A/N - sorry this is so short and I'm late posting. had some life happen here that is slowly getting sorted.
thanks again to you that read this fanfic, i truly enjoy comments and checking the tracker ;)
~WPR
If there was one thing William Walter Wordsworth didn't do well, it was boredom. His 'luxury' accommodations were well studied, every panel of metal, screw and bolt checked to see if he could find some opening. And the food… he shuddered at the powdery chalk the old army rations attempted to call food. Being a prisoner was bound to be a hardship but perhaps bread and water would have been preferred.
His poor pipe stem had never been chewed on with such dedication as he stewed over the current state of his affairs. While at first he had garnered some comfort in his foresight to have his transmitter on, that glimpse of hope died out as he realized it was no longer working. Sister Kate must be in a state by now trying to find him, as her records would have him last at the catacombs… at least he hoped she had noticed his disappearance.
Cain seemed to be looking after him, or the only other one that knew where he was being kept anyway. It was still a bit unsettling to have a familiar face look at him with a foreign gaze and a capricious behavior after having known Abel in his more serious moods when not emulating the fool persona… perhaps Cain was where he learned the cues from his past.. Perhaps at the molecular level they were the same but that was where it ended as far as William could tell. In the conversations they had, Cain was easily distracted and would randomly go off topic. He was one of the worst cases of ADHD William had ever seen in his career as a Professor, honestly. The only real topic Cain wanted to talk about was Abel, which William found to be off putting given Cain had shot Abel dead a month ago.
William looked up from staring at his less than fascinating shoes when he heard the door open.
"Wordsworth, a moment of your time?" Issak walked in, leaving the door open behind him.
"I have nothing but time given the situation."
"Well, there is that." Issak leaned on the wall and took out a cigarillo. "I suppose you have been a bit conservative with your pipe… want a light?"
Raising an eyebrow slightly William nodded, digging out his pipe and shrinking bag of tobacco.
Once both men had their smokes worked out, Issak motioned for them to leave the cell.
"From what I remember of you, I'm sure a short walk would be appreciated."
"That's quite high of you, thanks." William grabbed his cane and went ahead of Issak till they were standing in the long dimly lit hallway.
"Oh, by the way any electronic device you may have had on you fried in the portal if you're wondering." Issak gestured at Williams belt offhandedly.
"Ah, well one can always hope?"
"Indeed." Issak blew a long cloud of smoke away as he studied William. "If hope is what you need to wake up in the morning just know you're off the maps for Caterina's crew."
William shuffled around a little, looking down the hallway as he puffed on his pipe, waiting for Issak to talk.
"How is 02 operating with two Crusink nanomachines working inside him?"
"Like he did before, I assume."
"Hmm. No change in behavior?"
"Coming back from the dead would likely affect anyone a little bit."
"Only the first time really."
William quirked an eyebrow at his former friend and current nemesis. "First time?"
"Oh come now William, you are smarter than that, you must have figured out that I'm more than human by now."
William shrugged and puffed a bit from his pipe. "I never thought that much about you to be frank, but it makes sense… Augmented?"
"I can't let you see my cards quite yet Wordsworth but I can assure you no man made me what I am… but enough about me hmm?" He motioned for them to continue walking down the hallway.
"Tell me, what were you looking for down there? You say that 02 has had no changes but I can't say I'm entirely convinced… Your man had already taken out the capsule of nanomachines so what were you hoping to find?"
"Curiosity mostly. I was unaware of the pod until recently."
Issak raised an eyebrow. "Really? I had gathered you were of some importance to 02."
"A doctor knows your ailments but that doesn't mean he's your friend on the street." William was beginning to feel suspicious of the press to know how close Abel was to him.
"Point taken. Mein Herr was disappointed in the lack of information regarding 02 and still hopes you will share more about his life."
"Seems a bit ghoulish to me after their last encounter."
"Some things did not go as smoothly as planned. We had hoped 02 would have been less volatile upon meeting us, as it would have saved us from all this headache." They reached the area the pod was sitting in.
Cain was nowhere to be seen, and beside the pod were several metal carts filled with a variety of tools of many types.
"Still haven't gotten it open?"
"No, I didn't want to damage the tissues by just breaking in and the wiring is of such that it's been stubborn to activate the opening sequence."
"Shouldn't Cain know how it works?"
