Taylor & Sheldon
Taylor groaned.
"It hasn't been all that long you know..."
"Oh come on Tay, it was January!"
"Hey, just because I slept with one person doesn't mean I want to make a habit of it," Taylor frowned.
Sheldon raised his eyebrows on the other end of the phone.
"Ok. You don't remember it do you?"
"As a matter of fact, I don't."
"I knew it."
"But not everyone is as sex crazed as you and Zac, ok?" Taylor frowned, the very thought of Zac making him fume.
"Chill," Sheldon insisted, "it was just an offer."
"Yeah well, we're going on tour soon anyway."
"Well if I don't talk to you before then, have fun."
"Hope I do."
They soon said their goodbyes, and Taylor put his cell phone away before leaning back on the bench and closing his eyes.
What a few days. Ever since Steel had approached him on the subject of Kat, the animals had decided to put in their two cents... which of course meant Sheldon found out soon enough.
Blakesley
Blakesley watched as Taylor put his phone away before he walked over to him.
"Good day, Taylor."
Taylor
Taylor jumped as he heard his voice, and his eyes shot open.
"And what do you want?" he demanded, sidling away from him.
Blakesley
"Oh...just to chat," Blakesley said.
The scientist straightened one of his cuffs slightly on his jacket.
"What have you been doing lately? That girl's murder was...a good beginning. A little crude, but effective."
Taylor
Taylor gulped, his eyes widening without leaving the ground.
Great. He did know.
"I didn't kill anyone," he said simply.
Blakesley
Blakesley chuckled softly.
"Of course not. It was another alien with your face. Or a mutant, perhaps."
Taylor
"Could have been Christian for all we know," Taylor retorted.
"There's no evidence at all to say it wasn't him. And there's nothing that says it was me."
Blakesley
"I know it was you, through resources I prefer not to make known," Blakesley said softly.
"You're constantly watched. Not just by me, or the people I have employed."
Taylor
"So I figured," Taylor said quietly.
He took a deep breath and looked away, keeping his ears tuned so anything could tell him if Blakesley moved.
Blakesley
"To draw the attention of a god...is a dangerous thing," Blakesley said softly.
"Those the gods love best, they first drive mad."
He put a hand into one of his pockets.
"And through Jane, you've drawn Her attention."
Taylor
Taylor shifted slightly, and put his left arm on the arm rest of the bench uncomfortably.
"I don't follow," he shook his head, watching him warily.
Blakelsey
Blakesley smiled slightly.
"Do you think, if Jane was truly thinking, in her own mind and totally uncontrolled, that she would ever betray you in the smallest way? Empaths are so fragile. So delicate. So unstable. Even more so then telepaths if they remain untrained, untaught and left to flounder as best they can on their own. Thoughts...are not as powerful as emotions. Well, they can be but they do not affect people on the visceral level feelings do. More empaths go mad then telepaths."
Taylor
Taylor hesitated, then glanced up at a tree before returning his gaze tot he ground.
"So you're saying it's not my fault... that someone made her get so messed up that... that it happened on purpose?" he frowned.
Blakesley
"Why, I do believe he's got it," Blakesley said mockingly and clapped his hands in a polite manner.
"Clever man."
Taylor
Taylor looked him up and down, before wrapping his right arm around his waist.
"Well that's a weird change," he said, before beginning to tap his fingers on the bench.
Blakesley
"We all have our little moments of insanity. For some, such as yourself, they last longer then most," Blakesley noted.
He opened the handcuff in his pocket.
"What I find interesting is that when Natalia became a werewolf, she shook off her madness, as it were."
He took his hand out of his pocket and handcuffed Taylor to the bench, moving quickly.
Taylor
Taylor yelped, literally, instantly pulling on the cuff and trying to squeeze his hand through.
"No, no, no, no, no... I'm not ready, I'm not ready," he almost whispered.
Blakesley
Blakesley watched, noting his reactions with a cool eye.
"How interesting...such a violent reaction."
Taylor
Taylor stopped, panting slightly as he looked up at Blakesley through his fringe.
"I'm not ready," his voice shook.
"Let me go."
Blakesley
"Now, why would I want to do that?" Blakesley asked softly.
"I find this interesting."
Taylor
Taylor gulped, looking around the park. Just his luck, it was deserted.
"You're not taking me in," his voice shook again.
Claustrophobia was beginning to set in already...
Blakesley
"If I wanted to, you couldn't stop me," Blakesley said.
He took his other hand out of his pocket. Lying across his palm was a syringe, containing a clear liquid.
Taylor
As soon as Taylor's eyes fell on it, he gulped again and started shaking his head.
"What... what are you gonna do?"
Keeping his eye on it, he called out to one of the birds to try and get someone into the park.
Blakesley
Blakesley spun the syring in his hand slowly.
"You don't know what this could be. It could merely be water, perhaps a sedative...or something far more dangerous."
Taylor
Taylor's head started shaking again.
"No, no..."
He started pulling on his wrist again.
"You're not taking me in, so f**king let me go!"
Blakesley
"Perhaps I need you for assistance on something," Blakesley said.
"You understand any meaningful sounds, correct?"
Taylor
Taylor growled softly so that Blakesley could barely hear it, almost ready to make a knife or gun.
"So what?"
Blakesley
"Translation is always a difficulty with many of my subjects," Blakesley said.
"Particularily with my newest one."
Taylor
"I'm not your f**king slave, Blakesley!" Taylor exclaimed, hoping to draw attention.
"And how the f**k would I do it if they're not here anyway?"
Blakesley
"They're here," Blakesley said softly.
"See the man with the dog? Well, that's what it appears to be anyway."
A lanky man rubbed thin fingers through a huge black dog's ruff, black hair falling across his face, hiding his eyes.
"That...is Kass."
The man flicked his hair out of his eyes, showing that in actual fact, he had no eyes. Just blank patches of slightly discoloured skin. The dog beside him bared its teeth in Blakesley's direction, blue eyes radiating an almost human hatred.
Taylor
Taylor gulped as he looked them over.
"Just... just, Kass?"
Blakesley
"Well, they're both Kass," Blakesley said softly.
"I used Kass's originial telepathy to create a mental symbiote between him and the dog. They are...one."
The dog snarled as Blakesley beckoned slightly with his fingers. Kass clutched at his head with his hands, and the dog whined in pain as they didn't move.
"Ach, de leiber Gott!"
Slowly they walked over, teeth drawn back from their lips in near identical grimaces of agony.
Taylor
Taylor pulled on he hand cuff again as he sat up.
"What happened?" he asked, keeping his eye on them.
Blakesley
"Behavioural chips," Blakesley said.
"Well, there's only one in the alien's head. We haven't developed them for animal use yet. But the pain one suffers, the other does as well. Two minds forced together, made to bond and become one. It has never been done before, and I suffered numerous failures before I managed it," he said with pride as he looked over his experiment.
"Kill me," Kass said in Dathrian, turning his head as if he was looking at Taylor, the blank skin staring from behind his long fringe.
"For the love of God, kill me," the dog whimpered.
Taylor
Taylor's look turned to one somewhere between shock and worry.
He grabbed the arm of the bench with the wrist that was cuffed and closed his eyes for a second, trying to get his head around everything.
Blakesley
Blakesley smiled slightly. Kass glared at him, the dog and the man.
"What I wish to know...is how deep the link goes. I think I've finally got it right, but I'm uncertain."
"Ihre Mutter war eine Dirne," Kass hissed, then fell to his knees, clutching his head and moaning in pain. (Your mother was a whore.)
The dog yelped, then dropped as well, paws scrabbling at the grass and jaws snapping blindly as the reflected agony surged through it.
"Swearing is a nasty habit," Blakesley said reprovingly.
"Von day, I vill rip out your throat," Kass growled through clenched teeth.
The dog snarled the same words in unison before they both went into convulsions resembling epileptic fits.
Taylor
Taylor backed up on the seat, even bringing his feet up onto it as he watched them.
"They're practically the same being," he shook his head, "but if that's Kass, then what happened to the dog?"
Blakesley
"That, is what I'm uncertain of," Blakesley said thoughtfully.
"I think the dog is mostly repressed, or perhaps it merely doesn't wish to make itself known."
Kass laughed hollowly, and the dog yipped in bitter amusement.
"Ich erinnere mich Seite mein Mutter und an meine Sänftegehilfen. Ich erinnere auch mich den an Abbruch. Was zwei war, ist jetzt ein. Und es verletzt," he whispered, the dog leaning into his side and staring at the two men. (I remember my mother's side, and my litter mates. I also remember the crash. What was two, is now one. And it hurts.)
