"I was joking about jumping out of the train." Dovev sighed in exasperation. "Come on, let's get get a ticket and try to get close to the center before we start exploring." The man stuffed the pack into his pocket.
As he headed to the ticket booth, the radio crackles to life again.
"I came to get rid of the nightmares I've been having for the past three years." The first voice, if roughen up a touch sounded exactly like Dovev's.
"The... hell? Isn't that-?" The man snapped his head, his eyes widened in shock.
"The nightmares? They never go away.... Bbbzzkt. Once you've been on the battlefield, tasted the exhilaration, the tension... it all becomes part of you. Once you've awakened the ... Bbkzzt ... within... it never sleeps again. You crave even bigger tensions, ever bigger thrills. As a ...zzzkt, I'd think you would have realized that by now. You care nothing for power, or money, or even sex. The only thing that satisfies your cravings... is DEATH! All I've done is give you a place for it. I've given you a reason to live."
The voice was an older man, full of smug satisfaction of pinning a person's true self. Strangely, he does not sound much different then Dovev - a bit gruffer - rawer with age, but the timbre and intonation is almost identical.
What a terrible thing to say. Can killers really be trained that way? Is it all conditioning the way the Strangers would like to think or is there something deeper? "We... I'm not sure we should... listen." Dr. Schreber shakes his head but he limps to the ticket booth and feels in his pockets and gets tickets for all three of them. He cannot jump the turnstiles either after all. Also he is giving Dovev a minute to recover but when he comes back he gently pushes tickets into their hands. "I'm not... sure what it means, maybe They... are trying a new experiment."
"That... other voice. I recognize it. It almost sounds like me but..." And he hated that voice, feared it - no, feared becoming it. "...Nevermind, we should hurry." The man tried to brush off how his thoughts an emotions got turned upside down at the broadcast. Worry later, focus on the situation now. If one isn't one hundred focused on task, might as well not do it.
The possible soldier got to the turnstiles, scanning, wary - tensed. A passerby in the otherwise stark station stared at the bruising on the side of his face before hurrying on.
"What kind of use would they have for an experiment like this?" Shirley asks.
She follows Dovev, trying to stay between him and Schreber. The passerby looks away from Dovev before seeing the shotgun, which makes Shirley breathe in relief. That would have raised awkward questions.
"I don't know, I... think their experi...ments are instrinsic...ally flawed anyway." Dr. Schreber goes through one of the turnstiles and gets his cane a little tangled up but once he is free he limps toward the platform and the tracks without waiting. They will probably catch up and pass him anyway.
It's kind of a drop to get down onto the tracks and mostly Dr. Schreber can take care of himself, but he has already said he can't jump. He needs Dovev's help to get down but once he's there he's okay. He's also stuck once he's there because he can't get up out again without help. That must be why Dovev asks then.
It is nice of Shirley to try to make the question gentler, but Dr. Schreber cowers a little and looks back and forth between them. He's nervous now. "I... please, don't..." Saying don't hurt me never works. The people who will hurt you are not going to be stopped by that. "They made... me work for Them. Help... Them in their experiments." His voice is shaking a little and he tries to hurry up the subway tunnel. "I got... away. But I've gotten... away before. They... have punishments for... that, but this time I'm not... the only one They have to wo...rry about."
Dovev glanced around briefly as he formed the new few questions. There's not enough people, it was enough to set off every warning bell in his head.
"How did you work for them? How did they force you?" His voice remained steady as he continued to watch, and note places where someone could feasibly hide.
At first, when she hears that Schreber worked for them, she feels angry. But then the 'made' clicks, and she hears that they have punishments for running away, and it really makes her wince.
Mickey glances at Dovev. She wants to ask Isn't it obvious? but.... well, that would be rude. And it's possible the injuries are old, from before the Strangers.
"I... mixed memories. Re...imprinted people." He would like to be running ahead of them to get away but he is just not that fast. He kind of cowers as he walks instead and glances up at Dovev. Then he gestures to himself with his free hand. "I... think my heart might... not have been good be...fore, but the rest..." He's embarrassed but he feels like they deserve the truth. Whatever they want of it. He's not going into details about all the scars the suit hides. "But I don't... have my own memories. They made... me take those, too. I only kept... my skills as a scien...tist, because They needed those. They... can't understand humans the... way another human can."
He turned over the information. There's a ring of truth to how the man spoke, the injuries where too many to all be natural.
"So you were their tool," Dovev remarked as he folded his arm across his chest as the tunnel as he tried to fit in the fragments he heard, seen - and remembered. "A tool doesn't need to remember, just to act."
Even traveling through the tunnel, he could feel how the city spirals. "It's strange how little anyone notices the oddities of the city unless it's been pointed out."
Shirley listens, frowning slightly. "Could we use that for our advantage? That they don't understand humans?"
Dovev's words make something rattle in her mind - a young man, screaming and shaking in her arms, in a basement, trying to break into the Vault -
The Vault?
She shivers, holding onto the shotgun. "Why do we keep remembering who we used to be?" What's going on with her? The man (Ryan) was terrified. What kind of place does she come from?
Dr. Schreber nods a little sadly and keeps one hand on the tunnel wall now. It's getting darker the further away from the platform they go and there is a wind blowing trash around and sometimes grit in their faces. At least there are no trains coming along to kill them all!
"Humans are adap...table, and They change things of...ten. I... don't know, They're... very powerful. They can change... anything with Their minds. Make... you sleep, or lift you up in... the air or snap bones or..." He stops and shivers. "But They're distrac...ted, now. I met other... people remembering too. I think... I'm..." He trips a little and catches himself with the cane. "I didn't imprint... people this time. They... must have done it with...out me. They must... have done it wrong."
"Lucky us," Dovev replied rather grimly. "If other people are remembering, wouldn't a good number of them be out in the city trying to catch them?" He asked rhetorically.
As they got to a fork - from same another broadcast.
What about you, do you have any Family? It was a woman's voice - a crisp Ivy League cadence, slightly garbled by underlying static.
Nope... just a bunch of people who raised me, wait there was someone who said he was my father.
You mean...? Then a loud burst of static.
You did it, even though you knew... but that's Patricide!
I think he wanted it. Besides, some people needed a killin'. The second person sounded like Dovev.
As he headed to the ticket booth, the radio crackles to life again.
"I came to get rid of the nightmares I've been having for the past three years." The first voice, if roughen up a touch sounded exactly like Dovev's.
"The... hell? Isn't that-?" The man snapped his head, his eyes widened in shock.
"The nightmares? They never go away.... Bbbzzkt. Once you've been on the battlefield, tasted the exhilaration, the tension... it all
becomes part of you. Once you've awakened the ... Bbkzzt ... within... it never sleeps again. You crave even bigger tensions, ever bigger thrills. As a ...zzzkt, I'd think you would have realized that by now. You care nothing for power, or money, or even sex. The only thing that satisfies your cravings... is DEATH! All I've done is give you a place for it. I've given you a reason to live."
The voice was an older man, full of smug satisfaction of pinning a person's true self. Strangely, he does not sound much different then Dovev - a bit gruffer - rawer with age, but the timbre and intonation is almost identical.
"No... that's - it couldn't...."
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The voice comes over the radio, and - that's definetly Dovev's voice. But who is the other one?
"Dovev...?" Shirley asks, quietly. Of them all, he seems the most frightened and disturbed by the voice.
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"That... other voice. I recognize it. It almost sounds like me but..." And he hated that voice, feared it - no, feared becoming it. "...Nevermind, we should hurry." The man tried to brush off how his thoughts an emotions got turned upside down at the broadcast. Worry later, focus on the situation now. If one isn't one hundred focused on task, might as well not do it.
The possible soldier got to the turnstiles, scanning, wary - tensed. A passerby in the otherwise stark station stared at the bruising on the side of his face before hurrying on.
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She follows Dovev, trying to stay between him and Schreber. The passerby looks away from Dovev before seeing the shotgun, which makes Shirley breathe in relief. That would have raised awkward questions.
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"Yeah - and I think someone threw a Spanner into their works." Dovev waited until everyone is on and the subway is on it's way.
"So how did you know what was going?" His voice was like a piece of steel.
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"More like an entire toolbox," Shirley mutters. Not that she isn't glad someone did.
"It could be helpful to us," She says, trying to put him at ease. They don't need him to be afraid of them.
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It is nice of Shirley to try to make the question gentler, but Dr. Schreber cowers a little and looks back and forth between them. He's nervous now. "I... please, don't..." Saying don't hurt me never works. The people who will hurt you are not going to be stopped by that. "They made... me work for Them. Help... Them in their experiments." His voice is shaking a little and he tries to hurry up the subway tunnel. "I got... away. But I've gotten... away before. They... have punishments for... that, but this time I'm not... the only one They have to wo...rry about."
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"How did you work for them? How did they force you?" His voice remained steady as he continued to watch, and note places where someone could feasibly hide.
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Mickey glances at Dovev. She wants to ask Isn't it obvious? but.... well, that would be rude. And it's possible the injuries are old, from before the Strangers.
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"So you were their tool," Dovev remarked as he folded his arm across his chest as the tunnel as he tried to fit in the fragments he heard, seen - and remembered. "A tool doesn't need to remember, just to act."
Even traveling through the tunnel, he could feel how the city spirals. "It's strange how little anyone notices the oddities of the city unless it's been pointed out."
Reply
Dovev's words make something rattle in her mind - a young man, screaming and shaking in her arms, in a basement, trying to break into the Vault -
The Vault?
She shivers, holding onto the shotgun. "Why do we keep remembering who we used to be?" What's going on with her? The man (Ryan) was terrified. What kind of place does she come from?
Reply
"Humans are adap...table, and They change things of...ten. I... don't know, They're... very powerful. They can change... anything with Their minds. Make... you sleep, or lift you up in... the air or snap bones or..." He stops and shivers. "But They're distrac...ted, now. I met other... people remembering too. I think... I'm..." He trips a little and catches himself with the cane. "I didn't imprint... people this time. They... must have done it with...out me. They must... have done it wrong."
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"Lucky us," Dovev replied rather grimly. "If other people are remembering, wouldn't a good number of them be out in the city trying to catch them?" He asked rhetorically.
As they got to a fork - from same another broadcast.
What about you, do you have any Family? It was a woman's voice - a crisp Ivy League cadence, slightly garbled by underlying static.
Nope... just a bunch of people who raised me, wait there was someone who said he was my father.
You mean...? Then a loud burst of static.
You did it, even though you knew... but that's Patricide!
I think he wanted it. Besides, some people needed a killin'. The second person sounded like Dovev.
In the darkness, Dovev's expression darkened.
Reply
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