Note: This is an AU that I may or may not continue, but it was fun to write. "Dokun" isn't developed enough to be considered an OC, I just gave the head guard a name because he had enough involvement to require one. Also, this is a "friendship" morailship-type deal, nothing matespritshippy about this story. Enjoy, I don't write for Homestuck very often because it's confusing and difficult, so let me know what you think. I'm assuming Gamzee's got some height on him for this.
All was silent, but for a moment. Outside befell the horrors of the world through the planet's tears, that smashed down on windowsills and upon the ground. The crack of thunder, like the sound of a master's whip, sent shivers through the spines of those who lay trapped in the reformatory. Made of pure concrete, it was a surprise that such sounds from the outside world would make their way through the walls, thunder just has that nature-it shakes the ground and sends the vibrations up ferociously through the capillaries and arteries of the ground itself. None can escape from thunder.
Some who had been shackled and tortured by Alternian society within that wretched excuse for a facility were not afraid of the sounds beyond the walls, no matter how long they'd been devoid of them. There were those who yearned for them, for sanity comes with familiarity, and without it their minds wandered restlessly. Then there are those who continually hold on to a tough exterior, but are nothing more than jelly on the inside-despicable jelly. They shake at the noises.
"Please! Oh my God, please!"
"Let me out, I don't deserve to be here!"
"Help, anybody!" common pleas of the average jailbird, a sweet song that has a rhythm of its own, dictated by the clanking of bars and the tapping of impatient feet on the floor.
Karkat sat back on his cot, staring up at the ceiling with his arms up behind his head, ignoring the annoying cries from the cells down the hall.
"How long do you suppose we'll be here, Gamzee?"
Makara hid in the corner of a bed opposing his and rested with his head between his knees, his long hair obscuring his eyes. He said nothing and gave only a deep sigh.
"Why do I ask when I know you'll never say anything back?" again Karkat received no reply, and sat up with a swing of his arms. A frustrated scowl crawled over his face and he hit a fist to the hard mattress, shouting, "Will you people shut the fuck up? Some of us down here are trying to pay our debt to society by getting some shut eye, you hear me?"
A sudden quiet rung throughout the wing, but soon enough the pathetic mournings of criminals started up again. A shot of lightning sent a flash of candid light through the roomates' small barred window, and another bout of thunder about three seconds later caused a couple screams once more. Footsteps of guards pacing in boredom a few feet down made Karkat perk up his ears and listen.
"Gamzee, don't say anything." of course he didn't. The guards came closer and the footsteps became louder. It was obvious whose cell they were approaching.
"Who're we gonna have to drag down there now?"
"Vantas, I think." a sheepish voice whispered.
"Oh, 'bout time they got 'round to him. Shouldn't be that hard to get anything out of him, I'unno 'bout his friend though. He's awful quiet." this one was the alpha of the two, and his booming baritone voice was no less startling than the thunder from before. Pausing for a moment in front of the door of the cell, he spat to the side and cracked his neck, letting out a relieved moan. "So much better."
"Dokun, what the fuck do you want." Karkat growled, turning to hang his legs over the side of the bed and to lean over to stare down at the floor.
"It's your turn, that's all, Vantas."
"I told you fuckers, I don't know anything."
"That's what they all say." Dokun's thick shoulders shrugged and he pulled his hat off, revealing a face covered in burns and horns that were too dotted with holes caused by fire. His grimace made Karkat stare with a look that could kill as he removed his eyes from the ground. "Let's go."
"Gam, I'll be right back. Don't move." he hesitantly hopped off the cot, at first clenching the sheets in his hands, thinking that could somehow keep him from having to leave. People who were interrogated came back missing fingers, tongues, eyes, horns, or even their lives. He didn't know what to expect, but he know it wasn't going to be good, because he truly knew nothing. Not why he and Makara had been dragged there in the first place, nor how long they'd be there.
The interrogation room wasn't but twenty yards down the east wing, where the meek prisoners were held. The only thing that differentiated it from a normal cell was its six-inch thick wooden door and the equipment that beeped, buzzed, and ticked inside. The rattling of creatures in cages made Karkat's skin crawl as he recalled a previous inmate whose vocal mechanisms had been gnawed away by flesh-eating insects. Purposely, the room had been installed so closely to the lesser criminals in order to make a point, for the noises from within the chamber would bounce along the cement halls rather than be absorbed in them, which lead Karkat to believe that they'd been coated in something to create better resonance. Actually, he hadn't come up with that theory, his friend Sollux had. If anything, he would have been the one to know anything about why they were there, being that he always knew a little too much for comfort. He was dragged off one day though, and nobody really knew where-
Wait, there he is. Vantas had been in a daze, slowly dragging his feet along on the way to the chamber, trying not to think of the horrible things they were going to do to him. It was then that he snapped out of his tizzy and pulled back harshly, straining his wrists as the cuffs, which tightened when pulled, scraped at his skin. Beside a gurney that usually sat at the center of the room was Sollux, who rested on his knees with tubes running along his arms, from out of his bare back, and a particularly large one down his throat. Fresh blood dripped from his eyes as he wearily lifted his head to meet Karkat's gaze. He tried to say a couple words, but stalled as he choked a bit on his breathing tube.
