Who: Archie and Athena What: Even mad scientists need a little stitching up When: Backdated: Early last week Where: Athena's Clinic Warnings: Just Archie being creepy!
Archie only allowed himself out of his laboratory in the early morning. Some preferred the shroud of darkness the night could bring, but he knew it was infested with nosey masks that were looking for trouble. He knew he wasn’t the most threatening man in Seattle (yet), but he wondered how quickly word travelled between do-gooders. Spider-Man hadn’t personally contacted him yet on the boards, so at least his identity was safe for now. Archie knew that wouldn’t last, however, so he was making his rounds with the few people he knew before things got out of control.
His wardrobe was becoming more and more sinister. He was dressed in the black and red suit he stole from the faceless, dead man that his mobster benefactor dropped off for him and round sunglasses that looked like they belonged in a steampunk history book. Archie was still a young man, but in get-ups like these he looked ancient and slightly insane. Plus he was hiding the giant gash on his arm that was poorly sewn up since it was connected to his working hand. Honestly, he could have found a way to take care of it on his own, but it was an excuse to visit Athena.
Knowing her to be a responsible young lady, Archie decided to show up to her office a little before it opened. He knocked on the door loudly and peered inside with one hand cupped against the glass. If she didn’t answer he could always leave a note. What it would say? Sorry I've decided to become a super villain?
Athena typically got up early on days that her office was open, which generally only left Sundays for sleeping in. She showered and dressed in tan slacks and a dark purple blouse, which were covered by her doctor’s jacket once she got in. She had just finished setting things up for the day when she heard a knock at the door. A glance at her watch informed her that she wasn’t due to open for another twenty minutes. Curious, she made her way toward the door.
The face peering into her office was recognized immediately. Archie. Athena crossed the lobby in two strides and had the door open only a moment later. Her mouth opened to greet him when she caught his outfit. With a little shake of her head, she said, “Good morning, Archie,” and held the door open wide enough for him to come inside. “What do you need?” Because she didn’t believe for a second that he didn’t need something.
“I’ve got a nasty gash on my good arm.” Archie gave a fake pathetic frown and extended his left arm even though she couldn’t see under the fabric. “I tried to stitch it up myself, but it’s difficult to do without the help of my left hand.” He swept off his jacket to reveal a deep red vest over a black dress shirt and rolled up his left sleeve. It looked as though an animal had tried to rip his arm open. A large, wild animal. There were some attempts at stitching it together, but it seemed haphazard and childish. It also looked excruciatingly painful, but Archie was smiling like it was something drawn on by a marker.
“I don’t look like much of a zoo keeper, do I? Can’t exactly explain a wound like this to a public doctor. Besides, I don’t think I even have health care anymore.” He moved past her through the waiting room. “I can pay you, of course. I don’t expect favors for free.”
Athena prided herself in not asking questions. She was curious about all of the odd injuries she treated, but with Archie, she was more worried than anything when he said 'nasty gash'. She waited for him to take off his jacket and roll up the sleeve. His clothing was really odd, even for him. "What are you-" The question died on her lips as she saw the gash. "Archie, how long have you had this?" She guessed it wouldn't be more than 24 hours, but it was certainly more than an hour. That meant it needed to be cleaned. "Come in," she replied, leading Archie into the back and putting him in the furthest patient room from the front. "Sit, and don't touch anything," she ordered him briskly before heading into the office to get more specialized supplies.
When she came back into the room, she had a bottle of rubbing alcohol, a clean white cloth, and a small black leather case that held her stitching supplies. "You look like you got on the wrong side of a rabid animal," she observed disapprovingly. Of course, through all this she ignored the topic of payment, simply because she wanted answers rather than money that he got from god knew where. She removed his sloppily done stitches and began to clean as she waited for his reply.
Her order for him to not touch anything amused him. Archie was known for having slippery fingers, especially when it came to something valuable that he couldn’t buy with his parents’ money. He perched happily on the patient table and swung his legs childishly as he waited for her to come back. “Can you guess what kind? I’ll give you a hint, that’s not a bite mark. It’s actually a claw.” Archie turned his arm around as if he were admiring his war scar.
“And, it’s not domestic. Oh no. I’ve been thrashed by domestic animals before, but nothing this impressive. This singular cut.”
Athena usually prided herself in her ability to be patient with all types of children, but he was slowly working her last nerve. “Stay still,” she warned, giving him a disapproving look before returning to her work. The wound certainly seemed like a claw and Athena ran through a list of animals in her head as she methodically sewed him up. She didn’t bother giving him an anesthetic to dull the pain. She wanted him to feel exactly what the consequences to his actions felt like. “A wolf perhaps? It hardly matters. What did you do?” She spoke as she worked, about a third of the way through the required amount of stitches.
He winced a little as she stitched him up. Not an impressively strong man or with a large pain threshold, but someone who had grown to almost completely accept it. Physical pain was like doing taxes. “Well. I know a couple nice fellows who work as rangers out in the nature park. One of them found a bear that was sick and needed medical attention. I’ve been trained to help humans, but lately I’ve been operating on animals enough that I thought I could help on such short notice.” Archie bit the inside of his cheek to numb the pain in his arm.
“Well, the bear was already dead when I got there. So, they left and I did what I do best.” Archie shrugged with a smile. “I brought it back to life.”
