Recap: Jack catches sight of Alex covered in blood on a late night news report. Desperately she tries everything she can think of to find out what's happing to Alex, but MI6 won't tell her. Why? Could it be because they don't think she could ever believe the truth? That Alex has been bitten by a Vampire?
Progress
Her hair was tangled and in need of a wash, and so was the rest of her. She hadn't had a shower since she'd spotted Alex on the news. Jack had had hardly any sleep either, leading to dark rings under her eyes. All in all she looked rather like a zombie, and felt like one too. Lack of sleep had taken its toll on her. Everything in her life had gone wrong it seemed, and she was stuck, not able to move forward in any way without confirmation on her charge, and unable to go back to who she had been before she had first become a lodger in Ian Rider's house, for just the same reason.
In her current state it was a miracle that she ever came across the E-mail at all, and in fact, it was only by accident that she did. Jack had been hoping to get a reply to the message she had sent a cousin of hers in the American army, though she knew deep inside that he wouldn't be able to help her in anyway, even if he could make sense of the garbled and cryptic E-mail.
Scanning through the received, messages, deleting any she came across because she just couldn't stand normal life at the moment, Jack could see that he hadn't got back to her.
Tigers are dying out! Sign thi... *Delete*
Hi! Its Steve, you know, from high school? I was wondering if... *Delete*
J Star, your next Rentals are on the way. Films: Twilight... *Delete*
Your vote makes a diff... *Delete*
I agree Marcus... *Delete*
I agree Mar... *Delete*
I agree... *Delete*
It wasn't until she had deleted the same message a third time, only for it to pop up again, that Jack even noticed. A frown appeared on her already miserable looking face. Had she received some sort of virus via Email, on top of everything else that had happened?
Violently she stabbed the 'delete' button again and again. But every time the message reappeared. Jack was so near the edge, and it seemed as though this would be the thing to push her over the edge. She could feel the sobs building up in her throat, constricting it and making it hard to breathe. Already tears had started to fall onto the black keyboard at her fingertips.
No! I must be strong for Alex! For Alex...
Thinking of him for the hundredth time that day did not help, and desperately Jack tried to think of something to do to hold back the further tears that threatened to fall.
It was then that she actually decided to read the Email
From:
I Agree Marcus, A long term illness is no Fun at all. Richard himself has been Ill for some time now as well and Everyone at work seems to be off with colds too! means more work for me, but Never mind, the more I Do, the more I get paid! talking about work, Oliver's still doing all he can to get me Fired, i swear it's his fault that Andrew's Left. Everybody knows what he's up to except Xavier, useless twit.
oh well, i hope you get better soon
-s
Jack stared at it in confusion. Why would such a boring, benign and obviously miss-sent E-mail contain a virus that stopped it being deleted, and did who knows what else to the computer? It just didn't make any sense at all. Unless perhaps someone had somehow picked up a random E-mail someone had sent, attached the bug and then sent it to multiple others? Maybe all it was a message meant for someone else, this 'Marcus', obviously, and for some strange reason her computer wasn't letting her get rid of it?
Twice more she scanned through it, seven more times she tried to delete it.
But what if it was actually meant for her? It was an absurd idea, and Jack had no real reason to believe it, but stranger things had happened before, and she was so desperate for help that she could have turned basically anything around her into some sort of sign linked to Alex. But if it was a sign, what did it mean?
Deciding she needed to be able to study it better, she printed out the E-mail. As it came out of her printer, she was surprised to see two things on it that she had not spotted in the actual E-mail. The first was a small black and white crest at the top of the paper, a shield shape with a large 'S' inside of it. At the start and end of the letter there were little cogs drawn, three fitted together at either end, getting slightly bigger as they got further away from the 'S'.
The second thing was at the bottom, an address, along with a date and time. Jack stared down at the piece of paper in her hands, still warm from the printer. This was proof, right? Proof that there was more to this E-mail then first met the eye. She felt like rushing off to this location straight away. Every part of her was screaming that if there was a way of finding out what had happened to Alex, she should go off and find it as soon as possible. But there was a date and time set. Tomorrow, at half past twelve. Tomorrow seemed like an eternity away, but if it led to her finding Alex, or at least discovering what had happened to him, surely it would be worth the wait? And perhaps the E-mail had more to give away then just a location and time. Picking out a pen from a nearby drawer, she poised it above the sheet of paper, held lightly in her fingertips like a guillotine held up by just a few threads of a tattered rope, waiting to fall. There was something more to this E-mail, she was sure. For the first time in what seemed like forever, Jack Starbright smiled. It was so obvious.
…~*AR-OBTS*~…
Pain. Anger. Thirst. Fear. Bullets. Scorpia. Red tinted glasses. Cold blue eyes. Assassins. Death. Hatred. Crocodiles. Guns. Nuclear Bombs. Sharks. Knives. Blood. Hauntingly familiar faces.
