Night 59: Disciplinary Therapy Corridor

[bitpartgod]

[from here]

Instantaneous by name, instantaneous by nature. The floor seemed not to give way under his feet so much as vanish entirely- a pretty strange illusion, given that they were the ones who'd vanished- but the move was so quick that Kibitoshin didn't even see their surroundings blur before they were planted back on the ground again. The

Comments

[meanandgreen]

[From here]

But inside, it was quiet. Dark, save for the same migraine-pink glow casting weird shadows everywhere. Who the shell ran this place, anyway? Princess Peach? Whoever it was, they were off their freakin' nut.

Otherwise, the place seemed empty. No tortured screams, no buzz of bone saws, not even close to what Raph was expecting. "It's clear," he growled, swinging the door open further. What little hope he still had for finding his brothers tonight was quickly dying. Maybe that Sangamon guy was right. Maybe he was alone after all.

No, he reminded himself. Stop thinkin' like that. Not like they haven't been through this before. They always found each other one way or another

[toxicspiderman]

S.T. wasn't as fast as Raph -- by the time he'd caught up, the guy was an aneurysm waiting to happen.

"So that little red alert gig wasn't just for kicks."  He couldn't keep Rapahel waiting, not unless he wanted a black eye, so he explained.  "Every night there's a broadcast.  Pointless scavenger hunts, vague threats, creepy bullshit.  About one in three nights the place goes haywire.  Different every time, but the freak sow up here goes on.  Hell, last time they forgot was the zombie invasion."  Raphael had heard of ninjas -- zombies didn't seem too weird to spring on him.  "Which means tonight isn't just the usual radio drama anarchofascist romantic comedy."  Patrick Swayze as Landel.   Now there was a scary thought.

"We're off the hook."  The  rescue missions had been half to help and half to fell like they were doing something.  "You got any bright ideas?" he said, turning to Zex?  Raph just wanted to beat the shit out of something, which wasn't us usually hard to find, but maybe they could direct that energy.

[wantsyourzex]

The hallway gave him a distinctly uneasy feeling. Vague memories of being dragged down here, of waking up in one of these rooms, of

[meanandgreen]

Raph listened to S.T.'s spiel with as much attention as he could muster. Kind of hard when it felt like his blood was boiling under his skin. Anger was a familiar thing, almost comforting in a time like this, but feeling the fire roiling in his gut was something new. Warm-blooded. He felt like he was gonna puke.

We're off the hook, he said. Yeah, right. If only it was that easy. He had no clue where to look next, but maybe these guys did. Making plans was never his thing. Much as he fought with Leo in the past, that was one of the reasons he was glad he wasn't leader. Most of the time, he was happy with people just telling him what to hit

[toxicspiderman]

S.T. had seen enough, but Raph had a point. He stuck his head into one of the rooms. Whistle-clean. No skin oils on the big dentist's chair. His normal beat involved murder on a statistical scale, but he could play amateur Sherlock Holmes with the best of them.

"Not unless they sent the cleaning staff in for a round, and since they turn into slavering monsters at night, I think it's a safe bet."

"You want to get eaten just so you can act all self-righteous, you go right the fuck ahead. I'm going with him." He jerked a thumb at Zex. "Sounds like red alert isn't that different. Everyone to battle stations, top speed. Might have left something behind in the confusion."

"Like this one." He wiggled the knob on the southern door. "Should be a nurses station, right?" That's what those were on the first floor. Weird thing to lock that tightly, but the pink glow was seamless. Still, he jerked on it a few times.

[wantsyourzex]

Looked like he'd angered the shorter human. He couldn't think of why, but they'd always been somewhat irrational creatures. Not that he could say that his own species had a spotless record in that department. He held up his hands in, if he remembered this correctly, was a placating gesture.

"There's nothing to be gained by regretting things that have already happened." ZEX had actually made it a point to try and avoid regret, although he wasn't always successful. In a profession like his, it wouldn't serve him well. "It's too late to change anything. What we can do is do something nowAlthough something he'd said caught his attention. "So your brothers are here as well? Did you speak to them at all about where they were going to be tonight?" The human's anger was a little more understandable now. If he wanted to look through the rooms for them, that was his business

[meanandgreen]

Raph glared daggers in S.T.'s direction, seriously contemplating just jumping the guy for his smug mouth. He didn't know what "self-righteous" meant, exactly. But S.T. made it sound like an insult, and that was good enough for him.

