5: Yet Nothing Can To Nothing Fall…

The sky above the ducks were now full with the flash blue lights of police cars. The authorities had arrived, lead there by the intensity of the commotion. There to discover the beaten and bound gang of criminals, tied up ready and waiting for them. With enough evidence all around those docks to ensure even the likes of Mišel Breèko couldn't corrupt the officials to his whim.

From down the round, Lois watched on as if an innocent bystander, stood by her car as if there by pure coincidence. She and Wonder Woman had gotten out before the police even know they'd been there. Not that they had anything to hide, but there was still a matter of urgency. Being bound up in the red tape would slow them down too much. They may have taken another step closer, but the Nairomians taken by Breèko and this Professor were still out there. Now it was time to go get them.

Or it would be, if at that moment Lois' phone hadn't started to ring again, just as Wonder Woman was about to take flight beside her. Quickly pulling out the device, Lois saw the name of the caller as Wonder Woman looked across concerned. Her contact through the coroner's office. This could be interesting…

Lois quickly looked up at Diana. She could tell that she was itching to go, to get to where Breèko had said he'd used to take the kidnapped migrants for the Professor. Lois wasn't about to stop her.

"Go," she simply and hurriedly said. "Go get them. I'll catch up. Just take this so I can get back in touch. Your superhero lines aren't exactly on the 4G network!"

Lois had taken out her second phone as she'd said that, tossing it to Wonder Woman before she knew what was happening. Luckily her reflexes meant that she caught it anyway, the confused look taking only a moment before fading.

But otherwise, Wonder Woman didn't need telling twice. With nothing more than a nod and phone still clutched in hand, Diana took flight. Straight up at first and then hard and fast to where they hoped she'd find her missing friends. In no time she was out of sight, leaving Lois only wondering where she was going to store that phone in her pocketless get up…

But casting that thought aside and now stood alone in the dark street, Lois finally answered the call.

"Cirilla, what is it? What have you got?"

"We've got more of the test results in for Wonder Woman's 'bandaged man' from the migrant camp. They're pretty interesting. Thought you'd like to know," Cirilla Biasi's voice replied through the speaker. She could sound very officious at times, but Lois had come to know she was a good woman. Especially as she was the type who was keen to keep the public in the picture. Whether the public needed to know everything or not, at least that was good for Lois' needs.

"A fairly safe assumption," Lois replied. "Alright, you've grabbed my interest. Don't keep me waiting."

"Plethorotomoxifen," Cirilla bluntly answered, doing exactly what Lois had wanted. "It's a hormone therapy drug. We found it in the bandaged man's system. And not just dregs, but masses of it. But the thing is, there shouldn't be any way it should be there. It was designed to help increase muscular growth for people suffering from dystrophy or other similar diseases, or to speed up recovery from serious trauma. But it only ever got to the test stages before it was completely pulled from development the world over. The side affects were too drastic. It was found to interrupt and manipulate the electrical stimuli in the brain, particularly those affecting emotion. In extreme cases…you don't want to know. Just know it was bad enough to stop them going back to the drawing board, to just shut down the programme completely. Until now, we'd thought every last sample of it had been destroyed."

"My god…" Lois breathed, unable to help it. But she knew it made sense. It added up. A strength enhancer, the only reason the bandaged man had been able to face up to Wonder Woman even as little as he had. The removal of emotion, justifying why and how a Nairomian might do things so horrific to their own. But there was more. Cirilla had only finished point one.

"We also found markings beneath the man's hairline once we got in there. Markings that seem to indicate he had undergone some kind of electroconvulsive therapy. But we found no medical evidence for any kinds of disorders, manias or catatonias that would have required it. Our working hypothesis is that the man was forced to undergo the therapy against his will, around the same time the Plethorotomoxifen was being pumped en masse into his bloodstream. Electroconvulsive therapy has been known to cause memory loss, confusion, to impact those all-important electrical signals in the brain. We think whoever did this wanted exactly those things to happen. They wanted to wipe this poor man of everything that made him who he was."

Lois didn't need to ask what Cirilla was getting at. There was an implication to her undertones, one that Lois followed even more than she did Cirilla's words. Suppressed memories, repressed emotions, a confusion of purpose and place… The kind of things that would leave a person a shell, open to suggestion and drive.

The enhanced strength was to create a weapon. The assaults on the man's brain had been to control it.