His drug induced sleep was filled with all of these horrors, and more. It is said that those about to die see their lives flash before their eyes. If so Alex had come close to dying many times before he finally awoke again.
Things were different this time, he sensed that straight away. Though his was tied down to a slanted hospital bed in a bland, medical room, the agony he had been in before had faded to a dull ache. Now Alex felt as though he had been punched and kicked from head to toe a couple of weeks ago. That was the nearest comparison he could give to how he was feeling. So though he wasn't exactly feeling on top of the world right now, it was still a huge improvement on before. His mind was a little clearer as well, though not by a huge amount. His recent memories still felt fuzzy and illusive. Every time he tried to concentrate on what happened, the images in his head faded further away. Not that he was sad to see them go; they were full of blood, pain and confusion.
Something else felt different about him as well, though he couldn't quite pin-point what the change was. What was it? Alex felt that if only he could escape these straps and stretch life back into his body, then he would know what the change was. But what were the chances of his captors letting him go? He tried to work out who it could be that he was a prisoner of. Scorpia? But hadn't he been told that MI6 had made some sort of deal with them to leave him alone? Not that Alex would ever trust them to keep their end of a bargain. But there were other criminal organisations, evil individuals, or perhaps even vengeful allies of those he had taken down in the past, that would have no qualms about kidnapping the teenage boy.
What really bothered Alex though, apart from the whole been strapped down and helpless things, was that no matter how much he racked his mind for the information, he could find no memory of being kidnapped. Perhaps he had been knocked out by some sort of drug before he had chance to realise the danger?
He tried to piece together the recent past one step at a time. So he had been on a mission for MI6, hadn't he? Living on the streets in London. Ah, good times, good times. Freezing his butt off, being approached by drug dealers... making a friend. For a second a pang of worry shot through him as he remembered Blue, and the fact that he had gone missing. But he pushed those thoughts away, there was nothing he could do to track down Blue at the moment, for goodness sake, he couldn't even move most of his own body right now! Best to worry about himself before getting himself wound up about someone else. Immediately though his thoughts turned to Jack. What would she be doing right now? Surely MI6 would have informed her by now that something bad had happened to him? How much would they tell her?
Did they even know he'd gone missing? Or maybe were they even now launching a rescue attempt? What if they weren't going to try and rescue him at all? What if they were going to just leave him here? Wherever 'here' was.
A noise distracted him from his thoughts. Alex had thought he was alone, but now that he thought about it, he realised that he could actually tell there was someone else here by scent alone. Now that was weird. He lifted his head groggily and looked around, catching sight of who had made a sound. It was the same guy as he had first glimpsed when he woke up last time. Last time...what had happened last time? Something... something strange. Something bad.
Pushing those thoughts away, he studied the man in front of him. He was fast asleep, dozing quietly, slumped into a plastic backed chair in the corner of the room. He looked about thirty years old, with a shock of black hair, a couple of day's worth of stubble on his face and a long, crooked nose. He was wearing a lab coat, rumpled up by the way he was sitting down.
As Alex watched him, he slipped a little further down the hard-backed chair, the fabric of the clothes he was wearing brushing against the plastic. This was the faint sound that Alex had detected earlier. He frowned slightly. It was such a small noise, how could he have heard it so clearly? Especially when there was machinery bleeping and humming all around him. Taking his eyes off the sleeping figure, he looked around at all the strange machines around him, most of which were connected up to him and seemed to be measuring something or other. Alex really wished he could move. He felt as though he was going to get cramp any second and he really wanted to stretch out, wanted to let his joints click and his muscles move. Especially his back. Alex was sure that if only he was able to arch his back and move his shoulder bones back, something in his back would click, but in a good way, and that he would feel much better for it.
He tried as best as he could to stretch and tense his muscles, but the ties restraining him were tight and unforgiving, allowing for very little movement. As he moved a new beeping started up, an annoying, high pitched one. Realising he was the cause of it Alex immediately stopped moving, and the sound desisted.
But it had been enough to disturb the sleeping man, who jerked awake with a start.
…~*AR-OBTS*~…
The sudden movement was enough for gravity to take its toll, and before he knew what was happening, he slid straight off the chair and landed on his butt on the floor. A rough bark of laughter, followed by coughing made his head whip round. He stared, wide eyed at the young man strapped down to the hospital bed. Their eyes met for a second before the patient started to cough again, breaking the contact. A second was far too long to be looking into those unnerving eyes however, and he shuddered.
He then started to feel very guilty. He should have been awake when then subject became conscious, so he could send him straight back to sleep. They didn't think he would be ready for proper contact with human beings for quite a long time yet.
The harsh sounding laughter at his fall had been the first sound he had heard the teenager make, beyond screaming though, so perhaps he was getting better faster than they thought?
Despite that thought, he was still shocked when the subject spoke.
'Where am I?'
For a second he considered not answering and simply injecting more drugs into the boy so he would fall asleep again. He had always much proffered sleeping subjects to waking ones. Though the dead ones where even easier to deal with.
