Apothic Black: Wondering

Right at this very moment life shouldn't be called life, more like an action movie with a hint of torture. Attempting to remain sane in this rollarcoster of emotions and life threatning events and desperately trying to keep your humanity... It might as well be some sort of challenge where at the end there will be some kind of reward for keeping them. It's sick and twisted, but it's one way to look at it. There's no other way to see it.

Back in her yesterday's clothes she heard the prisoners muffled cries of pain. The between her tears was barely one. With one last deep breath she came out and sat down on the floor in front of the hostages, carrying a serious look.

"Hi..." they both looked at her with the same amount of fear as they have with Beau. Though she can't understand why. "I think... Thaat... You both know why we captured you. I ask of you to answer our questions truthfully and if you do... We promise to let you go alive and with no other injury."

Only one of the guys nodded in agreement while the other decided to remain faithful to whoever he works with. So Juliet's attention was fully on the cooperative one. "who do you work for? Why are you after us? And..." she whispered to him so he can regain his calm. She thought back to her wounds and how they managed to heal instantly. "what am I?"

This unfortunate soul carried such a weight on him; the mission, attempting to hurt an innocent girl who has demonstrated now how confussed and clueless of her past she is. It showers him with guilt and sympathy.

"Don't do it-" His resistant partner was shushed by the girl.

With a deep breath the cooperative one started singing. "W-we work for th-the Apothecary. W-we were sent to retrieve you and eliminate the android."

"Dude shut-" He got punched in the gut by her companion.

"I-I don't know exactly what you are all I know i-is that you're s-some kind of experiment... A-a-and he's.meant to protect you. P-p-please let me go. That is all I know. That's all I know." With that he burst into tears.

Beau listens with his arms crossed as Juliet's puppy dog eyes do their thing. Between her innocence and his heartless tactics one is already spilling.

"I wouldn't shut up if I were you." He warns him then glares at the one who's trying to keep the other quiet. "Don't think just because she's here I won't go Veitkong on you." He bends a bit at the hips. "If you're trying to retrieve her then why are you shooting real bullets at her?" He points out. "And what android? Are you saying that I'm some kind of science fiction novelty? Because I sure as shit don't really seem like one."

He looks at Juliet then back at them. "Got a feeling there's still some secrets you're keeping. You're a singing, but your friend here looks to have more field time. How about I test his resistance to water?" He grabs the uncooporative one up and sits him in the chair next to the bathroom. "We'll see if you'll want to hold out on us."
He drags the guy into the bathroom and tips the chair over the tub so his head hangs. He drapes the towel over the mans face and starts the water. "Ever heard of water-boarding?" He informs him. He fills the complimentary ice bucket up with water and begins spilling it over his face, soaking the towel, creating a sensation of drowning so intense he thrashes about, but can't get free.
"Most can't stand little more than a minute of this. How long will you last or will you just die? Let's find out."

Juliet stood up from the floor and walked outside where she paced back and forth. Processing this kind of information is impossible for her. An experiment!? What does that even mean!? I-I can't be-. That-s impossible! Who are these people!? What have they done to me!? Why would they do this to me!? One question leads to another and this one is obviously unable to answer them. Only the tortured one will be able to shed some life into her; if he ever decides to help.

She goes and sits on the hood of the car and hugs her legs. "This can't be true." Her tears began escaping her eyes as she sobs. "Im normal."

"No! please don't leave me with him!!!" He yelled at the confussed girl exting the door. Frightened and unaware of what will happen next he struggles to break free of the binding shirt, but fails to gain his freedom.

"Rob just fucking tell them what they want to know!!" He managed to say between sobs.

As the water soaks into the linen towel it becomes so heavy it's like lead. His entire head soaked and hanging back Rob is struggling for dear life. He can't breath though is lungs aren't being filled with water his mouth is and it's hard to keep up the swallowing. The towel is lifted and the android is smiling down at him. Is this sick freak enjoying this?

"Last chance," Beau informs him. Rob coughs, but refuses to say a word. "Fine by me." The towel is put back into place and more ice cold water blankets his face like a waterfall.

Rob feels panic begin to ensue as not only is he convinced he's drowining bits of his life are flashing before his eyes. He kicks and struggles which only exasperates his growing hysteria. He can't take anymore. He doesn't want to die like this. He calls out through the towel.

The chair is pushed back onto four legs. Rob practically falls foward and the towel lands in his lap. "The girl. . ." he hacks, "she's a failed experiment like you created by the Apothecary."

"What's the Apothecary?" Beau demands.

When Rob is hesitant the chair is pushed back into position. The android has no patients which lets Rob know he better speak quickly despite being light headed. "It's a science company that creates weapons for governments all over the world to buy out on contract. They develop and experiment and defy god. They're super hush-hush." He clears his throat as he's starting to catch his breath.

"What kind of experiment did they do to her? You know why?" Beau presses him. Rob shakes his head no at him. "Either you get to spilling or I'm going to spill your internal organs into this tub and leave you hear alive for your boss' to come. We'll see how they deal with their traiter."

"A virus-she's a carrier of a super-human sirum. Inside her it was supposed to give people the ability to be stronger and heal instantly, but it's still in the test stages. They had to introduce it into the body with the traits of a virus so it would take throughout the entire body. Human body can't create the amount of energy needed to keep up with it and it can be passed when uncontrolled. This thing can wipe out over half of North America." Rob lets it all out and couldn't feel any more like a coward. "

"Then how is she still alive? Is the entire city now contaminated?" Beau isn't buying this with all the holes in it.

"It's because of you being an android. Inside her is a receiver that keeps the virus in check. That receiver gets signals from you to keep everything regulated. If for any reason the signal is disrupted or lost like if you went further than 100 yards it'll turn off and the virus will go crazy. It'll destroy her from the inside out and spread like the plague." He finally gives him a very vital piece of information.

"I'm not some science fiction, D-movie reject. I feel things to the touch, I have skin, and I think just like most people-"

"That's the point." Rob interrrupts. "Dude, the evidence is everywhere! You can withstand bullets from assult rifles and machine guns. You leapt through the trees like a monkey, because you are stronger and faster than any human. You are meant to seem human so nobody notices the fact you are a mobile weapon of mass destruction. Nobody can be this stupid." That last insult delivers him a whack to the side of the head.

"Keep to the details, asshole." Beau keeps the "bad cop" angle going. "If she's a failed experiment then what am I doing with her?"

"That's what we wanted to know. Why did you endanger the fucking world by bringing her out here?" Rob snaps at him. "You were ordered to protect her. That's all we know. We know how dangerous you are and yet they had you protecting a teenage lab rat. Your duty is over. You failed. She needs to come back to the Apothecary." Rob's neck is snatched up in the android's vice like grip. "Don't get mad at me. It's the truth." He squeezes out.

"You say I'm dangerous. Just how dangerous am I? If I'm a weapon what exactly am I capable of doing?" Beau is ready to pop his head off.

"You don't know?" Rob hesitates. He's not about to tell him if he doesn't know, but then again he's not in a position to argue. Beau gives him a hard shake that makes his neck crack. "Lazors...least one in your arm. Don't know which. You're programmed with tactical and war strategies along with everything you could need in survival mode. You're obviously bullet proof. I can't remember anything else. Our squad leader had all the specs we were given the minors." This is enough for the android to release him. "That's all I know. . ."

"If she's that vital of a failure then why are you trying to kill her. She's NOT bullet proof. " Beau points out. "There's a hole in your defence."

"We were to take her back at any costs. Eliminate you and retrieve your body as well. You're just one of many experiments. Your life is worthless." Rob lets some anger out. He shouldn't be here like this. He's worked so hard and given up so much for the company.

"So is yours." Beau blurts out before going to stand in the doorway. It's clear he doesn't know what to do.

"You should take her back. It's not safe for her or the world outside the Apothecary. We're not the only ones after you two. They've got a rival company known at the Pharmacy and they are ruthless. They create things that are against the very nature of god. The longer you stay out here the better their chances to take you both in. If they get her we're all fucked."

The guy had claimed he didn't know shit, but everything he gave up was extremely valuable to them-both of them.

Beau now has a lot running through his mind which is something he's not used to. He doesn't enjoy being so conflicted.
He helped a lab experiment that's carrying a deadly virus out of her creators arms to join a world she can easily destroy. He betrayed them, but he knows he didn't betray his orders. Like a loyal dog his masters, or Juliet's, wishes are absolute.
But why-WHY did he risk everything to help her escape?

If he takes her back what will they do with her? It'll probably be painful or maybe even death. If this other company, the Pharmacy, if it exists get a hold of her they'll more likely do the same if not worse. Which is the lesser of two evils?

Should he tell her all this? She's having a hard enough time dealing with the minor personal issues that are underlined by the constant threat of serial murders aiming to take them both every moment they stop moving. How long can they run and what if they become seperated? Is he going to have to spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder for her? If he's an android does that mean he won't age, but she will? And what if he breaks or malfunctions? Who's going to repair him?

He runs his hand through his hair and pulls on it. Too much to think about. He'll have to choose carefully what information he's sure she can and can not handle. This isn't getting any easier, but at least it's not boring.

As he lets this soak in he waits for her to rejoin them. He isn't in any rush to push her. She needs to take these steps in her own way and as much as he'd like to give her all the time in the world their lives are literally a matter of time. "Juliet," he says loud enough for her to hear, "you can come back in now. Torture is done nobody's dead."

Juliet went back inside once she heard Beau call her. As she approached the entrance her thoughts attempted to guess what horrible revelations the other hostage had spoken.

"what did he say?" She asked leaning on the door frame.

Beau isn't sure what to say or where to start. There was a lot ot recap.
"A lot of stuff." He plays it off. "Created more questions than answers really. You want to go grab a bite to eat while we talk it over? Anything you want. Their treat." He smirks and holds up a wallet.

Beau was beating around the bush she could tell, but what was more irritating to her was the fact he was trying to change the subject to food. "I'm not going anywhere... and neither are you until YOU tell ME what this dude said." She puts her foot down. Something in the back of her head tells her that there is more to what the scary-cat said. Something very horrible and to tell the truth Juliet is hesitant to know, but as much as she doesn't she has to if they're ever going to figure out a way to escape this hell.

"And I mean it." She stood in front of the door, blocking his path.

Still on the floor without his comrade next to him he frantically tries to break free from his on clothing, but like always he fails miserably. Finding no other way out he resorts to begging. "Okay... we've told you all we know. Now let us go."

"Shut up," Beau snaps at the guy on the floor. He looks back to Juliet. "You really think you can stop me?" He feels he can take her. "I think it's best we talk about this, I don't know, away from them." He's meaning the goons still tied up in their room. "But if you want something to bite on let's take this outside." He coaxes her outside and shuts the door behind them. "Listen, because even I still don't believe any of this is real." He thinks about where to begin.

"You are-," he wants to sugar coat it, "you were part of an experiment which allows you to be super strong and heal very fast." He gives her the good news. "While I was your android...body guard," the way he says it still sounds like he doesn't buy it. "The place we came from is called the Apothecary and they really want us back while there is a competing company called the Pharmacy who is also going after us to steal us from the before mentioned laboratory." He couldn't simplify it anymore. He doesn't want to rag on about it like the other guy did. "So to keep you safe I can't leave your side...ever."

That should be enough to satisfy her. "Now how about that breakfast?"

Rob wriggles around in his bindings. He feels the shirt sleeves tied in the back just may be loose enough for him to manipulate out.

"Don't you look so helpless. Like a fish in a net." A childishly sinister voice scares him almost out of his skin.

Rob shoots a glance over to the strange young looking guy in a mix between a very stylish Cheshire Cat and a Mad Hatter costume. How he managed to sneak in there is baffling. He appears like a ghost. He sits on the sink with his legs crossed and a hand under his chin in a curious pose. Behind him sways what he can only guess is a real tale.
This freak isn't a normal human. He had seen these creatures before. This isn't good.
"Who are you? What are you? What do you want?" Rob demands loudly hoping his captives who have promised his life will hear and come in.

"Oh-me-oh-my, so many questions for someone who's in the execution chair." He coos.

"You-you're an assassin. . .?" Rob gulps. He knows he's as good as dead.

"Mad Cat here, at your service," he tips his hat to him just a little. He smiles, showing his fangs. "Let us not beat around the bush, because our little rabbits are already outside. I am a DN-Animal if you wish to know, but it'll do you no good. A corpse isn't worth its weight in salt." He speaks in what sounds like riddles.

"What?" Rob doesn't have time to scream as Mad Cat walks pounces on him, tipping the chair back like before so his head hangs.
With a flick of his wrist a switchblade gleams in the low lighting. Mad Cat takes only a second to admire his own reflection in the blade before taking a hard, deep, but clean slice through Rob's neck. With no support his trachea and muscles are exposed. He chokes widly as the blood spirts into the air for a moment, but quickly simmers down pumping out to the rhythm of his slowing heartbeat.

Mad Cat watches him in delight as he takes a lick of the blood off the blade. It gets him quite hot to have the scent and taste of fresh copper filling his senses. He gets off him and sneeks into the next target. He pokes his head over the man's shoulder, covering his mouth to keep him from screaming. Outside he can hear the two rabbits talking completely oblivious to the carnage inside. "It's rude to interrupt others." He hisses in the pawn's ear. "Be a good boy and be quiet." He slices this one even deeper so deep in fact he about takes the cartilage down to the spine. The man twitches violently for a moment as blood drenches him and the floor, but in mere seconds he's dead.

Mad Cat releases him and slips back to the air duct in which he entered. He secures the vent and crawls back to his room upstairs. He flips open his cell phone and hits his speed dial.
It rings only twice before his master answers. "The two have been silenced, but the subjects are aware of the labs. Yet nothing else. They seem to have complete amnesia of their time as experiments. I'll keep in shadow until further orders." He hangs up. Simple as pie. He can't wait to see what happens next.

As Beau shares his revelations she just stands there staring at him, still unable to connect the dots. There were still somethings he was keeping to himself. Juliet wasn't that stupid. Again he tries to get her to surrender to food, but there were more important things going on at the moment.

"Will you forget the food!" Her stomach had other ideas. "There's more to what you are saying and you are not telling." She steps closer to him. "Now tell me everything and I mean everything he said!" It was such a great way to start the morning; nothing like a good interrogation, torture and argument with a total stranger. There still remained a lot of questions for her like, why can't he ever leave her side?, why are those goons after her and trying to kill her?, why did they escape?, why was she?, a simple girl, chosen for an experiment?

At this moment Juliet was on the verge to crack. If Beau didn't talk now she would probably slap it out of him.

"Calm down, you'll wake the neighbors." He puts his hands up. "What more do you want me to say? He didn't have shit for details." Beau isn't about to budge, but he's got to get her to simmer down before she boils over. He feels as if he's looking at a nuclear meltdown no matter which way he goes.

"I didn't want to scare you, but if you are more 100 meters from me you can die. It has something to do with what they put in you. Not sure why they planned it out that way, but my guess it's so they were sure you'd always stay close. Since I'm some kind of science fiction reject they may have made a mistake in the control department. Still no clue why we escaped. Seems like non of them sent after us knew. Must've been really important whatever our reasons." He can't dare bring himself to tell her she's a walking health hazard to all man kind. If she were to hear that she may give up on every reuniting with her family or on having a life altogether.

