Night 48: M61-M70 Hallway
Kirk looked up as he always did when the intercom came on during dinner, as if it would be that easy to catch a glimpse of the man who presided over their captivity, and did so with such glee. CM-US trials. Without meaning to, he glanced at Admiral ZEX at those words, and away again when "re-trials" were mentioned. What did that mean? It wasn't
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Stomping past the doors with his flashlight (which was thankfully not blacking out on him) gleaming into the darkness ahead, it looked like he was in the right hallway so far. He figured he'd go for room 66 first, since that number fitted better in his memory than the others.
Once he stood before the VUX's possible room, Sechs was about to knock on the door with the butt of his axe but a halting thought caused him to hesitate. Wait... If Sechs were to talk to ZEX about his... situation... wouldn't that mean he would have to go into detail about what the doctor did to him? Talking about it once was enough!
"What's wrong? Afraid the Admiral would see how much of a diseased weakling you really are? How you couldn't fight back the dear doctor or even yours truly?" the lurid voice hissed in Sechs' ear. Sechs' eyes darted about the darkness, a faint look of apprehension falling over his face. He didn't mutter any curses at the negative psyche and he experienced another bout of hesitation. Maybe he outta just turn around and leave--
Suddenly, the poison bit him in the back and Sechs clenched his teeth together as hard as he could to suppress his body's urge to shiver. Dammit, it was too late now anyways, not when he was standing right in front of ZEX's door! Screw the stupid poison! He would just have to be careful with his words and keep the topic away from his ordeal, that's all... Dang, that was gonna be tough... He was better with his fists and weapons than words... But he had to learn everything that he could to fight his subliminal foe. If things got too uncomfortable, he could just ditch the whole thing and leave! Yeah, that's what he'd do...
With that little reassuring decision made to himself, Sechs lifted his axe and banged the end of its handle against the door. After leaving a dent or two in the door, the Replica withdrew the axe, "Hey ZEX? You in there?!" he growled, not one bit concerned that his boisterous visitation might scare the ex-VUX inside.
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He stood there, breathing hard, waiting for the door to open to reveal the orderlies, but it stayed shut. Then, a voice... one that sounded familiar. ZEX had a good memory for voices, as did most VUX... even if most of the humans here tended to use the same common dialect, there was enough a variance in pitch and tone that he could still tell them apart.
"Sechs?" He called out from inside. He let himself relax just a little, although he kept his scalpel in hand for now. Better safe than sorry, and this place had played crueler tricks on him before.
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"Yeah, it's me," Sechs gruffly answered back, "Who else could it be?"
Something slithered by the corner of Sechs' eye. Snapping his head towards the movement, Sechs' flashlight beamed down upon the telltale figures of the snake-like blobs of ink crawling out of the floor towards him. Sechs cursed under his breath. No matter how many times he saw that drug's particular manifestation; he still couldn't shake off just how unsettled it made him feel. Crap. Let me in already--!
Keeping his flashlight focused on the approaching black vines, Sechs glared back towards the door. "Thought I'd pay ya a visit!" he added, doing his best to keep the discomfort out of his voice, "You gonna let me in or not?"
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"With the talk of re-trials, I'm sure you can understand my being cautious." What was Sechs doing here? Not that ZEX minded, of course, there was nothing wrong with having company at night, but he hadn't exactly been expecting a visitor. "What brings you here tonight?"
He opened the door, scalpel still in hand just in case. Come to think of it, he hadn't really checked on Sechs after his unpleasant experience the night before last. Maybe that was what had brought him here? "Are you alright?"
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When the door opened, the former android looked down to find ZEX peering through it with a scalpel at hand while dressed in a strange outfit with an assortment of badges that Sechs could only guess were military based. "Uh, yeah," Sechs lied, shifting his eyes away from the VUX's uniform and back to the inky tendrils that were slowly making their way towards his boots. "Just um, wanted to get back to what we were talking about before a couple days back!"
With that being said, Sechs let himself into the room without the VUX's invitation, lumbering past the door and ZEX just before the black shapes could ensnare his ankles. Once inside, Sechs kept the axe perched on his shoulder and rested his flashlight on one of the desks. "So um, you doing alright?" he asked, feeling a tad awkward now that he was here, he didn't feel too keen on asking ZEX for help just yet.
