Chapter: 4
Okay… Wow. Thought no one would actually read this. Thanks for your guys' input it was very insightful.
To Gargonzola'sArchaicInstituion thanks for your review, but she was dating the bones by the skull, not the x-rays. I think you're thinking of fossilization, I believe ossification is the replacement of cartilage for bone, but actually you would still be able to see the difference with x-rays. Sorry for the song title mess up, I haven't seen that episode in a while and…yeah… I'm just a goof at times… sorry… but thanks for your input :)
Also thanks to all of the others who read, followed, and reviewed. Especially PrincessPo, You're awesome bud :) and I love your stories.*high-five*
Sorry my chapters are so long I just have a lot to say and some people *cough cough* wouldn't let me shorten it. They know who they are.
Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin or Bones. If I did I would be Warlock of the Lab…get it… see what I did there?
"Strange," Dr. Brennan muttered under her breath as she looked over one of the stone slabs that contained the bodies. Her gaze switched between the images on the monitor, back to the gray face of the girl in front of her. At least she believed the remains incased were female. It would be the most probable outcome since there were only two sets of female remains on the monitor, and this was the only statue of a female. The face of one of the female images appeared to correspond with the statue's face, as well. But there was no way of telling with absolute certainty unless she was allowed to physically see the remains, and at the moment she was fighting it within herself not to rip open the stone casing right there.
"What's strange?" Booth asked over her shoulder. She didn't respond as she moved on to examine the face of one of the stone men. He looked over at Hodgins, who only shrugged and looked just as dumbfounded as Booth.
"I can't tell you," Hodgins said turning back to the monitor which his boss's eyes were glued to. Cam looked from one face to another, trying to make sense of them.
"Cam?" Booth asked. She still stared at the screen. It was bewildering, fascinating, and wrong.
She was the boss, but she was also the person in charge of the tissue department. Whenever a crime scene involved the actual blood and organs, she was there to gather the information. She was in charge of overseeing the lab, and the gory work, and she knew that the remains within the slabs were not possible.
"Cam?" Booth repeated more abruptly, putting his hands on his hips and pushing the front ends of his suit jacket behind them. He was getting tired of the lack of answers.
"Oh. What?" she asked coming out of her trance, but her eyes shifted back ever so often as the images beckoned to her to solve their mystery. Booth tilted his head and gave her an annoyed glare, his signature look of confusion. "Oh! The bodies, I'm sorry."
"Why do they have eyes? Actually aren't thousand- year- old bodies supposed to be old, as in skeletons?" Booth asked moving his arms to cross over his chest. Cam turned back to the screen.
"Yes, that's why it doesn't make any sense."
"So how does this happen?"
"I'm not sure," Cam admitted turning back to Booth with her own arms crossed. "Dr. Brennan, is there anyway that these statues are from a more recent time period than the other?"
Brennan lifted her head slightly to glance at the eyes of her three colleagues then returned her attention to her observations.
"I wouldn't be able to give conclusive answers unless I was to physically view the remains," Brennan answered bluntly. Cam rolled her eyes at herself. Why she asks Dr. Brennan to guess when she knows she wouldn't, is beyond her thinking.
"Well, the stone is the same type," Hodgins decided to put in his observation. Cam and Booth turned to him.
"So that means they are from the same time?" Booth asked. Hodgins looked over his shoulder at the slabs, then back at Booth, the stubble on his chin rubbing the collar of his coat as he did. His mouth was in a hard line of concentration as he spoke to the agent.
"No. It means that the material used for the statues was the same," he responded looking at the screen. The statues were a mystery: a puzzle. He might be known as the insect guy, but the one thing he both loved and couldn't stand was a puzzle. He felt it in his blood that he was meant to crack the code whenever one happened on him. So when he couldn't find the answer to the statues it irritated him.
"Thanks," Booth said sarcastically, returning his eyes to his partner.
"What's with the gigantic rocks," Angela called out as she readjusted her I.D. tag and walked onto the platform. All eyes except Brennan's turned towards the artist.
"The London sent you some weird thousand-year-old dead guys in some rocks and they still have guts," Booth answered with a serious face. Angela's mouth dropped and her eyes squinted with confusion. Hodgins sighed and Cam almost smirked at Booth's amusing description.
"What," Angela asked turning towards Hodgins. She knew she shouldn't have taken that early lunch. She always misses the excitement. Hodgins walked over to explain the situation, and Booth approached the forensic anthropologist.
"What are you looking for Bones?" he asked, craning his neck to get a better view of the face she was looking at.
