|| Neurosis (Part 1) ||

[Warning]

[This chapter contains scenes of inhumane/torturous surgical operations without giving a patient any dose of anaesthesia. There will be heavily detailed scenes of torture and imprisonment.]

[If you wish to skip these scenes, there will be a symbol in the chapter to indicate where it ends.]

[Read at your own risk. ]

|| Chapter 13: Neurosis ||

After Doll had disappeared, the ravenette regained control over his body and left the colony's facility without uttering a signal word. Uzi and the others were concerned and tried to follow him, however, when he sent them a murderous yet icy cold glare, they immediately stopped. However, that was several days ago... Now, V and N were standing in front of the heavy doors of the ravenette's shelter.

Uzi couldn't come with them since she had to prepare for the camp trip. V entered the code several times but was denied entry, much to her frustration. "Oh come on!" She whined, slamming her fist against the metal doors, "Open up already!" Much to her and N's surprise, the door slid open, revealing Ezekiel. "...Hm," He emotionlessly mumbled when he noticed that it was the female murder drone and her colleague from before.

The duo flinched at his appearance - his hair was messy and slightly sweaty, he had fresh scars and wound-like marks across his skin, and his eyes looked dull and hollow. Overall, it looked like he went through hell and back. He was dressed in a similar to N's, however, he had a white high-collared turtleneck and tight military trousers with laced-up boots.

"What do you want?" He tiredly asked with his head slightly drooping, his gaze pinned to the pavement outside the elevator. "...Is Siwoo here?" N carefully queried, his lips pursed into a frown as he felt uneasy. Immediately, at the mention of the ravenette's name, Ezekiel tensed up and grew extremely anxious. "Y-Yes," He squeaked out with a small nod before looking at him with slightly trembling eyes, "B-But you don't want to see h-him right now though..."

"Just take us to him," V sneered at him with an impatient glare, stepping closer towards him to intimidate him. He flinched at her order and lowered his head in understanding before stepping to the side, hinting that he was permitting them entry. Secretly, they glanced at each other before entering the elevator. As soon as they were inside the elevator, its doors slid close behind them, locking up.

"I... I just wanna warn you guys," Ezekiel warned them as he pressed the last floor's button icon, refusing to look at either of them, "...Just know that he's been in a bad mood for the last few days." Immediately, the elevator was enveloped in an icy cold atmosphere as it descended, causing the tiny hairs on their bodies to stand on their ends and a shiver ran down their spines. N stole a quick glance at the marks that peeked out from under Ezekiel's collar and pursed his lips in uneasiness, knowing well that he should heed his warning. 

Soon, the elevator came to a halt and opened its doors, revealing the laboratory. The security system recognized Ezekiel before allowing him and the duo entry. As soon as they entered the laboratory, N noticed that everything was a mess - dozens of papers were scattered everywhere, the tables and chairs were either turned over or destroyed, and some hologram screens even had cracks in them. There were puddles of dried blood and oil across the floor and walls, hinting that there was a fight for life or death. 

"Auurrggghh!" A high-pitched voice suddenly screamed out in pure agony, startling everyone except Ezekiel, who instinctively covered his ears with his trembling hands. Swiftly, V and N placed their attention in the direction of where the scream came from - the medical operation sector.

Wariful, they approached the room with Ezekiel slowly following behind them and stood before the gigantic window that peered into the operating room. Almost instantly, N gagged and stepped away from the window, tearing his gaze away as he tried his best not to vomit.

V's hands shook against her sides as her eyes were glued to the horrid scene occurring on the other side of the window. Inside the room, Ellipse was chained down to the operating table - almost completely bare and scarred. From the top section of her breastbone until her panniculus (lower stomach pouch) region, a large cut created by a scalpel was seen.

The sliced skin was flapped open to the sides like wings, revealing everything that was inside her body. Her mechanical heart was in complete view, showing off how it thumped with each fast rhythmical beat. Her robotic organs were fiddled and operated on by the robotic human hands that dangled from the ceiling. 

Her ribcage was indented and broken into small pieces, puncturing her lungs with its sharp ends. One of her kidneys was removed and placed into a jar, along with several sliced-off pieces of her other organs. Her entire diaphragm flap was removed from her body, helplessly dangling over the side of the operating table to dry out like a rag. Her legs and tendrils were barely attached to her body, completely crushed and severed as they merely dangled on some nerves. 

