Players:
Summary: Robyn has a plan that backfires on him…and Heather.
Date: July 31, 2011
Log Title: Bacfire
Rating: R
The Lair of Mindbender and Upgrade
Who knows how long Robyn's been in the Happiest Place on Earth and who knows how long he's been fighting the folks from the Angriest Place on Earth. At this point he's desperate and he's stopped feeding on psychic energy. It's been hard as he's been wanting to so he can stop the headaches but he's forced himself to starve. Finally today he's passed out in a comatose state from the lack of psychic energy.
"Hey, honey, how long has that kid been in a coma?" asks Mindbender, not getting close to the unconscious Robyn, but watching him a little bit suspiciously from the patchwork armchair in the office building's center. "You told me not to touch him if this happens."
Upgrade glances over from their makeshift kitchen, where she is making herself a snack. She puts everything down and walks towards Robyn, "He's been starving his brain, I guess. We'll have to get either the rat girl or the exploding one to wake him up when they get back, he feeds on psychic energy." Having an immunity to psychic powers, she does prod Robyn lightly and says, "At least this will give me the opportunity to clean him. He smells like rot."
Heather seems to stand by the wall passively watching without really seeing what's going on. This position by the wall doesn't last long, as her face twitches lightly and she lunges for Robyn from her position to try and touch his face.
As soon as Heather's hand touches Robyn's face, his hand flies up to latch onto hers. His eyes open suddenly and glow bright purple as he drains her at a rapid pace. He doesn't seem to want to let go as he's not even thinking about what he's doing, just the need to feed. He's draining a bit quicker of a pace than normal due to his powers being upgraded and Heather's mental defenses, or lack their off, making it easier.
Heather makes no effort to resist, using her other hand to touch Robyn, even if it is quite painful for her to do so. When Robyn is done, she falls right to the ground.
Mindbender rises up out of his seat, "Shit! That shouldn't have… AUGH!" He clutches his own head and kneels as the psychic connection between himself and Heather breaks.
Upgrade tries to push Heather off of Robyn, to no avail, and then when it's over she shakes her head as she looks back at her already downed husband, throwing back her jacket to try and find some MGH that would be appropriate to this task if Robyn should get up. "Come ooooon."
As soon as he's 'drank' his fill Robyn blinks and looks around. "Heather?" He says groggily before realizing what happened. "Heather!" He says as he puts his hand on hers as if he's trying to force his psychic energy back into her but it doesn't work. "It wasn't supposed to be you."
Mindbender stays on one knee but looks up, "Dammit, what have you done?!" He rises to his feet and grits his teeth, "If you harmed her at all, I will tear you apart myself, you little bastard!"
Taking a couple of steps back, Upgrade shakes her head, "She's vulnerable to that kind of thing, how could you expose her to that?! You /must/ know she's vulnerable!" With her good arm, she pulls out one of her syringes full of MGH. "You'd better not be thinking of escaping now."
"Heather…" Robyn says as he flops down. "She'll…she'll be okay, I swear!" Robyn says defensively as he looks at both Mindbender and Upgrade. "She's just…sleeping for a bit. Honest. And please don't…" He mutters scared about what they'll do and fearing that what ever is in that syringe is for him and is quite dangerous.
"You had better be telling the truth about that," says Mindbender, even in the bad fluorescent lighting in the office building there are shadows cast on his face and tension in his jaw as he holds back his rage. "Because if you have done her any permanent harm, I swear… I have been /QUITE KIND/ with you Robyn." He kneels again by the psychic vampire, to properly look him in the eye, "And you have no idea what I am ready and willing to do to you. If you are /lying/ to me."
Upgrade watches the interaction passively, her syringe still at the ready as she looks between her husband and the young mutant.
"The nurse woke up in a few days the one time it happened." Robyn says but also reveals that it's only happened once to him and under the influence of Upgrade who knows how long Heather might be out. "It was supposed to be you." He spits out at Mindbender. "Not your daughter but then again I guess you're just using her to do your dirty work once again so really…this is also your fault."
"Now is not the time for your pathetic blame games, your accusations of my poor parenting. Do you understand how serious I am right now? How little I am /looking/ for an argument? I want nothing but your reassurance and certaintly, child, that you /know/ you have not done permanent harm to her mind. Can you guarantee this to me?" asks Mindbender, shaking his head, the chained rage causing his voice to shake. "Because she has difficulty with psychics. And your power is greater than ever before. And I will not forgive any harm coming to her by your hand."
Upgrade continues to stand as a silent observer, sharply contrasting the barely held back rage of her husband.
"I'm worried about her too." Robyn says looking over at Heather and he knows all to well about how poorly she deals with psychics. "I've never done permant harm to anyone before with my psychic vamprisim before, I swear it." He says still sitting next to Heather looking down at her. "I'm sorry." He whispers to her before standing up and looking around the room. Maybe he can use this situation to his advantage.
Mindbender rises back up and just shakes his head. "You'd better hope that rule holds up." He rubs his temple lightly, it's quite apparent that he is still in pain from the shock of his connection being severed, "Now what do I /do/ with /you/?"
"An excellent question," says Upgrade, coldly. "At least this one is playing your ridiculous game, Mindbender. I think it's time to tip the board, don't you?"
Robyn looks between Mindbender and Upgrade for a second. He takes a few deep breaths before he forms a psi-blade in his hand and lunges for Mindbender, figuring that if he can get a hit on him he can stun him enough to get help for Heather. "You're going to do -nothing- with me." He says as he lunges forward.
Mindbender goes down as soon as he is contacted with the psi-blade, and he seems to be fighting for mental control over his own body, much less anyone else's mind.
"Sloppy," chastises Upgrade, jabbing the syringe into her own leg and pressing it in, "He's not in your world right now." Her eyes begin to glow as she takes on the new power, reaching out and closing her hand around Robyn's image as the air around him seems to solidify and do the same thing. "Such a troublesome child."
Robyn turns to Upgrade once Mindbender is down and takes a few breaths as he prepares to try to hit her as well. "Thank you." He says to the troublesome comment as he goes to charge her as well but the air around him seems to grab around him and stops him cold. He struggles to get free without any success. "Really just give me enough time and I'll figure a way to get out of this."
Nothing seems to happen for the brief moment Robyn's weapon does manage to contact Upgrade, and she shakes her head, answering simply, "Then you are recommending that I close my fist. And frankly, right now, I can't imagine any reason why I shouldn't. You have outlived your usefulness, your interestingness and your pliability." Indeed, she does close her fist a little further.
The strain is visible on his face as the 'air fist' closes around him and he lets out a small sound of discomfort. He doesn't want to beg for his life but the fear is showing on his face as the 'mask' starts to fall. "I never wanted to be useful to you or your husband." He mutters as he continues to struggle with no success.
"And yet you were, and you played an instrumental part in our many plans. We did not need your desire or consent. But as with any resource, it seems that you've been spent. Our options are to keep you here and quiet, letting you go only when it's safe to, or just creamating your body," says Upgrade, without seeming to hold any biases towards either by the tone in her voice, "And so far, you only seem to be making a case for the latter." Again, the grip tightens just slightly more.
Mindbender starts to rise up to his feet, having recovered from the blow, "Damn, that smarts…"
Robyn continues to struggle. "Well maybe I've been lying. Maybe I'm the only person that can help you daughter recover." Sure he's lying but he doesn't want to die. "Also if you kill me you'd hurt your daughter more than I did tonight." He says before looking over at Mindbender with disappointment that he was down for so short of a time.
"What a strange way to beg for your life. Hypotheticals," says Upgrade, raisingher eyebrow. She looks over towards her husband and then back at Robyn, "How would I hurt her by doing that? Are you talking about her feelings? She's stronger than feeling necessitates."
Mindbender crosses his arms, and while he seems like he's still trying to get his head together, he's back to fuming.
"Yes it might be a hypothetical but do you really know for sure?" Robyn asks as he stops struggling for the moment. "And really how well do you know your daughter anymore? She's changed at school. She is stronger because feelings doe necessitate. Heather…" He looks over at her there is a faint smile on his face. "You don't know her anymore. I promise you that."
"Certainly she's changed. Who should expect their daughter to be exactly the same upon her spending a couple of years away?" says Upgrade, quirking a brow slightly.
Mindbender chips in, telling Upgrade, "I'd prefer not to kill him. He may still be a valuable asset, all things considered. And at the worst, well… a sacrificial pawn." He looks towards Robyn and says, "And yes, she's changed, but understand that I /am/ the foundation on which her experience lays. I am her rock. And nothing you can do or say will make that a non-reality. She has my obsessions and tastes. She is a product of her genes and upbringing. Now, is there anything more you want to say before I send you back into the World of Illusions? Keeping in mind that you've worn the whole bad parenting bit to /death/."
"No, I wasn't going to commenting on your parenting." Robyn says as he doesn't need to bring that up again. "I was just going to agree, she did get some of your obessions but it doesn't mean you're her rock." He says before looking at Mindbender. "How do you know I'm not just going to mess with your world again?"
"Because, Robyn, there won't be anything in it to mess with. It will barely be an illusion. Time will become meaningless. Have you ever heard of Heather's talk of the White Prison? I sifted through her memories, that's where she was truly damaged, from isolation from her roots," replies Mindbender, furrowing his brows, "And until she stands up again, you are going to be in this place. Waiting and /hoping to God/, that she does indeed get back up." He looks over towards Upgrade, and she nods in return, using her ersatz powers to spin him around in circles.
Before he can even have time to say anything he's being spun around which starts to disorient him. He's heard about the white prison and the idea confuses and scares him quite a bit.
The edges around reality begin to blur again, and Robyn finds himself in what would appear to be an asylum cell, with padded floors, roofs, and walls. There is a door, but it would be impossible to open from the inside, and occasionally, food will be slipped in at meal times. Still, this is a recreation of the White Prison that Heather feared more than anything: the time that she was held in a mental institution.