"It hasn't come back to him yet. Unlike Abel, Cain was resurrected from a molecular level. His previous life is but whispers and vague feelings."
William took a last slow puff on his pipe before tapping down the ashes and tucking it away. "So, other than a brief bit of walking with some entertaining discussion… why am I here?"
"We took you quite unplanned, but like I said the other day, I might as well use your skills in the meantime. Time to earn your keep." Issak nudged him towards the pod. "Fix the wiring so we can open it properly then whatever you were trying to do with her to help 02 will help him as well."
"A good cup of tea would go a long way to help me think on where to proceed."
"I can extend that much leniency." Issak walked over to a table across the room.
Lilith seemed to still be preserved well in the pod, no change in skin condition or color. Issak was right to not want to just pop the lid as she could turn to dust quickly once air got to her tissues.
"Hmmm… where to start?" He mumbled, studying the pod.
"Given your knowledge with the killing doll that I've heard worked with 02, this pod should be similar." Issak came back with two cups of tea.
"Possibly. Do you have an area for the autopsy once we get her out?"
Issak nodded. "There's a control panel down near your knee. Perhaps you can crack the sequence to decompress and open the lid."
"Not like I have much choice." William took a few sips of tea before settling down to working on the panel.
Issak watched him for a few moments then left the room.
Surrounded in the quiet, William mulled over the situation. It would be easy to make the pod malfunction and destroy Liliths body. Depending on how that went down, the best case scenario was killing Issak in the blast… along with everyone else including himself. Worst case was just aggravating Issak and getting himself tortured for wrecking the pod.
William had been tinkering for a while and repaired a few wires that seemed to have come loose. His cup was long empty and he was beginning to wonder if he could just slip away given how lax the security seemed, when Cain's bark of laughter came down the hallway.
"What fantastic news! I bet you that we will see him before the month is out. With what Dietrich did and we put out a few more crumbs, he will be here beating down the door." His voice was getting closer, and William could hear two sets of footfalls.
"It was somewhat rash of Dietrich and has pushed the vampire Vatican agenda ahead... while not necessarily a bad thing it was done without orders. Would you like me to deal with him, Mein Herr?"
"Hmm.. no the boy took initiative let's see what he does with it now. Besides the inquisitor is still in play I believe… could let Dietrich into that head to cause some real mischief."
"Of course."
The two men entered the room and walked over to the pod.
"Doesn't look like you have made much progress." Issak said as he looked over the pod.
William shrugged, "like you said the wiring is stubborn but I've made some headway. Could probably get the lights to turn on inside it now."
"That's not very useful." Cain frowned, looking at Lilith.
"Sometimes small steps are needed before a leap can be made." William said in his lecturing professor voice.
"It shouldn't be that hard to get her out. We got the nanomachines out of dead aliens on Mars."
William was still a bit surprised when hearing of their origins, that they were on Mars. Space travel had not been attempted since Armageddon to his knowledge as it was mostly all lost technology.
"Mein Herr, I am hoping to get better specimens to use for repairing your system. It might not work either since she's not a match to you like 02 but it's the current project. William here just had to fix the wiring so I can activate the sequence and avoid damaging the tissues."
"Pah, tedious stuff all of it. After what the boy did, Abel will be here before you two get that thing working."
"If you are fortified better perhaps this time will be successful in taking over his body. Now, let me do my work." Issak chided.
"Oh low blow Issak! Ok, ok I'll go do something else while you two do whatever it is." He tossed up his hands and walked away.
Issak sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose briefly before looking at William. "Hmm, you're due to return to your quarters while I do a few things."
It felt like at least a full day had passed before William was brought back to the main room. Since his last visit, the pod had been moved to a more open part of the room, beside it was a medical isolation bed, with the lid lifted and prepped for Liliths corpse. Issak was dressed in a white lab coat and medical gloves, his long hair tied back and his black eyes were looking over the pod as he seemed lost in thought.
"So good of you to join us, Wordsworth. I believe we are all set to remove her. You watch the panel and I'll activate the lid. Cain be ready to lift her to the gurney."
"Ok." Cain stepped over to wait nearby. Willam felt his skin tingle with apprehension.
"Should we move her so soon?"
"Yes. I can't dissect her properly in that pod. I need it to be set up correctly, I can't stand shoddy workmanship."
