! Promise!
A Needle, Sharply
"Injections are the best thing ever invented for feeding doctors." -Gabriel Marquez
Needle: a slender, hollow instrument for introducing material into or removing material from the body; *see also: a teasing remark; *related: (v) to incite to action by repeated gibes.
The man's screams were fruitless, absorbed by the thick concrete walls and the shadows that shrouded them. Hugo gracelessly emptied a third syringe into his captive's bloodstream, little interested in the pain he was causing. It was only temporary, after all, and the truth he sought was near at hand.
"I need details, Captain..." Hugo continued to circle his subject, readying another vial. "Tell me everything about him... What did you see, hear? His methods, his style..."
"...I'm..." The man, strapped to the examination chair – broken, bruised, bleeding - was not fighting the professor, merely enduring. He was too well paid for that – and, of course, too drugged. "...I'm in a lot of pain..."
That was quite obvious, yes. Hugo's gloved fingers rapped gently against the glass of his fourth syringe. Another dose of complacency. "Shhhh..." The professor slid the needle deep into the Captain's deltoid muscle, eliciting a choking gasp. "This will help you... remember."
His pain not gone but quickly forgotten in the wake of chemical persuasion, the Captain's drugged mouth dribbled answers like a wound dripping blood.
"We thought we had him t-trapped... but he was w-waiting for – u-us-s–" A wet cough became a groan, and the groan became a cracked sob as the Captain began to vomit blood. His body was beginning to shut down, drowning in chemicals that forced him to speak the truth and ate away at his internal organs.
But Hugo's mind was elsewhere, and an awed smile graced his lips.
"Extraordinary... isn't he?" In his mind's eye was the mysterious, shadowed form of the Batman, gliding from roof to roof, decimating the ranks of his guards as easily as a child upending a legion of toy soldiers. Smooth lines, sharp edges, his will so hard and unyeilding...
...But cracked.
Hugo smiled not at the magnificent façade, but at the way it hid so well its own chinks. Chinks that only Hugo could see. Chinks that he would exploit without mercy, and without fail.
The Captain issued another groan, this time of strain and not of misery:
"You... knew." The accusation was sharp. It appeared the anger in his consciousness was just potent enough to penetrate the daze of medication and impending death. "You knew we couldn't take him down! You knew we were no match for him!"
Strange, still circling, readied another syringe. This one would do the trick, he was sure. "Yes," he admitted offhandedly. "But soon we will be. This is merely one more twist of the knife to test him."
The fifth needle pierced flesh, jerking and tearing upward at the muscles in the Captain's chest to further illustrate Hugo's point. The dying man did not scream this time, only gurgled helplessly as his lungs began to fill with fluid. Prompted by the drugs, two final words slipped from his lips as his last memory of Batman – the last memory that would ever grace his mind – flooded back to him.
"He... knows..."
His eyes were so blue, but so cold. Colder than the wind, and his voice was like steel. "Who sent you?"
What could he do but give in to this dark creature? The truth slipped unwillingly from his lips, as it would do so again later that night. "Hugo... Strange..."
The professor slowed to a halt in front of the man to watch the light die in his eyes. The Captain's body relaxed as his pain gradually ebbed away, body slumping forward against its bindings.
In the next moment, he was gone, his eyes wide and lifeless, his usefulness spent.
Hugo stared past him, gaze cutting through the compound walls and out into the frozen world beyond.
So, you know my name. Good.
His thoughts spiralled with plans, his mind's eye still trained on a dark shape fluttering through the night.
Because I know everything about you.
Victory was in sight. He could feel it, taste it.
Your darkest secret. Your ultimate weakness...
His Master would be so proud.
I know who you are, Bruce Wayne.