Hand of Mercy.

[experiment24601]

Experiment 24601, or Gabriella Wood allowed Luther to help her up. He was strong, yet gentle, and he was able to hold her steady. As they began to walk she had a slight limp but she was used to that. Do to extensive incisions to her knee cap to test her cartilage and on how strong it held. However the constant prodding made it weak, there fore giving her a bad knee. So the fact that she was walking was good for her in a sense but at the same time bad. When he told her they were going to his office, and that it was nine miles she didn't react. She had never walked so much before, but it should be interesting. She huddled in the coat that was given her and cradled the journal given to her by Marc to her chest.

Her steps were slow at first and she was glad he had chosen to be patient with her. When he said riding the other seven miles in a cart she didn't know what it was, so she nodded when he asked if she could do it. Her light eyes stared ahead at where they were headed. His hand held her tightly and she thought on what he meant by Office. Office....it was a room was it not...? Luther was a doctor...doctor is another word for scientist....her eyes widened a bit. Scientist...office...room, room could also mean Lab. Lab would mean more tests...this would mean..she was going back. Her eyes turned black as she thought of this. No...was it all a lie? Her hand instantly flattened on his chest to see his heart rate. Speeding.

The scientists she knew shared the same excitement. Pain was in her future, if she did not escape...She abruptly stopped her walking and yanked her arm out of his hand. Stumbling backwards as she looked at the man in terror. She wrote in the sand hastily as she put two and two together right in front of him.

Office>>room. Room>>doctor. Doctor>>scientist. Scientist>>Laboratory

She pointed at the words and then at him, and then wrote beneath it. 'Experiment 24601 >> Laboratory. >>Laboratory >> scientists. Scientists >> tests. Tests>> Pain. Pain>> Suffering, torture. Suffering/torture >> 17 years.

She looked back up at him and wrote big bold letters. NO MORE. EXPERIMENT 24601 FINISHED. Gabriella, finished. She stood up and stepped back as if prepared to run, she shook violently as she stared at the doctor. All the wrong puzzle pieces coming together in her mind. But living her entire life in such torture and betrayal it is understandable to not trust anyone. Even when Marc had said he wanted to help it took time for her to believe him. For this Luther would have to work just has hard...if not harder...to get her into a laboratory ever again.

[hrothgar]

It was enough to make him stop cold. Fear had the same look no matter who's eyes were showing it. It was a sign he didn't like. He watched her as she began to communicate putting the equation together in her head as though she were piecing together some sort of diabolical scheme. It was a lot for him to take in but as he saw the words unraveling in the sand it made sense... too much sense and in her condition his thought pattern would have been just the same. It cut at him though, the fear... he knew it was there, and he knew she must have been wondering and now? Now he felt sick, to think this poor girl trusted him and now she as about to forsake it all because she thought he was one of them.

No.. no he wasn't going to let this happen again. Atonement was so close and he wasn't about to let it slip through his fingers. His immediate urge was to bark, to show her forcibly that he wasnt bad, to take her by her wrist and drag her kicking and screaming to the laboratory and help her whether she wanted it or not. This was the fire that burned at him... but it was not the action he took.

You're better than that Hrothgar. You're here to protect not to force yourself on these people. Remember the oaths you made... never to cause harm without due reason. Whether she believes you or not, they're the principles you've sworn to uphold.

Hrothgar's eyes were sad, but his mouth was quiet. The words torture, suffering... he now stood accused of being a perpetrator of everything he despised in the works of other so called 'doctors'. He looked at them grimly and shook his head. "I will not force you to go anywhere you do not wish to come Gabriella... An Experiment is an easy thing to detach yourself from but not so much another person, another life. When we give something a name we endear it, we entrust it with a part of ourselves and we recognize it as something with a life and existence beyond the act of simply being. Only monsters take advantage of this trust... You may call me a monster if you wish, it only makes sense after what you've seen. But I will ask you only do so after you've seen me unmasked and unhidden."

He looked at his hands now and then at her. "I will not hide secrets from you... not here, not after giving you a name." His voice was a murmur, almost as if the sentence was meant for himself as well. He pushed his satchel to the ground and shoved it over, spilling the syringes, blood packs, scalpels, surgical tools of all make and size onto the ground before him. He slid his shirt away and let it fall to the ground. He closed his eyes and clenched his muscles tight, tighter, feeling every single fiber of him strain and then suddenly relax as the gravel-like rocky scales of his draconic body began to burst forth from beneath his flesh until the pale skin husk hiding his form shred away.

Before her now stood something only vaguely human looking in that it stood on two legs but otherwise seemed to have a Dragon's torso with smooth rocks for skin. The change was not yet over as he fell forward onto his hands and let his body grow and elongate to impossible proportions until he was the size of a Mack truck with a body sleek and powerfull built, looking as though it was made to scale peaks and bolt at impossible speeds with a tail long and slender as if to help balance him. With smoky orange eyes he peered at her, taking a slow step forward and leveling his gaze at her.