There was definitely more going on here than corruption, profiteering and kidnap. It was a damn good job that Wonder Woman had gone to that camp when she did, or they might never have uncovered this… Because Lois knew they had to stop it. For the migrants, for the people around them, for whatever they were being weaponised against. Wonder Woman was already on her way in, but suddenly Lois knew that wasn't the end of it. They couldn't afford to leave loos ends unchecked.

Good job Wonder Woman wasn't in this alone then.

"This…Plethorowhatever it was," she began to ask the all important question. "If it was all destroyed, how did it get into the system of the bandaged man?"

"I knew you were going to ask me that," Cirilla voiced her anticipation. "As with all things like this, there is no one easy answer. Samples could have been missed during the purge, gotten out into the black market. Maybe someone from the testing arena fancied making a quick buck. We don't know, but we're starting to dig into it. But if you me to recommend a place to start…there's one of the doctors from the trials, a man with PhDs specialising in both neurology and orthopaedic surgery and emergency medicine, who just happens to be working in the area. After the trials were shut down, it seems he got a job at the Ospedale di Sfortunato emergency department, just down the coast from the Cuore dei Beati Antenati camp. The very hospital where all oversea migrants who come ashore in the region are taken to be checked over and examined for any disease they may be bringing into the country, before they're shipped off to the camps. We're still only starting the investigation, and with what's happening at the dockyards, distractions are running high. This isn't top of our priorities, so we won't be speaking to him for a while yet. But, if by chance you were wanting to… We're hearing he just got paged back in to the hospital, so you should be able to find him there.

"Ask for a Dr. László Valentin."

Once again, Cirilla had been telling Lois something without being able to explicitly say it. This doctor, this surgeon… He'd once had access to the drug that affected the man so. He had the skills and the knowledge to be able to correctly affect both the bandaged man's muscular structure and his mental capacity.

He had the means.

And he now worked at the very hospital all the migrants passed through. He would have been on hand to see them all as they arrived in the country, to observe them. To select his candidates. To know when and where they would be shipped off out to the camps.

He had the opportunity.

It was stacking up again. They just didn't know why. Why someone would do this to people. Why they would want to. And what their ultimate goal would be…

There was only one way to find out. Wonder Woman could go kick the door down and save the migrants. But Lois could make sure the full truth would out.

"Thanks Cirilla," she voiced her gratitude. "Let me know if you find out anymore. You know where I'll be."

And with that, she ended the call, quickly clambering into the car and starting up the engine. She had a hospital to get herself to.

And a doctor she needed to talk to.

It only took her a few minutes to get there, and most of that was spent circling the area from the air trying to pick out the precise address that Breèko had given them. As soon as she had, though, her boots were on the ground, her resolve strong, and she was marching her way towards the doors.

The sign before her was exactly what Breèko had told her to expect, one morbid in and of itself. If this place was a cover, she did not care for the Professor's ironic humour. For the guise of this place was that of a funeral parlour, and not a small one at that. Plenty of space inside to house a large quantity of the taken migrants. Plenty of opportunity to use it as cover for doing who knows what to them. Especially as, uninviting as the exterior looked, not many people were ever likely to just drop by.

But there was another thing that she noticed, something that stood out. All the other buildings around had phone had power lines running from pylons above the street, no signs of any undergrounding having occurred. This building had none. Not one wire overhead leading to it. The implication was obvious. It was isolated. Off the grid. Any power it had must have come from internal generators. As if whoever owned this place wanted to keep everything secluded from the outside world…

It was certainly looking shut down for the night too. Not a single light was on inside, no sign of anyone there to let her in. But she was hardly in any mood for knocking anyway. Which was why, as she strode up to the entrance door, Wonder Woman simply smashed it off of its hinges.

The inside was as equally dark and foreboding as the outside. The customer entrance, the waiting area, looked like it hadn't been properly used in a long time. Dust seemed to be resettling around her, disturbed by the crashing remnants of the doors. While the furniture was still in place, it looked old, out of date. The potted plants, once used to create a more welcoming atmosphere, were dead and shrivelled. But not taken away, not disposed of as if owners had left and moved on. More like to maintain the illusion of activity if someone were not to look too closely, hiding what was really going on inside if you only glanced at the windows.

Yet more evidence. This seemed like it could well be the place. And so it was time to look deeper.

