Watching John stand, removing his coat and walking over to the table, Evelette noticed for the first time how dirty he was. Covered in dust, in fact. He didn't seem to mind, tossing the coat on the table's corner and picking up one of the images that best displayed the disk. She could feel her body tingling again, the result of his cells intermingling with her own. It was a strange concept, that they now shared DNA, until her own would take over in time.

"You used my cure? It shouldn't have worked." She called, sitting up as his blood began to really take effect. One had to marvel at the sheer speed of it.

"Marcus' team worked on controlling the virus, until it could no longer mutate." John explained briefly. "A virus you can't control makes for a poor weapon ultimately."

She frowned. "Is that even possible?"

"Before I arrived, unlikely. The virus has been trained to attack a specific genetic code."

There was a strange pitching sensation where her insides seemed to drop. "So each vial is only capable of attacking a single person?"

"And I took yours." She could see him smirking. "You are welcome."

"Considering you infected me with it anyway, I don't really give a damn." She grumbled, drawing her legs up to her chest. "So could one coded to you actually kill you?"

"Potentially."

"I'll keep that in mind." She moved her feet back onto the ground, standing cautiously. Her body was perfectly steady. She wiggled her fingers, rotated the wrists and her neck. She was tender, but functional. She walked over to the table, but the opposite side from him. "You know for someone who poisoned their doctor you're eerily cheerful."

"Marcus knows I'm coming for him." John smiled – for the first time, a genuine smile. It disappeared quickly when he saw she'd been watching, but it lingered a moment in his eyes. They were strangely bright, invigorated. "Now, shall I show you your operating room?"

"I thought you'd never ask." She said dryly.

She followed him out, the door opening for him at once. They entered a hallways, lit by circular lights attached to the roof. It was all utilitarian. She followed him down the length of it, then at the end to the left through a door just like the one in the other room.

Eve stopped there, looking over the square room.

It was an exact replica of the one in which they'd first met, minus the Starfleet crew.

"Déjà vu?" He inquired, leaning against the table in the center. There, that was different she noticed with some relief. Flat steel, and operating table. As she continued searching, there were small flaws. The major machines were the same, but basic equipment was different – newer model injectors and the like.

Her scanning halted on a single rod, not unlike the beak of a hummingbird if it were made of steel and blow up to the size of a pit-bull.

"And that's what you want me to put into your head." She jutted her chin out to gesture to it, keeping her hands around her chest. It was still cold.

"Indeed, a touch menacing for you perhaps?"

"I'm getting used to menacing." She said pointedly. "So… lets go over your data."

There was plenty to look over, John had been very thorough in his own examinations of his anatomy. The chip had attached to the grey matter of his brain by tiny hook like feet, positioning it so that it would be impossible to remove the chip without serious damage to the brain. Piercing it would likely result in shards slicing into the grey matter, but John would be able to heal from that. Not that it wasn't going to be an ugly hour.

Sighing, Evelette rubbed her eyes as he finished his orientation on how to fracture a brain chip. In all her time at medical school, she'd never expected to have this conversation.

"So, I suppose it's time then."

"You feel prepared?"

"Give me another ten years I won't be prepared to skewer a patient's brain. I feel like I'm about to give you a lobotomy."

Still, she helped secure him to the table with the padded metal restrains, and set up the intravenous line. She could see he had become tense again, uncomfortable with being strapped down.

She walked over to his side so he could see her. "We don't have to do this, you know. We'll find another way, if that's what you want."

"This is the best way." He said, back inside his uncaring guise.

"You sure you trust me?" She tried humor. Sometimes it helped him. "I could cut something and disable your healing."

"Doubtful. Besides we both know you're incapable of killing me, so you'll do your utmost to insure success here. You're too frightened of what I'd do to you if you fail."

The sudden cruelty caught her off guard. She took a step back. "Maybe I owe it to the world to try."

"Yes, but you don't rightly know how. You could attempt it, but you've no means of escaping this facility and eventually the sedative will run dry and I will awake fully healthy and in perfect condition to crush your bones between my hands. Is there a point to this exercise doctor?"

"I'm attempting to understand why you feel the need to antagonize me."

"I could say the same of you."

"You injected me with a virus that killed a good portion of the people I've ever met."

"It was the simplest way to transport you."

"There were other ways to pacify me." She said softly. "You didn't do it because it was convenient you did it because you enjoy hurting things that are inferior to you. You did it because you enjoy letting me know just how in control you are now. Well, I get it. You hate me, and there's nothing you won't do to get what you want. But you didn't have to threaten my niece, you didn't have to infect me, John. I would have done this is you asked."

He took a moment to consider what she said before he spoke. "Why?"

Letting out a massively held breath, she allowed her shoulder to sink down. She closed her eyes for a moment, to give herself some shelter from his unyielding stare. "Because I'm sorry, John, for what I did to you. I'm sorry for leaving, for not helping you the first instant we met, for trying to make myself forget. I'm just… sorry."

She opened her eyes slowly, and found a wary expression on his face. He didn't know what to make of the apology.

"Now, let's get this done." She sighed, walking over and plucking up the surgical coat from its hanger. "You're sure you have a sedative strong enough?"

"So long as it's continuously supplied."

"You know that would kill most people right?"

He didn't answer, settling back against the table. Evelette looked around the room one last time before her gathered up her hair, pulling it under one of the surgical caps and moving over to the sanitation station, allowing herself to be cleansed. She went over to the bulbs of fluid pumping into his veins and plucked two of the clear vials off a tray, inserting them into the injection tray. She watched the bulbs, trying to calm herself as she saw a sort of oily swirl entering.

"Alright, here we go." She warned him, glancing at her patient. He wasn't unconscious yet, she could tell, but he had shut his eyes. "Count down from ten for me?"

"Don't be infantile." He said dismissively, and she stuck her tongue out simply because she knew he wouldn't look. She went over to the sanitation area and plucked up her gloves, donning them as she heard his breathing slowing down.

"I'm just going to give Marcus a quick call first, alright?" She called, amusing herself when he didn't answer. She went to the top of his head, lifting it and moving forward the harness like device meant to steady him while giving her access and strapping him in.

She plucked up a scanner, lifting it to reveal his brain, shown on this screen in green with the chip a square of blue the computer was trying to identify. She moved it forward, allowing it to mark the skin above the anomaly with a red gew.

Eve set it aside, then plucked up the large spike. "Gods don't let me puncture something permanent."