Dr. Steiner and Francesca Lord were now in Steiner's office. He had invited her in so she could explain her visit.
'We were all so happy when we had Walter back, we just didn't realise what was happening until it was too late.' She elegantly wiped a tear away from her eye and continued. 'The first two weeks were uneventful. It was just like old times really, we were just exploring some newly discovered areas of space. Found some planets. Found some artefacts. Had a few skirmishes with the Nomads, do you know what they are?'
'Yes, who doesn't know in this day and age?' They both shared a fake chuckle. 'Please, continue.'
'Like I said, everything was going as usual. And then one of our pilots was shot down. By friendly fire.' Steiner raises an eyebrow, and she took this as a signal to continue. 'Walter claimed he had been aiming at a Nomad ship and had accidently hit him. We believed him, and we moved on. And by the time we discovered the truth, it was too late.
'We checked the black box of both Walter's Tiger Shark and the wreckage of Bert's Griffin. Bert's black box showed that, according to the angle his ship was hit at, the fire wouldn't have hit any hostile targets. This strengthed our suspicion, so we checked Walter's black box. It proved that Walter had targetted Bert's ship.'
Steiner gasped in horror. How have I made such a terrible mistake?.
Francesca took the gasp as another sign to continue. 'We confronted Walter the next day about the incident. As soon as we asked him to come with us he pulled his pistol from its holster and opened fire. Edd was standing right infront of him when he started firing, and didn't stand a chance.' Steiner had met Edd only once before - when he had come to collect Walter from the hospital. He could imagine his bulky frame falling back now, a massive hole in its chest.
'There were seven of us in the room at the time. He managed to take down four before the rest of us could take cover. He also took cover, and we were involved in one of those shootouts you see in those old cowboy films. Where one man peaks from behind the corner and takes a shot, then a man from the other side.' Steiner nodded. He knew what she meant.
'Another one of our guys had a face full of laser before the second - Jueves - got a lucky shot on Walters' arm. Whilst he was distracted I managed to grab a tranquilizer from the table and shoot him with that. He went down and we immediately bundled him into the Dromedary and headed back here.
'The base we were in was just outside of the Sirius Sector, so it took us a few days to get here. Jueves stayed behind to organise the transport of the dead to a crematorium.' She took a deep breath, wiped away a few tears and sat down. Steiner sat behind his desk.
'I loved Walter like a brother, but he pushed it well over the line. I'm paying for him to stay in here until his skin rots away from his bones.'
Steiner immediately tried to reason with her. 'Ms. Lord, I am sure that in time he can make a full mental recovery...'
'No!' Steiner was immediately startled. He could see the tears running down her cheeks now, unwiped. 'He killed six of his best friends. I don't care what's wrong with him, Walter would have never done that. That... That... Thing in there is not my brother. He is a murderer.'
'Ms. Lord, technically there are no laws outside of the Sirius Sector. If he wanted to murder you all, he would be allowed to and no laws would stop him from doing so. Although that does not stop you putting him in here, it means that eventually he is going to be released. If people could pay to have other people locked away in prison, then this would not be a nice world to live in. He can have his old isolation room back for the moment, but eventually his presence is going to attract attention.'
Francesca stood up in a semi-tantrum, wiped away the tears that had run down her cheeks. She stormed towards the door, and before she left turned towards Steiner and said, 'I may not be able to have him imprisoned forever, but any time that thing is away from other people is money well spent.' She shut the door and shouted from behind her. 'Expect the first payment in a month.'
Steiner watched as Layton let tears literally launch themselves from his eyes like missiles. He was visiting his newly arrived patient to try and interrogate him for answers. He had said "interrogate" to sound like he was in power. He was really asking nicely.
'Do you remember what happened?'
Layton shook his head. 'I don't remember anything. The last thing I remember, Edd was picking me up and I was boarding the Dromedary. Then a loud sound, and then I was waking up restrained on the Dromedary heading back here. I tried to explain it to Francesca, but she wouldn't listen to me.' The tears suddenly started to well up in his eyes. 'She called me a monster, and said she never wanted to see me again.'
Steiner attempted to comfort him with several soothing "There theres" and "It's okay". Finally the well broke and the tears erupted from his eyes in one wave. Steiner asked him to continue.
'What were you trying to explain to her? What do you believe happened?'
Suddenly he looked away from the floor and directly into Steiner's eyes, only for a split second. Steiner immediately knew the answer before Layton even said it: He was deceived.
'The voice went away. In May, we had an argument. It was desperate to get out, but I wouldn't let it. I told it I would stay here for as long as it took for it to leave. And then, after that day, I never heard it again. I was so happy I never let it enter my mind that maybe it was tricking me. I was so happy and I wanted to leave this hell-hole so much I couldn't see the obvious.' He returned to his violent crying. After several more seconds, he pressed his palms into his eyes in an attempt to stop the crying. It didn't work. He gave up and continued.
'I should have seen it. But I didn't. I'm an idiot. And because of it I lost my life. I lost my best friends. And I lost my mind.' He returned to trying to stop his crying, and Steiner immediately knew he wasn't going to say anything more for the rest of the day.
He lifted himself of the floor where he had been sat near Layton, and called out to the guard that he was ready to leave. There was a buzzing and the door was opened. Then, as he walked out, he took one last look back into the room. Layton stared back, his eyes now pools due to the new wave of tears gathering in his eyes.
The pools haunted Steiner that night. They spoke a thousand words. Words that he didn't want to hear.
Layton gently rocked back and forth in Isolation Room 4. He had a lot on his mind. Or perhaps the phrase in his mind would be more suitable. After weeks of solitude in his cell, the voice had returned to haunt him once again.
'That was so FUN!! You didn't even see the slaughter, oh it was incredible!' By this time Layton was literally on the brink. As soon as they let him out of isolation he had a special plan. He didn't want to live anymore, and would attempt to kill himself.
'You're a monster and I despise you wish every fibre of my being. Now go die!' Suddenly, he felt the pressure. He did not believe the voice was trying to cause the pain, because he knew that most of the time the pain was because of the increased volume of the voice in his head.
'Now now WALTER. I'm not GOING to leave you because you are my ONE chance to feel that thrill again.' To Layton's surprise, the pain suddenly disappeared. He waited for several seconds, but it did not return.
So he opened his eyes and allowed them to once again move across the room. Like they have over and over again. But there was something different now.
To his dismay, a man had entered the room. Normally the door was quite loud and he always heard it open, but not this time. The man was wearing a sharp suit with polished shoes, a hat that obviously gave the impression of a businessman, and a walking stick. The stick was held horizontally with both arms hanging loosely from his shoulders.
Walter stood up. 'Hello?' The man did not answer, nor did he give any sign of hearing Layton's greetings. So he said it again, and still received no response. He cautiously approached the figure, hoping that he was there to help.
But as he could almost reach his arm out to touch the man, his head suddenly shot up to reveal his face. Layton recoiled backward, immediately backstepping so he was stood against the wall.
The figure was him. 'I'm not leaving, Walter.' He started a manic giggle. 'But you are!' He immediately started his quick walk towards his target.
'No. No. No.' But the thing kept approaching. He lowered himself into a crouch against the wall and covered himself with his arms. 'No no no no NO NO NO!!'
* * *
The guard posted outside could hear the screams. But just as he was about to open the door, the noises stopped. Deciding that whatever was wrong was no longer wrong, he returned to his post with his newspaper and cup of coffee.
Little did he know that he had just allowed a monster to take it's seventh victim.
'Doctor Steiner! Doctor Steiner!' He immediately open his eyes to find his assistant bending over him, sharply prodding him with her right index finger. She still had the snow-white hair from the year before, although the colour was no longer as defined. He had grown accustomed to it.
Steiner growned before asking what it was about. 'Let me guess, a new surprise patient?' When she didn't even show the slightest sign of amusemant he knew something was wrong. His voice immediately tightened. 'Janet, what's going on?'
'It's Mister Layton sir, he's escaped from his room.' At that instant, Steiner's stomach tightened. He shot out of his bed and somehow managed to coordinate it so he landed in his slippers. He could feel the fear already.
But instead of wasting time fearing for the worst, he took action. 'Call security. Have the entire complex searched. He has to be found.' As Janet hastily turned around to leave, Steiner shouted after her. 'Dead or alive.'
* * *
Meanwhile, on the other side of the complex, Walter Layton was strolling down the halls. But it wasn't Layton. No, for it was the beast that now controlled the body. The entity of Walter Layton was gone, destroyed. Now all that remained was the beast.
He turned another corner, examining each door number to find the right one. He had been planning the escape for months now, for he never planned to stay out the first time. He had simply wanted a taste of what it would be like.
And now he tightly held the pistol in his hand. When the guard had come in to bring him his food, he had launched himself at the weapon and shot the guard with it. The guard was down, and it was easy enough to walk out.
Now he headed for one of the smaller rooms in the complex. Not all were as spacious as his, for not all were imprisoned with the hope of being "cured". Most were criminals who had managed to escape the big house by successfully pleading for insanity. But a few were the definition of the word "coo-cco". He now relied on one of these men for his survival.
If he escaped by himself, he would never be able to survive for long. He needed help. And the man who would help him was a few doors away now. He was the man who Walter had spoken to at the Christmas dinner all those months ago.
If, during his last days of life, Walter had searched his memory, he would have found there were a few meals that he could not remember. That was because he had not attended those meals. It had. It had talked to the man, and together they had formulated the plan. He hadn't had contact with the man for the past several months - due to the fact he had been outside or in solitary confinement. But he now just hoped that the man would still be there.
Layton arrived at the door of his helper. Now using the master key he had taken from the deceased guard he slid it into the lock, and turned it sharply. The lock was released, and the door opened.
At first, there was silence. But then, a faint giggling. The giggling increased in volume, and Layton stepped into the room to see the man. The man who would be the key to his survival. Doctor Axel von Fischer.
'Doctor?' Steiner was sat in his office, ancient whiskey bottle in hand. He hadn't had Whiskey since his old school experimenting phase, but now decided the time was appropriate to try it again. He had failed.
Four hours ago he had received word that Walter Layton had escaped. But even worse, he had escaped with one of the worst men his hospital imprisoned. Axel von Fischer. The Rheinland Military had paid large amounts of money to keep him as far away from Rheinland as possible. And now he had escaped. The killer of thousands. And now thousands more were doomed.
He realised that Janet was still staring at him. 'What is it Janet?' He could see in her eyes that she was considering just leaving the matter until later. And that is what she did.
'Nothing.' She left the room as fast as her pudgy legs would carry her without it being too obvious she was running. He said nothing as he took another sip out of the bottle.
How have I failed? That was the question that constantly went through his head. He would never know the true answer.
[17:45:39] Wolfs Ghost (Murphy): Tom, you have problems. Go kill yourself.
[19:25:12] Johnny (Jam): Tomtom, I will beat you with a spoon.
[14:22:56] Prarabdh Thakur: KILL HIM WITH A SHEEP.
[17:40:48] Eagle (Junes): Tom should be slapped with a spoon.
[11:32:18] Warspite: Thank you for being so awesome Tom. <3
[18:17:36] Metano: I love you tomtom
[20:06:24] Warspite: I will seriously give you epic head.
' Wrote:Edit: also, Tomtomrawr, fappin' like a boss.