It was a man, looked like he was nearly thirty. The sculpted detail on the face was remarkable, even the short cropped hair stood out so well that Booth felt he could pluck a single gray strand. The man's eyes were open; the pupil was wide as if he had been surprised or scared.
In his right hand was a lowered sword, but it was different from the other statues' swords. His was more detailed and much elegant then the others. There were even words, words in a different language, but words all the same on the blade. Booth turned his gaze back to the computer screen, and found the remains that matched the position of the statue.
Booth couldn't help but be reminded of the little, plastic knights he used to play with as a child. Knights who, like the statues, carried swords in their hands. He remembered having the little figures battle it out with each other. He looked back down at the statue before him and couldn't help but wonder if perhaps this man fought it out with someone. The feeling quickly left when he realized he was beginning to loose a piece of his masculinity. He walked over to stand next to Cam when his phone rang.
He took it out of his pocket and addressed the person who had called him.
"Booth," he said to be answered with the voice of the District Attorney's voice. Booth let out a sigh as he covered the receiver and motioned to Cam. When she turned to look at him, he mouthed the words "I'll be back," and pointed to his phone. She nodded as he walked down the platform steps and past the glass doors. Cam turned back to the computer screen.
"Dr. Brennan." Cam called out.
"Yes," she answered, coming to stand next to her.
"What do you make of this?" Cam asked pointing to the image of one of the male set of remains. Her finger landed on a small blurry circle. It was about the size of a tennis ball. The man had it clutched in his left hand, his right holding a sword. The two squinted at it, but it remained a blurry blimp.
"I do not know," Brennan said increasingly being more intrigued by this find. It was a mystery that could show some advancements for the scientific community. It would make a fascinating paper at least. To think that dead tissue could survive for over a thousand years: it is inconceivable. It was impossible. Brennan slowly turned away from the computer to look at cam.
"We must open the statues. If there truly is a way to preserve tissue for hundreds of years, the bodies should be studied this could change the very idea of decay," Cam told her.
"How do we even know these images aren't fabricated?" Brennan asked with her usual logical, skeptical reasoning.
"Why would they send us fake x- rays?"
"Perhaps it is a hoax. They could be trying to test the minds of the U.S. They could be doing this in other parts of the country. They must be planning to take over. They are out for revenge," Hodgins interrupted the conversation.
"What exactly would they want vengeance for, Hodgins? The revolution," Angela giggled standing next to Brennan and he.
"Oh please! They've gotten over that long ago. It's obvious they're still mad at us for the Flour Contract."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Cam told him throwing her arms up in the air and shaking her head. Angela rolled her eyes as Hodgins began explaining the 'Great Flour Contract,' but Brennan had drowned them out. Her mind was too focused on the screen.
If these are fake, she thought to herself, then why would they send them? Is it a test? It doesn't make sense. These images are not rational. They can't be real. This is some form of humor. These can't be real.
Yet the more she stared at the screen the more the remains called her, drew her in. She couldn't help but examine the images and try to find an answer to the raging question.
She looked at the x-ray of the slab containing the skeletal remains. The healed fractures and breaks were visible even through the stone. She looked back at the original slab.
If this is a ruse, then why would the x-ray match this slab? She asked herself. She turned back to the screen to look at the other remains.
Besides the skeleton there were eight sets of remains depicted on the screen. She could tell from the pelvis that there were in fact two female sets of remains and six males. She turned towards the various tables that the heavy stones laid on. She counted, not including the one with the visible skull, six male statues and one female. Her eyes searched the room for the missing statue, the one she believed contained the other female remains.
She couldn't find them amongst the others. She looked back at the remains, then back at the statues. A small anger grew inside of her. She was supposed to be working on this case and the remains weren't all there. A thought occurred to her.
Dr. Patrick had the last of the remains.
Her lips pursed together as the very though of the man caused her to become irritated.
If you would like someone's help the least you could do is arrange it so they have everything. How unprofessional! What sort of doctor is he? First the x-rays not being sent. The way he acted to his assistant was rudeness and arrogance at its finest.
She couldn't ever see herself acting the way he had, so deeming to someone like an intern who was willing to follow his teachings. She would call out any of her interns' mistakes without hesitation. She would bluntly tell them of their intelligence level and weather or not they were indeed bright. She would tell them when they were wrong and even go as far as to send them off if need be, but she would never discourage them in such away as calling them 'idiot.' That was just wrong and uncalled for. To tell someone they were of no use and hinder their strive for knowledge was never acceptable. She would point out their mistakes, but that was the job of a teacher, not to discourage and beret the young, future minds.
