AN: Okay, this chapter is really late, but what can I say? Better late than never? In any case, this one is very much a Regina-centric one so enjoy getting to know what she had been up to since that last one. More to come, hopefully soon! Enjoy and let me know what you thought!

. . .

Strange Case of Dr Swan and Ms Hyde

. . .

Chapter 4: Wrath

37th floor of the Apfelbaum Inc. building, Manhattan, New York.
19th of June, 1991.

The light emanating from rows of halogen bulbs was too sharp. It bore into her eyes even through closed eyelids. Regina grumbled and flung her arms around her head. It didn't help. The light was like acid seeping through and making her already throbbing head hurt more.

A deep, body-shuddering groan rumbled from underneath the protective cover of arms. Regina didn't want to move. She didn't want to get up from her position hunched in a swivel chair and folded onto the desk. The metal surface of the laboratory table was cool against her cheek. If not for the light she could have perhaps drifted off. Even the strain in her ankles, the heels of her pointy shoes scratching at the concrete floor at an odd angle, however worse it could get overtime would have been a good enough incentive to move. If only the lights were not there. Here.

Her weakened by lack of sleep and too much self-medication mind was refusing to put complex sentences together.

What Regina really didn't want to think about was the results of her previous experiment. Another failure. There had been a lot of those over the last hundred and some years. The cultures of her latest attempt had finished their cultivation in the incubator to her left about 3 or 4 hours ago. Or was it more than that? She had added the data to the formula and watched her supercomputer run simulation after simulation until her eyes drooped and the headache forced her to slump forward onto the desk. The constant stream of numbers and equations, blinking of the progress bars only served to tire and irritate her.

The antique clock standing at the far wall, a dark shadow against stark whiteness of the laboratory's walls, chimed the turn of an hour. Regina remained slumped over the desk. It might have been four in the morning for all she cared. She found herself having trouble keeping a firm hold on passage of time over the last few years. Years and decades were easy, but her strict schedule made the days blur together. Regina couldn't remember when was the last time she took a day off. No, there was that vacation in Tuscany seven years ago. Two weeks of climbing the walls from boredom.

Her head hurt. The throbbing pulses at her temples were burrowing deeper and deeper into her skull.

The beeping of the console made her flinch as if it was a gong of a siren instead of gentle chime. Groaning and cracking her neck Regina straightened up in her chair. She ran a hand through her shoulder length hair,messed tresses still not up to her standards, but at least they were no longer in her face. She reached up with her arms, curving her spine and yawning. The stretch brought warmth spreading through her muscles. After one long minute she slumped down in her chair, let out a breath. Several seconds ticked by and Regina sat properly. Her face grew focused, spine betrayed hidden tension.

"Alright then, let's see what we got," she murmured, then addressed the room as a whole. "Sydney, show me the results. I want a full play by play."

The loudspeakers situated all around the lab – on the tables, the ceiling, integrated into sparse furniture and with a ready light bulb blinking next to some – released a short burst of static. Then a smooth baritone floated out of them.

"As you wish, Madam Mills." The intonation of the voice were calm and at times playful, yet it did also dip down into a synthetic monotone occasionally. "Integrating the latest data had improved the formula by 3%. Taking into account the accumulated changes I have run 5 separate simulations. Based off of the results introducing the anti-agents into both samples of blood, yours and Dr Swan respectfully, would translate to possible blood infection and several organ failures. Improvements in the mutagen are projected to result in a coma, as had been shown by last 48 simulations. I am afraid, the conclusion stands, ma'am. The mutations introduced into yours and Dr Swan bodies by the serum are irreversible. Any attempt at purging the resulted helix would either cause extensive but temporary damage or induce a comatose state of unpredictable length."

Sydney remained silent for a long moment, during which Regina sat there motionless staring off into space. "I could run the numbers again. However, as I have informed you before, a solution does not seem to exist, ma'am."

Regina stared at the dynamic that went silent. Her headache wasn't going away. Listening to Sydney tell her again how she was wasting time looking for something that could well be impossible was… She couldn't say what it was for all she tried. For a century she had only been shown the futility of her task. Yet she could not give up. How could she?

