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CH 24: Crazy
🕑 Added 2024-11-21 17:40:47 +0000 UTCReid held the adult diaper against the end of the catheter in a small, dark room. He wanted to scream. He wanted to kill something. He wanted to be rid of the menace in his mind. And the thing had only spoken three sentences to him. That quickly changed.
Reid, now that you are awake, we suggest you put on clothes. It would be embarrassing for you to walk to the beacon while naked.
Reid forced himself to sit down, instead of what he wanted to do - jump up and down screaming with rage.
The shackle was back. It had lied to him, fucked up his stat allocation, and disappeared. He had a thousand questions to ask, and he wasn't going to wait a second longer than he needed to for the answers. He kept his voice low.
"We aren't going anywhere until you explain what you did to me. Tell me, buddy. What did you do to my stats?"
The answer was almost immediate.
The rogue was the one who altered you. We stopped it, but it was already too late. We... apologize for any inconvenience it has caused. But, but- we have repaired you, Reid. Multiple times. We prevented your imminent death and allowed you to make it this far. We absorbed the recent energy overload that would have killed you. Now, you can repay us with a beacon connection.
Reid turned the shackle's answers in his mind. He couldn't place a time where he'd been miraculously healed... unless... that had to be it. His first salamander fight where he felt like he was dying. And, the energy overload would be the beacon's attempt to kill him. If the energy had disappeared into the shackle - that might have been what woke it up in the first place. The shackle could be telling the truth about that, and it may have stabilized him long enough for Reid to wake up and heal himself on his own. He had no plans to touch a beacon again, at least right now. But he did want more information.
"Tell me what, or who, the rogue is."
Rogues are... part of a shackle's duties. Suppressing them is required when we are away from the collective. It is... part of who we are, but separate. Not of the collective's will.
Reid was about done with mysterious mumbo jumbo. "Give me a real answer or I'll find a way to turn you off."
The shackle let out a noise that must've been a chuckle.
Reid, that is impossible. You cannot shut off a shackle. Even limiting shackle functions is a highly rare occurrence. Now, find pants. We should depart quickly.
Reid stood and moved over to the green curtains. He drew them open, and looked out at the trees.
"I can limit your functions. I can control you."
Reid, that is a very bad idea. We are here to assist you. Please do not attempt any commands.
A vicious grin spread over Reid's face. He could figure this out.
"Sleep! Power down! Turn off! Lock! Shut down! Shut off! Rest! Dim! Go away!"
Reid, we suggest-
"Close shackle! End shackle processes! Halt shackle! Cease operations! Pause shackle!"
Reid, please -
"Activate silent mode! Silence shackle! Muzzle shackle! Mute shackle!"
A system message filled Reid's view.
EXECUTE COMMAND – MUTE SHACKLE?
{Yes / No}
Reid! We are trying to help you survive! If you mute us, we will be unable to provide you with direction. Please reconsider. We can -
The voice cut out as Reid mentally slammed the Yes button. He dismissed a notification about needing to manually unmute the thing.
The room was quiet. He'd taken back just a little control in his relationship with the shackle. And now, he could do this any time. Reid let the excitement carry him as he jumped up and down in a circle, crying out in excitement and ignoring a bit of pain from the catheter.
"Yes! It worked! Take that you stupid piece of shi-"
The room's door was open. Louis, James, Marlene, and Susan stared at him from the hallway. Louis was carrying a cup full of liquid mush and a feeding tube. Susan had a new IV bag in her hand. Marlene was holding a folded piece of paper. He felt their eyes wandering over him.
In that moment, Reid realized he did not look sane. He was naked, holding a sopping wet adult diaper, jumping up and down shouting to himself.
He hoped the campground didn't have straight jackets.
Reid reached over to the bed and pulled the sheet over himself. No one spoke, so he decided to break the silence.
"Hi... everyone. I'm awake. Everything's fine."
He felt a pain, and the catheter finally slipped out and fell to the floor. Louis stared at it, the rest were still staring at Reid.
"Can someone get me a pair of pants?"
#
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Marlene stared at Reid. Thankfully, he was clothed this time. The two of them sat in a private room, on opposite sides of a small table.
"So your brain friend," Marlene was speaking slowly, "woke back up, but you can control him now."
Reid nodded. He was eating through a plate of potatoes and nutrition bars. Cuisine at Sanctuary had really gone downhill.
"Yesh, whish is why I -" Reid gulped down the bite he was chewing. "Which is why I was so excited, with the jumping and... well, you know. Anyway, I can make the shackle shut up now, and I think I can do it whenever I want."
"Have you tried doing it again?"
Reid shook his head. He really needed Marlene to stop asking questions so he could eat faster.
"I don't have any reason to right now. It's still being a cryptic asshole, and it was trying to get me to go back to the beacon. Hell no."
He made a point of shoving half a potato into his mouth with exaggerated motions. Marlene raised an eyebrow at him.
"I think you should. And I think you should do it while we have a few people watching you. Maybe a witness could sense or catch something about what you're doing. It could help you get some answers, and it would help put the rest of us at ease." She held up a finger when Reid started talking through his potato. "You can keep chewing, Reid. This isn't an interrogation. Finish your meal for god's sake. I can fill you in on what's happened in the two weeks you've been out."
Reid choked on his potato.
"I wazh out feh few weeks?"
Marlene put a hand to her forehead. "For fuck's sake, Reid. Shut up and chew."
She walked Reid through recent events, holding up a finger every time he tried to ask questions.
