meadowlarklogs | EVENT 007.1

Entry tags:

EVENT 007.1

WHO: Daisy Johnson, Caroline Forbes, Hope Mikaelson, Klaus Mikaelson, Gabriel Reyes, Jack Morrison, Cassius and Doctor Grey.
WHERE: ?
WHEN: February 18th – February 20th
WHAT: After asking Cassius to remove their neural implants, Cassius makes good on his deal.
NOTES OR WARNINGS: Body horror, psychological horror, physical trauma, mental trauma, surgery, loss of autonomy, coercion, and needles.

And uh, a fun brain ditties site we found.

> EVENT 007.1

Cassius sends out a location pin on the morning of February 18th, different for everyone who requested it. A black hover car with tinted windows pulls up to each, no driver at the helm, and sits expectedly until they let themselves in. In one car is Daisy, in another Caroline, Hope and Klaus, and lastly Gabriel and Jack. Any questions spoken aloud will not be answered, and the car will begin to hover before turning down the next available corner. The locks click, and suddenly it becomes difficult to stay awake. Limbs become heavy, and eyelids slowly begin to fall. For those that struggle to see their last waking moment before they drift off into slumber, they'll notice that the self-driving car has been circling the last mile over, and over, and over again.

When they awaken, there is an antiseptic smell in the air: fluorescent lights glare overhead in a facility that looks like it was made for an entirely different kind of experimental function. What the facility was used for previously isn't apparent, but its current purpose has been reimagined. If they look down at their arm, there is an IV feeding into it. They'll have the sense that they haven't been operated on, not yet. The source of the IV itself leads somewhere unknown. If they go to remove the IV, they'll hear a bark of caution from a speaker. "Tsk tsk! I wouldn't do that if I were you. Gassing you—it was so sloppy. But I'm prepared, oh yes I am, to do what must be done."

After a few more silent minutes, a projection pops up for all of the captive Displaced. "Hello, hello, hello! Welcome to my facility my fine patients. I'm Johann Grey, and you can call me Doctor Grey. First off, let's allow gratitude be given where it's due! Thank you for being so willing to invite my fine friend Cassius into your lives—and thus, me by association. The last specimen I had were … less experienced—less durable. Less familiar with what they've been given. But from what I understand, you have been around for a while. Let's see what we discover together, shall we?"

If there is room for alarm, Johann doesn't grant them much chance to respond to it. Whether they have the IV in their arm or they've removed it and have all but asked to be gassed once again, they'll slowly begin to feel the same wave of fatigue hit them.

As for anyone left behind or hopeful they may be able to trace the paths of the lost Displaced, they'll come up empty handed. El's unable to access the security feed once the hover limos set off for their final destinations, making zer blind to Cassius' actions. Any trackers (such as Daisy's engagement ring) can be traced to a location: a limo rental lot, where the limo has been parked and left for several hours.

DAISY
CAROLINE
HOPE & KLAUS
GABRIEL
JACK

> OOC NOTES

Hello and welcome to the Brain Surgery Club! If anything from our write ups doesn't suit what you'd like, please contact us on your thread on the Permissions Post so that we can make any necessary revisions. We want this to be fun for you. Some of your requests will be worked into the thread later on, but if you would like to have it there from the start, let us know.

All characters will be told that due to the number of surgeries, there will be a three day period before they're allowed to go free. Some of the reasons cited will be "need for care and recovery" and "the number of people going under the needle in contrast to the number of personnel involved." If anyone does any research before they get drugged, this will check out!

If someone sends a message to their currently missing friend, it will just show up as an unread message during this time (if they have those notifications turned on). They'll be synced up with their usual network presence afterward (unless they request a different outcome, such as a new identity).

We're assuming that all characters will want to have a neural implant reimplanted at the end of this process as they will otherwise be disconnected from the world, and our hope is to have them released on time for the Arrival Log! If your character is happy to sit locked up in a room cut off from the world, they may be able to be rescued from their unfortunate situation once some of the others are released back into the "wild."

Anyone who has their characters try to chase this lead will find that Cassius and Doctor Grey prepared for such a likelihood. Any trackers placed on them will be left in the limo to be found, with no other signs or residue of their presence.

As a final note: we give blanket permission for harming or killing Doctor Grey! There will be opportunities for that within these threads.

> NAVIGATION

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When Daisy awakens, it's been 24 hours since she first was knocked out. A medi-unit top opens up, allowing her to get out. Her hair is gone, shaved completely off, removing any hairgrowth that she managed since her first arrival (or return from home). There are several glass canisters with a note beside them (on honest-to-god real paper), promising their safety. The room is entirely different from where she fell asleep the day prior. It's more comfortable, with a rug and a lamp giving off a warm light, as well as paintings that have been attached to the walls.