Still, Raph had some measure of self-control; at least enough not to attack people who didn't deserve it. The guy just didn't understand what he was willing to sacrifice for his family. Sure, it pissed him off, but he wasn't about to go off on some spiel about honor and brotherhood and being only four of their kind. That just wasn't his style.

"Whatever," he growled through gritted teeth. "I told you I can take care of myself

[toxicspiderman]

The door wasn't budging, and the Barbie doll aura was covering everything, including the handle. He wasn't even sure he was leaving fingerprints on it.

"Look, man, this sucks. This sucks for all of us." There was angry and then there was crazy angry, and Raphael was gunning it for the boundary with the throttle wide open. "If you don't take a chill pill before breakfast, they're going to stick you in solitary all day. Then how are you going to be able to look for your brothers?"

"What are their names? Maybe I've met them." He hadn't seen any new angry assholes today, but they didn't need to be new arrivals.

[wantsyourzex]

At least the two of them were involved in their own issues for the most part to notice new scratches. ZEX was all too aware of how insane it sounded whenever he explained what was happening to him. He had trouble believing it himself, even when he felt another sting as something cut into him again

[meanandgreen]

"Solitary?" He could almost laugh, but settled for an arrogant smirk instead. "They're gonna hafta do a lot better than that."

Solitary only worked on people who did something wrong enough to let their guilt eat at them. Raph, on the other hand, was never wrong. Everybody else was. The last time someone locked him up in solitary, he just beat on the door 'til he got bored then waited for his bros to break him out. Really, there were worse things in life.

Then it was time to be confused again. These guys really knew how to lay on the questions. Was this supposed to be some kind of interview? It was making him seriously uncomfortable. Sure, these guys seemed to mean well, but they still had to prove they could really be trusted.

"And you wouldn't of met them 'cause we got taken at the same time. I don't get why you people keep askin' me that." All of this crap was making his head spin. The alternate reality thing wasn't as hard to swallow as the others probably thought it would be. Definitely wasn't the first time, probably won't be

[toxicspiderman]

"What year is it? They have a fucking time machine in the closet or something, man. Sure, fine, they grabbed them at the same time. They could have dropped them off here a week ago, or next Tuesday at tea-time."

It wasn't that fucking hard to understand. You didn't have to believe it to put together the picture. This guy wasn't a complete dumbass, he was just fixated. Obsessed. It'd eat him from the inside if he didn't learn to adulterate it with something. Chemical or psychological, didn't matter.

It was probably too much to hope that he was from a time when anything around here would impress him. S.T. could pull out the transporter ring, but being stuck in a crowded pantry with a would-be Avenging Angel and a twitchy alien.

Who was more twitchy than he'd been before. "Zex? You O.K.?" This corridor wasn't a warm fuzzy place to be even with the pastel mood lighting.

[wantsyourzex]

So touchy! Humans could be so sensitive, although ZEX reminded himself, he had said he wasn't human. Perhaps he was another species that had a shorter fuse when it came to anger. Entirely possible... perhaps he was a Thraddash after all, although he hadn't really answered his question

[meanandgreen]

A million possibilities ran through Raphael's mind. Time travel... Did Renet have a hand in this? He swore he'd kill her if she did. Or maybe some Utrom hit the wrong button on his transmat again. But that didn't feel likely. Then what the shell were those wooden ninjas about? Did they really have something to do with it, or did all of this happen just out of the blue? It was starting to feel like someone found it funny to roll together every crazy experience of the last three years of his life and throw it in his face; make him deal with it alone

[toxicspiderman]

"Shit." S.T. had been paying more attention to Zex, who had that look. The one most of them had, the ones who ran rescue missions. PTSD, a real headshrinker might call it, or maybe just "shit happens", but he knew the feeling.

"C'mon." He raced after Raphael. Good as an excuse as any to blow this joint.

[to here]