"Sollux!" Karkat lunged forward, gasping as the cuffs squeezed at his wrists and as Dokun thrashed him once to the back of the head with his baton. He fell to his knees and was at eye-level with Captor now, his vision blurred from the impact and he felt himself losing consciousness. Before he was able to, the dim lights running along the walls and from within the room went dark, and there was more panic heard from those down the hall.
"God damn it, power's out. Flip the switch." Dokun rolled his eyes and pointed a subordinate over to pull down a large switch. As he did so, the lights were re-illuminated, and Sollux began a series of convulsions that were followed by incomprehensible whimpers.
"Psionics come in handy sometimes."
Karkat finally lost consciousness and felt the cold and smooth concrete on his cheek, which was abnormally soothing aside from the scent of blood. Back in the cell, Gamzee buried his face in a pillow and let out another sigh.
Upon awaking to a flurry of spotted lights and the feeling of leather being fastened below his knees, around his neck, and twice over his wrists and forearms, Karkat groaned at the throbbing from behind his head. "Sollux...Sollux, what-" he glanced over, his eyes burning from the pulsing of the wound from the baton, and saw that the psionic had been removed from the room. Karkat wasn't one to believe in much of a higher power, but right then he prayed that the corporals wouldn't do anything worse than amputate something off of his ally. He couldn't really hope for anything more.
"Number 124: Karkat Vantas." a figure above him said sternly, his mouth covered by a surgical mask.
"Glad to meet your fucking acquaintance." Karkat gathered a good amount of spit in the back of his throat and let the guy have it. The man removed his now soiled mask and replaced it with another. Karkat could have sworn that the guy had an extra set of teeth, which wouldn't be shocking after the shit he'd seen done to people who also worked there. Dokun's scars were an example.
The assault didn't seem to affect the troll, because he got that often. "Regarding Specimen 571. What do you know of it?"
"What the Hell are you talking about? I've never heard of no fucking Specimen 5-whatever-whatever. You've got the wrong troll, buddy." he avoided the black gaze that the man above him held.
"Does Operation Crustacean ring a bell?"
"No fucking clue, c'mon." Karkat pulled a bit at the restraints, but they had the same effect as the cuffs from earlier, and he quickly realized that trying to butter his way out of them wasn't an option.
"Don't make this more difficult than it needs to be, Mr. Vantas."
"Mr. Vantas, how courteous of you, fuck-knuckle." he thought about aiming another spit-bomb, but stopped when the investigator made an awkward turn towards something sharp to the side. "What's that?"
"It's whatever you'd like it to be, Mr. Vantas. Warden English has set aside proper measures to be followed if you are hesitant to supply us with the information that you are withholding." he held up a scalpel and examined it as if it were something of more interest.
"English? I thought this place was run by the royal-Hey!" he shouted as the man lifted up Karkat's ankle in his latex-covered palm. It felt almost slimy along the back of his Achilles Tendon, which soon had the scalpel ready at its base where it met the ankle.
"It is your choice. What would you like it to be?"
"Well it's not going to turn into a motherfucking flower, now is it? I don't have any idea what you're talking about, put that down or I'll-I'll-" his voice crescendoed and sped rapidly as the precise blade of the knife broke skin and began to saw away at his muscle, ligaments, and his most valuable tendon. His mutant red blood that coursed through his body gave a spat in every which direction, and Karkat bit down so hard on his bottom lip that it began too to bleed. There was a snap, his right knee gave a jerk and a jolt of pain shot up through his entire body. He let out the most soul curdling scream that he didn't even know he could produce, and he didn't stop with that, but kept yelling, pleading, and howling.
"Oh-Oh my God, please. Stop, fucker stop, for the love of God, stop it!" the thrashes he made tightened the straps around his limbs and the pain in the back of his head slipped down through to his neck, shoulders, and forehead, burning like a white hot flame. With his fall into unconsciousness, his screams ceased and his face softened. His wrists, which bled profusely at the wear and tear of the restraints, went limp and still. Gamzee lifted his head from the pillow, and his eyes widened in terror.
"K-Karkat?"