What has that 'doctor' done with my missing remains? Brennan's face burned with a internal flame that raged against every arrogant pompous she ever met.
She decided she wouldn't get any answers by fuming over Dr. Patrick's genuine stupidity. She had to move past it and continue with the examination of the other remains.
Upon looking at the mere images she was able to tell that both females seemed as if they hadn't had any serious bone damage when they were alive. The ankles of both females looked as if they had been mangled, but not damaged entirely. Upon closer examination of the one's skull though, Brennan could see a small line it was fairly visible and looked as if it had been healed long before she had died. Brennan couldn't help but look at the lone female statue among the other male ones, and felt another pang of annoyance for Dr. Patrick's incompetence.
She returned to the monitor. The other six male remains were quite different from the female. Looking at them there were many fractures that had been healed, many brakes that still left marks. On one of the skulls, the man had a prominent frontal scar it seemed as if it had been dealt a blow to the head that had some how miraculously healed. Her head tilted at the sight.
Strange. This should have killed him, especially with the medical technology they had a thousand years ago. Perhaps these images are fake.
Her eyes caught more strange wounds on the bones. Several ribs amongst the men had been broken at one point or another. Some the spines looked tangled with stress marks and splintering on the shin bones caused by constant moving. Her eye caught a nick on one of the man's ribs. It seemed like a sharp projectile had embedded itself in the man's ribcage. She stared at the mark on the bone for a minute.
If going with the time period, it would most likely be an arrow…that is if they are indeed from a thousand years ago.
Brennan looked at the lab's entrance. It was empty. No one exited nor entered the large room. She secretly wished Dr. Patrick would walk through the doors so she could pester him about the missing statue, the strange x- rays and above all else so she could open the statues up and remove all mystery. She sighed mentally and returned to her work. She found similar wounds amongst the other men. There appeared to be puncture marks and scrapings along all of their skeletal systems.
She went through each one, each seeming worse as she went along and each healed even when it seemed impossible. Their unworldly recoveries were beginning to cause the doubt to grow inside of her, but she continued to work. She would not jump to conclusions, despite her personal opinions. She looked at each skeleton, noting the damage mentally and with a determination, but when she came to one of the males her eyes widened.
The man's skeleton was riddled with injuries that had been dealt and healed over an extended period of time. There were fractures and brakes that lined the bones of the arms and legs. Each on of his ribs seemed to have been broken at some point or another. There was a small nick on the left side of one of his vertebrae. His skull, especially the back of it, was littered with the gut- wrenching twist of cracks that had healed long ago. His shins where that of the other men, he too had moved at great distances at long period of times. His hands had a series of nicks that must have come from a knife of sorts. Projectile wounds, the ones she expected caused by arrows, were also present on the man's mangled body. Brennan took a step back and looked at the screen from a distance.
She could see the position the man was in. His arms were at his sides, his head turned upwards so he would be looking right at you. His legs were spread, as if he was waiting to pounce or be pounced upon. She turned away from the screen and searched through the statues until she found the one that matched his body movements. She tilted her head once more and leaned down to get a better look at the stone face. It was not what she had expected.
She had imagined that someone with extensive injuries such as that would have been wearing armor, but just as the computer screen had shown, the man was not even wearing chain mail. There was not a sword around his waist nor was his skinny face the face of a warrior. It was the face of a young man whose short hair covered the top of his head. His lips were forever engraved in a thin line. She looked closer and saw something in his stone eyes that she saw in her own almost everyday: concentration and determination.
Very odd.
Dr. Brennan was just about to ponder over the man's odd choice of attire when the lab doors open. Dr. Patrick walked in, two interns carrying one of the heavy stones behind him. Brennan almost ran down the stairs at the sight of her missing remains.
"Right over here boys," Dr. Patrick pointed to an examination table a the far right corner. Before they haul it off though, Brennan caught a glimpse of the face and hair. The gray curly locks that ran down her stone face almost made Brennan smile with the fact that she had found the missing female party. She returned her attention to the matter at hand.
"Dr. Patrick," she said in a serious and professional tone. The older gentleman turned and smiled at Brennan. Brennan felt a chill of disgust reach her spine as she shivered from it.
"Yes," Dr. Patrick answered sweet and innocently, but she wasn't buying it.
"I need to open up the statues and remove the remains to testing," Brennan told him sternly.
"W-what? You'll do no such thing!" Dr. Patrick exclaimed sounded appalled that Brennan would even try to go against his and his country's orders.
"That wasn't a request of permission, Dr. Patrick. I am going to open the statues and remove the remains," her hard, cold stare of determination caused Dr. Patrick's mouth to slam shut.