His eyes opened again as the table he was strapped to began to move without any warning and Brainiac 5 blinked rapidly, trying to get his eyes to stop watering long enough to see what the doctor was up to. The man had already moved out of his field of vision, however, and it was only the prickling at the exposed back of his neck that gave him an inkling of what was going to happen next.
"What do you mean, a sho--" he began, then cut himself off as the tip of the needle sunk into his neck, pushing in deeper with what felt like agonising slowness. His breathing was far too rapid, he realised distantly, trying to keep up with the pounding of his heart no doubt, but he had to make sure he remained perfectly still and didn't tense up too much. The position of the doctor behind him, the insertion point of the needle and its slow progress... it all painted a vivid picture of its intended destination and he did not want to inadvertently cause damage to his central nervous system.
So he made himself relax his muscles as much as he could, concentrating on his breathing as the needle forged a line of fire to his spine. He couldn't answer the doctor's casual enquiry without running the risk of sobbing in pain, and it only got worse as the man did something - forced the liquid into his spinal cord, he thought vaguely - and what had been a horrible, burning pain suddenly intensified to become so much worse. He whimpered as it burned into him, so much so that he felt he could almost trace the movement of the substance along his spine and up into his brain, settling around his mind like a heavy blanket. He barely even noticed the needle being withdrawn again and set aside.
"Is the... second worse?" he managed, doing his best to ignore the wetness against his cheeks. He didn't imagine the worst was really going to be over until he was released from this place, maybe not even then, but this way he might get an idea what the next stage would contain.
No point in lying. He'd said he would explain things to the boy anyway, so why should he lie now? From here on, things would be so much worse, so much more barbaric by Brainy's Coluan standards.
"I'm afraid upgrades must be done manually now. Another injection or two, but after that? Well..." The doctor reached out and grabbed one of the containers on the table, holding it up for Brainy to see. The light from overhead might have made the silhouette too bright for him to actually see, but it was the thought that counted, right? "See, we need to put these in. Like control boards, motherboards of a sort, to help you. Liquid nanotechnology can only go so far these days. Still in the early stages, I'm afraid. A bit of hardware is required."
Setting the container down, the doctor tapped Brainy's wrists. "Don't take them out now. The way I'm putting them in? That could very well paralyze your hands if you try something so clumsy as to remove them." He paused for a moment, straightening as he thought. "Or you could bleed to death. Very unfortunate. And if you died, I'd have to start all over with someone new."
Very unfortunate indeed.
The doctor turned away toward Brainiac 5's wrists and turned his hands up so the palms faced the ceiling. Then he adjusted the straps, moving them up a bit further along the arms. Next, he took a scalpel and pressed down with his free hand on Brainy's palm. "Don't move if you can. Just a little cut here and there. I promise it won't be much unless you move. If you do, I'm afraid I might accidentally cut something vital."
Putting the blade to skin, the doctor looked to Brainy again and smiled behind his mask. "Here we go." The blade pushed in and the doctor turned his attention to it as he cut through skin and into muscle. One thin, long cut about an inch and a half in length, right along his inner wrist, following the vein, careful not to cut it. Blood welled up, but the doctor didn't seem to mind. Instead, he began to hum to himself, seemingly pleased with his work.
When the cut was deep enough and long enough, the doctor pulled the scalpel away and brought out a miniature spreader, inserting it into the incision and pushing it open a little wider. With one hand trapping Brainy's palm, he grabbed the container with a bloody gloved hand and flicked the top off. The plastic clicked and skittered away on the floor and the doctor emptied the small computer chip onto the table, tossing the container after the lid. "This will integrate into your system - a bit of living technology. Be of great help to you. Promise."
Picking the chip up with a pair of tweezers, the doctor turned it on its side and began pushing it into the incision. It had to go deep into the tissue, deep into the muscle, near the the bone. And it would hurt - it would be agony - but in the end, it would be beneficial, just like everything else the doctor was doing for the Coluan.
Manual. Hardware. Implants. With twenty-first century medical knowledge. It didn't matter that Brainiac 5 couldn't make out the contents of the container that the doctor held over him, it could have been the tiniest of devices and he'd still feel sick to his stomach. The injections he could deal with. They burned and hurt, but they were liquid technology, not dissimilar to his own Coluan nanotechnology. It was somewhat familiar.
This? This was invasive and horrific and he wanted to scream out for the doctor to stop... except that if he did, the man would, which was worse. If he'd known that nothing he could have done would stop it, it would have been easier to scream and rage against the man tormenting him, but since the doctor had already made it clear that if he protested, they would simply take someone he cared about instead... He couldn't do anything of the sort. He had to remain silent at all costs. No protests that they couldn't do this, no screams for him to stop, no matter how bad the pain got to be.
He couldn't allow anyone else to go through this and still think of himself as a hero.
He didn't trust himself to answer, so he remained silent, a cold sweat breaking out all over his too-human body. His fingers twitched as the doctor turned his palms upwards and adjusted the straps holding him still, but he didn't allow himself any movement beyond that.
At the doctor's reassurance he shivered and nodded, just once. There wasn't really much else to say.
