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Every aspect of Mechakara is terrifying.
He is like the Shades, cold and uninterested unless it has to do with machines or the 'mission', but unlike them, he has what many would call a soul; a sense of existing, an ability to think for himself with no outside interference and act upon those thoughts.
Linksano knows these thoughts currently involve Vyce.
There is no question that something about Vyce has captured Mechakara's interest despite that he is clearly human underneath the armor he wears.
Maybe he is afraid of Vyce, or at least of Vyce's power. The stories about Vyce have spread far and wide through many dimensions. Linksano knew some of the stories have been spread by a handful of Shades Vyce sent out for scouting missions. Mechakara's world must have been one of those, as he quickly agreed to a deal with Vyce to leave his dimension alone and did not want to look Vyce in the face; though Vyce never took his helmet off for anyone but Linksano.
Perhaps he knows how lucky he is to be put back together and isn't sure how to compute Vyce's generosity with what he believes of humans. Vyce certainly didn't bring him back for generosity's sake. No, for some insane reason, Linkara had posted his near death battle with the being he called Mechakara to his website, where anyone could see it. He was proud of his hard earned victory for sure, but what if one of his enemies saw it? Did he even think about those like Vyce and how it could be used against him?
Mechakara's interest could be some kind of reverence. Vyce took care of his ship and robotic Shades, or rather, Linksano did, but he didn't know what Vyce did before he had Linksano. Regardless, it was clear that Vyce didn't program the Shades to serve him. They served Vyce of their own limited free will. It was likely they came with the ship as crew and saw Vyce as the one in charge of the ship and answered to him with no resistance and no complaints.
Being around his own kind likely placated Mechakara as well. He couldn t fault him for that.
Linksano has a very flexible personality. He is at home being alone in a lab somewhere for days, but he can only stand being without another person for so long. He always had Wayne to be with, especially during very long and tedious experiments and builds, but he knew even then that eventually he needed to drop everything that didn't need his immediate attention and seek a night out with someone, anyone, as long as it was another person.
Being captured by Vyce made him realize just how desperate he is for human contact. How much he needs to engage in conversation, how much he needs to be touched. Linksano has tried so hard to ignore Vyce, he really has, but the coldness of the ship and the silence and the mundane routine of it all forces him to give into Vyce's caresses and mockery of date night meals and chatter. He wants a friend again, a companion, someone to be close to.
When the only other human on board is his captor, his lonely mind starts swirling and confusing abuse for affection. It drives Linksano mad on a daily basis.
Vyce will leave him alone for days or weeks at a time. He will not show interest in him or acknowledge his existence. On more than one occasion Linksano fears that he has displeased Vyce, only to flip flop between being glad that Vyce wants nothing to do with him and realizing that he is going to go another day without something to break the monotony. Sometimes, he won't come for Linksano until he is well past the breaking point and will comply with anything Vyce feels like doing.
There are occasions where Linksano's desperate mind will try to resist Vyce when he finally wants him. It always ends with beatings and rape. Once every blue moon, Vyce will treat these refusals from a broken man with alcohol. Depending on where the liquor came from, it can be intoxicating enough to keep him sedated for days while Vyce does as he pleases with his body.
He hates to admit it, but Vyce can be romantic and sexy when he wants, and after a time Linksano helplessly falls for it. The love making-no, it's rape, it was always rape despite how pleasing it was, he had to remind himself-is gentle and slow. Vyce has learned what he likes, and takes his time, making sure Linksano is a warm, happy mess by the end of it.
He feels so guilty afterward, so ashamed. He still feels guilty. He is guilty.
He is guilty of giving into Vyce, guilty of being fooled by Vyce, guilty of loosing Vyce's affection, guilty of being too weak to resist him, being too stubborn to completely give in. He is guilty of being afraid, afraid to live and afraid to die, but he is most guilty of betraying his brother. Wayne gave his life to defend him and he repaid his brother's sacrifice by sleeping with his killer and barely fighting back each and every night.
Dying, he knows, is too good for him. Everything Vyce subjects him to, even now while working for Linkara, is his punishment.
-
Silent Hill Dead/Alive wasn't on his schedule, but he felt compelled to review it. 'Because it was October,' he'd thought at the time, and he could finally get the crappy series over and done with.
