![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Now Say Ah - Part One
Author: takhallus
Pairing: Mylar
Rating: G
Wordcount: 1619
Spoilers: Season 3
Warnings: If you're squeamish about medical type things then click your heels right now.
Disclaimer: Not mine, thank the Lord.
A/N: Slightly A/U in terms of where Mohinder is. For
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif){kind=small}
mission_insane Size Matters - Epic (prompt : post traumatic stress)
Mohinder tapped a tongue depressor impatiently on the stainless steel bench of the Company med room as he awaited his next patient. This wasn’t the most exciting part of his new role – running routine physicals on Company agents, with or without abilities. He was a geneticist, not an MD, but he seemed to spend a lot of his time gently explaining rashes to embarrassed field agents, or checking up on burns and stab wounds. At least those with abilities were a little more interesting. He could extend the physical to minor tests of their powers, and be on guard for symptoms of the Shanti virus. Even today’s normally unwelcome visitor would be a welcome distraction from Agent Willis and his burning sensation.
Bored, Mohinder stood up and went to the corridor. Sylar was sat, with his hands folded on his lap looking expectantly. Mohinder sighed, frustrated.
“I was waiting inside, why didn’t you knock?”
Sylar followed the doctor into the lab and hesitated in front of the hard metal bed, not bothering to answer. Mohinder turned to his equipment. For someone so invulnerable, Sylar seemed uneasy around medical instruments. A medic would never play on the fears of his patient by teasing him, but then, Mohinder wasn’t really a medic. He picked up a fearsome looking sternal saw, a surgical implement which was generally used to open a patient’s chest by splitting the breastbone. He held it to the light, its gun-like shape and thick drill-bit winking at Sylar as the yellow strip bulbs reflected it.
“What’s that for?” Sylar was now behind the bed, squeezing the rubber covered mattress as he stared at the saw.
Mohinder looked casually over his shoulder. “Lie on the bed please.”
“N-No, I want to know what that’s for.” Sylar’s tone was firm but there was an audible shake.
“I won’t be using it on you. Not today in any case.” Mohinder said as he replaced the saw and turned to face him. “Lie down on the bed, please.”
Sylar breathed out heavily and went to jump up onto the bed as Mohinder picked up his notes.
“Wait.” Mohinder looked up from the manila file. “It says here you’ve never had a full Company physical. On second thoughts, why don’t you go behind the screen and undress, we may as well do it now.” Mohinder had known all along that it had to be the full physical. Bennett had told him that Sylar had only agreed to it on the proviso that Suresh was the doctor examining him, but he felt a real nerviness from Sylar that he couldn’t help but enjoy.
Sylar nodded grimly, giving in a little too easily for Mohinder’s liking. He walked towards the screen and then hesitated. “Everything?” he asked, gesturing downwards.
“Everything. There’s a gown behind the screen.” Mohinder smirked to himself. He wasn’t going to make this easy.
Five minutes later Sylar was still behind the screen. “What are you doing behind there? We really need to begin.” Mohinder impatiently barked. He looked up to see his patient tentatively walking out from behind the screen, wearing the white medical gown. Instinctively, Mohinder closed the door and pulled the blinds. The Haitian was outside, in case the adrenaline rush made Sylar’s powers activate, and the two men exchanged a glance as the lab door closed.
Mohinder looked at Sylar, his skin pale and his eyes reddened. He looked terrified, twitchy, and the doctor had no tolerance for it. “Lie down please and we’ll begin”.
Sylar gently pushed himself up onto the bed. “Is he out there? The Haitian?”
“Yes, so there’s no point in trying anything.”
“Aren’t you going to test my abilities?” Sylar looked spooked by something.
“Not just yet, this is a standard physical. Lie down, please, head on the pillow.” Mohinder placed a hand on Sylar’s chest and another under his head as the patient reluctantly lay back.
“What are you going to do?” Sylar’s breaths were fractious as his head hit the pillow. Mohinder looked at him, suddenly aware that Sylar was trembling.
“I told you, it’s all standard procedures, now you don’t need to speak unless you’re answering my questions.” Mohinder picked up a small flashlight and shone it directly into his right eye, steadying himself by placing his hand on Sylar’s forehead. He did the same with the left eye, watching the pupil pop and the man’s eyelashes flutter. Sylar blinked as the doctor moved the torch to look into his ears, brushing the thick, black hair over them as he did so.
“Please can you say something. Talk me through it. I thought….”
“You thought it would be fun? It’s a physical exam, not a date.” Mohinder sighed, suddenly realising that this could be fun. For him at least.
“Fine, I’ll talk you through. I’m looking into your ears. This is called ‘inspection’. I’m looking for any signs of trauma in the middle ear. This skin is the some of the most fragile in the human body, it’s very easily damaged.” Mohinder moved around the table to his left ear. “Of course, you have the ability to heal, so it’s unlikely to even matter, making this whole afternoon a waste of my valuable time”.