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He'd been hoping his uniform would get a little more attention, but Sechs seemed busy looking at... something on the floor. ZEX couldn't see anything, but it was dark and he was down to only one tiny human eye. Add that to the distractions provided by his constant hallucinations and it became hard to really be sure of anything at night.
"Oh?" ZEX thought back to their previous conversation, and then he smiled. "Ah, you mean... exchanging techniques?" Now this was more familiar, and his smile grew more natural. He stepped aside gladly to let Sechs in, shutting the door behind him. He wouldn't want them to be disturbed, after all.
"I'm managing, which is about all one can hope for here." ZEX certainly wasn't in the mood to dwell on any of his personal weaknesses at the moment; there was seduction to be done, and that required confidence. "I hope you are the same? After all, I would hate for you to feel poorly while we... communicate." ZEX leered at him.
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With the extra load off his shoulders, Sechs gave his back muscles a good stretch and then dully plopped himself down on the edge of the bed, letting out a soft grunt as the mattress creaked under the armored Replica's weight. So far those bizarre shadows hadn't followed him into the room, but the cold ache in his spine wasn't getting any better.
"Yeah, that!" Sechs rubbed the back of his neck with a gloved hand; his eyes now back to speculating the spacey outfit ZEX donned. It definitely wasn't like the uniforms he'd seen on other military folk he'd encountered before. He would have to ask about those badges while they sparred later. "Even though I may be stuck here for now, I'm gonna learn all that I can from this place!"
Sechs' face fell slightly as he nodded. "So you've been managing okay so far? Uh, that's good." Other than the eye patch and the bald mark on his head, ZEX seemed to be doing well, at least on the surface. Come to think of it, Sechs never got around to asking the admiral what exactly the institute had done to him, other than apparent brain and eye surgery. Would the way ZEX coped with his condition help Sechs with his own? Of course, that sort of question was sure to lead to him talking about his own trial under the doctor's syringes that night... With that in mind, learning combat techniques felt far better to talk about first, then he'd bring up the unpleasant stuff after...
"I'm, uh... Working on it," Sechs propped his chin upon his hand. "It was worse before..." he half-lied, the effects tended to fluctuate without warning, but the android was stubbornly certain that he'd keep it under control if it did again this time.
"I'll figure it out," Sechs added with his own show of confidence in his voice, he couldn't have the fellow fighter see how troubled he was by the drug. With total ignorance towards the odd gaze he was receiving from ZEX, Sechs boastfully crossed his arms across his chest and asked, "So what sort of techniques did ya have in mind? Close or long range?"
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Sechs was already sitting on the bed, a good sign, and seemed very enthusiastic to begin, which was also encouraging. ZEX was in no mood to talk about serious and depressing matters, so he waved off his concern. "I do the best I can, and I survive, which is more than what some people here can say, I suppose. At least I'm still alive."
Practically an invitation! ZEX's smile grew even wider, and he walked slowly over to join Sechs on the bed, sitting quite close to him. "Mmm, I was hoping we could spend some time on some... close techniques." This would hardly be the first time he'd used wartime metaphors in his sexual adventures, although he hadn't done it in quite some time. It gave the whole affair a sort of dangerous allure, which he definitely approved of. ZEX leaned in a little closer to Sechs, grinning almost predatorily. "Something with your hands, perhaps..."
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There was that challenging leer from ZEX again. Sechs returned the glare with a smirk, not budging from the close proximity that the former VUX had taken towards him. After the past two horrible days, it was nice to feel that spark of excitement when battle was mentioned; it helped Sechs get his mind off his poison -- at least for a little while. Yet Sechs could sense that odd alarm go off in the back of his mind again. Something wasn't totally right here... Ah, screw it! He couldn't put down this opportunity to learn new combat skills! "Close range with the hands, huh?" Sechs softly chuckled, his yellow eyes gazing down at the other man like a beast awaiting its challenger's first move in a violent game. "Sure thing!"
The Replica pondered over ZEX's request for a moment. Long range attacks and the use of weapons were more of Sechs' forte than close combat, but it wasn't something he couldn't do. Sechs needed combative insight from the admiral, but it looked like he would have to give something first, and so far there was one attack he could try explaining to him.