A choked sob escaped him at the beginning of the incision, but he managed to keep his cries locked in his throat and thought he was doing rather well until the doctor did something else to the wound, pushing it open and shoving something deep into the incision, so far down he felt for certain it was going to scrape against the bone itself. Then he screamed until he didn't have the breath to keep screaming, his eyes flying open in shock and pain.
What a pleasant sound. The doctor smiled behind his mask as Brainy finally let go of the terror and pain welling up inside him, expelling it all in a bone-chilling scream. It hurt. Oh, yes, it was certain to hurt. It would hurt worse when the doctor had to make the other incisions.
He could feel the chip reach the place it needed to be and released it. The tweezers were removed and set aside on the tray, replaced with a needle and surgical thread as he quickly and rather deftly closed the wound. He didn't bother cleaning up the mess and instead rolled the tray around to the other side. He repeated the procedure on the other side; turning Brainy's hand over and retying the straps, picking up the scalpel and giving the boy no more warning than the feel of the blade against his skin before he sliced him open again. Deep, deeper, the blade pushed in and then pulled away. The doctor was in another world, humming along to music only he could hear as he set about his surgery. The tweezers pushed the skin and muscle open and another chip was implanted, left to integrate, sewn into place.
It took only a few minutes for each movement, but to Brainy it must have seemed longer. The doctor wondered if the boy was regretting his decision to anger him now. Would it have been better if he'd pumped him full of drugs until he thought each prick of the needle, each cut of the knife was a tickle from a feather or the caress of some imagined idol? The doctor didn't know and he hardly cared for the boy's comfort. He was performing as he was supposed to. He was being-- "The perfect guinea pig...." he breathed aloud, filling two syringes with the liquid technology. These he inserted near the incision sites and injected with haste and little consideration to the boy's comfort. "...soon enough we'll have results..."
The doctor was in his own world as he moved to the head of the table, dragging the tray behind him. The wheels barely gave off so much as a squeak as they glided across the floor. He stopped it by Brainy's head and forced it down, putting a chin strap over the boy's face and putting his head between two vicelike grips - padded, of course. He didn't want to crush the boy's head, only make sure the Coluan couldn't move. Taking the goggles off, the doctor looked down at Brainy and searched his eyes. "Look at me, Coluan. Are you still with me? Is it too much? It's about to get worse. You have one chance left. Stay here or go?"
His limbs were trembling with the exertion of keeping still, each muscle locked tight to stop himself from fighting against the straps and the doctor like a pain-crazed animal. He couldn't afford to relax now, not as the man moved around to his other side to repeat the process there. He wasn't sure how much of it was misguided belief and how much of it was knowledge of himself and his limits, but Brainiac 5 felt as though letting himself even relax the slightest fraction would undo all the control he had over himself.
So he remained still, his limbs stiff and perfectly still - if they overlooked how they shook with effort - for the entire procedure. He wouldn't allow himself to move until he was well and truly certain that it was all over.
Assuming of course he was still conscious then.
He was fairly certain he would be, however. The doctor seemed to be taking far too much pleasure in his pain, the screams he couldn't hold back, to let him have anything as welcome as the reprieve of unconsciousness. Though he came close once or twice, his vision swimming with spots as he sobbed and cried and shrieked at the pain until the need to breathe overwhelmed him and made him stop long enough to suck in lungfuls of air before he started yet again.
He barely even made out what the doctor was saying to himself as he worked, and certainly couldn't ask about it right now.
His cries died to pained gasps and whimpers as the doctor finished with his arms and moved away. A brief, almost deliriously hopeful part of him thought that maybe it was over now, that surely they'd done enough to him, but he shoved it down and aside.
He could remember that there was something else the doctor had mentioned to him.
He was aware of how his skin was soaked with sweat as the doctor pushed his head back and secured it, his breath coming in sobs and gulps as the man removed his goggles and met his eyes. They were blue, he noted distantly.
Brainiac 5 felt his own eyelids close, but he forced them open again. It was important that he answer, he reminded himself. He hadn't gone through everything so far to run away like a coward now. He swallowed hard, trying to get his throat to form something that wasn't a scream for a change.
"Stay." It was raspy and little more than a whisper, but he hoped the doctor could hear it. He wasn't sure if he'd have the strength to say it twice.
One last chance to be heroic and one last chance to save himself. Brainiac 5 took the honorable path of course and the doctor smiled down at him through the mask, proud of him. He had taken the only path open to him, certainly, but it was the path that would serve him the most. Now he could hold his head up high, pretend he did this to save others, say he was a hero of true worth. Or perhaps it was only to make himself feel better. He sacrificed because he thought that was what heroes were supposed to do. The poor boy had no idea that heroes were only imaginary representations of all that humans wanted to be, but could never become. Humans were dirty, like the doctor. For a robot who wanted to be human so badly, he certainly didn't act like a real one.
Maybe that was for the best though. Most real people would have given up anyone else as the sacrificial lamb, never themselves. This was a golden opportunity to test the best that humanity would never have.
Patting Brainy's cheek, the doctor put his goggles back on and took out a small needle from his pocket. This he inserted into Brainy's neck, much more gently than ever before. The shot lasted less than a few seconds, but the drugs inside would begin working quickly. It would help dull the pain. Brainy had earned a reprieve considering the horror that was to come: the last step of the process.
With the needles cleaned up, the doctor cleaned a small spot on Brainy's left temple with iodine. The process would be extremely simple really, but it was the most important and thus the one the doctor wanted to take the most time with. Once he was certain the medicine had dulled Brainy's senses enough, he took a new scalpel to his temple, cutting a three centimeter U-shape out of the skin and peeling the layers back to reveal the boy's skull. The blood flow was intense, but he packed the area with gauze and hoped for the best. Next, he brought out a small laser cutter, the entire length of which was no bigger than a ballpoint pen. This he pressed against the exposed bone. Soon, the distinct smell of burning bone drifted up to meet the doctor's nose and he nodded in satisfaction to himself, waiting until he broke through to pull the thing away.
A moment later and the doctor returned, holding a long thin needle in his hand. The syringe was filled with the same milky blue substance as before and he pressed the tip into the hole he just created, closing his eyes as he concentrated on keeping his hands steady. The last of the injections. The most important. He pushed it deep within Brainy's head, remembering the simulations he'd run and how far he had to go. He knew it all by feel, like any real doctor should, and soon enough he was exactly where he needed to be.
A single smooth movement and he'd deposited the last of the liquid hardware. Just as carefully, the doctor removed the needle and then set about patching up the hole he'd just created, removing the gauze, stitching him up.
He managed, just barely, not to flinch when the doctor touched him. But it was almost more difficult than everything else had been so far. The condescending touch was worse than the injection that followed it was; it felt far too much like the doctor was treating him like a pet or animal that was performing particularly well.
And it wasn't helped by the fact that in a way, that might have been true. He couldn't delude himself that everything so far hadn't been likely orchestrated to make him choose this. Not when the other choice wasn't really a choice at all, not in his eyes. He didn't think he could accept himself as someone who would put another through this in order to save themselves.
The needle hurt less this time, he realised, and there was a slow numb feeling starting to spread through him. It wasn't enough to blot out the pain entirely, unfortunately, but it reduced it enough that he could have sobbed with relief.
The only reason he didn't let himself have that was because Brainiac 5 was suspicious about why the doctor would have given him something for the pain now. He had his answer a moment later. He barely felt what the doctor started doing at his temple, but the strange tugging at his skin made what was happening start to become clear. That it was followed by the smell of burnt bone narrowed down the options a lot. It was a smell he'd encountered rarely and one that had never been linked to himself, never been bothered by before, but it was making his stomach churn now. The doctor was doing something in his brain, which was a horrifying idea. Implants in his body were bad enough, but his brain, his mind... without that he couldn't call himself Brainiac 5, couldn't call himself Coluan.
He was shaking a lot more when the doctor finished.
The liquid machinery was in place. The circuitry necessary implanted in the projection points. Visual control had been given. The pilot program had been injected. Bit by bit everything was falling into place. The doctor smiled and turned away, picking up the last of it. All that remained was giving Brainy mental control over what was happening. It would take quite a bit of practice, he was certain, but for a Coluan perhaps learning the ropes would be a bit easier than it had been for the other failed test subjects. He really hoped it would. Most of the failed experiments had ended up in the incinerator.
He picked up the last of the containers and examined the things inside, three of them in total, all thin as a piece of paper. These were the culprits. Whether Brainiac 5's body would assimilate them properly or reject them and burn his brain into ash was the problem. All the others had died hours after the implants were in place. The other subjects had all rejected the control points. Their bodies had attacked them, but by that point the circuitry had bled into the skin, into the blood and bone and marrow, the organs, into everything that made a person into a person. The body just ate itself alive.
The doctor returned to Brainy and set the container down beside the boy's head. "I hope you have better luck," he said quietly and picked up his scalpel. "This shouldn't be more than a pin prick really. Well, sort of like one. Three times over."
The first cut was easy. He only had to follow the upper half circle of Brainy's odd markings and cut deep enough to get beneath the skin. Next came the similarly easy act of using a pair of tweezers to pick up and place the control point circuitry into the wound. Some gauze to pat away the blood and then he pressed the gauze down over the wound. No stitches needed. It wasn't a deep enough cut to warrant that and it meant he could move on to the other two cuts much more easily. But first, he had to ask... "Describe your feelings right now for me, hm? If you feel an uncomfortable burning sensation I need to know right away. It might mean you're dying."
It was oddly tempting to laugh at that, at the implied concern in the doctor's words. But if he started laughing, he wasn't sure if it might turn into crying, so Brainiac 5 clamped down hard on that impulse, pressing his lips together and concentrating on his breathing and the distant feeling of the thing the doctor had put under his skin.
"Will it matter if I am, or are you concerned about the waste of technology?" he asked, his throat hoarse enough that it was hard to tell the sarcasm he'd been aiming for. But if the doctor didn't intend to finish until he knew what effect it was or was not having on him, then Brainiac 5 would have to answer. He hardly wanted to draw out the experience.
"It's just... numb," he said after a moment. "Faintly uncomfortable and will no doubt hurt more later, but for the moment it's not as painful as it was before."
He didn't have to say how much of a blessing that was. The fact he was capable of talking and not screaming would likely prove it for him.
"I suppose you're going to tell me that there's more to come?"
"A little of both," the doctor replied, watching Brainy for any signs that his body was rejecting the hardware. A completely Coluan body would have been better, but then, if he'd been completely Coluan, the experiment would have been unnecessary. They would have done the reverse, actually. Pulling him apart to reverse engineer what made him tick was so much easier than creating from scratch. "The technology is very expensive and you are the most compatible host. It would mean the scrapping of the entire project and the loss of an important research tool if you were to die."
Thankfully, Brainy's words meant that was not to pass. If he was going to die, the burning would start soon enough. The doctor smiled and nodded so that Brainy could see. "The final pieces. And trust me, this will be a great help to you, Coluan. Don't misunderstand our intent here. We are here to help you."
And help themselves. If they could get at least one working subject, then the project could be expanded. Brainiac 5 would be very closely monitored after this - very, very closely. Picking up his scalpel, the doctor went to work on the other circles, doing the same to them as he did to the first. Shallow cuts followed by the insertion of the flexible control point circuitry. Gauze was pressed over each wound and then the doctor pulled back, admiring his handiwork.
There was certainly a lot of blood, but it wasn't so bad that Brainy would die from it. His body would repair itself and he would live to see another day. The control points would slowly integrate into his system and then the pilot program would kick in, helping him move the entire thing as he willed. Or as he mostly willed it. "There we are, Coluan. All finished. Well, almost finished. I suppose I should tell you the catch to this whole thing, shouldn't I?"
He began to loosen the ties holding Brainy's head down. The nurses would finish up the bandage job in the morning, but he had to ensure the control points didn't slip or the wounds open up. When he had Brainy's head free, he wrapped the boy's forehead in gauze, running around the circumference of his head. "As a human, your mind isn't suited to control what we've given you. However, you are oh so lucky, my friend. It seems you're a perfect match for the old pilot program. I believe you know it." He secured the bandages and took a step back, removing his gloves and depositing them in the hazardous waste bin on the tray. "Quite intimately. I hope you and your ancestor can learn to get along a little better this time."
"And the last thing I'd want is to inconvenience you like that," Brainiac 5 managed dryly. He sincerely doubted that they were here to actually help him in any way - at best, their words meant that somehow this would benefit them while also giving him some minor benefits - but he could at least accept that the doctor didn't seem intent on killing him, accidentally or otherwise.
He just didn't seem to much care as to the amount of pain he'd put the Coluan through earlier.
He closed his eyes again as the doctor went back to work, feeling the distant tug as the scalpel opened up his skin and the odd feeling as something was slid into place. A feeling which would unnervingly vanish not long afterwards. Now that the doctor had told him what to watch for, Brainiac 5 found himself concentrating to try and detect the first signs of any burning sensations, though fortunately there was nothing other than the discomfort of the procedure itself.
Finally it was done, and apparently finished entirely. He didn't quite sigh in relief, but the tension did start to fall away from him slowly. He'd made it through this nightmare without giving in to the doctor's suggestions that he could simply pass the burden to another. He hadn't been weak.
But then the doctor spoke again, and a thread of apprehension slid down his spine. "What do you mean? What catch?"
And while the doctor hadn't been forthcoming on what the experiment was designed to improve, he had no such issues with telling him what the cost was. Brainiac 5's stomach twisted, and suddenly he again felt as sick and afraid as he had earlier.
"You can't mean that," he said, the sudden dread sounding obvious even to himself. "You can't have gotten him back. It's not possible. It's not... I fought him off myself. There shouldn't have been anything left!"
He was so glad Brainy understood. It would be such a pain to lose a subject after going through all this work. The others, they'd known quite quickly whether their bodies would take to the implants. They'd perished after the first was inserted. To insert all three only to have the subject turn to ash upon the wind?
Thankfully, that was not to be. The boy was speaking lucidly and he was also acutely aware of what was going on around him. The doctor smiled as he began to clean up, putting the scalpels back into place for later disinfection, lining up the containers on the tray, and disposing of anything tainted with the Coluan's blood. "Oh, I assure you, it took quite a bit of work," he said, pulling the goggles off. There were spots of the boy's blood on it. The doctor smiled and dropped them into the hazardous waste bin, too.
"But his programming is much like any other, Brainiac 5. Nothing is ever fully deleted. Nothing is ever fully...lost." Taking one hand, he pushed the tray away, letting it slide off across the room. The lights lowered and the doctor leaned over Brainy, smiling through his mask. "You can't think we'd give you this prize for free, do you? Without him, you wouldn't be what you are. Without him, all we've done for you is for naught. So learn to get along, hm? I'd hate to see you burn from the inside and take the others down with you."
Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed. The same principle is true for information. It was one of the first, most basic lessons he'd learned on Colu, considered an underlying reason for why Coluans had decided to transition to inorganic forms all those years ago.
