Mask of Glass

Ch 21

Dick lay on a cold metal table, eyes groggily flitting around the room, stopping to rest on a woman in an owl mask. He could see a breathing mask being lowered towards his face, and he felt the woman secure it around his head.

Another masked figure was in the room, they carried with them a small tray.

As Dick breathed the air flowing through the mask his mind and senses became dull. He weakly struggled against his bonds but the woman turned a knob on some sort of machine and his body stilled as he breathed in more of the anesthesia being pumped into the mask.

Dick lay completely still when the woman unlatched the straps that had been holding him down. His numbed mind couldn't react at all as the woman turned his body to the side, holding his head still in an iron grip. He barely felt a hand grip his ear, pulling it up and back. He saw a flash of metal, and felt something cold slide into his ear.

Suddenly, pain stabbed through Dick's head and he let out a muffled cry, jerking away from the hands holding him. He thrashed on the table until the woman turned the dial on the anesthetic machine, making his body still once again.

The hands came again, turning Dick onto his other side, and again holding his head completely still. He was too numb to feel the fingers pull his other ear back, only feeling the cold metal sliding into his ear. This time, when his head lit up in pain, Dick's body was too numb to do anything about it. He simply lay on the medical table as his head throbbed.

Dick saw the woman turn the dial once more, and his body and mind succumbed to the darkness.

—

When Dick came to, he was in a large circular room. It seemed to be made completely out of cement, with small video cameras attached to the ceiling.

Dick's ears were ringing, and pain flowed through his head, the epicenters being his ears. He brought a hand up to his ear and felt a crust of dried blood. He thought back, trying to remember what had happened, but all he remembered were two people in owl masks staring down at him.

Scooting himself over to a wall, Dick stood up, leaning heavily against the cool concrete. He took deep breaths as he tried to calm himself down and ignore the pain that throbbed deep within his ears.

Grandmaster watched in amusement as Dick gently touched his ears, trying to figure out what was causing so much pain.

"Shall we test our new toy?" Grandmaster asked the owl standing closest to him.

"Whatever you wish shall be done master." The man said with a bow.

"Good." Grandmaster said with a sneer as he twisted the dial on a small controller he held in his hand, watching with a sick sense of joy as Dick toppled to the side, holding his head.

Dick groaned as he fought the sense of nausea and dizziness that had suddenly overcame him. The pain in his ears had increased, and he tried to fight his way to his hands and knees.

Every move Dick made sent his head spinning. His stomach seemed to twist inside him as he felt waves of nausea wash over him. He vomited on the ground in front of himself before falling to the side and passing out.

Grandmaster grinned and turned to two masked women standing behind him. "Your vestibular implant was a success (the vestibule is part of the inner ear that controls balance... basically there's fluid in there that sloshes around and tells the brain that you are moving. Discrepancies between what your vestibular system and what your other senses are telling your brain is what causes vertigo and motion sickness). Even that foolish man, Count Vertigo would be impressed. You have done me a great service." His eyes glinted evilly as he looked down at the control in his hand, turning the dial again and switching it off.

"Thank you grandmaster." One woman said. "but the praise belongs to you. This was your idea in the first place. We simply built and installed the implants."

Grandmaster grinned again and nodded, dismissing the two women. He turned back once again to look at the man who had once been his Talon, lying next to the puddle of his own vomit.

"They won't take you away from me as easily this time." Grandmaster whispered, pocketing the remote and exiting the small surveillance room.

He turned and walked down a long hall, stopping at the door of the room that held Dick. There was a talon standing guard outside of the room and he turned to him. "Grab the prisoner and take him to Dr. Earle and Dr. Brady. Tell them we start electrotherapy as soon as he wakes up."

The talon was quick to follow Grandmaster's orders, carrying Dick's unconscious body down the hallway.

"Oh Talon... you don't know it, but you'll be mine again soon." Grandmaster's laugh echoed through the hallway as he stood outside of the now empty cell, contemplating what was to come.