Author's Note (Monster): Hi guys! I worked out the detailed plan for the story and the chapter count is going to be 71. Another fast update because I've written 2 more chapters for this fic (fillers but still). I now have 5 more chapters to post! Even more is on the way. Enjoy!

Previously on American Tragedy;

After another rough day, Danny calls it a day a little earlier.

Danny awoke feeling as new – somewhat replenished, at least. He spent the rest of the afternoon cooking up arguments for Cain to bench Da Kurlzz from experiments. It was the least Danny could do for the subject and the least he could do to prove him that his expertise could help them. Even if there was no freedom in store for any of them.

He took his scribbles of notes, shoved them into his backpack and left for the 4C early in the morning.

Today would be better, was exactly what he said to himself in the mirror.

Today would be better, he repeated to himself in the rear-view mirror of his car.

He huffed to himself. Today would be fucking better.

With the stride of a man with a goal, he'd gone inside Starbucks, ordered himself a coffee and strode right out with the confidence of a man who had achieved his goal. Instead of "thank you", he'd almost said "Fucking better" to the lady serving him his drink so his confidence had wavered a little bit.

But!

Today would be fucking better.

Danny grumbled it under his breath to himself, a look of determination in his features. He badged himself in with his cup in hand and gave Olivia a smug smile of 'Look at me, I didn't forget my badge today!'. She smiled back at him, almost like she understood his non-verbal look. Maybe it was because he marched in with the confidence of a lifetime, a lot better than when he'd left the building with his head hung low yesterday. Downstairs, Danny temporarily debated on what to do with his coffee cup while he put his stuff in the locker. He eventually decided on balancing the cup on the sink at the other end of the room before he put on his lab coat and put his phone into the pocket of his jeans. He locked his stuff inside and walked upstairs to head to his office.

…

Before going back to retrieve his cup of coffee of course. Duh.

Danny emptied his cup on the way to the second floor and dumped it in the trash can in his office before he sat down and logged in. He checked the schedule. Today he was set to meet Subject 99 and Subject 4. He took a deep breath. Troublemakers. He cleared his throat and pushed back his concerns. No, not troublemakers, just patients having a hard time expressing themselves. He sent out a quick text.

Danny

Hello mr. Clark. Are you aware of the appointments today?

-Danny 8:40am

Cutler Clark

I am. See you soon 8:44am

Danny gave himself a satisfied nod. He pulled out the drawer with the files and took out Subject 4 and Subject 99. He flipped open his first patient of the day. Test Subject 99 was a 29 year-old male nicknamed Funny Man. Great, that promised to be a very serious appointment then. Wonder how he got the nickname. The rest of the sheet of paper was gone and held burn marks. Danny sighed. Guess he had to be cautious for any modifications on this individual. There weren't a lot of notes on Funny Man so Danny had to treat him like he knew nothing about him to start getting to know him. He put the file in the corner of his desk for later and pulled out the next one.

Test Subject 4

Name: Jordon "Charlie Scene" Terrell

Age: 30 years old

Sex: male

Again, the rest of the sheet was ripped off and held burn marks all over. Though in the left corner of the sheet, there was something handwritten;

JOHNNY 3 TEARS!

It was underlined twice as if it were a very significant piece of information. Danny blinked. Who was Johnny 3 Tears? The name sounded familiar. He dug into the files on the computer, finding a patient overview. Besides everyone's personal files, there was a list with their names and cell numbers too. Danny pulled it up and skimmed it. It didn't really help some of those numbers were out of order but he ignored it and looked for the name of Johnny 3 Tears, finding it next to 'Cell 3'. Cell 3… That was across from Cell 4.

Johnny 3 Tears was Charlie's neighbouring test subject and one of the bunch. Danny checked the time. It was about time he left for his appointment with Funny Man but he made a mental note to ask about Johnny 3 Tears when he saw Charlie Scene.

Danny rushed to the fifth floor, bumping harshly into another man. He bounced back and uttered a frantic excuse but found a man smiling back at him. "Doctor Murillo?"

Danny blinked. "Mr. Clark?"

"In the flesh", he smirked. "Let's go. I love what your department does for these inmates. Getting the mental guidance they need."

Danny raised an eyebrow but said nothing when Clark entered the fifth floor, yelling. "Good morning, inmates!"

He earned a few tired grumbles before the silence resumed. They walked to the end of the hallway to cell 99. Danny spotted Da Kurlzz giving him hard stares but J-Dog was once more absent at this hour of the day. Clark opened the cell to subject 99 and let Danny in. Funny Man's cell was exactly the same as J-Dog's. Funny Man lay on his bed, seemingly still asleep – Danny thought. He wondered if he were supposed to let the subjects know he was entering before actually entering, but then again, the wardens knew 4C etiquette, right?

Funny Man opened his eyes and sat upright. "Good morning, doctor."

There was something static about him and yet his face shifted slightly, like a nervous twitch but it wasn't a constant feat. More like a different twitch every now and then, mostly in the eyebrows.