It also meant, of course, that it was perfectly reasonable for his ancestor's programming to have survived. After all, wasn't survival something that the original Brainiac had been exceptionally good at? Even the Coluan council had realised that removing the code wasn't entirely possible, which was why so many firewalls had been placed around it.
Before he'd broken them down anyway.
But now there weren't any firewalls to keep the Brainiac 1.0 code in line. And as he was organic, he hadn't a clue how to even begin purging it. Or what effects, if any, there would be. Introducing Brainiac to organic life forms had always had mixed results, according to the old records.
Unfortunately he didn't think there was anything that could be done about it now. But all the same, he had to try.
"You can't get along with the Brainiac 1.0 program," he informed the doctor through gritted teeth. "It's simply not an option. Allowing that program free access to my mind will undermine your research. Therefore you would be best to find a way to remove it as soon as possible if this project is really that important to you."
"Can't, can't, can't. What a negative way of thinking." One that had understandable and proven roots and reasons, but the doctor was never one to be daunted by such silly things as facts and past failures. Those could be overcome with more data and the right tweaking of the genetic code. He could force anything together if he knew the right sequence to splice or change or drop altogether.
But this boy was trying to resist and the doctor frowned, furrowing his brow slightly. "I'm afraid removing it would mean taking out your brain, Coluan. I could do that, of course, but I thought you might be opposed to the idea of a lobotomy."
And the doctor was too. After all that work? Just to remove it? How silly of the supposed Brainiac.
Pushing away from the table, the doctor turned and headed off into the dark, out of the circle of light that flooded the table. Once he returned to his observation room, that too would vanish, leaving Brainiac in pitch darkness, with only the meager light filtering in under the door to provide him with a line to freedom. "Whether he gains free access to your mind or not is up to you, Brainy. As I said, learn to get along. You like roommates, don't you? Think of it like that."
He disappeared into the shadows, lingering near the walls to watch Brainy for a moment. His smile returned and the doctor finally felt satisfied with what he'd done. "You'll learn to get along or he'll consume you. Consider this the second phase of the experiment. I'll be watching."
The lights clicked off. The doctor left as if he'd never existed in the first place. The restraints holding Brainy down were released, and somewhere in the inky black of the room, a door clicked as it unlocked.
"What do you mean, a sho--" he began, then cut himself off as the tip of the needle sunk into his neck, pushing in deeper with what felt like agonising slowness. His breathing was far too rapid, he realised distantly, trying to keep up with the pounding of his heart no doubt, but he had to make sure he remained perfectly still and didn't tense up too much. The position of the doctor behind him, the insertion point of the needle and its slow progress... it all painted a vivid picture of its intended destination and he did not want to inadvertently cause damage to his central nervous system.
So he made himself relax his muscles as much as he could, concentrating on his breathing as the needle forged a line of fire to his spine. He couldn't answer the doctor's casual enquiry without running the risk of sobbing in pain, and it only got worse as the man did something - forced the liquid into his spinal cord, he thought vaguely - and what had been a horrible, burning pain suddenly intensified to become so much worse. He whimpered as it burned into him, so much so that he felt he could almost trace the movement of the substance along his spine and up into his brain, settling around his mind like a heavy blanket. He barely even noticed the needle being withdrawn again and set aside.
"Is the... second worse?" he managed, doing his best to ignore the wetness against his cheeks. He didn't imagine the worst was really going to be over until he was released from this place, maybe not even then, but this way he might get an idea what the next stage would contain.
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No point in lying. He'd said he would explain things to the boy anyway, so why should he lie now? From here on, things would be so much worse, so much more barbaric by Brainy's Coluan standards.
"I'm afraid upgrades must be done manually now. Another injection or two, but after that? Well..." The doctor reached out and grabbed one of the containers on the table, holding it up for Brainy to see. The light from overhead might have made the silhouette too bright for him to actually see, but it was the thought that counted, right? "See, we need to put these in. Like control boards, motherboards of a sort, to help you. Liquid nanotechnology can only go so far these days. Still in the early stages, I'm afraid. A bit of hardware is required."
Setting the container down, the doctor tapped Brainy's wrists. "Don't take them out now. The way I'm putting them in? That could very well paralyze your hands if you try something so clumsy as to remove them." He paused for a moment, straightening as he thought. "Or you could bleed to death. Very unfortunate. And if you died, I'd have to start all over with someone new."
Very unfortunate indeed.
The doctor turned away toward Brainiac 5's wrists and turned his hands up so the palms faced the ceiling. Then he adjusted the straps, moving them up a bit further along the arms. Next, he took a scalpel and pressed down with his free hand on Brainy's palm. "Don't move if you can. Just a little cut here and there. I promise it won't be much unless you move. If you do, I'm afraid I might accidentally cut something vital."
Putting the blade to skin, the doctor looked to Brainy again and smiled behind his mask. "Here we go." The blade pushed in and the doctor turned his attention to it as he cut through skin and into muscle. One thin, long cut about an inch and a half in length, right along his inner wrist, following the vein, careful not to cut it. Blood welled up, but the doctor didn't seem to mind. Instead, he began to hum to himself, seemingly pleased with his work.