If it hadn’t been for years of practice, Athena would have dropped the needle. As it was, she stilled completely and paused for a moment. “You...brought it back to life,” she repeated, slowly as if she were talking to a child. She continued to stitch him up, making sure to pull each one tightly. This was bad, and she needed some time to think. Raising the dead shouldn’t have even been possible, let alone something Archie could achieve. It wasn’t quite that she thought that little of him, but...raising the dead? Who could ever do something like that? She was careful to school her features to stay professional. The last thing she wanted to do was have him run off before she could question him further about what the hell it was that he was doing.
He craned his neck to the side to watch her reaction. Exactly what he wanted. “Yes. Well, as you know all of us creations,” he made air quotes with his fingers at the word creations “have powers. Mine is to reanimate the dead with the help of a chemical I’ve been working on for a couple years.” Archie looked down at his arm, impressed that even with the shocking news he was giving her, Athena managed to stitch him up perfectly. “I normally wouldn’t have told you this, in fact I’ve been keeping it a secret. But, lately I’ve moved onto bigger and better things.” His gaze returned to look up at her face.
“Namely, humans.”
A thousand questions ran through her mind as he spoke, though the ones that stuck out to her were fairly obvious ones. If it was his ability, why would he need a chemical to help the process along? Why on Earth would he even think that it was a good idea to use that ability? He was a man of science. Surely he understood that what was dead should stay dead. She finished the stitches and wrapped the wound in gauze. “Humans? Archie...” she trailed off, her voice colored with just a hint of disapproval. “Is this what you stole those medical supplies for?” she asked, one hand going instinctively to her hip. “Have you raised a human successfully from the dead?”
“Oh yes. Yes, yes. A couple now, actually. But, my favorite resurrection might be the one that gets me in trouble. The man I brought back had a daughter who went back on her word and let some gunslinger come along for the ride.” Archie was always confident, cocky even, but there was something simply diabolical in the way he talked now. As if he had decided recently that he was destined to take this too far. “He’ll tell Spider-Man and then I won’t be Archie anymore. Do you understand?”
His face softened for a moment. There was still someone human under all that webbing of villainy. Someone who was trying to say goodbye.
Athena frowned at his words and tone. This wasn’t the Archie she knew. Hell, she was fond of him even if he was a little rough around the edges. She knew it was a dangerous game he was playing, and she recognized his words for what they were. She sighed softly and reached out to take his hands in hers. “Archie, it’s okay. It’s going to be okay,” she replied soothingly, trying to comfort him. He had made plenty of mistakes, sure, but she didn’t want to see him killed over it. “What did you do that Spider-Man is after you?” She didn’t quite think that the vigilantes would involve themselves in someone raising the dead if it was truly only a few humans thusfar. She was worried about him, about what he had done and what he was planning to do, and Athena let it show on her face.
“I released rabid, undead dogs in a bank after I shot and killed four of my own thugs. Spider-Man, bless him, was there to stop me.” He grasped her hand and then let it go. Once she was finished with stitching him up, he stood up and moved away from her, cradling his chin in his other hand. “I let an entire aviary of birds loose in Seattle. I raised the dead. And, I’m going to do much worse.” Archie’s shoulders raised and he turned back to look at her. “With all these masks running around, they need a real threat. Not a pathetic serial killer. Not something any human could accomplish. They need something more.”
“Archie...” Athena shook her head. “They don’t need anything, Archie. Come back to work here, and you can do all the research and testing you’d like, with access to the inventory of supplies and equipment we have here. Please, Archie.” She wasn’t quite begging, but she certainly wouldn’t have considered asking him to come back if he hadn’t admitted to the bank robbery. “It doesn’t have to be this way.” She truly believed that it didn’t, but if he wasn’t going to listen, then she would do what she could to ensure that he didn’t die because of his mistakes.
“I’m sorry, I’ve gone too far.” Archie turned to look at her and smiled gently. “Besides, I’ve been nothing but a nuisance to you. I can see it in your eyes, but never could leave you alone. I’ve brought men back. I’ve turned dogs into monsters. This is what I’m meant to do. It’s fate.” A mix of triumph and fear in his voice. He had taken leaps before, but never set the stakes so high. He didn’t care about dying. He just wanted results. “Stay out of the way and you won’t get hurt.”
She hadn’t realized how much she had become accustomed to Archie’s annoying presence until he laid it out before her. She frowned and wrapped her arms around herself for comfort. “I’m so sorry, Archie,” Athena replied, and she truly meant it. She put the extra supplies in a bag, plus other necessary items she thought he could benefit from. She held it out to him, unable to voice the words screaming from inside her. She didn’t want him to die, but the way he was talking made her think it was inevitable.
“Thank you.” He took the bag and let his arm drop to his side. The truth was Archie saw the good that was going to come from his actions. Respect and fear were two things he craved from the general public and the ability to stretch his powers while doing so was an addictive elixir. A small smile at the prospect formed on his lips. Maybe he was mad, but it took a little crazy to produce genius. Besides, if Spider-Man managed to get him thrown in the crazy-bin, maybe Athena would visit him.
“Try not to worry yourself, my dear.” Archie gave a small wave as if he were saying goodbye for only a short while and briskly made his way out the door. He had work to do and people to bring back to life.