"I brought needles to draw blood from those who'd give it and to give blood to those who needed it." He said, his voice echoing through her mind as entirely different and strange words spilled from his mouth, sounding as though she were listening to an interpreter for his strange language in sync with the words as they were spoken. " I brought them to inject medicine and to heal. I brought scalpels and lancets to aid in the art of surgery and save lives. I am a creature of healing, this was the path that the gods had in store for me from my inception and an purpose that runs deep in my blood. I am not human as you can see, but the number of human lives I've saved and helped in my lifetime numbers in the millions... So know well that you do not deal with some mad scientist or laboratory sociopath. I am a fanatic only to the cause of ending suffering, pain and illness. Call me a monster if you will, call me demon and deceiver and spewer of lies and unto this I will bear your abuses and fear and hatred with open arms and empty hands. Never shall force or restrain or bring undue harm to you and if need be I will wait until the Ragnarok if that is what it takes, but mark my words.... I swore would help you and I will not rest until I have Gabriella. So run if you must, run as fast as you can but there is no place you can go, no where you can hide that I will not find you and watch over you as we dragons were meant to for we protected all things when mankind was at its worst. But if you trust me, and you long for freedom from the nightmare that blind eyes and reckless hands have laid upon you... then I will carry you to refuge from the storm for mine is the hand of mercy and with it unto you I have bestowed the strength of gods."

[experiment24601]

His eyes looked sad, but she still had her muscles ready to run as fast as she possibly can. As he spoke she didn't know what to say. She didn't know weather to believe him or just disregard all that is said and run away with out looking back.

"I will not force you to go anywhere you do not wish to come Gabriella... An Experiment is an easy thing to detach yourself from but not so much another person, another life. When we give something a name we endear it, we entrust it with a part of ourselves and we recognize it as something with a life and existence beyond the act of simply being. Only monsters take advantage of this trust... You may call me a monster if you wish, it only makes sense after what you've seen. But I will ask you only do so after you've seen me unmasked and unhidden."He looked at his hands now and then at her. "I will not hide secrets from you... not here, not after giving you a name.

His hand went for his bag and it dropped to the ground. Syringes, needles surgical tools, blood packets, scalpels...her eyes locked on them, and her skin felt clammy. Breaking out into a cold sweat as memories flooded back into her mind. Strapped to a chair, nails scratching on wood. Words, she was making words on that wood, the phrase she wrote so often on that chair, over and over and over...'Let the nightmare begin'. Her eyes shut tight as they cut her skin with out any pain medication, no antibiotics. Needles shoved into her arms, legs, and neck. Strange chemicals forced into her body, weather it be blood, or other strange substances. Their gruff voices never addressed her unless they said Experiment 24601.

Her hands trembled, as her eyes looked over at Luther as he took off his shirt. Why did he do that? His muscles tightened...and he changed. Gabriella stumbled backward and fell flat on her butt as she looked up at the creature before her. It spoke, but it was not a voice she heard out in the open...oh no...it was in her mind. The very private place she held sacred. The only place no one could harm her. The images of memories played over and over again as her eyes went to him, then the tools then back to him. Her breathing became harder to perform. Having only just the airways of a nose, she wasn't getting as much air as she needed right now. She was feeling dizzy...

"I brought needles to draw blood from those who'd give it and to give blood to those who needed it." He said, his voice echoing through her mind as entirely different and strange words spilled from his mouth, sounding as though she were listening to an interpreter for his strange language in sync with the words as they were spoken. " I brought them to inject medicine and to heal. I brought scalpels and lancets to aid in the art of surgery and save lives. I am a creature of healing, this was the path that the gods had in store for me from my inception and an purpose that runs deep in my blood. I am not human as you can see, but the number of human lives I've saved and helped in my lifetime numbers in the millions... So know well that you do not deal with some mad scientist or laboratory sociopath. I am a fanatic only to the cause of ending suffering, pain and illness. Call me a monster if you will, call me demon and deceiver and spewer of lies and unto this I will bear your abuses and fear and hatred with open arms and empty hands. Never shall force or restrain or bring undue harm to you and if need be I will wait until the Ragnarok if that is what it takes, but mark my words.... I swore would help you and I will not rest until I have Gabriella. So run if you must, run as fast as you can but there is no place you can go, no where you can hide that I will not find you and watch over you as we dragons were meant to for we protected all things when mankind was at its worst. But if you trust me, and you long for freedom from the nightmare that blind eyes and reckless hands have laid upon you... then I will carry you to refuge from the storm for mine is the hand of mercy and with it unto you I have bestowed the strength of gods."

Gabriella couldn't answer..not in the slightest. Her body was acting strange. Her whole face glistened with sweat, and her eyes were a charcoal black. She was trembling as if she were having a seizure. As she stared up at the massive creature she knew to be Luther, she had no intention of running. Why? because she couldn't move her legs. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and her sight went blurry, then black. As her body slumped back and her head hit the ground. Her body fell still. Poor Gabriella had passed out.

[hrothgar]

He could only watch as she dropped to the ground. No doubt the display was far too much for her to take in. Still, it had to be done he felt, there could be no trust without honesty and it didn't seem right to hide what he was from her. With his head stooped low he returned to his hybrid form, shifting back onto his hind legs and letting his body shrink and his spinal column regain its curvature. It wore hard on him to shift so many times in such a short period but at the moment he had more pressing things to worry about than his own well-being. The Fatigue could easily be remedied with a hot meal and some bed rest but the condition Gabriella had deserved more immediate attention.

In his scaly arms he picked up his coat and shirt, rolling them up and strapping them securely to his satchel like a blanket. With immensely powerful arms he stooped low, scooping her limp body up in his arms and checking to see if she was still breathing, taking a moment to make sure she didn't have some sort of concussion before standing up on his powerfully built legs. He'd have a much easier time carrying her like this, there was much more power and strength in his unmasked forms and Gabriella felt almost feather light in his arms. He smiled and brushed a strand of hair from her eyes before beginning the trek towards downtown. There were miles of Wasteland and ruin between here and the safety of Allegheny General Hospital and the sooner he started out on the path the better.