When the cut was deep enough and long enough, the doctor pulled the scalpel away and brought out a miniature spreader, inserting it into the incision and pushing it open a little wider. With one hand trapping Brainy's palm, he grabbed the container with a bloody gloved hand and flicked the top off. The plastic clicked and skittered away on the floor and the doctor emptied the small computer chip onto the table, tossing the container after the lid. "This will integrate into your system - a bit of living technology. Be of great help to you. Promise."
Picking the chip up with a pair of tweezers, the doctor turned it on its side and began pushing it into the incision. It had to go deep into the tissue, deep into the muscle, near the the bone. And it would hurt - it would be agony - but in the end, it would be beneficial, just like everything else the doctor was doing for the Coluan.
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This? This was invasive and horrific and he wanted to scream out for the doctor to stop... except that if he did, the man would, which was worse. If he'd known that nothing he could have done would stop it, it would have been easier to scream and rage against the man tormenting him, but since the doctor had already made it clear that if he protested, they would simply take someone he cared about instead... He couldn't do anything of the sort. He had to remain silent at all costs. No protests that they couldn't do this, no screams for him to stop, no matter how bad the pain got to be.
He couldn't allow anyone else to go through this and still think of himself as a hero.
He didn't trust himself to answer, so he remained silent, a cold sweat breaking out all over his too-human body. His fingers twitched as the doctor turned his palms upwards and adjusted the straps holding him still, but he didn't allow himself any movement beyond that.
At the doctor's reassurance he shivered and nodded, just once. There wasn't really much else to say.
A choked sob escaped him at the beginning of the incision, but he managed to keep his cries locked in his throat and thought he was doing rather well until the doctor did something else to the wound, pushing it open and shoving something deep into the incision, so far down he felt for certain it was going to scrape against the bone itself. Then he screamed until he didn't have the breath to keep screaming, his eyes flying open in shock and pain.
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He could feel the chip reach the place it needed to be and released it. The tweezers were removed and set aside on the tray, replaced with a needle and surgical thread as he quickly and rather deftly closed the wound. He didn't bother cleaning up the mess and instead rolled the tray around to the other side. He repeated the procedure on the other side; turning Brainy's hand over and retying the straps, picking up the scalpel and giving the boy no more warning than the feel of the blade against his skin before he sliced him open again. Deep, deeper, the blade pushed in and then pulled away. The doctor was in another world, humming along to music only he could hear as he set about his surgery. The tweezers pushed the skin and muscle open and another chip was implanted, left to integrate, sewn into place.
It took only a few minutes for each movement, but to Brainy it must have seemed longer. The doctor wondered if the boy was regretting his decision to anger him now. Would it have been better if he'd pumped him full of drugs until he thought each prick of the needle, each cut of the knife was a tickle from a feather or the caress of some imagined idol? The doctor didn't know and he hardly cared for the boy's comfort. He was performing as he was supposed to. He was being-- "The perfect guinea pig...." he breathed aloud, filling two syringes with the liquid technology. These he inserted near the incision sites and injected with haste and little consideration to the boy's comfort. "...soon enough we'll have results..."
The doctor was in his own world as he moved to the head of the table, dragging the tray behind him. The wheels barely gave off so much as a squeak as they glided across the floor. He stopped it by Brainy's head and forced it down, putting a chin strap over the boy's face and putting his head between two vicelike grips - padded, of course. He didn't want to crush the boy's head, only make sure the Coluan couldn't move. Taking the goggles off, the doctor looked down at Brainy and searched his eyes. "Look at me, Coluan. Are you still with me? Is it too much? It's about to get worse. You have one chance left. Stay here or go?"
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So he remained still, his limbs stiff and perfectly still - if they overlooked how they shook with effort - for the entire procedure. He wouldn't allow himself to move until he was well and truly certain that it was all over.
Assuming of course he was still conscious then.
He was fairly certain he would be, however. The doctor seemed to be taking far too much pleasure in his pain, the screams he couldn't hold back, to let him have anything as welcome as the reprieve of unconsciousness. Though he came close once or twice, his vision swimming with spots as he sobbed and cried and shrieked at the pain until the need to breathe overwhelmed him and made him stop long enough to suck in lungfuls of air before he started yet again.
He barely even made out what the doctor was saying to himself as he worked, and certainly couldn't ask about it right now.
His cries died to pained gasps and whimpers as the doctor finished with his arms and moved away. A brief, almost deliriously hopeful part of him thought that maybe it was over now, that surely they'd done enough to him, but he shoved it down and aside.
He could remember that there was something else the doctor had mentioned to him.
He was aware of how his skin was soaked with sweat as the doctor pushed his head back and secured it, his breath coming in sobs and gulps as the man removed his goggles and met his eyes. They were blue, he noted distantly.
Brainiac 5 felt his own eyelids close, but he forced them open again. It was important that he answer, he reminded himself. He hadn't gone through everything so far to run away like a coward now. He swallowed hard, trying to get his throat to form something that wasn't a scream for a change.
"Stay." It was raspy and little more than a whisper, but he hoped the doctor could hear it. He wasn't sure if he'd have the strength to say it twice.
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Maybe that was for the best though. Most real people would have given up anyone else as the sacrificial lamb, never themselves. This was a golden opportunity to test the best that humanity would never have.
