Chapter Text
Ethan slowly awoke… His head ached and his body felt like a thousand pounds.. He shifted his gaze around as best as he could but the blinding lights caused his pupils to strain, only seeing white. He could feel his lungs struggling to fill with air, like someone was pushing down upon his chest. He heard sounds around him but could not focus on them enough to make it out… Words? No… Maybe?
He couldn’t understand what was happening and it felt like every microfiber of his being was screeching to be dead… To finally be one with the darkness but slowly as he became more conscious.. He gasped harshly as it was like his diaphragm finally stitched itself together and forced him to inflate his lungs, filling it painfully full of air after it had none… He began choking as his body felt like it was burning and his body spasmed in panic as he knew he should be DEAD.
“I’m.. dead” he whimpered out as his body began to shut down once again his consciousness began to slip. “Shit. He’s going back into shock!” He heard someone mutter angrily as rushing sounds could be heard. “Let…me die” he could feel hot tears streaming down his face as he soon let the darkness fill his existence once again..
Karl sighed as he laid on his back staring up at the ceiling of the room he had awoken in. Gritting his teeth rage slowly seeping back into his veins but knew there was nothing he could currently do. He only knew it had been three years since he had been killed and that he was in a high security research facility but everyone who walked in to test and prod him kept their badges turned inward to not tip him off of anything. They also would activate what seemed to be a collar that kept him from moving in anyway they seemed unfit.
Once he had gotten his strength up from being dead, he had sent out an electric field as far as his power would allow but found nothing of use tipping him off that they were aware of his powers. He paused the grinding Of his teeth as he heard panicked yelling down the hall and sat up to listen. Luckily they hadn’t realized that he also could hear and smell better than the average human.. “Shit. He’s going into shock!” He heard someone yell out and he raised an eyebrow wondering what they were cooking up. He got closer, placing his ear gently against the door to listen. “Let…me die” he heard a familiar voice plead weak and breathlessly..
Karl couldn’t help but flinch as he knew that was Winters. You’d think he would be angry, hearing the voice of the man who killed him, but with how the other was sounding.. He felt (surprisingly even to himself) bad for the young dad.. He knew how it felt just to wish to just be dead.. In all honesty he had those same thoughts cross his mind as well when he opened his eyes inside this place… When you finally think you can rest just for the living to decide they weren’t done with you was an annoying feat and at this point Winters had hit his third life. “Like a cat” Karl laughed to himself quietly shaking his head before turning his back and sliding down the door of his cell…
He chewed on the inside of his cheek wishing he had a cigar to chew on instead as his thoughts raced… Was Miranda still alive? His siblings? What happened to the village? He couldn’t help but shudder at the sinking feeling that if Winters was alive so was the bitch… He started to feel his temperature rise as his blood boiled at the thought of any of them making it out. The rounding of his vision began to blur as panic raced through his veins and he began to lose track of his thoughts.
What if she was still over him? Had he really failed? Was this always going to be his life? As he felt his body start to shake he growled extremely loud before releasing a huge field of electromagnetic energy but something strange happened as he did… He felt something respond but it wasn’t of metallic origin… It felt biological and it seemed to send a wave of energy right back in his direction causing him to cry out loudly. His voice booming enough to even hurt his own ears and he fell forward barely catching himself with his hands.. “Wh.. What is..” soon everything was gone and he was now one with nothingness..
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Heisenberg started to blink himself awake but as he looked around himself all he saw was darkness and he began to slowly sit up with a groan. “What the fuck” he grumbled now standing up looking down at himself and noticed that he was no longer in hospital clothing, but his normal wears. He heard a noise snapping his head in the direction of it, it sounded like a young girl.. He weighed his options and knew that the only choice was to explore to find out what he was hearing. He felt like he had walked for what seemed like days then He stayed quiet as he came across a scene that for some reason was shocking to himself. He saw Winters on his back staring upwards towards nothingness, staying as still as the dead and if it wasn’t for him blinking, he would have thought the younger man was a part of the dead..
“Oh.. Don’t you know you are intruding?” Heisenberg almost jumped at the sudden voice to his right but did not show it as he glanced down at a little brown haired girl staring at the man as well.. “Daddy has been like that for a while now..” Heisenberg didn’t even need to question who that was as he had read the reports and knew that was Eveline standing next to him. “What is he doing?” he asked looking back to Winter’s starting to let his blinking slow to eye closing. “Trying to will the Regeneration progress to stop.. And failing” Eveline shouted that last part causing the younger man to grumble “Stop creating people I know..” for a moment there was electricity in the air but soon that faded again.
Karl quirked an eyebrow up at that and Evevline looked up at him shrugging “There is no talking to him right now.” She now completely turned toward Karl, tilting her head slightly “It IS strange that you are here” He said nothing as he was wondering the same thing she was.. What was he doing here? What is here and why was Winters there? Why was Eveline there? “This is Ethan’s headspace..” she squinted her eyes at the older man answering one of his many questions like she knew what was going through his head. “Oh THAT'S why it’s so empty” he barked out with a laugh and watched as Ethan dragged his hands over his face pulling at his eyes in frustration but there was a spark of energy that began course in the air of the space that caused Karl to laugh louder, the sound echoing in the empty chamber. Eveline seemed to smile softly at that then Ethan rolled over “Will you quit it!” he pointed a finger at Eveline who put her hands up in defense “This ain’t me!”
