Chapter 25 – An Electrical Charge Part 3
~~~~Edison's Lab~~~~
Nikola groaned as they shut off the power to the chair.
Edison had left what felt like hours ago, off to cover his ass Nikola assumed. His perfect assassination plan had less than perfect results. There had been shouting amongst the three of them. Edison ordered they crank up the power to the maximum voltage and just fry his brains out, but Brown refused. This was supposed to be a humane killing method anyways, so much so that the victim didn't die.
Edison blamed it on poor construction. Brown theorized that the current mustn't be reaching Nikola to the extent, faulty wiring in a sense. Kennelly claimed that there was nothing wrong with the wiring and that it must be something in the capacitor.
The shouting match continued on in this manner for quite sometime until Edison shouted "FIX IT!" and stormed out of the lab.
No one stopped to consider the obvious; the truth that only Nikola knew. He was a vampire, and unless Edison resolves to chopping off his head and sticking it on a spear and shouting to the villagers "I've killed the beast!" nothing these poor men could do would kill him. He would remain strapped to this chair getting zapped to all hell. Brown and Kennelly would either give up and get fired, or they would get caught and go to prison and Edison will claim he had no knowledge of these experiments.
Of course he could escape, but the constant electrical current being delivered into his system acted like a drug all on it's own, weakening muscles, numbing his brain. He couldn't flex his fingers properly, let alone escape this chair.
The most he could pray for was a quick beheading.
"Nothing is working Harry, the guy is still alive, I do not understand it," said Kennelly.
"Maybe we should do what he said, put the chair on high and just wait till he fries, we can't set him free, he's a criminal," said Harold Brown, worry setting deep in his face.
"Maybe we tie him up and throw him in the lake with a heavy weight attached to his feet, they'll never know, as you said he's a criminal," whispered Kennelly.
"And tell Mr. Edison what?"
"That he eventually died of heart failure, he had a brain aneurism, anything!" sighed Kennelly.
"No, we'll do it his way, it's no different," said Brown.
"At least my way we don't end up taking out the power for the whole of Manhattan!"
"Five minutes, if it doesn't work we'll throw him in the lake," offered Brown.
Kennelly nodded silently and went to his work.
Nikola hadn't had to sleep for a long time but he found himself fighting not to fall asleep in this chair…or maybe we was passing out…he couldn't tell. All he knew was that the world was slowly starting to fade away as his eyes closed.
~~~~Other Side Of Town~~~~
Helen watched as the slowly darkening world outside her pushed by, the cart was moving painfully slow, slower than she could handle. James checked his person, an annoying habit of his; he counted the bullets in his gun, the bills in his wallet, the coins in his purse, the buttons on his vest, etc. Was it a nervous tick, or a compulsion, she could never tell, but it made her grind her teeth.
John whistled when he was nervous, usually an old lullaby she could only assume was sung to him as a child. Nigel shifted in and out of visibility; she guessed that the nerves were affecting his focus. Neither were as annoying as James' nervous ticks.
And Nikola…Nikola rarely was nervous, he saw himself as indestructible, he just grinned that bloody boyish grin and…kiss her. He would usually wink, squeeze her hand, peck her on the cheek, or a quick chaste kiss on the corner of her mouth. "See you on the other side, Helen."
"What are you thinking about?" asked James.
Helen shook her head.
"What?"
"When your nervous you usually distract yourself by thinking about something that removes you from the situation, it's bloody annoying," said James.
Helen huffed.
"Nothing," she said dismissively.
"You were thinking about Nikola weren't you?" James looked at her softly.
"Nonsense," she shook her head.
He shrugged, deciding not to push her.
Damn him and his bloody keen sense of observation; another annoying habit of his.
Helen felt the cart stop.
"Here we are," said Johnny.
"Where is here?" mumbled James.
"Here is where we dropped off your guy," shrugged Johnny. He lifted a grimy finger and pointed at the large building.
"Edison Company?" James looked at Helen.
"Nikola always claimed that Edison had it out for him," shrugged Helen.
"Enough to want him dead?" asked James.
"Possibly," Helen stood up and hopped off the back on to the ground.
"Hey! What about us?" asked Johnny.
James looked at the three of them.
"We haven't confirmed that our friend is here yet," said James. "You'll wait for us and we will pay you when we get back."
"But, hey!" whined Johnny.
"As much as you don't want to be stiffed, neither do we," said James sternly.
"Fine, alright," sighed Johnny and he shrugged back into his seat.
James fell into step with Helen who was already on her way to the side of the building checking for any life inside.
She growled angrily when she saw that the windows were covered.
"We should wait for John and Nigel to arrive, I sent them a signal," said James.
"No time," muttered Helen, pulling out her pistol and cocking it. "I'm going in with or without you."
"Helen, be smart about this," said James.
"I'm not going to wait around while they kill him," she snarled and went to the front door.
"Helen!" said James.
Helen kicked the thick wooden doors open with her heeled boots.
The workroom of Edison Co. was empty. Edison was nowhere in sight, Helen kept her gun poised and her eyes alert as she cautiously stepped into the building.
The only light was emanating from underneath a door on the other side of the rows of tables. Helen maneuvered her way around the cords, wires and lightbulbs in the room to the door, pressing her ear against the wood.
There was no movement, just a loud buzzing sound.
Just like the first door, she took her heeled boot to this one and it easily swung open.
Helen nearly gasped.
"What is that?" gasped James behind her.
"I don't know," she said stepping into the room cautiously.
There were two men lying unconscious on the floor, she could see them breathing lightly. They both had severe electrical burns on their hands and arms; one had a long gash along the side of his face.
Helen stepped over the large coil on the floor, avoiding the line of blue electricity streaming around it.
"Don't get too close, Helen," said James.
Helen stopped walking and looked at the unconscious form strapped into the demonic contraption. She saw a dribble of blood peeking from the corner of his mouth.
"Nikola," she gasped.
"I'm going to try to turn this thing off!" said James.
"Alright," Helen kept her eyes fixed on Nikola.
James came up to the generator and reached for the handle; it shocked him slightly making him wince in pain. He pulled a pair of gloves from his pocket and put them on, again reaching for the handle.
The buzzing suddenly died and the streams of blue faded away.
As soon as she could Helen stepped over to Nikola and started pulling off the restraints, starting with the head and chin.
"Nikola," she said, worry creeping into her features. "Nikola!"
She cupped his face.
"Uh," he grunted.
"Oh thank god," sighed Helen.
His eyes blinked open, slightly glazed over.
"H-Helen?" he muttered. He looked down at her hands as she pulled off his arm restraints. 'No, you shouldn't be here!"
He jerked his hand to make it more difficult for her to remove leather strap.
"Nikola, please, we have to get you out of here," she looked at him.
"I'm fine, now please Helen, get out!" he shouted.
"There's no one here, Nikola," she argued.
"Not yet, but there will be very soon, I don't want them to hurt you," he winced slightly.
James came to the other side of the chair and started working on the leg straps.
"Who did this to you, good man?" said James.
"Who do you think? That jealous bastard as lost it I tell you," Nikola flexed his fingers.
"What is this thing?" asked Helen, moving on to the strap of the leg nearest her.
"Some primitive crude excuse of an execution device using electricity as a humane way to kill it's victims, using AC no less, guess who is it's test subject," groaned Nikola.
"Edison designed this to kill you?" clarified Helen.
"Yes, obviously my abilities are good for more than parlor tricks," he grinned slightly.
Helen took his hand and tried to help him up. His legs buckled at first causing him to fall into her. James moved fast to grab his collar and pull him back up.
Nikola grunted slightly but soon found his footing, using James as support; Helen maneuvered herself under his free arm to support him more.
"I guess my muscles have fallen asleep," Nikola joked.
"What happened to them?" asked James, gesturing to the two unconscious men on the floor.
"I have no idea, I fell asleep," muttered Nikola.
"We'll report this to the authorities, Edison will pay for this," said Helen.
"Don't give him the benefit of that, he only did this because I'm better than him, I'll destroy him by looking him in the eye and him knowing that he couldn't kill me when he had he chance," Nikola grunted as they walked briskly out of the lab.
The reached outside and Nikola inhaled a deep breath and laughed slightly.
"I think I'll be fine now," he stood on his own two feet.
"Are you sure?" asked Helen.
Nikola nodded wordlessly.
"Helen!" came John's voice. He and Nigel ran up to the three of them.
"You found him!" cried Nigel.
"Yes, strapped to a death machine," muttered Helen bitterly.
"Who'd you piss of this time?" joked Nigel.
"It wasn't my fault, he's just gone nuts," Nikola glared at the short Englishman.
"Sure," smirked Nigel.
"Let's get him out of here," said James heading back to Johnny and his gang waiting down the road.
"You're back! Any luck?" said Johnny.
"We've got him, here's the rest of your money, can you give us a lift?" asked James, pulling out his wallet.
"Sure thing, where to?"
"Hey, those guys- uh…" Nikola stopped suddenly.
"Nikola?" Helen turned to him.
Nikola flashed, an electrical spark shot to the ground, a cloud of dirt rose in it's wake.
"Holy hell!" jumped Nigel.
Helen stepped towards Nikola.
"Don't touch me, Helen!" said Nikola fearfully, stepping away from her.
His face turned red as another spark shot out of his fingertips and hit a tree.
"What is happening to him?" asked Nigel.
Nikola cried out and crumpled to the ground as a thick wave of electric current covered him.
"Nikola!" cried Helen.
"How does he do that?" muttered one of Johnny's men.
Nikola screamed again, and John pulled Helen out of the way to duck the surge of electricity exploding from Nikola's body.
She was pulled behind the wagon and all three men crouched over her as Nikola shot sparks everywhere. His cry was almost bloodcurdling.
Suddenly the bright blue light faded and the scream ceased.
The four of them poked their heads from behind the wagon.
Nikola lay unconscious on the dirt road.
"What's wrong with him?" Helen turned to James.
"I don't know for sure, but he may have absorbed all the current from the electric chair, it's running through him now," said James.
"Will it kill him?" Helen was worried.
"I don't think so, vampires for intents and purposes are immortal to a point…this may be an extension of his abilities, who knows?"
Helen walked around the wagon and carefully stepped towards him, her gun pulled out in case he attacked her again.
She nudged him with her foot and an electric discharge zapped from him slightly.
"He's alive," she said.
"Put your gloves on, let's get him in the cart," ordered James to John and Nigel.
"What are we going to do if he goes berserk again?" asked Nigel.
"I don't know, but we can't leave him here," James stepped up to Nikola's lanky form and grabbed him by the arms as John and Nigel each grabbed a leg, hoisting him up on to the bark of Johnny's cart.
Helen stepped up next to sit by his head. She pulled her gloves on and lightly stroked his face as the rest of them got in and the cart started moving away.
She wanted Edison to pay for this.
~~~~Later~~~~
Nikola groaned as his brain entered the conscious realm, cracking his eyes open slightly. The world was slightly blurry, but he could make out one figure standing above him.
He blinked back the blurriness and the figure came into focus.
"Whoa, Nikola, don't move to much," he felt her hand on his chest.
"Uh, what happened?" groaned Nikola.
"You absorbed the electricity from the electric chair, we assume that's what knocked out your captors, you nearly did the same to us," Helen said softly.
"Where am I?" he asked huskily.
"Westinghouse was kind enough to let us stay at his house to look after you," she said, she pushed back his unruly hair.
"Did I hurt anyone?" asked Nikola.
"No, you did give us quite the scare though," she smiled sweetly.
"How did you know I was in danger?" he didn't see any of the others in the room.
"Your friend Bianca found your lab in disarray so she went to George to tell him and he called us, simple as that," Helen placed a damp cloth on his head.
"Bianca?" Nikola looked confused.
"The actress," clarified Helen.
"Oh, right, the annoyingly clingy one," he muttered.
"Well she's the annoyingly clingy one who happens to care enough about you to help save your life," Helen reprimanded him.
"I don't love her, Helen," he said looking at her sincerely. "The truth is, Helen…"
"Good morning sunshine," Nigel barged into the room.
"Perfect timing Nigel," muttered Nikola sarcastically.
"And pleasant as ever, ol' chap," smirked Nigel. "He's up!"
James and John soon joined afterwards.
"How is our homegrown vampire?" joked John.
"Fine," Nikola sat up, crossing his arms.
"Long time, no see, we were starting to think you had found new friends," James sat on the other side of the bed.
"We were close, but they were enemies, not friends," joked Nigel.
"Do you have nothing better to do than make fun of me?" grumped Nikola.
"Of course we do," answered John.
"But nothing as entertaining," James smiled deviously.
Helen laughed at her boys.
"Come on, Nikola, it's a reunion!" Helen exclaimed, pulling John and Nigel on to the bed as well, right on top of Nikola, making him grunt.
"I hate reunions!" he pouted.
"Nonsense," said Nigel.
The four of them crawled around him, Helen snuggling beside him, John cuddled next to her, James sprawled out across the end, his read resting on John's leg,Nigel doing the same but the opposite direction, his head resting on Nikola's leg, Helen's legs rested across Nigel's stomach, her toes just touching James' thigh.
"Now that we're comfortable who wants a cup of tea?" said John.
"Make it wine," sighed Nikola, resting his head on Helen's shoulder.
"I have my boys all together again in one place," she smiled.
"One of you did lock the door, right?" asked Nikola.
"Because tea drinking is just so criminal," joked Nigel.
"Well, yes that, but really, I don't know what George's staff would think of this," said Nikola.
"Since when did you become so self-conscious," teased James.
Nikola scowled.
"Don't worry, we won't be bothered," Helen said to him.
John reached over to a tea tray on the night table and passed out the cups from it to everyone.
"You guys are so british," sighed Nikola.
The group of them laughed.
"Thank you," James, John and Nigel said in unison.
It didn't take long before all Five them to fall asleep, except Nikola who just watched over them as they fell asleep. Helen had her head rested on his chest, sleeping soundly. John had his arms securely wrapped around her, his head rested against the headboard.
Nikola shifted himself from underneath all the bodies and out of the bed. He made his way to the small balcony. The moon shone dully over New York City. Nikola breathed in the night air.
He looked back into the room at the snoozing group; Nigel was lightly snoring, James rolled over, and Helen mumbled something into a pillow. The comfort they provided shocked him, he had expected this reunion would be a lot more painful that it was. They were just happy to see him, no one even breathed a word of his abandonment, they just drank tea, and reminisced, just like it was old times.
But it wasn't like old times.
Helen was going to marry John, they would become their own group, a couple, separate from him, from James, from Nigel. Nikola looked at Helen.
Why must he love her so much?
He turned away to look back at the sky and sighed deeply.
He heard a rustle.
"Beautiful night, huh?" John came up behind him.
"Yes," said Nikola.
"Couldn't sleep?" asked John.
"I don't sleep," Nikola looked at John. "What's your excuse?"
"Couldn't sleep either," John looked out at the stars. "I know what you're trying to hide from me, Nikola."
"Excuse me?" Nikola glared at John.
"The last time Helen visited, I followed her here, I saw her with you…you two have been going on behind my back," John's tone changed to a menacing whisper.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," snarled Nikola.
"I saw you, Nikola! You seduced my fiancé!" John grabbed Nikola by the collar and roughly slammed him against the outside wall.
"It was nothing, John! We did nothing!"
"You kissed her!"
"I did, but she loves you! Not me! I don't know what you saw, but that is the truth. I kissed her and she still chose you! Are you happy? You've won!"
John lifted him off his feet and hoisted him over the balcony railing, leaving him dangling over the edge.
"You stay away from Helen, Nikola, this is the last time I'm going to tell you," he growled.
"She doesn't want me, John, I'm done with her! Go off! Marry her if you like! I won't stop you!" Nikola spat.
"I will," John released Nikola and he fell into the garden.
He walked back inside.
"Where's Nikola?" asked Helen, looking at John.
"He left, I'm sorry Helen," said John.
Helen bit her lip angrily.
"No matter," Helen sighed.
John crawled up beside her.
"If you want we can go and find him in the morning," John wrapped his arm around her and kissed her shoulder.
"No, I'm done with him, he can stay here and die alone if he likes, let's just go home," sighed Helen taking his hand.
"Of course," she rested her head on his arm and closed her eyes. John's lips curled into a vicious smile as he lifted his head and looked out the balcony doors. "Goodbye Nikola."
~~~~In The Garden~~~~
Nikola groaned as his broken limbs healed each other. He pulled a sharp twig out of his side; he winced slightly.
Bastard.
He looked up at the balcony that he was thrown off of.
It was for the best, probably, now he could skip the awkward conversation when Helen and the others try to convince him to come back to London.
He crack his back and neck.
"Ow," he muttered.
He limped slightly as he made his way out of Westinghouse's garden to the street.
He made it back to his lab just as the sun started to rise. He felt exhausted, but it wasn't from being tired or from the long walk. His heart felt heavy.
His lab was a mess, he might as well get started on that; he wasn't going to be sleeping anytime soon anyways.
Nikola picked up his overturned desk chair and sat in it, his eyes came across the frame lying face down on top of the desk.
He picked it up. The image was too hard to look at. He tossed it in the waist basket and lowered his head into his hands.
"Nikki! Is that really you?" came a voice.
He lifted his head up to see who the voice belonged to.
"Bianca?" he saw where she had camped out in wait for his return.
"Oh my god, Nikki, I was so worried!" she came up to him and hugged him tightly. "What happened to you?"
She released him and placed a small chaste kiss to his mouth.
"I'd rather not talk about it," he looked away from her.
"You had me so worried!" she ran a hand through his mussed hair.
"Why do you care? We were together once! How can you possibly care about me, Bianca? Do you think that if you sleep with him once you know them inside and out! Stick to Shakespeare, I'm not the man for you," Nikola said bitterly.
"What are you saying, Nikola?" Bianca stepped back from him, looking crushed.
"I don't love you, Bianca, I never will! I'm sorry but that is just the way it is, now, please leave me in peace," he sighed.
"It's that Helen woman, isn't it? You love her, don't you?" cried Bianca.
"Please leave," said Nikola, looking away from her.
'You're a bastard, Nikola Tesla, a selfish, idiotic bastard, I hope you rot in hell!" screamed Bianca, she stormed over to her stuff and picked it up, leaving shortly after, slamming the door behind her.
Nikola ignored her display of temper, leaning back to the waist basket. Lifting the broken frame out of it.
He took his handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the pictures surface before putting it back in it's place on the desk before standing up and moving around the desk.
With a long sigh he started to clean his empty, dark, and lonely lab as the morning sun rose behind a rain cloud and a thick sheet of water fell down around his world.
It always seemed to rain on the crappiest days of his life.