Now in this chapter things get hotter than before. Heather and Herbert attempt to revive Laura the same way in the movie, and in comes a certain man they both hate who sticks his nose where he shouldn't. Also, NO ONE strikes Herbert West and lives, as my boyfriend said the first time he saw it. Read and see what I mean. ;D

Chapter Six

Discovery

Nurse Vanessa wasn't around when Heather and Herbert returned to their "little" lab. She didn't know what to think now, but the fact that the rat was alive and functioning normal was amazing, yet at the same time, it was really nerve-wracking. She'd always known that the body possessed electrical qualities, but this...newly discovered phenomenon was all too foreign, and she wasn't even sure if the world was ready for this as much as she wanted them to see it. Herbert had actually overcome physical death, but he was in here because he'd done it illegally and in the most immoral of ways.

She also couldn't stop thinking of Laura in the hole, or the fact that the man she admired had called her a fool. Yeah, I kind of am, though, as much as it hurts. She tried shaking it off because she was quite proud of herself, but on second thought, what had she been thinking, being friends with a journalist of all people? Could that be her new story? Getting Moses to talk...and eventually getting the truth out of him?

She was really confused and hurt. Laura was still her friend no matter what; she had actually confessed to Laura her darkest secrets about Emily's death, because there was another woman who was a journalist and never betrayed her this way –

The sound of the fridge opening and closing snapped her out of her thoughts. "I wanna get Moses up here," Herbert announced.

"Why?" Was he serious, with the Warden roaming around, Sergeant Moncho likely to find them and report back, and the possible risk of discovery?

He held his hand up, showing another little bulb of dancing blue jolts of energy. "To put this in him."

It was another one of those NPE bulbs. "You got some more of that stuff?" Heather whispered, amazed once again. But then her spirits were dampened by his head shaking and his firm answer.

"No. This is Ratty's NPE. I gave Ratty the nanoplasm of a different rodent. Several rodents around this place, after all."

Now wait a second. Heather tried piecing this difficult information in her head. If Ratty has another rat's living energy in his body, and now he has Ratty's for Moses...doesn't that mean that the SOUL of a rat is being transferred into a human body? "But aren't the two animals different?" she questioned.

"Absolutely not! Nanoplasm is a completely neutral energy. It's the same in rats, dogs, human beings and so forth."

And MacDougal believed dogs have no soul; great reference, Heather thought sarcastically, but this was no laughing matter. He was actually thinking about putting a rat's soul into Moses! She had to talk him out of this; there had to be a better way than this. "Look," she said slowly, carefully, "going from rat to rat is okay, but transferring from species to species is not right."

Tension filled the air. Herbert's back had been facing her, his head looking down at the bulb in his hand, and now his head was raising slowly and dramatically. She wondered if she'd gotten him, but then she heard a heavy suck of breath around each word. "Not...right?" He turned around and glowered savagely at her. She stood her guard as he menaced her with his own slow steps towards her, slowly lifting a hand and gesturing towards the setup of glassware and test tubes. "All of this is the result of years and years of painstaking research under incomprehensible conditions. How DARE you say my work is wrong?"

Heather gaped at him in disbelief. It wasn't that she was against all of this; it was just that – "You can't just go and transfer the soul –"

"Oh, the soul? This is science, Doctor, not superstitions."

"This is a human being we're talking about!" Heather snapped.

"WAS a human being," he corrected. "And he will be again, with this." He held up Ratty's NPE before her eyes.

He was such an arrogant son of a bitch, and that was why she hated men who were so sure of themselves like he was. But it didn't seem like she had any choice; he was the expert, not her. She was just learning from him, so maybe someday she would be the one to make decisions on these things herself.

"Dr. Phillips!" Her name being called made her realize she had to get back to work. However, returning back to the main room with Herbert behind her, she saw Moncho, two of his men – one being the same one whose arm had been bitten by Moses on her first day – and Nurse Vanessa, all wearing grim expressions...and a body wrapped in a white sheet on the operating table. "There's been an incident," Moncho informed her solemnly.

Heather glared at him. "I can see that, Sergeant, thanks very much." He glared back at her but said nothing. She had that terrible feeling in her as she reached for the head of the sheet to expose the face of the person.

"Noooo..." she moaned, seeing Laura's grayish white face, mascara running down her cheeks, and blood staining her ashen blonde hair as well as parts of her face and neck, and bruises around her neck. No, God, not again, please.

~o~

So, Miss Olney met her end without that job being done by him. He had not officially decided how to settle the score, nor did he want to actually kill her unless she seriously posed a threat like Dr. Hill or Lt. Chapham – as well as Warden Brando – but now that he was seeing Heather despaired over the death of her friend who planned to betray her for her own gain, he allowed some sympathy to swell in his body.

