Lalaine Montgomery was a bit shocked when she received the phone call from Ravencroft, OsCorp wanted to offer her a deal.
"You couldn't crack the kid?" she asked, jerking her head to whip her onyx hair out of her face.
"The patient has been… unresponsive to our treatment." The thick accent said, "The leading forces at OsCorp have done their research on you; top of your class in psycology, leading doctor on… unconventional cases."
"I've taken on some stubborn assholes." Lalaine was modest.
"Yes, well, OsCorp wants to offer you a deal." The voice primed, "The deal of a lifetime. Full access to the patient, video servaillence of the decent into madness, access to OsCorp's resources, and full year salary of more than you could ever imagine. All you have to do is sign the privacy policy, a little contract."
"I know how these things go." Lalaine mused, "You must really want in that kid's brain."
"He is important."
"Yeah."
Lalaine knew just how important he was. She was the one they called when things went wrong. It wasn't the first call she had gotten from Ravencoft, but it was the first one with OsCorp's name attached to it.
Lalaine liked the minds of psychopaths. She found them fascinating. It was part of the reason why she went into her field. At the age of twenty six, she had become renowned for being able to break through the minds of even the most crazed individuals. She could think like them. That was the key. Lalaine could get inside their minds and think like they thought, feel how they felt. She was upstaged only by Ashley Kafka, the founder of Ravencroft herself, and was often called the Dr. Kafka of her generation.
She had been through many cases, built a reputation, and a life. But this was hitting the jackpot.
"Fax over the papers."
She was greeted a few moments later with the whirring sound of her fax machine spitting out sheets of paper. She waited for the document to stop printing out, which took several minutes. Er eyebrows shot up, there was well over thirty pages of text here. "OsCorp must really want to keep you under their thumb…"
She picked up the paper work and brought it over to her desk. She sat down and poured over the contract, taking a long drink of coffee. The OsCorp contract was no joke, signing this was basically signing away her life. OsCorp would own her and her work forever more.
How tempting was this subject? She had to ask herself. The basic description of traits they provided was astounding. She had never seen anything like it before. "Teasing me? You really know how to get a girls attention."
She stared down the face of her subject. Soft, smooth, unlike the normal criminals she would crack. This kid was just into college, a few years younger than her. But in the eyes lurked something sick and sadistic. Completely gone. This would be what lured her to take the case. Lalaing was not drawn to pretty astethics, she was drawn to the perverted madness of the mind. Something attracted her to this particular brain.
OsCorp would have the tapes over by morning.
When she walked through the doors of Ravenscroft, she was greeted by a short stubby man. "Doctor Montgomery."
Laline smiled and shook his clammy hand. "Hello, you must be Dr. Billsby."
The stubby man nodded his head three times, "I am glad to see you accepted OsCorps offer."
Laline nodded, "Once in a lifetime chance, right?"
Billsby nodded three more times. "The paperwork arrived this morning."
He lead her through the institute towards a set of heavy metal doors. He gestured towards the security officers standing at the door. "They will lead you to the containment room."
When they reached the room after a long silent walk, the guards became rigid. Lalaine walked through the metal grate and through the door.
The subject was sitting in a chair with his back to her.
"Mr. Osborn."
Harry's head snapped up and the demeanor in the room changed. "Another Doctor, why am I not surprised."
It wasn't a question, but Lalaine nodded. "My name is Dr. Lalaine Montgomery."
Harry chuckled. "So Doc, think you can fix me?"
Laline sat down in the chair they provided for her. Harry got up and kicked his chair around to face her and sat down. His body was lanky and stiff. His shoulders jutted out like thin bones underneath the orange straight jacket. His leering eyes met hers.
"I am not here to fix you." She said, "I am here to know you."
Harry laughed and shook his head, his hair falling into his face. "Ravencroft wants to get to know me now? How the tables have turned."
"I don't work for Ravencroft."
Harry looked up at her, his eyes inquisitive. "OsCorp."
Laline shook her head. "I don't work for OsCorp." She said, and then shrugged, "I guess I do now."
"You don't want to work for OsCorp."
Lalaine raised an eyebrow, "You own OsCorp."
He nodded. "I own OsCorp. I own OsCorp…" He laughed, "I may own OsCorp, but I have no control over OsCorp."
"What do you mean?" Laline leaned forward.
His eyes sharpened and glared into her. He pressed his lips together. He wasn't going to talk to her. "Get out of here, Doc."
"You want me to go? I figured you would like the conversation." Lalaine said, and stared back at him. "You still control OsCorp. I was hired by your assistant, Felicia Hardy, to come and study you. See if I can debunk you, get you out of here."
Harry smiled. "Felicia."
Laline caught the feeling that there was something between the two of them. "Ms. Hardy is running OsCorp in your absence."
"She is a good one. Reliable. The kind of person I need." Harry smiled. The smile soon faded, and he shook the hair into his face again, looking at the floor. "She is going to get eaten alive."
"What do you mean?"
Harry's icy eyes looked up at her beneath his hair. "Ravencroft."
Lalaine leaned forward and met his gaze, "What about Ravencroft?"
The words would blow Lalaine's career wide open. Meeting Harry Osborn would send her down a path that her adaptable mind had never dreamed.
"They are expirementing on people, Doc." Harry said, "Because of OsCorp."
