A/N: I'm glad everyone appears to like my little twist. It was not part of my original plan, but then again, not much of this story is. Basically, I'm just letting it take me where it wants to go.
He looked exactly as she remembered him. The same uniform of death. The same dark, cold stare hiding behind a pair of glasses. The same evil smirk that found pleasure in other people's pain. The new scar on his face made him more terrifying.
"I'm guessing you weren't expecting me?" he asked, although it was apparent that he already knew the answer.
Helga froze in her spot. The psycho who guided her around the horrors of Auschwitz was now standing in front of her. She was so shocked that she couldn't speak.
"I see I've rendered you speechless," he laughed wryly, circling around his prey. "I'm sure you have many questions you want to ask, but first, I have another little gift for you. I found it on my way to drop off the letter and I thought you would like it."
Brainy left the cottage for a brief moment and came back. This time, he wasn't alone. He dragged in another person. The face was covered by a burlap sack, but Helga could tell it was a male. His hands were tied with rope. Brainy lifted the sack, and to her horror, it was her fiancé. Arnold's face was gashed and bruises began to form on the left side of his face. His mouth was gagged with a weathered cloth. This horrendous sight catapulted Helga out of her stupor.
"Arnold!" she cried, running to both men. Brainy pulled out a knife and stabbed Arnold in the leg, causing Helga to stop in her tracks.
"Not another step, or he gets some metal inserted into his heart," Brainy threatened. Not wanting to tempt fate, Helga slowly backed up. "Good. Now why don't we have a little chat?" He motioned the gun to Helga, and then to the floor. She sat on the dusty floor, obeying his wordless command. Brainy pushed Arnold down to the ground, forcing him to sit as well.
"I bet you're wondering why I'm here," he said, once again circling around the two. "Or how I even got here. Does this look familiar?" Brainy pulled out a small book from his pocket. It was Helga's journal.
"How did you get that?" she spat at him.
"I just happen to know some people who were Gestapo in Krakow," he replied, grinning his sadistic smile. "It turned out we had a mutual friend who worked there. Wolfgang?"
"I wouldn't necessarily call him a friend," she muttered, her eyes remaining on Brainy.
Brainy ignored her. "After our little… incident when you picked up those Jewish swine and this traitor," he motioned to Arnold, "we made inquiries about your position and the doctor you were working for. Imagine the surprise on your father's face when he found out his daughter was in fact working with the underground to get people out of camps."
"I'm sure it was the same look I would have if he ever got my name right," she answered.
"No need to be snarky," Brainy said. "When you were finally arrested and refused to describe the entries in your journal, Wolfgang called me and asked if I could decode it."
"You were able to decode it?" she asked, her face scrunched. "Even I had difficulty reading it."
Brainy chuckled at her. "In school, I excelled at many things, but mainly puzzles. I became knowledgeable in finding the key to solve them. So with the use of an enigma machine, I spent my free time decoding and translating your journal. Overall, I say it took me eight months to complete."
"If it took that short amount of time, then why did it take you so long to come here?" Helga asked.
"I just couldn't leave my job," he stated, leaning against the wall. "I enjoyed it way too much. You know, it's a shame you didn't stick around Auschwitz. It got more… interesting when you left."
Helga eyed him cautiously. She knew his idea of interesting was not the same as… anyone's. "What exactly do you mean by that?"
"If you wanted to pretend to be a nurse so badly, you could have worked with Dr. Mengele," he smirked.
"Who's that?" Helga asked.
Brainy's smirk widened. "He was one of the physicians at Auschwitz. A brilliant man, I must say. He conducted a lot of experiments, especially on twin children." Helga's stomach twisted into knots. "There were hundreds of them. Dr. Mengele would inject them with various concoctions and see how the bodies would react. And if one twin died, he would kill the other twin immediately and perform side by side autopsies on them. Unfortunately, I never got to see them, but could only imagine what a sight it must have been."
Helga's face turned green from the arousal in Brainy's voice. How could anyone find conducting experiments on children enjoyable?
"You're one sick bastard," she seethed through her teeth. Brainy merely laughed, unfazed by her stewing anger.
"I'm flattered you think that," he spoke behind his devilish smile. "But that wasn't the only thing you missed." He walked over to the blondes and crouched over Helga. "We added on to the crematoriums. There were four running instead of the shack I showed you before. Most people who came into the camp were killed in them. In fact, there were days we were gassing ten thousand people a day."
Helga looked at him with disgust. Her blood boiled to hear how many were being killed.
"Also," he continued, "when the truth was discovered about you taking our prisoners, we took a group of those in the camp and had them lie on their bellies in front of everyone. I walked behind them, and shot every other prisoner as punishment."
While she maintained her tough exterior, Helga was weeping on the inside. The last thing she wanted was an innocent to die for her actions, and now that nightmare has come true.
"During one of my walks through Canada, I spotted this diamond ring. It was a rare beauty, just like you." Helga growled at him while Arnold muffled behind the gag. Brainy looked at both of them and wondered what got them riled up. He then noticed the sparkle that came from Helga's left hand. "I see," he said cooly, with a hint of sarcasm. "You two did end up together. How sweet."
Arnold muffled once again. A pool of blood was growing beneath him. Brainy turned his attention to him. "She wrote a lot about you. Especially about how you left her all alone and didn't tell her where you went. Such sorrow she had about you abandoning her."
This time, it was Arnold who had the evil look in his eyes. He began to shake as he tried to escape from the rope that bound his hands together. Helga looked at him and pleaded with her eyes for him not to do anything. Arnold saw this and obliged, but kept the same expression upon his face.