Ethan didn’t know how long he had been staring up at the emptiness that surrounded him and if it wasn’t for the fact that he was laying on his back he wouldn’t even know he was looking up. Sometimes when he seemed to think of a random thought the energy in here would change and so he focused on pretending to be dead.. He hoped that if he willed it enough it would be so but that was before he heard Eveline who had been bugging him since he had become just a tiny bit conscious.. She kept asking him questions that she knew the answers to so he had pretended not to hear her hoping that if he did so she would leave him alone but now it sounded like she was now using the voices of people he knew.. He grumbled irritated as he knew that familiar voice before yelling back for her to stop it… For a moment he wondered why out of everyone she could use, it was Lord Heisenberg, but quickly decided not to humor her and shut down his questioning. Even though he was ignoring them he could hear her talking to herself using both voices now becoming increasingly more uncomfortable at how much it actually sounded like the Lord… Then he heard Eveline explaining they were in his head space and the quip that boomed out of the Lord caused Ethan’s blood to explode in his veins. “Will you quit it!” he snapped, pointing a finger at the young girl only for her to put her hands up in defense but still wearing a smile from the joke “This ain’t me!” He stared at her for a moment and it seemed she wasn’t lying.. She was surprisingly easy to read since he had gotten used to her being inside of his head.
Ethan leered at the older man in warning but seemingly ignoring Ethan’s look the lord muttered “Better what out, gonna blow this place if you think any harder papa” he grinned smugglingly and that seemed to be his last straw as he felt his face explode with heated anger. As Ethan stood it was like the room they were in shifted from being a dark and cold place, to filled with light as he charged after Karl and the surroundings turned from empty to a living room. Ethan was too preoccupied to even pay attention, that because his mind was racing so was the surroundings. From the living room to the village center to Karl’s factory to the blank room and it started over again.. He gripped Karl’s dusty army green trench and glared up at the man who wasn't even a couple inches taller than him. “Why are you in my headspace?” the older man seemed unimpressed by the act of aggression towards him and sighed “If you are going to kill me again, which i doubt you can without guns and I do not know if its possible in a headspace, that would be so three years ago”
The sassy words almost caused Ethan to blow up again until he realized he had said three years ago.. “Three years ago?” He mumbled out his eyebrows knitted together as his hands slacked just a little, but that was enough for the other to grab his arms and pull them over Ethan’s head and slam him against the floor of what was now Hesienberg’s factory. Ethan groaned but even with his head hitting the ground, it didn’t even actually hurt, he was just dizzy from the sudden movement. He struggled but even in what seemed like his own mindspace the older man was stronger than him and he growled out kicking around “Shhh papa, I just would rather not get into a fight here… I’m tired. You are clearly tired and we have a creepy mold child watching us.” they both glanced over at Eveline who grinned at them like she was enjoying the show and Ethan slowly relaxed. As he did Hesienberg also relaxed his grip and let the man go, flopping down to sit on the floor next to him. As Ethan relaxed the surroundings changed to be a living room once again..
“Why are you here?” he asked Hesienberg once again, as he slowly sat up looking over at the other who did seem as tired as he felt. “I have no idea, one minute I’m in my own cell hearing those Scientist fucks panicking because I guess you began to flatline on them, and the next second I’m face down passing out” Ethan felt like he was leaving a detail of that out, but decided he was too tired to push it out of him in this moment.. He’s bug the fuck out of him later though.. Heisenberg glanced over at him “Did.. Did you kill her?” The question was so quiet that Ethan almost did not hear him but he nodded looking over the older man noticing how it seemed the other was chewing on the inside of his lip.. ‘Was.. He nervous?’ He didn’t know why the thought of the man who always showed nothing but cockiness, rage and power being nervous made him feel a bit more Sympathetic than before.. Or maybe it was also the fact that he did not have adrenaline rushing through his veins and rage of his daughter being in danger that he was able to focus on the other’s body language as well as tone.. Or did dying for a 3rd time made him feel soft? He rather not find the answer either because being sympathetic towards the man who tried to kill him multiple times and use his daughter as a weapon felt a sour taste in his mouth.. “Why are we alive?.. How are we alive?” Ethan now asked towards Heisenberg but before the older could answer with a obvious “I don’t know” the young girl piped up “Because you both are mutated weirdos and with your bodies and a little bit of playing those ‘scientist fucks’ can bring you both back from the dead”
Heisenberg earned a scolding look from the dad which only caused him to cackle softly at the child repeating his own words which earned him a smack in the arm from Winters. The older man only laughed harder as for some reason hearing the 8 year old cursing was hilarious to him. After a moment Karl calmed down before looking at the child again “So why am I able to enter his head space, since you know more than us?” Evevline sat criss-cross across from the men and had a questioning look. “I have a few theories, but in all honesty I only know as much as he” she pointed at Winters “experiences, if it wasn’t for the fact they used my own mold to regenerate, i highly doubt I would know what I currently do as I was active while he was not.” Karl could understand what she was laying out, he glanced over to the man who still seemed a tad confused. ‘Like a puppy’ the grey haired one thought to himself and smirked a bit, keeping that thought to himself, knowing this wasn’t the time to flirt. “So lets compile what we all know and make a plan on what we are going to do next” Karl had taken the lead to plan their escape as the younger man seemed maybe still a bit too out of it. “I don’t care” Ethan then flopped backwards on his back, the spark now gone from his voice and the scenery changed back to an empty room, but much to Hesienberg’s liking it wasn’t dark, but just an empty white space this time. Though Ethan’s words did cause the older man to get a tad pissy.
