Nightshift 60: West Wing, South Hall 1-B

[ninelivesonce]

[from here]

Taura pondered the announcement she'd just heard as she jogged down another empty hallway. Who was she? Jill? Who he'd tortured himself, though that could have been an act on her part as well? Whose side had she been on? And what could have happened to her that would be permanent?

Death was usually pretty permanent, but even that had its exceptions around here. Taura didn't have to like it to know it was true; what had General Aguilar done that could change that? And why was Doctor Landel so angry?

It was an uneasy thought to stomach; revenge drove people like nothing else did, and being one of the people in between was a hell of a way to go.

[to here]

Comments

[a_sin_for_him]

"Bewitches?"

Lust hadn't heard anything about that yet. Mind control? Certainly it was possible, and Lust had seen things even she would have claimed impossible, but...

She didn't like this place, the more she learned of it. At first it had been simply a confusing inconvenience. And a seemingly safe place to get her head on straight and take in all that had happened. It grew more and more nightmarish the more she was told.

She looked up at Frank, her lips set in a worried line. The idea of some stranger, some adversary, exerting power over her... Her abdomen clenched in a cold sort of knot and she felt her heart speed its beats.

"Do you mean that he - this Landel man, our enemy - can...control the minds of his prisoners?"

Not much had frightened the homunculus since waking up in the institute, but this did. She didn't even consciously notice that Frank had glided neatly over her question regarding what he was.

[scarefaux]

"I know it sounds just awful," the Scarecrow said, putting it a bit lightly, "but it's true. I've seen it with my own eyes: one of my friends was set in a room right at the front of the building, and kept people from leaving. She had her magic back and everything, and acted as if she didn't know me."

He glanced over his shoulder, and upon seeing the worried look Lust wore, turned to face her. "Oh, she was fine by the next day. But believe me, it was frightening at the time! I can't imagine what it's like to be in that position, knowing you're hurting someone you care about, but not being able to do a thing about it."

He turned back toward the hall, waving his arm for her to follow.

[To here.]