Good Boy, Mike

Disclaimer: People reviewed! I'm so happy. Still don't own anything.

It was a particularly terrible feeling, hearing Chuck whimper behind his gag as Kaia took his seat in Mutt. Julie struggled, but there was nothing to untie with a living mesh of plant matter. If she really twisted her back, she could get a hand on Dutch, but it wasn't worth the effort. It hurt to wrench her shoulders that way, she couldn't do a thing with her hands without seeing them, and any nearby Terra soldier would just walk his deer over and push them apart when she tried. It was all she could do to watch as the Terras lugged all of them back to the mutated village in slow motion. Mike rolled at the speed of the mutant deer, towing Whiptail and 9Lives behind him while the Terras leashed Stronghorn along behind them. Dutch, next to her, stayed tense the entire ride. Texas struggled, but he'd been triple-bound and gagged twice. The Terras knew who they were dealing with where Texas was involved.

Chuck, limp and heartbroken, just watched Mike through Mutt's windshield as he drove. Julie could see it in his shoulders, in the way his head fell to keep his hair hanging in front of his face even from the back. It was almost palpable. It made her chest hurt with every step the deer took, and it felt like years of trekking before the ground turned a sickly, glowing yellow and the air became pungent and sharp.

Terra village hadn't changed much since they'd last left it. It was still impenetrably thick with vegetation, and it twisted in ways that only Texas had the ability to navigate naturally. There was an energy that hadn't been present before, manifesting in wildly racing Terras, in and out of little houses and carrying anything from boxes to live animals to heavy equipment. Kaia was giving orders as soon as she was out of the car. "Get the deer watered and tack them into the battle harnesses. Ral, assemble the shock troops. Get Gunner out of the ward and fetch my training tools. Prepare cells for the Burner kids until we can make more of the darts."

"Actually, Kaia, I need to speak to you about the darts." A Terra man dressed in a dirtied labcoat swept in from the crowd. "The dosage you needed- it burned through our reserves. We could only make you one dart, and it will be powerful enough, but you need to land the hit."

"I really don't." Kaia waved Mike to her side and laced her hand into his hair. He sighed and leaned into her palm. "Not with him around."

"Can Mike get that close to Kane?"

Julie shuddered, horrified, and she felt it carry through the rest of the Burners as they listened in. Kaia's hand worked constant little circles in the back of Mike's head. "Mike's the only man in Motorcity that can go solo against Kane's monsters and survive. Whatever knowledge of that slimeball's city is hiding in his head, we have it at our disposal now. Our chances of getting close to Kane have gone from near-impossible to highly likely."

The scientist wrung his hands. "This is very irregular."

Kaia's "smile" pinched in worry. "I know. I'm sorry to put you in this position. But when Mike Chilton falls into your lap, you don't waste the opportunity. Besides, even if the plan fails, we have the other four in reserve. Start a batch for them, and make it easy to digest."

A fresh stream of tears ran down Mike's cheeks and down his neck, and he made a noise almost like sobbing before it quickly morphed into a pained laugh. Chuck whimpered behind his gag, and Julie immediately agreed.

The scientist flinched. "That... doesn't look like what happened to Gunner."

"Mike, be quiet now. Good boy." Kaia petted Mike's hair through another blissful sigh. "Mike's nothing if not... willful. He's been twitchy like this for the last hour or so."

Someone behind her spoke. "Cells are ready, Kaia."

Another Terra rushed forward holding a little leather pouch. "Your tools, Kaia!"

"Everything always happens at once. Board them separately and put Gunner on to watch." Kaia opened the pouch and pulled out something small and smooth, almost like a thumb drive but wooden. "I need another hour with Mike before he stops resisting me. Don't disturb us."

They were being carted off, turned away from where she could see, but Julie kept her eyes on Mike and Kaia. She ordered him to sit and pressed the little tool in her hand. It clicked. She knew about those. People used them to train animals. Teach them tricks. Julie's stomach wrenched in disgust.