As her eyes started moving around the lab, sterile and pristine surfaces, perfectly maintained order, the expression in them changed. The apathetic, stunned look washed off if her face like water, the fire igniting deep inside the dark chocolate rushing to the forefront. Her features contorted in disgust and grew harder. The order and detachment of the lab felt like a personal offense. Regina had failed. Again!

The last shreds of hope had been dissolved a while ago, she couldn't even imagine when. Truthfully, Regina had not even realized until this moment. She wasn't surprised by another failure. She had expected it! Deep down she knew this quest had proven to be over, yet she refused to give up. For decades she had beaten her head against this wall. And it all had been useless.

She wasn't going to save her. She never could.

A sob had almost escaped her mouth, but it got stuck in her throat along with a lump the size of an apple. She choked it down, kept her composure with the last of her strength, yet her iron mask was cracking at the seams. Regina rose from the chair, her hands closing around the edge of the desk in a white-knuckled grip.

It was over.

Emma was going to stay that way, trapped in the mind of that remorseless killer. Not having any control over her body. And Regina's fate was going to be to to remain her guardian, for the sake of the world and the innocents Hyde had preyed on. Only this time she'll be a warden, a guard dog holding the keys to Emma's prison. Not the doctor searching for a cure, not a lover seeking for a way to reunite. No, all that would be left for them was going to be an eternity apart.

Rush of deja vu had washed over her. Regina felt like Emma had been wrenched out of her grasp for the second time. So very reminiscent of the afternoon when all the evidence formed a clear picture. A conclusion Regina could not ignore no matter how hard she wanted to. She had lost Emma that day. She had lost Emma three weeks before that, when the blonde took her new serum and became something else. Someone else. And now, she had lost her all over again.

Though the brutal and unwavering truth was that this wasn't really the second time. For someone to lose something that something needed to be first gained back. Regina had never gotten Emma back. Not truly. The glimpses into their shared consciousness were like a cruel reminder of what could have been. Emma's unsteady reactions ranging from being ecstatic and supportive about Regina's quest to utterly apathetic detachment. and as much as the former lifted Regina's spirits, so did the latter break her heart. She could not handle seeing Emma so broken, so hopeless.

Emma went from one extreme to the other over the years, but one thing remained constant in that shared space of theirs. The sneers from Hyde. The condescension. Hyde's jabs and insults were directed masterfully to rattle Regina like this was the only entertainment that was allotted to her. Overtime it became a challenge for Regina to give back as good as she received. The web of oneupmanship had became familiar, even comforting after another failure. Despite how having to rely on comfort from the person who hijacked Emma's body left a sour taste in her mouth. Although Regina had to give her credit, Allison was good company for Emma when she wanted. Whenever Emma slumped into another spiral of self-deprecation, instead of as per usual attempting to get under Regina's skin she would engage both of them in a conversation. Critique something from Regina's memory of the current affairs that she would bring with her mind. Poke and prod at Emma until the blonde had no choice but to engage herself. More often than one would think, that strategy worked.

Be that as it was, the reality was that Regina never had a chance. Emma and Allison were too ingrained together, inseparable. They were right about that. The serum had been an ultimate expression of their scientific genius, immutable no matter what. And it took a hundred years to prove. Beyond the shadow of a doubt, irreversibly, this had been it for Regina. The end of the road.

The pristine lab was laughing at her in all of its perfected, orderly glory. It was cackling so loud, the white, empty walls shook and blurred in her vision. The pain in her skull – piercing, her brain rattled inside the bone box. She needed to stop it. She needed release.

She needed to scream.

Her hands were in motion before Regina could register the move. With a strangled hiss through her bared teeth Regina swiped at the desk sending small items flying to the floor. It wasn't enough. The rising ball of white hot rage settled deep in her stomach, like a cupful of melted led. It boiled and bubbled sending searing air up to her chest and face, the anger and desperation coming along for the ride. Regina's mind reflectively noticed how her skin flushed, her face contorted in an unrecognizable mask of utter fury. Her whole body was overwhelmed with bitter energy. So much of it that she felt like she could move mountains, yet it was plain that she couldn't. The kind of stupid, reckless drive that send Parisians changing the barricades and storming the Bastille. The kind that made unarmed peasants throw themselves on the pikes of the King's guard, thinking themselves invincible.