The next thing Vantas knew, his ankles were wrapped so tightly in bloodstained linen that his thighs were palpitating. The inside of his mouth was raw from having bitten his cheeks in his sleep to diverge the pain from the injuries sustained earlier. His tongue was dry and all he could think about was a nice sip of water. Stitches ran along the insides of his arms because he'd cut a good way into them from all of the struggling. The only thing keeping him awake was focusing on the unsteady lifting of his own chest as he tried to breathe, which was painful because of the bruising of the back of his ribs. Aside from all of that, his headache was dull in comparison.
"Where am...I?" he glanced around the room and found an unusual comfort in knowing that it was his cell, not the chamber but body lengths down the hall. He closed his eyes for a second and gave a painful groan as he tried to roll onto his side, wincing. Giving up after finding that he wasn't able to put any pressure on his legs, he arched his back in a stretch, discovering that it gave some relief. He gave a surprised jolt and yelped as someone put a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't move. Don't say anything."
"Gam-"
"Don't move. Don't say anything." moving a couple strands of lengthy black hair out from over his eyes behind his ear, Gamzee glanced over his shoulder beyond the cell bars. "We're getting out of here." he mumbled, raising from his crouched position slowly to get a look outside.
"You're talk-"
"I said shut up, bro." he turned again swiftly and took two strides to return, given his long legs. "I'm going to get us out of here."
"How-"
"What about being quiet don't you understand? It's really not that hard, just listen to the voices inside of your head instead of the ones outside of it. Seriously." his voice held a bit of authority to it as he glanced down the hallway again and shoved his hands down into the pockets of the black uniform he wore. He slouched and gave another reminiscent sigh, rolling his eyes. Karkat didn't say anything back and instead pondered about how many voices Gamzee did have going through his head, and how malicious they must be to keep him occupied. His friend was always a strange fellow, but he always just assumed he was antisocial, introvertive, and occasionally under the influence of hallucinogens, not batshit crazy and schizophrenic.
With another shrug, Gamzee straightened his back and turned to the side, lifting his leg and kicking the lock to the cell with extreme power. It fell with a clank to the ground and people shuffled all around. The light to the guard's quarters went on and there were swears. "C'mon."
"Gamzee, what the fuck do you think you're doing?"
"Motherfucker, I'm escaping. Are you coming or not?" he was back at the bedside lickity-split with his arm outstretched with a welcoming hand.
"Over there!" Dokun's paralyzing subwoofer of a voice rebounded and echoed from a ways down, and Karkat gave a terrified look.
"I can't run, or walk for that matter, you idiot!"
"Get on my back."
"What?"
"On my back, let's go. Upsy-Daisy." without giving Vantas much of a choice, Gamzee haphazardly slung him behind his back and held him up with ease. Before he knew it, Karkat had tears running down his cheeks from the pain of being hobbled up and down while the behemoth jogged down the hall, ripping open every wound and agitating every pore in his body.
"Get them!" a herd of subordinate guards made their way after them, sprinting and beating revolting criminals as they went. Turning a couple corners, Gamzee halted at the sight of a clean gurney being pushed by the surgical investigator from earlier. He took a couple seconds to stare at him with ravenous eyes, to which the man put his hands up in defense, only to be thrown aside by a kick to the head.
"Ow, good God, Gamzee-"
"Shush." he sent the gurney rolling with another kick and smiled proudly as it took out a couple unknowing pursuers. Again he was on his way towards the main lobby, dodging men with tasers and hopping over those who cowered at his intense glare that had originally been lethargic if not lazy. It now was threatening and carnivorous.
He stopped short after a gatekeeper let him through a barricade to the lobby, which only took a look. In front of them stood a creature holding himself up by a scepter. His billiard eyes twitched back and forth, and his coat that glimmered was mercurial. Karkat was hardly awake at this point due to the overpowering pain that was rushing throughout his entire being.
Makara stepped aside cautiously like a male lion staring down its opponent, making a half circle around the man towards the front door without removing his gaze. The warden said nothing and only returned the gesture while remaining stationary. Dokun, who had finally caught up, tried to push a word in edgewise but was silenced by the opening of the head-honcho's mouth, which slithered in a hiss.
"Open the doors." the scarred troll grumbled, to the disbelief of the rest around him. They followed his orders, and as soon as the darkness of the stormy night slunk in through the front doors, Gamzee made a mad dash and did not stop until his legs could take him no further under the strain of the muddy swamp created by the rain. Karkat, short of breath and unable to do much more than murmur a measly sentence, said, "Why did you leave me in the dark for the whole time we were in there?"
"I haven't really had anything to say until now, bro."
"Good enough." he slipped into a cozy slumber as the brisk drops of rain temporarily satisfied his thirst, as sparsely as he could catch them.
Back in the penitentiary, the Warden hissed, almost incomprehensibly,"Let them go. It won't be long," with a roll of his eyes.