Prose Magica: The Exile of Doctor Strauss Part 1

The phone clattered to the ground, shattering into a dozen pieces. Strauss could see her hand shaking, stiff and frozen in position, but her grip gone. Her breath roared through her nostrils.

Betrayed.

It was the one thing that she had never factored into her calculations. All of her life's work, gone in the blink of an eye. Every sacrifice - every ounce of blood, sweat and tears - wasted. For what? One worthless, quivering girl? The wretch could barely muster enough nerve to form a complete sentence when she arrived. Strauss had made her strong. Physically, mentally, every part of her had been molded into the perfect killing machine.

An assistant had once referred to the procedure as 'deus ex machina' - god from a machine. She wasn't quite a god, the Doctor had to admit. She still bled, as mortals did. She could still be killed. But it was a start. Now, that cowardly, idiotic failed experiment that called herself a 'doctor' had her. The imbecile that could barely even speak German after all their years together. Strauss closed her eyes and took a moment to compose herself.

"Na schön," she muttered under her breath as she clasped her hands together. "Zen I dearly hope zat you vill be able to live vis ze conseqvences of your actions, Oberhaupt Direktorin."

The Doctor took a deep breath as she sat down at her desk. It was a nice desk. Big and mahogany, with her name plate on the front and everything. She would miss that desk. Her office was as big as she'd always wanted. There were book shelves filled with medical science books, filing cabinets filled with her own research papers, even a few potted plants that she'd taken a liking to. Every doctor's office needed a fern, and maybe one of those little waterfall fountains with the tiny fishing men. Display cases along the walls showed off her collection of antique surgical equipment. Her favourite was the hand-cranked skull saw. She'd even let Valnikov play with it on the odd occassion. After she... opened up more, the girl would cackle madly as she spun the crank as fast as she could, making "BRANANANANA!" noises like a chainsaw. Strauss was somewhat disappointed that she'd never gotten around to letting the child try it out for real.

"Sorne, get in here!" The Doctor called out to her Head of Security over her intercom.

After a hurried, nervous "Jawohl, Doktorin." from the other end, Strauss leaned back in her chair, then took off her glasses to rub her tired eyes. A heavenly, comfortably leather chair with a headrest at just the right height. She'd never found another quite like it, no matter how hard she'd looked. It would probably have to go, too. As she waited for her security officer to arrive, Strauss bent under her desk, grunting and straining as she pulled her computer onto her lap. She disassembled it with nimble fingers - a well-practiced skill - and had the hard drive removed and placed in her cape's pocket by the time she heard the first knock on her door.

"Herein!" Strauss shouted, shoving the computer back in its place.

A thin girl wearing a green padded vest of a security officer stepped into the room, thumping a fist over her chest as she stood at attention. The entire right side of her body was scarred, mangled and burned, her right eye a solid sphere of white. Long, jet black hair grew from only one side of her disfigured head. Her name was Captain Eliza Thorne, one of the Doctor's very first test subjects - with the scars to show for it. Strauss replaced her glasses and leaned over her desk, rhythmically tapping a pen as her gaze fixed on the Head of Security.

"Ekaterina Valnikov has been kidnapped," she said, dead-pan. "How vas ze Culexus able to infiltrate ze buildink? I find it hard to believe zat she had proper ausorization, hm?"

"Er, Doktorin," the girl stammered, struggling to keep her composure. At least this one knew how to properly address her superior in German. That managed to set her on a level above Madaraki on the competence scale. "It seems that the Culexus, Malal, was in posession of an ID badge. The guards didn't believe it was suspicious."

Strauss tapped the pen at an ever so slightly quicker pace. "An ID badge," the Doctor's face twitched subtly as she repeated the phrase. "Und did zis ID badge belonk to her?"

"N-no, Doktorin," Thorne responded, now visibly shaking as she stood at attention. "We were unable to find out who it belonged to. It, erm, was worn backward, Doktorin."