But this time she really was invincible, outside of harm's way. No bullet or knife or spear could hurt Regina, not anymore. No sickness, no weather, no hunger. She could go up against a mob of basilisks and come up on top, she had.

Yet, the mountain remained unflinching. Not only the problem had been immovable, ephemeral, slipping through her fingers at every opportunity. It also did not care. The mountain could not care less about the small human at its feet, even if the human wasn't mortal but quite the opposite. She was no more than a speck of dust to the universe, one tiny atom among billions.

And the universe never gave a shit about the atom's feelings and hopes.

Regina grabbed the monitor showing her the red letters she didn't want to see. She spun around using her movement to add force and threw the monitor into the wall. It shattered and send sparks flying on impact. It was not enough. Regina gripped the edges of the desk and flipped it. The shattering of glass and electronics flooded the lab with crashing sound, but higher and louder was her scream. Uncaring for her own safety Regina unloaded her rage against all and any items she could reach. The chair was hit against another desk, then thrown into the shelves and glass cabinets with rows and rows of samples.

Like a hurricane she rushed around the lab flinging anything that was there. White walls stopped being white. Blotches of different colors painted them in minutes, acidic holes began forming along the lines and uneven edges of the splatters. Regina grabbed a heavier microscope and bashed the computer towers that stood to the side with its heavy base. Once both were reduced to scraps of metal and broken plastic, she moved on to the last table standing. The one with hazardous materials. She flung beakers and flasks alike only screaming louder when spilled over substances began to burn through her flesh and clothes. Her cries, the shaking of her body and snarl on her unrecognizable face was the embodiment of pure agony. She was beyond the point of calming, a wild Goddess of Wrath unleashed on the world to grind it down to ashes.

The chemicals she had been throwing left and right ignited on impact with one of the tables. An expensive machine standing on the table had gotten scorched by the hissing flames and acids. It crumbled and exploded in a shower of broken electronics.

Regina continued her assault.

The flames changed colors as she threw more reagents into them, her expression in the dancing light primal. The fire rose and thin wisps of smoke rose along with it until something different hissed up on the ceiling.

"Kh-sh-shshhhh!"

The sprinklers of the fire suppression system came to life dousing everything in a shower of running water. The extinguishing formula was perfectly harmless to humans, yet deadly to the roaring fires regardless of their chemical composition. The orange, green and yellow tongues began to die out immediately. Regina on the other hand found herself being soaked in water from the top of her head to the tips of her heels. She stared at the ruin she had brought, the cool water making her skin prickle. Her hair slicked to her head, the long locks clung to the sides of her face. Her makeup was being washed off of her face, the blouse she was wearing soaked through and through. The same was happening to her skirt and stockings, even the expensive leather of her heels could not escape its fate. The burned holes in her outfit, thanks to the spilled acids and reagents made her look like she had been in a fire, yet her flesh had already been healed. The rough woulds, eaten off slices of flesh to the one had regenerated in a few seconds closing the wound without a trace. Regina was left standing in the middle of destroyed lab, wet as a drowned rat and with her boiling rage slowly evaporating. She had expected to be surrounded by a cloud of steam coming off of her skin, however all that was there was the sound of the sprinklers and the steady drip of water onto the floor.

One solitary survivor of a all the loudspeakers let out a cough laced with both sincerity and irony, "If you wanted to destroy my mainframe as well, Madam, I would like to remind you that it is located on the 24th floor."

Regina could not help it. Her body shook under the spray and the laughter burst out of her. She tilted her head up into the falling drops, closed her eyes and let it all out. The laughter was pulling something out the deepest part of her, harsh, open, deprecating and free. not to mention quite a bit hysterical. The statement made by her faithful companion over so many decades was the straw that broke her out of her seething rage and threw her in the other extreme.

