The Last Injection
Happy Belated Birthday, William.
It was pretty early in the morning when the gaurd came around, the look of contempt evident on his face. His rifle was held tight across his chest as he made his way throuh the jungle and over to where Billy was huddling over a half-eaten fish.
"Hey," he grunted. "You there."
The octopus-man glanced up, brows narrowing as he was addressed. What now? "If yer lookin' fer try-outs-" he spotted a glimpst of uniform and bit down on his fish again in disapointment, "Oh. Wha' th'hell d'y'want?"
"Doc wants you in the labs for sumthin," he said, readjusting his gun. "So you gonna come peacefully or will we have to knock you out and hual your slimey a** up there?"
"Which Doc?" He growled carefully, gripping his fish tighter as though worried the guard would take it away from him.
"Lockheart," he said with a knowing smirk.
That made Billy pause, his brows raised, "Really, now?"
"Yeah, really. So you coming?"
"Aye, aye," He grunted and put the fish in his mouth as he crawled across the rocks towards where his rusted wheelchair stood to climb aboard, "Bu' y'better push me."
The guard didn't answer, just frowned and took a hold of his chair. His expression remained sour, but he made no attempt to openly hassle the fish-man as he put him in the Jeep and drove to the labs.
It was a rather short drive through the jungle to the labs, and Aubrey was waiting for Billy on the other side of the fence, hands behind her back and smile that was hard to peg on her face.
At the sight of the woman doctor, Billy's eyes lit up. She wanted to see him! Then parinoia set in, and the old "Why" came knocking on the back of his skull. He shifted in his seat, waiting for them to direct him.*
The gaurd just got up and left to take his post back near the gate. Aubrey took his chair out of the back of the Jeep and help out her arms to help him out. "Behaving yourself, Billy?"
He reached his tentacles out for her, dipping forward to be caught by her, "Been keepin' ou' o' trouble."
Aubrey caught him easily, hefting him up and placing him in his chair. "Good to hear." She stepped up behind his chair and pushed him towards the labs.
In the Lobby, near the corner at the large window that overlooked the cliffs and the ocean below, a table was set up with a birthday cake, a paper hat, and a covered silver platter.
"Happy Birthday," Aubrey said, wheeling him over. "I know its a bit late, but this is the first chance I've had. There's..." her voice dropped off, a bit of acid seeping into her tone. "been a lot going on."
Billy stared, eyes round and honestly suprised. He hadn't expected anything! Heck, he hadn't done anything for his birthday beyond going out for drinks with his friends in over a decade. "Y'din' ha' t'do all this!" He beamed up at her, but caught just that edge of acid. "Oh yeah? Li' wha'?"
"I won't bore you with shop talk," she sighed, picking up a paper hat from the table and placeing it on Billy's head, patting down the greasy white hair. She pulled off the cover, exposing a fresh baked fish filet prepared by one of the mansion chefs.
"I know you're probably not a wine guy," she said, turning a bottle. "But I got this when I was in Paris. Ya know, if you're gonna drink wine, better be the good stuff, eh?"
She motioned towards the table. "Dig in."
He gave a whistle, glancing over the spread with a wide grin, "Well, I'm impressed t'say th'least!" He didn't mind wine in the least. Nor the delicious smelling fish that looked far more appetizing than the scrawny thing he had been gnawing on the whole drive there.*
Aubrey leaned against the window, observing. She crossed her arms and chewed on her bottom lip as she watched him. She smiled, honestly happy that he seemed to be enjoying himself. She slipped a hand into her labcoat pocket, fingering the syringe case. Not yet..she'd let him enjoy himself first.
"Well aint this posh?" He chuckled, reaching for his silverwear with a tentacle clumsily. He wasn't very practiced with a fork and knife these days.
Aubrey smiled, "Well ya know, everyone deserves to be spoiled." Her eyes dropped to the silverwear for a moment. "You don't have to use those if you don't want," she chuckled. "I won't tell."
