Chapter Text
1 November 2016
The heavy air of the room was virtually unbreathable - dense streams of tobacco smoke contorting suffocatingly under the twinkling light of a bulb covered with grime and rust. The cabin was not too large, large enough to hold a small chair, an elongated desk and the dozens of screens that covered the walls in a psychedelic maze of images from all the cameras that watched the Factory tirelessly. Of these, however, there was only one in which Karl Heisenberg was particularly interested.
The Lord rested on the squeaky chair, leaving both front legs suspended in the air while he hurled another of his books into some dusty corner. A staggering tower of documents, birth records and family trees piled insultingly on his table - gloating over a lack of information that had only infuriated him further. After days of searching for the slightest pearl of information about his new guest, Heisenberg had given in to the evidence.
That woman - if she could even be called that - was a ghost.
Heisenberg crunched the bones of his neck, stretching his contracted muscles as he reached out and grabbed his small personal recorder.
"Record 4408. I was fully aware of the abilities the mold could pass on to a kindred guest, but this woman exceeded all my expectations. Her rate of regeneration had increased considerably. Thanks to what appears to be Lycans's DNA, her strength, speed and endurance rival mine, and she is much more agile -"
Heisenberg’s rather unsophisticated invention continued to record his words while he merely updated the small discoveries he had made about the monstrous facet of Jenica. It had become a special part of his routine, the way the Lord spent his nights awake. A steaming cup of bitter coffee, his recorder and let the slow night hours run while watching the woman’s behavior through his cameras.
"Furthermore, the parasite seemed to have given her the ability to communicate telepathically. She thinks she got infected because of one of those mutts that bit her. Something unusual, but theoretically not impossible. Her genes must be extremely predisposed to accept those mutations that had quickly transformed her into... well, I don’t think there are words to describe exactly what she is."
Heisenberg looked through the flashing monitor, remembering how in the past few days he had tried to describe the aberrant figure of that monstrous transformation. Jenica had transformed into what resembled an almost 20 feet long white werewolf almost twice his height walking on two legs. Her tarsi were not those of a canid, rather they resembled long curved claws protruding from her phalanges - jaw had much larger teeth and longer canines compared to a wolf and eyes a bright crimson red. Her coat varied between shades of white and grey ash, ideal for camouflage in a climate like the one that was devastating the valley continuously.
Her transformation had not been voluntary, far from it. Jenica was furious beyond measure against the Lycans, past grievances he did not know seemed to have made a dent in that woman’s self-control. Upon their arrival at the Factory, a small group of Lycans had received them effectively exercising their duty as lethal sentries. Heisenberg had not even had time to act - the sound of bone breaking and a feral howl had been the only warning that the beast had awakened. Her skin began to turn dark and a kind of black liquid began to emanate from her in a very familiar way, leaving a puddle at her feet once the transformation was finished. Jenica had not given him time to react when she threw herself on one of the Lycans and directly broke it in two, spreading blood and guts through the amber wheat meadow surrounding the hangar entrance.
The memory brought out a bitter smile from Heisenberg's lips as he sat idly by. He should have restricted her at the time, but it was tremendously fulfilling to watch as those damn creatures could do nothing against those greedy fangs of blood. It was not just her physical strength, he noticed as he remembered the scene. Those beasts didn’t even try to defend themselves, as if she was some kind of alpha and she merely had ordered them to die. Just a couple of minutes later, the inevitable happened. Having finished off all his weak opponents, Jenica pounced with murderous fury upon him. As he could, Heisenberg gathered all the purposeless metal around him and imprisoned her in a flying box he carried to the deepest part of the Factory.
The following days had been very busy, indeed. Aggressiveness tests with other Lycans, deep conversations full of insults and death threats - because she was still able to communicate despite being in such a state of madness - and his favorite part, of course: every time he had to enter her cell and subdue her by force using his sturdier chains. Heisenberg had earned a few bites and scratches, of course, but nothing that wouldn’t heal in a few hours.
"AARRRRGHH... ahhhh no..."
The loudspeakers relayed the woman’s grieving moan as her aberrant figure slowly gave way to thin, increasingly human limbs. Heisenberg nodded, satisfied, observing how finally her body was unable to sustain the mutation any longer and was forced to return to its natural state. The Lord tasted delighted one of his cigars as he vigilantly watched as the mutation gave way to the albino cub he had found in the lake.
