Nox’s lab, the ticking of a clock can be heard steadily and persistently as we see Nox sitting in a folding chair, his shoulders and head slumped in contemplation, his old CRT Television just behind him emitting a blue screen.
-Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock…-
“Have you ever taken slow-release medication? Drugs that are given to you so you keep more of the medication within yourself, as it slowly leaches into your system. It’s quite genius.”
As if on cue, the screen flickers to life. The image that plays is from NXT Level 351 as Felix Foley is sprayed in the face by Nox’s Mister.
-Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock…-
“Oftentimes given in repeated smaller doses to make sure the medicine takes and is always persistent in the system.”
The screen flickers once more. This time, the image on display comes from Vendetta 369, a purple fog surrounds Felix as he scratches and claws at his skin in a panic.
-Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock…-
“It needs to be that way, so the body doesn’t reject it wholesale. Everything needs to be planned, methodical, and thought out to avoid all that hard work from literally going down the toilet.”
Once more, the screen comes to life, Forces of Darkness. We see Foley this time as a Red Fog consumes him, sending him on what can only be described as a voyage to trip-out city.
-Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock…-
“Sometimes when you’ve been without a dose for an extended period, all it can take is a… Catalyst, to bring back all that work. A massive dose introduced directly into the system, something that may be able to do something as unique as cross the blood-brain barrier.”
The screen behind Nox flashes again, this time to Pandemonium XI, Hatchet slamming the syringe handed to him earlier in the evening into Felix’s veins.
-Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock…-
“You see, Felix, you never were the bad apple, but you hid a vile little worm inside of you. One that eats away at you and gnaws at your very being…”
The screen now displays the moment Scissor slams his namesake into the guts of Hatchet as screams and auditory horror blare in the background.
-Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock…-
“You were a Bestie, a friendly face in dour times, but never a bad apple… Just an apple that I poisoned. Slowly, methodically, persistently over an extended period. You planted a bomb in the Pantheon, tried to end me and the people who stood alongside me. It’s more than fitting that you’re now a time bomb of my making. Stressing yourself until…”
-Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock…-
“You explode, and Felix Foley is no more, and this week is when you get your final dose. Because when you… Breathe it in, those thin marionette strings that you’ve been hanging by will be snipped again with your own Scissors, and he’ll meet me face-to-face. While you’ll realize that sometimes there’s a fate worse than death as you’re locked behind his eyes. Forced to bear witness to the horror and atrocities we can create as everything you never could be is visited upon all of Arcadia. Sleep well, Felix, it may be the last time you feel yourself.”