“What do you mean you don’t care?” he leered at the man on the ground wondering what had happened to the spunky man from the village, the hot-head that just attacked him? He was not pleased by non-spunky Winters and in fact it annoyed him a lot more than when the blonde was being a hard head. “There is no reason for me to even be alive..I have no home, no family, Rose is safe, Mia is alive and Chris is taking care of the-” A harsh laugh barked out of Karl’s mouth as Ethan spouted to what Karl would say was ‘Bullshit’ but the younger one just glared at him “What’s so funny?” the room growing a dark blue as his anger filled the space. Heisenberg straightened up, showing he was not going to let the leaner of the two boss him around. “What’s so funny.. WHAT”S SO FUNNY? What’s funny is the fact that you seem to think that those working with the idiots who CREATED a moldy bread child” Eveline squeaked out a “hey!” before Karl continued without even batting an eye at her. “would see your child as ‘normal’ when she is more powerful than the three of us combined!” Karl began to stand on his feet but kept crouched down to stay eye level with Winters and Ethan tried to interject but Karl talked over him. “Ethan, they didn’t even blink when Mia was ‘kidnapped’, Mia happened to be ‘Safe’ after being supposedly taken by Miranda and was a major part in creating Eveline to be here in any form of existence. Why would Chris and Mia work SO HARD to keep you away from the truth from yourself and your child?” Karl knew by the look on Ethan’s face that the younger was getting mad, but how the energy shifted in the room, now it being a lighter blue tipped him off that Ethan was understanding what he put out. “Why would they not even TRY to find your body and properly burry it? Why would Chris fight you every step of the way and how would Miranda replace your Mia without you even notiving if Mia hadn’t tipped her off on how to act?”
Heisenberg knew he might be going too far but he knew while Ethan was in a listening mood he needed to get through to him before he went back into existential dread of being alive once again. Ethan seemed to soak in everything before sighing out a loud “Shit” and thats when Karl smiled softly knowing that maybe this finally got through to him. “Why do you care about Rose?” The young man looked at Karl which caused him to reel back in surprise at the question and embarrassment filled his own mind “I.. I don’t but I know you do” he cringed as he heard his own voice pitch up in defense and saw Ethan quirk an eyebrow up at him showing ‘bullshit’ through his expression. “Guhhhh I never wanted to hurt the kid!” Heisenberg threw his hands up in the air “I know I might have worded my deal last time wrong! I realize that now, but it wouldn’t have hurt her..” he mumbled out frustrated that he had to explain himself, Ethan clearly didn’t trust him even with Karl trying to explain his mindset to him. “You didn’t say that.. You acted like all she was, was a weapon… I just didn’t want my child being used and getting hurt..” Karl knew he was right and sighed. The two sat in silence for what seemed like ages when the world around them seemed to start shaking and Ethan groaned out clamping his arms around his own waist.
“What's happening?” Karl was alarmed as Eveline finally spoke up again “They are trying to wake Ethan back up” Ethan seemed panicked and looked at Heisenberg with an expression that screamed he didn’t wish to be in the real world just yet. Without even thinking about it Karl grasped Ethan’s face looking in the other’s dark blue eyes “I am down the hall, not even 100 feet from you, we’ll get out of this” Ethan gulped “How can I trust you?” Karl knew there wasn’t much else he could say to ease the younger man so he just told the truth “There is no way I can convince you to, but have I lied to you yet?” Ethan recalled all their interactions and shook his head no. “Then trust me when I say we will figure this out..” Karl knew this didn’t calm all of Ethan’s qualms, but he could feel Ethan nodd softly as he faded. Now it was just Karl and Eveline in the headspace alone.
“You know it won’t be easy..” She whispered in almost a pitiful tone and that just caused his anger to flare. “I have been through worse than a bunch of sick fucks who like playing god.” He snapped then stood before glaring at her “I don't care for creepy mold children” and with that he forced himself to awaken.. Leaving the child alone..
////sorry this is a bit short, I took my meds RIGHT before writing this thought down and KNEW I had to get it down of ADHD brain would forget! Enjoy!