Her wrists were snapped and bruised, her fingers had no fingernails or claws - they were pulled out of her, leaving them raw and stinging as they bled. Her left eye was missing, leaving a hollow space in her skull. Blackish-golden oil poured out of her wounds, soaking and staining the table and floor with its terrifying colour. "No...! No...! Please!" She begged with tears streaming down her face and oil escaped her mouth when one of the hands stabbed one of her intestines on purpose, "I-I won't do it again! I promise...! Hic...! Pleaseee forgive meeee....!"

Next to this chaos was a raven-haired man, dressed in a black suit-shirt and trousers with a white doctor's lab coat over it. His hair was gelled back while a pair of black oval-shaped glasses sat on his nose bridge. His hands were covered by black latex gloves, showing off his long slender fingers that occasionally tapped against his knee. He was sitting next to the table, boredly flipping through an old dusty notebook that contained his father's notes. 

His eyes were their normal dark charcoal colour again - there was no sign of those exotic sunset-coloured irises anywhere. His body seemed healthier than before as if he regained the weight had lost. His skin didn't look so sickly pale, unlike how it appeared when the mutations worsened. Though he still had some permanent features from the mutations, they were subtle - for example, his height, vampire-like teeth, etc. 

In his left hand, he had Ellipse's eyeball, fiddling with it as he kept him occupied with his father's notes. Carelessly, he tossed the eyeball into Ellipse's exposed abdomen, earning another terrified scream from her. The eyeball sloshed around inside her exposed abdomen, getting soaked in her oil and growing squishy as it pressed against other organs. Ignoring her pleas and crying, he casually ordered the hands what to do next without sparing her a glance. He wasn't even phased when Ellipse tried to stab him with her blade-like tail and easily caught it before it could slice his throat open.

"Give up already," He muttered with a mercilessly cold yet pissed-off glare, gritting his teeth in disgust at her. With inhumane strength and speed, he yanked her entire tail out of her lower back, tearing its flesh and muscle open. Her screams of pure agony echoed throughout the entire laboratory, traumatizing Ezekiel and the others. Siwoo handed the severed tail - which was still twitching and thriving for the last time - to one of the mechanical hands so that he could examine it later. 

In a desperate attempt, Ellipse's titanium-metal blade wings appeared from her shoulder blades and she thrashed against the chains, attempting to escape. The room was soon filled with the sounds of chains rattling and clanging against the operation table. Alas, her attempts were futile when the ravenette merely pushed her to lay on her side and grabbed a fistful of where the shoulder blade nerves and wing joint were connected.

Another excruciating scream of pain echoed through the air when he easily ripped one of the wings out of her upper back, tearing flesh and muscle combined. Tears streamed down her face as she blankly stared at the wall, trembling and sobbing. He hauntingly patted her cheek in fake reassurance and whispered poisonously sweet words into her ear, telling her that it would be all over soon and this would've never happened if she hadn't attempted to take control of his mind.

His words made her sob harder, wanting to curl up into a ball to feel even an ounce of protection. Fortunately, he was merciful enough to not rip her other wing out of her body, much to her relief and pride. He gave more orders to the mechanical hands as he straightened his posture before approaching the door. Mindlessly, he tossed the severed wing to the side, causing it to hit the operating window.

A loud thud was heard when it made an impact on the window before falling to the floor. Its golden-black oil splattered across the window, hauntingly dripping downwards with its terrifying colour. With an unamused scoff, he stared at the twitching severed wing as it got dragged away by the robotic hands.

[Graphical gory and torture scenes end here. The following sections are normal. ]

He turned around to face the door's padlock and entered a passcode into it, causing it to beep repeatedly before the door slid open. When he stepped out of the room, he noticed the three figures in the corridor. He raised a brow at them, confused yet surprised as to why they were there. His gaze flickered between them, taking in their reactions. Ezekiel was crouching down with his head between his knees, covering his ears with his hands as he inaudibly mumbled to himself. N was avoiding his confused gaze, his shoulders trembled in disgust as he tried his best not to vomit when he recalled that horrid scene he had witnessed.

When his gaze landed on V, he noticed that she was blankly staring at the oil splatter on the window. Slowly, she turned her body to the side to face him. Her face was cold and stoic, however, her eyes were filled with terror and hostility. He spotted her hands hanging by her sides - they were unnoticeably trembling. A displeased frown appeared on his lips before glaring down at Ezekiel's crouched figure. "Why did you allow them entry, Ezekiel?" He coldly demanded, causing the said drone to stop mumbling and tense up.