He had to admit, he didn't like seeing Heather like this. It was like losing her sister all over again, that much he knew; he'd seen that Laura reminded her of her late sister in both appearance and career-wise, and to lose her was another blow to her mind and heart. In his pocket was the familiar weight of re-agent he never left anywhere without, not even now. Heather didn't deserve anymore pain; she needed someone in her life again, and this would all be for her.

"Moses killed her down in the hole," Moncho told her. "He's dead, too."

Herbert frowned. "Dead?" Brando did this. And you, fool, you would know and just go along with this. Yes, the Warden knew Miss Olney would snake her way in and eventually kill both her and Moses to protect his filth-ridden reputation.

Moncho was heartless as he observed the young doctor's grief. "The Warden wants death certificates, now." He said no more, just left the room with his men in tow, the nurse staying where she was and waiting for the doctor's orders. She couldn't see what Herbert planned to do next.

"Get rid of the nurse," he whispered to Heather, pleased that she was still listening.

"Nurse, wait outside," she ordered, her voice hoarse from stifled sobs.

"But, Doctor, I –" For pity's sake, you little bimbo, would you stop questioning and just do as you're told?! Herbert wanted to shout before his poor assistant exploded for him.

"NOW!" That scream of rage was enough to shake the walls, and it made the dark-haired nurse turn and scramble out. Then Heather turned and looked down at Laura's peaceful face again; really, she looked more asleep than dead. But not for long. Herbert reached into his pocket, withdrew the glowing green syringe and held it before her face which was blank, but there were tears rolling down her cheeks. Heather straightened her body as she stared first at him and then back down at his serum. "What if she turns out like Moses?" she asked softly.

Herbert sighed heavily. "She's not getting any fresher. Come on, Heather."

She took it, and it allowed him to reach over and take Laura's head in his hands, elevating it so Heather had room. "Top of the spinal cord, right?"

"Right." He was pleased she was learning, and watched as she did the deed as she'd seen him, removing the needle afterwards. Herbert had already prepared for this and reached behind him for the needle of Thorazine, handing it to her. She frowned but took it anyway. "We don't want her getting too excited," Herbert explained, hurrying over to the foot of the table, strapping the ankles down just in time for Laura's body to twitch and spasm, then jolt upwards.

Heather had horror written all over her face at the same results Moses had, though Laura's eyes were wide, and she choked up vomit and some blood, gasping for air and twisting around. She didn't have the time to put the medicine into her re-animated friend's system, either. Laura flailed her arms out, trying to grab something but not the way Moses had. Herbert decided to take matters into his own hands since his assistant was too shocked to move; he put his weight on the smaller woman's body as he tied her wrists down on either side of her. Next time, Heather needed to act fast and tie the subject down in these cases.

Laura was still groaning when Herbert decided to test out her ability to hear and talk, perhaps. Moses could still talk, so what about this one? "Can you hear me? What is your name? Do you know what happened –?"

Damn Heather for interrupting him and shoving him away. "Leave her alone!" she shouted.

He stayed back and stared at her as she leaned down to examine her friend's face. She had too much fire for her own good; sometimes being too fiery could get you into trouble, like now, when she began to notice with him that Laura wasn't convulsing anymore, though her whole body was stiff. "That is not a very good idea," he warned her when she began to unstrap Laura's wrists and ankles, and he was right, for as soon as Heather was done, Laura bolted upwards and reached with both hands to grasp at her throat, choking. She's acting out what happened to her, he thought. She looked with wide, frightened eyes between him and Heather before getting on both knees atop the table and curling into a near-fetal position, making the noises a dog would.

"Woof...woof..."

Heather stood by her, hands outstretched and wanting so terribly to do something but wasn't sure. Come to think of it, Herbert didn't either, but there was one thing they could. She couldn't stay like this. "Let's get her to the lab," he told Heather, helping her get Laura off the table and then leaving her to support her friend as he opened the back door to the lab, but he got no further into the area where the table was, where he had the Nano-Plasmic capsule set when Heather stopped him, still holding onto Laura's shaking form.

"You can't do that to her," she said insolently. "You're not going to put Ratty's shit into her."

Her use of language and rebellion forced his temper thread to snap. "And why not?" Herbert shouted back, whipping his whole body around and starting back her way. A life needed to be restored and she was still trying to fight him.

"Because it's cross-species," she answered.

Cross-species, but this is a neutral energy! Your friend is in more pain than she was before, and the longer you delay this, the worse it gets! "Then she'll stay like this; is that what you want?"

