Asylum *HF* Chapter 5
By collaborative
Fuck, I hate needles, she thought. She couldn’t run and hide from it, she couldn’t access her powers, and she just had no energy to fight. She felt the pin prick in her arm and flinched. Her mind began to wander and she couldn’t focus on anything.
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Blackfire was one of the few people allowed out of the rooms. They had been keeping most of them locked up. Whoever ran this place had to make it appear as if it were a real mental institution. But it wasn’t. She knew that. She, along with Siren and Loki, had figured out that all the “patients” here were mutants. The only drugs some of them had been forced to take dampened their powers. There wasn’t usually a way to just hide the pills and spit them out; they almost literally forced it down the throats of whoever had to take them. The ones who seemed to be getting it the worst were the telepaths. They were shut into rooms and rarely seen. After Siren’s encounter with Markus, the four of them each had their reasons to worry about Mystikal now. Siren didn’t know why the silver haired girl had been bloody, but there was a dead body and that couldn’t have been anything good. Sharon looked towards the door as three men in business suits walked into the patients lounge.
“Siren,” she whispered. Siren looked over at her and Sharon motioned towards the door. Siren nodded her head and stood up, heading towards the part of the room Rage was in.
“Char, look towards the door.” Charlotte casually glanced over to the door and saw the men. “Who are they?” she asked Siren.
“I don’t know.” Rage nodded then stood. She walked over to the orderly who was escorting the men, pretending to have to ask him a question. The orderly glared hard at Rage then told her to go sit back down. She walked back over to Siren with a small smile on her face. “They are from the State Department of Health. They’re here for inspections from what I over heard.”
“That helps a lot. What state are we in?”
“North Carolina.” Siren cocked her head to the side a bit, wondering where in North Carolina they were. This was her home, and she was wondering where would be a good place to hide a mental institute.
“Well Toto, we’re not in D.C. anymore.” Siren and Rage looked up, towards the voice. They saw Loki standing there with his back against the wall.
“Obviously,” she said. She stood up from the chair she was seated in and headed to a corner by herself to think. She hadn’t been seated long when she noticed Loki heading in her direction. Siren watched as Loki approached her. It seemed that no matter the situation, there was an eternal smirk on the man’s face. He plopped down in a chair beside her as if they were back at the Citadel and he hadn’t a care in the world.
“So, Siren, howya doin’?” he asked in a bubbly tone. She looked at him as if he were the stupidest man on earth.
“Oh, I’m just peachy,” she grumbled. “How about you?” She really wasn’t interested, but it was one way to pass the time.
“I feel like having some fun. Wanna join me?”
Siren raised her eyebrows. “I seriously doubt your brand of fun would be good for my health.”
“Why I do believe you’re trying to imply that I would get you into trouble,” he proclaimed in his most innocent tone.
“I’m not implying. I’m flat out stating.”
“I consider you a friend, why would I try to cause problems?”
“Because you’re Loki. That’s what you do.” She eyed him for a moment. “What do you want.”
His smile lessened slightly, and his tone took on a more serious note. “I want out of here.”
“Yea, well join the club.”
“You wanna know what else I want?”
“I doubt it.”
“I want you to break into their offices so we can find a way out of here.”
That brought a surprised look to Siren’s face. “Either you got some really good drugs, or you truly deserve to be here.”
“You can do it. I know you can,” he said forcefully.
Siren gave a cold laugh. “I’d like to know where you’re getting this information,” she said, her expression becoming serious.
“Why, from your danger room logs of course.” He watched her closely. Her expression didn’t change so much as her eyes that went from storm grey to the luminous quicksilver.
Oh, God. Tell he doesn’t know, she thought desperately to herself. “I fail to see how battling simulated demons has anything to do with sneaking into asylum offices.” Her tone was like ice.
“Neither do I. However, simulations of you breaking into heavily guarded warehouses seem pertinent doncha think?”
Siren didn’t know what to say as he confirmed her fears. She lowered her head and raised a hand to her temple. Yep, she could feel a headache coming on. She let out a heavy sigh before once again looking at him. “Who else knows?” Her voice wavered slightly. She was nervous, even a little scared, and suddenly, he felt bad about even bringing it up.
“Just me,” he said trying to be firm and reassuring at the same time, “I erased the logs of those particular sessions.” Now might not be the best time to tell her that he had copied those files, well, not unless he had to anyway.
For a few long moments, she stared at nothing in particular. “Why can’t you do this?” she asked in an almost accusing tone.
“Because it’s in my file that I know how to do this. Maybe you haven’t noticed but they’re watching me like your proverbial hawk.”
“Vultures are more like it.” She had noticed. Even as they spoke, the two orderlies closest to them were watching. “It’s not the same. Those were simulations and I had weapons. Neither of which apply here.”
“Well then, you’re gonna have to be extra careful.” His tone again had turned bubbly.
“I take it you’ve made my mind up for me?”
“Of course.”
“And what if I get caught? This information does us no good if I can’t get away with it.”
“That’s what Char is for.”
Siren stared blankly at him for a moment. Surely he doesn’t want us to go together. Then it dawned on her, Charlotte was the only telepath this organization didn’t know about. “I may not be able to…” He cut her off.
“You’re gonna have to.”
“Does she know this yet?”
“Umm…no,” he said with a smirk.
“Oh lovely. You’re just full of surprises today,” she grumbled.
“I do my best.”
“Yea, well when I’m ready, do your best to cause a distraction that won’t put the whole place in lockdown.” Siren stood up and began to move away as if she were disgusted with him.
“Why, my fair lady, where are you going?”
“To look for some more intelligent and SANE conversation.”
“Fair thee well on thy quest,” he said gleefully as if he hadn’t recognized the insult. Siren shook her head, wondering just how much of his personality was staged.
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She took her time, floating from one conversation to another until she ended up with a solitary Charlotte. She sat down, and for a long moment said nothing. Well, there was really no way to start this conversation might as well be blunt. “I need your help.”
“There are plenty of counselors here.”
“No, I mean, I need your help.”
The girl looked up at her, her expression obvious that she didn’t want to be bothered. “With what?”
Siren took a deep breath to calm her nerves. “I’m going to break into the offices and I need to relay the information I find, to you.” Char just blinked at her for a few moments. “Can you handle that?”
“You aren’t serious are you?” Siren nodded indicating that she was, indeed, serious. “But what about your mental barrier. As I understand it, Mysty can’t even get through.”
“Not unless I let her, and that’s even difficult.”
“So how do you propose we do it?”
“Well we could try it now, see if I can do it.”
Char watched her for a few moments, then nodded. “I’ll go ahead and warn you, I’m not nearly the strength of Mysty or M.G. I can only hear thoughts that are directed at me.”
Siren thought for a moment. This could make things that much more difficult. She had never dealt with a low level telepath before. “Well, let’s see.” Siren was nervous. She had never let anyone else in her mind except Mysty. But, then again, she really had no choice. She concentrated, feeling the familiar wall that guarded her mind. She tried to bring it down with no luck. She could feel it swirl like a thick fog. She tried to force it down again, but still nothing. Then, she had an idea. She focused, making the random swirls conform to a single rotation. The barrier became thinner, opening up like a vortex. Ok Char, how’s this?
Loud and clear, she heard in her head. With that accomplished, she let the dark swirls fall back to their random pattern. She looked over at Char who was giving her a concerned expression. “Are you sure you can do it?”
Siren hesitated. “Yea, I can do it.” Charlotte didn’t look convinced. Neither of them wanted to think about what would happen if she got caught. Siren watched the clock on the wall. It was almost six. Supper was at seven, which meant that she didn’t have a lot of time. All she could do now was hope that the office personnel here were like everyone else on the planet. I.E.: Lined up before the five o’clock whistle sounds, more than ready to vacate the premises.
She let her gaze wander across the room. Loki wasn’t really watching her obviously, but he was alert to what was transpiring between the two girls. Siren was as ready as she could be for this, and that seemed to be reflected by what he did next.
Siren wasn’t sure what she expected, but it wasn’t what Loki did next. Within a moment, he was in the center of the lounge dancing…badly. She would have laughed had not his antics been meant to cause distraction from her actions. He reminded her of a bad NSYNC video…only worse. But, how is that supposed to create enough of a distraction to… He began to sing, not bad, a little overacted. It took her a moment to recognize the song.
“My name is Batty. The logic is erratic, potato in jacket, toys in the attic. I rock and I ramble. My brain is scrambled…” Singing a song from Fern Gully was strange, but what he was doing to it was…well…WRONG! Slowly, and he thought, provocatively, his shirt come off. That became a prop for him, used for everything from a whip that he snapped at a nearby patient, to a boa he draped around many different parts of himself. One of the orderlies approached.
“Alright, Casanova, show’s over.” Loki ignored him and began to twirl the shirt like a cheap stripper. Quite quickly, Loki moved around the man ensnaring him playfully with the shirt. By now, all the other orderlies were watching him. “Hey…now…stop that!” Loki then began to twirl the shirt again and let it loose. It landed at Siren’s feet. She could feel her face flush. She bowed her head in frustration and embarrassment, looking at the discarded garment. Her breath caught as she saw what he had been up to. Mostly concealed by the shirt was one of the orderlies card keys.
She looked up to see if anyone else had noticed, but everyone’s attention was focused on the impromptu performance. She turned away quickly when his hands, at first on his hips, began to move his pants down.
With all the attention focused on Loki, Siren’s only other obstacle was getting past the security cameras. She had been timing them and there was a three second span when the field of view was not on the door from any of the cameras. She waited, moving into position nonchalantly, making it look as if her attention were solely on the events in front of her. This was going to take timing. She watched the cameras, the window of opportunity ticking out in her mind. Three… two…one. All cameras facing elsewhere, she slipped through the door unseen.
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