Know what? Train is collapsing way too often in this fic. He's horridly strongand independent, but somehow, he just seems to get the brunt of the injuries. And after what's planned in this chapter, there's at least two other near-death experience he has to go through. Get used to the stasis chamber Train, cuz you're going back there a lot.

Blood Opium

"…to all analysis, yes; he's blind and deaf!"

"Are you suggesting he, without sight or sound, was able to sneak onto MY grounds by touch sense alone?"

"Well, I don't –"

Doctor and Creed's debate was interrupted as one hell of a pissed of Black Cat barged into the lab.

"Creed! You gave me one hour of extra time only to make me spend half of it listening to you lecturing to the Hoshi and the other half being locked inside the entrance hall! I might as well--"

Train paused, unprepared by the sight before him. Sven was dangling from a long chain coming down from the ceiling, slightly swinging ominously to an invisible wind. Machines were blinking and bleeping all around him, monitoring every part of his body. His eyes were closed, his breaths were labored, and his exposed torso was littered with bruises (courtesy of Creed when Sven ignored his questions).

Creed's heart skipped a beat, and an awful feeling began to manifest itself in his chest. Train remembered Saya, so surely he would remember Sven? Especially with the blasted guy right in front of him. NO! He could not loose Train to Saya's bewitching right now. There was no way…after all the progress…

His thoughts trailed as his whole mind concentrated on Train's reaction, body strung tensely. A few emotions flickered past Train's face, too fast to read, before his face smoothed out to the cold stony mask of before.

The only things heard in the lab were the loud bleeps of the machines and the eerie creaking of Sven's chains.

After awhile, when Creed's fisted hands were bleeding from his nails embedded in his palms, Train's patience ran out.

"If you're just going to stand there, I'll just go back outside the lab and die from the energy depletion you were so desperate for me to avoid," Train announced sarcastically.

Doctor blinked. Creed blinked. He doesn't remember? They both let out a sigh of relief.

Train watched the two in exasperation, before turning about and walking toward the exit.

Sven's eyes suddenly snapped open. The left one was an unseeing cloudy white, which offset the right's piercing brightnessuncomfortably.

"NO! TRAIN!"

Creed tensed again as Sven spoke. His stomach sank as Train turned around at that voice.

He remembers…?

Creed needn't have worried however, because before Train could fully face Sven, he collapsed boneless before Creed's feet.

The lab echoed with the sound of chains rattling as Sven struggled helplessly against his bounds. "BASTARDS! Don't just fuckin' stand there! He's dying! Oh god, he's dead!" Sven sobbed uncontrollably.

Creed spend a moment looking back at Train's still form in trepidation, which was slightly shifting up and down with each breath. Dying? It took another moment before Creed realized what was happening, and how exactly Sven had navigated around his mansion undetected.

The foreseeing eye!

While the back of his mind wondered at how Sven had used it to replace his lost sight, Creed's body was on automatic as it rushed toward Train with superhuman speed, snapped Doctor out of his trance, and got Train inside the stasis chamber. If Sven had foreseen Train's death, then there was not a moment to loose.

Doctor was frantically checking the statistics. "His heart is weak and the beat's not constant. He's suffering spasms--"

No! The Black Cat I respect is not a man so weak as to disappear like this! (1)

Doctor's analysis and Creed's thoughts were interrupted by a hysterically relieved shout from Sven.

"Thank god he's all right!" A moment's pause later; "I'll fuckin' kill you Creed for doing this to him and taking my sigh--"

Even as Creed tuned Sven out, Train was slowly stabilizing before his eyes.

Definitely not.

Creed Diskence was feeling an overwhelming sense of relief that was flooding his mind and destroying his mental barriers. Train was slowly healing, and expected to wake any moment. Sven was still chained in the lab (he had to get Maro to move him down into the dungeons some time later) and Doctor'sresearch on his foreseeing eye was progressing nicely. He allowed himself a rare moment of relaxation and dropped all suspicions and guards aside. As he happily anticipated his pet's revival, his eyes wandered to a metallic counter behind a set of glass walls. It was littered with research papers and bubbling test tubes.An empty Erlenmeyer flask tilted back and forth on top of a sample of rattlesnake poison.

"How is the project coming along, Doctor?"

Doctor smiled. It was so rare of Creed to ask about something, since he usually expected Doctor to report on the progress every day or so. It must be a sign of Creed's trust re-instilled, perhaps re-instilled stronger than before.

Doctor's musings came to an end as he turned in anticipation to the topic ahead.

"I've finished. After my encounter with Train, I collected the last few samples on my list. With the assembled toxins, I was able to create an unstable version of the mythical 'Blood Opium'." He held up a small test tube the size of his index finger. "A dose this size will give any human the uncontrollable urge to go on a killing rampage until either there's nothing in sight alive, or, more likely, the subject dies. Any dose smaller than this will induce addiction to the drug."

Creed laughed maniacally.

"Then let's spread to the world, this wonderful addiction to killing!"

1) Same words used in chapter 91 when Train was shot with a nano machine bullet that changed his DNA. Which, by the way, did not happen yet in this storyline, and, considering the plot, is not going to happen.

Addiction to killing…sounds familiar? You bet Train's gonna get tangled in this drug somehow!