"Which one is real?" the dog asked plaintively.
Taylor
Taylor frowned in concentration.
"They're umm..."
He scratched his head.
"The dog's there. He's just... They've combined into sort of one mind set, so that they are each other. If you get that. Now let me go."
Blakesley
"You're an alien, right? A Dath?" The dog said.
"You must...oh holy god motherF*CK!"
The dog slumped to the ground and Kass screamed.
"Naughty, naughty," Blakesley scolded.
"You're not supposed to tell where the labs are. Very naughty of you, Kass."
"Tanya...tell her...oh mother of god!"
"Heiliger Jungfrau Maria, Mutter de Gott," Kass moaned. (Holy Virgin Mary, mother of God)
Taylor
Taylor bit his lip, cringing as they did.
"Is there a way you could leave a trail?" he asked in dog, knowing Kass would understand but Blakesley wouldn't.
Blakesley
The dog's eyes rolled wildly.
"Can't. Truck. The chip stops me from using much telepathy. You saw how much it hurt to even try and tell you where he has the labs."
"Gott, verletzt es, es verletzt," Kass moaned. (God, it hurts, it hurts)
"Anyway, I think we must be going now," Blakesley said, standing.
"Thank you for your time, Taylor."
"Mein Name ist Kass Schwarzes, ich kam aus Deutschland. Vor ich fiel heraus vom YIRAAS Jahren, recht nach dem Abbruch. Meine Augen wurden schlossen durch ein versehentliches Aufflackern der Strahlung versiegelt. Meine Atomhandhabung bearbeitete nie nach rechts nachher die. Tanya unterrichtete mich, daß wenig und dann nach was meinen Augen... ich geschah, lief. Er fand mich irgendwie, ich weiß nicht. Gott, helfen mir. Erklären Sie Tanya. Jemand. Jedermann. Finden Sie mich und bitte Gott, gesetzt mir aus dieser Hölle heraus, die er mich in gezwungen hat," Kass babbled rapidly. (My name is Kass Schwarzes, I came from Germany. I dropped out from the YIRAAS years ago, right after the crash. My eyes were sealed shut by an accidental flare of radiation. My atom manipulation never worked right after that. Tanya taught me a little, and then after what happened to my eyes...I ran. He found me somehow, I don't know. God, help me. Tell Tanya. Someone. Anyone. Find me and please God, put me out of this hell he has forced me into.)
"Be quiet," Blakesley ordered.
Both Kass's and the dog's mouths snapped closed.
Taylor
Taylor pulled on the cuff again, before returning his feet to the ground.
"You're not... you're not gonna do that to me, right?" he looked up hopefully, "I mean, the chip thing..."
Blakesley
"I think I can control you without the chip," Blakesley said thoughtfully.
"Your clone is another matter."
Kass and the dog slumped against each other, the man rubbing the dog's ears.
Taylor
"If you ever get hold of him again," Taylor pointed out thoughtfully.
"No one knows what's going on at the moment. Except maybe Steel..."
Blakesley
The dog's head turned slowly to stare at Taylor at the mention of Steel's name.
"Oh yes, the mythical, near legendary Steel," Blakesley scoffed.
Taylor
Taylor frowned and looked up at him.
"How could he be mythical? You've seen him before."
He watched the dog curiously, having read his body language.
Blakesley
The dog dropped his head again and Kass scratched his ears. They could wait.
Blakesley just shook his head.
"I will see you in the future, Taylor."
He snapped his fingers at Kass and the pair stood up.
"I do thank you for your help."
Taylor
"Next time it won't be so f**king easy," Taylor murmured under his breath.
He eventually pulled hard enough on the cuff that - with help from his atom manipulation - it shattered. He immediately stood up and backed off.
"Luck to you," he said in dog, before glancing at Blakesley and backing off further.
Blakesley
Kass and the dog grinned in amusement, and the dog nodded slightly.
"Go back to the car now," Blakesley told them softly.
The group moved out across the grass to the other side of the park. The dog padded along behind the two men slowly, Kass's shoulders hunched and head down to hide his eyes.
Taylor
Taylor sneered and flipped his back the bird before heading for the other side of the park.
Why the hell did he let himself be pushed around by assholes like that?