dinohouse | [Mushverse: Open To All, specifically seeking Shoutarou, Jou, and/or other cop/doctor types]

Entry tags:

[Mushverse: Open To All, specifically seeking Shoutarou, Jou, and/or other cop/doctor types]

[OOC: This is a behind the scenes ficlet starring Enter (interpolate) and Joe (gibken), both belonging to me. Warnings for captivity, implied torture, and mind fuckery.]

Like crawling from the depths of his own mind, he clawed his way to the surface just to stick some small part of himself through into wakefulness. His physical body was stuck, frozen stiff, unresponsive. But he could hear. Two voices, bickering. He had the fleeting thought that it might be two of his brothers, the tone was the same as any one of their disagreements. But then the laugh, high pitched and sharp. No, that wasn't anyone in his family. Someone else's family, probably.

His tenuous grip on consciousness failed and he slipped back into peaceful oblivion.

-

Enter isn't often frustrated. He simply wasn't designed that way. He was the calming influence, he was made to be agreeable, even pleasant, when the need suited him, and otherwise to be efficient. But rarely angry, or even annoyed.

All of this was of course before Escape was created. She had been saddled with a number of Messiah's less savory traits, her temper primary among them. When she discovered him here in his make-shift laboratory, preparing to wake his prize, she had fits when he told her in no uncertain terms to leave, immediately.

This prize is his. Every incredible streak of energy in his existence is now Enter's to dissemble, to pull apart, examine and learn. And there is no way, on this Earth or any other, that he is about to share in his glory with Escape.

So there.

Petty and childish it might be. Tit for tat, as they say. If Escape's entire raison d'être is childishness, it is simply logical for him to follow suit.

Preliminary research, undertaken as Enter waited for the boy to reach a mental place from which he might actually wake, had given Enter a name, Joe Gibken. A crew, the alien pirate Sentai, Gokaiger. A family, the much older scientific Sentai, Livemen. A cabal, the self proclaimed support of Kamen Rider Fourze. Three very disparate influences, each with claim on him. And there was more energy clinging to him than even that.

Heroes. This boy was a magnet for them.

A cable twists lazily in the air over his prone body for a moment before Enter pressed the tip of it to the center of the boy's chest, sending a spark into him.

He responded, with a low pained moan. Now he was awake.

Now the fun would begin.

-

The pain stops for a moment and Joe chokes on his feeble attempts at breathing. His eyes clear slowly as he blinks away lingering tears. The stranger, his interrogator, stands impassive as ever beside him.

"This is getting us nowhere, now, is it, mon chou." He's not really speaking to Joe. It's not a question and he expects no answer. Joe's learning to tell the difference.

"I fear you've already told me all you consciously know."

Joe swallowed once, twice, three times. "Are you going to kill me?"

As per usual, any question posed by Joe goes unanswered. Like magic, the stranger pulls a small computer from nowhere. A thin wire leads from a port on the computer's side to a small sort of electrode. This is new, for all the pain he has caused thus far, it's always been with thicker cables exposed at the ends.

"This is of course assuming you have no knowledge locked away deep down in your admittedly quite scarred psyche." His mouth twitches up on one side into a near-smirk, but the expression doesn't reach his eyes. "Luckily, I have contingencies."

He presses the electrode quite unceremoniously to the side of Joe's head at the temple.

Terror grips Joe's heart and catches his breath in his throat.

-

Things seem to be going well at first. The boy's uncontrolled thrashing is violent but he's lacking in the strength to make any difference in his position. His eyes are rolled back and his mouth is open, his breath ragged.

Enter's computer, connected directly to the boy's mind, gave him incredible access. He had uploaded a small program he wrote on his own, which had all the effect of particularly virulent truth serum without the necessity of forcing the victim to swallow anything, or forcing an injection.

Humans, or human-like aliens anyway, were not so different from machines after all. Jacked in this way, Enter was able to hack through and break down a number of metaphysical barriers constructed in the boy's mind, hopefully freeing the information he still desired to rest from the boy.

"Now." He gave his computer a sharp tug, pulling the pad from Joe's temple and leaving him alone in his mind. "Tell me, why does your energy contain traces of the sands of time? Tell me what you know about Den-O."

Things fell apart very quickly after that, as the boy's back arched off the table, punctuated by a long drawn scream that tapered off with a hiss of failing vocal chords, and then silence.

"Merde."