It's also still clearly within the same facility. Underneath all these shallow trappings, the white walls and bare facility remains. If anything, these collections of welcoming goods are there to mock her.

There is a door: sliding, ready to open. However, since she doesn't have a neural implant, it won't answer to her. It won't even budge.

A voice—that same amused voice—calls to her through an intercom hidden somewhere in the room. "Ms. Johnson, I hope you like the arrangement. I thought that … well, since you won't be going anywhere for some time, you ought to have a chance to make yourself at home. Do you have anything you prefer to eat? I can even get you a good cut of steak if you want. It's really very hard to get a good cut of steak anymore." A dramatic pause follows. "Oh, forget it. Just call and I'll hear you. One of us will. Probably. I've got my hands full right now—you understand, don't you?"

Then, the next question seems to come rather oddly: "Do you like to read?"

Due to the lack of need for a medi-unit, Caroline wakes up on a bed. The room itself is sterile and plain. There is a toilet, a sink, as well as just enough lighting. Like anyone else, the room has a door—but with no neural implant, she won't be able to open it. It's cut from a sturdy metal and won't even budge with the strongest suggestion.

The other thing Caroline will realize is that she's hungry and borderline desiccated: along with filled with a sense of … anger. Longing. Vengeance. If she draws closer to the mirror that hangs over the sink, she'll find that in addition to all of her hair being shaved off, her typical blue-green eyes glow with a golden hue. Whatever's been done to her is akin to the Ripper Compound that makes vampires into Augustine vampires. While neither Caroline nor Johann know about the origins of that in her world, the change to her thirst is quite uncanny.

Soon, the door will open, with Johann stepping inside. It closes behind him. "Well then—this is quite the change." Leaning forward with his hands clasped behind his back, he grins in greeting. "How are you feeling?"

He is seemingly unafraid.

Klaus will awaken to find his neural implant gone, along with the opportunity to find himself strapped into a chair. The air in the room will be cool and chill, especially over his head, recently shaved to allow for the removal of the neural implant. The straps tighten after a moment, and the chair turns, allowing him to look into another room. If Klaus attempts to struggle, he'll find himself completely paralyzed, and much like Caroline, he's at the point of desiccation. Any strength he might have has been removed from him, and it seems that a great deal of his blood was purposefully drained from his body. Whatever is in his system to paralyze him, it's a constant, ready flow.

Perhaps it's a kindness, then, that he's allowed to speak. Only that. If he chooses to, because he may not want to.

As for that other room, Hope is lying on a medical bed strapped in, and it's apparent that she's lost a great deal of blood, as well. Her condition isn't as dire—desiccating someone still alive would be particularly bad—but Johann can be seen carrying several bags of her blood into another room for storage. If Klaus is able to make it out, Johann flashes him a toothy, unnerving smile.

When he returns, he takes a needle and jams it into Hope's neck to wake her up. The substance wakes her with a sudden rush like adrenaline, but disallows for any muscle movement. "Cassius spotted a reaction between you two on his surveillance. I want to see how that works. Call it a healthy curiosity on my part." Both Hope and Klaus will be able to hear Johann speak. Then, rather than the two of them, he seems to be talking to someone else. "Cassius, log this fine gentleman's vitals. Make sure to get everything."

Hope won't be able to move, but she will be awake. Klaus will have the fortune (?) of being able to watch everything.

Step one? Time to shave her head. Johann wanted to give Klaus the whole show.

A light flashes in Gabriel's eyes when he begins to awaken. He's still on the same surgical bed as before, face down so that he doesn't reopen the surgical wound on the back of his head. His head is cleanly shaven. He'll undoubtedly feel … drained and foggy as most patients from brain surgery of this type are placed into a medi-unit to heal up. But not Gabe.

No, it's time for Gabe to have a conversation.

Johann sets aside the light, moving a cart closer so that Gabe can see two neural implants on a cart before him. One is the one recently removed from his head, while the other is different, with a few markings on it that denote that it belongs to the UNA.

"I have an offer for you, Mr. Reyes. I do consider it a fine one."

Whether it's by design or not (it's definitely by design), Jack begins to stir in the middle of his surgery. There is a buzz of sound and chaos, but he won't feel any pain. He'll simply be awake while Johann takes care to remove the neural implant. He works alone and without any assistance, humming (is that Yesterday by the Beatles?) to himself all the while. On occasion there's a cheerful voice that says "Cassius, a log of the vitals please" or "my, my, isn't that interesting? Cassius, get a picture." Of course, there's a catch to this: Jack won't be able to see this. Any bright light in the room will be out, offering him only his other senses.