"Well, there's one technique I know called Hertza Haeon," he explained, blowing a spare hair away from his eyes, "It's a high-frequency attack that I can use at close range, and I can cause a lot of damage with just its kinetic energy!" Sechs boasted. "It's through the Panzer Kunst style, but it's exclusively for cyborgs. I tried this technique when I ended up here as a human but it didn't... uh... exactly work..." Sechs frowned at the unpleasant memory of his wrist snapping from the attack's backlash. Ugh... Good thing it was healed now, but he didn't want to risk busting it up again. "So uh, it's best I don't try it out again yet. It's tough to explain in organic terms but I'll give it a shot..."
Then Sechs shifted on the bed to better face ZEX. "Say you were an armored android that I wanna disable or kill right away," he began with a grin, "One way I could plant a Hertza Haeon on ya is if I grabbed your arm--" Sechs clasped a gloved hand around ZEX's wrist, then in a fluid motion his other hand planted itself on the side of the VUX's elbow, "Then I would shoot the vibration right through the armor and shatter your limbs off, Sechs style! You wouldn't be able to fight back after that!"
As soon as Sechs released the VUX's arm, his hand was already blurring to the other side of ZEX's rib cage. The Replica's movements were far from gentle, but not enough to hurt his host (or accidentally pull off an actual attack.) "And here," Sechs explained as the palm of his hand firmly rested on his target's torso, "is where I can send another deadly vibration to stop your heart and even destroy other vital organs!"
Finally, the Replica's hands blurred through the darkness once more, one holding ZEX's shoulder while the other rested on the side of his jaw. "This is one of my favorite spots to plant a Hertza Haeon! It shatters the skull and turns the brains into goo!"
With his boastful display complete, Sechs withdrew his arms and rested them upon his knees. "Wherever I strike with this attack, whoever gets it is toast!" Then the vicious grin on Sechs' face faded. Sighing, he added, "Too bad I can't fully pull off that style here, I would have been able to bring down this lousy place a long time ago!"
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Although hardly hopeless. ZEX would just have to adjust his approach a little. Sechs was still touching him, after all, and that was something. Even if it was a bit rougher than he was used to for this sort of thing, it wasn't painful by any means. This was a situation that he could surely turn in his favor, if he was careful.
"Very impressive!" ZEX said, and he leaned in a little closer towards him. "Such a shame that your human body has such limitations... it'd be useful to have such an impressive skill at your disposal. As for myself, I am likewise hindered by my human body, but for the sake of our discussion..."
He trailed a hand along Sechs' thigh for a moment before settling it around his waist. "VUX anatomy is quite different than that of humans..." ZEX kept his voice low and suggestive. "We can exert a great deal more pressure with our arms than with yours. For example, a soft human midsection such as this..." And if Sechs would let him, ZEX would be all too happy to draw him closer. "It would be very easy for me to crush it, if I had my normal arms..."
Close proximity to humans always tended to cloud his thoughts, and ZEX probably couldn't have stopped smiling if he'd tried. "For VUX, our grip is very important... once we've latched on to something, we're not inclined to let them go." Certainly not now, and ZEX kept his voice low. Surely Sechs had to have some idea of what he had in mind now.
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Blinking, Sechs froze slightly when he felt a hand caress its way from his thigh and up to his waist. Ah right! ZEX was going for the hands-on approach! Sechs knew he could learn pretty quickly from that! Relaxing a little, the former android's heart rate picked up a little as a battle-hungry smile crawled over his lips. This outta be good...!
"That so?" Sechs recalled the drawing ZEX showed him during their first encounter. "So your arms must be a hell lot more flexible and built up with more muscle than a regular human's, huh?" Geeze, imagine all the sorts of attacks and abilities that an arm unrestricted by bones could pull off! It would be pretty refreshing to duel someone with a whole new set of weaknesses and strengths like that! "You VUX must have lots of ways of using those arms!"
Wait... Soft?! Sechs wasn't soft! Oh, wait... Sechs glanced down at his aforementioned midsection and frowned slightly at it. Alright, compared to his former body, it was soft... but not soft, soft! Thankfully most of the muscular structure from the Fizziroy body translated into his human one.
Gazing back towards ZEX, the Replica made no qualms about the admiral's grip. As he felt himself pulled closer to ZEX, Sechs anxiously waited to witness an incredible alien technique that he himself could use in battle...