“We could stop, I’ll tell Bennett that…” Sylar tried to lift himself up but found Mohinder’s hand on his chest once again.
“No. It’s important that we ascertain that this new ability is working as it should, and that you’re otherwise in good shape. Now.,..” Mohinder placed his index and middle fingers together and pressed onto either side of Sylar’s jaw, running them down to feel his pulse points and under his chin. “This stage is called palpation. I’m feeling for any swelling or tenderness. Does this hurt?” He pressed up on Sylar’s jaw.
“No.” The reply was barely audible.
“In that case, open your mouth please and say ah.” Mohinder held Sylar’s chin and pushed backwards as the man’s mouth edged open.
“Wider, open it right up. I need to look into your throat.”
Sylar gingerly opened his mouth wider. Mohinder slipped a tongue depressor in, and Sylar’s head violently turned to the left. “No! Please!”
“Don’t be such a baby, what’s the matter with you?” Mohinder stepped back, angry. Sylar was still looking to his left towards the screen and panting deeply. His hands gripped the sides of the bed, knuckles whitening. “Sylar! Answer me, what’s wrong with you?” Mohinder walked round the bed to face him.
Sylar’s eyes were screwed shut and he tremored all over. Mohinder looked at him, baffled. “What’s wrong?” he asked, genuinely concerned. He had never seen him like this and the sight was so dramatic that he instantly felt guilty about the teasing. Why would he…
Mohinder stood, as the realisation hit him. “This is what they did to you before.” He went to the notes and saw that previous examinations had not been written up, or had been destroyed. “What do you remember?”
Sylar made some sound that Mohinder couldn’t comprehend. “What? What do you remember?”
He turned his head back on the pillow to face the ceiling. “Everything. I remember everything.”
“But how can you? For the shunt to be inserted, for the invasive procedures you would have been under an anaesthetic.”
Sylar laughed with contempt. “You have to ask yourself doctor, why do we give people anaesthetics? To stop their pain? To stop them screaming? They didn’t want that. I screamed, I cried out, I begged them to stop but they just looked at me, and took their notes.”
Mohinder’s brow wrinkled. “But that’s barbaric! You must have been…” In pain? Terrified? No wonder a tongue depressor make him thrash about like a landed fish. Didn’t he deserve it though?
“I know what you’re thinking, I deserved it. That’s what they all thought.”
“No.” Mohinder meant it, but didn’t know why. “No I don’t think anyone deserves to be tortured in that way.” He slapped the file onto the counter and started to take off his lab coat. “Why don’t you get dressed, go home, calm down. We can do this another time. We can do it differently.”
Sylar sat up slowly, looking for Mohinder to re-iterate the get out clause, but he was staring at the file. He slipped down from the bed, and when he emerged fully clothed from behind the screen, the doctor was gone.
----------------------------------------------------
Mohinder rapped on Bennett’s door but didn’t wait for an invitation to enter. Bennett glanced up from his paperwork. “Dr Suresh. Have you finished the examination on our friend?”
“He’s clearly no friend of yours.” Mohinder went to the stack of box files on the right hand side of Bennett’s desk. “Killer or not, that man was tortured.”
“It was a necessary test of his powers. At times he was sedated….”
“Sedated? You mean he was paralysed so that he couldn’t lash out when you plunged a metal rod into his skull. He felt everything.” Mohinder started dropping files onto the floor.
“What are you looking for doctor, I have a system.” Bennett said, unfazed by Suresh’s tantrum.
“I want the files from the previous doctor.”
“Oh, the one he killed? Sure, they’re right here.” Bennett lifted a box file from the end of his desk. “I assumed you’d be interested. The tape recording is very revealing if you can stomach it.”
Mohinder looked at the box file. He couldn’t decide whether it was concern or morbid curiosity but he rationalised his feelings with the thought that he needed to investigate Sylar’s fear of the examination, or he would never be able to carry it out in the correct manner. He resolutely marched out of the office.
Part Two Teaser
When he realised the tape had stopped and he could still hear the screams, Mohinder stood and tried to walk off the chill that had settled in his bones. It was the fragments of speech that had affected him most - the babbled nonsensities and the half-sobbed pleas.
"Stop...." he had said without hope.
"God..." he had said without faith.
"Gabriel.....I'm Gabriel" he had said without conviction.
no subject
no subject
Then you'll definitely like this one, there's a lot of both! Thanks for commenting x
no subject
i love how mohinder feels like he can use sylar's uncomfort to his advantage, but by the end of it he feels differently. and aww poor sylar!
i cant wait for more!!!!
no subject
Really?! It's something I've been interested in since the episodes originally aired, but come to think of it, I've not read any fic about it either.
no subject
That's a great description - I love the "wink," since Mohinder's playing with Sylar a bit here.
It's nice to see Moral-Compass!Mohinder again - and poor Sylar!
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject