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A/N: Back again with another novelization request. This time for Season 11! (Yes, I know I'm jumping all over the place with seasons but hey, I never said any of these were going to be written in order. I just write what I think is the most interesting at the time) This piece though is... well... more of a conversation type... no real action here and you'll see why in a bit.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this novelization bit, requested by NightWingJusticeS (from wattpad)
I can try to do requests as long as they're within the series, though I can try to do an original bit like I did with Barney's Death but that'll be tricky to do. Still, I'll try my best, if I can't do that then I apologize in advance and hope you can settle with an actual moment from the series itself.
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Its funny really, how far we've come... (sigh) Shelby and Nick constantly being a thorn in my side. It's nice though... Now that I've taken them, they shouldn't be causing me too much more trouble.
...I did have to team up, though, with Red. Ah, similar interests though... even if he IS a cannibal; but it helps me further my experiments. And soon the world will be perfect and you'll see - everything has its reason. I wouldn't do this if there was no end...
It'll all be clear soon enough...
~Ross
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Angry eyes glared at the cracked floor of an equally dirty cell as if the very thing offended the occupant somehow. But those eyes didn't see the floor, just stared past it as thoughts raced through the Avatar's mind as he created, examined and chucked plans of escape one after another. Scenarios in which didn't end well in his favor were tossed aside as he searched for the one in which he and his friend survived. Maybe not unscathed but alive nonetheless and that was the captured's main goal.
To escape alive.
Footsteps echoed loudly down hall near his cell and from the sounds of it... coming toward his location. Nick ignored it in favor of continuing to plan his escape, a fleeting thought of it just being another guard before it was swatted away to clear room for the more important objective. Still the footfalls were loud and irritating, a distraction but the Avatar didn't bother to yell for the person walking to be more quiet about it.
What was the point?
Nearly everyone in this hellhole was an enemy.
So the captured Avatar did his best to tune out the offending noise and kept crunching data in his mind as he ran scenario after scenario in his mind's eye to find that perfect means of escape. And it very much worked... the footsteps faded away until he failed to noticed the person walking had stopped at his cell. And lasted until the person spoke...
"Well well well..."
The smug tone of it set Nick's teeth on edge, instantly recognizing who it was.
The familiar flat and dry voice with a large dose of superiority. It belonged to only one person. The one person that created the living nightmare they all lived in now. One person that destroyed the lives of billions of Avatars around the world for the sake of 'improving' it. The one person that thought they could play god in defiling the dead...
"Ross." Nick hissed venomously as he turned his burning glare from the floor to the narwhal that stood on the other side of the bars that trapped the brunet.
"Nice to see you on those side of the bars." The scientist kept to his professional stance and smiled a little as he regarded the captured Avatar. It was interesting, to be confronting this pain in the ass again but with the roles reversed. Then again the brunet and his little ragtag team were very predictable and easy to manipulate to reach his needs.
Still it was funny.
"Why did you do this to us?" Nick growled as he pushed away from his spot on the wall of his cell and moved toward the bars.
Ross blinked and raised a brow in both confusion and boredom. Honestly he had no idea which 'this' the brunet was getting at. "Do what?"
The Avatar waved his hand at the cell that caged him. "Capture us." he clarified, the growl gone but the frustration still very much there. "Take us away from our friends. Everything you've done so far..." Nick muttered, keeping his glare trained on the narwhal. "I just don't get it."
'Oh, was that all?' Ross sighed inwardly and moved closer to Nick's cell and leaned toward the bars a little, staying out of arm's length and looked at him dead in the eyes. "Imagine, for the moment, that you're working on something." the narwhal said, tone still empty of emotion. "And these bugs just keep coming and pestering you and pestering you..." He shrugged as he continued. "Sometimes you just gotta swat 'em."
While Ross' voice never rose and his expression never changed... Nick actually winced at silent implication of being slapped by the words, the hatred he felt vanishing with the non-physical blow. It was then that the brunet realized how the scientist thought of him and his friends; as bugs... lowly insects that were of little threat but great in annoyance.
And the narwhal was immensely annoyed with them.
Nick, for once, was at a loss of words; still stunned over the scientist's answer. "But I... don't understand," he murmured, "If you felt that way... why would you help Ghetto?"
Ross gave the captured Avatar a lidded glare that showed his annoyance as he resisted the urge to roll his eye in exasperation. 'How the hell did this Avatar live this long without common sense?' Perhaps luck and the fact there are others out there dumber than this ragtag team of fools. Why would he bother to help their precious Ghetto?
Experiments.
Ghetto was a prime subject to test Formula X on. He honestly couldn't test the damn thing on the dead... and any living Avatars tend to blow their brains out at the first realization of being infected. Pretty hard to test it to see the effects without a subject... and here Nick provided him with one. And from that... led Ross to improve his work, even got a samples of Ghetto's blood to improve the viral strain. But it was after all of that that the fools became pests. Just blundering into his areas of work and causing chaos... granted he was able to learn a bit more about his work because of their constant disruption but now they were being more pains than assets.
"When we first met you," Nick continued, staring hard at Ross. "I thought you were a man of science, a man who was going to do good!"
The narwhal let out a sudden quiet chuckle, a small smile crossing his face. 'Ah, forever the fool.' "Oh, I am a man of science." he chuckled, the smug tone returning briefly. "But... to really see science...you have to learn what's good and what's bad. And," The smile vanished and he leaned toward Nick again. "forget it all. And just learn what's best."