-

Nebulous. Dark, light, grey haze.

His body convulsed, his stomach reflexively emptying. It wasn't even pain, at this point. It was simple blinding confusion.

What was real, anymore, except the rough feel of concrete against his face, and the twinkle of numerical code dispersing behind him.

Pirates. Soldiers. Students. Siblings.

It's all real.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Yes, my brother, and he's been missing for almost four days so if you know anything..." He cuts me off and I'm tempted to snarl. I miss having Yummy on my shoulder, but I didn't want to start a scene so I left him to guard the outside.

"My name is Kazari and my brother's name is Joe Gibken. If you're really a detective I'm a little inclined to think you're not responsible for him going missing but that doesn't explain why you smell like him. Is he here?" It's a hospital. Jou's going to freak if Joe's in the hospital.

He's angry, but panicked. I can't help but believe he's genuinely scared for his brother, and for the moment I decide to trust that this is the person I should be giving the benefit of the doubt.

"I found the kid on the side of the road. He's beat up pretty badly, but breathing. Nothing fatal. I handed him over to the doctors so they could take care of him." I pull my hat off my head and toy with it in my hands as I sigh. "Listen. I know I don't know the kid, and you don't me, but I'd rather stick around until he's well."

"His name is Joe." I sigh, hesitating on the spot, trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do now. "If it's him, I mean. Do you think they'd let me see him? How else are they going to know who he belongs to?" He didn't just leave his phone and stupid henshin thingy at home, he hadn't brought his wallet with him or anything either. No identification. "I mean, I know, I know it's him, if you're telling the truth, because I know his scent but..."

I frown at the floor for a minute, then throw myself into a chair beside the strange detective, digging my own phone out of my pocket to call Jou. He's totally going to freak. "Um." I squint at him while I wait for the phone to ring through. "Thanks." Megumi's always on me to try and be more polite. "For bringing him here."

"He's not too young," I supply, hoping to help Kazari determine whether it's his brother or not. "Tall, doesn't look heavy but he's got some muscle mass on him. Dark hair, shaggy cut. Does that help?"

He sits next to me with an air of frustration, and I restrain the urge to pat his shoulder sympathetically. He turns his focus on his phone as he dials a number and waits for an answer. "You're welcome," I say whole-heartedly, placing my hat back on my head where it belongs. "I couldn't just leave him there. Not when he was so obviously in need of help."

I lean back, looking up towards the ceiling while listening in on the phone call - as much as I can hear of it, at least.

"Sounds like him." I mutter.

The phone goes through to voice mail, damn it, and I hiss into my phone for a long moment. "Jou, I've found Joe. He's at a hospital, um." I look around, straining for an idea of what hospital it is, and a passing nurse helpfully tells me. I repeat the name to the voice mail, then sigh, maybe a little pathetically. Whatever. "Hurry."

I turn back to... Shotarou, he said his name was. "You're a good person." I can tell, not just because of what he did for Joe, he's just got this... aura about him, of serious goodness.

Reminds me of OOO. Eiji. I squint at him curiously. Is he familiar to me?

The call goes into voice mail, and I frown sympathetically. My heart goes out to him, obviously stressed and distressed, but not able to reach his loved one in this time of need. My eyes slip shut and I lower my head, paying my respects to his palpable pain.

Then he speaks to me, and I open my eyes to look at him properly. "Ah, I just do what needs done," I say dismissively, waving my hand for emphasis. "I'd hope any decent citizen would do the same in that situation, that's all."

When I look next, he's squinting at me, trying to analyze me. I tilt my head curiously, hoping I measure up. "Something the matter?"

I can never get comfortable in chairs. I shift around quite a bit before I just stand up and start pacing, clutching my phone in my hand and hoping it'll ring, hoping Jou's on his way.

"You'd be surprised, but there's not a lot of decent citizens in this city." I should know, I'm technically one of them.

I bite my lip and shake my head. "You just remind me of someone I know."

He's a pacer, I can see that now. That explains why he got in my face so quickly, so impatient for an answer to the question that's weighing so heavily on his mind.

It's sad to hear that apparently this city is suffering from a lack of good citizens, but hopefully that's something that's more of a symptom than the actual problem itself. With time and care - especially the care of the removing the monsters from this city - the good citizens will resurface and the city will once again thrive. I'm sure of it.

