This entire situation was moronic. Completely idiotic. How did this situation even happen and why? What god did he piss off to get to this point and where could he find them and exact horrible vengeance? In summation, Carl wasn't having a fun day.
"You feeling alright Carl?"
"Feeling awful Professor Kokonoe."
"Excellent." Carl was sitting in a Sector Seven laboratory, somewhere hidden away underground. His body was covered in wires and several medical apparatuses that were monitoring his vitals. He was shirtless, itchy and all around uncomfortable. His eye, well hole where his left eye should be, was the worst, covered in so many attachments and gizmos that thinking on them all made Carl dizzy. Ada, who would ordinarily save her sweet brother from this cruel fate, was absolutely no help. She was stoically standing next to Professor Kokonoe behind the big glass window, watching her brother's torment without even an ounce of protest. The traitor was stroking a puppy without a care in the world! He'd been sold out for a Shiba Inu named Taro! "We'll now begin the questioning. You gonna be a good little boy and not cause a fuss?"
"Is my consent required to proceed?"
"You gave us your consent when you illegally obtained Sector Seven property and continued to be a pain in the ass after you found out what you were stupidly running around with."
"My Sister is not your property."
"I beg to differ." Ada proceeded to pet Taro as Kokonoe gave the automation a pat on her metal head. "Alright Mr. Clover, question one. Where did you get Nirvana?"
"Ada." Kokonoe rolled her eyes, licking the lollipop in her mouth with an air of annoyance.
"Where did you get ADA?"
"My Father abandoned her at our home. I saved her." Carl scratched the wires on his arm, finding the itch incredibly distracting. He didn't need to feel anymore uncomfortable. He could see Kokonoe jot down something on a what he assumed was a notepad. He couldn't tell from this side of the window.
"Two. Where'd you learn to fight?"
"The Academy."
"They don't teach what you do at the Academy, dropout. Try again."
"...My Father taught me." Another note on the pad. The itch was slowly getting stronger. Taro licked Ada's face. She seemed rather happy about that, for someone without the capabilities to express joy.
"Three. Where'd you get the outfit?"
"My closet "
"Huh. Your family has weird taste." Another note. Carl could see the cat beastkin scratch her ears. It made his own itch even worse. These damnable wires. May they burn in the Boundary for eternity for this unbearable itch! "Four. Is Ada Nirvana or is Nirvana Ada?"
"Yes. " A pause. Taro yipped and Ada pantomimes cooing. Another note.
"Smart ass. "
"You started it. "
"Five. What's up with your eye?" Finally, the question Carl was honestly expecting to be first. Maybe this will end quickly and he can happily scratch his arms until the skin tore.
"I looked into the Cauldron and my Father left me a gift."
"Most parents don't treat potential blindness as a gift. Then again my old man left me in a military base for my birthday and never came back, so what do I know."
"Sounds unpleasant."
"You have no idea. So you gain any weird powers? Shoot lazer beams or X-ray vision? What color is my underwear?"
"A black g-string." The scientist immediately covered her body with her hood and blushed, her ears pointed upwards. She glared at the boy sitting on the hospitall bed who had a clear smirk on his lips. Before she could set her robots to kill the brat Nirvana poked at Kokonoe's side. Looking down at what the puppet was pointing at Kokonoe could see that her underwear was exposed, completely visible to anyone and everyone. The cat coughed into her hand, rolling the lolly in her cheek. Carl's smirk was ever present.
"Pervert."
"Says the woman with her underwear on the outside. " The scientist adjusted her pants slightly. Carl's smirk only seemed to increase in smugness. Finding her modesty properly restored, Kokonoe returned to her examination.
"Alright, so what freaky shit does that gapping hole actually do."
"Why do you care? It's no help to you."
"I'll be the judge of that. Anything that's important to Relius is definitely FUBAR for the rest of us. Best to know what I'm dealing with here so I can either control it or just burn your eye shut."
"...Are you serious?" Silence. A bead of sweat suddenly fell down the young man's cheek. He suddenly wanted his own dog to pet and not this itch that WON'T GO AWAY!
"So, spill."
"Hah...I can see into your soul." Kokonoe responded with a scoff.
"Enough with the snark, brat. Be the good boy Litchi always stresses about and stop giving me crap before I wash your mouth out with soap."
"I'm not joking. Every time I look at anyone I can see inside them, their makeup, the building blocks, the..." The boy paused, his eye wide in a sudden daze as he began to look around the room, his arms going from tight and tense to loose and limp with every turn of his head. His only remaining eye was dilating, a blue glow beginning to pass over it. His empty eye socket began to leak, not blood or tears but a thick black gooze that Kokonoe was very familiar with. Carl's body was beginning to lose motor control, his arms and legs shaking without an iota of visible control, as his his mind began to fall. "Alpha, Omega, Beginning, End. Constant. Always turning, never stopping, starting again. Illusions, shadows, corner of my mind, again. It's waiting, notes and notes, data, forever and ever. Center, center is what you want, find it, find the center. Chase it. C-c-c-chase it..." Ada continued to pet Taro as her brother continued to slip. She never once even tired to move from her spot beside the Professor. Kokonoe made a mental note of that as she spoke to Carl.
"Kid, you hear me?" Carl's ears twitched as he turned to the window, looking at the cat girl as if he had never seen her, or anything like her, ever in his life.
"Hearing, noises, voices, words, language, communication. I hear you."
"Good. You know who I am?"
"Beastkin. Demi-human. Cat, no human, no both, neither, has both yet neither, limitless potential yet limited vessel. Kokonoe."
"You know who you are?" The vigilante looked at his arm and felt a strange sensation. It was uncomfortable and distracting. Was it from these cables? How many cables? There are five around this vessel but more could be hidden. Hiding from him. Lying. The body doesn't lie but the mind can make a fool. His body, his vessel, the sensation. The...itch. Yes. Something small. A small sensation to keep one grounded. Carl's posture relaxed.
"My name is Carl Clover. I'm very itchy. May you please remove these wires?" The ooze remained on Carl's face yet he ignored it entirely. His chest was stained black as a puddle of black tar, seither, dirtied the tiled floor. Kokonoe made a few new observations into her notepad before turning to her patient.
"We're done for today. I'll send a custodian to mop up the lab. We'll get you cleaned up."
"Okay. May I please ask you something, Doctor?" Doctor? Oh, goddammit. "When can I go home? My sister is probably worried sick and Father-"
Kokonoe hit the emergency switch. Carl immediately collapsed onto the bed, unconscious from the sudden injection entering through the "wires". Ada calmly placed Taro on the ground, who proceeded to run around the marionette in a circle, yipping in joy, as Ada looked at Kokonoe with her ever present blank expression.
"Don't look at me like that. He was starting to regress."
"..." Nirvana gave a look that was clearly showed she did not agree with Kokonoe's overzealous methods.
"We'll try again later. God, you Clover's really are a pain in the ass." With a few quick presses, Kokonoe finished her appraisal on her notepad and sent it directly to her data center. "We're going to be here awhile." Kokonoe removed the stick from her lips, the candy already finished.
EXAMINATION 10: CARL=CLOVER
RESULTS: REGRESSION INTO ADOLESCENCE
FAILURE
"I need coffee."
Author's Note: Haven't posted in years so I hope this came out alright. Maybe I'll actually get around to finishing something. Hope this was at least interesting. Feel free to review. Thanks for reading.