'Umm...' He licked his lips nervously, and then decided he might as well be honest. 'You're at Cold Hall.'
…~*AR-OBTS*~…
Cold Hall? Or, to give it it's full name, Cold Hall Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Everyone who lived anywhere near London knew about this place, though few had been anywhere near it. It was the place where those criminals so evil or mentally unstable that even places like Rampton Hospital couldn't deal with them. Why the hell was he here? It was such an odd place to lie about that he was convinced it must be true. But if he was in Cold Hall, MI6 must know about it! There was no way he could have ended up in such a closely guarded and well known place without them knowing. So that meant...
'Where does MI6 come into it?' Speaking was difficult; his voice came out all hoarse and chocked up. Alex wished he could have something to drink; his throat was really starting to burn.
His question seemed to startle the man.
'MI6? They, uh, know your here if that's what you mean. Though I...' He broke off. Alex wondered if he had been about to say something along the lines of, 'though I don't know what the connection between you and MI6 is', the way he frowned and hesitated made Alex think that he wasn't aware that he worked for them.
So MI6 knew all about him being here? Which probably meant that they knew he was being restrained like this. Why? Why would they do this to him? It didn't make sense. He was relieved that at least he wasn't in the hands of one of his enemies, but despite the fact that MI6 had sent him off on one life threatening mission after another, they had never treated him like this. And why was he in a hospital for the criminally insane? Why hadn't they sent him to Saint Dominic's like they had done in the past? Everything was so bad and weird and confusing and wrong. Alex let out a groan as all the worry and pain built up inside him. There was one thing that was bothering him more than anything else now though.
'I'm thirsty...' He muttered, mostly to himself. At this the man in front of him transformed from having a slightly pained and worried look on his face, to full blown horror. This simply added to the long list of things that were confusing Alex.
'What, is water a banned substance at Cold Hall?' He joked weakly.
'N-no, of course not,' came the reply. Was it just Alex's imagination, or did he sound oddly relieved? Man, he should have just stayed asleep; the nightmares probably would have been easier to deal with then this parody of waking life.
The man disappeared behind him, out of sight and a couple of seconds later Alex heard the sound of a tap being turned and water gushing out. Then he reappeared, holding a see-through plastic cup filled with water. He hesitated then, noticing a problem that had already occurred to Alex.
'You couldn't possibly untie me could you?' Again a look of horror crossed the man's face, sending a jagged blade of fear into Alex's chest. Why was he acting like this? What was so scary about him, and why was it necessary for him to be tied down so ruthlessly?
He wasn't surprised though when the only answer he received was a mute shaking of the head.
Instead of letting him go, the man nervously lent forward at put the cup to Alex's lips. Though his hands shook slightly, he still managed to let Alex take several sips at a time without spilling it all over him.
Though both of them tried to ignore it, they could tell by the slight heat in their own cheeks and a slight, visible reddening on the face of the other, that both were uncomfortable and little embarrassed by the situation. Somehow though it made both of them feel as though the other person was just a little more human then they first thought.
'Do you want some more water?' The man in the lab coat asked Alex. 'No, I'm okay.' It was a lie. There was nothing okay about this situation at all, including his throat. It still felt weird, but if a glass of water hadn't got rid of the problem, (though it did feel a little better now, and he was able to speak properly again), then he figured that he must have a really sore, or perhaps swollen throat, and that more water wasn't going to fix that. The guy still hovered near him nervously, despite the fact that he was the one in complete control here, Alex being strapped down tightly to a hospital bed and all. Alex turned his head to face him, and saw him flinch. Looking up at him standing at the head, and just behind his bed, Alex said in a good humoured but slightly annoyed voice, 'I don't bite you know!' Alex saw him visible flinch, and the faint smile on his own face slipped away as a memory he had tried so hard to grasp earlier came floating back of its own accord.
…~*AR-OBTS*~…
It was clear to the man that in that moment, the boy remembered that had happened to him. There was horror in his inhuman, dazzling black eyes, with their strange brownish-red flecks of colour. 'Bite...'
He barely heard the whispered word, but worried as he did so that the subject was going to go snap again, like he had done last time he was awake. He had actually been amazed that it, no, he, hadn't already tried to attack him, and so wouldn't be surprised if that happened now. But it didn't. Instead the patient hung his head down, as though he had just realised the weight of the world was on his shoulders. Then, slowly he looked up at him again, the pain and surprise still visible on his features. 'That...That's...I was bitten, wasn't I?'
There was a pleading tone to his voice, as though he was desperately waiting for someone to burst through the door, shouting, 'Surprise! Got you real good there! You should have seen your face!' But there was no denying the truth, however frightening and incredible it was.
'Yes. You were bitten.' He surprised himself with how heavy his own words sounded. It was then that he realised he pitied this pitiful, unnatural wretch, this inhuman creature, this poor, poor boy.