He shakes his head at my question, and I find that I'm more curious than concerned now. "Oh really?" I ask, bringing my hand up to stroke my chin thoughtfully. "Anybody I might know?"

He's pretty introspective. I wonder if he knows what he's got himself into, claiming to want to protect this city. This isn't Fuuto, after all. And there's always been a lot of evil here.

I chuckle at his question and shrug. "Who knows? I don't know him very well myself. Hino Eiji."

My eyes widen without my consent at the name drop, and I start suddenly in my chair. "Ah, you know Eiji-kun?" I ask, trying to sound as composed and put-together as possible. Suddenly I'm wondering about Kazari quite a bit more, knowing that he's in touch with the former Rider. "He's definitely a good guy, if a little, ah..."

I search for the right word for a moment before settling on, "...amateur."

"You do know him?" I ask, a little surprised. Eiji doesn't know a lot of people personally, does he? The lady from the restaurant. What's his name, Ankh's old host, and her crazy strong sister. Ankh, and the rest of us Greeed.

And possibly other Kamen Riders. I know he knows Joe's friend Fourze.

"Y-yeah, I know him." I rub at the back of my neck, wondering if I've somehow stumbled on another damn hero. This city is seriously crawling with them.

Oh, well, I'm nothing if not blunt. I clear my throat, then lower my voice. "I mostly know him as OOO, though."

He seems a bit...embarrassed? At admitting he knows Eiji-kun. That doesn't exactly bode well for their relationship, but then he goes ahead and admits how he knows him, and that certainly helps solidify things a little bit, at least.

"I see," I say in the same quiet voice, tipping the brim of my hat in a show of solidarity. "I know him that way as well. So you're not alone there." No need to tell him about Double, I hope. But I can't help but wonder how small this city is, that I would happen to stumble upon Eiji's friend's brother lying unconscious by the side of the road.

My mouth twitches into a frown as a new thought occurs to me. "Your brother," I say, keeping my voice low, "is he mixed up in all this? The...things...going on in the city?"

Please, not another kid caught up in all this. Let it be a coincidence.

I'm still clutching my phone in my hand, but it hasn't rung yet. Where is Jou?

"I see." He probably is another Kamen Rider. I tell myself that they're not my enemy anymore, but it's such a reflex to think of them as threats.

I bite my lip as he asks about Joe. How much should I tell him? Kamen Rider or no, I don't think it would be safe for Joe to have more people knowing about our family and everything. "A lot of people are." I admit. And that's true enough, this guy doesn't need to know how mixed up in it all Joe is. Pirates and the Kamen Rider Club and shit. "We don't know what happened, but there are so many monsters..."

Kazari smoothly sidesteps answering my question, instead commenting on the problem currently plaguing the town. I shelve that for future reference, then try to steer the conversation back to where I really want it to go. "There really are," I agree, tipping my hat low upon my brow. "I've even heard that some of them are kids. The thought that children are caught up in all of this...it breaks my heart."

"I..."

What does he think kids are, anyway? He can't be too much older than Joe himself. And his hat, what is that?

God, this guy is weird.

I guess having the distraction from my worry about Joe is okay, though.

"Yeah, it's pretty dumb." I say awkwardly. "But that's just what the city is like. The school we go too... Is pretty much in the middle of everything. But we don't. We don't think what happened to Joe had to do with the Zodiarts."

That we know of.

So Kazari and...Joe, was it? They must both be at Amanogawa. And Kazari obviously knows enough about what's going on to know the Zodiarts by name.

I can't help but look at him with a more critical eye, now. I'm assuming we both stand on the same side in all this, especially since both of us are here for Joe. But I can tell that there is so much more going on here - going on all across this city - and the invisible spiderwebs are starting to cling stickily at my skin.

"Who would want to do this to him?" I ask quietly. "You said he's been missing for days. This isn't a random attack, Kazari. Somebody planned this for him." It hurts to say, but it's still true.

I sigh and pace some more. He may be weird as hell, but he's right. This wasn't a freak accident, not with how long Joe was missing. I shove my hands in my pockets and clutch at my Switch. If I find out who did this to him, I'm going to tear them apart. Twice.

"I don't know. I really don't know. We... Our family has been having some trouble lately." To put it mildly. "Joe and me, we're both foster kids. He had a fight with one of our dads and ran out of the house and then he was just gone." I clear my throat and manage to release my Switch so I can gesture weakly with both hands. "I don't know who, or what... How did he look? When you found him? He wasn't bleeding."