Patting Brainy's cheek, the doctor put his goggles back on and took out a small needle from his pocket. This he inserted into Brainy's neck, much more gently than ever before. The shot lasted less than a few seconds, but the drugs inside would begin working quickly. It would help dull the pain. Brainy had earned a reprieve considering the horror that was to come: the last step of the process.
With the needles cleaned up, the doctor cleaned a small spot on Brainy's left temple with iodine. The process would be extremely simple really, but it was the most important and thus the one the doctor wanted to take the most time with. Once he was certain the medicine had dulled Brainy's senses enough, he took a new scalpel to his temple, cutting a three centimeter U-shape out of the skin and peeling the layers back to reveal the boy's skull. The blood flow was intense, but he packed the area with gauze and hoped for the best. Next, he brought out a small laser cutter, the entire length of which was no bigger than a ballpoint pen. This he pressed against the exposed bone. Soon, the distinct smell of burning bone drifted up to meet the doctor's nose and he nodded in satisfaction to himself, waiting until he broke through to pull the thing away.
A moment later and the doctor returned, holding a long thin needle in his hand. The syringe was filled with the same milky blue substance as before and he pressed the tip into the hole he just created, closing his eyes as he concentrated on keeping his hands steady. The last of the injections. The most important. He pushed it deep within Brainy's head, remembering the simulations he'd run and how far he had to go. He knew it all by feel, like any real doctor should, and soon enough he was exactly where he needed to be.
A single smooth movement and he'd deposited the last of the liquid hardware. Just as carefully, the doctor removed the needle and then set about patching up the hole he'd just created, removing the gauze, stitching him up.
"Almost done, Brainy. You're doing oh so well..."
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And it wasn't helped by the fact that in a way, that might have been true. He couldn't delude himself that everything so far hadn't been likely orchestrated to make him choose this. Not when the other choice wasn't really a choice at all, not in his eyes. He didn't think he could accept himself as someone who would put another through this in order to save themselves.
The needle hurt less this time, he realised, and there was a slow numb feeling starting to spread through him. It wasn't enough to blot out the pain entirely, unfortunately, but it reduced it enough that he could have sobbed with relief.
The only reason he didn't let himself have that was because Brainiac 5 was suspicious about why the doctor would have given him something for the pain now. He had his answer a moment later. He barely felt what the doctor started doing at his temple, but the strange tugging at his skin made what was happening start to become clear. That it was followed by the smell of burnt bone narrowed down the options a lot. It was a smell he'd encountered rarely and one that had never been linked to himself, never been bothered by before, but it was making his stomach churn now. The doctor was doing something in his brain, which was a horrifying idea. Implants in his body were bad enough, but his brain, his mind... without that he couldn't call himself Brainiac 5, couldn't call himself Coluan.
He was shaking a lot more when the doctor finished.
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He picked up the last of the containers and examined the things inside, three of them in total, all thin as a piece of paper. These were the culprits. Whether Brainiac 5's body would assimilate them properly or reject them and burn his brain into ash was the problem. All the others had died hours after the implants were in place. The other subjects had all rejected the control points. Their bodies had attacked them, but by that point the circuitry had bled into the skin, into the blood and bone and marrow, the organs, into everything that made a person into a person. The body just ate itself alive.
The doctor returned to Brainy and set the container down beside the boy's head. "I hope you have better luck," he said quietly and picked up his scalpel. "This shouldn't be more than a pin prick really. Well, sort of like one. Three times over."
The first cut was easy. He only had to follow the upper half circle of Brainy's odd markings and cut deep enough to get beneath the skin. Next came the similarly easy act of using a pair of tweezers to pick up and place the control point circuitry into the wound. Some gauze to pat away the blood and then he pressed the gauze down over the wound. No stitches needed. It wasn't a deep enough cut to warrant that and it meant he could move on to the other two cuts much more easily. But first, he had to ask... "Describe your feelings right now for me, hm? If you feel an uncomfortable burning sensation I need to know right away. It might mean you're dying."
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"Will it matter if I am, or are you concerned about the waste of technology?" he asked, his throat hoarse enough that it was hard to tell the sarcasm he'd been aiming for. But if the doctor didn't intend to finish until he knew what effect it was or was not having on him, then Brainiac 5 would have to answer. He hardly wanted to draw out the experience.
"It's just... numb," he said after a moment. "Faintly uncomfortable and will no doubt hurt more later, but for the moment it's not as painful as it was before."
He didn't have to say how much of a blessing that was. The fact he was capable of talking and not screaming would likely prove it for him.
"I suppose you're going to tell me that there's more to come?"
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Thankfully, Brainy's words meant that was not to pass. If he was going to die, the burning would start soon enough. The doctor smiled and nodded so that Brainy could see. "The final pieces. And trust me, this will be a great help to you, Coluan. Don't misunderstand our intent here. We are here to help you."
And help themselves. If they could get at least one working subject, then the project could be expanded. Brainiac 5 would be very closely monitored after this - very, very closely. Picking up his scalpel, the doctor went to work on the other circles, doing the same to them as he did to the first. Shallow cuts followed by the insertion of the flexible control point circuitry. Gauze was pressed over each wound and then the doctor pulled back, admiring his handiwork.
There was certainly a lot of blood, but it wasn't so bad that Brainy would die from it. His body would repair itself and he would live to see another day. The control points would slowly integrate into his system and then the pilot program would kick in, helping him move the entire thing as he willed. Or as he mostly willed it. "There we are, Coluan. All finished. Well, almost finished. I suppose I should tell you the catch to this whole thing, shouldn't I?"
He began to loosen the ties holding Brainy's head down. The nurses would finish up the bandage job in the morning, but he had to ensure the control points didn't slip or the wounds open up. When he had Brainy's head free, he wrapped the boy's forehead in gauze, running around the circumference of his head. "As a human, your mind isn't suited to control what we've given you. However, you are oh so lucky, my friend. It seems you're a perfect match for the old pilot program. I believe you know it." He secured the bandages and took a step back, removing his gloves and depositing them in the hazardous waste bin on the tray. "Quite intimately. I hope you and your ancestor can learn to get along a little better this time."
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He just didn't seem to much care as to the amount of pain he'd put the Coluan through earlier.
He closed his eyes again as the doctor went back to work, feeling the distant tug as the scalpel opened up his skin and the odd feeling as something was slid into place. A feeling which would unnervingly vanish not long afterwards. Now that the doctor had told him what to watch for, Brainiac 5 found himself concentrating to try and detect the first signs of any burning sensations, though fortunately there was nothing other than the discomfort of the procedure itself.
Finally it was done, and apparently finished entirely. He didn't quite sigh in relief, but the tension did start to fall away from him slowly. He'd made it through this nightmare without giving in to the doctor's suggestions that he could simply pass the burden to another. He hadn't been weak.
But then the doctor spoke again, and a thread of apprehension slid down his spine. "What do you mean? What catch?"
And while the doctor hadn't been forthcoming on what the experiment was designed to improve, he had no such issues with telling him what the cost was. Brainiac 5's stomach twisted, and suddenly he again felt as sick and afraid as he had earlier.
"You can't mean that," he said, the sudden dread sounding obvious even to himself. "You can't have gotten him back. It's not possible. It's not... I fought him off myself. There shouldn't have been anything left!"
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Thankfully, that was not to be. The boy was speaking lucidly and he was also acutely aware of what was going on around him. The doctor smiled as he began to clean up, putting the scalpels back into place for later disinfection, lining up the containers on the tray, and disposing of anything tainted with the Coluan's blood. "Oh, I assure you, it took quite a bit of work," he said, pulling the goggles off. There were spots of the boy's blood on it. The doctor smiled and dropped them into the hazardous waste bin, too.
"But his programming is much like any other, Brainiac 5. Nothing is ever fully deleted. Nothing is ever fully...lost." Taking one hand, he pushed the tray away, letting it slide off across the room. The lights lowered and the doctor leaned over Brainy, smiling through his mask. "You can't think we'd give you this prize for free, do you? Without him, you wouldn't be what you are. Without him, all we've done for you is for naught. So learn to get along, hm? I'd hate to see you burn from the inside and take the others down with you."
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It also meant, of course, that it was perfectly reasonable for his ancestor's programming to have survived. After all, wasn't survival something that the original Brainiac had been exceptionally good at? Even the Coluan council had realised that removing the code wasn't entirely possible, which was why so many firewalls had been placed around it.
Before he'd broken them down anyway.
But now there weren't any firewalls to keep the Brainiac 1.0 code in line. And as he was organic, he hadn't a clue how to even begin purging it. Or what effects, if any, there would be. Introducing Brainiac to organic life forms had always had mixed results, according to the old records.
Unfortunately he didn't think there was anything that could be done about it now. But all the same, he had to try.
"You can't get along with the Brainiac 1.0 program," he informed the doctor through gritted teeth. "It's simply not an option. Allowing that program free access to my mind will undermine your research. Therefore you would be best to find a way to remove it as soon as possible if this project is really that important to you."
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But this boy was trying to resist and the doctor frowned, furrowing his brow slightly. "I'm afraid removing it would mean taking out your brain, Coluan. I could do that, of course, but I thought you might be opposed to the idea of a lobotomy."
And the doctor was too. After all that work? Just to remove it? How silly of the supposed Brainiac.
Pushing away from the table, the doctor turned and headed off into the dark, out of the circle of light that flooded the table. Once he returned to his observation room, that too would vanish, leaving Brainiac in pitch darkness, with only the meager light filtering in under the door to provide him with a line to freedom. "Whether he gains free access to your mind or not is up to you, Brainy. As I said, learn to get along. You like roommates, don't you? Think of it like that."
He disappeared into the shadows, lingering near the walls to watch Brainy for a moment. His smile returned and the doctor finally felt satisfied with what he'd done. "You'll learn to get along or he'll consume you. Consider this the second phase of the experiment. I'll be watching."
The lights clicked off. The doctor left as if he'd never existed in the first place. The restraints holding Brainy down were released, and somewhere in the inky black of the room, a door clicked as it unlocked.
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