Their guards brought them to a windowless building that resembled a toppled bank. The cells were only closet-sized, but they put Julie on a chair instead of leaving her on the floor. She heard Texas make a token attempt to escape, the scuffle from a few doors down. Nothing came of it. The guards sealed their cage doors shut with spores and kept watch over them until someone new arrived. It must have been Gunner: The new guy was about Mike's build and height, young like them, and his pupils were blown out to the whites of his eyes. He smiled like an idiot while two more Terras lead him through the door.

One of them took Gunner by the shoulder and gently sat him down in a chair, just barely where Julie could see him. "Gunner, watch the Burners until we get back. Don't get up. Don't let them out. Don't move from this spot, okay?"

"Okay..." Gunner even sounded a little like Mike, talking in half a giggle. "I'll be good."

One of the guards shivered. "That stuff makes him creepy."

"Yeah, but at least he's enjoying himself." Gunner got a good solid pat on the shoulder before they all left. "Good job, Gunner. Gotta get to the deer. Goin' to Deluxe in an hour."

Gunner made happy noises until they left the room, leaving him alone. More time spent waiting. Only Gunner's soft moans rang through the room every scarce moment. Once Julie was sure the guards weren't coming back, she tried biting into her gag. She immediately regretted it. The flavor was grassy and bitter and astringent, and the sap inside coated her tongue in a slimy film. It was like every single one of her most hated vegetables combined and turned up to the highest setting. It even made an awful squelching noise out of the sides of her mouth where she crunched into it. She had to fight herself not to hurl on the spot. Thinking about where it would even go if she did only made it harder. The crunching was even ringing in her ears.

She couldn't make it go away, though, like she normally could when sounds were stuck on loop in her head. Something was being munched on, loudly, somewhere in the building. She really couldn't tell specifics; the only things she could see were the hallway directly in front of her and the knee of Gunner's leg. She couldn't imagine anything that had the constitution to eat anything that grew in the Terra village, other than the Terras themselves and maybe a mutant rat or something-

Oh dear lord, she realized, it was Chuck, wasn't it?

A cough and a loud gasp in an unmistakable voice answered her question. Chuck spit and hacked and gnawed at the bits of gag still left in his teeth, but his mouth was free.

"OH jeeze... almost as bad as Jacob's..." Chuck coughed. "Nasty!"

Gunner laughed vacantly. Chuck took a long breath. He could work with this situation, maybe. A little. Sure, him and his team were kidnapped, and Mike was taking orders from one of their mortal enemies, and Kaia had subtly insinuated that she might be sending Mike on a suicide mission to Deluxe to tag Kane with a 'dart' that would magically solve all their problems. But he could work with this, because he'd noticed something with Mike, and Gunner was starting to confirm it. Commands. Kaia could input a command, and Mike would follow it. Gunner got his commands and executed them without thinking. Input, output, commands, and actions...

Whatever she'd done to them, Kaia had made Mike and Gunner into computers.

If Chuck knew one thing, it was computers. But people... that would be the tricky jump. He cleared his throat.

"Gunner?" Chuck's voice only trembled a little, in the back of his throat. "Can you hear me?"

Gunner lifted his head but didn't turn to face him. His eyes lolled around in their sockets, lost in sensation. "Yeah?"

A ping and response. Chuck's voice steadied itself a little more. He'd never spoken his commands out loud before. It was like translating a language- no, it just was translating a language in his head on the fly. Speaking to another person the same way he talked to code was just so odd, it almost tasted weird in his mouth. Maybe that was eating through the gag, though, which he was now certain was some kind of mutant radish. "Gunner, let us out."

"I can't," said Gunner. His smile dropped, and his eyes darted around the room. "I can't do that."

"Why not, Gunner?"

"You're not Kaia. You're not Ral, you're not..." Gunner swallowed. "You're not Terra."

"Check for Kaia." Maybe if Gunner didn't get an answering ping, he could work with him. Chuck kept his voice low and nonthreatening, steady and calm. "Is Kaia here?"

Gunner shook his head, looking distressed. "No?"

"Check the room for me, Gunner. Who's here?"