"Good morning, Funny Man", Danny said. He thought a second about how strange the nickname felt to speak out loud. Funny Man gave him a grin. "I got that nickname before the 4C. A friend's brother would call me the funny man because he thought I wasn't funny at all. The gang started calling me that name when I got here and well, when the nicknames were entered into the system, I got mine integrated."

"That's a good story", Danny said. "I was wondering how you got it."

Funny Man's smirk didn't waver. "Sit, please."

Danny took the usual chair and sat down. "I'm doctor Danny Murillo and I will be your psychiatrist from now on."

Funny Man stared at him. Despite his calm demeanour, Danny felt his nerves flare. He had to remember that this was one of the difficult patients. He'd been informed as much. What if this appointment went just as poorly as it went with J-Dog or Da Kurlzz?

Funny Man cocked his head. "I won't threaten to bite you as Da Kurlzz did and making you spill truths is hardly in my book of tricks."

Danny blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I'm different from Kurlzz and Jay. If anything, you'll find me more fun to talk to", Funny Man grinned. "Or not talk to. It doesn't really matter if you open your mouth."

Danny was taken aback for a few seconds but remembered he should be checking the man for modifications. He gave him a onceover. Funny Man seemed younger than he was, looked fairly lean and had a something charming about him.

"Thank you, you're good-looking, too, doctor", Funny Man grinned and Danny blinked.

Oh crap.

He's reading my mind, isn't he?

Funny Man chuckled. "We've got a winner!" he called out before easing into a cocky smile. "I've been reading your mind since you entered the premise and doctor, how do you cope with all that insecurity and loss of motivation? Whether you'll find your place, whether this was a good decision, whether we'll cut you some slack or even if you'll break like doctor Michaels."

Danny tried to stop thinking in that moment but trying not to think, only made him think harder about stuff. He had to admit he wasn't aware of his fear of becoming like doctor Michaels. Now he noticed Funny Man's twitches were responses he had to reading someone's mind.

Test subjects must have one Hell of a thought process.

"They do", Funny Man hummed. "Some of them are about murder, some about drugs, some about sex. Most about sex. Can you blame them? They haven't gotten laid since arriving here and fucking another test subject is entertaining but there is no privacy at all. No fun. Unless you're into that."

Danny scrunched his nose and Funny Man laughed. "Yeah, me neither. You know what's entertaining about reading other people's minds?"

"I don't want to know", Danny said, but his thoughts claimed otherwise so Funny Man shook his head. "People can't lie to me because I know everything about their thoughts. I know whether someone is genuinely my friend or if they'd kill me if they had the opportunity to. I know exactly what your patients think of you. Even those you have judged to be "harmless" and "put up to their crime by their best friend". I could tell you so much stuff that would make your job so damn easy."

"Then why don't you? My job is to help you deal with this situation", Danny argued.

Funny Man's smile melted off his face. He furrowed his eyebrows. "Because you won't use the information to help us. I have seen it before. Doctor Michaels wanted to help us but her thoughts grew darker and darker the longer she spent time with us. I couldn't bear listening to that train wreck of a thought process anymore. She tried to help us but the system prevents you from helping us. Even if your intentions are pure, doctor, you won't win this fight with the big boss."

"With doctor Cain?"

"Cain's only the puppet of the masters. As long as they are pulling the strings around here, you won't be able to help us ease our minds", Funny Man leaned in. "If you can't help us, then I have no choice but to sit by and watch as you ruin yourself with this job. And the idea that I could've helped you… but didn't, is exactly what'll make me feel better about you bunch ruining our lives."

Please Review, they're my fuel.

OC's featured:

Olivia, Breccan Cain by the anti-sleepy Monster
Cutler Clark by kelkel12

OC submissions are still welcome. I am in dire need of more doctors - infirmary, test tinkers, psychiatrists, any of them - but I refuse to be the one to cook up more just to fill in some blanks. Warden, inmates and special forces are still welcome too. Just not accepting more Test Subject admissions until there's more doctors and wardens. If you'd like to add an OC (yes, you may add multiple), please provide the following information;

name:
age (must be 18+):
gender:
Occupation:

- doctor: There are 3 types of doctors needed in this story; infirmary (treats injured/modified subjects and inmates), test tinker (designs and carries out the experiments performed on the subjects) or psychiatry department (regularly evaluates the mental health of the subjects)
- warden: As a warden, your OC keeps an eye on everyone and everything. They are to keep the doctors safe when a doctor enters the cell, walks the hallway, the courtyard etc.
- special force: The special forces are the snipers surrounding the towers of the courtyard, the heavily armed people to break apart riots and separate fights between inmates, subjects or both.
- inmate: inmates are the preys of test subjects. The Subjects envy their potential freedom once they get out since the Subjects are sentenced for a lifetime. Subjects give the inmates HELL.
(optional) anything you wanna add (personality, appearance, ...):

Thanks again for all the OC's currently present in this story (27! Okay fine, 4 of them are mine)