Crobot

Ban the Person above you

Banned because you framed a moose.

Men vs. Women Race to 1000

-757

Return (Re-boot) | 1x1 |

Darkness.

That was all Nicholas could see. Absolute darkness. It was unfortunate that he didn't possess the cat-like night vision that his brother did. However, he didn't even know if his eyes were open. He felt numb. All of his senses seemed to have shut down. The only thing he could hear was his own blood running through his veins. That's it, he thought. Hearing. I can still hear. Progress. He felt as though he were teaching himself how to use his senses again. Slowly, his eyes cracked open to a blinding light. When he tried to move his arms, he found them bound by leather to whatever he was lying on. His vision forced itself into focus, and he was staring up at a bright, low-hanging light. Almost like one you would find in a dentist's office.

Breathe.

The voice that whispered this was not his own. It was foreign, and it was feminine. Nicholas felt the faintest breath of familiarity in that voice, but not a comfortable familiarity. Not a comfortable one at all. He tried to shift, to move, to lie on his side or something, but both his hands and his feet were bound to the table that he laid upon. The movement only succeeded in bringing the pain of his wound back into existence.

Breathe.

It was the second time he'd heard the word, and only then did he realize he was not breathing. An enormous, gasping breath filled his lungs, as if he'd just emerged from underwater. Everything else about the room came into focus, other than the light that he'd been so vehemently studying. However, the room wasn't much. The walls in front of him were painted white and the floors were white tiles. It reminded him horrendously of the laboratory that he'd escaped from with Mattie and Jacob only three and a half years ago. He became conscious of not only the low, repetitious beeping by his ear, but the needles and tubes protruding from his forearms.

"Breathe, Nicholas."

Appearing above him was a surgical mask hiding a beautiful face with blood-red hair wrapped into a bun.

"Alice?"

---

"What did you just-"

Mattie had already sped past Jacob before he could get his question out. The scene had played out so quickly that he didn't even get to respond to her previous snarky comment. It was getting right tiring, saving Nicholas' life over and over again. If there was one thing Jacob missed about not having a sense of morality, it was being responsible for his own life only. Now, he felt responsible for not only Nicholas' life, but even Mattie's, and any other innocent that came along. It was tiring. He took off behind Mattie anyway. She was heading back toward the motel. Why, Jacob couldn't fathom, because he had just been there and there was not anything that could help them find his brother.

Except he was wrong.

Before Mattie rounded the corner that would lead her to the room, Jacob stopped her, only saying, "Wait." He tried to say it politely enough that she wouldn't take offense, but expected her to do so anyway. Nonetheless, he'd made his point, and he quickly stepped in front of her. It appeared his instinct was right, for when he looked into the room, there sat upon the bed where Nicholas once lay a tall, thin, and pale woman with long black hair that was as straight as a board. On her face, she wore a grim smile. One that sent chills up Jacob's spine. He inhaled slowly through his nose and tried to compose himself.

"Morrighan," he said, "What did you do?"

"Oh, I didn't do anything," said the woman, voice as harmonious as a symphony. In her hand was the obsidian shard, and she tossed it up and down like a baseball. "But I can show you where he is."

Men vs. Women Race to 1000

-757

Return (Re-boot) | 1x1 |

The raised brow didn't drop. Jacob let the silence hang in the air for a moment before he slightly pushed down his glasses and looked at Mattie over their tops. "Nope," he said. "I'm not going to try. Ever again." He then rolled the window up without waiting for her response and began creeping his vehicle along to the motel. The food bags were gathered up his arms, and with a little struggle, he unlocked the motel door, flung it open, set the bags on the counter--

There was no Nicholas.

With a mixture of confusion and concern on his face, Jacob took his sunglasses off to be sure it wasn't just the dark playing tricks on his vision. It wasn't. Nicholas was no longer on the bed. The bathroom door was open. Nicholas was just not there. But the rock was.

He immediately ran back outside, not even bothering to close the door. Using his science-given mutant speed, he caught up with Mattie quickly. "Mattie," he called out to let her know he was coming up on her, voice a slight growl, "Nicholas isn't in the motel. Where did he go? What happened?"

Return (Re-boot) | 1x1 |

In the exact moment the door shut behind Mattie, Nicholas let out another breath with a slight groan. It was a bit odd to be alone now. Last night, he had slept on Mattie's couch, cuddling her. The nights before that, he was at least in the same room as Jacob for quite some time. He almost felt scared or panicked, being by himself, nobody to help if trouble did arise. However, trouble shouldn't arise. Then again, there had been a future-predicting super mutant that just tried to kill either him or Mattie or both. Nicholas wasn't quite sure what to think anymore. He now felt like he had upon first escaping the simulation -- confused on his reality.

But he reminded himself that his reality was this: he had super strength, super speed, super wits. He had survived this long without getting himself killed, and the whole time he'd barely known anything about his life other than what he'd experienced in the simulation. He was going to do just fine.

Then, before that thought could barely come into existence, the rock began to vibrate. The sudden sound startled Nicholas, and he looked at it incredulously, as if to say how dare it just suddenly start vibrating. The blue wisps that had been circling around the rock were now more visible and moving faster. It was a creepy but awing site, and Nicholas couldn't take his eyes off of the weapon. Even as a human figure began to rise out of it, like a spirit. He pushed himself into a painful sitting position, swinging his legs over the bed, preparing to run. "Mat-!" He tried to call out Mattie's name, but just like that, a hand was pressed over his mouth and he vanished.

On the other side of town, Jacob was having no trouble at the local McDonald's. In fact, he ordered his food and received it in record time, which was amazing considering every other establishment he'd been to had taken five years and three days to get his order correct and to him. As he neared the motel where he and Nicholas were staying, and now seemed to be harboring Mattie, if she decided to stay, he came upon said Mattie who was walking along the side of the road. He slowed his car to a halt beside her, less than half a mile from the motel.

"Hey, where's Nick?" he asked, eyebrow raised behind his sunglasses. "You just left him? You know he can't move, right?"

Men vs. Women Race to 1000

-744

Men vs. Women Race to 1000

-737

Return (Re-boot) | 1x1 |

A breath was released, and Nicholas had relaxed with the rock. The sudden jerking of his frame had irritated the wound, and the pain was beginning to pick up again. He gently set the rock on the side table beside his bed. He wondered why he'd reacted the way he did, and why he felt so drawn to keep the rock -- the very thing that could have killed him had Jacob not been around. Because he doubted Mattie would have known what to do in that situation. It was irritating, not being able to lay on his back. He preferred being able to look around leisurely instead of staring at the headboard of the motel bed.

It surprised him a bit when Mattie asked if she was allowed to go outside. He didn't want her to think she was a prisoner, and he knew Jacob wouldn't want that either. He turned on his side to face her and said, "Yeah, I don't see why not. You don't have to stay here if you don't want to. Jacob was just making sure you were going to live." He paused and then added, "He'll be back soon with our food, so don't go too far...I mean, unless you don't want it. I get that. Just let me know if you go home. Okay? And be careful...there's no telling what's out there now. Or who."

Men vs. Women Race to 1000

-626