"Goo' cause they're bloody impossible fer thems wit'ou' fingers," He laughed back, happily picking up the fish to gnaw at it's deliciously cooked flesh hungrilly.
Aubrey pulled up a chair and sank into it, propping her head up on her hands and just watching him. She let him alone for several minutes, waiting for him to finish. She'd bring it up when he was eating his cake, she decided.
"Wha're'y'starin'a'?" He mumbled through a mouthfull of fish.
"You, I guess," she said honestly. "Sorry, I've had a lot on my mind. I'm just zoning I suppose."
"Too much kidnappin' people, eh? Turnin' wee gels into whales an' th'like?"
Aunbrey's eyes narrowed, but she was quiet for a moment. Either she didn't know what to say, or was too defeated to answer.
"Something like that," she said with a huff, hands going to her hips.
"Then wha' is it, if yer gonna be tha' way?" He laughed at her reaction, taking another bite of fish befor reaching for his wineglass again. This wasn't so bad at all.
"Just business, okay?" she snapped, immediatedly regretting it and rubbing her temples. "There's apparantly a lot of upset on the mainland about the company. Apparantly having your CEO gone for the better part of a year is raising some concerns."
That perked his attention, "Th'feds gettin' on his case, eh? People getin' suspicious?"
"I don't know," she said with a sigh. "I don't think its that serious, its just Moreau needs to be careful before the board of directors takes control of the company out from under him."
"... An'... wha' woul' tha' mean, ezactly? If he lost control o' t'is company o' his?"
"He won't, so its a moot point," she said quickly.
"Bu' if he did?"
Aubrey rolled her shoulders. "I don't know. Nick might pull out, make his an independant operation, which would obviously cut our funding. Hopefully you won't miss electricity and hot water
too much."
Her joke, if it was one, fell flat. She just shrugged and waved her hand as if to dismiss the idea.
"No, I live in a puddle. Only t'ing I'm missin' is cigarettes. Etcetera," He snickered, but his mind was slowly muddling over what ifs that frightened him.
Aubrey just shook her head. "You don't believe me, I'm sure, but it would probably be in everyone's best interest if Moreau stays the private head of Feral Labs."
His half formed beak made drinking from a wine glass a difficult matter, but somehow he managed with only spilling a little down his beard and front. He sloshed hwat made it to his mouth about in his cheaks quietly for a moment, "Wha'... wou' happen t'us... I mean, if y'lot were caught fer th'crazy-arse bastards th'lot o' y'are an' shut down. Wha' wou' they do wit' us?"
"Not a clue." Aubrey learned over, taking a napkin and dabbing at Billy's chin as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "I would think in today's modern age you'd all still be considered human beings in the eyes of the law. You could do whatever you wanted to."
"Why do I doub' tha'? Why do I jes' see me life endin' in a fishtank?" He laughed bitterly as she mothered him, eyes twitching over her face, her throat, the line of her jaw.
"Because you'd probably muck up whatever chances you were given, until the only thing left for you
was a fishtank," she said with a dark smirk.
"M'still wanted fer murder anyways. E'en if it weren't me fault."
Samantha Blaire: "See, so still in your best interest."
He snorted at that, taking another mess drink of wine, "Y'sure we won' jes'... become government property o' sometin'? I go' enough bloody needles in me," He gave his collar an irritable rub. The scars from the needles of the collar tugging at his sensitive octopus skin had grown since the last time she saw him.
"I don't know," she said with a shrug. "Call me selfish, but if this place gets discovered I think I might be a bit preoccupied with my own neck."
She tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear. "That and many other reasons why I will do everything to keep
that from happening."
"So this really is as good as it gets, then."
"Maybe, maybe not."
Aubrey's teeth tugged at her bottom lip again, hand slipping into her labcaat again. "But speaking of finality.."
"Tell me sometin'," He held out his wineglass as though begging for seconds, "Wha did y'tink o' me, when I was human, I mean... did y'tink I were handsome?"