"Vorn... BACKVARD?!" Strauss shouted as she slammed a fist into the desk. "YOU HAVE ALLOWED MY LIFE'S VORK TO BE STOLEN FROM UNDER OUR NOSES BECAUSE ZE CULEXUS VORE A BACKVARD ID BADGE?! VHAT IS ZE POINT OF AN ID BADGE IF YOU DUMMKOPFS NEVER CHECK ZEM?! YOUR MEN ARE AVARE ZAT VE DO NOT EVEN HAVE ANY CULEXUS ON STAFF, JA?!!"

The Doctor held her head in her hands, nearly ripping out her hair as she fumed. The security officer was close to tears as she apologized over and over, still at attention. It had never been wise to upset the Doctor. Captain Thorne knew that better than anyone else. Which was why it surprised her immensely - and terrified her on an entirely new level - when Strauss finally looked up, looking calm and composed as ever.

"Tell your best men to pack my sinks," Strauss instructed as she rose from her seat. She slapped her pen against her hand as she circled the security officer, dictating her orders. "I vant everysink in mein office on a plane to storage facility six-two-six visin two hours - write zis down if you must. Vunce zis is done, I vant all lines of communication vis ze outside vorld severed. Everysink. Phone lines, cell towers, internet, post office, carrier pigeon, ze vorks. Find me vhen all of zis is complete. In ze mean time... I have cleanink to do."

"D-Doktorin, but that would mean-"

Strauss stared at the shivering girl over the tops of her round glasses.

"Protocol Ten vill commence in six hours."

✱✱✱

Strauss stared over a crowd of a dozen nervous men and women in sterile, white labcoats in the dank, green-tinged observatory lab. The Doctor was flanked by a pair of stone-faced men with assault rifles casually slung over their shoulders. The scientists were the best and brightest that Strauss could find - or at least those smart enough to abide by proper security protocols. Each and every one of them looked utterly terrified as the Doctor stepped up to a makeshift podium made from an up-ended examination table and cleared her throat.

"Good afternoon, ladies und gentlemen," Strauss began, as if no different from a routine meeting. "As many of you have no doubt heard, zere have been some changes in ze management of ze Sirteens. Naturally, zis means zat many of you vill, unfortunately, be out of vork. It has been an immense pleasure to vork vis each and every vun of you, und I can say from ze bottom of mein heart, it vill be sad to see you all go-"

"D-Doctor, please--!"

A bang rang out as the man's body crumpled to the floor.

"VOULD ANYVUN ELSE CARE TO INTERRUPT MEIN HEARTFELT FAREVELL SPEECH?!"

Strauss' glare swept over the room, along with the smoking barrel of her pistol. Satisfied that no one else would dare interject again, she holstered the weapon and continued.

"AS I VAS SAYINK. I vill alvays look back fondly at ze many memories ve have made togezer. Like ze time ve accidentally locked Annabelle in ze rhinoceros cage over night!" The Doctor laughed with a twinkle in her eyes. "Or- Or who could ever forget ze first time zat Doktor Cheong forgot to disengage Butterfingers' stimulant injector ven ze interns vere cleaning his cell! Or ze second time! Or ze sird time! It alvays makes me laugh! Vhat fun ve had!"

"I sink... Vhat I am tryink to say here is... Each of you has a very special place in mein heart zat no vun else could ever replace," Strauss said as she placed both hands over heart in an uncharacteristically delicate gesture. She then turned around to address her guards, waving a finger in the air in a circular motion.

"Kill zem."

✱✱✱

Half an hour left. Strauss snapped her golden pocket watch shut and grinned. It wasn't her usual maddened, shark-toothed smile; it was closer to a snarl than anything else. She had been taught a valuable lesson regarding her own fallibility. She had been blinded by her own success. Everything had gone far too well for her plans to continue unchallenged. But, there would be plenty of time for revenge. Emma Strauss was a creature of patience.

All that was left of her office now was a barren desk, empty shelves and single red rotary phone sitting on the Doctor's lap. In just a few more hours, someone would charge into the building, hoping to capture the legendary Doctor Strauss. Instead, all they would find would be the broken husk of what was once Varrigan City and a cruel reminder of what had been allowed to pass there.

A sharp knock at the door caught Strauss' attention just as she was about to doze off in her chair. A moment later, Thorne stepped into the office, saluting with a scarred, mangled hand before standing at attention.

