As R0se and Willard were escorted out of the room by the strange man, Willard looked back to Darric expectantly, as if he were to follow. It became clear rather quickly as the two men continued their chat that he would not, and Willard's brow furrowed a bit. He held even tighter to R0se's hand as they continued on, trying to keep her in between him and the rather scary man that led them away. Willard looked up just as the man turned his head, noting the crazed expression in his eyes, which sent a shiver down the boy's spine.
As they arrived in the lab area, Willard noted the strange machinery that was scattered about, filling the room with a cold white and metallic color. For some reason, it reminded Willard of a place he had been, not all too long ago, where the same kinds of vast metal contraptions filled large white spaces, where the air was always so cold. It would have been nostalgic, if not for the terror that flooded through him.
Once in the room, Weber stopped and let them in, staring at them, more in particular to Willard as he walked in behind them and shut the door.
"Ooookay. Now...How about we start off with names. What are your names?" Weber asked them.
R0se didn't like the look of things one bit. Not only were they now separated from Darric, but this man that was with them had obvious bad intentions written all over his face. The crazed look he kept giving off made her on edge, but she knew she had to keep up appearances. It would make sense for a young girl to be afraid, but she also had Willard, her brother, to look out for. How should she play this? Should she remain defiant or go along with it? Every instinct told her to kick the man in the teeth, but a scared 12 year old girl wouldn't do that, so instead, she didn't meet the man's stare and spoke in a soft tone.
"Carrie..." was all she said.
Willard looked up at the man as he peered down at them, seeing the maniacal eyes gazing through him. He opened his mouth as if to speak.
"W-- Jacob," Willard tightened his grip on R0se's hand, recognizing his mistake immediately. He hoped that it hadn't been noticed, but still saw a strange shift in the man's color as he seemed almost humored by the word.
With his hands behind him listening to the two introduce themselves, Weber looked between both of them when each spoke.
"Ah! Wonderful names. Well Carrie..Jacob...welcome to Sleepy Hill Orphanage." Weber did indeed notice when Jacob was about to say something else before saying his name. Quite curious about the boy, but maybe he could get to know a little more about him.
"Okay...To start off, have you two eaten already? Have you two been sick recently?" he asked coming over to Carrie first to check her vitals. After doing so, he went over to Jacob as well to check a little on him.
"Are you two hurt anywhere?" R0se could understand Willard's nerves so when he almost messed up she couldn't fault him, but she gave his hand a reassuring squeeze to let him know she was here. She looked over as the man spoke. He gave her a weird chill whenever he spoke. The atmosphere alone sent chills up her spine. And now they were to be examined? She expected this and was thankful they didn't separate the two. She needed to make sure Willard would be all right, so she spoke up,
"We haven't eaten today and haven't been sick, except for last month, but we had no heat. I got sick, Jacob didn't." She added.
"Other than that, no we aren't hurt."Willard looked away from the man as he approached them, scared of the way he kept looking at him in particular. As R0se was explaining the story he was told to follow, Willard kept nodding as if to affirm what she said was true. Weber came over and and looked at the boy, which sent another shiver down Willard's spine - he was so close, and even with R0se being practically between them, he still didn't like the way the man acted.
Not only paying attention to what Carrie was telling him, Weber, while still examining Jacob, stared into the boy's eyes for a moment and nodded to what Carrie told him.
"Okay, then. Wonderful. Well Carrie, you seem to be in good health and so is your brother. I did realize that you have an interesting pair of eyes, child." Weber commented. He then turned to Carrie
"Carrie, we will be serving food soon so, how about we get you acquainted with the others until then." Weber said.
"I need to check something with your brother. It won't be long and it's nothing serious." he said walking towards the door, noticing one of the older children of the orphanage finishing up his cleaning duty.
Weber called out
"Oscar! Come here for a moment." he said as the boy jumped when called on and rushed over "Yes sir, Dr. Weber?" the young man said. Weber gestured to Carrie
"Please, can you take Carrie to the family room with the others. Maybe introduce her to the other children?" he said to him. Oscar looked at Carrie and then back at Weber gulping and nodded "Yes sir." looking at Carrie "Hi, come follow me. I'm Oscar." he said.