Aubrey looked up, a bit thankful for the distraction and a feeling a bit guiltly. "Well... you weren't exactly my 'type,' per se..." She gave a coy grin and poured him another glass. "But... yeah. Maybe after a good scrub-down and a change of clothes, you could have been very handsome."
His lips pulled into a grin over his strange teeth and he beamed at her befor taking another long drink as though it were just juice. Ah, wine. And certainly posh wine at that! He licked along the bucked-tooth like potrusion of his growing beak, "I knew y'fancied me."
Aubrey let out a good hearted chuckle, dipping her finger in Billy's glass for a moment and sucking the wine off it. "Well, you know what they about the good girls and the bad boys."
He watched the finger dip past her lips, and the spines poking through the part of his hair twitched and trembled. "Oh, an' I'm very, very bad, aint I?"
"I don't think you're
as bad as you seem to think you are... but yeah. You're very very bad."
"Wha' I t'ink I am is all tha' really matters in th'long run!" He laughed, one of his arm-tentacles slithering under the table to touch her knee, "How 'bou' a kiss fer th'birthday boy, then, eh?"
"See? There you go again, being bad." She hesitated for a moment, wondering if Moreau would really care, and remembering the dead, festering peice of fish he had been gnawing on when he came in. She leaned forward over the table, putting her hands on the side of his face and planting a kiss on his cheek, by the corner of his mouth. "There, only because its your 'birthday.'"
"Aw, tha' aint a kiss," He tried to turn his head, but even then it was difficult to do much of anything with his teeth in the way.
"..and I'm not done with you." She pulled back, her expression suddenly very serious. "..and I'm not sure you'd want to kiss me after this anyway."
She pulled out the syringe case from her pocket, a thin, stainless still contraption that resembled a high-tech pencilbox. She out each of her thumbs on the reader plates, causing it to pop open, revealing a syringe full of a a thick, inky substance.
She just set it on the table in front of her, watching Billy's expression.
Indeed, his expression fell into an unreadable frown. He sat still for several intense moments which were only broken by the return of his old nervious tick. He tried to hide it with a nervious chuckle, "W-was tha' then?"
"I think you know..." She picked up the syringe, holding it between in her fingers. "I didn't know.. if it would be better, coming from someone like me or not.. " She swallowed, suddenly looking extremely sad. "But you know... it can all be over so soon.."
He trembled, watching it carefully with wide, tightly dialated eyes, "I remember th'last time y'jabbed me wit' a needle... y'tough' I raped yer kitten."
Aubrey averted her eyes at that, looking ashamed. "If it wasn't me that did, it would have been someone else, though."
"Y'wanted revenge. I know tha' look y'had. It's a particular look, fits various situations an' all tha'," He swallowed. His voice was shaking, his eyes never leaving the needle on the table next to what had been a rather lovely lunch.
"This time, its not about revenge, I promise." She forced herself to look at him again. "Its over at this. One more change, and there's nothing left for us to do to you."
'Hey... c-c'mon, y'don' need t'do this! I... I'm jes' fine li' this, really!" He gave a trembling laugh, raising a couple tentacles defensively.
"You can't stay like that forever, Billy. You'd get sick..."
"I feel fine!"
"For now." Aubrey stood, trying to look authoratative without looking threatening. "Look, if you want, we'll just give it to you in your sleep like everyone else. I just... I just thought maybe you'd appreciate the forthwrightness."
"No... I... I don'... " He floundered, "I jes'... "
For a moment it looked like Aubrey's chin was trembling, but a steady breath and squaring of the shoulders later and it was gone. "Fine." She put the syringe back in the box and clicked it closed. "We can do it the more convential way.:
"I din' mean tha'!" He blurted out, a tentacle rippling to put the wineglass back on the table, but in his frustration he missed and it shattered across the ground in a spray of red.
Aubrey flinched at the sound, the acoustics of the room making the shatter ear-splitting, only magnifting the tension.
"Its your call Billy," she said, keeping her voice just barely steady.
He fidgeted in his chair, limbs wrything and twisting to try to find something for support to keep them still. After a few breaths he spoke up, "Either way's go' me bloody terrified."
