Day 42: Bus 1

[rope_victim]

After the way night had ended (Miku wasn't sure if they'd ever get the smell of charnel out of her clothes), and morning had returned with its clockwork weirdness. She was hurried onto the bus in her dark red long coat and the dark, knee-length, slightly full dress beneath it. It was surprisingly warm, Miku noted, but that could've just been her

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[bored_todeath]

Ryuk was in a foul mood. He'd tried to rip his Death Note up, but had to use his teeth and his one working hand and....well, it didn't work. So he threw it. He stomped on it. And then he picked it up and straightened it out. It was a stroke of damn good luck that he still had it, after all. And as soon as it started working again, there was gonna be a lot of sudden deaths.

But he was still broken and bruised from his tumble down the stairs. The nurse said he'd fallen out of bed. He told her that he'd throw her off the damn thing to demonstrate how unhurt he'd be if it was only a bed he'd fallen from. She declined his offer and left him some clothes to change into, ignoring his whining as she closed the door.

Ryuk had looked at them and decided they were ok. The suit jacket didn't really match the trousers, but at least they were both pin-striped so maybe nobody would tell and he'd look pretty damn fine like...a detective or something. He probably worked the suit better than the guys on the Kira team.

Listening to the nurse blabber on about some town and trying to throw in an 'ow, I hurt' here and there when she stopped for breath, Ryuk tucked his Death Note away in a new journal (the other lost to his nighttime adventures) and followed her to the bus. He'd been on buses before. Well, ok. One. It had been fun though. That guy has totally freaked when he saw Ryuk... Only, this time if anybody fired a gun, Ryuk was gonna get hit.

The nurse lacked sympathy, but gave him some Pain Killers, which made Ryuk wonder if he could just write 'pain' in the Death Note. He knew it wouldn't work, but maybe he'd feel better?

She packed him in on the back of the bus, saying it'd be easier. His right leg was duff and his left arm too. He wore a neckbrace and a bandage around his ribs (not that they helped much) and still the nurse said no to the wheelie chair. She gave him a stick and told him he could see how he went with it.

Ryuk was gonna see how far down her mouth it went if she didn't stop being a pain in the ass. He didn't want sympathy, that'd be awkward, he just wanted someone to make the pain stop and kick Stefan and Scourge in the place where humans hurt most (it was their faces or something, right?).

So. After such a long post hobble, Ryuk found a seat with his old buddy Lockdown.

He waited for some attention, not entirely sure he wanted it because it was embarrassing, really, to have been thrown like a ragdoll. He'd just make up a better story. Lockdown's expression was too distracting, however. Guy looked happy, musta killed something...

"What's got into you?" he asked, having to turn the whole top half of his body so he could look at Lockdown.

[ruthless_hunter]

Lockdown had started looking through the bag the nurse had given him, noticing it was full of food. He wasn't that hungry right now, but maybe he'd try some of it sooner or later.

The bounty hunter looked up at the familiar voice, seeing that it was his new ally, Bob. Since their meeting in the shower, Bob now sported some sort of brace around his neck. Lockdown could only fantom as to what it was for.

Still smiling, Lockdown answered, "I had the best night of my life since I've been in this pithole." His optics looked Bob up and down, noting his left arm and right leg. "What about you? What happened to you?"

[bored_todeath]

Ryuk picked his bag up with his good hand and tried to hold it open in front of his face, hoping to find an apple. Among the crap, there was a banana... He threw it in a rage, his angry sound becoming a pathetic whimper as he did.

"Worst night of my damn life in all the years I've existed," he grumbled. "What did you do? You getta beat the face offa someone or something?" he asked, wishing he could do the same.

[ruthless_hunter]

"I see," Well, it sounded like Bob's night hadn't been as fun as his own. He wondered just what had happened to piss the man off that much, but he chose not to ask about it. It probably didn't concern him anyway.

Lockdown searched his own bag, finding a bread-like item that was narrow and flat on the bottom and had a wide, blooming top with dozens of tiny specks on it. The bounty hunter decided he was hungry after all and, to his surprise, took an actual bite out of it, as opposed to his usual nibbles. Guess he was in a better mood than he thought.

After swallowing his food, the bounty hunter answered, "I was dragged from my room, drugged, brainwashed and put back in my real body to guard the rec field last night. Not too thrilled about being brainwashed into thinking I would get paid to guard the place... but I did enjoy threatening and hurting all those humans." A satisfied smirk crossed his face.

[bored_todeath]

Ryuk couldn't manage subtlety anymore. Not that he'd been great to begin with (no need when humans couldn't see you). He turned his whole body again and watched Lockdown eat, wondering if he shoulda kept his own breakfast. If it hadn't been for him being so damn hungry last night... oh hell! That was another thing. Before he'd been thrown to his potential death, he'd discovered he might already be dying! Oh man.... he didn't feel good. He turned his body back round to face the front and wondered if he oughta tell a nurse.

More important things came to mind when Lockdown explained his mood, things that gave Ryuk a spark of hope and a bucket load of envy.

"Man, that does sound relaxing," he sighed. "How'd you get your body back? Maybe they'll let me do it too if I promise to kill a loada people? I'm gonna ask my nurse." That had to work, right? The staff didn't like the patients and neither did Ryuk. They could work together no problem.

"Hey, you wanna threaten and hurt another one today? I was thinking rocks to the face...obviously I'd do it but I can't now what with all this," he lied.