Linkara honestly loved the horror genre, but he would have never guessed the Magic Gun contained such a terrible history. Her suffering made him angry at the cult, at the girl's parents, and if he could, he'd do anything to restore the girl, to give her peace.
He'd even give up his own life if she required it. His willingness to do anything to end her suffering was what made it so easy for Mechakara to manipulate his mind.
Thankfully, she hadn't wanted that. She liked him, saw goodness in him that had once been herself. He was her friend even though he hadn't been aware that his gun was more than a magical object he'd found.
A partner, she had called him.
Well, called was a simple way to put it. He had felt her will and she had conveyed her feelings in a way that only emotion could travel: through the heart and to the soul.
Being a machine, that wasn't something Mechakara could understand. He'd been exposed to a brief burst of memories and thought that that was all there was to it since humans were nothing but abusive sacks of meat and bone to him.
It was depressing to him, but Linkara supposed that was a saving grace. Had Mechakara been able to learn of the girl's real feelings, he would have been sure to block them. If that had happened, then Linkara definitely would have...
'There are worse things than death, Linkara. I've experienced them.'
The lingering effects of the Order s magic were still assaulting him, leading him to momentary bouts of spiraling thoughts. When he'd start staring down into that mental black pit, what Linksano had said would reverberate around in his head and sober him.
It was strange. He could still feel the connection with the Magic Gun, which was pleasant and warm, but it was a memory of Linksano that woke him up from his lapses in sanity.
'There are worse things than death.'
What could be worse than death? Linkara couldn't think of anything and most of what he did, it was superficial.
If he couldn't read comic books anymore, not only would he not have a show, but he'd miss out on good comics. And, yeah, he'd miss the income his show brought him every month, but it wasn't like he didn't have other talents. He was very good at building robots thanks to what he learned when creating Pollo and he had his magic to help him out until he was settled into his life without comics.
Assuming he could keep his magic. It was more lucrative than robots in the right markets, but he really didn't want to spend time enchanting toys to make them behave as if they were the real thing. After all, that took time and chance to work. It wasn't always accurate when it took either. He'd thought it was a great idea to make his Bulbasaur plush into a real Bulbasaur until the damn thing refused to listen to him. Those vines were so annoying to deal with.
He could be friendless, he supposed. That was something that would hurt him worse than the comic books, for months if not years. Sure, he could always make new friends eventually, but he couldn't bear to part with Pollo, Harvey, Liz, or anyone else. They not only were reliable and trusted fighters, but they had been his best friends for years. He'd never be able to fill that void.
He could be homeless. That would be just as bad as losing his friends. He had many enemies that would love to fight him when he didn't have a safe haven to retreat back to and lock intruders out.
That was something worse than death, he realized; being tortured for no reason than someone's sick pleasure. Insano would likely have a field day with him testing all kinds of things while Mechakara had just put him literally through hell.
What else though? Linkara couldn't think of much else. He listed them again in his head: losing his comics, his job, his magic, his friends, his home...having and being nothing to no one.
Nothing.
Being nothing.
That...would be an awful existence. Would it even be existing? Being nothing but existing?
'I've experienced it.'
Yes, that had to be true. By his own admission, Linksano was forced to abandon everything in order to get away from Vyce. It was hard to imagine a crazy guy like him having friends, a job, and a home, but he must have had that originally before Vyce took it away, right?
What about restarting? If he was reduced to starting from scratch, he'd definitely make a new life in a new world.
Yes, this is what he'd do.
But another haunting thought drifted in: What if Vyce appeared there too and took everything again? Would he flee and try again? How many times would he try before he gave up?
Sixteen worlds.
Sixteen.
Which one of those had been Linksano's? Had he and Vyce been to sixteen worlds or had they been to more while Vyce had conquered sixteen thus far? How many times did he restart his life? Did Vyce really take everything from him?
"Uhg," Linkara pressed his palms to his forehead. He really needed to get up off the couch. He wasn't going to get a nap any time soon and he might as well get back to work. "My head hurts."
"Hey, Kid. I was wondering if you were awake."
Linkara opened his eyes to see a dapper man who looked like he stepped right out of the 1920's looking down at him. "Oh, hey Harvey. When did you get here?"
"Just a bit ago. I thought I'd check up on ya after last week's craziness."
He sat up with a groan. Yeah, he was going to need aspirin. "I'm fine, but still off balance from the experience."
Harvey pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his jacket pocket and taped one out of its pack. "Doin' anything important tonight?" He asked after placing it in his mouth, fishing in his poket for his lighter.
"No, figured I'd work on the next review."
"Wanna grab the 'bot and head out for karaoke? Or pool if ya don't feel up ta singing."
"Well, Liz and 90's Kid went out to see a movie. She said that they'll pick up burgers, so probably after dinner."
Harvey inhaled as he lit up and flicked both the pack and lighter back into his pocket. He pulled the cigarette from his lips and puffed out a stream of smoke. "Ya didn't go with 'em?"
"I was tired and thought I'd get some rest," he said as he closed his eyes and rubbed his head.
"Look, Kid, I'm gonna be straight up with ya. Ya need ta get out some more. Stayin' in here all the time isn't good for ya."
Linkara shrugged, "I get out some. Hey, I'm going out with you tonight after dinner."
"Only when we ask you or when you're the only one who can do the grocery run."
"I am not 'that' bad." He said before he twised his lips slightly and added, "Am I?"
"Well, you're nowhere close to bein' a shut-in, but ya seem off lately."
Linkara opened his mouth to reply, but Harvey stopped him. "I know it's none of my business what you do, but we're concerned about you. All of us, Kid. Especially Iron."
He bowed his head before slowly standing up, giving Harvey time to move out of the way. "Sorry, I've just had a lot on my mind with Vyce and Mechakara and wondering how Linksano's doin-"
"The Kook? Why worry about him?" By now, Linkara had moved down the hall toward the bathroom to locate aspirin with Harvey behind him.
"Pollo informed you about the last message, right?"
"Yeah, Vyce gave 'im a shiner," he replied as Linkara opened the mirror cabinet. "We've likely given him the same in fights."
"I know, but I don't like knowing that Vyce is hurting him. It's...different."
"Different?"
"I don't really know how to explain it. Is there an extra cup on the linen rack?"
"I think there's some in the vanity." Harvey flicked his ashes into the toilet. "Anyway, I don't think it's anything to concern yourself over. He's the one who came up with the plan and if he felt he really was in danger, you and I both know he'd never volunteer for it himself."
Linkara filled his cup with water and popped two pills in his mouth. He drained the water from the cup before speaking again. "But that's the thing. He only showed up to tell me that he was leaving this dimension because Vyce showed up. I tried to make fun of him for fleeing, since I thought it was due to the fight at the convention, but he just laughed at me like it was the funniest joke he'd ever heard.
"I mean, if he fled both his world and this one simply because Vyce showed up, he must be completely terrified of him. Why offer to go aboard his ship when he can keep running to different universes?"
He turned to exit the bathroom and Harvey did the same, leading Linkara back into the kitchen where they sat at the table. "Didn't he say that he was tired of running?"
"Again, Linksano's terrified of Vyce. We've intimidated him before and I know Pollo's caught him in the apartment once and threw him into the trash down stairs, but he's never..."
"Fled and never came back?"
"Yeah, it's more like he's just having fun annoying us. I mean, a few months ago he snuck in here and switched the wax for Pollo's body with 'carrot' scented wax. He left the licorice flavored cigarettes knowing full well you hated them but needed a pack and Liz still isn't sure what to do about the electric nail polish he mailed her."
"Electric nail polish?"
"Oh, it looks cool on her, but she can't touch anyone with it on other wise she shocks them."
Harvey rolled his head as he tapped the ashes of his cigarette into the ashtray. "Goggles' a bunch of trouble."
Linkara laughs lightly and continues. "I know Linksano 'can' be dangerous, but all he wants is attention like a little kid. Vyce shows up and he drops all of that..." He gestures with his hand, rolling in quick circles a few times till he finds the word he's looking for. "Fun, as it were. It's got me wondering just what Vyce can really do if he wants. What he 'has' done if Linksano of all people is going to treat his arrival so seriously."
"Kid, Vyce is bigger and badder than any of us and at the end of it all, Linksano's just a scared, little mouse. He's probably so scared now that it's looped back on him."
"Looped back?"
"If someone's afraid enough, they'll fight tooth and nail to save themselves, even when they have nothin' more to lose."
'There's nothing more to lose.'
That was a lie then. Linksano still had something to lose if he'd decided to fight back against Vyce, something that could cost him his life.