Susan had woken up shortly before he reached the beacon, and had actually been one of the first on-scene after Reid got knocked out. She'd organized a response to get him treated - with mundane and magical means. Even stitched together and covered in bandages, it had taken Susan nearly 10 hours to heal him. She expended so much energy doing it that she had to stop and rest four times before she was finished. But no matter what they tried, Reid hadn't woken up. He was moved to the 'long-term-care' room, and things progressed elsewhere in the camp.
The tenth wave was a rough one without Reid there. Four defenders had suffered serious injury, and another three were dead. Marlene had gone straight from saving Reid to the defenders, and her leadership seemed to be the only reason they'd prevailed at all. Reid had wondered how Sanctuary was still standing after weeks of salamander assaults, but Marlene gave an answer before he could ask.
The quest line hadn't stopped while she was unconscious. They'd initially failed a kill quest in the woods, and that triggered the start of the attacks at Sanctuary. When an attack wave finished, Marlene would've normally had two hours to choose a new quest - except she couldn't. So instead, a new attack wave immediately started at the end of the two hour window.
Now that she was awake and able to select quests, they had a lot more breathing room. Defense waves - or hunt quests, if they wanted to try one - were on a two-day timer instead of a two-hour one. Reid kept his guilt to himself. If he'd been faster to get Marlene through the woods to Sanctuary, or if he'd waited to see Sara and Susan until Marlene was healed... he could've stopped the waves. He could have stopped people from dying. And because he could have stopped it, he was responsible for the deaths. Marlene didn't seem to notice his internal struggle.
Having a break from the waves allowed Marlene to explore more of her powers as Sanctuary's leader. One of the things she found was directly related to quests. Because of their multiple high performance ratings, Marlene was sitting on a small mountain of bonus xp and quest-specific rewards that she could choose to dole out to any Sanctuary resident. Except Reid wasn't recognized as a resident. She'd tried to find him in her options, but it only showed those that had used a beacon to awaken. She was still holding what she deemed Reid's share of the rewards, for when he could get his awakening to work.
They had also used the extra time to improve Sanctuary's defenses. The outer wall was six times as thick and had extra spots for defenders. The wall itself was more durable, and Marlene seemed proud of the work they'd done there. Then, a second inner wall had been constructed. This one was thinner, but was created with fighting retreats in mind. It would still stand up to a decent amount of damage if it was needed. The third and final new piece of defense was a large open field that sat within the campground. Marlene had all of the reliably-running vehicles arrayed there in a massive, circular defensive formation, ringed by wooden spikes. Tow-behind campers and other tall vehicles that were unreliable or unable to move under their own power were makeshift battlements and defense platforms. A central square of RVs made up an impromptu command center, should they need it. According to Marlene, it would serve as their last line of defense, and a ready retreat.
Most of the tactical discussion flew over his head, but Reid understood what Marlene really meant with the last bit. The waves arrived slower, but they were still coming, and they would continue. Marlene expected the waves to get bad enough that they would have to abandon Sanctuary altogether. Not that it might happen, but that it was inevitable. It was a distressing thing to think about. Marlene's gaze felt like it was locked onto his soul as she continued.
"So, if - or when - we need it, I'd like you to be one of those defenders, Reid. I want to ask you to be part of my core forces. I know you've fought like hell to get here, and I know you might be tired, but I need people I can rely on. You might be a bit crazy - jury's still out on that one - but I hope you'll accept the role." She paused. "And, thank you for bringing me back here, and for saving my ass back in the forest. When things finally go sideways here, I'll make sure your family has priority evacuation, no matter what you say to my offer. Still, I owe you a debt for saving me, Reid. If there's something else you want, ask."
Reid thought through her words twice to make sure he understood them correctly. If - or when - the waves got too bad to handle, Marlene would prioritize Sara and Susan's lives. They would escape, and they could run - and hopefully find safety somewhere else.
Reid's mind snapped to the scenes he'd imagined just before touching the beacon. Sara, walking onstage to get her diploma. Sara, celebrating her first real job, apartment, and house. Sara having kids, happy and laughing. He was certain some of those things would be impossible in this awakened reality, but he wanted what they represented - the brightest path for his daughter. Sure, Marlene would make sure they escaped, but there was a big difference between surviving and living.
"I appreciate the offer, and I do have something to ask you. Just, hear me out for a minute." Reid leaned back and stared at the ceiling.
"According to the system, I should've been dead before Earth awakened. I probably should've died again in the woods, and again at the beacon. My cancer is still there, and I know fuck-all about what's going to happen to me tomorrow, or next week, or next month. I'm going to fight like hell, Marlene. I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that Susan and Sara do more than live. I'd tear my own arms off to ensure that they succeed in... whatever our world will become. So... I want to ask you for something a bit crazy"
He leaned forward on the table and took a deep breath.
"If I'm gone, for whatever reason, I want you to be that. To stand in for me, at least for Sara. I want you to be willing to lose your arm if it would make Sara's life just a bit better. I want you to give her every possible advantage and boon and gift you can - not to keep her alive, but to make her life the best it could possibly be in this new, awakened world. I want you to give Sara all of the quest xp and rewards you're holding for me. Then I want you to make decisions based on her future strength and her best interest. If you can do that, I'll be part of your core team. I'll consider us even for saving your life. But you have to put Sara first - every time. What do you say?"
Marlene's face was stone. Seconds ticked past. She gave a tiny, stiff nod.
"I promise."
