poison ivy - the boys

twenty-nine

          They arrived at their destination in South Dakota. It was in the middle of nowhere with the only green grass for miles. In all honesty, the whole state was the middle of nowhere.

            She understand perfectly then why Doctor Tyler retired here. There would be less reason for someone to come and find him.

             But she had a host of reasons. The power inside of her that seemed so similar to what Ben had. She needed answers.

               She stood outside the house, staring at it by the car and Ben placed a hand on the small of her back, "You okay?"

               She looked at him with a fearful look, "Come inside with me."

                  "I'll always have your back, angel," he reassured.

                 She sighed and put on a brave face. She knew Doctor Tyler was an old man by now but, still, the memories remained and they would always haunt her.

              She walked up the steps to the house with Ben following. She paused at the door as Ben stated, "We should probably knock..."

               And Jane just opened the door and walked in.

               "Or not," he finished before walking in behind her.

                 He scoped the corners with his eyes. It was natural. They entered a large living room and there was a man smoking as he sat in a chair by the window.

                 It was a man he recognized, "Dr. Tursler?"

               Ben stepped in front of Jane protectively and placed an arm out in front of her. She only looped her arm with his without thought.

               Ben could remember the early years of torture in the lab. His chest glowed from the thought of it. God, he hated this man.

               "You know him?" Jane questioned in confusion.

               "Yes, he does," Tyler spoke up with a distinct Russian accent; one she didn't remember him having. "Hello Benjamin."

                 "...and Jane," he smiled as his accent switched to a southern American one.

                  "You're Russian?" she asked as her arm tightened around Ben's.

              "Born and raised," he went to his Russian accent as he blew out smoke from his cigarette. "But I defected to America in '91 for the money. The year you were born, Jane."

"Did you fucking torture her?" Ben clenched his jaw.

"I did no such thing, Benjamin. She was my greatest creation," he said before smirking. "But I did ask for a kiss once.."

"And how did that fucking turn out for you?" Jane sneered.

He had horrible scarring on his lips from her poison kiss but he only smiled at the question, "I was proud of you."

"But I assume you're not here to reminisce," he said as he looked at their locked arms. "You have found Benjamin. Another one of my creations and you would like answers, correct?"

"Yes."

                "I assume you know about BCL Red?"

               She nodded.

"I created BCL Red from our lovely test subject," he looked at Ben who clenched his jaw. "By reverse engineering Compound V, I unlocked the key to neutralizing it. But when we gave Benjamin injections of BCL, it became...radioactive."