heart and soul

[soldieronwards]

The ground falls out beneath you. You're in midair, you're surrounded by swirling clouds, and there's nowhere stable to put your feet. The space between your body and the turbulence around you feels poorly defined as well; where do you end and your surroundings begin? Is there a stable you in the first place?

But eventually--

[ Join channel #nobodystaysdeadincomics on IRC. ]

Comments

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[glorious]

[...damnit. gripping the knife tightly, but not moving.]

Bucky...Do you know who I am?

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[soldieronwards]

A flicker of irritation in his eyes. "Who the hell's Bucky?"

(--a memory, hot in this cold place; the smoke and flames of a recent explosion, someone you ḑ̢͠͝ó̀n̨̨͢'͏́́̕͠t́͜ ̶̛͝͠k̶͢ņ̸̴̷ò̴̸ẁ̶̕ calling a name that i̴̷̢̕ş̵̶ń̛͘'̴̢̀t̶̨̛̕ ̸y̸ơ͟͏ú̡̀͞͞r̷͝͏̨s̢͡͏҉ you just completed the mission you d̨͟͠͏͟ớ͘n͝͞҉̶҉'̡́̕͝͞t̴̸̨ ̸̨̢n͞͡͡e͞e̴͡͏̀͜d̶̴ this bullshit)

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[glorious]

[...oh.]

You don't recognize yourself, do you?

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[soldieronwards]

"It doesn't matter," he says flatly. "My orders have changed, so you have one chance. Hand over the keycards and I'll let you live."

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[glorious]

[raising a brow]

Is it really that easy?

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[soldieronwards]

For a moment, he looks amused, but still unfriendly. "Don't trust me?"

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[glorious]

You do seem to be an assassin with a gun currently pointed at me. Some hesitation on my part should be understandable.

[considers for a moment, then pulls out the two keycards and holds them up so "Bucky" can see them]

But I do have what you're looking for and you are offering a way out without the loss of my life. I have no interest in fighting you, if it can be avoided.

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[soldieronwards]

"Fine." He starts down the stairs from the catwalk, lowering the gun a little bit. Given the speed with which he moved earlier, it could probably be raised again pretty easily.

With his other hand, he takes out a small object (it's a cellphone), flips it open (it's a cellphone from circa 2006), and pushes a few buttons before speaking into it. "One of the intruders is willing to hand over the keycards, sir."

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[glorious]

[still holding onto the keycards, but begins to sing a single verse]

["Bucky" might start feeling a bit sleepy...]

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[soldieronwards]

He stumbles and starts to collapse--but drops the phone and puts both hands on the gun to try to fire off a shot before he goes down.

Fortunately, sudden sleepiness does terrible things to his aim, so what it hits, if it hits at all, is pretty much up in the air.

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[glorious]

[moves to dodge as soon as he goes for the gun, missing that first shot]

[then he inventories the keycards and continues singing again to try and put "Bucky" to sleep]

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[soldieronwards]

He goes down in a heap before he gets off a second shot.

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[glorious]

[...approaching cautiously, watching him carefully to make sure he's actually asleep]

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[soldieronwards]

He is.

The outdated cellphone lies next to him, as does a small rectangular device that looks to be made of similar material to the bomb upstairs.

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[glorious]

[...grabbing both (and the gun) to tuck away in his inventory, looking around the room and considering it for a long moment...]

[...then hurries to rush back towards the bomb.]

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[soldieronwards]

You can leave the room, climb up the ladder, and return to the bomb in the crawlspace. It's still there.

And the little device seems like it could plug right into the port next to its screen.

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[glorious]

[...going to plug it in under the assumption that my Force Field skill will work in case I'm making a terrible mistake.]

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[soldieronwards]

The screen next to it blinks. Now, instead of reading ARMED, it reads INPUT PASSWORDS.

...this might be the time to notice that other heart-voyagers have left a handful of scraps of paper near the bomb...

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[glorious]

[blinks and looks over the scraps of paper]

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[soldieronwards]

They're labeled PASSWORD #1 through PASSWORD #4 and have symbols on them--a flower, an open hand, a star, and a star in a circle.

The device you have plugged into the bomb now has a touchpad and a stylus on it...

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[glorious]

[...oh!]

[begins drawing the pictures in order, taking care to ensure that they're exact.]

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[soldieronwards]

When you're done, the screen blinks again. DISARMED, it now reads. The deactivation device beeps at you to remove it.

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[glorious]

[removes it with a smile]

Hopefully you won't attempt to arm anymore bombs in your own heart.

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[soldieronwards]

There's a sharp, short puff of smoke from the bomb…

...and then a door appears in the metal wall next to it.

Re: THE TORTURE CHAMBER

[glorious]

[tenses up at that]

[...then relaxes when nothing explodes and peers at the door, taking a moment before moving to open it.]