Janice had walked onto the catwalk, looking down on Lucas. His head was thrown back, his eyes half-closed. That tranquilizer was very powerful.
She went down the latter and looked around. She saw something peculiar. The door behind Lucas was open. She went to it and closed it before going back to Lucas. She had to stand there for a minute before Lucas got back to his senses.
Lucas stared into Janice's soul. His blue eyes pierced hers. She would've almost felt bad if she didn't already know he was an apostle. His eyes carried a message of silent desperation.
His hands balled into fists. His lips tightened at the sight of her, and his brow lowered.
(Janice: "Are you finally aware?")
(Lucas: "Huh? What happened?")
(Janice: "I see the effects still haven't worn off, but you're conscious enough. Let's begin, shall we?")
(Lucas: "Let me go.")
(Janice: "I can't do that.")
Lucas shifted in his seat. He tried forcing his arm out of the binds, but they wouldn't come loose. Lucas kept trying though. He was determined to get out of the chair. The force he was using was enough to break his wrist.
Janice then pulled a pistol out from her belt. She brandished the pistol, holding it by the slide.
(Janice: "Lucas, I've been trying to figure out exactly how your regeneration works, and I think I've figured it out.")
Lucas stopped squirming. He looked up at Janice and stopped breathing.
(Janice: "You're a rare specimen. I've never come across an apostle that is immortal like you are. You are neither angelic or organic. Usually, when an organic apostle is injured, it must return to the origin point before regeneration. Angelic apostles can regenerate as long as their core is intact. You don't have to do either.")
(Lucas: "I'm not an apostle. Don't call me an apostle.")
(Janice: "I know you're not. You're something much better. You're a crossbreed. You have the anatomy of an organic apostle, but the functionality of an angelic apostle.")
(Lucas: "I have no idea what the hell you're talking about.")
(Janice: "Sure you do.")
Janice pulled up a little metal table. It had all sorts of sharp instruments on it. Knives, scissors, and needles. Janice grabbed the scissors. She took a bit of Lucas' hair and cut it off.
(Lucas: "What are you doing?!")
The hair slowly disappeared. It regrew on his head. Janice looked up at something and raised her arms as if to say "see?" Lucas was confused.
(Lucas: "Who's there?")
(Janice: "You'll see.")
Janice put down the scissors.
(Janice: "As neat as your invisibility is, it's not perfect. I found a funny little loophole in your regeneration. If something obstructs the process, it can't heal that part.")
Janice raised the gun and shook it.
(Janice: "So say I were to shoot you. What would happen if the bullet didn't come out? If I were to shoot you in the spine and the bullet stayed there, what would happen?")
Lucas' heart sank. He understood the implication. Lucas was afraid. Afraid for himself. He couldn't remember the last time his wellbeing was actually threatened.
Janice was searching through the pile of knives on the table. She grabbed a saw. She looked back at Lucas, who was mortified by the sight of the saw. Janice slowly approached Lucas. Each excruciatingly slow step brought more and more dread to Lucas. His breathing was irregularly sparse.
Janice grabbed Lucas' arm, bringing the saw down to his wrist.
(Lucas: "Stop! Stop it! STOP!")
Janice emitted a villainous grin. She threw the saw to the side without cutting.
(Janice: "Do you still feel pain?")
(Lucas: "What kind of stupid question is that?! I am not an apostle!")
(Janice: "Well you are certainly not human. Tell me you're human, Lucas. Tell me.")
She waited for Lucas to respond. He said nothing. His eyes were filled with rage.
(Janice: "You lied to Stella and I so easily before. Why can't you do that again?")
Lucas remained silent.
(Janice: "Lucas, this isn't a great time to plead the fifth. You're not under oath or anything. Go ahead and lie to my face again. I mean really, what kind of idiot do you take me for? The moment you walked in this place I knew something was off. I'm surprised Stella couldn't see it, but I could. I've studied apostles for two decades. You were never going to get away with it.")
Lucas still didn't say a word.
(Janice: "What was your plan here anyway? What did you intend on doing? Whatever it was, it clearly didn't work.")
Silence.
Janice exhaled. She backed up and sat down on the floor for a moment.
(Janice: "You don't want to explain to me? Okay. That's fair. Why don't you explain yourself to her then?")
Janice clapped her hands twice, and a rectangular window at the height of the catwalk became visible. Stella sat on the other side. Her expression was a familiar one. All he could see his wife mourning his loss.
Lucas had many fears. He feared his weakness. He feared that his inability to act would get people killed. But his greatest fear was revealing his immortality. He wanted to be seen as human, and now that was all going away.
His mask had been ripped away from him, and he was revealed. Stella now knew everything. She knew of his lies, and she knew of his true nature.
Lucas couldn't speak. There was nothing to say. Nothing to explain. There was no saving his image, and he knew it.
(Lucas: "I'm… uh… I'm sorry.")
(Janice: "Really? Is that all you have to say?")
Lucas hung his head. He was no longer human.
(Janice: "So, Lucas, are you human?")
Lucas still hung his head. He thought back on what he had thought when he was showering. What exactly has changed? Well, he had his answer. Lucas died. The Lucas Liliana knew was gone, dead and rotting. In Lucas' mind, he was no longer Lucas Miller. He was the monster who replaced him. A charlatan and a deceiver.
(Lucas: "No. I am not human.")
Janice nodded, finally satisfied. Lucas looked up. He saw the wings of his angel. The wings tucked themselves in, disappearing from sight. Lucas blinked, and the angel was gone as well. But in it place was a little light. A blinking light. It wasn't consistent though.
Lucas focused on the light. Then he looked up at the hanging lamp, then back to the light in the distance. It was reflecting the light from the lamp.
Lucas' eyes widened. The realization of what it was shook him to his core. How? Why? There's no way…
Janice caught sight of Lucas' stares, so she followed his eyes and looked at the blinking light. Suddenly the light went out. Gone without a trace. They could hear something skittering around in the darkness.
Lucas knew exactly what it was, but Janice had no clue as to what it could be.
(Janice: "What the hell—")
The attack came from above.
Janice was pinned to the floor. The spider's face hovered just inches above hers. Its drool splattered all around her face. Janice screamed in horror. She had a low-pitched scream. It was almost a masculine scream.
The spider still had the arrow in its neck and leg, and it was furious. It wanted revenge, starting with Janice.
Stella watched from above. She jumped out of her seat and pressed her face into the window. Lucas would too if he was up there, but he was right beside the action.
Janice was lifted by the spider. Her cries for help were haunting. It was one of those screams that started low, but quickly crescendoed into a high-pitch scream as her body was pulled in half from the waist. Her intestines spilled out of her upper half and he screams abruptly cut off.
The smell of fecal matter and other waste materials invaded Lucas' nostrils as they poured out of the intestines. Intestinal gas was also expelled. Blood leaked from both halves of the body. It was utterly revolting to experience. If Lucas could throw up, he would.
Janice's eyes remained wide open, as well as her mouth. The unimaginable pain she felt in her last few moments on this planet left a permanent expression of shock on her face.
The spider then turned to Lucas. He was next.