Juxtaposed against its surroundings was a clean white elevator encased in glass directly in the center of the room. Foley and the Doctor entered and descended in mutual silence. At their destination, the Doctor hobbled behind Foley, who pushed the tube into the room they were meant to inhabit for the next two weeks.

The accommodations were spacious enough. The vaulted ceiling was three stories above them, the floor stretching a hundred feet in every direction. Pushed against the wall they faced from the elevator and up a short set of stairs to a raised platform was a stack of old monitors that began to flicker with life, wires trailing up the wall and along the floor to various machines like the veins from a heart. Two desks nearby were piled with stiff, yellowed papers and littered with vintage radio equipment, and a corkboard attached to the wall hung askew. Back down the stairs on the other side of the room were the commons and living quarters, plenty more resources than were necessary. Though they had ample supplies on the helicopter, the Doctor knew that every facility operated by Washington held a reserve inventory for the unforeseen future. As much as it would please him to watch Miss Foley struggle with more boxes, they were comfortably prepared as it were.

“I found an outlet.” Cera had the stasis tube on the ground next to the monitors, a power cable in her hands. “You sure this place has enough power for her? It needs a constant steady voltage if we’re to make schedule.”

The Doctor sniffed. “Yes, it should.”

“Should?”

“Yes, of course,” he rolled his eyes. “According to the documents they had on this decrepit place.”

Foley laughed with contempt. “And you think your Washington isn’t so decrepit? It’s a fucking rot of a city now. I’d trust Satan himself over those documents of yours.”
The Doctor didn’t answer. He wanted to retort but he knew she was right. He could have said it was the reason he worked for Australis Ignota, but that would have been a lie that deflected a much larger, much uglier truth.

“Got nothin’ to say?” Cera snorted. “Your brain disappear, gimp?” She laughed again when the Doctor threw her a dry glare.

“And how are you so much better?”

“Doctor…” Cera paused as she hoisted the large power cable to the wall and plugged it into a wall socket, throwing a switch on the stasis tube. A tiny motor hummed to life as the tube began its startup process, hissing sounds emanating from cooling vents and a quiet cacophony of beeps pulsing from a user interface. “To put it in the simplest of terms, I was born better. Do you think those petty Projects you tinker with like a child elevates you in our eyes? You disgust me.” She gave the Doctor hardly a glance as she prepared the stasis tube. “You horrify me. You are the personified failure of Washington. Don’t make me waste my breath teaching you your place in this abhorrent partnership.”

“Well…” The Doctor raised his eyebrows briefly, tiredly. It was apparent more talk would only continue this pointless, insulting drivel. “… I see you have things covered. I shall retire for the day.”

“Do what you will. It matters little to me.”

The Doctor hobbled away, clutching his cane tightly in frustration. Never in his life had he endured such indignity. Two weeks, he remembered. Two weeks until Miss Lindsey was conscious again. Cera Foley’s words were microscopic in comparison to the satisfaction he would feel when that time came.

When he would make her suffer one last time.

*****

They hardly uttered a word to one another during their time in the abandoned facility. The Doctor preferred to keep it that way. It gave him some sense of satisfaction to see Cera agitated by the silence and the waiting. If there was something that he was proud to have gained from aging into a crippled and feeble body it would be the patience from waiting over a hundred years to exact revenge on his former associate. Cera Foley, on the other hand, appeared to gain nothing but contempt for the situation. She kept it very well under control, minding the monitors on Miss Lindsey’s stasis tube and taking advantage of the fitness equipment—outdated as it was—which was enough to keep her demeanor calm and restrained, but the Doctor knew better. She hated this arrangement with every fiber of her being. And that pleased him immensely.