Trixie stood with Detective Gene and the stallion named Berg. They watched as Doctor Octopi made his entrance. He was old, and the crazy came off him in waves.
Skeptically, Trixie asked, “Why did you want me here?”
“‘My dear, I can correct your condition.’ The doctor nodded and smiled, a little wider than necessary.”
Trixie frowned. “Why are you narrating yourself in third person?”
“Doctor Octopi’s eyebrows went up. He said, ‘whatever do you mean?’”
Gene and Berg shook their heads. Trixie turned for the door. “Yeah, I’m going to leave now.”
“Doctor Octopi raised a hoof and called after her. ‘But aren’t you interested in what I can do for you? I can fix your genetics!’ Trixie stopped and turned, clearly interested to hear more.”
“Stop that!” Trixie ordered. “You can talk about yourself all you want, but leave me out of it!”
“The doctor nodded. ‘Have it your way. So, how about it?’”
The lure to perhaps do something to reverse what radiation exposure had done to Trixie’s body was great. She reluctantly realized that she couldn’t just walk away, not until making a more informed decision. “Fine.”
Berg escorted Trixie into the back room. There were all sorts of fancy equipment components and everything looked suitably menacing. Trixie figured that it was all to do with the doctor’s mad scientist vibe. She wondered if the medical equipment manufacturers had a couple of options in form factor - Hospital Issue, or Asylum Special.
“So what are you going to do?” Trixie asked.
“‘Picture it this way,’ Doctor Octopi explained, entering the room. ‘Would you miss just one cell from your body?’”
Trixie thought about it. “I suppose not.”
“‘Well, there you go. We’ll rebuild you one cell at a time.’ The doctor finished with a flourish of his hoof.”
“One cell at a time,” Trixie repeated. “How long will that take?”
“The doctor shrugged. ‘Years, I expect.’”
That was not the answer Trixie was looking for. Was staying here in this creepy laboratory for so long worth it to alleviate her condition? Much as she hated to admit it, maybe her situation wasn’t that bad. Careful regulation could keep her out of trouble, and it didn’t really take that much to turn her back if she lost control. Besides, who wanted to hang out with a creepy Germane scientist?
“I’m not sure I want to do this,” Trixie decided.
“Doctor Octopi frowned, trying to think of a way to convince her. ‘I would make sure you have the best care.’”
Trixie shook her head. “No, I’m sorry.”
“Well, this certainly put a kink in the doctor’s plans. He tapped his hoof to his chin in thought. ‘What if I offered to pay you?’”
“I’ve got plenty of money already,” Trixie replied. “And you’d have to pay me multiple fortunes to stay here for years.”
“Sweat began to bead Doctor Octopi’s forehead. He couldn’t let this potential specimen slip away! It was time to throw professional morals out the window – not that he’d had any to begin with – and do whatever was necessary to keep Trixie in the lab. He sauntered casually towards the lever on the wall that automatically locked the doors, making small talk to keep his target distracted. ‘So, how about that local sports team?’”
Trixie’s eyes narrowed. “Are you an idiot? You realize I can hear everything you just said, right?”
Trixie swung her gaze to Gene. “You’re a cop, right? He just admitted to planning to hold me against my will.”
Gene shrugged. “We’re a long way from Mustangeles and my authority.”
“Well, then I guess you won’t mind anything I do to him,” Trixie replied.
“Trixie’s words indicated that she may have found him out! Doctor Octopi leaped for the door locking mechanism only to be intercepted by Trixie. She began to severely beat him.”
The first blow from the M60’s stock hit Octopi in the shoulder and knocked him off his hooves. He struggled to get up, but Trixie swung the weapon again, catching him under the chin and sending him flying backwards. This time, he turned away and speedily cleared the area.
“And then Doctor Octopi ran away like a little bitch,” Trixie muttered. She turned around, only to see Berg’s hoof on the lever for the door locks.
“It is a classic technique,” he said with his distinctive Germane accent. “Distract the beast with expendable resources and lure it into a trap.”
He pulled the lever and the room was sealed off with heavy iron grates that descended from the ceiling. Gene started in surprise, clearly wishing he had done something earlier, despite not being in his jurisdiction.
Trixie glared at Berg. “So you’re the mastermind behind this? Then who was Octopi?”
Berg waved a hoof. “The old codger who owns this place. He is getting too old for science, but I am prepared to take his place.”
Berg smiled and moved towards Trixie. “And I will do much science with you.”
Trixie gritted her teeth. “Oh really? What makes you think that I’ll let you?”
“Please, with flaws such as yours? A beast like you could never hope to stand against a pure pony like myself.”
“Well, that sounds kind of racist,” observed Gene.
Ignoring him, Trixie focused her anger and continued the conversation with Berg. “If I’m a beast then clearly you’re an idiot. Ever been to a zoo? There’s a reason ponies don’t lock themselves up together with the exhibits.”
Her first bolt of magic slammed Berg back against the iron grate behind him, the very one he had brought down with the pull of the lever. Trixie started forward, closing the distance between them.
Berg’s eyes had gone wide in the painful realization of his folly that you don’t trap yourself with and then insult an unbalanced mare with radioactive magic and a thing for getting even.
Trixie’s aura flashed green, firing magic in an arc around Berg, slamming into the iron and cutting a hole around him a little bit wider than his body. The hot energy made the metal glow and the next force push Trixie put on Berg shoved his body and the cutout right through the grate.
The pieces of iron that had been severed clattered to the floor. Berg got up shakily and backed away from Trixie. “What are you doing? This is uncivilized!”
“Looking down on somepony because she has a few extra legs is uncivilized,” Trixie snarled. She advanced through the hole in the grate.
“At least I’m not some foul monster,” Berg stuttered, continuing to back away. He got the front door of the building open. “And when I get the chance, I vow that I will kill you and dissect you. Not even for science, just for my own pleasures.”
Well, that certainly made it easier to justify killing him first. Trixie hit him with more magic than she had ever before released in one go. There was a flash of light and Berg went flying through the air in a path that was aimed roughly towards the seaport, a few dozen blocks away.
Trixie could see the ocean liner she’d arrived on, the Titanic docked there. Berg slammed into the hull and went right on through. The ship began to list, taking on water. Shortly, it sank.
Breathing hard, Trixie collected herself. She had hulked out again, but was beginning to realize that it was less of a change than she made it out to be. A few of her miracle drugs and she would be fine. It felt strange to justify it that way, but if she had any hope of ever feeling okay in her own skin, she had to start somewhere.
Gene stepped up beside Trixie, looking warily at her. “So this is what I kept hearing about. I didn’t know you were so powerful.”
Trixie sighed. “Yes, this is the real me. I can usually hide it.”
Gene did not comment on that, and Trixie was thankful. He looked out towards where the ship used to be. “Jeeze, you killed him so hard that he sank the Titanic.”
Trixie slipped on her sunglasses. “You might say that I…iced Berg.”