Chapter Text
Another shriek.
“HEISENBERG! LET ME DOWN!”
Laughing, the said mechanic shook the platform instead, prompting another yelp from the blonde.
Around 3 hours ago, he had proposed his deal to Ethan, and with enough bargaining from each side they were able to settle on “Working together but this doesn’t make us friends and if you even think about using Rose i’ll tear you apart.” as quoted from Ethan.
Ethan was a funny man, to Karl at least. He found humor in the blonde’s ‘shoot em up’ mindset. He was a fiery little thing, short tempered and most definitely rude. However, though he seemed normal, Karl knew he was not, as proven by the trail of carnage he had left wherever he had sought fit to find his daughter. The only reason he has agreed to Ethan’s “Dumb fucking plan”, as quoted from himself, was because he realized although Rose held power, so did Ethan. The fact he thought he was still normal after being impaled, burned, stabbed, and even amputated was incredible, but being caught up in the horrors that were the village probably kept his mind off of his questionable mortality.
They had gotten to know each other during the past few hours, and by ‘each other’ he meant Ethan. Whenever the software engineer would try and pry into the lord's past life he was met with a glare that could kill and a soft growl. Although Ethan was a bit of a shithead, he knew when to stop pushing and stopped asking immediately after the first occurrence. Ethan however was pretty open about Dulvey and even before that. Answering almost all questions with no hesitation. He seemed… happy?… to be able to share about his experiences. Maybe he was lonely and didn't have anyone to talk to about them, who was Karl to judge?
He found the blonde entertaining, watching him fumbling around and getting embarrassed when messing something up, as if he was meant to be running around shooting lycans.
Unfortunately, for Ethan at least, his short temper and snide remarks were only endearing for the first three insults. Karl was beginning to lose his temper and after the blonde had mumbled, “Hobo bastard.”, while on a tour through Heisenberg’s factory. Almost instantaneously he has sent Ethan into the air, with a twitch of his finger, launching the father along with the metal he had been standing on into the air. Now Ethan was around 15 feet in the air, against a wall, and shouting insults and swears with every tremble of the metal sheet that he was gripping onto for dear life.
“CAN’T YOU TAKE A FUCKING JOKE!?”
“What was that sweetheart?” he crowed, “Can’t hear you from up there!”
“FUCK YOU!” the blonde screamed, leaning over the metal sheet to glare at Heisenberg, before scrabbling back to the safety that was the opposite side pressed against the concrete.
It was about time he had taught Ethan a lesson. Karl was not one to be walked all over, a little fear would put him in his place. “Don’t distract me! I might drop you!” he cackled. He fully intended not to drop Ethan. Despite his flaws Karl was fond of the man, but a little joke never hurt anybody before.
Something wet landed on his boot.
Shocked, his eyes trailed upwards towards the father, who was leaning over the platform, fiery rage sparkling in his dark eyes.
Ethan had spat on him.
Karl’s once taunting sneer turned into one of a grimace, “You’ve done it now Winters.” he growled, and with a flick of his hand, Ethan was sent careening even higher, around 30 feet in the air as he shrieked bloody murder.
“Fuck you Heisenberg!” he yelled, “I hate you! I hate you!”
“The feeling’s mutual!” replied back a booming voice.
Karl let out a faux yawn, stretching his arm back exaggeratedly, and with the movement followed the platform Ethan perched atop of, beginning to tilt slowly, sliding the man crouched on it away from the wall. Another scream burst out of Ethans mouth as he began to claw the platform, desperately trying to glue himself as flat as he could against the piece of floor.
“I'm sorry! Stop! Please! I’m sorry!” the father began to plead, desperation outweighing his pride.
Another laugh floated up to where Ethan was, the lord waving the platform as if he was trying to rid of a fly.
Ethan let out a pathetic whimper, gripping the sides as he faced outward, looking anywhere but down as he dangled above the factory’s floor. “Please!” he begged hoarsely.
“Can’t you take a joke Ethan?” he shot back cruelly.
Unbeknownst to Karl, the sheet of metal had caught against a crack of the wall, preventing the piece of floor from tilting any farther. Confused, he flexed his powers, the metal trembling with the strain. Was Ethan that heavy? He held him above the trapdoor not too long ago and the man was as light as a feather. Well as light as a feather with a bunch of guns and bombs strapped onto every inch of his body, but a feather nonetheless. Ethan didn’t even have any of his weapons up there with him, what changed?