Cub. Hm, yeah, it might be a good name for her.
Without waiting another second, he lured his hammer to him and put his coat on, direction to the lower levels - was sure it would be a profitable chat.
The first thing Jenica’s brain consciously felt again was the cold. The floor of the alien room in which she found herself was steaming hot, but for her it was irrevocably frozen. Her body exhumed heat, almost 15ºC apart from the temperature of the surface on which her sweaty limbs rested. The next thing she felt was hunger - sweeping nausea compressing her stomach and forcing her to take her trembling hands to her abdomen to try to appease the pain. Jenica then grabbed her tumultuous head, unable to quiet a deep moan - feeling as if thousands of needles were stuck in there.
She was naked, again. Patches of torn clothing adorned the floor of the room under her incredulous gaze. Her human senses gradually regained consciousness, and memory was one of them. The last thing she remembered clearly was Heisenberg signaling some kind of monstrous creature to let them pass through -
Heartbreaking cry that turns into a howl of deserved revenge. Hungry satisfaction curving in your stomach as you feel the corrupted blood of their torn necks slip down your throat and adorn your sharp claws. More. More must be found. Kill them all.
The beast’s words accompanied the overwhelming memory. Jenica saw herself through eyes that were not hers. Wounding. Killing. Leaving another bloodbath with the bodies of those beasts. Lycans - Heisenberg’s words emerged as a bubbling spring. Oh, Heisenberg. It was him. He could control them - he had given them orders and they had responded. The woman swallowed saliva unconsciously, repenting the moment it slid down her dry scratched throat. The conclusion that had set her off a few days earlier again bombarded her skull, searching for the beast and its deadly response. But Jenica was ready, so she clenched her hands tightly into two fists while repeating to herself that another bloodbath was not the solution.
He saved me. Heisenberg controls those beasts. Heisenberg has answers. I have to talk to Heisenberg -
Her crazy song was repeated in a loop on her head while Jenica ran a hand through her snowy white hair and tried to guess where she was by looking around. The room, alas, had nothing in it. The walls were welded metal plates, filled with blood and scratches that perfectly doubled her size.
If that are my claws... No, it is not the time to think about that. She had to look for a way out.
Jenica hadn’t had time to try to even move - the feverish spasms of her aching muscles advised her not to - when the door slammed open. Heisenberg unhurriedly entered with his huge hammer in one hand and what appeared to be a change of clothes in the other.
"Almost 8 days, woman. I have never seen any subject endure the last phase of its mutation without goin' mad or dyin' in the attempt.” He said, smiling perversely. "An appetizing novelty in this shit hole, all must be said."
Jenica ignored his compliment, focusing on her kidnapper’s relaxed posture. The woman read in his gestures how Heisenberg did not seem at all concerned that she might escape. He considered her weak, or maybe he just thought she was too worn out to try anything.
"I remember what you did." Her throat was rough, but Jenica tried to say the words as loudly and slowly as possible. "I’m going to kill you, Heisenberg.”
"You could try, of course. Ya could jump on my neck at this very moment to sever my carotid. Then you’d use my trail to find a way out of this big bad place."He replied jokingly, raising his arms slightly as he pointed around. "Next is pretty easy, ya’d run away from this filthy wasteland and start a brand-new life in a new wondrous place.”
Heisenberg began to approach her very slowly, descending heavily the small steps. He wasn’t wearing the glasses she had seen him with when they first met. Jenica could see perfectly how his eyes glowed with those shades of yellow so strikingly disturbing - a repulsive mixture of fear and attraction gathering in herlungs.
"We both know I can’t let you do that, dear. I need to know how the fuck you ended up being whatever you are now and get those wonderful skills of yours." Heisenberg said, pointing at her. "You crave answers, so I’m still stickin' to my official proposal.”
Jenica frowned, turning her grumpy expression into a condescending grin. Heisenberg found the way she crisscrossed her legs and hugged herself to somehow hide her nakedness adorable. If only she realized once that he was much more interested in his mutant physiognomy than in the female anatomy...
"Oh, I remember that proposal." She answered him, smiling. "With your permission and without it, Heisenberg, go to hell."
The Lord nearly choked on his own laughter, which did nothing but grace him with a veiled series of foul insults from Jenica.
"Well, after this week knowing you better, it occurred to me that maybe I could modify some terms to improve that deal and stimulate your... participation.”
Without further hesitation, Heisenberg threw the change of clothes he was still holding. She grabbed them as she could, forgetting at once that the man was still watching her and putting them on without further delay.
“How thoughtful of you. And what do these new terms consist of?"
There was a slight opening to his right, she saw then. A long empty hallway full of oscillating red lights behind him. Jenica looked away at once, trying that Heisenberg did not notice the ideas that ran through her mind.
“First, I promise not to dismember you to satisfy my fervent curiosity. I can also teach you to control your gifts and prevent you from harming innocent and helpless humans." The ironic tone of his words did not go unnoticed. "If I may, I must point out that this is really thoughtful of me. It ain't my custom to put pets needs before mine, as ya will understand.”
Jenica closed the buttons of her shirt while suppressing without much success a genuine smile, fruit of his unsurpassed ego or twisted sense of humor.
"And in return you want me to voluntarily let you study me." She replied, to which Heisenbeg nodded vehemently. "Besides, if I remember correctly, you intend to continue testing me with those murdering mutts. The same beasts that killed my father in cold blood and that you’ve used all this time for your macabre experiments.”
Heisenberg folded his arms, resting his enormous figure on one side of the door. The man remained silent, which caused Jenica to partially divert her attention from such frustrating little buttons and notice the Lord’s silent gaze. She could clearly distinguish caution and distrust by dancing in them, extinguishing the familiar voracity of his amber irises while a pale greenish color rose that made him regain some humanity.
"I do not like to work with the living, woman. My Soldats are clear proof of this." His words pierced her as the coldest winter. "Making those hellish thugs have their appetizer with alienated sectarians is not my doing."
What? Soldats? A sect? Jenica sulked in incomprehension as Heisenberg’s answers only raised a whole new set of unanticipated questions. She hadn’t expected that answer - saw Heisenberg controlling the Lycans, so she had assumed fairly quickly he had created them somehow and also but no less important that all the misfortunes occurred in the village were also due to him. Jenica had no special interest in carrying out any kind of holy crusade to protect those who had rejected her for years. Whether it was her peculiar albino traits - witch or motherless spawning she was called on the best days - or the fact that she spent her entire life living alone in the woods with her father, the inhabitants of the village considered her equal or more monstrous than the creatures that had begun to cross the nights kidnapping or murdering people.
If it hadn’t been for her father’s unexpected death at the hand of a Lycan, she hadn’t even bothered to pay them the meanest visit.
"Do you promise not to hurt me, whatever the circumstance?" His muscles tightened. Fangs peeked out for his proud smile as she continued speaking." Whatever I do, as long as I’m in your domain?"
Jenica stood up slowly, feigning a slight instability. Heisenberg obviously did not offer to help her, simply delighting in the already more than assured conviction that she would accept his deal.
"Of course, mein liebes Mädchen. I promise as head of the Heisenberg household.”
Jenica allowed him the detail of reciprocating with a smile. She searched deep within her mind, finding the door behind which the furious queen of her darkest desires hid. The woman furiously broke some of the figurative locks that restricted the creature, leaving her craving for blood to dance viciously through her veins and arteries and nourish her exhausted cells with renewed strength. For Heisenberg, it was too late. The twinkle in her eyes gave her away when her speedy figure had already pounced on him.
"Very good. Let’s check it.”
The final tone of her words was not human. Not at all.
Blood.
That little bastard has made me bleed.
The wound had not lasted more than a few minutes, but the deep cut in his throat had been precise enough to sever a major artery and stain his shirt with a bright crimson color. Heisenberg admittedly hadn’t expected her to jump on him with that speed, much less to succeed in aiming what was a vital point for any sentient being. As the man tried to focus his eyes on the ground and recover from the considerable blood loss, he could not help repeating with some obsession in his brain her brutal attack. The way her fingers had lengthened and transformed into deadly unstoppable daggers.
She had managed to control her transformation enough to activate one of her claws.
Fascinating.
