Transcending limitations

[jolting]

Who: Doctor Whale and his victims test subjects or lab assistants
Where: Mainly his laboratory but probably other places too
When: During the science event
Rating: R more than likely
Summary: Doctor Whale doing science things and experimenting on people
The Story: He was always seeking answers, always wanting to push the limits. All this time in Wonderland and he never tried to really push those limits. But something about this particular weekend made him forego any restraint. He wasn't going to stop until he found answers.

If people got hurt in the process, he did happen to have Adam's healing blood. But before he got ahead of himself, he needed to find his subjects... Hopefully Luke wasn't too squemish, because Whale would need his assistant.

[Ed | Vincent | River | Helen and Luke | Fear Gas (OTA) ; If I forgot you or want to make your own section, feel free to tag in anyway]

Comments

[jolting]

He noticed that Edward was stirring and quietly moved away to prepare the sedative. He wasn't quite finished with his observations, but he doubted the boy would take well to being strapped to a slate. It was best to keep him calm. Whale would wait just long enough to be sure Edward was conscious before administering the sedative.

After all, he would need the boy awake to observe how the automail functioned.

[seekinghome]

Ed's eyes flutter open with a groan. Last thing he remembered was talking to someone and checking what books he was done with and then pain.

The situation he's waking up into results in him becoming alert much faster and struggling to get loose. "Hey! What the hell's going on?!"

[jolting]

"Now, Edward, try to stay calm," Whale soothed him. He grasped the boy's flesh arm tightly as he positioned the needle. "I'm going to give you this mild sedative so you won't try to break free. Your automail is a marvel of science and I haven't finished my observations of it just yet."

[seekinghome]

Tell someone with a needle phobia that you plan to stick a needle in him. Bravo.

"No!" Ed starts struggling harder. He wants no part of either the needle or being studied like some sort of lab rat. Although the needle is a bigger 'do not want' right now, frankly.

[jolting]

"Hold still." He had to get at the vein, and Edward struggling wasn't making it easy for him. But Whale had a practiced eye and could make a good guess when he pushed the needle into the boy's flesh. "This will go more quickly if you're calm."

[seekinghome]

"How about you let me go so I can punch you a few times?" Ed snarls as he feels the needle go in.

He struggles a little longer, fighting the effects of the sedative before he finally stops, panting and eying Whale with subdued resentfulness.

He was really not a fan of the forced calmness although at least it wasn't enough to actually knock him out. Not being conscious and aware of what was happening would have been worse.

[jolting]

People were always wanting to punch him... Honestly, was that how people solved their problems? Whale shook his head, satisfied that he at least got the sedative through Edward's system without much more hassle.

"How do you feel? Can you move the fingers on both hands?" It was a good way to see the automail in action.

[seekinghome]

Well, if he's going to kidnap and experiment on people, they're going to want to hit him.

Ed frowns. "Not as pissed off as I want to be." He flexes his fingers to check them and make sure there weren't weird side-effects from the sedative.

[jolting]

That would be the sedatives, of course, and Whale nodded in satisfaction. What he gave Edward was perfectly harmless. Certainly better than the electric shock from before. Whale moved to get a few tools. He returned, holding a sheet of regular aluminum foil.

"Could you crush this into a ball using your automail hand?" he asked politely.

[seekinghome]

Ed eyed it, debating if he felt like cooperating. "Why should I?"

[jolting]

"It's completely painless and requires very little effort," Whale replied smoothly. He picked up a second tool and made sure Edward saw it was the taser. "Or I could stick this into your automail leg and see what happens. What do you say? Do you want to find out if that metal is conductive to electricity?"

[seekinghome]

Ed swallows hard and takes the foil, crumpling it into a tiny ball that is going to take quite a bit of work to undo and will probably result in lots of rips in the foil.

[jolting]

It's not like he expected it to look like a perfect sphere. The actual shape wasn't what he was after but the movement of the hand, how the fingers flexed and how the wrist would function. He took the ball when Edward was done, a second sheet of foil at the ready.

"Now your real hand, for comparison." Whale kept the taser close just in case Edward wanted to be difficult again.

[seekinghome]

Yeah, Ed isn't taking the risk of Whale frying something in his leg that'll make it stop working.

This ball isn't as tightly made as the other, due to Ed's left hand being flesh rather than metal. Whale should be able to reopen it with fewer rips in the foil.

[jolting]

"Very good. Thank you for your cooperation, Edward." He was being very polite for a man who had to taser his subject and then inject him with a sedataive. Whale set the two aluminum balls side by side next to some lab equipment.

"You know, I lost an arm once myself," he mentiond conversationally. "What made you decide to choose automail as a prosthetic?"

[seekinghome]

"It's sturdy enough to hold up to the sort of things I tend to get into." Ed's watching Whale warily, keeping an eye out for anything he may do that Ed wouldn't like. Not that Ed's in a position to do anything about it if he does.

[jolting]

Whale had to agree that metal was by far the more sturdy material, though he imagined it had limitations as well. Especially complicated machinery like the kind seen in Edward's arm and leg. It reminded Whale very much of the clockwork devices he saw being crafted in his original world, how some were trying to create an automaton. Edward's automail was a step in that direction.

Whale took out a small rubber hammer often used to test reflexes. He carefully tapped the knee on Edward's automail leg. "Do you feel that at all?"

[seekinghome]

Ed shakes his head. "No. I don't feel anything with my arm and leg. Not like that, anyway. They're metal, not flesh."

[jolting]

"But you're able to move your prosthetic limbs in the same way you move your real ones," Whale insisted. "They are connected to your body enough to read the signals your brain sends them. If they were damaged, would you feel pain?"

[seekinghome]

Ed bites his lip. He isn't sure he wants to answer this. What if Whale decides to test things to find out if what Ed said was true?

[jolting]

He waited patiently. When it became clear that Ed wasn't inclined to answer the question, Whale once again readied the taser. "I could find out, you know," he reminded the boy. "Or you can just answer the question."

[seekinghome]

"It depends. My mechanic makes them with fail-safes to prevent that kind of feedback if they get busted." Ed's just kind of looking at the ceiling now; occasionally testing the straps to see how sturdy they were and if he could loosen them with enough work.

[jolting]

It was a shame Edward refused to be cooperative, forcing Whale to threaten him like that. They were both scientists; why couldn't Edward appreciate Whale's thirst for knowledge?

"If your mechanic were to come to Wonderland, could they build a new limb?" he asked.

[seekinghome]

Whale's method's leaves rather a lot to be desired in Ed's opinion. "Yeah, given the right tools."

And Ed's planning on warning Winry about Whale if she ever shows up. He's feeling a bit paranoid about what Whale might do to her.

[jolting]

Whale's eyes strayed to his hand, his fingers flexing. His arm was reattached by magic... If he were to trade it for an automail arm, it would be rejecting magic in favor of science. It would hurt like hell but maybe worth it in the end. Of course, Edward's mechanic would have to come to Wonderland first.

"I think I've learned all you're going to teach me," he decided. "I'll let you go now."