‹ Prequel: Blind Photographs
Status: Updates every other day
Destination Detonation
Lab rat, Lost cause, Liar, Loathsome
“Photo, are you still with me?”
I nodded again, but I was losing him fast. I saw Harley, begging the Joker to risk the extra few seconds to get me out too. I’d been so confused, they’d actually had to drag me out, but once I came down off the brainwashing, it made more sense. There was the old warehouse, my first and last ever pair of glasses, and then the letter.
I turned to tell the Kobra Kid about what was happening, but had to throw myself to the side to keep from throwing up on him. That unfortunately continued for a while as he pulled my hair back and called for Jet Star. The memories didn’t stop until I saw what had been the moment right before waking up in the detox box. I pulled off the bandana and tried to get my breathing back down to normal.
Jet Star helped me up and led me back to the diner, the Kobra kid trailing behind. I finally realized what use Grace was to the city. She was like a magnet and the fabulous killjoys were iron, and the city knew that. I scratched anxiously at the back of my neck. There was a third tattoo there now. BCL. Not my number, not anything but those three letters. I had my own ideas of what the L could mean. Lab rat, Lost cause, Liar, Loathsome. I hadn’t been fully drugged when I got it, of course. They were sick and tired of me by then and they wanted me to feel that pain. They would be wanting me back, too. I was an experiment to them, how many times can a person be put on the pills before they turn into a vegetable? How easy is it to break someone’s will?
Jet Star helped me get cleaned up and handed me a change of clothes. I took them into the bathroom and after changing, looked at myself in the mirror. Aside from looking mildly terrified and very tired, I looked like Photo again. Minus the glasses, of course, and the blindfold.
“I know what’s going on” I blurted out before I could stop myself. “Boom Box is being used as bait to lure you guys right into the hands of Better Living.”
Great. I thought, kicking myself in the ankle. Now they’ll never let me go with them. But if I didn’t tell them and they hadn’t realized, they’d be dead, simple as that.
“We know. But that can’t stop us.” That was a relief.
“So how are we going to go about it?”
“First things first, Fun Ghoul is going to teach you how to shoot.”
Finally. I’d been waiting for a long time, having to first learn to deal with everything around me, and then as soon as real practice started, I’d been forced to hide in a cold tunnel for an immeasurable amount of time before being kidnapped. It would be different this time, being able to see.
I nodded again, but I was losing him fast. I saw Harley, begging the Joker to risk the extra few seconds to get me out too. I’d been so confused, they’d actually had to drag me out, but once I came down off the brainwashing, it made more sense. There was the old warehouse, my first and last ever pair of glasses, and then the letter.
I turned to tell the Kobra Kid about what was happening, but had to throw myself to the side to keep from throwing up on him. That unfortunately continued for a while as he pulled my hair back and called for Jet Star. The memories didn’t stop until I saw what had been the moment right before waking up in the detox box. I pulled off the bandana and tried to get my breathing back down to normal.
Jet Star helped me up and led me back to the diner, the Kobra kid trailing behind. I finally realized what use Grace was to the city. She was like a magnet and the fabulous killjoys were iron, and the city knew that. I scratched anxiously at the back of my neck. There was a third tattoo there now. BCL. Not my number, not anything but those three letters. I had my own ideas of what the L could mean. Lab rat, Lost cause, Liar, Loathsome. I hadn’t been fully drugged when I got it, of course. They were sick and tired of me by then and they wanted me to feel that pain. They would be wanting me back, too. I was an experiment to them, how many times can a person be put on the pills before they turn into a vegetable? How easy is it to break someone’s will?
Jet Star helped me get cleaned up and handed me a change of clothes. I took them into the bathroom and after changing, looked at myself in the mirror. Aside from looking mildly terrified and very tired, I looked like Photo again. Minus the glasses, of course, and the blindfold.
“I know what’s going on” I blurted out before I could stop myself. “Boom Box is being used as bait to lure you guys right into the hands of Better Living.”
Great. I thought, kicking myself in the ankle. Now they’ll never let me go with them. But if I didn’t tell them and they hadn’t realized, they’d be dead, simple as that.
“We know. But that can’t stop us.” That was a relief.
“So how are we going to go about it?”
“First things first, Fun Ghoul is going to teach you how to shoot.”
Finally. I’d been waiting for a long time, having to first learn to deal with everything around me, and then as soon as real practice started, I’d been forced to hide in a cold tunnel for an immeasurable amount of time before being kidnapped. It would be different this time, being able to see.