[ruthless_hunter]

Lockdown had finished his bread (being rather surprised to find that it was kinda sweet and not bland at all) by the time Bob finished talking.

"I'm not sure, they drugged me and all I remember before losing coherency was being taken up to the third floor. When I could think clearly again, I was back in my true form and began following the orders they brainwashed me with." He fished around in his bag again and took out a piece of fruit, biting into it. "As for you, well, I'm not sure how the institute decides who gets the privileges and on what nights. I was picked at random, or so I suspect. Also, I had strict orders not to kill anybody."

When the other man made him an offer to hurt someone, the bounty hunter looked at Bob intently, "I suppose I could find time to do that. Just who do you have in mind?"

[bored_todeath]

"I wouldn't even need brainwashing," he muttered, working the plan out through his head. If he could get a one on one with the Doctor guy and explain he was happy to work for them....oh yeah, he'd totally stick around.

"Wait. No killing?" THAT must be why Ryuk wasn't picked. He wasn't much use unless he could just write a name and watch 'em die...

"Huh, well I think you might know him," he said. At least, they had the same script for their names. "That gonna be a problem, you think?"

[ruthless_hunter]

Lockdown shrugged and finished off his fruit. "I was only brainwashed enough to the point where I wouldn't leave my post."

He smirked at Bob, "Just because I couldn't kill them didn't mean I couldn't have fun with them." He was still savouring the memories of nearly running down all those inmates in car mode.

He then frowned, "Really? Exactly who is it you want me to go after? It's not Starscream, Blitzwing, or HK-47 is it?" Lockdown wasn't one to turn on allies and clients unless someone was offering him something even better, and Bob had made it clear that he had nothing better than information.

[bored_todeath]

"Huh," Ryuk huffed. Maybe it would be ok if Ryuk just got his body back. Freak a few people out at the very least. And the whole thing where he couldn't be touched.

"Know a guy called Scourge? 'Cause, I don't like him." Ryuk's attempt at diplomacy failed. He'd already made sure Lockdown didn't mind offing certain people, that was courteous. Now it was all fair game, right?

[ruthless_hunter]

Lockdown's optic-brows raised when Bob gave the name. He knew that name, alright. His voice lowered, "Only through the bulletin board. But if you want me to go after him, then just point him out at any time." Lockdown and Scourge's talks on the bulletin were never friendly. Most of the time, Scourge felt like mocking him and seemed to be seriously doubting his abilities as a bounty hunter. Safe to say, Lockdown did not like Scourge.

[bored_todeath]

Ryuk tried to awkwardly lean closer to listen, body still aimed forwards. He never expected the weight of himself in bandages and casts and tipped onto Lockdown with a slight yelp.

"What the- For th...Er. Sorry...."

Elbow in the Car-Man-Robot's lap, Ryuk struggled for a bit before he braced his hand on some flesh and tried to push himself up.

[ruthless_hunter]

Lockdown's optics widened and he gave a surprised grunt when Bob fell onto him, and again when he put his elbow in his lap and grabbed his arm. The bounty hunter rolled his optics and gripped the other man firmly by the shoulder and pushed him back up to his original position and then pried the man's hand off of him.

"I'm gonna pretend that didn't happen, but only because I'm in a good mood and you're useful," As he had done for the dozenth time since he'd been here, the bounty hunter raised his right hand, where his hook used to be, warningly. As he had done with Blitzwing yesterday, he quickly realized what he was doing and made his hand into a fist.

[bored_todeath]

Ryuk desperately clung onto Lockdown's shirt, terrible memories of last night flashing back, until he was righted and stable.

He was starting to think he might be feeling like he was gonna puke again, but he still wasn't sure. Lockdown's lap was the closest he'd probably ever come to anything like flirting or sex or, you know, that sorta stuff. He shuddered (and winced).

"Yeah, I don't..." Ok. What was that. His stomach turned or something and his insides moved. Was that puke? Ryuk stared ahead. He didn't wanna puke.

"Hey," he said quietly. "Ain't this weird for you. Being in a bus?"

[ruthless_hunter]

Lockdown lowered his fist and brushed imaginary dust off his jacket, since Bob had apparently gotten the point. The other man didn't look well, and not just with the neck-brace and limbs. He looked like someone who'd had too much oil or had just gotten a bad infestation of space barnacles. Lockdown didn't know much about human bodies, so he couldn't say for sure what the other man's problem was.

The bounty hunter just shrugged, and admitted, "Kinda. Some Transformers have space shuttle transformations that other mechs can ride in, like that Project Omega thing or whatever the Pit it was. But this is different, since it's a land-based vehicle, same as I am."

[bored_todeath]

Ryuk was glad he couldn't see Lockdown, that had been pretty embarrassing. Hopefully he could get that Wheelie Chair he wanted....He'd just need a driver was all. Not his nurse though.

"Huh. Should I leave you alone? I mean, I dunno. You okay with this? Hey. While we're on it though, not that I'm interested in these things exactly, but where do baby robots come from? Are are you like Shinigami and you just exist or what?"

[ruthless_hunter]

Lockdown just shrugged again, "You're free to do what you want, I don't care. You wanna stay here, fine. You wanna leave, that's fine too."

In response to Bob's questions, the bounty hunter glanced at him, confused by some of the words the other man had used. "'Baby robots'? What do you mean? That some robot model from your world or something? And what the slag is a 'Shinigami'? That a robot too?"