Gunner listed all of them off, by name. Chuck reflexively tucked down lower in his seat. He knew Kaia knew their names, but did all the Terras know? Now Chuck had to swallow, to wet his throat, and that was a terrible taste that he didn't want to put in the back of his mouth but it was there now. Great. "Gunner, can you listen to me?"

"I-I..." Gunner wrung his hands and started to shake. "I..."

Maybe that was the wrong thing to ask. Gunner didn't look to be in much of a decision-making position. Computers usually weren't. Chuck took a steadying breath. "Gunner, listen to me. Do what I tell you. Take a deep breath and calm down."

Gunner took one long breath, and Chuck started to smile. It was working. "Good job, Gunner?"

Gunner blissfully sighed, and Chuck grinned. He had access. Dutch projected an impressed-sounding noise through his gag. Bolstered, Chuck continued. "Tell us what Kaia has planned, everything you know."

"Kaia made a new drug..." Gunner's fingers twitched as he struggled for words. "She used it on me, before she left to get Mike Chilton. It makes me so happy... everything good feels great. Everything bad feels horrible. I do what she says so nothing hurts."

Chuck gasped. "And she wants to dose Kane with it to control him! Gunner, let us out."

Gunner stood right up. "Okay."

"Thank you! Good job, thank you!" Chuck wriggled in his bindings. "All right! We are... getting loose from here and dropping ourselves RIGHT into Terra territory with no plan and Mike batting for the other team. I-I am out of good ideas now."

Gunner slipped into the first cell, out of Chuck's sight. Something made a noise like a knife cutting through thick celery, and a powerful gulp for air echoed out of the tiny room.

"No worries! Texas is going to save all our collective butts."

Chuck flinched. "Oh no."

Out in the mushroom forest, Kaia repeated her order in a firm tone. "Mike, pull up your shirt."

Mike kept his hands firmly on the "ground" where Kaia had him kneeling. Everything was wonderful and fuzzy and warm in his head, but nothing was okay. His team tied up and carried away was wrong. He turned over all the cars to the Terras, he should feel something other than good about it all. He couldn't even make himself remember feelings outside of this happy cloud. Whatever word of protest he might have made, it came out in a laugh and a wash of stinging tears.

Kaia crooked her finger at something over his shoulder.

A lash struck across his back, painting a line of searing fire across his back. It was like it gouged through his skin, choking him and breaking that wall of good feelings in a horrible moment of clarity. It hurt through his shirt and his jacket, and he couldn't imagine what had hit him to hurt him so terribly.

"Let's avoid that kind of pain, shall we?" Kaia said. "Now. Pull up the bottom of your shirt, Mike. Let me erase that terrible sensation from your mind. I'm not asking you to do anything that will harm anyone."

It... it wasn't hurting anyone, was it? He shouldn't let her-

The lash hit his back again, and his vision blinked out from the pain, and he laughed. The rush of air out of his mouth felt good, and the fuzz of the mushroom cap under his palms.

"Lift up your shirt, Mike."

He did. It was so easy to do. Kaia clicked her little clicker and stroked his head and scratched his ears. It made his skin tingle and his heart go fluttery. Everything was wonderful. That pain was gone, gone a million miles away, and just for the trade of that little order, and Kaia was purring to him, "Good boy, Mike. Very good of you. See how easy this makes things? I just want you to be happy."

Kaia nodded to her footman behind Mike, and the footman obligingly threw away the long reed he'd been using as a training tool. It fluttered a bit as it felt to the ground, light as a feather. Kaia sighed in relief. Anything heavier than that overgrown weed, and Mike could have blacked out from the shock. The heightened sensation was an essential part of the drug's side effects, of course, but she'd perhaps overestimated Mike's individual reaction to the dosage. She would have to treat him delicately. Considering her target, though, it wouldn't be hard. Mike could keep himself out of trouble all on his own. She petted away the imaginary stripe left on Mike's exposed skin, a small mercy for her new acquisition.

Mike just smiled, and laughed, and tried to remember why he was crying.