"Shit..." The Warden cursed as he was met with another dead end. He knew he shouldn't have taken this turn. He turned around disdainfully, knowing full well that he would only be faced with the series of endless hallways and confusing turns.
He'd never been in a standard, or rather traditional hospital before, but from what he knew of them he couldn't fathom what could have possibly possessed him that he would design his own personal one into a hellish maze like this.
Then again, as he thought about it, he supposed he would perhaps design something this extensive and winding. Though, as he was currently lost and no one in sight to point him in the right direction, he couldn't fully appreciate the beauty of such intricacy, especially with a painful lack of color. He'd given up on finding his room, or the lift for that matter, which was another thing that puzzled him; why the hell would he only put one lift in this entire wing?
After a good ten or fifteen minutes more of getting himself turned around, finding those dreaded dead-ends and even more corridors, he finally tossed his cane down in anger stomping on it with his good leg.
"Goddammit I just want to get out of here! Where the hell is the exit!"
Just then, he heard the the sound of panels sliding behind him. An opening in the wall with a slight and all too welcoming breeze seemed to appear out of nowhere. Above the opening, a dot-matrix screen beamed in neon-green the words 'Voice Recognized … Enjoy your walk, Warden …'
The Warden couldn't help but smile at this, though unnerving it may have been. He picked his cane back up, shining the handle on his daffodil-yellow shirt. He tip-toed to the very edge, peaking around both corners just to make sure it was safe to leave. He heard the sound of a whistle blowing not too far away, followed by a unison of marching boots.
Stepping further out in the open, the light caught on his glasses, blinding him for a moment. Another thing he wasn't used to; natural sunlight. He couldn't even recall the last time he'd felt this unfamiliar warmth. It wasn't uncomfortable to him, just unfamiliar. He'd always generated his own light back at SuperJail. Day and night were his to control, he preferred it that way.
The sharp whistle could be heard clearer now. Once his eyes had adjusted, it took him a good second to process his current surroundings. What looked like some sort of maniacal training course extended as far as he could see.
There were towering, impossible obstacle courses with various bits and bobs of spinning blades, spiked plates and whatnot protruding all over the grounds. Soldiers, dressed in very peculiar camouflage-esque black and plum patterned uniforms busied themselves in trying to overcome these obstacles.
The Warden felt a twinge of excitement upon hearing the screams of those who failed.
His concentration was broken by the harsh blowing of the whistle. He hadn't even noticed he was walking toward the closest glorified death-trap.
"Alright lady-boys, your piss-poor performance is starting to get on my tits." The rough and deep voice barked at the twenty or so mangled, scarred, stone-cold soldiers lined neatly in a row. Their hollow expressions couldn't quite cover up the fear instilled by the woman (and by exterior looks she did at least resemble a woman) with bright red hair, dressed in a revoltingly-tight black-leather body-suit screaming at them. She wrung the riding-crop in her hands tightly as she paced in along the ranks.
The Warden felt his heart leap just then. He was so relieved to see a familiar face, one that hadn't changed completely.
"If I don't see you busting balls in the next five minutes, I'm taking your candy-asses around back and-"
"A-Alice! Alice! Oh dear Lord how I've missed you, Alice!" He sprinted to her, arms wide open. If they had been back at SuperJail, he would have likely floated right on a cloud to her. As he leaped into the air, his face came into abrupt contact with her open palm, knocking him several inches backward.
Dazed, it took a good second or two to acknowledge the terrible pain his nose and mouth were currently in. His mouth soon filled with blood that he spat out from the gap in his teeth. Future-Alice turned to face her clingy assailant, growling irritably. Her expression deepened into an even more angered scowl when she saw who it was she had knocked down.
"What the hell was that for?" The Warden coughed, wiping his chin free of blood on his sleeve.
"Sorry, didn't see you." It was obvious she wasn't sorry and more than likely did see him coming. Nonetheless, she shrugged it off and tapped her crop in her hand repeatedly.
The Warden patted his bottom to rid it of dust and dirt. This was his only suit he had with him and it was unlikely that his Future-self had any more readily available for him. He had to keep it as clean as possible for the time being.
"Don't tell me you can't recognize me either Alice, I'm only your boss after all." He hissed, adjusting his tie.
"I know who you are. Just didn't expect you here. You aren't supposed to be here anyway."
"I'm allowed to do just as I please I'll have you know!" The Warden huffed. He wasn't about to told what to do by his prison-guard! "I'm merely inspecting your...current duties as..."
"Lieutenant." Alice finished for him. "Do you even know what we're doing?"
The soldiers had broken their stance to stare blankly at the rather colorful and youthful Warden they weren't at all used to seeing. The Warden didn't notice them however, he was far too preoccupied with getting his point across to the abnormally defiant Alice he wasn't used to seeing.
"Oh—haha, you. Of course I know what you're doing." He nonchalantly scoffed, masking his rising agitation.
"You're preforming some sort of training, yes. For the upcoming battles we will be involved in." He nodded pointedly, hands on his hips.
"You're half right." Alice said, pointing to one of the courses. "I'm weeding out the runts of this shit litter." She firmly tapped her crop into her hand at this. An audible 'gulp' could be heard coming from most of the men she commanded. The Warden simply rolled his eyes, the same sense of forced-confidence welling over him.