"No. I will NOT have you experimenting on her!"

Herbert had no more time for this nonsense. "Now, look, rat NPE..."

"Dr. Phillips!" Damn Warden Brando! He was close now.

"Get her down," Herbert hissed to Heather, hurrying over to guard his precious re-agent and everything he spent his life for.

The door opened then, and in came the man he loathed as much as he had loathed Dr. Carl Hill. By then, Heather had hid Laura under the table before her, standing straight and trying so hard to keep herself together now that it was as they both feared: they'd been discovered. From his side facing Herbert, his left ear was missing, leaving a bloody mess, being the final confirmation that he'd killed both Laura and Moses. Serves him right with the ear, Herbert thought with a secret smile, which soon faded. But Heather is going to crack; I can see it in her.

"Where is the body?" Brando demanded. "What the hell is going on in here?"

"She, uh...she..." Heather stammered nervously. "Mr. West and I..."

One look from him around the room was all it took before he finished for her. "You've set up a lab in here." He turned his vicious gaze onto her. "You've been doing illegal research. You will lose your job here...and your medical license for it."

Herbert seethed even more when the Warden turned his attention on him now. Oh, not if I have anything to say about it. Heather has worked too hard to get to where she is now, and I won't let it be taken from her by you. "Move," Brando ordered once he was in front of Herbert. He was tempted to fight him, but there was no telling what would happen, and that cane wasn't what he needed. He stepped aside for one of his main tormentors to pick up the newest re-agent needle and examined it with a face matching the sickly symbolic meaning of the color. "This is what you gave Moses?"

"I did," Herbert spat, in both words and actions, receiving a hard slap to the face, which sent him whirling around on his side against a steel bookcase, knocking a couple glass jars to the floor. The sting wasn't a surprise, but it bruised his pride and gave him more fire in him to kill the Warden at last, even more when the man wrapped his fingers around his neck not to choke him, but to turn him around and force him to look into his eyes.

"You...are never going to see the outside of these walls AGAIN," the Warden snarled, his foul breath worse than the corpses he handled.

A pained whimper suddenly got his attention, and Herbert followed it. Laura was coming out of her hiding place at the very sight of her murderer and torturer, backing into Heather's protective arms, whose face was sheer hatred and anger, something Herbert was proud to see in her. And now that Brando had released Herbert, evident shock on his face, Herbert saw this as his chance to get Laura's new life force and a start of escape. The microscope on the table seemed to be the only option he had, so he picked that up.

"You're dead..." the Warden gasped, disbelieved.

Heather's eyes widened when she saw Herbert raise the microscope. "NO!" she shouted, making the Warden spin around...and Herbert brought the weapon down onto his skull, knocking him unconscious right away. He couldn't be dead now because then obtaining the spark of life would be impossible. Dropping the scope, he knelt down to pick the body up under the arms. "Well, come on and help me get him on the table!" he yelled. There was another in the room, so they brought him over, Laura now huddling in the corner and watching them in her pained quivers.

There would be no other way to get the NPE by other means than what he was grabbing the tools for; there was a tin bucket of filthy janitor's water and wiring, duct tape and a knife about. "What are you doing?" Heather exclaimed.

"Just a second...just a second..." Herbert muttered to himself as he washed the knife, making it as wet as possible before getting bared wiring wrapped around and securing it with the tape. "Two thousand volts of electric current will concentrate the nanoplasm to the brain so that we can pull it off."

"You could electrocute him!" she cried.

"That's the idea!" He nudged her aside so he could insert the blade deep into the palm of the Warden's right hand. "Only through electrocution could you drive the nanoplasm to the hypothalamus – above the spinal cord – where we can extract it at the moment of death, yes!"

He wanted to hit her for distracting him with all these questions, but he was never one to hit a woman because Gruber raised him that it was never moral to strike women. "Hang on, you want to put his nanoplasm into Laura?"

"Rodent to rodent, you had no problem," he countered, "but human to human, you do? He's going to be dead in a few moments! You want her to stay like that?" He pointed to the curling figure in the corner, groaning and still coughing up vomit. Heather looked down at her, too, now thinking there was no choice. "Sit him up now; put his head down on his chest!" Herbert ordered, dropping the bucket of water and then retrieving the capsule and cord. Heather had seated the Warden up, putting his head down and holding it in place for him to stick the tines into the back of his neck. "All right, now hold his head still."

The sensitive metals in Brando's neck caused him to come to and jolt slightly, but he didn't fight him, surprisingly. Heather was still holding him down when she said, "He's not dying. Herbert, he's not dying!" As if he cared; the man deserved what was coming to him for everything he did to him and the other inmates, and to Laura.

"Get clear," he said, holding the power cords together. She did lay him down, but it was slower than needed. "CLEAR!" Herbert barked, and she jumped back then enough for him to turn on the power, and Warden Brando was a smoking mess when the power surged his body and forced his life's spark into the bulb.

"Stop it!" Heather screamed, grabbing her hair in frustrated terror. "That's enough; stop it!"

Herbert didn't listen to her, not until the deed was done, and the Warden was dead as could be from that much voltage in his body. "He had to die," he stated. Just like Hill had to die. It was no less than he deserved.

Heather said nothing as she helped her friend stand and brought her away from the table where Brando's smoking but otherwise unmarred corpse lay, sitting her down on the stairs as she sat behind her. She took the tines from Herbert, sticking them in after putting Laura's head down and holding it. Herbert threw the switch and watched as the same effects as with Ratty took place: no violent convulsions, no throttling noises, just calm relaxation as she returned to normal. Heather removed the fork-like instrument from the neck and handed it to Herbert, turning Laura to face her so she could check her symptoms.

There were no living vital signs as of yet, and it made Heather so worried she turned and looked up at Herbert, silently asking him if this was supposed to be that way. What could he say? This was the first human test, so all they had to do was wait.

And then Laura's eyes fluttered a couple times before officially opening and seeing her friend beside her. She frowned. "Heather? Where am I?" Her voice was slightly groggy, but her vocabulary was devoid of stutters.

Heather let out a sigh of relief. "You're okay now," she answered with a little smile of assurance. Herbert felt like doing so himself. We've succeeded.

But Laura looked doubtful, even said so herself when she reached with one hand behind her head to rub it. "Something...happened to me," she said.

"You could say that," Herbert told her with a straight face. What was the point in keeping this from her? She deserved to know the truth, but Heather looked doubtful of that.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Laura demanded, moving away from Heather and standing, her hand holding onto the railing.

"Warden Brando strangled you," Herbert answered. "You were technically dead for a quarter of an hour. Dr. Phillips and I...brought you back."

Her body jerked, and she backed further away. This was different than the other patients of his before her, even though Laura was a fully reasonable human being again. But she wasn't happy at the news that she was pronounced dead until now. "What are you talking about, brought me back?!"

She stopped right there, her face a sudden mask of confusion and paranoia, and her body was suddenly shaking. Herbert's instincts kicked in that a side effect was going to happen. "What, how do you feel?" he asked.

He surged forward with Heather just as Laura fell back onto the top floor of the stairs, her body suddenly convulsing, but it wasn't just the average spasm. Something in her body, starting from underneath her lower area coursed to the top of her face, turning her and twisting her around to a point where she was this...monster. Not like anything another human being would see everyday. And this wasn't something Herbert West had ever seen himself. "That's...interesting..."

But Heather saw this far from interesting. "What's happening to her?"

Apparently, the Warden's energy is trying to take her over. But she didn't need to know that for sure until further testing. This couldn't be taken lightly, after all.

And then all was calm again, but for how long? Laura was suddenly taking slow breaths and looking around with a look that wondered what happened, and then landed on both Herbert and Heather. She jumped up and held up her palm flat out, a gesture of warning to keep away. Her mannerisms were now unrecognizable, as was her voice.

"I see what's going on here." He thought he detected a hint of the Warden in her voice, for it was nearly altered, almost confirming his suspicions. She pointed her finger straight at him, her lip curling into a snarl. "You wanted to use me as a guinea pig. And you let him." Her finger was now pointed to Heather, who shook her head in protest. "Stay away from me. The both of you."

He didn't know the girl as well as the one beside him did, but he knew she was changing in complete contrast to the "neutral energy" theory. Perhaps no soul existed, but this was close enough. But he couldn't stop this now; this was the only source of restoring a re-animated subject to "full reason".

And then a noise was heard from outside the room, forcing Heather to run through the door. Herbert followed her. Laura was leaning over the operating table, her back arching and spasms taking over again; the Warden was suddenly losing control and letting her take over her own body again for the time being. Heather was leaning over her to make sure she was okay, and Laura was clinging to her desperately, begging her to help her, to which Heather had no idea how to answer.

Herbert jerked his head in the direction where another noise was heard, and it was glass breaking as well as crashing...and his name being called: "WEST!"

Cabrera.

So the Warden striking Herbert and threatening Heather's career; he deserved what he got for them both, as well as for killing Laura. I think as much as she deceived Heather to get information and build up her story, she might as well have had some redeeming qualities, but everyone has their own views.

Onward to one of the most action-packed parts of "Beyond": PRISON RIOT.