Asylum *HF* Chapter 4
By collaborative
With all this tension, it wasn't surprising that she could break into tears so easily. What did surprise her was that she used the whole situation to their advantage. Her outburst made their story more credible, and by the look on Markus's face, he was buying it. Greg went with it just as she did. His shudders were from real anxiety, but not for what Markus thought.
Markus sat quite patiently as he waited for the two to regain their composure. That taken care of, he asked for the name of the institute their daughter was currently in. Greg told him and immediately, he got his secretary to get on the phone to have the girl's file faxed to him. There was a pause for a few minutes that was filled with an uncomfortable silence. Mo and Greg were both relieved when his fax rang and began turning out the documents, though both hid it completely. Markus had taken his attention off them and was reading through each page as it was printed. When the machine finally shut down, he had a fair stack of papers. A few moments later, he looked up at them.
"Mr. and Mrs. Davis, your daughter has some serious psychological problems. I can't promise that she can be cured, but I can promise that we will do whatever is necessary to treat her." Anything to keep one less monster from soiling God's world or his people, Markus thought hatefully to himself. He would have the girl, treat her like a patient when he had to. That is, until he phased out her parents out of her life completely, then she would become the target of his experiments. Just as they all would one day. Just as many have in the past.
Janet looked ill, but she nodded solemnly. Gary looked as if he were trying to be the stable one and barely holding on to that like a drowning man grasping a scrap of wood.
"Perhaps you would like to see the facility. Lay some of your fears to rest?" The two nodded and with that, he proceeded to give them the tour.
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Sharon didn't know what drugs these monsters had her on now. She just knew the effect was somewhere between pained weakness and nausea. She felt numb and yet she also felt achy. She bouts of nausea came and went unpredictably. The thought of shoving all those syringes down one of the orderly’s throats brought a faint grin to her face. Now if only she could find a way to get her hands on enough of them to make it really interesting.
She wasn't looking at anything in particular. She was just letting her gaze wander. It stopped quite suddenly on one of the shatter proof windows that were used to view the dining area. For a moment she was sure the drugs had put her to sleep and she was dreaming.
But as she blinked and the fuzzy image became crystal clear, she gasped, but very quietly. It was Greg. Though he looked to be nearly ten years older, she still recognized him. What the hell was he doing here? She then realized that he wasn't a patient, but a visitor. Their eyes met for the barest of instances. They both acted as if they hadn't noticed each other. Both allowed their gaze to continue on. But she understood, and it made her very happy. They had been found. How long before they were rescued?
She knew he and the woman with him were moving on, led by Markus on what must have been a tour. In that moment their gazed touched, she had seen both worry and anger flash in his eyes. But he had controlled himself. Who had sent him in? Was the Grey working with the Black on this? Well, it made perfect sense that they couldn't send in one of their own. Too much risk of being recognized. She had to tell the others, but that could wait. She didn't want to arouse suspicion. This would have to be done slowly and quietly.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Siren had been awakened earlier than normal, and escorted out of her cell. She was placed in a containment room, in which she was given a shot in the main artery of her neck. Twenty minutes later a metallic collar was placed around her neck, and switched on. The headache she had been developing instantly increased in intensity. She was then taken out of the room and led underground to another room. The room reminded her of scenes in movies where people were tortured for information. This thought filled her with a dread she couldn't describe. She was forced into the only chair in the room, her arms and legs buckled to it.
Siren's stormy grey eyes focused on the man who was prepping her arm for an IV. He was nervous with her paying such close attention to him. Her eyes didn't leave him until he moved away from her. Two giant lamps came to life, causing her to close her eyes against the sudden brightness. She heard the door and close and forced her eyes open, though she could see nothing past the glaring lights. She heard the footsteps coming near her. His presence gave of a coldness only experienced in the middle of winter, and he exuded a hate so powerful she could almost taste it. He was also the same man who had 'welcomed' them here.
"Hello Miss Alexander."
And he knew who she was.
"I'm going to ask you some simple questions, that I would like for you to answer truthfully. Surely you can repress...the demon within you to do that?"
Siren shuddered at this. How could he know that? No one knows. Then she realized that he believed all mutants to be demons. This knowledge caused some relief.
"Celeste Alexander. Code name: Siren. Rank: Paladin," she said. Markus gave her a blank stare. "Ever hear of the Geneva Convention?"
"These are not times of war."
"Depends on who's point of view it is. But taking what you said into account. That would make YOU a terrorist." Markus stared at her a moment. She seemed to be a clever little witch. She could probably twist anything to make it favor her. He, however, had a stronger will and would not tolerate insolence from anyone.
“How many of you do you think will survive this?” he asked her.
“All of us I’m sure,” she retorted. She wasn’t quite certain this would be the case, but she wouldn’t let him know that.