"Ha! Well well then, how do you expect to see any results with a junior-high gym-class setup like this? I mean for goodness sake Alice, in the time I've stood here I've barely seen any casualties-"
He turned around, attempting to prove his point by gesturing to the nearest array of swinging axes, rings of fire, spiked-pits and various traps of viscous animals. However as he faced what only a moment ago was a field donning only a few corpses, he was greeted by a mound of bodies piled neatly beside the course.
As he finished his statement, two more men screamed their last agonizing screams; one having been chopped in half by one of the axes, the other having his limbs torn from him by a creature so mangled and gruesome the Warden could hardly begin to describe it as it tossed the remains of its latest victim to the others in the ever-growing pile. Of course he had seen, owned and had commissioned these sort of beasts to be created at his will back at SuperJail, though he couldn't place his finger on why this particular one frightened him so.
"I mean-" he cleared his throat as his voice had shifted involuntarily into a higher pitch. "I mean, this is a poor way to make an example of them, d-don't you think, Alice?"
"You designed it." Alice snorted, folding her arms and tapping her foot. She was quickly beginning to lose her patience. She flashed a glare to her ranks, and they immediately stood to attention.
"Well, I must have been in a creative slump that day." The Warden snapped back.
"Why not test it out yourself then?" Alice suggested, cocking a brow over her horn-rimmed glasses.
"Oh-ho, nonono," The Warden declined, chuckling as he waved his hands rapidly. "That sounds like something I pay you to do, Alice."
"Lieutenant. And, I'd consider this part of my job."
"Are you implying that I'm a 'runt'? Alice?"
Alice didn't respond to this, instead she strode past the row of soldiers, straight to the start of the course.
"Hold this." She grunted, shoving her riding-crop into the Warden's chest.
She gauged the distance carefully before taking a few steps back. There was a good fifteen feet between herself and the visible spiked-pit, however she sprinted at full speed only for about two meters before leaping high over the pit, catching hold of the nearly-invisible rope that dangled in the web of swinging axes. Gripping tightly to the blade-free rope, she swung in between the lethal axes, letting go just as she reached the end.
As if tripped by a sensor, a wall rose out of the ground to block her progression. Alice forced her body into a flip, pushing off the wall as it reached it's maximum height. She then landed onto the head of the decrepit creature, the heel of her stiletto spearing it in the center of its skull. The beast roared in pain, trying with all its might to retaliate before death. It tossed and rolled around, trying to knock her off. Her heel was removed and blue blood spewed out of it in an endless spray. The creature's eyes rolled back into its head as it screeched a piercing howl and it collapsed in a heap of dust. Not a drop of the beast's blood found itself onto Alice's suit as she triple-flipped through the three rings of fire that completed the first course.
She casually strutted back, running her fingers through her hair, shifting her weight from one hip to the other. The Warden couldn't manage to feign his would-be unimpressed demeanor. He was dumbfounded, absolutely awestruck. It never ceased to amaze him how she always seemed to effortlessly pull off the stunts she did. She hadn't even broken a sweat either.
"Yes...Well, obviously you've had practice at this." He commented snidely, turning his nose in the air, gingerly handing her back her crop.
"Nah, it isn't my thing to test them out. That's what they're for." She pointed to her ranks. They remained in form, though the beads of sweat started to roll down their faces a bit quicker now.
"Still, it looks far too easy for the likes of my soldiers." The Warden muttered disinterested. With his gloved hand he shined his nails on his chest.
"Go through it then." Alice shrugged
"Now now Alice-"
"Lieutenant."
"Whatever. It isn't like you to be so goading."
"Pussy."
"Wha-? How dare you! I am not at all!"
"Prove it."
"Fine! I most certainly will!" The Warden stomped toward her, shoving his cane into her arms.
"Hold this." He hissed.
He stormed to the start of the course and eyed it carefully. His eyes followed one of the swinging axes as he stepped closer. He'd barely placed his foot down before a spike jutted forward, nearly piercing his shoe.
"Warden! What the hell are you doing!"
The Warden froze in place, his foot had yet to be set down. He was almost too afraid to turn around.
"Good God I can't leave you alone for a fucking second without you trying to get us both killed!" The furious Future-Warden marched to his now trembling counterpart, Jared following behind.
"I was just...admiring it." The Warden responded quietly.
He very cautiously turned on one foot and set his other down on the ground. As he stepped forward a sharp 'shuuunk' sound caused him to freeze once more. The top of his head felt unusually cold all of a sudden and as he reached up to feel it he was a little surprised to find that his hat had gone missing.
Looking up had solved this mystery as the very edge of the brim of his hat had caught on a delayed-triggered spike. It spiraled downward, ripping the edge as it was released.
"Dammit..." The Warden cursed, catching it as it fell, running his finger over the tear.
"Well you can stop admiring it right this instant. I have a job for you." The other snarled, flipping his cape over his shoulder.
"Oh boy."
"Oh come now Warden, where is your sense of fun?"
"I highly doubt whatever you have planned for me is going to be fun even in the most generous sense of the word."
The other grinned, tossing the cane to the Warden. He reached up to catch it before fearfully retracting his hand in case another wary spike decided to pop up.
"Nonsense, nonsense I've simply gone over your list a few more times and I think I might be able to substitute a few key parts in your machine."
"Great. And?"
"And," the other grabbed a hold of the Warden's shoulder dragging him back to the base, "You are going to start putting it together now."
"You really do not want me here at all do you?" The Warden chuckled, letting himself be pulled along by the other.
"Your departure could not come sooner."