to find promise of peace (and the solace of rest)

a TMA fanfic

Chapter 13: July 2016

Content Warnings:

Canon-typical worms, death threats, intimidation, Elias Bouchard, violence, spiders

[CLICK]

[ECHOING FOOTSTEPS, ONE SET OF WHICH HAS A DECIDED LIMP ]

MARTIN

Feeling better, Tim?

TIM

Yeah, thanks. Head’s a bit clearer. Nasty headache, but, uh, I think that’ll pass. Jon, how’s the leg?

ARCHIVIST

[Strained] It’s fine.

[FOOTSTEPS STOP]

MARTIN

Jon. Do you trust me?

ARCHIVIST

Wh—

[Deep breath] Yes.

TIM

Whoa.

MARTIN

Here.

[FABRIC RUSTLES, SLIGHT GRUNTING NOISES]

MARTIN

There, I’ve got you. You don’t need to make that worse by walking on it.

ARCHIVIST

Thank you.

TIM

What happened, anyway? Fuck, you didn’t get bitten, did you?

ARCHIVIST

Only by one. And Martin got it out. I’m fine.

TIM

But what if you’re…you know. What if you missed one? Will you end up like…

ARCHIVIST

I don’t know, I—

MARTIN

We didn’t. There was just the one. I’ll look again later, but I promise, Jon, you’re not Corrupted.

[BRIEF SILENCE, SAVE THE FOOTSTEPS]

ARCHIVIST

That’s twice now.

MARTIN

Huh?

ARCHIVIST

You keep using that word. Corrupted. That’s what you said Jane Prentiss was doing to the documents, too. And now…

I-it, it means something, doesn’t it? Something important.

MARTIN

Yes.

Look, Jon, it’s not that I didn’t want to tell you before. I did. I was going to tell you about all this after she attacked me the first time. Actually, I’d told Neens to come tell you if she didn’t hear from me. I thought Prentiss sent her an all-clear, but turned out she never got my text in the first place, so—

TIM

Sorry, Neens?

MARTIN

Melanie. King. She’s my stepsister. How do you think I was able to get hold of Hannah?

TIM

Han—wait, the nurse from Ivy Meadows? What’s that got to do with…hang on, Melanie King is your sister?

MARTIN

Stepsister. Her mum died around the same time my dad left us, and—never mind. It’s not important. But yeah, that’s why she came to make a statement in the first place. She hadn’t heard from me in a while and just…wanted an excuse to get into the Archives to see me, but without letting people know we knew each other. Making a statement seemed as good a reason as any.

TIM

Why was that such a big deal? That people not know she knows you, I mean? If I were related to Melanie King, I’d be bragging about it to everyone that came through.

MARTIN

It’s kind of a safety thing. We’ve had issues in the past with…people…finding out we know each other and using that against us. Not letting some of the more dangerous people out there know you’ve got someone who can be used as leverage keeps them safe. I guess we’re just so used to protecting one another that it’s second nature at this point.

Especially after Gerry.

ARCHIVIST

I suppose I owe her an apology. It was true, wasn’t it? Her statement. I-it wouldn’t go on the laptop.

MARTIN

Yeah, a lot of…those things are weirdly resistant to a lot of technology. It’s probably why the video file was so…

ARCHIVIST

Corrupted? Distorted?

MARTIN

Messed up. That wasn’t…I don’t think it was either of those things.

TIM

And we’re back to “Corrupted means something important”. Distorted does too?

MARTIN

I…sort of? It’s not as big as the Corruption, but…

Okay, look. It’s a lot to explain and I’m…I dunno. Do you want to stop and have me tell you about it now?

TIM

In this mess?

ARCHIVIST

No, I—you can explain it when we get out of here. When we’re safe. Just answer me one question.

MARTIN

Sure.

ARCHIVIST

Why didn’t you tell me before?

You—you said you wanted to, that you’d told…Ms. King to tell me and she didn’t, but…you didn’t, either. Why not?

MARTIN

When I first got back? You believed me. About what had happened with Prentiss, I mean. And you were anxious enough, I didn’t…it didn’t seem like the time to lay out exactly what we’re involved in. I figured when things settled down a bit, I’d tell you.

ARCHIVIST

And yet, you didn’t.

MARTIN

…No.

ARCHIVIST

Why not?

MARTIN

Elias. He called me up to his office for a “chat” the day Melanie came to make her statement.

ARCHIVIST

I—I remember. You, uh, you didn’t talk to anyone for the rest of the afternoon.

What did he—wait, does he know all this?

MARTIN

[Bitterly] Of course he does. You can’t run a place like the Magnus Institute and not be aware of Them, or what’s actually going on with the Leitners, or any of that. He knows, all right. And he knew when he hired me that I knew. He sure as hell knew before he sent me down to the Archives.

But he didn’t want you to know. I don’t know what his game is, I don’t know why it’s so important to him that you stay ignorant, but it is. I’m pretty sure he went out of his way to make sure you wouldn’t trust me, o-or believe me if I said anything, which kept me from saying anything at first. And then I got trapped, and we started…getting along better, and I was finally at the point where I was going to tell you everything. And then he talked to me.

ARCHIVIST

What did he say?

MARTIN

[Softly] He threatened to kill you if I told you.

ARCHIVIST/TIM

What?!

MARTIN

You wanted to know why I had a second tape recorder? That’s why. I didn’t—it was just him and me in his office and I don’t have any proof, so I thought…i-if I keep one with me, if anything like this ever happens again, I can record it and I can…I don’t know. It made sense in my head.

TIM

But to kill…do you think he really would?

MARTIN

Without a moment’s hesitation. It wouldn’t be the first time, either.

TIM

Jesus fucking Christ.

ARCHIVIST

[Incredibly shaken] All right, let’s—let’s discuss this later. Above ground, maybe. Where there’s light. And when we’re not…when we’re away from the worms.

Is there someplace safe we can discuss this? Is here safe?

MARTIN

I think so. It’s more of a strain for me to See down here, and I am down here, so I think if Elias has a way of spying on us, it doesn’t work well down here.

TIM

It’s a strain for all of us to see down here. There aren’t any lights.

MARTIN

That’s…not exactly what I meant.

ARCHIVIST

We’ll add that to the list. I promised only one more question for now.

Let’s just get out of here.

TIM

Lead on, Macduff.

ARCHIVIST

It’s “Lay on, Macduff,” actually. And that doesn’t—

MARTIN/TIM

Shut up, Jon.

[CLICK]


[CLICK]

[FIRE ALARM BLARING IN THE BACKGROUND, SOUND OF WORMS SQUIRMING]

MYSTERIOUS FIGURE

Ugh—shit! Watch your step!

SASHA

I can see them, thank you.

MYSTERIOUS FIGURE

Great! Glad to hear it. Can you see where we’re supposed to go?

SASHA

It’s not like there’s a map. I don’t spend a lot of time in the maintenance areas of the Institute, but the boiler room should be—

MYSTERIOUS FIGURE

Who’s there?

SASHA

Elias!

ELIAS

Sasha. What are you still doing in here? You need to get out.

SASHA

The fire suppressant system—is it active? Did you find the switch?

ELIAS

There’s no point, I’m afraid.

SASHA

What? What do you mean?

ELIAS

[Almost pityingly] You can see how fast these worms are spreading. If they are truly as dangerous as Jon and Martin have believed them to be—and I regret to say I no longer have reason to doubt them—then they would not have come up here if there was any reason for them to still be in the basement.

MYSTERIOUS FIGURE

[Softly, somewhat panicked] No, no, no…

ELIAS

I’ve been trying to get to the boiler room since we were separated, but at this point, that is not the optimal course of action. We need professional help.

The fire brigade will have specialized equipment, and as soon as I get outside, I can call the ECDC as well, but for now, you need to complete the evacuation so they don’t need to worry about you when they get here. I cannot condone wasting lives trying to save the dead.

SASHA

What?! No! You don’t know they’re dead—

ELIAS

Sasha, if by some miracle they are still alive, how do you think they will react if they get rescued only to learn that you died in the attempt? Would you really be so cruel as to force them to live knowing you died painfully and unnecessarily—because of them?

SASHA

[Angrily] Don’t. Don’t you dare.

MYSTERIOUS FIGURE

Get out of the way, old man.

ELIAS

I’m sorry, who are you? This is a private—

[SOUND OF FIST STRIKING FLESH. ELIAS YELLS IN AGONY]

SASHA

Come on!

[RUNNING FOOTSTEPS, ECHOING SLIGHTLY]

SASHA

I can’t believe you just hit him.

MYSTERIOUS FIGURE

I can apologize later if your job is on the line.

SASHA

Are you kidding? I’ve wanted to do that for years. Never thought anyone would ever actually do it.

MYSTERIOUS FIGURE

Yeah, well, he was trying to stop us getting down here, and I don’t believe for a minute it was out of concern for your safety.

Boiler room, you said?

SASHA

Yes. Here it is.

[DOOR OPENS. PIPES HISS IN THE BACKGROUND. THE FIRE ALARM IS A LITTLE FAINTER HERE]

MYSTERIOUS FIGURE

Shit, that’s a lot.

SASHA

There! There’s the override panel. We just need to find the right one…

Of course they aren’t labeled. Of course not. That ought to be il—ouch!

MYSTERIOUS FIGURE

You okay?

SASHA

It bit me! Jesus, I didn’t think you could feel a spider bite…

MYSTERIOUS FIGURE

Where?

SASHA

Here.

MYSTERIOUS FIGURE

No, I mean, where’s the spider?

SASHA

Right there.

MYSTERIOUS FIGURE

Ah, there you are, you little bastard.

[CRUNCH OF FOOTSTEPS, RATTLE OF PIPE, GRUNT OF EFFORT]

[Low growl dripping with contempt] Mother, may I?

[THUNK OF A LEVER BEING THROWN]

[LOW HISSING NOISE]

[CLICK]