tales of demons TAG:stephen

[Dimitri Spade]

"uhm, yes, please leave all of your personals in the locker we provided you, and when you are done changing I'll take you to the testing area. Please, there are absolutely no cell phones, pagers, watches, or any jewelry of any kind. If you have a heart problem or a pacemaker, or pregnant, please talk to one of the nurses. They will arrange for certain problems and complications to be... less complicated." Dimitri had a hard time sounding completely professional, as he had to really concentrate on his words and how he spoke so he wouldn't spook the people being experimented on. They were being paid well, but it was scary for those that had no gift to be comfortable with this sort of thing.

"Please come into this room here." Dimitri waved the group of volunteers into a well-sized room. He pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose, looking over the information he had on his clipboard. He felt very professional, in his lab-coat and his favorite pair of black slacks and a light blue button-up shirt on. He checked off the final name of the man that went through the door and into the room with the other strangers.

There was a good assortment of people; of many ethnic groups, of many ages, of many bodytypes, and of many personalities. All of these were factors in what test they were going to do.

Dimitri like finding out the samples of information, and figuring what the ratios and percents meant to the person he was testing. Today he was testing Stephen on his abilities, and he figured that the man would have probably have grown exponentially with his gift. Dimitri moved into the observation room, turning on the surveillance of the room where the people were, and turned on the machines that were monitoring each of their vitals. He put his clipboard down, and pressed the intercom button that would broadcast his words into the small room where the group of unknowing people were.

"Thank you for coming. I would like to reiterate that communication is forbidden between you all until the tests are over. You may have a few problems afterward, such as disorientation and a headache, if anything is worse than that after, please talk to one of my assistants or nurses. Thank you. The test should begin shortly."

He sighed, removing his finger from the broadcast button. He picked up his clipboard again, looking over the list of volunteers, and checking the vitals again.

"Uhm, Doctor Spade?" A timid nurse cracked open the door.

Dimitri looked over at her, "Yes?"

"Mr. Gage is here."

Blue eyes brightened and Dimitri smiled, "Send him in, then. We're all ready here. Please make sure that he isn't wearing jewelry or anything outside of the hospital gown, okay?"

The nurse nodded and disappeared from the doorway. Dimitri ran a hand through his hair jotted down an equation for him to work on later on his pocket notebook.

[Stephen Gage]

Stephen Gage was usually the smiling sort. He spent a fair amount of his time, hell nearly all of it, with a grin on his face and some semblance of a spring in his step. And not untruthfully so. The man had little to truly be sad about. He was gainfully employed for an organization he loved dearly. Stephen considered Hammel more of a family than his actual one, by sheer virtue of having spent more of his life at the Institute than in Scotland. Pilot Ridge was, though cold and flawed because of it, his home, and he enjoyed it here. Helping people find a new home, away from the troubles and trials that their powers would bring them, gave to Stephen a pleasant sort of feeling he scarcely thought he could find anywhere else. He was surprised he'd found it at all.

But powers, abilities, whatever the lay-term was for them, that was what gave Stephen a shadow to avoid. For all his smiles and charm, Stephen felt guilt for possessing an ability for which he'd never asked. Something forced upon him and, so far as he knew, incapable of being returned: domination. Stephen's ability gave him control over the bodies of other people, their minds free to remain fully aware that they had been relieved of the limbs they previously controlled. And that terrified Mr. Gage, almost as much as it terrified his victims. Perhaps if he'd been granted control of their minds as well, it wouldn't be quite so bad. At least then, he could make them forget. But as it was, Stephen's power did not give him the luxury of preventing the terror in his victims' eyes. The most he could do was shut their eyelids and hope that the fright lay sealed behind them.

And yet, here he was, in the research laboratories of the Institute, to seemingly celebrate the power that pulled and tugged at the edges of his mind. Every so often, whether he loathed it notwithstanding, Stephen would be called upon to test the boundaries of his abilities. How many people could he exert control over at once? Furthermore, how many people could he move about, and to what extent? How intricately could he manipulate their bodies? How easy was it on him to accomplish all of this

He had answers for all of those questions: Too many, too many again, too much, too intricately, and by the grace of all that was holy, far, far, far too easily. That's why its fingers snaked into his mind: the ease of things. Conflicts rarely developed when one simply shut the other person up and sent them on their way. The troubles that plagued Hammel, the MSAD, would be so much more easily dealt with if a few of them simply offed themselves. Or at least were made to stand still. They'd make much more convenient targets when their bodies rebelled against them, and all they could do was move their eyes to look at their assailant.

Stephen banished these thoughts from his mind and stared at himself in the mirror. The "changing room," if it might be perhaps a bit complimentary to call it as such, was outfitted with one, and it gave him a rather unflattering view of how he looked in a hospital gown. You know the ones: pale green, like old copper, with a slit in the back baring his ass for all the world to see. His smile was gone, replaced by a shade of tiredness in his eyes, and a somewhat defeated frown on his face framed by the results of a few days without shaving. He hated these tests. They were necessary, of course, and Institute mandated.

He hated them anyway. They made him take off his necklace, the bit of jewelry his first recruit had given him. And he hated them for that as well. Stephen felt most comfortable wearing the necklace. It reminded him rather well of what good came of controlling powers, and leading others to do the same. Perhaps they'd let him keep it. Just hold it, maybe.

"Mr. Gage?"

Stephen looked away from the mirror, covering his bare behind as best he could. A nurse had looked in on him, and he met her gaze with a slight blush. Usually he kept exhibitionism for when he was drunk. She seemed comfortable, though. Probably dealt with this on a daily basis. "Yeah? And please, just Stephen."

"All right then, Stephen. Doctor Spade will see you now."

He sighed, putting the smile back in its rightful place. The nurse stepped off to the side, gesturing for him to proceed out of the door. Stephen sighed, stepping with barefeet across the cold gown. Could they not have afforded him anything but the gown? Well, it's not like he hadn't worn stranger things for stranger, more personal purposes. "Might as well get this over with then, hmm?"

He clutched his necklace in his hand. They had another thing coming if they thought they could keep him from keeping it nearby. The nurse led him through the hallways, mercifully short in their length and empty in their residents. The fewer prying eyes that followed Stephen in a hospital gown in this sort of situation, the better. It wasn't long before they reached the testing area apparently reserved for him. The nurse smiled as reassuringly as nurses ever do, and opened the door. Stephen stepped inside, laying eyes on Dimitri Spade. He offered a meek smile, slight nod, and an uncharacteristically somber "Hi Doc. Suppose it's that time again?"

[Dimitri Spade]

Dimitri knew for a fact that Stephen had issues with using his powers. He thought that everyone at some point was afraid of their powers. In face, Dimitri was still scared of his powers. Especially when He couldn't turn his head off, and it was beating against the sides of his skull, telling him to HURRY HURRY FASTER GO. When he build things that didn't make sense to anyone but him, such as buildings from the chopsticks he wouldn't use when he would eat his Japanese Takout. Or when he would use his pink pearl erasers just right so he would file it down to a heart or a circle and then make little men from the shapes he created.

Or how he would freak out about merry-go-rounds and how the spins of such would rob the earth of the slightest bit of angular momentum, and then he would spend days trying to figure out how many merry-go-rounds were safe to have and use and how many in the past there had been so he knew that the earth wouldn't slow down.

Those kind of things scared him. With a mind like his it wasn't fair to live and think bout these things. It just wasn't. No one else went through these kinds of things. They were happy to get on the merry-go-rounds and spin it faster and faster and Dimitri could only think of the angular momentum.

Dimitri turned and smiled toward Stephen. He raised an eyebrow, "But of course. It's the most wonderful time of the year, after all." He offered a slightly sarcastic smirk, and then his eyes fall to Stephen's clutched hand, "Okay, you know when I start the test I get to hold that, right?"

He then motioned for Stephen to come through another room, adjacent to the one that Dimitri was in, and a lot like it, except without all the equipment that Dimitri used to watch the people's vitals and brain activity. It had a two-way mirror, which looked into the room with the subjects that Stephen was going to puppet. He then started unwrapping ECG Electrode Stickers, and placing a few on Stephen's head, all the way around, so the scientist knew exactly what was going on in his patient's head.

"I need to put a few of these on your chest, Stephen. Would you please...?" he motioned at the hospital gown that the other man was wearing.

[Stephen Gage]

"Okay, you know when I start the test I get to hold that, right?"

Damn it.

Stephen had really been hoping Dimitri had forgotten about that. The necklace wasn't much to look at, but it kept Stephen calm and restrained when using his power, and he loved it all the more for that. But he saw Dimitri's eyes flicker to his own clutched fist, and Stephen's shoulders slumped slightly. The meek smile shifted into a defeated sort of grin, and he nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Was kind of hoping you'd forget, though" he said with a chuckle. His grip tightened on the necklace. However briefly he might have it with him, Stephen would get all he could from it.

The doctor led him into another room, similar to the first though noticeably more Spartan. It was dark, and before he saw the mirror, Stephen half-assumed something was going to leap out of the shadows at him. Then his gaze turned to the window, a two-way mirror, and saw the people on the other side. Nothing was meant to jump out of the darkness at Stephen. No bogeyman was after him.

After all, the bogeyman here was him. His jaw tightened as he looked at the subjects, eyes widening slightly. He hated this part, absolutely loathed it. He used his power for two things, if that: to stop fights, and to catch runaways. He did not simply flaunt his ability like some of the students. These people may have signed up for this, may be paid for it, but they didn't know. They couldn't know. If they did, if they knew it was well as Stephen, they wouldn't be there. The recruiter was terrified of a power that had no sway over him other than the simple, addicting ease with which it could be used. Unless it was saving somebody from injury, it wasn't worth it.

No, this was worth it. This had a purpose, this experiment, and there was no self-aspect to it. The taste was bitter in his mouth, and Stephen far from enjoyed the reality of the situation, but these people were surrendering their free wills to him. For science.

The sound of crinkling material brought him back to the present, and Stephen glanced to Dimtri just in time to see and feel the doctor stick an electrode to his head. He smiled at the sudden intrusion, as if it were some sort of pleasant surprise. "Sorry, zoned out for a bit there." He resisted the temptation to nod an apology, lest he somehow muck with Dimitri's placement of the electrodes. Wires running from his temples, clad in little more than a gown made of glorified Kleenex, Stephen felt rather stupid. If Dimitri hadn't seen his discomfort earlier, there was a machine in the other room just itching to share.

Dimitri left Stephen's sight briefly, returning with more electrodes. An explanation was given, and then a motion to Stephen's chest. He'd forgotten about the chest sensors. The last test was a year ago, and Stephen usually tried his best to keep them far and away from his thoughts. "Yeah, no problem."

Stephen felt around the back of his neck until he found one of two knots that held his gown together, the other located at the small of his back. He pulled a wayward string, and the top half of his gown loosened somewhat. He pulled the neckline down, trying to maintain as much decency as possible. He'd certainly worn less at times, but there tended to be far more alcohol involved than his presently sober state allowed. "Not cold, are they?" Jokes. He liked jokes. They were comforting.

[Dimitri Spade]

Dimitri smiled, "You know full well that it's hard for me to forget anything. I know its special to you and everything, but I can't take accurate measurements with it." He sighed, pushing up his glasses with his middle finger as Stephen pulled down the light cloth gown, revealing his chest. Pushing at his glasses helped hide Dimitri's embarassment, but it didn't really help his mind.

Because when he felt the embarrassment take over his chest, tightening it, he only got more embarrassed because he was supposed to act professional. At least Stephen couldn't read his mind. And with that thought, the scientist kicked himself.

His patient's joke made the blue-eyed meta-human smile, though. "As a doctor, it's in my job description to make everything that touches peoples' skin as uncomfortably cold as possible. It gives us deranged pleasure." He laughed, putting the stickers in place all about Stephen's chest, arranging them in the way that he always did. He did quickly and efficiently, then looked over to the two-way mirror, where the test group looked a little impatient. Then he looked back at Stephen, smiling best he could.

"Alright. Let me lay down what we're going to do, though you probably have it memorized. As usual, we are going to conduct a dependent, in which you will control one person, (the one wearing the bandanna), and then the second control will be blind. You must do the same action without looking at the person you are controlling."

He took a breath, to dim the lights so the room behind the glass could be seen easier. A heavy-set woman wore a bright blue bandanna around her wrist, signifying her as the control. Dimitri made a mark of where she was on the board.

"But the blind control will come after the independent test. In that I will be testing how many you can control and how well you can control them. Make sure you do the same action each time, just so I know how well you are doing with the group of people." His nimble fingers pulled up a bunch of cords that were plugged into a monitor, then started hooking up the claw-like metal clasps to the electrodes he had put onto Stephen's body.

"And then you will follow suit with the blind test." He looked toward Stephen's face, which betrayed his fear of playing god. "Hey, don't worry. They'll be fine and you have amazing control. I'm just testing to see how much your powers have grown. Nothing went wrong last year, nothing should this year." He gave his best comforting smile, and put out an open palm for Stephen's necklace.

[Stephen Gage]

A short laugh escaped Stephen as Dimitri made light of his own ability. At least the Doctor had some sort of clue. "Heh. Can't blame a guy for hoping."

Dimitri's embarrassment was lost upon the puppeteer, too caught up in the experiment that lay ahead of him to notice. Usually a sucker for a man in glasses, almost obscenely so, Stephen had hardly even noticed the lenses before Dimtri's eyes. Hell, he'd hardly even looked at Dimitri since the two of them entered the room. Stephen's eyes were on the subjects on the other side of the glass, people of all shapes, sizes, and colors, but all of them equally vulnerable to losing ownership of their own bodies.

A sudden chill on the right side of his chest brought a quiet hiss out of the recruiter, and he looked down to see the culprit: another electrode. Right, that whole thing. Dimitri was talking, as comfortingly as could be expected of him. A quiet laugh bubbled out of Stephen's throat at the joke, goosebumps popping up as another cold electrode was stuck to his skin. "Well you certainly do a good job of it. Got to get your jollies somewhere, I guess."

The doctor looked out to the subjects, and Stephen did his best to prevent himself from doing the same. The less he had to see of them, the better. They'd seem more like strangers, then. He kept his gaze on Dimitri, giving his mind something to do by tracing the frames of the doctor's glasses with his eyes. They were not precisely inconspicuous, but they managed to not seem terribly out of place, even on the tall and thin Dimitri. Then the glasses turned, Dimtri faced him, and Stephen listened to his assigned task with more than a few reservations.

The woman with the bandanna. Stephen couldn't deny the urge to look at her, and he cast a sideways glance at the woman. She was large, that much was certain, and held an impatience in her face tempered by curiosity. She fidgeted a bit, switching her weight between her feet. She probably had a husband, maybe some ki- No. Stephen reminded himself that she was a stranger, he knew nothing about her, and she had nothing to lose. It'd be easier that way. Dimitri's instructions lay in Stephen's mind, comprehended but hardly enjoyed. He looked back to Dimitri, watching the man attach clamps to the electrodes. Maybe a joke would help. It'd certainly make him feel better, anyway. "Clamps? Doctor, that's fourth-date stuff right there." He smiled, realizing only afterwards how embarrassing the joke might sound.

Dimitri's words were comforting, but they did not soothe Stephen's fears completely. He had control, yes, but that did not mean he enjoyed having to exercise it. The test couldn't possibly take very long. It was only a small thing, Stephen reminded himself, couldn't be more than an hour, if that. Manageable. An open palm presented itself before him, and Stephen sighed. "Just, tell them I'm sorry afterwards." He loosened his grip on the necklace, dropping into the doctor's hand. He squared up his shoulder, preparing himself, and casting his green eyes onto the subjects in the other room. The woman with the bandanna still looked impatient. She'd get enough excitement shortly. Unsure, and unable to remember, whether the gown was meant to be tied up again, Stephen paid it no heed. Tying it up might mess up the wires, and replacing them would just lengthen this whole ordeal. "Just let me know when you want me to start, doc. Preferably soon."

[Dimitri Spade]

Dimitri gave a small laugh at Stephen's remark towards the clamps, but then got quiet and slightly flustered. He couldn't help liking Stephen, he had since the first test that he had conducted on him. He liked the reserved nature of the other man, but also funny and interesting. The ind of person you were able to watch Saturday morning cartoons with and then have a discussion on politics. (not that Dimitri cared much for politics, but you get the idea.)

"Alright, the test will begin when you hear this sound." he touched a button on the remote hooked to the pocket of his lab coat, a small ding coming from the speakers in the room. "I'll be just in the other room, so give a holler if you need anything or something's uncomfortable or if you need me for any reason. As you know, I can't be in the same room with you. The first test will run for three minutes."

He moved out of the room, leaving Stephen in the cold room alone. He closed the door behind him, watching the group of people in the testing area, watching the vitals absentmindedly.

He was really thinking about Stephen. The two weren't really friends, or even close, and they never really had much interaction outside of the yearly tests, but nonetheless, Dimitri had always felt oddly happy around the other. He didn't understand it. Usually his madness prevented him from getting anyone too close.

He sighed, writing down the last constant vitals of the testees, the graph before him looking pretty consistent, and then he pressed the intercom for the group of people.

"Thank you for your patience. The test will begin soon. Please, try to remain relaxed. Thank you." The people stirred just a bit, but once they seemed to relax again, Dimitri pressed the button on his remote.

(ooc: god, I am so sorry for this short reply. I am so out of it, and I'm sick and I have so much to reply to.)

[Stephen Gage]

((ooc: It's no problem at all! Take all the time you like. No rush.))

"Ding. Got it. Should have that part down by now, at least."

Those were the last words Stephen said to Dimitri before the doctor left him to his lonesome. Three minutes. That didn't sound so bad. He could deal with it for that long, to be sure. Stephen watched the door shut behind Dimitri, jealous somewhat of the doctor's ability to wear actual clothes instead of a glorified green sheet. Whenever it was the ding would sound was at once too distant and all too soon an eventuality. Part of Stephen dearly wanted to get the test over with immediately, and another part of him never wanted it to start in the first place. And then, of course, the ever-present third that jumped with excitement at the opportunity to put his powers to use. It's just been so [li]long[/i] since he's last used them. It would feel like rapturously stretching some disused limb, relaxing, invigoriating, and begging to be done more. Stephen set his jaw firmly, letting out a sigh as he attempted to push that terrifying third away, and muttering to himself the same solution he'd found any other time his less moral side made itself known:"I need a drink."

Ding

The woman with the bandanna stirred, and Stephen winced slightly. She wouldn't be fidgeting at all in a second. At least, not of her own volition. The possibility of any of this simply not occurring lost since defeated, Stephen shut his eyes briefly, stretched out his left hand, and breathed. His eyes opened, and the test began.

It felt the same everytime, that first exertion of control. Like the gathering of cogs in a machine, Stephen felt his influence spread through the woman's body with each twitch of his fingers. It started in the legs, and she noticed. Her feet felt heavy to him, her calves stiff. She was resisting, but she'd tire. And then she'd be his. Stephen kept his eyes on her, an unfortunate requirement for his ability. Her eyes were widening. Why did he start at the feet? He should've started with the face, shut the eyes then.

It made no difference. Her torso was his now, her shoulders, her arms. He could feel her attempts to wiggle her own fingers, bend her spine, her brain sending out signals the rest of her body simply ignored. The neck, fat, tightening with fear. Stephen's palm faced her, the fingers tracing some mental image of her body, moving up and down as if pulling strings. Her face was no longer her own. It was Stephen's. She belonged to him now, and most of him hated it.

Most of him.

Stephen clenched his fist and her eyes shut themselves, her lips jamming together, refusing to allow her fear to vocalize itself. He could feel her figure in his hands, like some dense little doll. His little finger bent halfway, and her knees followed his command, forcing the rest of her body to the floor. Ah, he'd been out of practice. Her movements seemed forced.

He could do better.

The morose, grim expression he'd borne since the Doctor had left the room relaxed, familiarity and loathsome enjoyment beginning to appear at the very edges of his lips. Stephen splayed his fingers, and the woman's arms spread themselves wide. A bending of his wrist, and her head tilted back, and following a gentle twisting of his hand, lolled around. The apprehension in his eyes faded further.

He raised his hand again, and the woman stood. As Stephen pulled his palm towards himself, she walked closer to the mirror, her movements fluid now. He could feel her struggling. Moving his fingers was like trying to run them through deep water. There was resistance, but it was pointless. She was his. And she would have to get used to that. The faint vestiges of a smile, miniscule and nigh imperceptible, tainted his lips. She was close now, flush with the glass. A small bending of his fingers, and her eyes opened. He could see her and felt as if she somehow knew. her pupils wide, they stared forward at him. The shadow of a smile grew ever so slightly.

Ding.

Reality hit, and Stephen released her immediately. The smile vanished, replaced a thousand times over in its intensity with a combination of horror and no small amount of curiosity. That had felt... easier. He liked that. Where the horror came in was where Stephen was well aware that he should not have liked that.

[Dimitri Spade]

Dimitri watched Stephen's face from the cameras hidden within the room that his test subject was in. It was a very strange transformation to watch. His face didn't really become another persons', but the way the smile fell onto his lips and the way his facial muscles twitched and moved and hardened, it was a very frightening sight to observe. By that alone, Dimitri almost called off the test. He didn't, but he made quick and careful notes of the rise in blood pressure, the perspiration of the woman as she tried fighting, the brain waves that was calculated on each of them. It was an amazing shift in just three minutes.

And then there was him watching her carefully, watching her squirm and her eyes screaming and her mind trying so hard to push Stephen away. She was like a mouse caught by a cat, the cat simply playing iwth it, holding it by its tail as it thrashed from side to side. It was haunting, almost beautiful like a dance. Enchanting him and breaking his heart at the same time. He had felt this each time he had seen Stephen's work. Almost as if he could feel a different side of the man's personality. Almost as if he were a different person when using his abilities as he was.

Three minutes went by and sucked Dimitri out of his trance. He pressed the button at his side, then discovered he hadn't been breathing himself. He caught his breath, and popped a small hard peppermint candy in his mouth, clearing his mind from all the thoughts that was racing through him like water through a high-pressure hose. He stabilized himself against the wall, breathing for a moment, getting himself out of the mindset he had gotten with the test he had witnessed, keeping himself unbiased. He made a few more marks on his clipboard, then entered the room again.

"That was amazing, Mr. Gage. Now, we're going to move onto the larger-scale test. Please try to repeat the results on as many of these people you can. Please keep them from touching one another. And if you feel a problem, I'm here again."

He tried hiding the amazement and fear in his voice. Gage was always exceptionally powerful, but the persona that seemed to take over when he used such abilities was interesting, probably far more than the power itself. Those were the tests he wanted to conduct, but he didn't have proof or the heart to try and get these tests applied for.

"alright, as before, the test will begin at the same beeping sound," Dimitri turned to leave again, but then turned back, "Are you alright so far, Stephen?"

[Stephen Gage]

Stephen kept his eyes on the woman, watching her fear and uncertainty on her face with no small amount of the same on his own. He was glad he couldn't hear her. She looked like she might be muttering to himself, as people often do, trying to figure out what had just happened. How. And why. Those same questions rocketed around Stephen's mind most any time he used his power like that. On the rare instance he did activate it, he rarely went any further than simply immobilizing the subject. Any further than that, and he risked actually enjoying being able to control them. His power use rarely involved anything dramatic or life-saving. Simple restraint was key. But the freedom of these tests, the capability to do anything at all with the subject, was tempting and wonderful and poisonous.

Dimitri's words sent Stephen's brow into a furrow. Amazing? Well, yes. He supposed it was. Dimitri must have seen the wicked sort of dance she'd been sent into. That was Stephen's handiwork, and a part of him was proud of it. Another part of him felt as if the display was nothing short of vile. Any amazement was not felt for the impressiveness of it all, but for how any enjoyment could have been seen on his own face. But time marched on with nary a respect for that conflict, and Stephens simply nodded. "Larger scale, got it."

He turned his eyes back to the woman, tearing them away only when Dimitri's question reached his ears. Stephen turned his head to face the doctor, green eyes flickering between the subject and the proctor. "Hmm? Yeah, I'm all right." His voice wavered slightly, far too many opinions inside of him to be properly contained in his voice. Perhaps some humor. "I'm going to need a drink or four after this, but short of that, just dandy." He chuckled shortly, sighing before turning his face to look at the subject once more. "Let's just... get this done with, yeah? One test down, only so more to go."

He clapped his hands together, trying to gather some of the cheer for which he was known. "I'll let you know if I need anything, Dimitri." Stephen nodded, rubbing his palms together. "Much obliged."