This was the last kink in Sydney's programming. A flaw neither she nor Nikola could fix. The artificial intelligence Sydney was gifted with had complete lack of self-preservation. Sydney was brilliant, always eager to learn, be it technical information of his tireless research into human psyche. He was quick with his tongue, snarky at times, and loyal to the last. Up to the point of subtly offering his own nonfunctionality to cheer his Mistress up. The absurdity of this statement wasn't lost on Regina, not at all. But neither was her current predicament. Being washed down by the fire suppression shower, having just realized the futility of the mission she had spent a century and uncounted treasures pursuing and laughing at the one and only AI in the world, all with his unique plays on words.

Her heels slipped on the wet floor and Regina jerked losing her balance. She swayed and forward ripping a hole in her stockings and bruising her knees. She groaned through the giggles and reached back to rip the expensive shoes off her feet. The fate of the heels was the same as had befallen everything else – to be joined in the pile on the floor after their short flight across the room. Regina slumped down on her hunches and hugged her middle. Her giggles dwindled down until one of them had been replaced by desperate heave for air and strangled sob. The liquid running down her face had not been all from the sprinkles. Regina grip on her sides became tighter she bend down the middle, the weaker now laughter mixing together with the sobbing finally given free reign.

She could not tell how long she had sat there on the floor crying her heart out. For all the years she spent hoping. For all the wishes she had made and all plans that were never meant to be. Regina let grief take over, she pushed all the regret and hurt through her. The only way to let go of all of this was to embrace the truth, not to repress it. So she let it all consume her for as long as was needed. Until the tears stopped and the water run out in the tanks above. Until her voice went hoarse with crying and her stomach hurt. Then she just sat there in silence, alone in a ruined lab listening to the tiny drips echoing off the walls.

She let everything settle. Given her heart all the time it needed to let her mind take the reigns again so that she could formulate a plan. But not the same as before. She needed to do… something different. Something that will leave her empty and broken, but that she had to do. Something she had been thinking about for a long time, but had not had the strength to accept as the only option.

After what seemed like an eternity Regina moved. She shakily got to her feet and padded towards the elevator. Her feet were making splashing noises against the wet floor. Once next to the panel Regina pushed the button and waited.

"Sydney," her voice came out rough, the pain in her throat – a reminder of what had happened, "would you arrange for cleaning crew to deal with this mess? The same NDA's as usual. I will need to change. No. I... I suppose, I will need some time to recuperate. In the mean time I'll need you to start on synthesizing the solution. B-46/C. I expect a fully formed vial ready for testing in no longer than 24 hours."

"Will do, ma'am," rang the smooth voice as she entered the elevator. "However, I feel it would be necessary to remind you, considering your emotional status, that in all simulations the use of B46/C resulted in comatose state for the patient–"

"Sydney!" Regina's interruption rang inside the metal box going up. "I know full well what it does. That would be the point. I don't have any other choice. Not anymore."

There was a minute of tense silence as the lift climbed up. Then the AI spoke up in a somber voice, "Understood. Shall I prep Dr Swan for your arrival? The usual procedures will take up to 72 hours. The cryogenic chamber and security shield of sublevel 15 are showing green across the board and–"

"Sydney," Regina interrupted again, though this time her voice was gentle and tired. "I trust you with following the protocols. I… Right now, I would like to go up and take a bath. It–" she let out a sigh, "It's going to be a hard couple of days."

"As you wish, Madam. I shall inform the guards and engage privacy mode for the penthouse."

The steady hum of the lift reminded Regina of just how exhausted this outburst had made her. She supposed, it wasn't over. She would have to stay sharp to conduct the procedure. Another 72 hours. Then, after it all would be done, then she could begin to grief.

Regina swallowed taking in the depth and weight of her decision. Her mind floated down, all the way through steel and concrete, down 77 stories and 15 sublevels, to the secured and only accessible to her vault. The vault and cryogenic chamber within, where one desiccated body was being kept right that moment. As the elevator rose higher to her private penthouse and increased the distance between Regina and the vault beneath, she thought about what she would have to do in three days. What it would take and what it would mean for her.

In three days she was going to put Emma and Allison to sleep. A dreamless sleep where neither one of them could hurt anyone, where they could not hurt each other or had to dwell on what they had done.

Regina was going to put Emma under. Permanently.