PHASE SIXTY-THREE
Arthur gasped at the sight before him, the doctor's powers matched his intentions: his arms were stained with the grotesque sight of blood, and blood clots formed into whips that hung from his wrists. Arthur wasted no more time, bursting his arms into flames and running around the doctor, setting everything he could on fire. Arthur was unsure about how he could tackle the doctor and his terrifying power, so he did what he knew he could do best: destroy.
The walls, the tables and the chairs erupted into flames as the doctor chased Arthur around the large room, Arthur only smiled as he watched the destruction unfold before him. Whenever Arthur feared that the doctor was getting too close, he unleashed flames from his mouth, and covered the doctor in flames.
"You little shit!" The doctor hissed as he swung his arm at Arthur, where his blood-whip stretched to reach Arthur. Arthur screamed with fright when the whip smacked into his stomach, and threw him to the ground, knocking the breath out of him. As Arthurs fire roared in the background, Arthur looked up to see the doctor walk towards him, with a twisted smile on his face; leaving Arthur to imagine the horrors that the doctor was thinking. Instead of waiting to find out, Arthur pounced upward, roaring with flames, forcing the doctor to stand back. However, the doctor's whips were longer than Arthur's flames, he managed to strike Arthur across the head, forcing the Brit to fall to the ground and roll, feeling a stinging pain on the side of his face.
However, as soon as he rose to his feet, the doctor struck again with a force so strong, it threw Arthur across the room, before he smashed against the window-wall, creating a large crack.
"You're like us, why are you doing this?!" Arthur grumbled, as he forced himself to stand, feeling the change of gravity drive a line of blood to run from the cut on Arthur's cheek.
"Simple… why would I test my scientific capabilities on myself?" The doctor asked, "Why would I not get a bunch of guineapigs…?"
Without needing to reply, Arthur growled as he charged at the doctor with his flames at the ready, determined to silence the doctor forever.
"I operate on so many… but yet, I can't find the key to our power… if only you would cooperate!"
Arthur rolled to the side to avoid the smack of the blood-whip, before breathing fire at the doctor, forcing him to stand back. However, Arthur stood too close, and one of the doctor's whips wrapped around the Brits neck. Arthur gasped as the doctor forced him to the floor, before standing on his hands, as the other whip wrapped around Arthur's neck, and tightened its grip.
Arthur gasped as he struggled to breathe, being forced to look at the terrifying and bloody face of the doctor, Arthur tried to move, he tried to fight it, but he could feel the stinging pain of the whips cut his neck as it tightened its grip. He kicked his legs in and used the last of his strength to give his arms some fire, however, the effort was futile.
Arthur began to panic as his vision blurred and his lungs ached in pain, he body began to involuntarily twitch as he gasped for air. Arthur's heart raced out of control as he felt himself slip in and out of consciousness, however, the fire refused to subside. He felt his power creep up behind him, his vision flashed from the doctor's face, to the doctor from his nightmares. Arthur began to forget where he was and even who he was, all he could feel was the restraint of his body and the pain in his throat. Arthur began to scream in pain, until everything erupted into flames, and everything went silent after a loud crash, and the noise of shattering glass.
Despite being able to breathe again, Arthur couldn't move, as he felt his consciousness drift away from him. He breathed in the heavy smoke and began to choke on it and he still couldn't move, or fight against the darkness that loomed over him…. But yet, he was ok with it… He contemplated fighting for his life, however he lost the argument, he did what he could and he shouldn't fight against the inevitable punishment for everything he had done. He knew that if he died here, he would be ok with it, he accepted death like it was an old friend, considering he had brought it upon so many others. He calmed down as he continued to breathe in the smoke, fully aware that even if he could move and fight for his life, he wouldn't do it… He had contemplated ending it all a long time ago, but the opportunity never presented itself in such a way, that Arthur couldn't refuse…
"I'm so sorry…" Arthur whispered, before letting the darkness overwhelm him, and he drifted into unconsciousness.
PHASE SIXTY-FOUR
The number of the guards decreased dramatically, and Kiku smiled; the battle was nearly over, they're so close to winning, he could taste freedom right before him.
A firing squad positioned itself before Alfred, and all shot at once, only for Alfred to raise his fist, stopping the bullets in mid-air, before sending them back to the firing squad with one powerful swing.
Ludwig lifted another black van before throwing it at the same firing squad that attacked Alfred, destroying them.
One of the remaining guards was Francis' victim, who shot down any guard he could see at Francis' command.
Feliciano and Lovino gained back their strength, and ran past Ludwig, jumping over the wreckage that was the van he just threw.
With one powerful stomp, Ivan destroyed the wall of ice he had created, allowing Yao to run out with his arms at the ready: surging with electricity as his eyes glowed.
"Things are looking good," Francis pointed out as he pressed his back against Alfred's. "I heard some of the other guards thoughts, apparently the doctor has run back inside the building, do you think it's worth chasing him? Mathieu and Gilbert should be back soon."
"Wait… I saw Arthur run inside earlier, I was supposed to chase him but I got a little distracted." Alfred explained.
Francis frowned as he connected the dots, it was true that the thoughts of the doctor retreated did occur at the same time as he last saw Arthur.
