bitpartgod
in
damned
Night 59: Disciplinary Therapy Corridor
[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 ( Read more... )
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 ( Read more... )
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.
Hands balled into fists, he stalked his way around the corner and into the empty corridor, expecting the others to follow. Beyond, rows of metal doors stood like waiting soldiers, some intact, some wrenched open to more dark, empty rooms.
"What the shell? There's nobody in here!"
Now this was starting to feel like a trap. Night just kept on getting better and better.
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"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.
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He did his best to force the image from his mind. No need for that now. "Either nobody was brought here, or we're already too late. Either way, I suppose it doesn't matter now." Hopefully it was the former, although the latter at least meant that the victims had been rescued eventually. Unlike he himself had, but he was trying not to think about that.
"If there is indeed a red alert, then it's possible some of the defenses around the facility have been lowered in the chaos. We could go see if there's a way out of here now... or we could investigate some doors that were previously locked." ZEX was just thinking idly out loud. Really, he hadn't had much of a plan aside from finding some shields for exploration, and he'd done that well enough. "Equally likely that the defenses have just been reinforced now that the place is in a state of panic... I don't really know what a red alert entails for humans exactly." A moment to remind himself that their cultures were different - his preconceptions were probably incorrect.
"There's a locked door on this floor that I haven't been able to get through. We could also go downstairs and simply try leaving the grounds entirely. Which would you prefer?" As long as they got out of this hallway... it was making him uneasy. He took in a sharp breath as a cut appeared on his arm. Looked like his invisible assailants didn't like it either.
He pressed a hand to it. "I don't think we should dawdle here, either way."
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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.
As the two men talked, Raph broke away from the conversation to better check out the area, listening for any hint of life coming from the rows of locked doors. Then, onto one of the rooms that were wrenched open, wrinkling his nose at the smell of antiseptic. A sink, a bed with straps, a counter lined with instruments.
Maybe if he calmed down enough he could think of something. He had to. But honestly, that alien in a human skin wasn't doing his temper any favors.
"Whaddya mean it don't matter!?" Of course it mattered. He stalked back out of the room so he could yell at the moron properly. "Either this guy's right and the party got cancelled, or people got tortured tonight and we were too busy chit-chattin' to get here in time!" Seriously, how big of an idiot was this guy? "And there's no way I'm leavin' without my brothers. You guys do what you want, but I'm stayin' here."
Yeah, it was risky. If his bros weren't there after all, Raph could be passing up his only chance to escape, but it was a risk he was willing to take.
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"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.
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"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 now."
Although 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.
At last Taylor seemed calmer. ZEX tried a smile when he gestured at him. "I'll be glad for your company... although if you want to investigate the area a little longer, I have no issue with that." As long as it wasn't too long. This place made him feel distinctly uneasy. As for whether or not that was a nurse's station... "It could be. I must admit, I haven't studied this particular area in great detail."
He winced slightly at another stab at his back. Invisible pests. Hopefully they wouldn't take too long.
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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."
He honestly didn't care what they did. There was no way in hell they were gonna protect him, so who was this guy trying to kid, anyway? If anyone should be worried, it's him and that ZEX guy. Soon as Raph left they'd have no one to save their skins if they ran into monsters.
At least ZEX was starting to make more sense. Asking about his brothers gave Raph enough of a distraction to keep him from picking a fight with S.T. like he really wanted. Maybe he was worth something after all.
"I don't know," he replied, his frustration palpable. "Haven't found them yet."
Whatever S.T. was doing with that door, he was ignoring it. The only thing keeping him from getting even more pissed was pretending the guy didn't exist.
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"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.
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"Are you sure they're here?" ZEX didn't see any harm in continuing the conversation. Perhaps it would calm the angrier human down some. "I'm the only person here from my..." He winced, and his skepticism about the entire scenario bled into his voice. "From my 'reality', I guess you could call it. Or, at least, I haven't met anyone here who knows reality as I know it." The thought that everyone else here was insane was far more comforting than the thought that he was. Everything he knew being false was a hard thing to swallow.
Speaking of which, he was somewhat curious... "If you aren't human, than what species are you? A Thraddash, maybe?" That was probably a potentially rude question, but if the human didn't know the word, it wouldn't matter. And if they did... well, he'd deal with that if it came up. Somehow he had a feeling it wouldn't.
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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 the last. But whether he was still on Earth or no, why the heck wouldn't he be sure his brothers got kidnapped? He was there. "So before we start playin' Twenty Questions, let me ask one first: If they ain't here, where the heck else could they be?"
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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.
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"I just want to know so I can better help you." That should be placating enough. ZEX wasn't in the mood to get into a fight with the other not-a-human after all, although so far it didn't seem like anything he'd said had calmed him down any. "If they aren't here, they could still be... back where you came from." Or, they could come and visit with an entirely new set of memories, but ZEX didn't think that possibility would go over very well. "As I said, I'm the only one from reality- my reality here. As far as I know, the others are back home."
ZEX did gesture slightly at Taylor's statement. "And yes, there have definitely been some temporal anomalies involved here... most of the humans I've met here haven't even discovered interstellar travel! Much less encountered the Ur-Quan..." Still a hard thing to imagine. Both things had been fixtures of his life for decades.
The question, whoever, was a little more awkward. ZEX winced again as something dug at his neck, and he touched it gingerly. Still not entirely used to how long human necks were... "Oh, I've... well, I've been here before under a... less than ideal set of circumstances, and there are still some unpleasant side-effects from... what happened." Not that ZEX was trying too hard to think about it right now. "It could be that the proximity is aggravating them- it, somehow."
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That was the worst part. He was starting to entertain the idea that these bozos actually knew what they were talking about. Sure, they seemed to know a lot about the place, but that didn't mean he was gonna take their word on this. It wasn't just some friendly advice they were handing out, here. His brothers' lives were on the line. If they were here and he gave up on them now, who knew what could happen? They could still be off getting tortured somewhere, getting their skulls cracked open like this ZEX guy did, and here he was standing here being all philosophical and crud.
The idea made his chest ache even more than it already was. Every second he sat around talking with these morons was a second off the ticking clock. If things really were going screwy around here like ZEX and S.T. said, this could be their only chance for escape. If they don't find each other and find a way out before everything got fixed, they were probably screwed.
These guys were just trying to help, yeah, but that wasn't good enough. He had to see for himself. "You gotta understand I can't just take your word for this, all right? Maybe you're right. Maybe they ain't here. But I can't--" The words died in his throat. This was getting too close, too personal. He hoped the others could understand he wasn't mad at them. Just life in general, just the kind of crud he always landed in, just the fact that he was doubting himself. He tried to keep the frustration out of his voice, the sinking dread that so easily turned to anger, but it was impossible. Growling, he turned back toward the door they came from. "I ain't givin' up, got it? So you guys can find your own way out. I'm done talkin'."
No more wasting time. Raph slipped back into the hallway and vanished without a trace.
[to here]
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"C'mon." He raced after Raphael. Good as an excuse as any to blow this joint.
[to here]
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