From bad to worse

Prologue

Each day and each night that had come and gone since he had found his unwilling home there had rolled into one long, monotonous blur and, had he not already been deemed quite genuinely and authentically insane, Dr. Moreau was quite positive he would have been driven stark raving mad before too long. It was this - well, this and the fact that his head was strapped down and incapable of moving even if he wanted to - that meant that with the presence of the first new stimuli in his room he instinctively could not look away.

The new stimuli had come in the form of a perfectly unassuming blond man. He could have been likened to an angel from classic artworks apart from one little thing. There was not a touch of light reaching reaching the gentle blue of his oddly prying eyes, giving them more of a glassy quality than that of his eyeglasses.

"It's really quite simple, Dr. Moreau," the man, an American if his accent was anything to go by, stated simply, "You want something, and I want it too. Together we can achieve more than we ever could have imagined." As passionate as the words themselves were, the actual delivery was almost uncannily flat.

"And what is it, Mr.-"

"Dr. West."

"And what is it, Dr. West, that I want so desperately that I would consider taking the help from a man like you?" the heavily scarred man asked, his voice practically dripping with an immense bitterness that was in glaring opposition to the flatness of the other's.

"You want what that damnable Frankenstein has," the blond returned, keeping his voice steady even as the other had managed to bother him a little, straightening his simple grey day coat as if this was to somehow change the opinion his captive audience had on him, "Not just the notoriety and respect that he-"

"She."

"Oh, sorry. The notoriety and respect that she has managed to build up over the years, which I must say is not at all deserved. My research, and yours too, of course, is far more valid and deserving of acknowledgment than a dropout who blundered her way into something akin to success by accident! The sheer number of variables that she managed to fluke to be able to-"

"Is there a point to this," the vivisectionist interrupted, "Or did you just come here to rant at me?"

"The point," Herbert replied curtly, not all that fond of, or all that used to being interrupted during a monologue, "Is that together we could destroy her and gain the knowledge that is rightfully ours. With her research, I am quite sure my reagent would be perfected without the rare risk of unpleasant side effects, and your, well, your incredible abominations could reach heights that seemed impossible now!"

"So, tell me, even if I were to agree to work with you, have you taken into consideration one minor flaw in your reasoning?" Moreau practically grunted out, and at the look of genuine but brief bewilderment on the other's face, added, "Namely, the fact I am trapped within these walls until my dying days?"

Contrary to expectations, this was actually met with a brief burst of laughter coming from the bespectacled individual. His composure only wavered for a moment but it made him seem all the more human, even if this impression lasted for only a few heartbeats at most.

"It is already taken care of, my good man! My companion and assistant is taking care of it as we speak, and I am quite sure that he will not let us down." As he spoke, he clasped his hands in front of him, looking perfectly pleasant. "Of course, there is one little thing you will need to do for us first."

"And what is that?" Moreau asked suspiciously, not trusting the little smile on the other man's face one little bit.

"Well, you need to kill yourself." West returned, talking far too pleasantly given the subject matter.

"What?"

"You see, the only way they would be letting you leave here would be following the time of your death, you are quite mad after all, but we can secure your body after the deed is done under the actually quite truthful explanation that it is for the betterment of scientific understanding." He paused, raising an eyebrow artfully as he regarded the bearded fellow bound before him. "Oh, don't look at me like that," he chastised, "You won't be dead long enough for there to be any real lasting damage."

"You're a bastard."

"Perhaps, but I am the bastard that could be the ticket to your freedom." As he spoke, Herbert drew a little glass vial out of his pocket, holding the contents up so they shone in the light. "Just one of these would be sufficient. Hide one under your tongue until it has been long enough that it seemed like an unfortunate accident rather than from anything intentional. We don't want anyone to get suspicious now, do we? When we fetch you, we will flush any of the chemicals out of your system, so you need not worry about any long term effects."

"You're asking me to die with only the possibility of it not being permeant? And what of the side effects you spoke of?"

"Oh, how I had hoped you were mad enough to take my offer up without asking so many questions." Dr. West lamented lamentfully, "I told you the side effects are rare. Sometimes the mind of the subject is returned to that of a primitive ancestral creature, you know what I mean by that, I am sure, and while most can now be coaxed back to a lucidity akin to that of when they were alive, some remain a mindless beast. A mind as brilliant as yours could would not remain tainted by death for too long, I can guarantee it." A cold smile made its way onto his features. He paused just long enough for the other to consider his words. "And really, do you have any real option? You are going to die here in one way or another, there is no use hoping for freedom, and Dr. Moreau, I would like to inform you that I am a very patient man and always do get what I want in the end. But will you let your brilliant mind go to waste here, or will you embrace yourself unburdened by the constrains of morality?"

A heavy silence filled the air when Herbert did, finally, fall silent. If Moreau was not mistaken, there even was a glitter of something frustratingly unreadable in the blond's eyes. The bearded fellow let out a sigh that was closer to a growl than a real sign.

"Fine. Give me one of those then."

"I will leave you to position it properly, but open your mouth" West said as he leaned over the other, content with his knowledge that he was in no real danger given how heavily bound the man was, "Don't bite me now." he joked, carefully administering a single dose from his vial.

"I am sure the negotiation of your corpse has been secured, so I suppose I must have overstayed my welcome already. I do look forward to our next meeting." With his victory secured, there was no real need for him to remain and so Herbert West turned on his heels and strode out of the room, heels clicking down the fall as he practically sauntered away.

((Side note, this was taken directly from my book of oneshots because I decided to do something proper with the idea I had))