"If there is anyone here, I'm coming inside!" Wonder Woman called out into the darkness as she stepped behind the counter and toward the depths of the building. She wasn't Batman. Hiding in the shadows wasn't her way. If the Professor was still here, she wanted him to know she was too. And if the migrants, if Walif and Amara were here, she wanted them to know that she was coming. "I suggest you show yourselves! I suggest we end this as peacefully as we can!"

But there was no answer, not even a whisper in the dark. It made it seem like Wonder Woman was alone there. Yet Breèko had said that this was where the migrants would be. She wasn't about to walk away without answers. And so she went deeper, into the bowels of the place. Despite the darkness, she kept going.

There really wasn't a light on in there. As she first stepped into the corridor, she saw the switch on the wall from the residual light of the outside, but flicking it did nothing. If this place was powered by generators, they couldn't have been active, no power to the lighting. As Wonder Woman moved further from the outside lights, then, it was a good job Lois had tossed her that second phone. At least it had a torch.

Yet the narrow beam limited what she could see. Corridors and side offices were all glanced into, without anything catching her eyes in what light she had. It wasn't until she got into the much larger room, designed for purposes she didn't want to think about, that something finally did.

The generators. Up ahead, she finally saw them. With a lever on the side glaring her in the face as the on switch for everything. Her boots reverberated like the place was an echo chamber as she stepped towards it. A quick pull, the initial sound of sparks and the subsequent thrum of the machine coming to life, and then the lights finally came on.

Almost immediately, the ongoing sounds of the generator were completely forgotten. Instead, only what she could now suddenly see was in her mind. The surgical table in the centre of the large room. The tray wheeled beside it, layered with scalpels and other, far nastier looking implements. The other trolley, full of specialised looking medical equipment she didn't recognise. The gas tanks attached to patient masks, full of some sort of substance ready to pump into the lungs of whoever lay on that table. The syringes, the vials of some kind of drug.

And the blood. Blood on the table. Blood strewn across the floor. Lots of blood. As if not every surgery done there had designed to sustain life…If any. Blood that included a trail leading from that central table towards one side of the room.

Slowly, Wonder Woman's entire head turned as she followed the trail, hardly daring to look. Where it ended, she couldn't see. There was something out there, but it was covered up by a huge sheet of tarpaulin, left abandoned in a literal attempt to sweep it under the rug. Already, Wonder Woman could guess what was under there, but she knew she needed to see, even though she didn't want to. That was why her next steps were slow, apprehensive. The echo of her footsteps almost as slow and as loud as the beating of her heart. A beating that got even slower as she took hold of the tarpaulin, and slowly began to pull it clear.

When she had, it took all her strength to stop herself from vomiting, her entire insides churning as she immediately retched. It was truly disgusting, barbaric, twisted. Immediately, she was dropping the tarp back over it, but that sight would forever be burned in her mind.

Bodies. Scores of bodies. Bodies horrifically mutilated. Bodies of people who had been sawn apart and put back together in all sorts of disgusting ways. Bodies of innocent people who had been experiment on for someone's sick pleasure. Bodies of migrants.

Whoever this Professor was, Wonder Woman would make him pay.

But first, she had to find if there were any Nairomian's left alive in this place. If there were any the Professor hadn't gotten his sick, twisted hands on yet. Any left to save. Amara… And…

"Diana…"

The call was weak. Very weak. Like that of a man with barely any strength left in his body. But Wonder Woman still heard it. And with great relief, she still recognised it. It was Walif.

The call had come from the next room over, an open doorway ahead to Wonder Woman's left. What she had just seen leaving her fearful of what she might find, Wonder Woman immediately took off towards that doorway at full speed, even taking air. She only touched down again as she landed at his side.

Despite the generating being on, this room was still largely in darkness, only a circular area at its centre lit. In there, there were only two things to see, a pair of chairs. One was toppled, strewn on the floor as if knocked over and forgotten about. But in the other, bound by chains securing him to both chair and ground, was Walif.

Immediately she was snapping every last chain binding him down as if they were nothing but matchsticks, but they weren't everything keeping him down. She had seen it straight away, but up close they were even more obvious. The wounds. The bruising. The cuts. The punctures. The burn marks still reeking of sizzled flesh and cloth. His left arm looked twisted and broken. The stump of his leg was exposed, burnt, impaled. His right eye socket so swollen he could barely see from it, jaw looking particularly battered.

This one wasn't a surgery, an experiment. It was nothing but torture.