Shakily, the brunette raised his head with wide eyes and stared up at his looming figure. "I-I tried to stop them but t-they insisted that they s-should see you," Ezekiel explained in a stuttering manner, watching how the ravenette removed his bloodied lab coat from his body. "...A-Am I going to be punished again...?" He cautiously asked with a pale face as his trembling fingers unconsciously reached for his throat. "No," The ravenette coldly reassured him as he tossed the bloodied lab coat into a nearby hazard bin. 

A shaky sigh of relief escaped the brunette's mouth when he lowered his head with a small nod. The ravenette stared down at him for a few seconds before turning to face V and N. "So..." He trailed off as an innocent yet friendly smile appeared on his oil-splattered face, "What's up?" The duo felt chills run down their spines, causing the tiny hairs on their silicone skin to stand on their ends. When they didn't answer his playful question, a heavy dense silence surrounded them.

Confused, the innocent smile on his lips turned into a small frown, showing his displeasure. "Why aren't-" He got interrupted when he was about to ask them why they weren't saying anything. "...Camp," V's voice cut him off, it was low and emotionless as she lowered her head slightly. "What?" He unconsciously blurted out with furrowed brows, shoving his gloved hands into his pockets as he shifted slightly, allowing him to lean his weight to the side. "Speak louder," He told her with a disapproving tone, narrowing his eyes at her, "I can't hear if you speak so-"

"That brat wants you to join her stupid camp plan!" V yelled at him, interrupting him with her loud voice. He flinched at the sudden loud volume and instinctively covered his ears with a painful groan, wincing at the ringing in his ears. "Urgh..." He groaned, peering at her from under his bangs with disbelief swirling in his eyes. "You... You didn't have to yell so loudly," He slightly snapped at her as he pulled his hands away from his ears and frowned, "And what do you mean by 'camp plan'?"

"Uzi wants us to distract her classmates when she goes around to look for any clues," N explained with a serious expression, staring at the ravenette with his lips formed into a thin line. "She said we have to be 'guides' or something," V added, clicking her tongue in distaste as she crossed her arms over her chest while glaring to the side. "Guides...?" The ravenette repeated with a mumble, trying to figure out what she meant. "Oh," His eyes widened in realization and he clapped his hands with his mouth formed into an 'O' shape, "You mean scoutmasters!" 

Suddenly, his surprised expression turned into a cold and bitter one. "When is this 'camp plan'?" He asked with a frown, narrowing his eyes at them. "It's tonight," N answered him, raising an uneasy brow at his behaviour, "Uzi is planning on doing it tonight." Silently, the ravenette held his chin in a pondering manner, lowering his gaze to the floor. Silence surrounded them for a few seconds before a heavy sigh interrupted it. "Fine," He uttered, tiredly rubbing his sore nape with a lazy expression, "One second."

They watched how he casually leaned to the side and pressed one of the wall panel's buttons, causing a thick metal sheet to slide down the peering window of the operation room. A loud thud was heard when it covered their view of the room's horrid interior and several 'clicks' were also heard as the locks clamped down on the window.

Ellipse's agonizing screams were drowned out by the thick window barrier, forcing it to grow muffled. "There we go," The ravenette mused in a relaxed manner, rolling his stiff shoulders as he turned around to head to the door. Without sparing them a glance, he walked towards the doorway. When he was about to walk past Ezekiel's crouched figure, he paused and crouched down beside him.

"Behave while I'm gone," He quietly warned him, placing his gloved hand on the drone's trembling shoulder and giving it a tight squeeze, earning a small yelp from him. "Keep yourself busy with your tasks," He added as he kept his gaze forward, squeezing his shoulder so tightly that the metal inside the drone creaked, "Understood?"

"Y-Yes, I understand," Ezekiel croaked out in fear and pain, lowering his head with a nod. Pleased with his answer, the ravenette's face beamed with innocence as he playfully patted the brunette's shoulder before rising to his feet. "Come along now," He mused over his shoulder to V and N with a lazy smile, "We don't have much time."

With a humming tune leaving his lips, he pushed his gloved hands into his pockets and left the medical operation sector. He was oblivious to how V and N glanced at each other, silently checking whether they had witnessed the same thing. Reluctantly, they followed the ravenette and sent Ezekiel a glance when they walked past his trembling figure, noticing how he was clutching his shoulder in silent pain.

It wasn't long before the duo and the ravenette were inside the elevator, heading up to his apartment complex floor. Once they reached that floor, the elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open with a small hiss. They watched how the ravenette stepped out of the elevator and approached the heavily secured front door of his apartment. 