With a final surge of his powers the metal sheet chipped at the concrete wall breaking loose. The force that it took to do so however, ended up flipping the platform entirely, sending Ethan plummeting towards the ground.
Ethan didn’t even scream, eyes widened and breathless, a small gasp hitched its way out of his mouth as he began to free fall. Facing Heisenberg during his descent he was able to lock eyes for a split second, catching confused shock in his inhuman eyes.
Karl hadn’t even realized what had happened until he heard the sound of a wet crunch followed by a thud. One moment he had been looking up gleefully, and the next Ethan had suddenly flashed past, a look of fearful betrayal ingrained in his mind before he connected with the floor.
Slowly, he turned his gaze downward, and was immediately met with the sight and heady scent of blood. Ethans blood was dark, almost black as it oozed out from his leg slowly. His leg… his left leg was nearly split, a compound fracture in his tibula, he could see the sharp bone sticking out. Ethan sat, left leg sticking out in a way that left even Karl feeling sick, and he worked with corpses daily.
The adrenaline pumping through Ethans veins left him feeling numb and prickly, hands shaking as he glanced at his own leg to assess the damage, short breaths began to puff out of him. Panicked gasping turned into whimpers of pain as the adrenaline began to wear off, the sharp stabbing feeling beginning to jolt up his leg.
He screamed.
Shrieking in pain Ethan folded over, convulsing in pain, body twitching like it was trying to detach itself from the faulty leg. “Heisenberg! Heisenberg! Why!” he wailed, writhing in agony.
Karl paled, a sickening feeling settling uncomfortably in his stomach as the man beneath him began to sob. “That wasn’t… I don’t know what happened… it was supposed to be a jo-”
“Does this look like a joke?!” the blonde hiccupped, crying hysterically. “How am I going to save Rose! I can’t do anything now! Fuck! Fuck!”
Karl took a step forward, hands outstretched to aid the injured man but the other flinched back violently, as if he had been burned.
“No! No, get away from me! Please! Don’t hurt me!” Ethan cried, leaning as far away as he could without jostling his wounded leg.
Karl winced at that, okay… ouch… that hurt, not that it wasn’t deserved. Thinking fast, he began to lift the metal from underneath the father, trying out a makeshift stretcher so he could take him back to his workshop and hopefully repair the damage he had caused. But as the floor began to rise, Ethan let out another scream, hands shooting out to claw at the floor in a desperate attempt to stay grounded. Alllriight, maybe don’t try to immediately pick up the man who had just been dropped by you, he scolded himself. Taking a step back to reassess the severity of the situation he took in a deep breath before deciding on his course of action.“Okay… I'm going to bring some medical supplies over, alright Ethan?” he tried softly, as if attempting not to spook a wild animal. “I’m not going to move you, I’ll be back.”
Backing away from the blonde, he kept his eyes on him until he couldn’t see him anymore before turning tail and immediately running as fast as he could back to his office. Yeah he fucked up. Did he need to fix this? Yes. Was it his fault? Well one could argue that Ethan did start it but that was besides the point! He has a job to do, and that was to hopefully get the man back on his side before he inevitably stabbed Karl in the back in vengeance for his wrong doings. The fear in Ethan's voice when he had approached him stabbed Karl straight through the heart he didn’t have. Not that they were friends or anything, as clarified by Ethan, it still hurt to see the blonde so… afraid of him. Even during their first encounter, he had sensed no fear in the man. Only righteous anger, as he faced Karl, nothing but determined rage seemingly emanating off of him. He’d prefer if Ethan had cursed him out instead. Called him names and swears. But the pale face, stricken with fear and stained with tears was what had stared him in the eye instead, begging him not to come any closer.
It was almost the worst thing he had ever seen.
Arriving hastily at his office he began to dig through his supplies, med fluid, gauze, and boards so he could create a makeshift splint. Snatching an old shirt for padding, he rushed back out. This definitely wasn’t enough to take care of a broken leg as severe as Ethan’s but he would have to make do until he could get Ethan back into a proper area for health care.
Sprinting back to where Ethan awaited, he slowed to a jog before stopping entirely. There, where Ethan should have been sitting, was a dark puddle of blood, with the man nowhere to be seen.
“Oh fuck.”