A/N: So this was my sister's idea for why Joseph wasn't in the ending to The Evil Within, and I thought I would type it up for her. Obviously, a lot of it had to be BS'd because the game doesn't really explain who Kidman was really working for or how things work behind the scenes. (And I'm hoping the DLC will answer that- although it will probably make all of this irrelevant). And yes, I added Tatiana in there because there's a woman who, I thought, looked just like her in the ending and I thought it would be interesting to add her.
She watched and waited for the computer in front of her to finish scanning, watching as a multitude of scripts and loading bars momentarily filled the screen. It felt like she had done nothing but sit in front of this stupid monitor and wait for results that may or may not be incomplete. She was usually more patient with these tests, but right now... she didn't have time to sit around and wait for them. Her fingers were lightly trembling from the ongoing inner conflict that was going on inside of her head; she was nervous and anxious and despite her solid exterior, it felt like her stomach had been pushed into her chest.
The computer quietly beeped to let her know the scanning had finished and she was relieved to see the results were at least complete this time around. Usually at this point in the experiment, they were lucky if they got a quarter of a scan that was legible. She nervously overlooked the scan and read what the testing script had put out...
"Anything new?" a stale, almost mechanical voice asked as the dark-haired nurse loomed over her shoulder- inviting herself to view the new test results.
She paid no heed to the woman's actions; she had gotten used to the nurse's work ethics after all. "Look at these brain waves." Kidman started as she gently traced the colored patterns on the monitor. "We haven't encountered these before- at least, not from our working experience."
They knew these patterns solely from documents they had managed to savage and scrap together. It had been years since they first saw these patterns colored out on paper... and now they were seeing it in front of them as it was happening.
"We're close." she whispered, fingers gently pinching her lower lip as the scan played a small loop of the pattern again and again.
"The link is there." Tatiana spoke with a brief nod.
It was... the link they had been searching for all these years was right within their grasp. This was the closest they've ever gotten to success. This was unprecedented for them and it was hard to mask the worry and uneasiness over their fleeting excitement. She could see it etched in the faces of the people working around her; they were so desperate for this to work, so desperate for validation for everything that had lead up to this moment.
They needed this to succeed.
They needed to win...
"Good work, detective." Tatiana remarked, as she briefly rested a hand on her shoulder in a seemingly forced sense of congratulations. It didn't linger long as she soon stepped away and walked off to attend to one of the other 'patients'.
The simple words, spoken as a mark of praise, had the opposite effect on her.
Winning would come at a cost...
A cost that someone else would have to pay.
She glanced over her shoulder to see if anyone else was standing around, and once she knew they were all distracted with their work, she switched the monitor off. What's done was done... it was too late to go back; she had no choice but continue forward with this.
Sighing quietly, she slowly turned towards the person who had gotten them this far.
... Joseph.
Technically, it was both he and Sebastian who had gotten them this far.
Sebastian had the stronger connection, his results were more stable and his brain patterns suggested an extensive experience in the other world. She had been there to witness it and time and time again, she had been surprised to see him still alive. Even when he had briefly succumbed to the madness in that world, he recovered and came back stronger. The older detective had been interesting to watch and experience from a distance.
Time and time again, he fought to escape that world- but he fought to get them out first.
But Joseph... his results were unstable; his physical readings had gone to hell from time to time, often times consecutively through a string of events. And each time, his physical body would break into a heavy fever, which had left him gasping and wheezing in this world. His readings would titter on the edge of cardiac arrest, which left the staff on edge for what would happen next. He was more susceptible to the madness; it had consumed him on numerous occasions- none of which she had personally witnessed.
But he had always recovered.
He showed resistance; he showed the ability to fight back and continue.
She had seen 'patients' get lost in that world from the very beginning, but almost all of them died at the first stage- rarely did any of them make it to the second.
Officer Connolly had been consumed from the very beginning. She remembered watching him attack Sebastian in the ambulance while she was trapped in the back- unable to do anything to help either of them.
She remembered watching Tatiana slowly place a white sheet over his body as soon as his readings had flatlined. And she silently thanked the woman for the small show of respect.
After a year on the force, she had gotten around to knowing the officer. He had been one of the first officers to welcome her to the force and offered to answer any questions she had. He had even flirted with her a bit before Sebastian politely advised him not to.
Connolly always seemed to be the one who drove them to and from crime scenes; offering his own input on the crimes when he wanted to- often times much to Joseph's dismay. She had never really talked all that much to him, but she enjoyed listening to him banter with the radio, or with Sebastian when the detective felt like it. He had always insisted that he was happy with his patrol job and that he felt no need to climb the ranking ladder.
She reminded herself that he was just another addition to their price for success.
But often times, she couldn't convince herself of that.
And soon after him came Dr. Jimenez, who had at least lasted to the first stage.
They knew who he was. They had tracked him down, found his records and found out what he knew... From him, they gained most of their information about this process and were able to replicate it just the same.
She didn't know how he died, but from what Tatiana had described, it wasn't pretty. His body had convulsed heavily, his readings had spiked off the charts and before anyone could blink, he was dead.
Tatiana had covered him as well.
With their deaths, they had been forced to relay on the two detectives- and herself to some extent as well.
And somehow, the detectives were pulling through for them- unknowingly, of course.
She carefully seated herself on the edge of the tub-like structure and watched the way his chest slowly rose and fell through the lukewarm water. He seemed at ease for now- although paler than he had been before. His readings were low, but stable for the time being; he was still struggling to hold on.
As her fingers gently brushed through his black hair, she wondered how he was fighting the bullet in his chest.
It was an accident.
She was aiming for Leslie and... he got in the way when she pulled the trigger.
On some levels, it wasn't real and yet... it still plagued her. Her hands shook every time she remembered how the blood shot out of his chest the moment he was hit; she remembered how quickly he fell to the ground with blood pouring out of the wound. He had already been shot before... the last thing he needed was another bullet.
She could still hear Sebastian calling out for his partner even as the ground broke apart underneath him.
"You killed Joseph and you shot me!"
His anger had been well placed, but even when he kept his gun on her, she knew he wouldn't shoot her. Despite her pitfalls, she knew he couldn't bring himself to harm her in any way. And the longer she lingered on that, the more difficult this situation became.
"Miss. Kidman, we've just been called to evacuate." Tatiana announced, as she seemingly snuck up on her once more. "They didn't give us much time. Have you finished your analysis?"
She quietly sighed before she nodded. "Yes. Tell the superiors that we're finished... and that we'll be ready to depart within the hour."
"Have you made a choice?" the woman pressed.
Unfortunately, she had.
She hesitated before she reached over and gently removed his glasses. She let the weight of them settle in her hands before she carefully slipped them onto the collar of her shirt. There was a possibility of them getting broken during transport... and she wanted to avoid that.
She had covered her trail as much as she could... there wasn't anything else she could do.
She had already shut off both of Connolly's and Jimenez's terminals, and wiped them so the information couldn't be pulled from them.
And when no one was looking, she shut off and erased Sebastian's terminal as well.
She had Tatiana cover his body just the same and announced that he was just another failed experiment. The team was disappointed at the news, but they had gotten used to it at this point. No one even questioned her.
He was the better of the two.
His readings were stronger and his patterns were more clear, but... he would garner too much attention. This city knew who he was; this city had been invested in his story for the past year... he would be too important to take. They couldn't risk any more questions coming up.
Not to mention, he had suffered enough.
But Joseph...
"This one." she finally spoke as she stepped away. "We're taking this one."