Chapter 75, Two different men

…

Danielle raised her tear-soaked face as Rick and Jack appeared. "Hey D," Jack greeted. "The CEO has authorised your release right now, we're just waiting for Dr Hazard."

"I don't want to…" Danielle began.

"See her?" Jack reached through and took her hand in his. "I know sweetheart, believe me I totally understand that."

"So do we," Rick and Joanne said in unison.

"But Mr. Cutter has requested that Dr Hazard lets you out herself and apologises to you. If only to keep her job," he added bitterly.

She snorted. "Apologises? I don't want to hear a fucking word that bitch has to say!"

"He expected you to say that," Jack said. "But he wants her to let you out, she's on her way right now."

"Where the fuck is she?" Rick muttered, glancing over his shoulder. There was no sign of Dr Hazard anywhere.

"Maybe she's done a runner," Jack muttered bitterly. "Couldn't face apologising to anyone like I said!"

"For fuck sake," Rick scowled and turned back towards the tunnel. "I'll be right back D," he said before he walked away fast.

"Does she really not care?" Joanne looked at Jack in disbelief. "Jesus! Dr Loomis… she hesitated then went on. "Dr Loomis sent me a text saying that she told Mr. Cutter that it wasn't like Danielle could get lost. Ok she's blind, but the cells are tiny and there's nowhere for her to go."

"Fucking hell!" Jack glared at the wall. "Oh my God! Just… wow! No empathy much?"

"I know," Joanne smiled sadly. "Mr. Cutter apparently said to her that they needed to take a better look at who they employ as doctors in the future."

Joanne glared at the wall too. "Understatement of the year!" They were speaking very quietly so Danielle could not hear, Joanne could never have told her this.

"Come on," Jack said, now sounding annoyed. "Where the holy hell is she? Fuck it! Dr Loomis gave it to me!" He stepped to the door and tapped in the new code and it buzzed open. Danielle stepped out and he pulled her immediately into a hug. "We'll stay here and wait for her," he murmured. "But I couldn't have you in that cell a second longer."

"Thank you Jack," Danielle was crying again.

"Hey, hey shh," Jack soothed, again putting her hands on his ears. "Shh, we're here."

"Jack," Rick's voice came over his radio, once again behind static this far below ground. Joanne didn't have hers as He'd taken her vest back into the block with him when she'd stayed with Danielle. "Hazard did come down with us, right?"

As Jack wasn't wearing his earpiece, Danielle heard but he didn't care. She deserved to hear this. Pulling it out of its pouch, he replied. "Yeah, I saw her behind us. Why, can't you find her?"

"No. Stupid woman. Did she get lost?"

"It's not our fault if she did," Jack said. "I've got her on camera telling us to go ahead of her and wait at the cell." He didn't add what she'd said about Danielle possibly attacking her, no way would he tell her that part. But Rick understood.

"Yeah, but I can't find her anywhere. Damn this place is huge, we need fucking maps! Is Danielle ok?"

"I'm fine," Danielle called, just as Jack squeezed the talk button.

"That's my girl," Rick's voice came back. "I'll be right back with you when I've found her. She has something to say to you." Now, Jack handed Danielle his radio.

"I don't want to hear anything she has to say," Danielle said. "I hate her for what she's done to me."

"Totally understandable, but we have our orders from Mr. Cutter. It'll only be this once, then we'll make sure you never have to see her again, Dr Loomis and we promise. That's if she even keeps her job here, of course."

Danielle scoffed, then handed Jack back his radio. Ten minutes passed, still without any sign of Rick and Hazard. "What the fuck?" Jack muttered, pulling out his radio again. "Rick?"

"Sorry, still no…" that was when he made a gasping noise and sounded like he stumbled backwards.

"You ok?" Jack called immediately.

"Holy… fuck… shit… this… this is… she… she's dead!"

"What?" Jack said, almost shouting it. "What the fuck do you mean she's dead?"

Danielle gasped, putting a hand to her mouth. Clearly, she'd come to the exact same conclusion they just had. "But that… that's impossible," she muttered, thinking aloud. "He was locked in that… that cell, wasn't he?"

Jack squeezed her shoulder and laughed grimly. "That ever stop Michael Myers before?"

"Fuck," Rick sounded like he was about to simultaneously run away and throw up. "It… it's bad!"

"Where are you?" Jack said. "I'm on my way!"