R0se knew it would happen. They wanted to separate them both. She had little choice in the matter as the other kid, Oscar, was beckoning her. So she got up and walked out, but not before turning her head to look at Willard. She followed the boy out.
They didn't get very far before she took the opportunity to knock the kid out. Just sleeping, if someone asked. She moved him to the side and made her way back outside the room, listening in to what the two would talk about.
Shortly after the two left, Weber closed the door, not knowing what happened to Oscar believing that this girl was out of the way. Walking towards Jacob, Weber spoke
"Is that you, Willard? It has to be you. No one has eyes like you do, child. I thought you were dead or way out of my reach, but here you are before me." he said getting ever closer.
"You may have changed your name but I know you when I see you. It's been years...tell me, do you see any wave of colors from me?" he asked him.
Willard stared on as the man said his real name. He thought hard, trying to figure out the voice, though it didn't seem all too familiar. As Weber continued to approach, Willard scooted back on his heels, backing up further until he was pressed up against the wall. Then, the man mentioned the colors.
"Y--yes... And I don't like 'em," Willard spoke out, trying to sound a bit brave despite how horribly terrified he was.
"R-- Carrie's colors are nice, and Mr. Varicke, and you're red and brown and I don't like it!" The memories started coming back to him as he spoke, thinking back to the scientists who had asked him about the colors, too. They always wanted to know what the colors meant, but Willard never could find a good way to put it, him being just a boy. Red was desire. Brown was darkness.
"Well then boy, it doesn't matter if you like them or not. It's amazing that you still see them. Maybe you can tell me what they all mean. I imagine that red is desire or something to that effect?" he mentioned.
"So...how about we do something about those colors and then some? Get up on the table, child. Have you ever wondered if they could be turned off or amplified?" he asked him, waiting on the boy to get on the table, if not forced on to be strapped down. He walked over to the drawers to look through them for something.
Willard finally looked at the man and noticed that there was no really good way out of this one. He figured it would be best to comply, and began shuffling over to the table as Weber turned away. He gripped on tightly to the rim of the risen table, and struggled a bit to climb on, finally crawling his way up onto it. He turned to watch the man as he fumbled around in the drawer, not really thinking about what he had just been asked.
R0se could only sit there in silence as she listened to the man speak. What colors? Was this the ability Blaque mentioned? The man obviously knew and the jig was up. Would he send word and Darric would be in trouble? What about her? She kept a close ear to the door to listen in case Willard needed help, but if the mission wasn't failed yet, she didn't want to be the cause.
Weber, after shuffling around, pulled out a tool, satisfied that he still had it. He turned to see Willard on the table, making a jokerwide grin as this boy was playing right into what he wanted to do. To have this kid, to have his transmitters disconnected, Willard would be able to work in his full potential. Imagine what he could do in the proper hands. Weber walked over as he needed to strap the boy down
"I just need you still so I can...hmm...how should I put it? awaken you." he said strapping the boy.
Blaque was walking through the empty hallways walking towards the examination room that was connected to the lab to start planting the explosive devices. Seemed everything was going as planned so far, listening out for anything that could change.
Weber looked down at the boy
"This will be...quick." he said taking the tool in his hand and bringing it to the first eye "Just a little disconnect and...." he started disconnecting the first transmitter.
Willard let out a fierce shriek, the neurons in his eye that were connected to the miniscule robotic chip tearing apart now, filling the boy with immense pain in his eye, blinding him. Suddenly, Willard was being pummeled with pulsating colors, and his vision was going darker.
"R-- Rose!! Help!!" Those were the only words he could manage to let out before, finally, the pain overwhelmed him, and the child blacked out.
R0se heard all she needed to. Screw the rest of the mission, for now at least, but Willard was in trouble. She went through the door, slamming it cold behind her,
"Alright asshole, your experiment is done." It would be a peculiar sight as she was still in her 12 year old girl image, but she quickly shed the disguise and returned to her form. She didn't have the rest of her gear with her, but she could take this whack job on. Probably...
