have_no_mercy | Consequences with kneel_majorzod & <lj site="livejournal.com" use

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Consequences with kneel_majorzod & <lj site="livejournal.com" use

It's not unusual for Tess to be entertaining a guest. It's really not unusual for that guest to be Zod. What isn't the norm is that he's not the only person she's expecting.

It's time, they've decided, to put their plan into action, to attempt to rid themselves of one of the nuisances in their lives. Darkseid has been summoned to the mansion on the pretext of potentially another adventure or evening of games. Security has been told to notify Tess when he arrives and everything else is in place for what's really going to take place. Or so she - and Zod - hope.

So until he does make his presence known, they'll just have to wait. One way or another, it's going to be an interesting evening.

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At some point, Tess will remember to smack him for not being able to at least listen to her when he's dying. Luckily, she's actually too concerned to do that right now and instead attempts to remove his hand. There's something to be said for a death grip, however.

"You can move them yourself if you need to, because you're going to be fine. But you need to let me go for one minute."

He attempts to shake his head, but the movement is cut short by another sharp stab of pain, leaving him grimacing and unable to speak for a long moment. It also causes him to let go of her arm, and he doesn't bother taking it again.

Finally, "No...I'm not. And I need you...to protect them when I'm gone."

"Stop talking. That's an order, Major." Not that she really expects that to work, but it's all she's got. And since he has let her go, she'll take advantage of it and all but scamper around the room, grabbing the pouch, her suit jacket from the back of her desk chair and her glass of half filled water before returning to his side.

"I need to remove the knife," she explains, wrapping her jacket around the base of it and then pushing her hair out of her face as best as she can with her arm as her hands are kind of... covered in his blood. "It's probably going to hurt. A lot. And you're going to black out for a few minutes, but you are going to be all right."

"You can't save me, Tess," he whispers, looking up at her with unmasked regret. "And you need to know it's...not your fault."

He falls silent for a moment when speech becomes too great a challenge and then nods down at the knife before looking up at the ceiling. "Get it out."

"Yes, I can. Trust me."

Tess takes a hold of the hilt, pressing the gathered material to his chest in order to absorb the blood that will be forthcoming. "Take a deep breath," she whispers and once he does, she pulls the knife out.

The intense pain that follows leaves his senses numb, and the loud pounding in his ears returns. Whether or not he cries out in the moment the knife leaves his flesh he's not entirely sure; he can hear little else but the beating of his own heart.

His vision blurs almost immediately once the knife is out and then continues to darken as he fights a losing battle to remain conscious through the blood loss and pain.

The knife is tossed away immediately and Tess applies pressure to the wound with both hands for a few minutes, until Zod's eyes appear lifeless and glassy. After a few deep breaths of her own, she fumbles with the pouch and removes a filled syringe, making sure any air is pushed out.

Tess rolls up his sleeve with remarkably steady hands and injects the liquid slowly. Then she waits, fingers pressed to his wrist, hoping for a pulse.

It's with great remorse that Zod finally allows the darkness to consume him. So many things gone without farewell. Cordelia, his people. His purpose. It's almost as if he can see them vanishing before his eyes as his surroundings slowly fade. Tess' face is the last thing he sees before his vision darkens completely.

And then there's nothing. For an agonizingly long moment, Zod's lifeless form remains stretched out on the floor. Then, suddenly, there's a sort of flash as his broken skin and flesh begin melding back together, working furiously until they're seamless again.

It's a terribly odd feeling, having one's life returned almost instantaneously. Zod lets in an involuntary gasp as the air suddenly rushes back into his lungs and the feeling returns to the rest of his body.

All of this happens at once, and it's so overwhelming that it's another long moment before he can wrap his mind around the situation properly, much less speak. When he can, though, he turns to Tess with amazement and confusion.

"What just happened?"

Tess... looks immensely relieved and helps him sit up. "Just take it easy, okay? Here," she passes him the glass of water, "drink - slowly - and breathe."

Then, after a moment, "How do you feel?"

He takes the water from her when she offers it, but he doesn't drink right away. He's still rather occupied with frowning down at his healed skin through the torn cloth of his shirt.

"Unscathed," he replies softly after a short pause, giving her a stunned and somewhat questioning glance. "What did you do?"

"That old Luthorcorp project I brought Marcus back to start up again," she starts quietly, sitting back a little. "It's a serum that brings people back to life." Her gaze drifts briefly down to where his chest should be wounded. "He's been able to make some improvements to it."

"A serum." He looks away briefly and takes a sip of his water as he digests that piece of information.

"Are you hurt?" he asks after a moment, giving her a quick glance over.

"No." She mostly looks fine, save for being smeared with blood that isn't hers and her face paler than usual.

"How do you feel?" She's also repeating herself, but she's giving him the benefit of the doubt that the first time she asked it got a little lost in the confusion of being alive again.

He's not entirely sure how to describe how he feels, actually, other than alive. But there is something else there. A certain feeling of...invincibility.

For now, though, he'll just leave it at, "As if it never happened."

Tess nods. "I don't know if this is permanent. It wasn't when Lionel was testing it, but it's definitely improved. So, if you start to feel any ill effects, pain, shortness of breath, if the wound starts to come back, you need to tell me immediately so I can get you another injection."

Zod lifts an eyebrow and regards her curiously. "What sort of serum has the power to bring back the dead?"

"The specifics aren't important right now, Major." Tess' frustration might just be starting to show through. "Do you understand what I just told you?"

He studies her for a moment before nodding. "Yes. I'll let you know. But you must understand why specifics would be important to me. You just brought me back to life, Tess. I want to know how."

"There will be time for that later. Right now we need to figure out what to do." And if that's not clear enough, she'll spell it out for him. "He knew what we were planning. He knew you were here. And he obviously has abilities I didn't know about. We can't fight him on our own."

His expression darkens slightly at that, and he stares down at nothing in particular. "If not on our own, then with whom? Our allies are few."

"I don't know." And she really doesn't.

He regards her grimly and, after a moment, lets out a soft sigh. "Even after all of this, we still don't know what we're up against, either. We discovered another ability, yes, but there very well could be more. He overpowered us with ease, and we still don't know his limitations."

Tess... has a snappy answer for that, but she bites it back. Occasionally, she does know when the time and place for sarcasm are not opportune.

"We'll have to try and find out. His name is Darkseid and I think the word 'apocalypse' is tied to him somehow, too." She sighs as well and starts to stand, finally. "See if any of your people know anything about it. I'll double-check everything I have."

"'Apocalypse'?" he asks seriously, raising his eyebrows and standing with her. "What makes you say the word is tied to him?"

"Checkmate." Which is the short answer. Don't worry, she's getting to the longer one. "Waller always talked about an alien apocalypse. That's what we were working against." Well, most of them were, anyway.

"I was never high ranking enough to know where she got the idea from to begin with, but wherever it came from they got 'dark side' with it."

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