Alfred's eyes widened with worry, as he too started to connect the dots.
"You don't think he's-"
The American was interrupted by a large crash, as the second floor window of the facility burst open with flames. And a figure flew through the flames before landing on the grass near the group, after the last guard fell everyone stared in silence at the figure in the white coat, which was stained with fresh blood.
"IT'S HIM!" Ludwig cried as Feliciano sped towards the figure, however, the doctor stood up and swung at the Italian, hitting him with a whip made of his own blood. This picked up the Italian and threw him across the field, smashing him into Ivan and Yao, forcing the trio to the ground. Ludwig was aimed at next, with the doctor's whip wrapping around his forearm, only for the blonde German to smile and swing his arm, using his strength to swing the doctor over his head and slam the doctor to the ground; seeing it as some form of payback, as not even the sharp whips of the doctors blood could even scratch Ludwig's impenetrable skin.
"Get me close to him!" Francis commanded as he and Alfred began to run towards the doctor.
However, Yao got to the doctor first, running at him, the doctor cursed as he used his free whip to slash at Yao, only for Yao to snatch the whip and deliver a powerful shock, with a devious smile on his face he listened to the doctor scream from the electrical shock.
When Francis got close enough, he wasted no time in forcing himself into the doctor's mind.
Francis found himself standing in an office, he could smell the outdated cigarettes waft throughout the room, he checked the date on the desk, peeking over the shoulder of the young man who sat at the desk, Francis gasped when he realised that he was watching a memory from the year 1989.
The young man who sat at the desk was the doctor, he was fairly new to this position of power within the company, and was well aware of his powers, in fact, his mind was filled with thoughts of ways he could figure out how his powers worked, and why he had them.
In his apartment he kept a notebook that was filled with sketches of his blood whips, as well as theories of why he had them, he had become obsessed with self-mutilation and auto-surgery, anything that could help him get a better look at himself, and to see if there was some way for him to share his abilities. He had dreams of a powerful military, a military built of soldiers with extraordinary abilities, who could squash any rebellion and win every war…
The door to his office opened and an older man walked in, holding a file.
"Did you hear what happened in the Soviet Union?" the man began.
"The wall fell, everything's gone to shit?" the doctor guessed, not being too concerned with the state of the union.
"They found a girl behind the Iron Curtain, whose blood was black, and could burn anyone who touched it," the older man pointed out, at this point, he caught the doctors attention, "sound familiar?"
"Do you mean that there's someone like me?" the doctor asked, his eyes widening with wonder. "In Eastern Europe?"
"I bet they're all over Europe, all over the world, in fact. I don't think you're alone," the man explained, as he leaned over the doctor's desk. "Here I have the blueprints and the funds for you to build a facility."
"What do I have to do?" he asked.
"Find others like yourself, find out what makes them special and how we can take it," the man explained, "this should be enough to get you the staff and equipment, and you don't need to worry about the police in the area, Eastern Europe is still an unstable place, and governments are willing to look away for a cut of profit."
"Sir… this is…" the doctor gasped, flipping through the pages of the documents, amazed at the detail and the freedom this granted him, overwhelmed with joy that he can now explore his ideas.
"However, I don't want you hurting yourself, there will be none of this…" the man explained, as he gestured to cutting his wrists, referring to the doctors powers, "you can only do that when we know what we're doing, try out your theories on the other freaks you find."
"Yes, thank you, father, I won't let you down."
Engulfed with rage, Francis ignored the rules of memory intervention, and jumped onto the desk, forcing himself into the memory.
"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" Francis cried as he punched the doctor in the face.
Meanwhile in reality, Alfred watched as Francis' muscles tensed, and the doctor began to scream and twitch violently. Alfred finally caught a glimpse of Francis' eyes and gasped, they had become completely black.
"GeT oUt Of My HeAd!" the doctor screamed as he shot upward, pulling himself out of Ludwig's grip, Francis gasped as though had been punched in the stomach, before falling to his knees.
The doctor began to attack again, and with one mighty swing, he knocked down Alfred, Lovino and Yao. He roared with rage as his eyes turned completely red and blood ran out of his mouth like a river.
However, everyone froze in shock when a long blade protruded through the doctor's chest, impaling him, the doctor gasped as he looked down at the blade, being shocked by the realisation.
"You picked the wrong group…" Kiku whispered, before he pulled his blade out of the doctor's back, before pushing him to the ground, where the doctor wheezed quietly. Kiku continued to shake, overwhelmed with the shock of what he had just done, until he leaned on Feliciano for support.
"It's … over…" Ivan gasped, as though he couldn't believe it himself.
Suddenly a large black van drove around the side of the building, driving erratically towards the group; before screeching to a halt, the front window to the van rolled down to reveal a smiling Gilbert and Matthew.
"Did we miss the party!?"
"You missed everything!" Ludwig roared.
"Hang on…" Alfred gasped, as he looked back at the building, suddenly realised that someone was missing. "Oh SHIT!"
Without looking back at the others, Alfred ran back to the building, his heart aching from the initial shock and the pain of worry, he knew that something was wrong, but yet he was terrified of the idea of finding out what it was. "ARTHUR!"