Aubrey took a couple of careful steps towards him, trying to avoid the glass shattered over the floor. She placed both hands on the side of his face, stroking what was left of his hair there. "I know. But try to think about how nice it would be not having to wonder 'what next?'"
"I seen... I seen pictures o' octopuses an' they aint pretty buggers! An' I don' know WHA' these damn spikes are, I'd li' t'know meself, bu' I mean, I jes' can't... wha' will... will I e'en... "
"I don't know..." she said honestly, nails gently trailing over a few the spines. "At least about what you'd look like. The spines are from a Foxfish... we added a vertabrate fish to the first couple aquatic attempts...we just weren't sure if that would help internal organ stablization..."
She stopped herself from going into science techo babble. "Anyway... no one ever knows what they will look like."
"Tha's th'bloody experiment, eh?" His voice wavered and broke, and by his trembling it was clear he was panicking.
Aubrey pulled him closer, standing directly in front of his chair and leading his head to rest on her abdomen. She let her hands stroke over his hair and shoulders, trying to be comforting. "The same as its always been..."
"Wha' if... wha' if I end up jes' a... a... a giant octopus, eh? Jes'... jes' one giant octopus! Them mout's is b'tween their legs, y'know!"
"And so what if you do... you'll adapt, I'm sure. You've
made it this far, havent you? Beaks and tentacles and... " she figured bringing up his nonmorphic genetalia would be a bit tasteless, but she was sure he knew what she meant. "That's... not the plan. But we can't promise anything." She continued to stroke his skin in a calming matter, feeling him templing beneath her fingertips.
His eyes were glassy, twitching with his tick, threatening tears that he had generally managed to keep at bay. After several false starts, he spoke, "Y'... y'can inject me... y'can do it... bu'... jes'... jes' in case... y'know... je's... jes' in case coul' y'do me one t'ing?"
"..what?" She looked down at him, hoping it wasn't an unrealistic expection.
"Jes'... a real kiss, jes' in case... y'know? Jes' so I go' one last, y'know?"
Aubrey opened and closed her mouth a few times, mulling it over in her head. She looked over towards a camera, then back down at the man, at least the thing that used to be a man.
Obviously, Billy had shown little restraint in similar situations in the past, but she couldn't help deny that he
had been on his best behavoir.
She gave him an uncertain look, comtemplating. This, however, was going to do little good for the whole 'lets just be friends' angle she had been trying for a while.
"I..."
She paused again, finally leaning down enough to be eye-level with him. "I guess I that's not asking too much, all things considered."
It was that moment that his restraint seemed to break, and his eyes leaked down over his drying-out greyish skin.
Aubrey blinked, obviously not the reaction she was expecting. "Hey..." she swallowed and tried to collect herself, wiping away at his cheek with her thumbs.
"So this is it...." He breathed, "Wha' e'er happens is who I'll be."
Aubrey just nodded, trying to look confident.
he swallowed, face twitching and sniffing through his remnant nostrils as he tried to regain his composure.
Aubrey was patient, waiting for him finish before bringing out the needle...she was going to inject a crying man.
The tips of his tentacles reached up to rest on her hands as he drew in several deep, steady breaths. It was just another drug. But s**t, of all the things he put into his body, he never was a fan of needles.
She gave him a few more moments before pulling the box out again, carefully opening it and pulling out the syringe. She caught the plastic cap between her teeth and pulled.
She took a breath to steady herself, before finally running the alcohol wipe over the skin of his shoulder.
"Do I get me kiss befor o' after?"
"How about after?" She said, as she pricked his skin.
He gave a suprised noise in his throat at the pinch, tentacles tightening around the hand still on him. This was it. His stomach reeled, panicked by the thought, "If... If... I end up a giant octopus... promise me ye'll take care o' me? Keep me as a pet o' sometin'... I don'... wan' th'others t'see me tha' way."
"I..." Aubrey stumbled over her words for a minute. "Only of you're... you know, up here." She pulled the needle back and tapped the side of her skull.