William kneeled down to open the panel, while Issak went to the nose of the pod, pressing the buttons in a pattern he must have discovered to open it.
The whoosh and click of the seal breaking exposed them to a foggy cloud of acidic air, choking all of them briefly. Then some lights flickered on and illuminated the edges of the pod. The fog slowly cleared and when they looked inside… no body was found.
"A hologram?!" Issak exclaimed.
William straightened up to peer over the pod. The long white bed that had been visible behind Lilith looked the same as before… but no actual body was there. He squinted his eyes searching along the bed for a clue… at the bottom was a small hole that looked like it could have been a projector.
"Well… plan B?" Cain looked at Issak, eyebrow raised.
"That was an amazing hologram.. never once caught on that it wasn't a dense form." William commented as he stood back from the pod.
"Interesting… they had her cremated but hid the fact. What else are they hiding?" Issak reached in to lift the bed up, finding it was obviously hard fastened. "They would have done her like any other cadaver… organs removed. There should be a container or something."
With a bit of searching his fingers found a latch. When he pulled it back, more of that noxious air spilled out of the pod. Beneath it were two dark metal medical canisters roughly a liquid litre worth in size.
"Not quite what I wanted to work with but I'm sure they'll do." He lifted them out and placed them on the gurney.
Issak turned to William, pulling off the medical gloves. "Now that we have discovered the lack of a body… What were you hoping to do with her if there had been tissues? Answer carefully William, as this is when I decide what to do with you."
William fiddled with his pockets for his pipe a moment gauging what he should reveal to his enemies.
"Ahh well, it wasn't anything concrete just more to examine inactive nanomachines really, since seeing how Abel came back."
Issak arched an elegant eyebrow in disbelief. "It does nothing without getting the basilica virus to power it. That is a pretty weak reason to go grave robbing for you, given your morals codes and who you work for Wordsworth."
Cain watched the exchange before walking closer to William. "Abel doesn't have access to enough basilica… enough vampire blood." Shrewd blue eyes stared into Williams with startling intensity before he reached out and patted Williams shoulder. "You're such a nice friend to Abel! Here you are, still trying to help him. How nice!"
William startled at the contact with Cain, not able to read the crusnik's intent.
"He must be so very hungry… I know I am always ready for more. And fresh is the only way it satisfies." Cain reached around to drape an arm around William companionly.
Issak tilted his head slightly, "02 has been fully fused several weeks now… and was in combat recently. He will either come to us or lose control and do what a Crusnik does best… destruction." He looked at the canisters, shaking his head. "I suppose we wasted our time here with these, but then it seems it's all worked out anyway. If AX does things like they always do, 02 will be contacted to save you. What better way to rile him up than to have him know you're in danger and horrible things might happen if he doesn't save you quickly."
William tried to shrug Cain off to no avail.
"You are merely bait to help reel 02 in and a way to needle the Vatican into more righteous fury.. I'm not above using you to my full advantage."
"Yes well, I did learn that already once when your polished veneer rubs off."
"Indeed… Wordsworth, beneath it all we are all monsters of some ink. Back to the cell for you as I set the stage for 02s return." He nodded to Cain who dropped his hand to Williams back to guide him towards the door.
"Afraid I'll run?"
"Nope, you are most definitely not a runner. It's just so nice of you to care for Abel, it makes me feel all warm and tingly inside."
William shook his head and moved away from the other man's hand. "If you want to be nice for me, tea and some real food while I rot in that box would go a long way."
"Sure I'll find something for you… Hey! I bet you can't guess how much food I need to keep in shape."
Always changing subjects it seemed with Cain… William thought, rolling his eyes slightly.
"You look like a meat and potatoes guy."
"Hmm those are great but bland. I love food, the stronger flavoured the better!"
"I can see that."
"Poor Abel, if he's like me, he's gotta drink at least two litres after that fight with the boy. Those cravings are terrible! But I did hear that he's got a vampire woman with him, the dog." Cain winked suggestively.
William shuddered slightly wondering how indeed Abel was doing, surrounded by temptation, was the Duchess still alive? What was left of Abel's self control? His heart clenched in worry, hardly noticing he was back in the room.
"I'll be back with snacks!" Cain waved as he closed the cell door, leaving William to his thoughts.