"Walif, what happened, where's Amara?" Diana quickly asked him as she knelt over him, gently holding his face so that his lolling head looked towards her. She wanted him to see her face, to look into her eyes. She wanted him to know she was there, to find comfort that she had saved him. To find comfort in knowing she was going to save the love of his life.

If only she could find her…

Walif struggled to answer. He seemed to be barely conscious, as if the most recent beating had not been long ago. A part of her wished he wouldn't, that he would conserve his strength, but the other part knew he had to. Not only to help her save Amara, but also to keep on fighting. To not give up, despite what they had done to him. Because that fight, despite how weak he was, Walif used his strength. He determinedly spoke anyway, just about getting the words out that Wonder Woman could hear.

"The…Pyg. It was the Pyg… He… Did something to her… To them… He's…insane. Says its all about…perfection. My leg… My missing leg… Said it made me…imperfect. Said… imperfection couldn't be allowed… All of the…people he'd changed…his…Dolls… He…had them beat me…Beat me to a pulp… Forced…Amara to watch… Wanted…to see how…she'd react… Whether…she could…still feel…love…"

"Where is she Walif?" Wonder Woman could have said all manner of other things. She was increasingly disgusted by this Professor after all. But she had to keep focus. She had to find Amara.

"He…did something to her…" Walif repeated. It was clear he didn't know exactly what, but his horrified face spoke volumes. "Even…before the beatings… It was…her he really wanted… Why they…took both of us… I was…expendable… A test… But her… He…injected her… Electrocuted…her brain… Tried…to make her as mindless…as the bandaged man…as the Dolls… Trying to make her…stop fearing him… To stop…hating him… To…eradicate her…ability to love… To…love me… The beatings… They were…the test if it had worked… If she was…as controlled…as is Dolls…"

"Where is she?" Wonder Woman asked all over again. Walif's information was useful, important. But the most important piece still wasn't there. "Where have they gone now? I can still save her Walif. I can. Just help me find her. Where has she gone…?"

But the answer she got, it didn't come from Walif. The sound of footsteps were softer than Wonder Woman's own, more the patter of bare feet on the concrete. But it was unmistakable, immediately making Wonder Woman look up to the far side of the room. The lighting as it was, she saw nothing at first, but she knew someone was coming. Then, even more footsteps.

Wonder Woman rose, but stayed close to Walif, standing between him and the footsteps, making sure she kept him covered. Because she knew they were coming before the ring of them arrived. The Dolls, as Walif had called them. The bandaged men and women. Just like the man in the camp who had attacked her. The people who had once been innocent migrants, twisted into monsters by the Professor. By the Pyg.

An entire ring of them stepped forward, right at the edge of the circle of light that Wonder Woman stood in the centre of. Silent, yet menacing all the way. But still, Wonder Woman barely looked at them. Instead, her eyes were focussed on the one gap those Dolls had left in the ring. The gap soon being filled as the last footsteps finally ceased.

Wonder Woman had asked where Amara was. Now she had her answer.

Amara was there. There among the Dolls. Her head was free from bandages, but it was clear where she stood. Her eyes were blank, even with the battered and broken Walif before her. Eyes which in that camp had been so warm and full of life. Eyes now as hollow as the scores behind the bandages beside her…

Walif had said the Professor had done something to her, to control her, to take away her love. It seemed like he had succeeded. And that fact alone was breaking Wonder Woman's heart all over again. She didn't need Amara to speak to confirm that, but speak she did anyway, her voice nothing more than a heartless, robotic drone.

"The Professor's work must be completed. Pyg must known if perfection has been achieved. If the imperfection that is love can be eradicated. I must prove this to him. I must destroy that which I loved before I was made perfect. I must kill Walif Melaku Dagmawi."

"No…Amara, don't do this…" The words slipped from Wonder Woman without thought, barely more than a whisper and in full knowledge that they would make no difference. More than anything, it was her way of voicing her heartbreak. Because she could tell the Pyg had succeeded in whatever he had tried to do to Amara. Now her only hope was that it could be undone. That Wonder Woman could find a way to undo it.

But first, she had to stop what was unfolding. She had to stop her killing Walif, the man Diana knew Amara truly loved, no matter what the Pyg had done.

A fact brought home all the more as, before Wonder Woman's eyes, she saw the now heartless Amara raise a gun. A gun she aimed straight towards the silent Walif. Wonder Woman made sure she stepped in the way, continuing to stare Amara down. She had to know. She had to know that Diana wasn't going to let her do this. That there was another way.