Kazari sticks his hands in his pockets. To anyone else it would look simply defensive, or perhaps anxious. But I've seen that move so many times before, in so many different ways, and I note the shape of his hand as he wraps it around something in his pocket. Something he's clinging to tightly like a security blanket. Like a weapon.

Like a GaiaMemory.

I cough quietly to clear my throat. "He was by the side of the road, wrapped up in black plastic, like a trash bag." I think back to how bad he looked, beaten and bruised from head to toe, but admittedly not bleeding freely. Any blood that had been there had already been dried and scabbed over. "He'd been bleeding at one point, but not recently enough to..."

Far too late the oddness of the question strikes me, and I give Kazari an odd look. "How do you know that?" I ask with a quizzical look on my face. "That he wasn't bleeding."

I look up fast enough to catch his eyes, daring away from my pocket. I swallow hard and restrain the impulse to growl at him.

It's none of his business, Kamen Rider or no. It's my Switch and I use it for the forces of good. Mostly.

No, completely. I haven't done anything bad with it at all. Damn it.

"He's not trash." I grumble softly under my breath. Who would do this, who would treat Joe like that?

Worse, who would have Joe in their clutches and let him go alive?

"I just... know." I suppose, if he wasn't surprised that I know Eiji better as OOO, he might not be surprised about how weird I can be. "I couldn't smell it on you."

Strangely, that's the least odd answer I think he could have given me for that.

"You couldn't smell it?" It doesn't make sense, not if this kid is human. But if he knows Eiji, and knows Eiji as OOO...well, then maybe he's not human. Not entirely.

I narrow my eyes slightly. "You're both foster kids?" I muse aloud, then look to the phone still clutched in his hand. "Is it your foster parent you're trying to reach on the phone?" Now I'm concerned for the lack of communication as much as Kazari must be. "Maybe you should try again?"

It's 1:01:01am when I arrive.

I don't generally use the DenLiner to travel anymore. Not after Naomi helped us with securing Gai in this timeline. I've been doing my best to avoid Owner, and thankfully I didn't see him tonight.

He wouldn't like what Deneb and I have been doing lately any more than Yuuto does.

I come in through the door to the room with all the blood, and manage not to ruin anything when I come out.

It's not until I'm passing by former Greeed Kazari and one half of Kamen Rider W that my bad luck decides to kick in full force.

I stumble into a poor elderly woman being wheeled gentle down the hallway, a young doctor that is very focused on his charts that I knock all askew, and a small bow carrying a very large bouquet of flowers.

I apologize to each of them, bowing low as I can, as I try not to be too obvious as I pass one of the heroes we've been trying to protect, and one of the former villains we're not really sure about anymore...

"Exactly." I say plainly. "I couldn't smell it on you. You smelled like Joe, the street smelled like Joe, but none of it smelled like Joe's blood."

I nod at his second question, and lift my phone curiously when he draws my attention to it. He's right. I could try to call Yuusuke or Megumi.

I turn my back to him and dial Megumi's number, and as such am staring blankly listening to a phone ring while a lanky awkward guy bowls over no less than three people in a five minute span.

Clumsy bastard.

There's a ruckus from down the hall and I can't help but look that way. There are a handful of people picking themselves up off the floor, and one who's still sort of flailing in the middle of the hall.

I wince for his sake, sympathetic to his plight. And then his arms flail away and I see his face.

"Nogami-kun?" I say aloud, standing up to get a better look. It certainly looks like the odd Rider I'd met a while back, even though I'd never found out what exactly his whole situation is. And now he's here at the hospital, with me and Kazari and this Joe fellow...

...oh, something is certainly amiss here. I sigh and rub my forehead for a moment before walking over to Nogami-kun's side.

"Nogami-kun," I say as I grab him amiably by the shoulder. "You certainly know how to make an entrance."

I blink at Hidari-san when he grabs at my arm. I know him in the general sense, though I don't think we've met in person before...

...Oh. Momo and Ryuuta's night out when they fought the Hydra Brain Beast with... yes that was W. That makes sense. Hidari-san would know my face from that.

I nod vaguely, still trying to apologize, and pay for, the flowers I ruined. I feel bad about talking directly to another hero when Yuuto isn't here. He's been so grumpy lately. I hate to keep him out of the loop. "I... yes. I... I have a serious case of bad luck."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject