Koschei had no fear, he didn't mind Barty using his powers. In a life of powerlessness, it was nice to see his fellow kin revelling in what they had. "His gift was love in return for sacrifice. He died so we can all live. Prosper. I gave him the honour of being my favourite and in return, I took him into me. He is part of me now."
It wasn't easy, the inhibitors stunted all he wanted to do but his darling brother, the healer, gave him enough freedom to break free. And he drained him dry in return. Killing him hadn't been intentional. "I had time again. To fix myself. To remove the inhibitors. To change who I am. You can heal a lot of things - like the wonky piece of DNA that gives some pills a power over you."
Koschei was now immune to their pills. They barely worked now. Three had saved him. "I loved Three. As I love you and Four."
"You used Three. I don't know if that's love." He also didn't say that it wasn't. Truthfully, he knew little about love, much as he knew little about anything else. He wanted to learn and to understand. "I'd not use Four." He knew that much. Maybe their love was simply different.
Maybe Klaus wasn't useful to him. Barty wasn't sure what his limits were. "If you did that, you could do anything. So what do you need me for? I could stop you. I don't know if I could help you."
"You can't use Four. Four is too broken. They discuss that a lot, you know. He is a disappointment. They are not happy with his progress. They're debating... putting him on ice." Whatever that meant. Though Koschei could hazard some guesses. When someone was a problem, they either removed or stored them. Sometimes drugged them. Like him.
"You want Four and a nice, happy patch of the world to be safe in. I want my own space and time to live and create the world as I need. I can retore Three, create us a safe haven. Protect our kind. We have the same wants, in different ways." Koschei wanted to be alone, to be able to do as he pleased, so he would have time to find Three again and return his matter as a thank you. He wanted to hide his death away so he could live and work forever. He wanted to rewire the universe and make it better. For everyone. He just needed to be free.
"I could do this myself but with risk. If someone as to tell me not to do it, it's possible I would not do it." Koschei looked at Barty pointedly. "Is that what you want? Status quo? Or do you want to join me and start a new world? Together but apart."
"Together but apart." Barty repeated the words, unsure what exactly Koschei might mean by them. At least in full. Koschei knew more than he did, which he didn't care for. It could not be helped at the moment. His mind was reeling. Four on ice. What did that mean? Whatever it meant, he could not have it happen. "I don't want the status quo. I am not happy."
Klaus liked that word. Happy. Barty would like to feel it. To him, happiness meant that smile on Klaus's face. "In your world, Four will be safe." He said it as an order. That was what he cared about. "I will always be with him."
"I have no intent to hurt Four." He did, however, not think it was relevant. That boy would live through everything. It was the way it would be. "Or should I say, Klaus." Koschei put his hands into his pocket and then approached Barty with two slips in his hands. Medical documents. Birth certificates. "Klaus is his name, Bartholomew. That's your names. We are not numbers, we are not people either. We are beyond that. We exist in a state between Gods and men."
And that was what gave them the right to do as they wanted. That was what made them dangerous. He approached Barty and then held out his hand to him. "This is how men make deals. I've watched them my entire life. When you agree upon terms, you shake. So shall we. We agree to stop the status quo. We agree to happiness."
"Bartholomew." Repeating the word, he honestly wasn't sure whether he much cared for it. Klaus, on the other hand? it sounded good. Rhymed with house. That was very good. It seemed fitting. Barty looked at Five and then at his hand. He didn't reach out to shake it just yet. He wasn't sure about it. "What's your name?"
Maybe that would make it more real. More like the right thing to do. "I want to know your name if we agree."
"My name is Koschei." It wasn't entirely true. He had no birth certificate. He had searched for it, top to bottom, and he had found nothing. The only thing he had found was a payment slip for a child, written in Russian. So he knew where he came from, at least. What was a man with no name? He picked it himself, in the end. It seemed only fair. "I cost 25,000. I was quite the asset."
He smirked in a way that showed he found it all very amusing. It didn't touch him emotionally, how could it?
"Ah." Money, he was aware of the concept. Obviously it meant nothing to him, but he was stull curious. he was always curious. He wanted to learn so much and he knew so little. "Do you know how much I cost?"
He wondered. He knew they valued his powers. He knew they wanted to enhance them for so long and once they managed, they feared him more than ever. "If we have a deal, I want to know what you want from me. I told you what I want. All you want from me can't just be not to stop you. If it was just that, you'd kill me."
"They didn't have to pay for you. You were a donation. To their workplace. Sorry, Bart. People are not kind." Barty was the son of some workers here, from what he gathered. There were no transactions but there were promotions. "Klaus was 10,000. They undercharged for him. Three was a theft."
He smiled sadly at that part, wondering if he could keep that with him and never tell Three. Whenever he returned, he wanted only happiness for Three.
"Bartholomew, killing people doesn't trouble you a bit, does it? So - and I ask with genuine curiosity - do you wish to join me? For our happiness, every single person here must fall. Except you and me." Oh. "And Klaus. Our number Four, of course."
"No. I don't have trouble with killing. I don't have worries." Not what Klaus told him about. Klaus who cared so much. Worried over all those ghosts he saw. Dead people were as alive people. They kept Klaus from being happy. Barty felt nothing that would keep him from killing. "It used to be that I could only make people do things they wanted to do on some level. That has changed. That's how I've killed."
He looked past Koschei at the door. "If they hear me just once, I could make them all kill themselves. Would that make you happy, Koschei?"
"What will make me happy is bringing this place to ruin. It would be even better to do it with you, Number Two." To him, he didn't know if he was happy about Barty killing with him, he didn't know what it really meant to him, he just knew he needed Barty to kill. He wanted Barty to take down the foolish idiots that would go against them.
So he could rid the world of all the other ones like them. They had fifteen test subjects here and Koschei would only allow three of them to leave.
"I need to get to the inaccessible parts of the lab. That's where the bad people will be. I need you to cover me. Will you?"
"Bad people." Barty said it with some derision. The idea of people having any qualifier was ridiculous. Good or bad. They were people, that made them unwanted. "I can cover you. If you get me out I can tell them to let you anywhere you want to be."
As long as they didn't use Klaus against him, he saw no way anyone could stop him. Not with Koschei right there. "You could destroy them. The headphones."
He understood his power enough to be convinced of that.
"I could. Whenever you are ready, of course. We have a day or two at most, if you need to think about it but I could do it right now. I just need you to be with me. When the bad people are gone, Bart, we walk away. We're free." Koschei smiled a real smile, the idea of freedom made his insides tingle.
He smiled still as he gripped his own shirt and grounded himself. "No one matters but us. Bartholomew, Klaus, Koschei and John." He shuddered and then closed his eyes. "Three was -- was -- I find it a boring name anyway. So ordinary. I lied to him and told him it was Theta before I..." Killed him.
"Theta. That's from math." He knew that, always eager to observe any knowledge he could glean and some scientists long ago now used to talk to him at least a little. Answer a few questions. "He probably knew you lied."
He didn't just mean about the name. About surviving. About anything else. Three. Theta. He remembered him being bright in all the ways. "I think Klaus sees him. I can tell from how he talks about him." Klaus was often rather transparent to him.
"Of course he does." That was why he had hoped to cut off Klaus during this but a deal was a deal. He wasn't ready to talk to Theta, not until he had him a body and a world again. For now, he had nothing to say. Sorry was a hollow sentiment and he knew he didn't truly mean it, even if he missed Theta with all of his being. This was the only way. Only he could act, no one else could or would have.
"Theta always knew I was lying. He knew when I entered that he was going to die, I could see it. Even when I smiled and laughed with him, he knew." And that was the sad part. Theta wasn't angry, he was disappointed. And it hurt more that way.
"Three was smart. Just soft. Like Klaus." Who was probably significantly less smart, not that Barty minded that. He felt Klaus was good at emotions and he felt that made him smart in a very different way some time. Perhaps in the way that him and Koschei were not smart. "It's difficult to be soft. I don't know if you can be soft and go out. Not alone."
Which was why he was going to take care of Klaus. "You did what needed doing."
"Sometimes in life, you make shitty decisions for the greater good. Remember that, you'll need to learn to do it too." Koschei knew Barty would have to learn cause Klaus never would. Barty was strong, he could learn to handle it well. Barty was made of similar stuff to him, which didn't make them endearing but made them effective.
"Shall we go forth and create some chaos?" Koschei paused and then smiled at Barty. "There's your word for the day, Bart - Chaos. The opposite of order. Great things can be born out of chaos. Trust me."
Barty gave a nod, making a note of the word and its meaning. Then he got up suddenly, stepping forward until he was within touching distance of Koschei. He wasn't touching him, but he could have if he wanted to. "I don't care if you are using me. I'm not stupid. I understand that you are. But all I care about are Klaus and you. And to get out."
He didn't want Koschei looking down at him or believing he was playing him. "When I understand everything, maybe I will care about more."
"I will be honest, because I know you value it - I don't much care if you understand or not what I'm doing. I care if you do it. I never thought of you as stupid. If I did, I wouldn't be able to trust you." Koschei explained, not at all seeming concerned about the way Barty was looking at him. "One day you will understand every piece of the puzzle and by then, you will know more and, in retrospect, you will agree with me."
Koschei laughed and then smiled a bitter smile. "Or perhaps you won't. Perhaps I won't. What do we know of the future and how we will feel when we don't have any data. I'm as blind to the world as you."
"Not quite. I know you know more." He could admit that. He was eager to understand more about the world. Even now the book he was holding, the one Koschei had given him, felt almost hot in his hold, as if it was calling to him. He wanted to learn. "I want to be on your side. For now. We will see what the future says."
He could not be sure of that. "But Klaus has to stay safe. He doesn't have to witness what we are willing to do."
"He will witness it. He will see the bodies, he will see the ghosts. You can only protect him so much. Maybe you can tell him to close his eyes while we work but I think he will do it regardless." It would not be easy to hide from someone but Koschei was willing to try. He had to kill Theta to ensure he'd never see - and even now, he wasn't sure that Theta wouldn't see.
"You will like the book. Read it tonight and tomorrow, we will act." Koschei decided as he watched the other grip the worn book with such eagerness. He understood it will. "I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books; I have begun to listen to the teaching my blood whispers to me."
"My blood whispers death and suffering." And he couldn't imagine that it was much different for Koschei. He looked down at the book and then at him, nodding his head. Finally, he held his hand out. Koschei had said that a deal started with a handshake. "We will act together."
"To a better future." Koschei shook Barty's hand and then pulled away, looking up at the camera and then back to Barty. "See you tomorrow, brother."
They were not brothers in any sense but in his mind, all those who were like him were kin. They were all brothers on some level. That was how it worked.
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no subject
It wasn't easy, the inhibitors stunted all he wanted to do but his darling brother, the healer, gave him enough freedom to break free. And he drained him dry in return. Killing him hadn't been intentional. "I had time again. To fix myself. To remove the inhibitors. To change who I am. You can heal a lot of things - like the wonky piece of DNA that gives some pills a power over you."
Koschei was now immune to their pills. They barely worked now. Three had saved him. "I loved Three. As I love you and Four."
no subject
Maybe Klaus wasn't useful to him. Barty wasn't sure what his limits were. "If you did that, you could do anything. So what do you need me for? I could stop you. I don't know if I could help you."
no subject
"You want Four and a nice, happy patch of the world to be safe in. I want my own space and time to live and create the world as I need. I can retore Three, create us a safe haven. Protect our kind. We have the same wants, in different ways." Koschei wanted to be alone, to be able to do as he pleased, so he would have time to find Three again and return his matter as a thank you. He wanted to hide his death away so he could live and work forever. He wanted to rewire the universe and make it better. For everyone. He just needed to be free.
