"Katarina Petrova. Katherine Pierce. Or just simply, Kat. You like having KP together in a name, don't you, Miss Petrova?" An older man in a white lab coat circled the older vampire. He didn't even bother looking up from his folder of documentation.

Katarina blinked a few times, adjusting to the dim lighting. She was strapped down to an operating table, elevated just enough to get a look around at her new underground dungeon. Katherine Pierce had gotten out of worse. She didn't grace the professor with an answer. Her snootiness kicked in as she greeted him with a glare. "Where am I?"

"I was wondering when the Katherine Pierce that I've heard of and dreamed of would come popping out." His cunning eyes dashed up to her and seemed to be calculating how dangerous she really was.

Mentally, she was daring him to come closer to her. People who underestimated her always proved to have shorter lifespans then they originally anticipate. He seemed pretty old though so she knew he had outlived his usefulness anyway. She checked herself; she couldn't do anything to kill him until she found the cure to heal them all.

"You must be the notorious Doctor French." She let out a low, irritated laugh and rolled her eyes. "You don't seem that special to me."

"Special doesn't have anything to do with it, Miss Pierce." He didn't bother cracking a smile, his lips were as tight together as possible.

"Please, Doctor." Katarina's voice was clumsy and her focus not as clear as she wished it to be. "Address me as Katarina."

"Very well, Miss Petrova. Whether I address you by your given name or your alias's, it makes no difference to me. You're a test subject. Welcome to your new home."

He wishes. Was all Katarina could think of. When he turned his back to her, she took the opportunity to test the leather straps holding her down. Normally, she'd be able to snap them with no problem at all, but whether they were laced with some kind of vervaine to keep her mellowed out or she had something else coursing through her body, neither options allowed her much freedom.

"How many have you tested on before me?" Katarina's curiosity was peaked as she eyed up a cell and a table filled with testing tubes. She could see a refrigerator filled with vials of different substances. One of them could very easily be the cure that she needed. She had to find out.

"The numbers are staggering. I don't believe you could calmly know that number without doing harm to yourself in an attempt to escape." His words were chilly and very much like that of a monster.

"Puhlease." She put annunciation on her word, before giving him her resume. She had countless victims. She was just as beautiful as she was lethal. His numbers couldn't possibly compete with her viciousness. "You don't know me very well if you think I couldn't handle your pathetic number. Do you really believe I haven't doubled, if not tripled, your numbers? I've walked with the greatest of killers who have outdone me. I've used the cruelest of methods to kill my victims. I have used, abused, slept with, and destroyed those that were friends, lovers, family, and enemies. Do you really think that you can outdo the great Katherine Pierce?"

"Honestly, Miss Petrova, I believe you have outdone me in numbers. You have lived longer, after all." The weariness in his voice proved that he wasn't a spring chicken anymore. "My memory also isn't as good as yours. With age comes memory loss. I don't know how many I have killed over the years. I won't pretend to know a number that escapes me."

Katarina could see the sadness in his eyes. Part of her felt bad for him. Aging clearly wasn't a very a complimenting thing for him. The other part of her remembered that his methods were killing her lover. The one lover that she never wanted to lose. The one lover that she'd never dream of betraying and losing. She had to get out of here, but not until she knew what she needed to know.

The doctor pulled out a knife and a vial filled with a pink liquid. He immediately could see a little bit of sadness in her eyes; clearly, she hadn't hid it well enough. "Don't pity me, Miss Petrova. I've led an accomplishing life. My work will further be continued through my apprentices. I'm not the only one working on this."

Katarina watched him inch his way over to her side. He pulled a scissors from his coat pocked and reached down to cut open her shirt.

"Hey!" Katarina yelped at him. "This is a four hundred dollar shirt, Professor! Do you intend on reimbursing me for that?"

"Miss Petrova, the shirt should be the least of your concerns right now." He finished cutting the fabric off of her, leaving just her gem covered bra to cover her up. He re-inserted the scissors into his coat pocket and pulled the knife up to eye level. He carefully looked it over. "We're going to try something with you."

Katarina struggled and squirmed under her restraints. She tried to pull her knees up to protect her midsection, but it was to no avail. "You don't know what you're doing. I will make you pay for whatever you try to do to me."

The professor put down the knife and grabbed a syringe. "The more you struggle, Miss Petrova, the more this will hurt you. I don't mind inflicting the pain; in fact, I welcome it, but you won't be welcoming it very much."

Katarina felt the prick into her jugular vein. She could feel the fluid mix into her and spread throughout her body. It was chilly and felt like cold water entering her body. She fought to stay calm, but a panic was filling her up quickly and threatening to swallow her whole. "What did you put in me?"

The professor set the needle down and glanced up at her. "Oh, it's one of my many inventions. It's several compounds that mix together to form an agent that keeps you awake. It will prevent you from passing out from the pain that I'm about to inflict."

Before Katarina had a chance to respond, the professor picked back up the knife and plunged it into her midsection. Katarina couldn't stop herself from screaming out in pain. He was digging deep within her and cutting her open. Her body wanted to black out as her brain attempted to process what was happening, but she couldn't close her eyes. She could feel everything. She could feel her body trying to heal and close up the wound. She could feel the professor re-cutting open the parts that were healing. She watched him grab two chunks of wound and place them into the incision that kept trying to close. The wood was sharp and unforgiving as splinters were left in her body, preventing healing.

The professor grabbed the vial of pinkish liquid and opened it up. "This will sting."

He smiled at her and poured the liquid into the wound. "It will prevent you from healing right away. I will be able to see what I'm doing, instead of constantly cutting open your flesh and getting nowhere."

Katarina couldn't stop herself from screaming out in pain. The liquid was stopping her body from closing up the wound, yet it didn't stop her cells from continually reproducing and breaking themselves down. The wood was able to cut into her consistently. The professor began digging around her body, as if he was looking for something. He grabbed samples and put them in test tubes and on little sample slides.

"Stop!" She yelled at him. "Just stop!" She was breathless from the screams and the pain. She could barely register his face, as everything blurred together. It wouldn't go away however. The pain kept rippling through her body. She fought to pull her focus away from him. She needed an escape. She needed something to remind her that no amount of pain could kill her.

Elijah. Her mind floated over to him. She let his mouth brush over her forehead and down to her mouth. The memory of his kiss was sweet and reviving. The memory of his arms around her was comforting. It was all she could do to survive the surgery that was being performed on her. It was all that she could focus on to stay sane and not turn everything off completely. She had to survive.