Number Four

Change of Plan

A/N: Fair warning, some graphic descriptions of blood and injury. It's towards the end of the chapter- it'll become obvious when it's gonna happen.

They sat on the floor in the attic room, face to face, backs straight, legs crossed. Bonnie's cream coloured skirt fanned out around her, bold patterns in black lace standing out on the fabric. There was an applique at her collar, a shape something like antlers or leaves; nervous, Bonnie ran her fingers across it.

"Are you sure?" Henry asked, noticing her discontent. Bonnie nodded quickly, dropping her hands to her knees. "Relax." He told her, rolling back his shoulders. Bonnie copied, following suit. "You'll be fine. I shall be there the whole time." Bonnie's eyes fluttered closed. "Breathe."

When she opened them again, she was in the Rainbow Room.

They were sat at a table playing chess; once again, the colours red and black. Bonnie was younger again, dressed in her usual laboratory clothes. She cringed when she noted her lack of hair.
Urgently, Bonnie looked around. "So, what's happening? Where's Eleven?"

Henry pointed. "She's over there."

Bonnie looked. A familiar, small figure was standing in front of the guard at the door; Bonnie could not see her face, but still, she would recognise the little girl anywhere.

"I feel dizzy."

"Dizzy?"

"Yes. The light- the light is hurting my head."

As the guard went to lead Eleven out, Bonnie stood up to follow, but was held in place by Henry's grip on her arm. She looked confused. "Aren't I supposed to follow her out?"

"Change of plan. You're with me."

Leading her along with him, he slipped them both out of the room and down the stairs to the basement. Once there, he removed a grate, revealing the opening to a large pipe. Bonnie crouched in front of it, peering inside.

"Now, it's going to be a bit scary in here, but this, this wil lead you out beyond the lab fence to the woods."

"That is way too small for me to fit through."

Henry gave her a sideways look. "Is it?"

No, he was right, she realised. She had been thinking of her modern self, but she was in her younger body. Bonnie had always been slightly on the small side, particularly in the lab- the multiple hunger strikes had seen to that. She was not sure she would fit- but it was possible.

Bonnie looked down the length of the pipe. It was going to be a tight fit. The black void seemed to change before her very eyes, growing and shrinking- larger, then smaller, then larger again, then smaller, so small...

"So, I go through and then what?"

"That part's up to you."

Bonnie sat back on her haunches, thinking. "I could... go out, round and break back in the front, get you out that way. Maybe... get to the main control room or... persuade someone to do it for me."

Set in her half-formed plans, Bonnie crept forward, putting her head and shoulders inside. It was so dark in front of her and so tight... and suddenly Bonnie had an image of herself stuck inside the pipe, blind in the darkness, pinned by metal, hammering against the sides- and suddenly she was back in that small, dark room, pounding on the walls, silence in her ears and screams inside her head, and was not that how this was going to end- was not that how this always ended?

Bonnie backtracked out of there so fast. "I'm not dying alone in a pipe!"

There was the sounds of footsteps from above. "They're coming now, Four. What are we going to do?"

Bonnie pressed her back to the wall beside the pipe, panting hard. She could feel the panic rising in her chest and was struggling hard to keep it down. "I... don't... Can't you do something?"

Henry gestured towards his throat. "Not much I can do with this chip in my neck."

"Go out and talk to them!"

"I think that ship has sailed. Come on Four, it's your plan- what are we going to do?"

Bonnie grumbled irritably under her breath but pushed herself up off the wall, pulling Henry along. Ducking around machinery, they ran out of the basement, shadows approaching around the corner as they fled down the hall. They turned and turned again, the walls all looking the same, the sounds of people coming at them from all sides.

"What's the plan, Four? What are we going to do?"

Bonnie pulled them both into a room, slamming the door behind them.

"Come on, you have to choose. What do we do next?"

The room they were in was barren and sterile, a few pieces of furniture dotted around; cupboards and the like. It looked to be a medical room or something of the like, judging by the gurney abandoned haphazardly in the middle.

"Come on, Bon. What are you thinking? What do we do?"

Bonnie's mind was racing once again. The truth was, she did not know. The only thing she did know was she was not getting caught again- she was not going back to solitary, she was not getting electric shocked.

There was something left out on the side- dropped there as if the person using it had had to rush off suddenly. Pulling herself from the door, Bonnie walked over and picked it up. "... I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to do what we always joked about." She turned the scalpel in her hand so the light glinted off the wickedly sharp blade. "I'm going to stab you in the neck."

There was more blood than Bonnie expected. Bonnie was never religious, but if there was any point in her life she thought about praying, that was it. At the first cut, he had winced, but Bonnie had simply put her fingers to his temple and told him it did not hurt, and after that he could not feel it. Hoping beyond hope she had not struck anything important, Bonnie found herself with her fingers inside the wound, fishing around for the tiny metal chip. "... You can stop the bleeding once you have your powers back, right?" Her hands were covered in red.

Pulling out the chip, she dropped it into his waiting palm.

Bonnie moved to patch him up, but he waved her off, instead stretching his neck and rolling his shoulders as he hopped down from his seat on the gurney. There was an almost visible difference in him, something dangerous she had only glimpsed before.

Taking her arm, he pulled her along with him out into the hall. Figures appeared at the far end, and then more behind. There was the electric flash of a taser.

Henry raised his hand and the man in front went flying, crashing violently into the wall. He moved his head and there was a cracking of bones. Bonnie flinched, but stepped closer, resting her hands and head on his shoulder as she watched him tear them apart.

When he was done, he turned his face to look at her, softly stroking his fingers along her jaw. Slipping his arm around her waist, he pulled her close and kissed her; soft and sweet at first, then growing more heated as he pushed her back against the wall-

-and back onto the floor of the attic. Hands tracing over her body, he hitched up her skirt and petticoats; kissing his way down her throat as he wrapped her legs around his waist.

A/N: ... I am way too keen in this fanfic to drench Bonnie in blood. I am sorry XD

Also, to clear up a few things before inevitable questions:
1) In 'real life', I don't think Bonnie was actually small enough to go through the pipe, which is why it was Eleven instead. Just with this being all part of an illusion in the mindscape, Henry is able to change some things to see what happens.

2) Bonnie cutting the chip out would likely have not worked in 'real life' either, as there are so many ways that could go wrong. Again, its not so much about accuracy, but more about testing Bonnie's instincts.