"Doktorin, the preparations are complete," she stated. "Your helicopter is fueled and ready to take off. The men stand ready to carry out Protocol Ten."

Strauss nodded solemnly. There was only one final order of business that remained.

"I vill be alonk shortly," the Doctor responded, waving the girl off. "If you vouldn't mind, I vould like a few minutes alone to... say good bye."

Thorne nodded, amazed at the uncharacteristically sentimental display, then stepped back out of the room.

The Doctor took a final, deep breath as she lifted the bright red phone off of its reciever. Long ago, before Strauss herself had taken up residence in the city, a hotline had been built. It led from the Horzine Biotech headquarters directly to the Warmaster's office onboard the Rafflesia, in case some emergency required her attention while she was away. Now, with preparations for Protocol Ten underway, it was the sole means of communicating with the outside world from within Varrigan City.

Everything had to be timed perfectly. Strauss had waited until the Rafflesia was far enough away that they could not possibly reach the city in time to stop the coming purgation. With any luck, Chief Director Madaraki would still be busy celebrating the fall of Doctor Emma Strauss. It seemed unlikely that anyone had even set foot in her office yet. It was perfect.

The phone rang once. Twice. Three times, before Strauss' own pre-recorded message greeted her, followed by a long beep.

"Good evening, Oberhaupt Direkt-" Strauss stopped to compose herself, snickering. "Entschuldigung, CHIEF DIRECTOR Madaraki. I vould first like to congratulate you on your ill-gotten promotion, you disgutink abomination. Very vell done, bravo, I couldn't have done it better myself. Secondly - und I do hope you are still listenink, because zis is important - I vould like to pass on my sincerest regrets for vhat vill soon come to pass. By ze time you hear zis message, Protocol Ten vill have been carried out, und every man, voman, und child in ze city of Varrigan vill likely be dead. I believe ze city has a population of... seven hundred sousand? I sink zat is right, check mein computer if you vould like to know ze exact number. I'm sure zat you have ze password by now."

"Zeir blood vill be on your hands, Madaraki," she continued, twirling the phoneline around her finger. "Every night you vill lie avake in bed, sinking of ze mistakes you made zis day, sinking of every life lost because you just had to steal vun, measly little fraulein. You vill tell yourself zat zey vere just ze dregs of society, zat of all zem vere nosink more zan punks und ganksters. Nein, zose vill probably be ze vuns zat survive. It is ze innocents, ze weak und ze children zat vill die first."

"Hundreds of sousands for vun life. Zis is ze price of your 'mercy'," Strauss hissed. "Auf Wiedersehen, you vile creature. I hope it vas vorse it."

With her grim message delivered, the Doctor hung up the phone and placed it on her desk. Taking up her cane, Strauss hobbled to the doorway and looked back into the office one final time. She remembered how excited she was the first time she saw it. Finally, after all her hard work, getting a big, new office. For once, there was actually enough room to put things on display, to show off a little. Now it was gone.

Strauss stepped into the hall, flanked by Thorne as she slowly hobbled down the green-tinged halls of the Horzine Biotech headquarters. It felt so recent that she'd gotten upset at the builders for mistakenly ordering green-tinted flourescent bulbs. As time went on, she'd come to enjoy it, however. Coupled with the ever-present sterile scents of sanitizer and cleaning products, it gave the building a certain sinister air that made it so endearing.

The ceiling tiles had been converted to transparent grates ever since one of the Doctor's failed experiments had escaped and taken up residence the vents and ceiling spaces. For months, staff would occasionally disappear when left alone in the halls for too long and complain about a scratching sound behind the walls. In the end, they found a heap of skeletons stashed in a forgotten maintence corridor, once the creature had finally accumulated enough grief to turn into a witch. Much of the staff would find themselves having panic attacks at the mere sight of any spiders following that particular incident - which provided the Doctor with some interesting material come April Fool's.

Enormous glass windows decorated the walls, showing off the interiors of break rooms and offices. Strauss was frightening - some might have even called her a monster - but even she wasn't above joking around and discussing projects with her staff over a cup of coffee.

"Doktorin," Thorne asked, bending down to look at the Doctor's face, "are you okay?"

"Ja, ja," Strauss waved her off. "I am fine. Ze- Ze cleanink supplies, ze smell makes mein eyes vater. It's nosink."

The security officer knew better than to press any further. The two walked together through the halls in silence for some time. Every now and then, the sound of marching feet or the cry of some experiment echoed through the narrow halls. Strauss had already spent her final hours in the building saying good bye to each of Thorne's 'sisters'; something which the security officer was fortunately not present for.

Only ten minutes remained by the time they stepped out onto the tarmac. There, an idling private helicopter awaited the Doctor with its loading ramp down. The sky was painted in colours of orange and grey as evening began to settle in over Varrigan City. Everywhere she looked, crewmen ran to and fro, tending to a bevy of waiting Apache gunships and Chinook transports parked along the edge of the airstrip.

Strauss made a single, slight nod of resignation as she looked up at the helicopter.

"Vell, Sorne," she muttered, turning to the other girl and stretching out a hand, "it has been a pleasure vorking vis you."

The scarred security officer blinked, taken aback by the sudden act of respect, then took the Doctor's hand and shook it.

"It has been an honour, Doktorin."

Giving Thorne a final pat on the shouler, Strauss stepped up to the helicopter and began to clamber in. After a few moments of struggle, due mostly in part to her bad back, she took her seat as the pilot handed her a clunky headset. The Doctor tapped the microphone twice as the chopper began to lift off.

"Testink, testink," she muttered. "Zis is on?"

The pilot responded with a silent thumbs up.

"Ah, guten Abend, everyvun!" She called out. "Protocol Ten vill now commence! Initiate phase vun!"

Peering out the window, Strauss watched intently as a group of five Apaches took off. The first phase of Protocol Ten was simple: destroy every bridge off of Jefferson Island and burn the harbour. Every one of the pilots had been run through strenuous background checks and training to ensure that they were able to carry out their sordid task. Her own helicopter was just starting to scratch five thousand feet when a series of explosions rocked the city. Smoke and flame wafted upward from each possible point of egress. None could be allowed to escape.

But that wasn't all.

The Doctor watched as the Apaches turned back toward the headquarters, beginning their second attack run. The transports- along with most of the airstrip - disappeared into a blossoming garden of fire as the attack helicopters swooped overhead. Strauss could swear that she could even pick out the tiny figure of Thorne staring up at her. She almost felt bad about the whole affair. Almost.

"Phase one complete," said a voice over the radio, "standing by."

Strauss chuckled as her gaze shifted just in time to see the red neon sign of the Blood God's Arena come crashing down. She had always hated that awful thing.

"Initiate phase two!"

Assuming the men on the ground were still willing to do their jobs, they would be fortifying the main building. They had all been told that Protocol Ten would entail the systematic destruction of the city. Scorched Earth policy, and all that. Instead, it was quite the opposite - at least to Doctor Strauss. Even from her vantage point, Strauss could hear it beginning. Horrid, animal screams and roars emanated from the Horzine building as each and every one of her hundreds of experiments was simultaneously released from captivity.

It took only a few seconds before she saw the first doors swing open as people began to stampede out of the building. Some of the faster creatures were already on top of them, tearing hapless victims limb from limb. One or two would get shot down, only for something bigger and stronger to emerge from the bowels of the building.

"Ready to go, ma'am?" The pilot asked.

Strauss was silent for a moment, lost in the sight of her creations finally set loose. There was a certain child-like rush to it, like building an enormous tower out of blocks, only to finally smash it to pieces.

"Ja," she mumbled, still unable to pry her gaze away from the destruction. "Take us avay."

Almost in the same moment as she had finished speaking, an explosion tore through one of the upper floors of the building, carrying away several black specks that may have been people. Strauss watched, a satisfied, toothy grin plastered to her face. Her revenge hadn't been delivered just yet, but it was a start. She had gone out with a proper bang and brought down an entire city with her. For the time being, she would be satisfied.

So began the exile of Doctor Strauss.