“Hello?” I call out into the endless mire of black.
The last thing I remember were his glazed eyes. A haunting sight before my consciousness betrayed me.
Suddenly, the darkness dissipates. It fades from around me like a slideshow of despair, seeking crevices of light to seep into.
Then I’m inside the Odyssey Pool, gasping furiously for breath. Above me looms a steel figure, crackling maniacally. It happened so fast. It’s real. I’m dying.
I must escape. Muster power. Survive. Kick. Furious thrusting kicks against a force of water, acting as if a weakened battering ram upon steel. The knocking echoes, dulled by the thrashing sounds of my escape.
Suddenly, like a dam bursting, the levy of steel breaks and I flow from within my captivity, pouring onto the floor.
I can catch my breath.
But once again, the walls morph. The landscape changes.
The Doctors office. The last place I remember being conscious and purposeful. I’m strapped to a table. His glassy eyes are back staring deeply into my soul.
His scalpel touches my skin. It burns. Every pore, every follicle, they burn like the knife has been dipped in acid. It brings tears to my eyes, not of fear, but pain.
The Doctor leaves. Struggle. The restraints dig into my wrists, firm and tight. They lock me into position, but I can escape. Fight. Struggle. Defy the capture.
And they break. They snap from the table with a ferocious click.
But the room doesn’t remain.
The stage arrives in its place. I’m no longer able to move. There’s no power in my body. I’m sat on the lap of a man, a puppet under his control.
Is that Igor? Is it Felix? I can’t tell.
He moves me willingly, only I’m not willing. I’m awake, yet not conscious. I’m not sentient, yet I am. I can feel but cannot move. I’m paralyzed.
There’s a knock.
He drops me to investigate the door.
I’m me.
I’m back.
But something worse enters. A plume of black toxicity wafts powerfully in my direction. It comes for me, swarms me, buzzing and putrid.
It tackles me to the ground, clawing at my skin. Ripping and tearing at me like a rabid Wolf. It wants to devour me.
I won’t let it.
I fight back. I always fight back. There’s no lack of resilience within me. The dark void of despair struggles with my power. I overcome it.
And I awaken.
I’m strapped to the table in Dr. Deaths office. I haven’t broken free. I’m still trapped.
“Aw, he’s awake.” The good Doctor blushes.
I hurt. My face hurts and my body aches. I can feel my fingers trembling as they lose sensation through the tightened restraints that bind me.
“You don’t understand, do you Doctor?”
“You, Doom, Felix and Gemini…”
“You all hunt me like a wild beast.”
“Now you have me…”
“As Gemini will next week.”
“But you’ll soon wish you hadn’t. I survive. Drown me in the pool, cut me with a scalpel, treat me like a puppet or swarm me with disease.”
“And I will still send you on your way.”
Death nods. “Very well.”
They’ll see.
[DISCLAIMER. PERMISSION WAS SOUGHT FROM DR. DEATH FOR HIS CHARACTER USAGE IN THIS PROMO]