Joanne didn't know what came over her, but she grabbed Danielle's arm, and the two women ran after Jack who didn't stop them. After a few minutes they stopped, and Danielle was sure for the very first time she heard Jack gag. "Jesus Christ!" He bent over, desperately trying to breathe. Danielle didn't miss the Deja vu when Joanne spoke her voice quiet, saying words she'd said to her before for the third time. "Don't move Danielle, there's… there's blood everywhere."

"How…" Jack was shaking. In spite of Joanne's warning, it was actually Danielle who moved towards him and now she pulled him into a hug. She was astonished but touched when he rested his head on her shoulder, clearly trying to pull himself together.

"Fuck me," Rick turned away. He'd seen his fair share of corpses in his life, but never one anywhere near as bad as this. Destiny Hazard's throat was slit from ear to ear and her abdomen was sliced wide open like a gaping mouth. This could be had to be, the work of only one man. If one could even call him a man that was. Michael Myers was his name.

"How?" Rick said, fighting with his own insides not to throw up. "How could he…" he thought back over his conversation with Dr Loomis and shivered. He knew exactly what had happened. As for how, he'd never know." There was of course times Danielle had impressed all three of them with quick thinking, but now, doing the very thing that had put her down here in the first place once again, she pulled Jack's radio from its pouch and spoke.

"Dr Loomis, Ryan, William, it's Danielle. Please humour me I have to ask you. Is Michael in his cell right now?" Her voice was strong, if not shaking a little.

"Hi Danielle," said Ryan's voice. "Yes, he's right here."

"So if he's…" Jack looked as pale as Rick now. "How…"

"Maybe Michael didn't do it?" Danielle suggested. Joanne was prouder of her for her self-control and even how she seemed to be taking control of the situation than she would or could ever tell her. It was almost as if she too was one of the guards.

"Danielle," Jack laughed, but with no humour. "Do you know anyone else who'd slit someone's fucking throat through the neck then slice open their stomach?"

Danielle recoiled and Jack immediately felt guilty. He shouldn't have told her that. "Fuck, I'm glad I can't see her!"

"So am I," Joanne and Jack said together. Rick was still taking deep breaths. Again, it was Danielle who moved over to him and began to rub his back.

"Let's not forget how angry he was when she did all those things to you," Jack said quietly. "He was… he was fucking dangerous is what he was!"

"I…" Rick finally straightened up a little, giving Danielle's hand a grateful squeeze. His was ice cold and shaking. She clutched it and held it against her, trying to give him some of her body heat. He squeezed back again. "I didn't want you to hear this before Danielle, but earlier on when I ran to the elevators it was me running off you heard, Ryan had just radioed us saying Michael wasn't in his cell. I got up there and he was gone! Dr Loomis came back into the block about a minute later, we took him there fast and… and Michael was standing right at the cell's fucking door! It was as if he'd never left!"

"You mean," Danielle said, her voice soft. "He… what? Disappeared from his cell?"

"Would you put it passed him?" Rick whispered. She immediately shook her head.

"You think he… what? Came down here to see where I was? Or… or something?"

"I don't know, but…"

"No," Jack said, his face almost as white as Michael's mask. "I think he went to get his mask."

"Huh? How? It's in Dr Loomis' office, isn't it?"

This time it was Rick's turn to laugh. "To echo Jack, would you put it passed him?" Yet again, she shook her head. She didn't realise she was shivering until Joanne put her arms around her. "Fuck…"

"Quite," Jack said.

"But… but there's no proof!" Danielle said. "How are we going to prove it was even him? Ok so he… might have disappeared from his cell, we still don't know that for an absolute fact as Ryan didn't see it actually happen. He says Michael was gone, but… well he's had his own trauma lately, what if…"

"You could and should be a detective Danielle Avery," Rick said. "Because we, meaning I and Dr Loomis said exactly the same thing to his face. Had he taken something he shouldn't? He was adamant he was not tripping or something like that."

"Ok," Danielle said slowly. "So let's go on the assumption Michael did leave his cell and get his mask somehow. How the hell would he know Dr Hazard was going to come down here, did Dr Loomis say anything in his earshot?"

"No," Rick and Jack said together. Rick decided then and there not to tell her or even the other two about Myers' cruel, amused smirk when they'd looked at him. That was one piece of information he would keep to himself.

"Maybe just because he's Michael Myers," Joanne said very quietly. "We all know he has some kind of… supernatural abilities, whether we accept it or not. He was furious Danielle, absolutely furious. He loves you and you had been very, very cruelly mistreated. Need I say more?"