"Amara, please…"

But Amara didn't seem to care. She didn't care if she had to get through Wonder Woman first. She showed no fear, no anger, no compassion, no love. All she had was what Pyg had given her. The gun, the need to kill. And so, with two quick squeezes of the trigger, she fired.

Wonder Woman's fists flew quickly, deflecting both the one meant for her and the delayed one meant for Walif once she had fallen. The richoets both smashed against the floor, embedding themselves in the concrete as Wonder Woman took great care not to hit any of the Dolls. They were just like Amara. They were all just like Amara. Broken, bent to another's will, their personality and feelings suppressed. But all innocent. All needing Wonder Woman to save them.

But because of what Pyg had done to them, their reactions were those of people looking to be saved. Instead, the reaction was that of more footsteps. More of them. More of them were coming. Far more than Diana could see in the dark room. All intent on just one thing, without having any need to say it. They needed to help the Pyg complete his work. To do that, they needed Amara to kill Walif. To do that, they needed Wonder Woman out the way. And they would do exactly that. No matter what they had to do to make it happen.

It was the calm before the storm. The fight was coming. A fight that Wonder Woman knew she could win. These Dolls could not match her for strength, or for speed, no matter what Pyg had done to them. But they were innocent. And if there was one thing Wonder Woman lived by, one thing she wanted for this world, it was that no innocent would come to harm.

"Amara…" she begged again, desperate but knowing it was futile. Amara made that point extra clear.

"Pyg's work must be complete," she reiterated. "It must. You will comply, or you will die."

"I will not let you kill him," Wonder Woman refused, knowing exactly what that meant. She was going to have to fight the very people she had come there to save.

Amara, for her part, merely continued to stare blankly back, her gun still pointed right at Diana's head. "So be it."

Then, with another squeeze of the trigger, all hell broke loose.

With that other squeeze of the trigger, the Dolls attacked.

In the middle of the night, she had expected to the place quiet. Or at least as quiet as an emergency ward might get. What she was fighting was anything but. In fact, it was simply pandemonium.

Lois was stood out front, as close as she could get to the main entrance way without being steamrollered by all the activity. It felt like scores of ambulances were streaming in, not to mention the paramedics, nurses and doctors swarming around as the injured and the sick they carried were ferried inside. And that wasn't even accounting for the relatives, the concerned bystanders. The journalists. Something had happened…

"Excuse me," Lois finally saw her opportunity to step forward and grab some answers. One of the paramedics, fresh from delivering another patient inside, had come bounding out ready to move their ambulance and get back to work. He was clearly busy, clearly intent on getting away, but Lois had a way of getting what she needed, even if only from a soundbite. "What's going on? What's happened?"

The paramedic paused, giving her a dirty look at first that she completely understood, but then gave the hurried answer. "What hasn't? A ship jam packed to the rafters trying to smuggle illegal migrants into the country just went down five miles off the coast. A major fire at an apartment complex across town that was full of people. And a police incident down the docks, with scores of walking wounded. All survivors from both incidents are having to be diverted here. Any other care needs, I'm afraid you're going to have to go to the Ospedale Vejovis across town. Now miss, I need to go…"

Lois didn't even try to stop him, barely even noticing as he ran off to his ambulance. Instead, she was turning back towards that hospital entrance, to what lay inside. Cirilla had said this Dr Valentin had been paged in. There was no wonder, if all that had gone on. All that, on tonight of all nights…

Coincidence…?

Throughout the years, through all the stories, Lois had seen a lot in her life. Warzones, victims, all sorts of nasty things. Maybe that was why she was able to seamlessly drift through the entrance to the hospital without becoming caught up in the fervour and manic activity, in the sight of burnt and drowned and beaten and bleeding people on trolleys everywhere she looked. The cries of pain and fear and the desperate actions to try and save them. Almost like she was on autopilot, she sailed straight through it, kind of like an out of body experience as she headed beyond. Some people might have called it a gift to ignore such pain around her. Honestly though, if it weren't for her own quest to save lives, Lois would have been feeling guilty.

But there was a quest. Someone had committed other horrors, forceful transformation to those innocent migrants. Taking advantage of people desperately seeking a new life by ripping to shreds. Lois couldn't help the patients in that hospital any more than she could help Wonder Woman in a fist fight. But she could stop this guy.