He could hear her running, the vibration of the entire metal skeleton of the Factory shaking at his feet with the cadence of her unrelenting steps. Would Jenica like to play a game of hunting in his domain? Very well, he would gladly give it to her. His nerves stirred, equally excited at the possibility of punishment or prize the Lord might impose once he had her in his hands. The dizziness soon subsided, and Heisenberg let out an angry grunt just before pressing the small red button that activated the PA in each and every morbid corner of his most prodigious creation.
"Ah, naughty girl. Do you want to see this monster!? Aight, make me work for it. Run. Try to escape, If you dare."
Heisenberg didn’t know if imagination just played a trick on his slightly clouded senses, but he swear he heard her laugh. He slid his lips towards the microphone, allowing his harshest words to caress it with a soft whisper.
"I hope you are ready for what will come next.”
The threshold of activation of her senses was so acute that it was almost painful - smell and taste the worst, no doubt.
As much as Jenica's rational conscience denied it because of the repulsion it provoked to her, she ended up running through the rugged corridors following Heisenberg's scent. Sneaking through the shadows and dodging strange inventions that seemed to be weathered from the most sordid nightmares, she sincerely hoped that those places where the Lords's smell was stronger would be those where he would spend most of his time. The woman used that knowledge as a guide in that intricate labyrinth sculpted on earth.
Doamne, it is huge.
Jenica shook her head, quieting her worries while navigating macabre stays and climbing unstable metal staircases. Once, on a small ledge overlooking the entrance to a higher level, she allowed herself to look down. The Factory immersed several plants in the ground - too much metal, raw material in combustion and a crushing concentration of sulfur in the air. She took a deep breath, feeling tears flowing in her eyes and her throat closed in front of such intense stimuli. It was extremely complex to detect surface-related odors, trying to separate them from that suffocating amalgam of rotting essences. The sounds from the outside were also drowned in a beat rate of mechanisms and gears, very much for her misfortune.
Fully aware that the lurking figure of the Lord pursued her tirelessly, the woman focused on the man's essence until she finally picked up a new, fresher one. Jenica was stuck in the site, sniffing the air as she felt her blood singing excited at the discovery and propelling a new motivation through her tired limbs.
Humidity, water.
Given the temperature inside that hellish rift, the smell of moisture was not an option. Jenica jogged slightly in that direction, realizing that the corridors seemed ever wider and brighter - air lighter and softer. She followed her newly-discovered instincts and came to a kind of hangar. A huge space covered by oxidized crudely placed plates and that still seemed to resist the inclement weather, full of junk and mechanical gadgets of all kinds. Jenica didn’t stop much to admire the scenery. The exit was just right in front of her, in its entire splendor. Doors were wide open, unguarded - unprotected.
She took a deep breath, and ran. Her breathing was agitated, but the woman didn’t feel suffocated. She let the echo of the place return the sound of her accelerated steps, and then she stopped - a step away from the outside. It wasn’t the tiredness or lack of air that made her diaphragm move. It was the excitement.
Freedom.
Jenica curved her toes, sensitizing herself and stimulating the touch of her skin against the rough ground. She dropped her arms, and leaned her head back slightly as she breathed in the familiar aroma of the valley that now flooded her nostrils. She let the faint rays of sun dance on her skin before partially blinding her sight. She could not help but laugh when a mischievous gust of wind shook her white hair and forced her to unnecessarily mend her short strands. She was exhausted, sweaty, with dried blood glued to her flesh everywhere and a very serious death threat right behind her. All that without counting, of course, whatever it was that was now squirming inside her.
But at that very moment, she was happy - didn’t remember the last time she had been able to delight in such a feeling.
"What are ya' waiting for, cub?" Heisenberg’s voice echoed behind her, harsh and unforgiving. "That’s what you want, right? C'mon, get out.”
She definitely had not felt him. Jenica turned around at once, adjusting her vision back to the dark hangar - locating the aggrieved voice. Heisenberg was leaning on what looked like the rusty structure of what was once a supporting arch of some large structure. His hammer was at his feet, though Jenica already knew the Lord did not need to have direct contact with metal to catch it. Realizing that everything in that place could become a death trap for her, the woman took a small step forward with her hands slightly raised. She had to test that man - prove that he could live up to his bargain -, but by carefully pushing her words.