After a series of sounds and a stilling in movement, Johann draws a rolling chair over and sits in front of Jack, who's lying face down on the surgical bed. He reaches out, patting Jack's cheek in a condescending manner.

"Messed up a bit there, hm hm hm? Well, you don't need to see to hear me. … You do hear me, don't you? Just a nod will do."

[ strangely, the white walls and floors are almost a comfort. they're familiar, in a horrible sort of way — her brain mistakes them, at first, for the monochromatic surroundings of shield's containment units, which seems to make sense, given what she's here for. turning on her powers should result in some kind of dampening room, some place where she can safely be reacclimated with them without causing damage to unsuspecting people or property in the vicinity.

of course she tries — she wouldn't be daisy if she didn't — but the immediate sense of nothingness doesn't surprise her. if anything, it only reconfirms her own preconceived ideas of what this place is, what it has to offer her.

she is surprised to find that she cannot pull up her own neural interface, though. she's surprised to find that she cannot do anything — no messages, no calls, not even a simple internet search or the most basic request to open a door. but she can hear the voice that calls to her, and she can still flick the switch of the lamp on a table, so ... that's something. ]

I would accuse you of reading my conversations, but I'm pretty sure you're not the only one, so. [ she shrugs as she settles into a chair, one leg crossing over the other. she did tell terrence just days before that she wanted a philly cheesesteak. the sentiment still remained. ] I'll take the filet.

[ and a stiff drink, she'd ask, but somehow she gets the feeling that's not recommended after something like this, medi-unit or not. ]

And I'm more a forums girl than the New York Times, but if I've got the time to kill...

Edited 2020-01-05 03:46 (UTC)

[ deja vu. that's all this is. she has woken up in beds before, achingly hungry and alone, with little understanding of how she came to be there or what changes have been done to her. even shock is familiar — though this time, as caroline peers into the mirror, it isn't fangs or darkened sclera that frighten her. it's the smooth surface of her scalp, first, and then, as she blinks, the glow in her eyes.

but fear gives way, fairly quickly, to rage. deep-seated, vicious, cruel — as the man whose voice she remembers makes his way into the room, caroline's mind is filled with the overwhelming urge to tear and destroy, a hunger she cannot deny and quite honestly does not wish to. ]

What did you do to me?!

[ and then, a moment later: ] And where is Hope?!

Her eyes popped open, cold air flying through her nose into her lungs, pressure against her throat. Disoriented, she tried to move her body, only to find that every muscle in her body felt like...ice? Iron? Regardless, her limbs didn't respond, nor did her neck as she tried to turn her head at the sound of a voice.

Cassius. You two. Fine Gentleman. She couldn't make heads or tails of it, not with her just coming out of unconsciousness, of having little memory of how she got here beyond the gas in the car.

Stupid. She was so stupid. Fear spiked through her. Where was her father? Where was Caroline?

Her eyes stung as she tried not to cry, terror preventing them from forming in the first place. Her heart raced in her chest as her mind desperately tried to process what she should do, only to realize there was literally nothing she could do, not with her body frozen like this.

Her eyes slid left and then right, trying to catch sight of literally anything in her peripheral.

Edited 2020-01-05 04:15 (UTC)

Klaus dreams of Hope, of Hayley, of a happier outcome to their family story. The king, the queen and their littlest wolf.

The last thing Klaus remembers is - maybe it's the limo sent for him, Caroline and Hope. He can't recall if there was a waiting room, or someone at a desk. No medical waiver, just - blackness. Coming to consciousness, he feels the gurney, or whatever chair he's found himself in turn. Maybe it's the movement, or the mechanical sound of the chair itself, either way, his eyes manage to open. He's weak, weaker than he remembers being - of course. But, he'd half to be weak, to do brain surgery on a hybrid. That he can understand.

His gaze intensifies when he sees Hope, and someone else, and bags of blood. Instinctively, he tries to pull on his restraints, but nothing happens. His muscles won't move. He's trapped. Dessicated alive, except this time it isn't his doing. He's not doing this to save Hope, it's being done to him. If he could frown he would, at that smile.

"Hope," he manages to get out, realizing he can speak. "Hope, wake up." Before the man comes back, he thinks. "Ho-" But, the man returns. "What are you doing to my daughter," he asks, quite flatly, but the menace in his voice should come through. Cassius.

"CASSIUS!" He all but roars, weakly. He doesn't have any neural enhancement, can't see the constant wave of electronic information. His implant is gone, but what of Hope's. He tries with all his might to move, to fight, to break through but whatever is causing this is being pumped into him currently. "You lay a single hair on her head...And you'll learn the meaning of what a proper close shave is." More Sweeney Todd.

Gabriel would be lying if he said he didn't at least consider this a possibility, if not actively plan for it. He wouldn't have come if he wasn't prepared to die, finding it an acceptable alternative to having hardware stay in his head. At the very least, making this kind of deal with Cassius was practically asking for a kidnapping, but perhaps he expected to actually talk to the AI again before getting knocked out and cut open. He comes to, and he realizes that the surgery is already over.

It's hard not to have a brief moment of panic, but as he comes out of the haze he clenches and unclenches his fists, blinks his eyes and scrunches up his face, as if making sure everything is still working. He can shift a little on the surgical bed, so he's not paralyzed, which is a good thing. Even in the post-surgery fog, he has to admit he's really looking forward to having a word with this guy.

"Yeah?"

He realizes he doesn't know where Jack is, or if he's even alive, and that thought is more distressing than anything else about this situation. Still, he knows he's not in any position to show weakness, so despite the fact that he's literally just had something cut out of his head, he tries to sound as casual as possible, even if it comes out a little dazed.

"Should I be flattered?"

Is he making everyone an offer?

Edited 2020-01-05 19:48 (UTC)

[ The intercom comes to life again after another fifteen minutes, and the same voice. ]

Oh ho? I don't care about your conversations.

[ It's more of a passing comment, because he passes over it like a dismissal. ]

Filet it is. Unfortunately I can't do much about those forums for you, but I have an old copy of Highlights that will pass the time. So, how do you feel? Anything stirring?

Edited 2020-01-05 23:18 (UTC)

Just a little bit of tinkering here and there. You're outstandingly resilient, you know.

[ Johann stands fully again, tapping on his temple with his forefinger. ]

Cassius, make sure you get this.

[ Then, back to Caroline. ]

Hope is well taken care of, you don't need to worry about her. Not at all. Besides, you should be worrying about yourself right about now. So, about that first question. How do you feel?

"Well, Mr. Reyes, to some extent I should be more impressed with you. It's not everyone that goes rogue after making a precarious deal with an AI to collect some scraps."

There's a vague motion toward the neural implants on the cart.

"This implant here is the newest UNA model, all the bells and whistles—no expense spared, of course. Now, as a gift, I'd like to give you both. The original that you arrived with, and the sparkling new UNA one. It'll offer you more freedom and flexibility, a lot more horsepower."

There's another wave to the door.

"Without any implant at all—why, you won't even be able to leave these walls. Not that I would mind the company."

"Now, now—this is what she wanted, and you'll have to respect that. Isn't that what a supportive father is supposed to do?"

His voice sounds more mocking than comforting. Johann pulls a tray forward with a display of different instruments and tools—some look far more futuristic than others. He takes his time picking, looking over each one for dramatic effect.

"Give credit where it's due. She walked in here on her own accord. There's something to say about that—bravery, in some sense."

Johann presses an injection into the IV that's connected into Hope's arm.

"This won't hurt too much."

He picks up the craniotome from the tray, positioning it near the base of Hope's skull, and the procedure begins with steady feeling of pressure.

Perhaps against the advice of, well, anyone with a brain, Gabriel is going to try and right himself--he doesn't like having a conversation while he's totally at the mercy of someone else, and he might be banking on his enhancements to get him in his right mind a little sooner than it might take an ordinary human.

"I just went through all this trouble to get that thing out of my head."

That said, he's not rejecting the offer entirely--he just wants to know more about it.

"And now you want to put another one in?"

A UNA implant, no less, and Gabriel isn't sure how he's supposed to trust that it won't just put him under the thumb of the government. He knows the impossibility of walking out of here without an implant, but he's never stopped thinking that he'll be able to figure out a way around it.

"Not just another one—I want to put two in."

The original one that was removed, as well as the UNA one.

"With some software upgrades, of course. I won't let you fall consequence to issues that the UNA will soon be subject to, no. In fact, I want to see just what you'll do with it. Few things in the world afford us the luxury to push against its boundaries, Mr. Reyes, and you may not get this chance again."

[ so weird. he's such a weird guy. so weird and cocky and confident, she'd like to rip his throat out with her teeth, watch his blood spill out on the floor, feel the wild thump of his pulse as it skitters and stops when she drains him.

the thoughts come unbidden, surprisingly savage, but caroline finds she doesn't mind. it feels good, in a strange way. right. the way she was made to be. ]

I'm starving.

[ doesn't take much to admit that. is he going to feed her? or is he going to be her feed? ]

[ it's a weird reference to make. even as a kid, daisy hadn't exactly had access to yuppie middle-class kid magazines. no foster family was going to take out an annual subscription when she'd be lucky to stick it out somewhere for a couple months at a time.

and it's weirder, now, considering the year. how old was it? and how did it survive? ]

I don't have much choice, do I? [ as far as reading materials, anyway. ] Or much to report.

[ she feels... alive. mostly level-headed. no lingering discomfort save for the fact that they, apparently, felt the need to shave her entire head for a surgery that she knew damn well did not require it. ]

What's the deal with the haircut? I'm pretty sure you didn't need to do a full shave to get the job done.

"That's two more than I hoped to be leaving here with."

It seems he expects Johann to sell this a little better if he wants Gabriel to buy into it. Why go through all the trouble of taking his first implant out if it's just going to go back? Does this guy really think Gabriel will agree to having UNA tech put in his head, when he's already done so much investigation into how the government controls their soldiers?

"There better be something real good in it for me. How do I know you're not just giving the UNA a sleeper agent?"

From the start of this arrangement that Gabriel had facilitated, Jack had gotten the sense that it wasn't going to be as clean or straight-forward as it should. Not that brain surgery is something to be waved off in the first place, but for the two of them? Well, it's entirely possible they've already been through worse.

Getting gassed while in the car, then waking up in a haze to some strange video recording -- Jack won't say he expected it, but he'd also figured there would be a catch. This isn't his first time surrendering his body for the sake of some greater purpose, but it is getting a little old.

When he wakes up and realizes that it's mid-procedure, Jack's body twitches with the urge to get up off of the table, but he realizes he can't do that. Even with his enhancements, it's a bad idea. He's still heavily sedated on top of it all, and while he can't feel much, he's pretty sure that his head is currently cracked open.

This isn't accidental, he can be almost sure of that. So what is the play here? Dr. Grey is talking to Cassius somehow, that's something that Jack's exposed brain immediately latches onto.

"I hear you," he says, speaking instead of nodding as some small act of rebellion. "What, need to make sure I'm firing on all cylinders before you cut into my brain some more?" Patients being awake during surgery isn't that uncommon, so Jack isn't panicking, at least not yet.

You don't like it? Well, I'm not a hair stylist to the least, so an up-do was out of the question.

[ He sounds amused. Can he sound any way else? That's debatable. ]

I'll put that order in for you. The least I could do is feed you well.

[ With the lack of clocks, windows, and neural implant, it's hard to tell how much time has passed, or what time it is at all. ]

[ He's such a weird guy. A weird, strangely fearless guy in the face of his own current creation. ]

What do you want to do about it?

Why go through all the trouble, indeed?

"I'm not affiliated with the UNA. Why would I need to retrieve Judas if I were?" He raises a hand and shakes it like bah. "On the contrary, my ambitions are my own, so to speak."

His smile gets wider. It's interesting that Gabriel thinks he's with the government.

"But you? Let's say I'm willing to take the chance. Just to see how it goes. The implant offers more power, you'll be able to use heat signatures, predictive action, see in the dark, and you'll be able to stow away information for yourself without fear of being compromised. The UNA won't be expecting it in their current scramble. There's more, of course, but what's the fun in me telling you all of it?"

Of course it wasn't. Are things like this ever straight forward?

"It's always good to make sure the patient is conscious before moving forward on their request."

There's the sound of Johann slipping off a pair of latex-ish gloves, and putting on another pair.

"You could call it a process. How are you feeling, Mr. Miller?"

Edited (Look at least I didn't put Harkness.) 2020-01-07 16:23 (UTC)

This most certainly isn't what she meant when she said she wanted her neural implant checked. Someone cutting into her head made her nervous, of course, but she didn't expect them to be crazy or doing so while she was awake.

She can hear him talk, hear her father's voice, but she can barely make her own throat function at all without her muscles to help her. Her jaw feels frozen as she tries to get a word out.

"Dad?"

It's distorted and muffled behind her barely parted lips, and she closes her eyes at that sense of pressure. It won't hurt too much, huh? She doubts that.

She focuses on her breathing. She has to stay calm. Freaking out and losing her cool isn't going to help her get through this, and if her Dad is really watching, she needs to stay strong for him too.

She's not sure how long that'll last.

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EVENT 007.1

DAISY

CAROLINE

HOPE & KLAUS

GABRIEL

JACK

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