After securing the empty needle back in the case, she learned down and brushed her lips over the puncture mark.
He closed his eyes, bracing himself against the sickening, burning feeling of the serum coursing through his bloodstream. The last injection. The final injection. This was it. He would be finished. But what would that outcome be? He concentrated instead on the feeling of her lips against his shoulder, his breathing quickening.
She pulled back and met his gaze, giving him a questioning, almost expectant look.
"Y'wouln'... happen t'have a cigarette, would ye?" He replied in a weak, raspy voice.
"Sorry, no," she said, stroking his hair again. "No smoking around me and the ..." she placed a hand on her stomach and gave an awkward grin. "Ask the guards when they escort you back."
His eyes dipped down to her stomach and then up to her face again, his own trembling ever so slightly. "Damn. Been ou' fer days. Weeks. Can't remember," He gave a nervious laugh. He wasn't just injected. He woudlnt' become a giant octopus. One day they might still be rescued or at least make it back to the world. Right. Of course not. This was it. This was the end of the road. He had taken that leap of faith and this is where he had ended up. Eight tentacles, a taste for fish and a shrinking spine. "How aboo' tha' kiss?" He needed his mind on other things. More important things. Like the fact it had been months since the last time he had been with a woman."
Aubrey was a bit unsure how to exactly go about the whole .. kissing thing. Teeth and rotting fish and all. But a promise was a promise, she took a breath, forced a smile and leaned in. She started at the corner of his mouth, just in from where she kissed him before, letting him take it from there.
He leaned into her lips with a sigh, his own lips parting as he turned his mouth to her's, keeping himself just off center to work around the psudo-beak. His tongue ran along the crease of her lips, urging them to part. He tasted of fish and lake and the wild.
Aubrey slipped her hands behind his head, letting her mouth fall open a bit after an initial cringe. Let him have his one last kiss..it was the least she could really do.
He reached out to wind two limbs about her waist, two more gently coiling about her cheaks as he felt her smooth teeth, remember what it was like to have human teeth of his own.
Aubrey made a small sound into his mouth before gently pulling back, giving a peck on his cheek.
"I love ye', doc, y'know tha'?" He whispered, "I migh' be a mad b*****d, bu' I know wha' I feel an' tha's it."
"You have horrible taste in woman," she sighed with a sad smile. She leaned her forehead against his head. "I wish things had turned out better for you."
He gently nuzzled what used to be his nose against her cheak, nibbling her skin with his upper lip despite the bone sheild guarding his lower lip.
She swallowed and pet his head. "You should probably go, before it kicks in," she said, averting her eyes and pulling away.
"I coul' still treat ye better'n he coul'," He insisted, shifting to try to get closer, his previous good behavior starting to crumble in his desperation. *
"Don't ruin the moment," she pleaded, looking into his eyes. "That's... not under discussion."
One tentacle remained coiled around her wrist, the tip gently caressing the side of her palm. "Visit again sometime... maybe there'll be progress on me project."
"I will," she gave a smile and a nod, as a guard came up towards the table from the front gate. "But I have work I have to get back to for now. Take care of yourself, Billy."
"I love you," He repeated, not caring if the guard overheard. His tentacle did not loosen it's grip.
Aubrey rubbed the tentacle, giving it a pat. She let out a breath and smiled sadly at Billy, before giving an apologetic look to the guard.
"Time to go, Slimer," he said gruffly, putting a heavy hand on his 'shoudler'
The octopus gave a growl under his breath, slowly letting go of her as he watched the other man out of the corner of his eye distrustfully. "If y'coul'.... send me some smokes sometime, that'd be brilliant," He ignored the guard, speaking only to Aubrey.
"I'll work on it," she said with a nod. She stuck her hands in her pockets and watched the guard pull him away, fighting back a sudden urge to break down in tears.
And Billy fell silent, letting himself be pushed, his belly filled with fish and wine and twisting with sexual frustration like no cepholophod had ever felt befor.
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