And so, sidestepping her way past all the other activity, she finally reached her target. The front desk. A wave of her hand was all she offered to draw the attention of the busy receptionist, clearly inundated with concerned relatives, panicked friends and the endless stream of walking wounded needing booking in. Once again, Lois knew she had to be quick.

"I'm looking for Dr László Valentin," she practically had to shout over the noise of the crowds around her. Hoping it would speed things along, she hurriedly drew out her press credentials from the UN session at Catania. "Its urgent."

The receptionist, though, took one look at Lois' credentials, her forehead creasing in disbelief before she gestured to the chaos around them. "I'm sorry, but can't you see what's happening here? Whatever you have to say to Dr. Valentin will have to wait. The doctors need to do their wor–"

"It's a missing persons case," Lois interrupted, knowing she had to. She also had a pretty good card to play. This was clearly someone who cared in a place for people who cared. The sympathy card would always have sway, especially when played with honesty. "Please. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important. Migrants from the camps at Messina, dozens of them. They've been abducted, but the authorities aren't even looking for them. One has already turned up dead in horrific fashion. More will follow. Unless I can find them. And I think Dr Valentin can help. Please. Lives are on the line…"

Once again, the receptionist at first could only look back at Lois with a frown. Perhaps it was what Lois had just set. Perhaps it was the throngs of other patients and relatives trying to get her attention. Whatever it was, that frown finally softened.

"We had to call him in last minute. We needed the help, but as he was less prepared he was posted to cover the less critical cases. He was posted to cubicles, non-emergency triage. Through there."

The receptionist pointed Lois towards a set of doors. At the same time, she saw as a nurse ran through, scurrying with some sort of saline bag in her hand towards someone who needed the care. But what it did do was give her a glimpse of those cubicles the receptionist meant. She could already see a more clinical environment than out here in the waiting area, albeit one every bit as jam packed. In response, she merely glanced back to the receptionist. A nod and a vocalised thanks, and then she was off again.

Once again she had to dodge her way through the crowds to get there, but no one opposed her. No one stopped her following that nurse in pushing her way through those doors. And no one questioned her as she moved on through to where the action was happening.

This may not have been the emergency room, but that didn't mean there wasn't plenty of urgent and important treatment going on all around her. Curtained off beds were all around the place, surrounding a central nurses station. As she stepped into the midst of it, Lois tried best not to stare. She could pick out the drowned Nairomians from the burnt locals by sound alone, but as before she tried her best to block it all out. She was here for one thing and one thing alone. Valentin. As she looked around the pandemonium, it was all designed on finding him.

But of course, it didn't help that she had no idea what he looked like…And unlike outside, here she had no chance to stop and ask. Here all the people who would know were busy. All with patients, or all arranging urgent care. She didn't want to interrupt, not if she could help it. Perhaps that was why, at first, she just ended up drifting, like a log on the ocean, carried only by the current and the tide.

At least, that was, until one of the cubicles finally caught her eye, and she found herself unable to simply tear it away.

It wasn't a cubicle that she could see from where she'd entered the triage area. It was off to the back, out of the way, discrete. If she hadn't have wound up aimlessly stepping around the entire place looking out for the doctor, then she might not have even known it was hiding back here. But now she was stood right outside it and, curtains left ajar, once her gaze was caught there was no backing away.

There was no doctor in this cubicle, no nurse. In fact, it was probably the only one in the entire place with no medical personnel busily working away inside of it. But it wasn't empty. There were two people in there. Two people who were clearly from Nairomi. One on the bed, one in the chair beside it. From how wet and bedraggled they were, it was clear that both had been on the boat that had gone down. It looked like the one in the chair had actually managed to make it out relatively scot-free. The one in the bed had a nasty looking head wound where they had clearly banged it and likely water inhalation, but not enough for drowning. Hence the non-emergency care.

But it was none of that that had so caught Lois' eye. No, that was because both of them were slumped, unconscious. That was because both had an oxygen mask glued to their faces. The patient and the friend.

Masks connected to a tank that lay at the foot of their bed.

A connection that looked more hurriedly put in and less professionally done than all the others she had ever seen, than the ones she had drifted past outside.

Almost as if that wasn't just oxygen these two people were being made to breathe…

A thought had definitely struck Lois, a thought she wasn't too keen on. She had come here looking for the person who had used drugs, gases and medical expertise to experiment and alter the Nairomian migrants against their will. What she was seeing in that cubicle…

She could have just stumbled on exactly that happening again. Beneath everyone's very noses.