“You don’t really think that now do you Miss Alexander?” Markus paused. “If you tell me what I need to know. I’ll make sure your death is quick. You won’t have to suffer to much.”
“Sorry. No can do. I have this bad habit…you see I’m a loyal PERSON.”
“You are not a person,” he growled. “You are a disease on this world. One in which I intend to have wiped out.” Markus back away, the light hiding his presence. He began to head out the door and nodded to his orderlies. They both stepped forward and approached Siren, their weapons of choice. “Don’t kill her,” Markus said as he walked out the door.
_ _ _ _ _ _
Since Mysty’s imprisonment in this “asylum" she had eaten very little. Today was no different. She had a bite this, a nibble of that, and more or less just moved her food around on the plate. When she became bored with making faces in her mashed potatoes, she decided to take her plate to the waiting cart as she had always done. An orderly sat nearby as he always did, waiting for her to finish her meal. Today, however, was different. Today, he watched her with a look that set her on edge. As she set her tray on the cart, he got up, another change in his routine as he usually didn’t move until she had returned to her seat. He moved in close to her, a lusty sneer on his face. She had already begun to move away from her tray, but she grabbed the nearest item off of it. Though, she couldn’t see what use a spoon was going to be against someone so large. The orderly was massive; at least six foot three and built like a wrestler. He came up on her, pinning her hard against the wall.
“Hey, Silver. You seem to me like yer a bit lonely.” His face was brought close to hers with evil intent.
“Not that it’s any of your business pal.” Her breathing went shallow. She was afraid, but she’d be damned if she let him play on that.
“Aw, how ‘bout a kiss to make you feel better.”
‘How about you go fuck yourself?”
He pinned her tighter and brought his mouth to hers, forcing his tongue into her mouth. She struggled from a moment, then did the only thing she could think of, she bit him. He pulled back with a yelp, but his grip on her remained tight. He threw her as hard as he could to the cold concrete floor.
“Bitch begotten whore!” he bellowed as he spat blood. Mysty was reeling, since her head had made painful contact with the floor. A moment later, he was on top of her. He was as immoveable as a mountain. No amount of twisting or pulling could free her from his grip. “That wasn’t nice. I just want to be friendly,” he sneered.
“Oh, go shove it up your ass, motherfucker!”
He brought the back of his hand crashing into her face. She didn’t cry out, she refused to. “I’ll show you where I’m gonna shove it bitch!” he growled. He turned loose one of her arms and slid his now free hand up her shirt. That was his last mistake. Fearful and enraged, Mysty screamed defiantly at her assailant. In her now free hand was the spoon. She brought it up with a rage-powered forcefulness and implanted it under his ribs. She pushed upward as hard as she could, shoving the utensil into his left lung. He screamed, she twisted the spoon. She withdrew it as his breathing became labored and used it gouge his face. She drove the handle into his right eye and into his brain. The man fell back, never to bother her again.
“Hmm…that was my first attempt at a lobotomy. Guess I need more practice,” she jeered as she threw the bloodied spoon by his cooling corpse. A moment later, another orderly followed closely by the patient control unit opened the door to her cell. They were about to restrain her in a most forceful and painful manner when a very angry voice commanded them otherwise. Markus strode in, his fury exuded as a tangible thing.
“Get this filth out of here!” he hissed, pointing to the dead orderly. “Clean up the mess, get her cleaned up, and in another cell.”
“Aww…Markus. How very sweet of you. I never knew you cared so much.” She used her most innocent tone, knowing that it only pissed him off that much more.
“Don’t flatter yourself Miss Watson. You are no better than swine and neither was he. One does not go about fulfilling such intentions with the damned, or anyone else for that matter.”
“You’re just jealous because he got a cheap feel and you didn’t!” she replied with a small smirk. He glared at her but it was obvious that this alone had caused him enough problems without her adding to the list. With that, he left the orderly and team to their tasks. One of the controllers reached out for her. She jerked back, glaring at him warningly. “Don’t touch me. I know the way,” she hissed.
She got up on her own, not wanting to elicit any more problems. She wondered for a moment what they were going to do to her now that she had killed someone. The thought soon passed as they reached the showers. She felt filthy, but she had a feeling it had nothing to do with the drying blood that was splattered all over her. It wouldn’t go away so easily.
_ _ _ _ _ _
Siren sat with Rage and Blackfire trying to figure out how the hell they were going to get out of here. They still had no idea where they were keeping Mystikal. Whatever part of the building she was being kept in was off limits to other patients.
“I really don’t see how we are going to get out of here,” Charlotte whispered. “I mean, we know nothing of the security in place, we know nothing of anything except where we are allowed.”