...And so far nothing seemed to be happening yet -- except for the fact that ZEX was talking all weird again! Yeesh! What was up with that? Sechs could understand him just fine before! With a small, quizzical frown emerging on his face, Sechs tilted his head slightly like a dog trying hard to understand some bizarre sound. ...Huh. It was probably just another VUX thing again...
With his arms still crossed over his chest, Sechs shot another challenging grin at the shorter, one-eyed man. Blissfully oblivious to what the leering admiral had in mind, Sechs thought he could smell a possible spar coming up. His yellow eyes hungrily watched for the former VUX's next move. "So what would you do next once you've got a good grip on your target?"
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Sechs certainly seemed receptive so far! Although apparently still convinced that they were meant to be sparring. Well, if it meant that ZEX could touch him without getting shoved off, all the better, although the situation could change once Sechs realized what ZEX actually had in mind. "Hee! Hee! Hee! Yes, we're very flexible... one of the things that took some time getting used to was how rigid humans could be." It was difficult to remind himself to try a slow approach when he was actually holding a human, and his voice could not have been more blatantly suggestive if he'd tried. "You can't bend quite like we can, although your hands have their own uses..."
While ZEX did have some self-control, he was hard pressed to attempt it while he had a human in his embrace. Sechs was right here! Right here! How could he resist? No one could resist temptation that strong, he was sure of it. No one could fault him for lapsing just a little, could they? And if he kept up their pretense...
"Mmmm, let's see..." Had ZEX understood the gesture, he might have licked his lips. "Human anatomy differs from our own, of course..." And if he lied about his own VUX body, there was no way that Sechs would ever know. He kept one hand around him, and moved the other to... explore his chest. What was a little groping between friends? "You have this cage of bone here... no doubt to protect your insides. Our bones are a bit more flexible... if I had my natural arms, I could potentially exert enough pressure here to shatter your rigid bones into pieces." He squeezed Sechs a little to emphasize his point; squeezing something was such a comforting gesture for him. Something that translated well enough between their species.
"And there's your beautiful neck..." ZEX was rapidly getting lost in his own fantasies, and he moved his hand wrap his fingers around Sech's neck. "So flexible and thick... it's stunning. We don't quite have the same range of movement as you do... the same muscle structure, covered with your smooth, hairless skin..." A moment to break himself out of his reverent fantasy. "It'd certainly make an easy weakpoint..."
It was getting difficult for him to focus on the "sparring" part of their supposed interaction... but with all this human flesh to touch, how was he supposed to focus?
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A slight twitch on the end of Sechs' lips emerged when ZEX's fingers groped their way around his breast plate and over his rib cage. It was something he couldn't recall ever feeling before, and he couldn't help but cringe a little from the funny sensation. Strangely, there wasn't any pain or damage, but it was enough to make him nearly squirm on the spot. It got even worse when ZEX squeezed him, forcing out a soft grunt that almost turned into a chortle. Sechs clamped his jaws shut to keep a cap on that bizarre reaction. Dammit, what was wrong with him? He couldn't let something weird like that distract him... Stupid organic body...!
Yet before Sechs could contemplate if he had just witnessed some sort of VUX technique that attacked a target's nervous system, ZEX's hand was already crawling up to Sechs' neck. Now Sechs was at a total loss for words as he felt his mind hit another unexpected speed bump. "Beautiful neck"?! "Smooth, hairless skin"?! What was going on here...?!
"My... my neck?" was all Sechs could murmur as his folded arms began to slacken away from his torso. A wave of goosebumps, which was for once not caused by the drug, went over his skin. He had been expecting something a bit more... rough and combative. Not whatever the heck this was! "Um..."
As Sechs continued to closely watch ZEX's every move, worry became mixed within his muddled mind. Was ZEX finally going to perform a technique around his neck? But if ZEX's fingers crept any closer to his spine, Sechs was sure the admiral would feel the drug's icy presence emanating through his skin. Sechs didn't want ZEX asking any questions about what came about after the experiment he was forced through yet, not when there was still the possibility of learning from the VUX. Crap, what to do... what to do...?!
Now those alarms that had been pestering Sechs before were starting to make some sense... Was ZEX trying to get at something other than combat? But what could that be? Frowning, Sechs' brain scrambled to compute the unforeseen direction that evening had suddenly taken. It wasn't making any sense to him...!
Wait... Maybe ZEX was just psyching Sechs out, to see if he was worthy of learning a sacred VUX skill before he would share it with him! Yeah... that outta be it! They were here to talk about combat in the first place after all!