If she overstepped her bounds, she could be the one who went underground.
"Well, it seems that my aim has not been the most accurate. I just got your greasy shirt a little stained." She answered him, indicating with a subtle gesture the dry blood of his shirt.
His dark laughter viciously came out of his throat and reached her bones, crawling under her bristly skin. The beast understood the hidden message under his silent words - Heisenberg was livid. Again, the primitive defense response resonated in her brain with a feral imposition, and Jenica bitten hard the inside of her mouth to try to silence it.
"Do you know how many people have threatened me, pretty girl? How many stupid leeches have pointed their petty weapons at me, truly believing they’re dangerous?" The Lord bitterly barked. "Humans think they’re invincible. Turn to machinery they don’t fucking understand to defend themselves from threats they can’t control. Ironic, don’t ya think?"
He had begun to walk towards Jenica very slowly, analysing every part of her body with his emotionless gaze as he approached.
"A lovely speech, old man. Though I regret it considerably if my lack of culture prevents me from understanding what you really mean by all that."
He was now right in front of her, and Jenica hopelessly found him much higher and threatening than before. His pungent smell of tobacco, sulphur and sweat wrapped them up, and she turned her guts. His heart beat very slowly, oppressively loudly in his firm chest - she blinked and he stared, fascinated by how he could maintain so much control even in such an unexpected dichotomy.
“What I mean is that you’ve hit a nerve. And I’ve never left anyone alive long enough to make me feel like that.”
Heisenberg moved with a speed improper to that of a human being, his hand suddenly closing around her neck and effortlessly lifting her upward. Jenica could hardly breathe, but that didn’t stop her from giving the Lord a grunt as she starte to pulling out her fangs. Man’s expression transformed into a pure visceral euphoria, and his fingers pressed even tightly together.
“Such a cute little monster is pulling out her claws. I think it’s time we have a chat, don’t ya?”
Her gall is pushing me to the limit, and she fucking knows it.
Lack of oxygen caused her body to spasmodically convulse under his tight grip, rebelling against its owner. Heisenberg relaxed his lips, savoring her insubordination in a way that he himself did not understand.
"Who are you?" The question escaped his throat in a severe roar. "There is no "Jenica" in the records of people born in the village in the last 50 fucking years. A lost tourist, perhaps?"
He tightened the grip a little more, and strikingly her lips let out a gasp that seemed anything but painful. Heisenberg watched in awe as the corners of her lips rose slightly in a wild smile as her little hands anchored around his covered wrists. Jenica held her breath, forcing her heart to need less blood and try to stay conscious long enough for that conversation to last. She felt the dents of the metal sticking sharply into the bones of her back, and her feet still barefoot gliding for non-existent support beneath her.
"Please, sir, you’re scaring me." Her whisper turned into a sharp moan.
Heisenberg moved his head forward, letting his warm breath caress her ear lobe while placing his gloved fingertips right in the vital space connecting her lower jaw to the neck. The woman tried to swallow, choking slightly in the process and feeling her head slightly dull.
"You ain't afraid of me, cub. Not afraid of your fucking condition." He backed back a few inches, enough to nail his eyes to hers. "You grope to death every time those bold lips open, and I need to know why.”
“I’m nobody! I’ve lived with my father all my life and all I know about my mother is that she abandoned us when I was just a baby." She squirmed, already irate at his absurd fixation on her origins. "Are you interested in my albinism? It’s a shame the only person who could tell you about me is rotting somewhere in the woods because of those Lycans!”
Papa’s theory is confirmed, then. Heisenberg nodded to himself, noting the fact. At least he already knew what primarily aroused that hatred for Miranda’s disgusting mutts - a psychological detonator which he now knew he would use in the future in case he had to wake the beast.
“Aight, let’s skip your damned origins then. Can get that later, I suppose." She squinted, curious about his next question. "Why haven’t ya run away?”
Jenica would have laughed if it weren’t for those huge lethal hands trying to suffocate her. The egocentric naivety of his seemingly innocent question provoked a barrage of foolish answers in her mind, all of them crowded fighting to get out and spit themselves in his face. The woman held back - more or less -, focusing only on bothering him enough to test his commitment.
