Chapter 13 – An Endless Cycle
~~~~Winter 1880~~~~
Helen read the telegram in her hand, her father was leaving Mecha on his way home, his search there had found nothing, but she had the distinct feeling he'd end up back there again, looking under every stone, behind every bush for something to confirm his beliefs, it's what her father did.
He went off trying to solve all the mysteries of the world using clues from his many books. Every question about abnormals he wanted answered. Then he would bring back his finding to her and her team, her boys, and they would test his theories, study his monsters.
It was a cycle, an endless cycle.
But she was excited for his return, she and James had made much progress on the blood he had brought back to them before he had left on his excursion, in fact, upon his return she was going to propose an experiment, a highly risky experiment, but James, John, Nigel, and Nikola had agreed with her it was worth the risk.
Well, Nikola had made some sort of grunted reply, she just assumed he was on board with it, he hadn't really talked to her since the night her father left all those months ago. He's so sensitive sometimes.
Nowadays she found if she needed some company John was there, cup of tea in hand, genteel and kind as always. They spent many afternoons walking through the gardens, or sharing a cup of tea in the study. Much more tame than the trouble she and Nikola had gotten into, but he was growing ever distant.
No more late night visits to her rooms, no more running around the house setting things on fire, accidentally of course, he was either at his workbench tinkering at something, or up on the roof doing god knows what.
She missed him terribly.
Helen sighed and folded the telegram back into her pocket and leaned back on the settee.
"That is the third time I've seen you pull out that note and stare at it as if it held the meaning of life," said James, who was sitting in an armchair beside the couch.
"It's nothing that significant, just my father," she sighed again.
"He should be arriving shortly, are you nervous?" asked James, he was so brotherly sometimes.
"No, just wondering how long he will stay this time before he runs off to Paraguay to search for the lost treasure of the Mayan King, that will curse whoever touches it, or something bloody awful like that," she sipped her tea and cringed as it was cold.
"Helen, that's not fair, it's his work, it will one day change the entire world," Jams put a hand on her shoulder gently.
"I know, I just wish he'd stick around long enough to be a father before he went off on his adventures," she patted his hand gratefully.
"You never know, he could very well stay," Helen smiled at her friend and stood up to make another fresh pot of tea.
She made it to the kitchen and she heard a small crash from behind the kitchen door.
"Not again," she muttered, rolling her eyes, it was not the first time one of the abnormals had gotten out, it was probably Fluffy raiding the pantry again.
She opened the door ready for whatever but came face to face with a startled Nikola, trying to pick up a broken dish.
"Nikola, what are you doing?" she asked, and he dropped whatever piece of the dish he was holding.
"Uh, nothing, it's nothing!" he defended, using his foot to push the broken shards out of sight.
"Are you breaking my china again?" she glared at him and he looked away.
"No, not the china, per say," he said cryptically.
Helen rolled her eyes and came up to him, pushing him away and looking at the broken pieces.
"My fathers vase, you bastard, that was an antique!" she glared at him and he backed away.
"It was an accident, I promise, it just shattered!" he said, he kept his hands behind his back.
"Everything seems to shatter in your hands," she sighed.
"Oh, that's nice," he sneered at her.
Helen started picking up the pieces of the vase but noticed that some of the pieces had blood on them.
She looked at Nikola.
"Nikola, show me your hands," she stood up.
"What? Why? There's nothing wrong, I assure you they're fine!"he said, keeping his hands behind his back.
"Show me your hands," she ordered putting her hands on her hips.
He sighed and relented, showing her his hands; the left one had many cuts on them, and was running red with his blood.
"Nikola! You could be infected give me your hand!" she grabbed it and examined the cuts.
"They're fine, it's just a flesh wound, nothing severe, stop mothering me!" he whined as she sat him down and took out an emergency med kit. Ever since Nikola came into her life she insisted that every room in the house had one.
"Stop your whining while I patch you up," she mumbled and he huffed.
He winced when she poured alcohol on the cuts and swabbed them clean.
"Gah! You're just as bad as a doctor as your father!" he cried, she smiled and shook her head.
"What were you doing with the vase?" she asked.
"An experiment, nothing spectacular," he shrugged.
"You were drawing it weren't you?" she giggled.
"Fine, yes!" he huffed and Helen laughed.
"You really are an atrocious liar, Nikola," she sighed and started to bandage his hand.
"And you are an atrocious nurse!" he scowled.
"You are just a big baby, stop moving!" she put her hand on his forearm and he stilled. "So, I think James and I have finally created a workable serum from the blood."
Nikola looked at her and sighed, allowing himself to indulge her.
"Really? So soon," he said sarcastically.
"All our tests give good results, if it's supposed to do what we think it does it could do wonders, I'm sure of it!"
"What did it do to the bunnies?" he asked.
"Mostly mutate them into hideous forms which soon died out, but that was before, the last one we tested seems to be holding, I think it's promising."
"Seriously Helen, why bunnies? If you want to experiment on some brainless creature do it on John," he muttered.
"Your compassion is astonishing," she glared at him.
"So now that you've perfected it, what are you going to do?" he changed the subject.
"I want to run human tests, I want to see if it will work," she said straightly.
"I doubt your father will agree with you using human guinea pigs for this Helen," Nikola said.
"That's why I won't, I'm going to test it on myself, it's my idea, I should do it," said Helen.
"Helen-"
"We all agreed on it, Nikola, once I perfected the serum, the whole plan was to use it for science, we can only learn so much from bunnies, James, John, and Nigel are on board, this is the whole reason for the Five, to push the boundaries of science, how are we supposed to do that if we back down from the first challenge that is presented to us."
Nikola sighed and took her hand, kissing the top of it lightly.
"All I was going to say is that…when the time comes…I want to be the one to do it, I don't trust anyone else with that needle," he looked at her seriously.
"You want to inject me with the serum?" she looked at him incredulously.
"I've known you long enough to know I can't convince you otherwise, but I can be there in case something goes wrong," his gaze didn't leave hers and she nodded.
"Alright," she ran a hand through his slick hair.
"Helen!" John burst in and Helen's hand immediately dropped to her side.
"Yes, John," she said turning to him, Nikola let go of her hand and stood up.
"Your father has returned, he's in his study," she nodded and stood up, leaving the kitchen briskly leaving the two men alone with each other.
Nikola glared at John.
"Hurt yourself, old fellow?" asked John, acknowledging Nikola's bandaged hand.
"Just a small cut," Nikola glared at him.
"I know you care for Helen, you are more than obvious old chap, but be wary, you are not the only one vying for her affections," said John with a hint of a smile.
"I assure you, I don't know what you're talking about," snarled Nikola, pushing past him to get to the door.
"I've seen the way you look at her when you think no one is watching, but you are foolish if you think she returns those feelings, she thinks of you as a brother, a twin separated at birth," smirked John, following swiftly behind Nikola.
"What makes you think she thinks any differently of you? She probably thinks of you as a cousin," Nikola spat bitterly.
"A cousin is much different than a brother, a lot of people have married their cousins," snided John.
"A lot of those people are sick in the head, are you sick, John?" Nikola turned around and glared at him. "Whatever trick you are trying to play John it won't work on me, my feelings toward Helen are none of your business, neither is the feeling she reciprocates to me."
John just smiled deviously.
"I think we're late for the meeting my good man," he said and pushed past Nikola, heading to the study.
Nikola followed suit, his eyes never leaving the back of John's head till they reached the study.
He quietly snuck in and stayed in the back, pretending to be occupied with pouring himself a glass of wine.
Helen and James were obviously in the middle of explaining the experiment to her father, Nigel was sitting nearby, watching intently.
"Well, who's going to administer it?" asked Gregory, staring at his daughter.
"Nikola said he would," she said looking back at him; Nikola lifted his head, seeing all the eyes in the room staring at him.
"Really?" said Gregory with an air of disdain.
"Helen, I could do it, I do have more experience with this," said James and Nikola scoffed.
"You are no more qualified than I am, James, you just have a PHD to make you seem more so," Nikola sneered and walked up to the group.
"Don't be like that, Nikola, he's only trying to help," interjected Nigel.
"Yes, well it's futile, I said I would do it and I won't back down from it now," Nikola removed his handkerchief and wiped his hand compulsively.
"And I'm not asking him to, it's my experiment, my decision!" said Helen.
"I see," said Gregory calmly; he was eyeing Nikola with suspicion.
"We've all agreed to this experiment, if it works we will all be injected, but if it doesn't I will not have one of them take the fall for it, this is why you gave me the blood!" she said and Gregory looked at her.
"I agree, Helen, I'm just covering all the bases," he said putting his hand on hers; she nodded silently. "Leave us, gentlemen, for a moment."
They all nodded and excused themselves politely, Nikola lingered for a moment before bowing and following the rest of them out.
Gregory turned to Helen sternly.
"Are you sleeping with him?" he asked pointedly and Helen was admonished at his words.
"What are you talking about?" she gasped.
"Tesla, are you sleeping with him?" he said.
"I won't dignify that question with an answer, he is my friend and that is all!" she yanked her hand out of his and moved to exit the room.
"You chose him to administer the serum, and it's not because of his impeccable doctoring skills, it's something else, tell me the truth, Helen, or I will insist we do not proceed with this experiment," he looked at her with a glint of concern and she exhaled a sigh.
"I trust him, out of all of them I trust him the most with my safety, he has been nothing but a good friend all these years, I'm sorry if he's not the perfect son like James, or the sweet gentleman like John, but he's who I want near me if something goes wrong, is that so hard to understand?"
Gregory came up and took her hand and kissed it.
"Of course not, I'm just being a father, is all, trying to protect my daughter from harm," he embraced her and she leaned her head on his shoulder.
"Nikola would never do anything to harm me, if you've learnt anything about the man you would know that," she said softly.
"I know, I'm sorry," he kissed her cheek gently, "I can't stay for the experiment I'm afraid, but I know you're in good hands, I'm making a small trip to Cambridge, an artifact auction, I should be back in three days."
"Then we'll wait," she said.
"Now Helen, you know you don't need me, you have your boys, and I know you won't be able to sit on this for three days, I'll return and you can show me your findings then."
Helen nodded and released him from the embrace.
"I promise, soon we'll be able to spend more time together," he caressed her cheek and picked up his bags and left his study, and her.
Helen felt a presence in the room with her and she sighed.
"Not now, Nikola," she said with defeat, she hadn't the patience for his antics.
"Close, but not quite," said John, a small laugh in his voice.
"I just want to be alone, John," she said sitting down on the settee.
"Why did you think I was Nikola?" he asked gently.
"Nikola always tries to console me when my father leaves, I just assumed…" she shrugged and John came up to her with a tray of tea.
"No, he excused himself and made his way to the roof as usual, I just came in to give you some tea, James said you left to refill the pot but never came back," he placed the tray in front of her.
"I was detained, Nikola had cut himself, as usual," she sighed and patted John's hand in appreciation for the tea. "Thank you."
"I know you've already made up your mind about the experiment, but I must ask that you let me be the first."
"No, I won't let any of you come to harm because of this, it must be me."
"Then will you at least permit me to be next to you when it happens, in case something goes wrong?" he asked gently and Helen smiled.
"Of course," she leaned over and kissed his cheek lightly.
He silently nodded and left her with the tea, as per her request, a smile just cresting his lips as he made his way through the halls of the Magnus Mansion.