...Right?
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"Yes, your beautiful neck..." It was so hard to remember the pretense they'd established for this contact, especially when he was this close to him. "So supple... so vulnerable..." Humans were such an alluring mix of fragility and strength. ZEX leaned in closer towards him, close enough to breathe on his neck. "Mmmmm... you're so hard to-"
Something sharp struck his face, a thin line across his cheek and ZEX jerked back automatically with an irritated grunt. Peering into the darkness, he caught a glimpse of one of those Things before it vanished into nothing again, and he raised the hand he'd had around Sechs to touch his cheek. Ugh! Stupid pests! He'd been right in the middle of something! Of all the terrible timing...
It stung, but there wasn't much he could do about it now. He could ignore it, especially if he had a human to distract him. Speaking of which, ZEX turned his attention back to Sechs, hoping that the mood that had been building hadn't been shattered completely by that most unwelcome intrusion.
"Ah, my apologies." ZEX stuck his tongue out for a moment, to try and investigate the scratch on his cheek, before he remembered he did not have his VUX tongue anymore and retracted it. Bah! "Something... distracted me. Nothing to worry about." He moved to embrace Sechs again. "Now, where were we?"
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"Uh... Um..." Sechs' was brain skipping like a slow computer, and feeling ZEX's breath wafting over his neck wasn't helping much either. Dammit, his face was getting hot again! "Wha... What are you talking about?!"
There was a sudden movement in the darkness and a quiet grunt from the former VUX. Immediately Sechs' tumbled thoughts snapped back into clarity as he quickly moved his head to spot the danger, expecting to find an intruder in the room or even those damn shadows out to harass him, but he found nothing but the started admiral sitting beside him. Frowning, Sechs tried to ponder over the ever-increasingly bizarre situation. What just caused ZEX to jerk back like that? It was tough to tell in the darkness, but was that a thin line over ZEX's cheek there? That wasn't there before, was it?
Something else caught Sechs' eye, and it was weirder than the first thing he noticed. ZEX was... sticking his tongue out? Before the perturbed Replica could ask what the heck was going on, ZEX was already back to hugging him like a hungry squid wrapping itself around a particularly scrumptious meal. Another muffled grunt escaped the baffled android.
"Alright. That does it!" This had gone too far from what Sechs had in mind. It was finally starting to dawn on him that ZEX wasn't exactly talking about battles anymore. And the way he was hugging Sechs reminded him a tad too much of how a certain pair of twins used to treat him... No more playing around! He needed to get to the bottom of this now!
"Where were we?" Sechs echoed inside the tight embrace, "I'll tell ya where we were..."
Squirming out of the VUX's hold, Sechs grabbed the admiral's arms, and with a brutish "rah!", pushed him back-first upon the bed. He then stood up off the bed and slouched over the admiral with one hand pinning him down by the shoulder. "Or at least where we're supposed to be!" he growled with a suspicious frown, "I thought we were sharing some combat moves, but I don't get what you've just been talking about! What are you really trying to get at here, huh?"
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From the tone in his voice, Sechs didn't exactly sound pleased, which was something ZEX planned to soothe before things got turned around on him. He made a brief startled sound when Sechs grabbed him (humans could move awfully fast when properly motivated, apparently), and didn't have the leverage to really resist when he pushed him down. For a moment, he hoped that maybe it was just a prelude to some kind of human sexual activity (with all he knew about the process, anything could really be a prelude to sexual activity), but the look on Sechs' face didn't seem very promising.
Humans made no sense sometimes! What had he done to offend Sechs? Nothing! Just touched him a little, and who didn't like being touched? Honestly. ZEX held up his hands in what he hoped was a placating gesture. "Really now, there's no need for violence! I had no intention of hurting you, I assure you." His instinctual defense when a human was acting irrationally; humans had always been afraid of him when he was a VUX after all, or disgusted by him. "I thought we were sharing some techniques... I just thought there'd be no harm in exploring a different... set of them at the same time. I thought you were aware that's what I had in mind?" Blinking at him. "Surely we haven't been miscommunicating this whole time, have we? A shame if that's the case, but certainly something that can easily be cleared up, don't you think?"
Chances didn't seem good that they'd resume where they'd left off, but he didn't want to lose Sechs already. He'd liked what he'd felt of him, after all.
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