“It was just what I was t-trying." She hissed. "I didn’t know you were a blind idiot either."
Heisenberg tightened his grip again, y Jenica closed her eyes as she felt her larynx close - air trapped in a dead-end circuit. She closed her eyes as she could hardly breathe. She didn’t even notice how the man tilted his head slightly and smelled the aroma emanating from everyone and faced one of her pores - sweet and heady fear.
“Every single time one of the Lycans hunts a human, it’s all damned screams and moans." He began to explain, slowly. "Sobs from poor, unhinged cowards who just want the suffering to end. Simple as it may seem, it only lasts a few seconds. Those mutts do not have the patience or intelligence to enjoy good hunting."
Her back suddenly bowed at the contact of the cold metal, causing her chest to stick even more to Heisenberg's. Involuntary survival reflexes brutally ripped from her flesh as her raging eyes tried hard to follow the conversation. Her fleshy lips trembled as she tried to respond.
"I'm not like them. V-villagers." Jenica weakly replied, indignant. "I’m not a scared little sheep a wolf can easily devour. I grew up surviving."
"Oh, I know that. Ya have experienced the change in your body by the mold, that inner hell that takes hold of your bowels." Heisenberg felt Jenica shudder beneath him as she remembered the pain of the night of her transformation. "Still, you haven’t sunk into despair or madness. You’ve become quite the hunter, and don’t you dare contradict me."
He then felt what looked like a growl in his hand echoing through her throat, as if the monster hiding inside her was answering him. The adrenaline rush of anger was fading faster and faster, and Jenica felt her muscles stop responding and her face seemed to swell at times.
“It’s a great... analysis. B-but I’m...ah!- I’m getting tired of being the only one... who gets psychological analysis from o-others. You say I... I hide information from you, when... you’re the first one who hasn’t... b-been honest with me!”
Heisenberg couldn’t help but laugh - she was suffocating and still felt just as bold. It would be a real shame if in the end he had to throw her as an appetizer to his undead creations, the Lord lamented.
"Y-you... need me. Could have... Ngh!- killed me b-before, but you didn’t! Obsessed with... finding out m-more about whatever made me... change.”
The man narrowed his eyes behind his dark specs, reading between lines and unconsciously loosening his grip slightly. Jenica felt an endless stream of air resume its course towards her lungs, and it was as if life had enveloped her in a maternal embrace.
“Be clear, woman. I'm running out of patience.” He barked.
“You intend t-to do your tests, to discover my usefulness. To use me for any ruthless nonsense that passes through that decayed mind of yours!"
She yelled those words at him, her eyes overflowed with rage - the dam that contained all her rage exploding and destroying everything in its path. Heisenberg showed him his quotes, bending his mouth in a clear grin of rejection as he repeated to himself that it was impossible. Clouded by the clarity with which that woman seemed to read his intentions, he did not even notice how Jenica had managed to nail her nails with great effort on the scant bare skin of his wrists.
"Don't know what are you chatting about, meine Kleine."
“Yeah, you do know it. Don’t try to throw me off with languages I don’t know." Heisenberg growled and looked at her hoping his evident anger would shut her up. "There’s some kind of bond between us! You think I’m not afraid? Those unbridled chills that run down my spine every time I’m aware of the things you can do haven’t stopped since I met you."
It was mentioning the "bond" and Heisenberg felt his blood pressing on his chest, the damn parasite choking his heart responding to an unnamed call. The Lord perfectly knew he could break her will into a thousand pieces, leaving her at his mercy. He forced himself to look at her again, to repeat that there was absolutely nothing to differentiate her from the rest of the oafs who praised Mother Miranda - that even she might be some kind of spy, a fervent priestess of that witch sent to probe the truth with warm smiles and sweet poisoned words. As appetizing as it seemed to him dismember her and throw her into some dark hole where no one could find her, there was a part of him that was fiercely opposed to that.
And not knowing why was what scared him the most.
"If you’re so scared of me, beg me to release you. Let me hear a real apology from those fucking bold lips and I might not break this gorgeous neck."
"Of course, at your service. Please, I'm begging you -"
The sarcasm of her words soon transformed into a broken laugh. Jenica’s impudence was going to drive the Lord completely insane as he tightened his grip even more. She rolled her eyes back while groaning for the lack of air.