"Someone needs to get Dr Loomis," Jack said. "I'll go, hang on a sec. Danielle, could you do me a favour and hold onto this for me again please?" He slid his equipment vest back onto her as he'd done before, and she couldn't stop a small smile. "Thanks sweetheart, be right back." She'd never heard anyone run so fast. "Wow," she said quietly. "I knew you guys were fit, but damn! He can sure run quickly!" There was a pause, before she asked another question. "Any sign of a murder weapon?"

"You must love true crime or something," Joanne said, smiling faintly.

"I do like watching it or at least I used to," Danielle admitted, squeezing her friend's arm. "But is there?"

"Nothing obvious," Rick said. "Damn Danielle, how do you do this? You've just been through a terrifying ordeal I don't doubt when it's considered you can't see a damn thing, then how do you just step in and take charge? You're more in control than any of us!"

"Agreed," Joanne said. Danielle smiled sadly.

"I don't know, I guess because I can't see this I can think straight, that's all I can suggest."

"Whatever it is you're damn impressive girl," Rick said adamantly. "You were the only cool head when we saw this!"

They heard running footsteps at that moment and Dr Loomis and Jack appeared. Dr Loomis took one look at the grizzly scene before he had to look away." "God damn it…"

"Detective Avery has her own theory," Rick said, smiling at her. "Tell him what you told us, Danielle."

Dr Loomis stepped forward and pulled Danielle to him, as if to protect her from the horror around them even though she couldn't see it. "I told Mr. Cutter you were strong now," he said.

"She was the only one who took control when we got here," Joanne said. "She was in more control than any of us were!"

"Is that why you're now wearing an equipment vest?" He squeezed her close. "You one of my guards now?"

"She damn well should be," Rick said. "She'd deserve it after this!"

Danielle flushed. "Rick told me about what Ryan… said happened at Michael's cell, that he just… wasn't there, then how he ran up to see for himself and indeed he wasn't. Then when you came back into the block and they told you, you went with them and Michael was right there by the door."

"That's correct," Dr Loomis said.

"So he just… what? Vanished?"

Dr Loomis let out a long sigh. "You told me once you've done extensive research on Michael Myers before you even came here. If that's the case, surely you know I shot him six times on Halloween night in 1978 after he killed all those people?" She nodded. "Of course."

"He… he just vanished that night, too. I looked down naturally to expect him lying hopefully dead on the ground and… and he was gone."

"But from a crime standpoint there's no proof," Danielle said. "He's not here, there's no murder weapon, how the hell would he know Dr Hazard was even coming down here right now? Did you tell him?"

Dr Loomis laughed, in the same humourless way Rick and Jack both had. "Of course I didn't."

"Then how…" Danielle couldn't go on.

"Because he's Michael Myers," Dr Loomis almost whispered.

"So what in the hell are you intending to do? Just stroll up there and say 'hi Michael, here's your coffee. Oh, and by the way, did you commit a brutal and bloody murder underground tonight by cutting Dr Hazard's throat and slitting her stomach?' Sure, he's just going to smile and write 'oh yes, that was me!' Get real Dr Loomis!" Immediately she opened her mouth to apologise, but Dr Loomis hushed her. Jack and Rick were both nodding to her too, though of course she didn't know this.

"You're… you're right Danielle," Dr Loomis said quietly, his voice not quite steady. "Of course you are. No, of course I'm not."

"Then we'll never prove it. There's no weapon, evidence, ok there's a possible motive, but that's not enough to prove he did it."

"Possible?" Jack exclaimed. "Um, Danielle, I seriously am not intending a pun here, but are you blind? He fucking adores you! I thought you were clever! Come on! Of course there's a motive! He was fucking furious. You should be very glad you didn't see his eyes up there, they… they were so cold, terrifying and cruel! Of course there's a damn motive! You! Wake up!"

"Let's… let's get out of here," Dr Loomis said, taking Danielle's arm. "We need to get someone down here to… to retrieve the body and do what needs to be done."

"I say again there's no proof," Danielle said. "Think about it! Rick, you said he was gone as did Ryan, but that doesn't prove anything because you saw him back in his cell before this even happened. That's why I radioed to ask if he was still there. Ryan said he was, so we have no one to tell us he pulled a vanishing act between then and now."

"Damn it Danielle I know you're right," Jack said. "So do I," Rick and Joanne said together. "But… but the motive! How… how else do you explain it? She does this to you, the woman Michael Myers loves, then she dies in the goriest way imaginable?"