"I could do this myself but with risk. If someone as to tell me not to do it, it's possible I would not do it." Koschei looked at Barty pointedly. "Is that what you want? Status quo? Or do you want to join me and start a new world? Together but apart."
no subject
Klaus liked that word. Happy. Barty would like to feel it. To him, happiness meant that smile on Klaus's face. "In your world, Four will be safe." He said it as an order. That was what he cared about. "I will always be with him."
no subject
And that was what gave them the right to do as they wanted. That was what made them dangerous. He approached Barty and then held out his hand to him. "This is how men make deals. I've watched them my entire life. When you agree upon terms, you shake. So shall we. We agree to stop the status quo. We agree to happiness."
no subject
Maybe that would make it more real. More like the right thing to do. "I want to know your name if we agree."
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He smirked in a way that showed he found it all very amusing. It didn't touch him emotionally, how could it?
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He wondered. He knew they valued his powers. He knew they wanted to enhance them for so long and once they managed, they feared him more than ever. "If we have a deal, I want to know what you want from me. I told you what I want. All you want from me can't just be not to stop you. If it was just that, you'd kill me."
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He smiled sadly at that part, wondering if he could keep that with him and never tell Three. Whenever he returned, he wanted only happiness for Three.
"Bartholomew, killing people doesn't trouble you a bit, does it? So - and I ask with genuine curiosity - do you wish to join me? For our happiness, every single person here must fall. Except you and me." Oh. "And Klaus. Our number Four, of course."
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He looked past Koschei at the door. "If they hear me just once, I could make them all kill themselves. Would that make you happy, Koschei?"
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So he could rid the world of all the other ones like them. They had fifteen test subjects here and Koschei would only allow three of them to leave.
"I need to get to the inaccessible parts of the lab. That's where the bad people will be. I need you to cover me. Will you?"
no subject
As long as they didn't use Klaus against him, he saw no way anyone could stop him. Not with Koschei right there. "You could destroy them. The headphones."
He understood his power enough to be convinced of that.
no subject
He smiled still as he gripped his own shirt and grounded himself. "No one matters but us. Bartholomew, Klaus, Koschei and John." He shuddered and then closed his eyes. "Three was -- was -- I find it a boring name anyway. So ordinary. I lied to him and told him it was Theta before I..." Killed him.
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He didn't just mean about the name. About surviving. About anything else. Three. Theta. He remembered him being bright in all the ways. "I think Klaus sees him. I can tell from how he talks about him." Klaus was often rather transparent to him.
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"Theta always knew I was lying. He knew when I entered that he was going to die, I could see it. Even when I smiled and laughed with him, he knew." And that was the sad part. Theta wasn't angry, he was disappointed. And it hurt more that way.
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Which was why he was going to take care of Klaus. "You did what needed doing."
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"Shall we go forth and create some chaos?" Koschei paused and then smiled at Barty. "There's your word for the day, Bart - Chaos. The opposite of order. Great things can be born out of chaos. Trust me."
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He didn't want Koschei looking down at him or believing he was playing him. "When I understand everything, maybe I will care about more."
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Koschei laughed and then smiled a bitter smile. "Or perhaps you won't. Perhaps I won't. What do we know of the future and how we will feel when we don't have any data. I'm as blind to the world as you."
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He could not be sure of that. "But Klaus has to stay safe. He doesn't have to witness what we are willing to do."
no subject
"You will like the book. Read it tonight and tomorrow, we will act." Koschei decided as he watched the other grip the worn book with such eagerness. He understood it will. "I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books; I have begun to listen to the teaching my blood whispers to me."
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They were not brothers in any sense but in his mind, all those who were like him were kin. They were all brothers on some level. That was how it worked.