"... What?" The whole world just felt heavy on her shoulders. If there really was a hell or heaven then the divine beings have unjustifyingly hurled her soul into the gates of Hades.

Enclosed in her fears and confusion time felt ceased and the atmosphere quiet as if waiting for the end. How can I go back...if I'm this way? It was best to leave it at this... There's more to it, but she can't handle anymore. "So what now?" Her back was to Beau, focused on the ground.

"I don't know." Beau admits. "We've got a lot to handle as it is. That's why I wanted to distract you and get you re-energized so that we can make a new game plan with a clear head." He gives her more reason to get something to eat and get out of here for a while.
He glances back to the window, but the curtains are still drawn so he can't see the man inside. "Either way we've got to ditch them. We can leave them here or drop them off somewhere out the way." He tells her. "After all a promise is a promise and I promised everyone they'd get their lives for what they knew. Let's load up our things, get their ass' in the trunk, and get out of here. Got a feeling if we stay in one place for too long they may track us down."

Beau opens the door and walks in to the intense smell of fresh blood. He sees the man on the floor motionless and drenched in red. He pulls his head up, but it only takes a little bit to see his head is barely attached. "Oh, shit," is all he can say. He rushes over to the bathroom to find his hostage backwards and blood still dripping into the porcelain tub. "Grab everything. We gotta go now."

Beau rushes Juliet even more. She doesn't have anything else on her besides the clothes she's wearing. Was something wrong? The girl rushes inside to see if he needed help, but that wasn't the case. At the door she stops in her tracks at tze sight of this gory seen; blood all over the floor and the body.of their former hostage. Feeling a scream coming up her throat she covers her mouth and breaks down in lto sobs. What happened!?

"Beau... W-w-what-?" She couldn't speak at all.

Juliet muffles her own scream. She's already crying before Beau can stop her from coming inside. He has everything together in an instant and picks her up as he exits as if she were a handbag. "Don't know and too late to care." He answers. He opens the passenger door for her and throws the duffel in the back. He quickly gets the car started and takes off. Somewhere in the few short minutes they were outside a double homocide took place right under their noses.
Now he knows why that guy was so adverse to talking. That easily could have been either one of them.

He glances along the roadway and pulls into a Waffle House. "Ain't no rest for the wicked." He mumbles. "I know you're not up to it, but not eating won't bring either of them back. Besides we never even knew their names. They were faceless tokens to whomever sent them after us to begin with. I doubt anyones going to miss them." Beau is cold to it all. He could care less about them or that they're dead, but Juliet is upset and he doesn't know how to console her. She's the only life he needs to be concerned about.
"Come on." He gets out of the car.

Two days... only two days since her awakening. Ever since, no peace, no happy reunion with her parents. A sixteen year old kidnapped by unknown faces, abandoned by her parents, because their marriage was going down the drain all because they couldn't find her. So their solution was to stop trying to find the child they "loved" and move away without leaving her some clue if she were ever to reappear and looking for them.

Furious of how Beau was handling things pretty well she only remained silent; not wanting to say anything to him. Obviously nothing she'll say will change his view of life or people they don't know. To her they were more than strangers or hostages. They were brave men who probably had families and now, because of them, they're dead and their families will soon know what became of them. Worst case scenario they will never know. No one will cry for them, but Juliet decided to cry for them if no one would.

She followed Beau silently into the restaurant and quickly sat down on a booth; didn't say what she wanted, it didn't matter. Being here and eating, still alive... it didn't feel right to her. You should avenge them... They didn't deserve that.

He isn't sure what to do with her. She wasn't taking it well. He isn't sure why she's so upset. Neither of them were hurt. He can only fathom seeing a corpse was a lot for a girl to handle, but it's not like it was her first one in the last 3 days.

The waitress smiles cheerfully with a pitcher of coffee. Beau flips his cup for a fill. He's supposed to be an android yet he injest things. How did that work? "Ready to order?"

"I'll stick with the coffee. What'll you have?" He asks Juliet. She doesn't answer. They both stare at her. "Give her a minute." He excuses the woman.
"Juliet, if you want me to order for you I will, but you got to eat it." He says softly. "Seeing a dead body is obviously tramatizing to you, but pull it together. A lot worse shit has happened. If you don't keep yourself going you're going to fall apart and then what? I'm not going to carry you around like a pack-mule." Beau is trying to talk some sense into her. "So forget those two and focus on us two. As long as we're alive we can keep moving forward. Handle ourselves and accept what we cannot change. Does that make any sense? Are you listening?" Beau isn't sure what he's saying, because it looks to be falling on deaf ears.

The ones who took them from this world will soon have their karma... Rest... I'll take care of the everything... Her eyes shifted away from the menu, towards the window that was bathed in sunlight. The only thing she heard was her thoughts trailing away with the wind. Beau has lost any respect or care she had for him. From what she was taught no one is more important than the other. Even if they're evil, good... It doesn't matter... Those were still people.

The waitress returns again to take her order, still smiling. At least some people were happy or maybe she's forcing it. "Are you ready miss?"

Her head turns slowly back to the menu. Everything looks like stuff anyone can cook at home. "I'll have pancakes, eggs and bacon with coffee."

"Black or with milk?"

"With milk. That would be all."

"Comming right up."

Juliet turned her attention back to the window like she was waiting for something.

Beau sweetens his cup with 1 of each kind of sugar & creamer available at the table. He has no account for taste, but coffee obviously wasn't his favorite drink before the memory loss. An energy drink sounds more appealing, but how would his system deal with something like that when he's supposedly not even human. Not like he's gotten tired, thirsty, or hungry.

He glances back up at Juliet who is a total zombie. Her order comes out, but she's slow to even look at it like a new mom experiancing post partum depression who won't pick up her newborn. He can't stand this. He wants to shake her silly.
"What is wrong with you?" He flat out asks. "You've been dealing with everything else pretty impressively up till this morning when those two nobodies were offed. We didn't kill them. Thanks to you they would have been set free to shoot at us another day, but somebody didn't want them talking. Either way they signed their death warrants them minute they joined that black-ops team. To be a soldier is accepting the fact you are probably going to die at the hands of an enemy. The fact you're fighting and dying for a strong reason is the only thing that keeps a soldier going." He stirs his still steaming coffee. "Like it or not to survive we're fighting our own personal war. It's them or us. I'm not about to feel sorry for them and neither should you."

He takes a sip.

"Shut up." Was all she said as she played with the food. Those two men were not nobodies. They were people, like her. Figures that Beau wouldn't understand that. With a mind that's gone blank he's probably not sure Beau is even his real name. "I'm not hungry anymore." With glares at him she had decided his presence was no longer tolerable at the moment. Quickly she stood up from the booth and stormed out into the streets of the city.

Juliet had no idea of what part of this messed up city she was, but she didn't care or gave it thought. All she desired was to be alone and be anywhere where Beau wasn't. Her stomach made her regret a bit for not taking one bite of her breakfast. Still she pushed on down the sidewalk, going past stores of all kinds.

"Shut up." Juliet snaps at him before giving up on her picked over breakfast. It's a waste. She gets up all of a sudden and stomps out.

Beau stands up. "Juliet," He turns in his seat before lazily getting up. "Get back here and finish your food." He follows her out the door. She keeps on marching ignoring his weak pleas. "Don't go too far! If that guy was right you can die. Juliet..." He is about sick of her attitude. "Fucking brat," he huffs as he looks to the car. He'll follow her, but keep a distance. He could use the space as well.

In the car he turns on the radio, finding a hard rock station, he cranks it until the windows are shaking. Somehow he feels as if he could use a smoke. Did he use to smoke? Should he try? Juliet most likely would NOT like that. She'd want to be further away from him and that's a hazard. No use provoking her any further when the rest of America is at stake.
As he turns out she's out of sight, but he'll patrol the general direction he saw her leaving. How far could that skinny girl get?