"Yes we know that, but that won't stand up in a court of law. If Michael had been covered in blood, surely Ryan would've told us just now, right? If he doesn't have a drop of blood on him somehow, how would anyone ever prove he did it? Hell, this place is full of crap, lethal metal poles and stuff, Joanne told me earlier when I asked her where I was! How do we know Dr Hazard didn't have some kind of… accident?" She kicked a foot to make her point, and it clanged loudly off an unknown piece of metal. "See? Ok it would have to be a… horrible and very unfortunate accident to cause both her throat and stomach to be slit open, but… this place is fucking lethal! She got lost, she was nowhere near my cell you said, so for all we know that's what happened. Evidence wise, that's where it would go if you tried to prosecute Michael for this. I'm not saying you are going to prosecute; I know he's not going anywhere. I'm just saying that not even you Dr Loomis can prove this!"

He sighed, squeezing her arm again. "That's why Michael Myers is so damn dangerous," he said quietly. "Yet you Danielle Avery no one else, have done something to him. He loves you and come on proof or not let's be real, he's just killed the woman who treated you so badly today. Her injuries are way too brutal to be anything or anyone else. It's like he's two different men when necessary. Kind and loving to you, then dangerous and silent to his enemies. Ok we can't prove it, but you damn well know it was him, don't you?"

She took a deep breath. "Yes," she whispered.

They reached the elevators and the five of them crowded into one. Rick pressed the reception button and the lift slowly rose. As soon as they walked out and back into the block, Dr Loomis and the others saw Michael standing at his cell door, looking right at them. Dr Loomis locked eyes with his patient and could see the satisfied smirk on his face. It was almost as though he was goading them, after all he of course knew exactly what Danielle did. Yeah? Go on then, prove it. He was also not wearing his mask but that didn't of course mean anything. Heading into his office, he checked the cabinet where Michael's mask was and sure enough it was still there, it hadn't moved.

Or had it? He sighed. Whether he liked it or not, Danielle was spot on in what she'd said. They would never be able to prove anything about this particular killing. Or slaughter might be a better word for it.

He walked back into the block and stopped dead in shock. Because Michael was looking at Danielle, and now his eyes were warm, kind, longing? His guards had seen it too, judging by the way Joanne was blinking back tears and Rick and Jack looked stunned. It was, just as Dr Loomis had said, like he was two different men.

Danielle walked forward a few steps towards Michael's cell door. Instantly, Michael reached his hand through and took hers as soon as she was close enough, before pulling her gently against the cell door. When the three guards looked at each other this time, it was clear they were all thinking the exact same thing. Dr Hazard died for what she did to Danielle, so I'm sure as hell not going to try and separate them!

Dr Loomis seemed to be thinking the same, because he quietly told Danielle to step back just for a second and opened Michael's cell door. Immediately, the killer had her tight in his arms and she rested her head against his chest, once more holding back tears. It looked as though he'd never let her go again. She knew they had to talk, but right now she didn't want this moment to end. Leaning down, Michael placed her hands on his ears, and she let out a tearful laugh. Dr Loomis followed them as Michael turned and led her back into the cell, they'd shared for so many nights. As soon as they were inside, Dr Loomis closed the door, but as promised did not lock it.

"We'll leave you to it," Joanne said, looking at the two of them with teary eyes. The sight was so sweet, so un-Michael Myers! He didn't look anything like the man who, although they had no proof, strongly suspected had just slit Dr Hazard's throat and stomach wide open. "You know what to do if you need us," she finished, as they and Dr Loomis walked away, the door to the corridor closing softly behind them.

…

"Why were you and Dr Hazard separated?" Dr Loomis asked Rick and Jack once they and Joanne were in his office.

"She told us too, in no uncertain terms," Jack said, turning on his head camera.

"Grant, Evans, I hear you are accompanying me down to solitary momentarily. You are to go ahead of me, just in case Hayward tries something against me upon her release."

Dr Loomis nodded after hearing Hazard's words. "Her only fear was Danielle hurting her," Jack said, smiling bitterly. "So, we just went straight to her cell as instructed, whereas it appears Dr Hazard got lost and…"

"Met Michael Myers," Rick finished, looking a little sick again. "Jesus! I don't think I'll ever get those images out of my head, just like Dawson's decapitation. Thank you very much, Myers!" Jack nodded in agreement.

"He'd probably write you're welcome if he could hear you now," he said humourlessly. "Damn that guy has a sick, warped, cruel and twisted sense of humour."

"You're just learning that now?" Joanne smiled slightly at him. "Keep up."