"Are you? Don't fuck with me. If you were truly begging, you'd be on your knees." He hissed sluggishly.
"Y-you haven’t earned it yet, big man."
Jenica took advantage of the distraction to hit him hard between his rib, catching him completely unaware and allowing her body to almost completely escape his grip. The struggle did not take long to become a fight for control whose winner was clear. Heisenberg repressed a growl of pain, his hold became hard as steel while he struck her back in exactly the same place.
"Your time is up, buttercup. I can feel the bones of your spine pressing against your throat. A little more, and you will stop breathing.”
“You can’t do that, Heisenberg. We’re still inside your domain, right?” She said to him, her last shred of rebellion finally exposing the purpose of her apparent escape attempt.
Her simple statement ascended like an unfurling of frozen water that, for a few seconds, put out a fire that soon ignited with renewed energy. She had machined to perfection the whole facade just to prove if the naive Lord would truly stick to his agreement and not hurt her, whatever the circumstances.
She has set me up. He loosened the grip and left her on the floor, keeping an eye on how she fell as a dead weight - immediately beginning to forlornly cough. Oh, how beautiful her eyes were when her eyebrows sulked courtesy of that suffocating experience so close to death.
“Yell at me again, and I will give you a real reason to scream, buttercup." He just answered her through his teeth.
"You talk to much." Jenica merely replied while coughing and soundly inspiring.
"Damn right I do, beautiful." He said, leaning beside her. "There were far less dramatic ways to silence your doubts, did you know?"
She muttered something Heisenberg couldn’t understand, but he somehow was sure she wasn’t outraged anymore. Thoughtful, perhaps - even worried.
“Heisenbeg, I’m aware that the only reason you haven’t killed me yet is you need my... skills."
Jenica palated the word, tasting its taste between her lips. The man merely leaned on an old rusty tractor abandoned decades ago by some desolate farmer and waited for her to continue. The marks of his grip were still visible on her neck, although the collar of the shirt partially covered it. Heisenberg was graciously satisfied with such a discovery - his strength enough to do her a damage more difficult to reverse.
Her tone soon reached a seriousness proper to the matter that concerned them.
“I’m gonna help you. In return, I want you to tell me everything. About you, about this place..." The woman gestured around her, emphasizing her request. "I think it’s a fair deal.”
Heisenberg growled, standing right in front of her and blocking her view of the inviting sun. The Lord considered such a proposal a good deal, or at least enough to pay back the fact of having someone else roaming his domain. His interest in the young woman had been unquestionable from the very beginning - having such an asset in the war that would devastate Miranda in the future and her small group of macabre geeks could give him much advantage. However, the great doubt of that woman’s predisposition to meddle in a confrontation that did not concern her was something that Heisenberg could not afford.
Although there was always the option of forcing her, given the time.
“Deal made. I will not allow you the option of repenting in the future, though.”
He turned around, hoping she’d follow him into the Factory. But, of course, that would have been too much to ask.
"I have one last request. I need to go to the village." She said, raising her voice, though Heisenberg could hear it perfectly. "To visit someone one last time.”
The Lord couldn’t help but squeeze his hammer - a reflex action that tied even more the feeling of danger in her stomach. It had cost him enormously to hide her from the rest of the rotten family, every second she spent outside the factory a risk he wasn’t willing to take. Morbidly tempting his luck, he had not even attended Miranda's last meeting using as an excuse the Lycans's reconditioning into a new lair for fear that just a moment of lack of supervision would be enough for Jenica to wreak havoc on the Factory.
A lifeline which, much to his regret, could not be used again.
“If you’re not back after one hour, I’ll send all my Lycans into the village. I'll make pretty sure that their screams will sink so deeply into that defiled brain of yours that ya will never forget them. The fault will be yours alone.”
He saw her throat move and swallow with great difficulty - Heisenberg increasingly confident that her biology had turned the woman into something else, but her human nature was as still as strong. It reminded him slightly of himself many decades ago. Before hatred and vengeance turned the man into the monster he had unwillingly accepted to be.
“Deal made.”
She finally whispered - sure she’d just made a pact with the devil.