"The Changeling" for PicFic Tuesday prompt # 1~ Part 1

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

He stood in the open shower, leaning against the glass wall and supporting himself with his hands as the hot water from the fixture above his head ran over him.

The water pressure was barely adequate, though it mattered not as Kuryakin began to feel dizzy again, experiencing possibly the worst case of vertigo he’d ever dealt with in his life.

When he closed his eyes the effects increased exponentially as everything began to spin; he fought back the vomit rising in his throat as he began to gag.

“Aw dammit, he’s going to pop,” an orderly shouted, just as the Russian spewed, covering the wall and himself in green bile.

“Well I ain’t cleaning him up again. I’ve had it with this bull...Ernie, get the hose. We’ll take care of him that way.”

Barely able to hold himself up, Illya was assaulted by a powerful jet of cold water. It was so strong that it knocked him down to the shower floor, and there he shielded his eyes with his hands as the two men continued to wash him down until he, the wall and floors were clean.

“Come on you piece of shit, upsy daisy.”

The orderlies hauled him to his feet between the two of them, without benefit of being towel dried. They dragged him naked down the hall to his cell, tossing a clean pair of khaki coveralls in after him as they dumped him on his cot.

Illya had lost track of when he’d last slept, as whatever drugs his captors had been doling out to him made his condition worsen the instant his eyes closed.  He didn’t know what was more upsetting, the vertigo or the lack of sleep.

He looked up from the bunk, gazing at the figures that stood on the other side his cell door, seeing a man..himself.

“No it cannot be? It is my imagination,” Illya slurred, trying to convince himself as his eyes wildly darted...staring again through the bars and seeing himself standing there looking in.

He shook as he tried to dress himself in an attempt to ignore them, and hoping they would just disappear like figments of his imagination should.

“The  hallucinations were starting,” he thought. That was not a good sign. Soon would follow the imagined sounds, voices and perhaps paranoia, though as anyone involved in the world of espionage was already a bit overly suspicious.

There was the potential for severe schizophrenia  and eventual death; even with his muddled brain Kuryakin was well aware of such things.

Insanity. But why? Why would someone wish to drive him mad?

He’d not been asked one single question, there were no torture sessions, beatings or interrogations; those Illya could deal with.

Now all he felt was nothing but constant dizziness and nausea, with no sleep. He couldn’t keep down any food, and his head was pounding.

He was being worn down down both physically and mentally.

They were still pumping him full of drugs, but to what purpose other than to drive him out of his mind and lead to his eventual death.

How would that do them any good? Why not just kill him outright? Perhaps they simply wanted him to suffer a slow journey to his end as vindictive payback for all their schemes he had thwarted? They...who were they? Thrush? He really didn't know and was just guessing.

The figures outside of the cell continued to watch the subject with interest.

“He’s pretty far gone from the looks of it,” a man in a lab coat spoke out.

“He is at the hundred hour mark without rem sleep. Soon he’ll be nearing the acute paranoid schizophrenia stage.”

“This is what I need to see, how he reacts under extreme duress. I already know how he is...cold, calculating and inventive. A dry sense of humor, loyal and devoted to a fault...which is his his major weakness. Yet it is pain, confusion and fear, those are what I need to observe if I am going to succeed with our plan. He must be at his weakest and vulnerable state. That is when the true character of a man reveals itself.”

“Do you think you will ready soon? I do not know how much longer he will be able survive.”

“Yes Professor, when I have observed him enough, I will tell you when it is time,” the other Illya Kuryakin wickedly smiled.

Part 2: Here

Comments

[pactnmmt.livejournal.com]

You mean you're really going to make us wait a week? Oh you evil person! A very intriguing start. Poor Illya.

[jantojones.livejournal.com]

oooohh, that's intriguing. Can't wait to see what this is all about.