"Why did you send the ring?" Helga asked, hoping to prevent Brainy from harming Arnold. Brainy turned to face her.
"Because you left your mark on me," he replied, pointing to his scar. "I wanted to make you always wonder who it was from. Just for torture." He stood up and began pacing. "But that wasn't enough. I wanted to see how your face would look when you saw me again. And I must say, it was priceless." He chuckled to himself, amused at her expense. "When the Soviets began to come through Poland, we fled. Most went to Germany, but I had some unfinished business to attend to here. You really should be more careful with names in your journal. It was easy to get the address to Wellington Manor. And by pure luck, I was able to find this little settlement. Does it remind you of another building?"
Helga knew which one he meant. It was the same one he showed her when she visited Auschwitz. The building that haunted her for years.
"What do you plan to do?" she asked, getting tired of his mind games. "You're obviously here for revenge, so what are you going to do?"
Brainy stared out one of the windows. His brows were furrowed, and a wide grin stretched across his face. "It's quite simple, really," he said, turning to face her. "I'm going to make your biggest nightmare come true. As you can see, I gave you the beginning." He pointed to the shoes.
Helga began to shake. "No," she whispered. "Please no." Arnold shouted through the cloth, pleading. Brainy only smiled at them and pointed to the ceiling. Helga and Arnold looked up and saw a small hole, just big enough to let the poisonous gas come in.
The sound of a door locking filled the room. Helga looked to find Brainy had disappeared. "No!" she cried, running to the door. She jiggled the knob, but it was pointless. It was locked tight. She quickly rushed to Arnold and untied his hands. Once they were free, Arnold removed the gag and coughed.
"The windows!" he said. He began pounded on the glass, but they refused to break. Arnold also tried to open them, but they wouldn't budge.
"He's sealed them," Helga whispered, hyperventilating. She covered her eyes. "Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. This can't be happening!"
"Helga, look at me," Arnold said, hobbling down to her and trying to pull her hands away. She looked at his discolored face, panic-stricken. "I'm right here," he said, stroking her hair. "I'm right here with you. You won't have to face this alone." He kissed her softly, trying to remove all the pain away.
Footsteps could be heard on the roof, and soon Zyklon B was dropped into the room. The two blondes could smell almonds, but they knew it wasn't the sweet treat that was giving off that aroma. Helga screamed at the top of her lungs, but like in her nightmare, no one came to help her. She looked up to see Brainy looking down in the hole, wearing a gas mask. However, the mask couldn't hide the evil joy in his eyes. Soon, the two blondes began coughing, the poison attaching to their throats. Helga then began to shake uncontrollably while Arnold vomited onto the ground. Helga's vision was beginning to fade.
So this is it, she thought. This is how I am to die. All this time, it wasn't a nightmare, but a vision of the future. If this is how I am to go, then at least I am with my love.
"I love you, Arnold," Helga said weakly. She could barely hear him say he loved her back before everything went black.
"Helga?" a voice called out.
Helga opened her eyes to find herself in a white room. She looked around and saw everything was white. Even the people there were wearing white. The women wore white dresses with matching hats while the men wore white coats. One of the men looked vaguely familiar to Helga. She focused on the man to get a better view.
"Helga?" the same voice asked again. Helga can see it is coming from the man she has been looking at.
"Who are you?" she asked him.
"It's me, Helga. It's Curly."
"Curly?" she asked dazedly.
"Yes, Curly. Do you know where you are?"
Helga blinked her eyes several times. There could only be one place where she could be. "Heaven?"
Curly shook his head. "You're alive. You're in the hospital, and you are under my care."
"I'm alive?" she asked, confused.
"Yes, alive," Curly answered. "You and Arnold suffered from cyanide poisoning."
The memories of what had happened earlier came rushing back to Helga. The small cottage. Brainy. Zyklon B gas. Arnold. "How am I alive?" she wondered out loud.
"Phoebe and Patty," Curly answered for her. "They both found the letter you received to be suspicious, so they called Sid and Gerald to make some inquiries. They soon found out that an SS guard snuck into Stockholm and was found lurking around the house. Phoebe remembered the directions of where you went and gave it to them. They found the guard on the roof. They shot him dead and quickly rushed inside to get you out."
"But how am I not dead?" Helga asked. "I inhaled the gas."
"He didn't smuggle enough with him for it to be lethal. You just got some nasty side effects, but we have some medicine to help detox your body of the poison. You will live."
Helga let out a breath of air. It's not my time. I will live and get to be with my darling Arnold…
"Where is Arnold?" she inquired, sitting up in her hospital bed.
"Easy now," Curly commanded. "Don't get yourself so excited."
"But where is he? Arnold!?" She glanced around the room, but could not find the blonde hair she desired to see.
"Helga, calm down! And that's an order!" Stunned at Curly's outburst, she did as ordered. "Now, I need you stay calm while I tell you this." Helga remained quiet as Curly continued. "Arnold is currently in surgery. He had a stab wound to the leg and lost a lot of blood. It is unknown if he will make it."
Helga's breath began to stagger. Her body shook as she let out a piercing scream. "No! Arnold!"
"I need morphine over here. Stat!" Curly cried to one of the nurses.
Helga cried as she pounded on her bed, screaming as loud as her lungs would allow her. It's not true! It can't be! She could barely feel the needle pierce her skin as for the second time that day, she was forced into darkness.
A/N: The part about Dr. Mengele's experiments is true. He would conduct many experiments on twins without their consent and autopsied them together if one twin died.