With the shriek, Weber gave a near surprised expression
"Oh! silly me, I forgot to tell you that this was really going to hurt. Oh well, too late. Let's finish." he said going for the other. When Willard called R0se, Weber looked confused, turning to witness Carrie, well, who he thought was Carrie, entering the room. "What the? Why the hell are you in here? Why aren't you with Oscar? What happened to him?" he asked.
When she started to shed her disguise into a grown woman, Weber looked worried.
"Who the hell are you?" he said
"Oh no...we must've been infiltrated...DAMMIT!" he shouted, trying to get to the intercom to make the announcement to Caretaker that they have intruders.
R0se was on him
"Oh no you don't!" she swatted his hand away from the intercom and kicked him over. Planting herself in front of the intercom so he couldn't get to it easily.
"Oscar? He's fine! Sleeping like a baby. You, on the other hand, will be lucky if you walk out of here with all your limbs attached. Let alone what you are doing to Willard, what have you been doing to the other children?"Weber obviously was not a fighter, getting knocked down and kept away from the intercom, scooting back while still on the floor
"You little bitch!" he said to her after what she did to Oscar and how she was keeping him at bay.
"I'm curing these children! These are my beautiful children and they are going to be new and improved...just like Willard! What the hell would you know about that, you little street rat!?" he said.
R0se playfully tsked the man
"Such a foul mouth. You kiss your mother with it?" she said. It was obvious the man wasn't a fighter, but she couldn't be sure he wouldn't hurt Willard to get her to stop. She would have to take him down soon.
"Curing these children? I pity you because I think you actually believe yourself. No, these children deserve a loving home with people who have their best interests at heart that doesn't include experimenting on them. And they will get it soon. Now, you wanna do this easy or hard? Please...say hard."Weber just laid there listening to what R0se was saying about his claim, he was breathing heavy realizing that this woman was going to try and ruin everything. He was desperate. He hoped that one of his allies was around to help him. Or at least one of the children he had control over.
"No! You're not taking my kids away! I'm gonna make sure you don't make it out of here alive! Children, HEEEEEEELP!" he yelled out hoping someone heard him.
That was the last straw. She couldn't stop his scream, but she would make sure he didn't follow them. She ran up and slammed the palm of her hand to the man's throat. Then in a swift move she grabbed the back of his head and slammed it on the table that held Willard. Once the man was unconcious, she dusted her hands off.
"Jackass," she muttered before going to Willard and untying him,
"Are you ok?" she said, trying to wake him up.
The pain itself kept the child under for a few more moments, until finally, Willard awoke. At first, he blinked his eyes wildly, trying to adjust to all of the light in the room, which seemed so much brighter than it was before. Willard's head pounded, unlike any headache he had ever felt before. Suddenly, he sat up and looked around, a shocked expression covering his face.
"R- Rose...?" he muttered, before finally spotting her. She had returned to her normal appearance, and Willard noticed something even stranger - she didn't have a color. His head continued to pulse, and he moaned in pain, holding his hands up to his temples, trying to cope with what was happening. He looked again at R0se, but her colors were back - and more vibrant than he had ever seen them. Over and over the colors shifted in and out, and Willard eventually just closed his eyes and leaned up against R0se's shoulder for support.
"I... I wanna go home, now..." he finally said to her, the pain in his skull continuing on. He had already gotten used to it a bit, but it didn't exactly make him feel any better. He kept rubbing at his temples, trying to cope as best as he could, but was too afraid to open his eyes, lest he lose all focus on what was going on around him.
R0se let the kid rest on her shoulder. She was unsure as to what he was going through, but she imagined it wasn't pleasant, especially if that man was involved. Children or no, they needed to get out of here, but it would be best if they did so with the children they were here to rescue. She picked up Willard and set him down,
"One second." She then lifted Weber onto the table and fastened the restraints over him. She also dug through the drawers and found some cloth that she tied around his mouth. At least he would be there while they made their escape.
She went back to pick up Willard and she responded into her comm
"Mission still in process or what? Some creep had Willard tied down and I rescued him. What's the plan?"After hearing the shriek further down the hall towards where Blaque was heading, the man rushed to see what was going on, believing that could've been Willard screaming. That was when he walked up to the door hearing Weber scream out. After R0se took Weber down and was checking Willard, Blaque came in after receiving the respond on the comm
"The mission is still on." he said. He looked to the tied down Weber and Willard, walking to the boy
"Damn...what exactly did he do to Willard?" wondering if Weber did something with the child's eyes.
"Willard? What did he do to you?" he asked.
Willard looked up as his master entered, squinting to try and tolerate the pulsating colors - to no avail.
"He... He changed my eyes, I think..." Willard blinked a few times to get used to the brightness of the room, or at least tried to, and reached out to Blaque.
"I'm sorry, Blaque... I messed up the mission, didn't I?"The moment he heard that Weber changed his eyes, Blague thought to himself the Weber must've been one of the other doctors not filed, that worked on Willard back then. Dammit, this was something Blaque didn't account for. On top of that, his transmitters were removed which could be a good thing but also a very bad thing. With a slight sigh, Blaque took WIllard's hand
"No...I should be apologizing for putting you in this predicament. It's all my fault for what he did to you. And you didn't mess up the mission but I'm believing that you're done here kid. I'm going to have Delta or Tamashi get you out of here and have Rose continue. I can assist her." he said to the kid.
Willard's heart sank, but he tried to voice his protest to help.
"I can... I can still get the kids out of here, when they need help. I know I can do it, Blaque... I just... Ow..." The throbbing in his skull picked up, and his eyes went blind again, before suddenly, all of the pain stopped. It was a rather strange feeling, but Willard opened his eyes and stared right back toward R0se.
"Your colors, Rose... They're really pretty now." It was cryptic, sure, but even as his voice changed tone, it seemed rather obvious that he was ready to continue, and he looked back toward Blaque. With a defiant, childish smile on his lips, he spoke.
"I can help now, I promise. I don't hurt now."As she listened to the boy and Blaque, many questions were forming. She expected answers later, for now it was best they get the kids out as soon as possible. When Willard looked at her and mentioned her own colors, she had to admit, her heart fluttered. What did that mean? Either way, she smiled,
"Thanks kid!" She looked back at Blaque
"If he says he's good, I believe him. I'll keep a careful eye on him, but we should get moving soon. No telling when this man will wake up and how long the restraits will hold him."Blaque didn't want to risk the boy more than he had to but seeing how he was trying to protest to stay, Blaque was considering his words but was still sticking to his initial thought of getting him out of there. Even if he was feeling better, he didn't want anymore harm coming to him. Once R0se vouched for him, Blaque looked to her and then back Willard and after the pause, he nodded
"Okay...go on ahead and get to the children now. I'm going to get started with the lab. Continue on the escort plan and be careful. This was already a close call, anymore incidents and this will turn ugly quick." he said
R0se set Willard down and nodded at Blaque
"Be careful as well." She remained out of disguise, no point now, and exited the room, waiting for Willard to follow. She would make sure to grab Oscar, who was still sound asleep, and run towards the room he was leading her to. The other kids must be there and she wanted to make sure they were ok for transport.
Willard followed closely behind R0se, trying to keep up as she ran, his heart racing. The mission was now underway, and it was time for him to help all of the kids. He hoped that Weber had done more good than harm, in this circumstance.
Blaque nodded towards Rose, letting her and Willard head off to the children as the children were in the family room talking and playing games to keep themselves busy before being fed. Blaque gave a sigh, heading further into the examination room that led to another chamber. Finally, the lab. Blaque looked around at the capsules and machines around the room. The blood samples along with the serums that were present, Blaque opened his jacket to grab a few small devices he had Echo create, getting started on the planting. What else could possibly go wrong?
@Necrophage@Wick@RumikoOhara@pugbutter@alexfangtalon