Blackfire sighed. “Yea, I know. But we have to get out of here.” Siren nodded looking around her curiously. The lounge they were in was fairly small and had two hallways leading out of it. One went towards patient rooms, the other went…well she wasn’t sure where. There were a few other “patients” here, and she was willing to bet all of them were mutants. Siren stiffened when she saw one of the orderlies coming towards the group, and motioned for Rage and Blackfire to be quiet. The orderly approached the three girls, looking them over.
“Separate. You get caught together again and you’ll regret it.” The three of them stood up and walked past the orderly, each had a glare for him. As Siren passed him he grabbed her arm. “You. Come with me.” With a strong grip on her arm he pulled her out of the lounge. Blackfire and Rage watched, not knowing what to do.
The orderly led Siren towards the two hallways, and instead of heading down the hallway that led to the patients’ rooms, they went down the other hallway. Siren’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. From that point on she took in every detail she could. Ahead of them was a security checkpoint in which, the orderly had to swipe his card to open the big, iron door. As they walked down the hallway, they came to different rooms. Some of them had windows in the doors and through those doors Siren could see other “patients.” They rounded a corner and headed down another hallway. The doors were few and far between. Finally the orderly stopped walking and ordered her to stand with her back against a wall. She stood, quietly, facing the door across from her. For some reason she felt like a little kid who had been sent to the principals office and was under-going the supreme torture of…waiting.
When the door slid open, she saw what appeared to be a patient’s room. Standing in the doorway was Aristidies Markus looking extremely pissed. Siren craned her head around to look past him and was startled to see a bloodied Mystikal and a dead body on the ground. The door snapped close and Siren focused on Markus again.
“Ah, Miss Alexander. How nice of you to join me. I hope you have found your stay here pleasant.”
“You know, you don’t really strike me as anyone with any sort of a personality, let alone sarcasm. So I’m betting that the girl in the room is either a. rubbing off on you or b…. no wait. No b,” Siren replied condescendingly. She couldn’t really believe she had just mouthed off like that. This man could have her killed at any time he wanted. Why he hadn’t killed them all yet was what confused her.
“You seem to have the same smart ass mouth as Miss Watson I see.”
“Oh, no. She’s got me beat by a long shot.” Markus nodded and began walking, the orderly pushed her and she followed. The walk was in complete silence. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Markus stopped in front of another cell door similar to the one Mystikal was seen behind. Markus turned to look at Siren, not really looking at her either. He was looking above her.
“Miss Alexander, how do you like family reunions?” Siren looked at him blankly. She hadn’t really had any family reunions. Her grandparents on her father’s side had disowned her father because of her mother. Her mother’s grandmother had gone insane and committed suicide at a very young age and she barely knew her mother. Hope Alexander had been locked away when Celeste was only 4. Markus noted her silence and nodded. He swiped his card and the door slid open.
Siren started at the sight of the woman sitting on the floor. The woman had dark, brown hair that was sprinkled with gray. Her skin was very pale, as if she hadn’t seen the sun in years and she had dark rings around her eyes. Her eyes were the same silvery gray that Siren’s were. When the woman pushed the hair out of her face and behind her ears, Siren gasped in shock. Markus heard this and smiled to himself. Siren ran up to the other woman.
“Mom?!” She knelt down in front of Hope Alexander, grasping her hand. Siren looked into her eyes and found nothing except what one would call the glitter of insanity. Siren stood up angrily and faced Markus, all pretensions of being calm gone. “What the fuck did you do to her?!”
“I?” he asked mockingly. “I did nothing. She was already like this. We just took her before she could hurt anyone.” Markus paused. “I’m inclined to think your eyes looked much the same before you cold bloodedly murdered your father and step-mother.” Siren stood up and walked over to him, backhanding him as hard as she could and busting his lip. As she went to hit him again, he caught her wrist in his iron grip and twisted her arm, coming close to breaking it. “Come now, Miss Alexander. Such a temper? Yes, I suppose it’s the quiet ones you should watch. And rest assured I will be watching you.”
“Fuck. You.”
He brought his knee into her stomach and she collapsed. He opened the door to the cell and dragged her out by the arm. She felt as if it were about to break. Once outside the doors, she stood up and the orderly led her back the way they came. She made a mental note of where Mysty’s room was when they passed it.
_ _ _ _ _ _
Greg and Monet had made it out of the Asylum without any problems. They completed the tour and made mental notes on what to tell the Grey Court. They didn’t think that their notes would matter much. Daemon and Hawkeye had them so wired they probably knew everything they were going to need to know about the building. The one thing they didn’t know was about the power-dampening field. It hadn’t been mentioned and they weren’t sure that the sensors would pick up. The car they were driving slowly pulled up into the driveway of the motel they were staying at. As soon as Greg and Mo were out of the car, the motel room door was opened for them by Bobbi.
“We have a slight problem,” Mo started. “They have power dampening fields intact around the entire perimeter of the complex. We don’t know where the generator for it is kept.”
The court members exchanged looks. This suddenly changed their plans significantly.
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