Nick stared at him, again stunned at Ross' lack of remorse. Was there anything that this man even felt regret or guilt over? Anything at all? No... of course not... if he did, he was clearly hiding it and kept it under heavy lock and key to the point of not even feeling it anymore.
He looked away from the narwhal briefly in disgust, thinking back to everything he had done. And that... snapped him back to the moment of what really hit the group of friends hard. Nick shot Ross a glare of disgust. "Is that what happened with Barney, right? Another experiment of yours gone wrong?"
Ross sighed, tilting his head a little in thought as he remembered what the moments were. "Ah, Barney... Barney was quite... the experiment." He chuckled at the memory, blatantly ignoring Nick bristling at the laugh, then sighed happily. "Ah, simply not the finest but-" He shrugged, uncaring of the life he stole. Science required sacrifices, Barney should be honored really. "quite the experiment nonetheless."
The conversation was making Nick sick to his stomach the more he realized it was pointless to understand Ross' logic. And while not looking forward to it, the brunet decided it was best to steer it elsewhere. Maybe try to get some information that could help him escape and for fuck's sake... stop the two lunatics from causing more hell for survivors everywhere.
"So that's it then?" Nick muttered bitterly, waving his hand about listlessly as he leaned against the bars of his cell. "Your whole plan... team up with a cannibal? A savage like Red?"
'Aw, this is cute.'
Ross knew what he was doing but was game for some type of entertainment. He'll play along. The narwhal lifted one shoulder in a half shrug, again showing lack of care.
"Mutual interests fall together, you know?" But now that Red became the topic of the conversation, Ross realized he actually forget the reason why he was here in the first place. He perked up, "Ah! Speaking of, I was suppose to give you these." The scientist reached into the pocket of his lab coat and pulled out a small jar of what looked like food. "Do you like pickles?"
Nick gave him a flat glare at the offering. "No, I don't; and I already got food." he growled, knowing fully well what the food was for. "And don't bother, I know why they feed us so much here. This isn't my first run in with Red."
'Oh my, give the Avatar a prize! He knows! Perhaps fools can be taught simple tricks.'
"True, true. A lost cause." Ross murmured, nodding in agreement as he slipped the jar back into his coat pocket.
The two became silent for a while, regarding each other. Or in this case, Ross was just simply waiting until burning curiosity and frustration bubbled within the brunet Avatar and got him itching to keep questioning the scientist's motive. The narwhal could see it happening, the way Nick's brow furrowed as he tried to think about what he learned from this, trying to piece together the logic and failing. The disgust burning in his eyes at the thought of how many Avatars had suffered because of all of this. And the frustration in his body language under the burning question of why.
'And in three... two... one...' The narwhal counted off mentally as he crossed his arms and waited, his head turned toward Nick's direction.
"I just don't get it, Ross."
'And there it is, right on time.'
"I just don't understand why someone like you... someone so capable would decide to use your knowledge and your-" Nick replied in frustration, unaware of Ross' thoughts, "for bad. I just-"
'For 'bad'? That's the best word you can come up with little naive Nick? Really?'
"Now, imagine Nick," Ross cut in, if not only to try to explain it in simple terms but to keep the brunet's mouth from rambling. Seriously, he thought he was losing braincells listening to the dribble. "you won't be sick... live forever or cure any illness."
Nick let out a sarcastic chuckle at the idea. "Except what? What's the cost, Ross?"
The narwhal smirked a bit, tilting his head a little as he watched the captive. "What is the cost of how much life?" He agreed, looking off to the side and seemingly distant for a minute, "Life for life, death for death..." Ross' attention returned to Nick and smiled a bit, "It'll all work out in the end."
"Maybe." the brunet muttered, glaring at the floor of his cell briefly before turning the glare back on the narwhal. A promise of death and retribution burning in his gaze. "But not for you though. I swear it." Nick hissed icily. He will not forget the promise he made to Sky on the day Barney was killed or the day Sky threw himself off the roof in attempt to kill Ross to protect Nick and avenge his best friend. One way or another he will make that promise come to pass. Mark his words on it. "As long as I'm alive, I won't stop hunting for you or Red, and everyone like you."
'Well now, he does have a bit of a bite in him. It seems Red was correct after all. The little fool will probably end up being as cruel as the cannibal... and not even realize it.'
The thought of the irony of it all made him smile coldly as he spread his arms in a mocking shrug. "Well... here I am." Ross teased, enjoying the rage and hatred storming in the brunet's eyes.
Nick bristled at the jeering, glaring at the iron bars that stood in the way of him ripping the narwhal apart with his bare hands. "You're lucky, Ross." the Avatar spat, "You're lucky I'm behind these bars."
Rage churned and boiled within him as Nick glared; just the sight of the scientist angered him further. All the pain, the suffering, the loss of friends... because of his damned thirst of 'fixing' shit that couldn't BE fixed. And that smile... that smile Ross wore on his face, the smile and sense superiority. What the hell gave him right to do this in the first place!? The question of why was still there and never getting clear answer was setting him off.
"Just get out of here." Nick snarled as he pushed himself away from the iron bars, placing distance between himself and the scientist as if his presence was a personal offense to him. In which at this point, it was. "I don't want to talk to you anymore, alright? I don't even want to look at you. You're not the man I thought you were."
'Aww, is the poor little fool still disappointed? How naive could you get, Nick? Expecting someone you knew nothing about to be your little hope in this world?'
"Enjoy your stay." Ross answered with an empty smirk as he turned on his heel and walked away, whistling a cheery tune that was dead and cold. Nick couldn't help but shudder at the sudden chill that came over him as he listened to it fade in the shadows of Red's base.