She didn't know what made her look up then. Perhaps she caught the movement in her eye corners. Whatever it was, she felt a sudden instinct to look up to her left, off towards another entrance to the cubicle area, opposite the one she had come through. And as she did, Lois found herself staring into a set of eyes that were staring right back.

It was a corridor out that way. What it lead to Lois didn't know, but this man had clearly been striding down it, heading this way. A podgy man, not short but with a gut on him. And slicked black hair that looked dyed, evidently immaculately combed. This man…this doctor. He wore the white coat. He had the stethoscope around his neck. The gloves on his hand. The surgical mask covering his face, hiding his visage.

But Lois could see his eyes, and that was all she needed to see. In them, she could see his surprise, almost a fear. In them, she could tell that he wasn't expecting there to be someone else looking into that cubicle.

In them, she could tell that he didn't want her there.

In them, she could tell that he was the man who had gassed the two patients in that cubicle.

In them, she could tell that this was the man she was looking for…

In them, she had come face to face with Dr Valentin.

For a long moment, there was nothing either of them could do but stare, both caught out by the moment. But then, before Lois could react, the doctor turned sharply on his heel, scurrying back away from whence he'd came. He shoved the swinging double doors out of his way, scuttling down the corridor. He wasn't technically running, clearly trying to somewhat act casual, but in that he was failing. It was clear that he had only one thought in mind. To get away from her.

And down the years, Lois had always found that the person who didn't want to talk to her was usually exactly the one who had to… There was nothing else for it. As soon as she could get her legs going again, she was giving chase.

But she wasn't stupid. If this was the guy… Even before she too was bursting through those double doors, her phone was glued to her ear, the dial tone ringing her other device. Ringing Wonder Woman. Up ahead, she could see the doctor moving, navigating around the nurses in a hurry. She kept after him, still waiting for the phone to be answered.

Evidently, though, Wonder Woman was busy. No doubt she had her own situation. Not wanting to hang about, though, Lois quickly hung up. Dr Valentin was still scurrying, trying to lose her in all of the activity of the hospital corridors.

The temptation to shout after him was strong, but Lois resisted. She didn't want to make a scene. She didn't want to create a scenario when he really would run. And she definitely didn't want to create a scenario where, if he was the guy, he would end up putting bystanders in danger to escape from her. No, she had to catch him. She had to get him alone. Luckily, in just a few more moments it seemed like she would get her chance.

"Everybody out of the way!"

The shout came from another group of medics. From up ahead, they rounded the bend in the corridor. Between them they were wheeling a patient on a trolley, clearly in a hurry to get somewhere, to some other room, to some sort of specialised equipment. An urgent hurry too, considering one of them had already clambered onto the trolley and was giving the patient emergency CPR. They were coming through, no matter what. Valentin, up ahead, was able to dart down that other bend in the corridor to avoid them. As for Lois, she had to press herself up tight against the wall and wait for the group to pass by. By the time the trolley had wheeled passed and she was moving again, Valentin had had plenty of chance to get away.

Which meant that Lois really did scuttle after him now. Practically bounding her way there, she raced to that bend in the corridor…only to say no sign of Valentin.

It was a long, unwinding corridor this one as well. No doors down it nearby either, nowhere where Valentin could have ducked and covered. Nowhere, except beyond the cordon.

It looked like there was renovation works going on. Perhaps structural, perhaps merely cosmetic, but something requiring enough time and space to complete that a section of such a busy hospital needed to locked down. Which meant it was an area that should have been empty. And an area that would be perfect to hide in…

Glancing over her shoulder to make sure the coast was clear, Lois hopped the cordon herself. Her first steps were quick, urgent, the effort to catch up. Down here was another corridor, an entire wing. Valentin was nowhere to be seen, but down here there were plenty of places to hide. Up a head, on the right, was exactly such a place.

A door. Not open exactly, but ajar. Ajar as if recently opened. Lois slowed when she saw it, once again looking over her shoulder to make sure no one was following her. But as she looked at it, plenty of thoughts went through Lois' mind. Over the years, she'd been in enough scrapes. She'd gotten into trouble more than enough times, had more near misses than she could count. She trusted her skill to survive. She trusted her friends to have her back if needed it. But she also trusted herself to recognise the signs, and to be able to ignore them and press on anyway.