Casually, he entered the passcode into the padlock and watched how it lit up before the door licked open. He easily pushed the heavy door open and lazily urged them to follow him inside. They hesitantly followed him into the apartment and tensed up when the door clicked closed behind them. Immediately, they noticed the strange yet eerie atmosphere that floated around inside the apartment. They flinched when he paused in the hallway before glancing at them over his shoulder with a friendly smile. 

"I'll be right back so wait here," He informed them as he was about to walk around the corner before coldly warning them, "So, please don't sneak around and touch anything." A chill ran down their spines at his words, causing them to unconsciously straighten their postures. They watched how he silently disappeared around the corner, his footsteps growing muffled as they grew distant. Once he was gone, V immediately started snooping around his living room, kitchen, and other vacant rooms. N, on the other hand, cautiously picked up a magazine from a table and read it.

Meanwhile, the smiling expression on the ravenette's face slipped away and an eerily stoic frown replaced it. He stopped in front of a door and opened it, revealing a bedroom that was used as a storage room. Slowly, he entered the bedroom and approached one of the massive closets. As he stood in front of a closet, he carefully opened its door and started scavenging through it. He was recklessly tossing out old taped-up boxes and plastic-covered clothes to the floor, paying no mind to the valuable items inside them. 

"Ah-ha..." He proudly uttered out loud with half his torso inside the closet and took a few steps backwards as he pulled out a large box from the very back of the closet. 'Camping things' was labelled on the box. With a small groan, he placed it down on the foot of the bed and opened it. A large dust cloud rose from the box, causing him to cough and sneeze for a few seconds. With an irked frown, he waved the dust cloud away with his hand and peered down at the box.

He noticed the neatly folded clothes that were stacked on top of each other, each labelled with smudged names. Slowly, he took the stacked clothes out from the box and unfolded them, laying them down on the bed. There were four sets of clothes unfolded on the bed - three of them were scoutmaster uniforms and the other one was a normal camping uniform. The three sets of scoutmaster uniforms were in adult sizes while the normal camping uniform was in a teen size.

Two of the scoutmaster uniforms consisted of a dull chocolate-coloured shirt - or a sage green-coloured shirt, green shorts, boots, and a wide-brimmed campaign hat. The last set of scoutmaster uniforms was similar to the others, however, the shorts were replaced by trousers and the wide-brimmed hat was replaced by a black baseball cap. The normal set of camping clothes were brown shorts, boots, and a white short-sleeved shirt. Silently, he stared down at the clothes sprawled out on the bed.

His lips formed into a thin line as he got hit with a wave of nostalgia, recalling the cheerful sounds of his mother's and sister's laughter as they went camping on Earth. He and his family went on several camping trips whenever they had a vacation, however, that was before he was forced to transfer to Copper9 with his father for work. Whenever they went camping, he and his sister would go fishing or bird watching while his mother went to hunt small animals. Their father - who was not a fan of the outdoors - usually sat on the cabin's porch, drinking a beer while reading a novel.

Unconsciously, the ravenette's gloved fingers reached down to touch one of the wide-brimmed hats, however, just as his fingertips were about to touch it, a faint knock against the doorframe knocked him out of his thoughts. Instantly, he froze on the spot with his back facing the doorway. Haltingly, he glanced over his shoulder to look at the owner of the knock. There, he spotted V, leaning against the doorframe with her arms folded over her chest. "What's taking you so long?" She sneered at him with furrowed brows, clicking her tongue at how he was acting strange.

"...Was I really taking that long?" He playfully asked with a heavy yet strained chuckle as he pulled his fingers away from the hat, curling them into a fist. As he shifted his weight on his feet while stepping away from the bed, he turned sideways, allowing her to see his side profile. "You and N can wear those two," He mentioned with a closed-eye smile, gesturing to the scoutmaster uniforms that had shorts. "I'll be wearing this one..." He added when he picked up the uniform that had the trousers and baseball cap.

Unconsciously, his curled fingers tightly gripped the uniform, causing veins to appear on his forearm. Without another word, he walked past her to get changed in his room. Silently, her gaze followed his backside before he disappeared around the corridor and the sound of a door closing was heard, hinting that he entered his room.

"What was that look for...?" She mumbled with furrowed brows, recalling the heartbroken yet lonely expression he had when he was staring at the clothes before she knocked against the doorframe. "Idiot..." She quietly cursed at him when she felt something in her chest grow heavy. Irked, she yelled over her shoulder towards N, who was still in the living room reading the magazine, "Get over here, you idiot!" Startled, he dropped the magazine onto the table and scurried towards her.