But she was no fool. Which was why, before she took even another step, she once again had that phone in hand. Only this time, she simply sent Wonder Woman a message. A message that was just a few words long.

'Ospedale di Sfortunato. Dr László Valentin. I'm going in.'

Then, advancing with caution but no longer holding back, Lois moved up to beside that door. With a gentle shove and a creak of hinges, she had it swinging open.

It was dark inside, almost pitch black, but there was another light for Lois to pick out the dangling chain of a light switch above her head. Reaching up, she gave it a pull. There was a fizzing sound at first, then the clacking of power. Then the bulb finally flickered into life. It wasn't the most powerful, but at least it was enough to see.

It was a storeroom. Shelves lined the walls, largely emptied as the resources were diverted to the open areas of the hospital. But it wasn't really the shelves that were catching Lois' eye. For right in the middle of the floor of that room was the mask. The surgical mask. Just like the one the doctor had been wearing. Now tossed aside.

"Hello?" Lois called out at last. If this place was empty, then this was exactly the chance she was waiting for. As she called, Lois looked around her once again, but could see no sign of him. "Doctor Valentin, are you there? I just need to talk to you. I need your help."

But there was no answer, no further sign. No sign other than the mask. The mask that didn't get there by itself. Lois was convinced. And so she stepped inside, stooping down to pick it up.

She knew the risks. She knew that if this man was the villain, then now was the time to be afraid. But she was also determined. Determined to get the truth. Determined to put an end to what was happening to those migrants. Determined to get the story. Determined that all those things were more important than fear. A determination that served her well as she slowly stood, mask now in hand.

For as she had been rising, the footsteps had finally sounded. Footsteps that somehow came from behind her. It had always been the gamble, the trap. But she'd known that was possible, and she'd known it was worth springing.

Sometimes, facing the danger was the only way the truth would out. Sometimes to stop evil, you had to be brave. And now, as she found herself once again staring into those eyes, Lois knew she had to be brave.

It was the good doctor, alright. Only while he had discarded his surgical one, he seemed to have found himself a whole new mask…

"There is no Valentin," he said as he menacingly stepped forward, his rippling, rotund body stepping forward like a tumbling boulder. His voice was muffled, no wonder with that mask but as if there was also a filter shielding his mouth. Regardless, the depravity of his voice remained unmissable. "There is only the Pyg."

The Pyg… It took all of Lois' resolve to hold her ground in the face of this madman, but there was still more she needed. More truths to out. And to get them, she had to let this play out. She had to face him.

He wore the mask. The mask of a pig. The head of a pig. And his eyes, now they truly looked psychotic. Turned out Lois didn't need to say a single word to start to get the truth. He had already offered it to her. There was no doubt. László Valentin was the Professor, the one Breèko had warned them about. The one who had been responsible for the abductions of the migrants. Who had forcibly put them through horrendous procedures, drugged them into doing his bidding, and forced them into the most horrific of deaths. The Professor.

Professor Pyg…

"And I know who you are, Lois Lane of the Daily Planet," 'Pyg' went on before Lois could respond. "I know what you do. I know that your words could prove vital to herald the perfection I achieve the whole world over. But it is too soon. Yes, too soon for them all to know. Too soon. My tests are incomplete. The distribution systems are untested. My test are…in progress. But, the renowned lover of Superman… She would be the perfect test. A perfect witness to the perfect test. To the end of love."

Lois had known she had to be brave, but she'd also banked on knowing the right moment to back away. She'd reckoned a second too late. She had Pyg talking. She knew that he would reveal his plan. But she had to make sure she was still around to try to stop him.

But before she could react, he struck. She hadn't seen his fist, the clenched hand, until too late. Now, he thrust it towards her face, but not as a punch. Instead, he merely squeezed it tighter. Squeezed what it held tighter. And in doing so, he broke its capsule.

And in turn, send the stream of gas spewing straight into Lois' face.

Left coughing and spluttering as it seeped into her lungs, bruned into her pores, scoured at her eyes, for a second Lois was left helpless, even before its effects had took hold. Which meant there was also nothing she could initially do as Pyg leapt forward again. As he made to grab for her. Grabbed for her head, her temples.

As he thrust the electrodes towards her skull.

As he tried to do to her exactly what he had been doing to those migrants.

As he tried to destroy her mind…

And then, in that moment, as the pain of the current engulfed her, there was nothing Lois could do but scream.