Centurions, how's it hanging this peaceful Tuesday night? So, after the tremendous success of the Rise of the Dragons, I feel like we should do another action story, this time instead of Jack and Kim, Milton and Grey are the main focus pairing.
So without further adieu, please enjoy!
Seaford California, a medium-sized municipality overlooking the Pacific Ocean. A peaceful place where karate is the local sport. To the untrained eye, it's a paradise, a quant area which just so happened to also be relatively heavily forested.
However, that couldn't be further from the truth…Seaford had a secret. That secret of course was that it housed a heavily guarded mental asylum. Formally it was known as the Leopold Jones home for the mentally ill, however to the rest of Seaford, and the asylum's inmates itself, it was just known as '' The Box.''
Originally opened in the 1800s for slaves who believed they were more than property, women wanting equality and the local crazy person, The Box was now used by the OSS as a prison for its most dangerous criminals. Ranging from drug lords to captured sociopathic dictators, it was a nightmare for all those who entered it.
However, a specific wing had been designed for the inmates who were extra crazy, these included Milton's Krupnick's ex-girlfriend Heidi and his former hero Derrick Tanner. Originally Heidi had been admitted for her personality disorder, the doctors were concerned as to how she was able to pull nerds away from their friends. Thankfully, due to an insanely heroic dosage of a recently FDA-approached anti-psychotic drug, she was getting better, experiencing remorse and even regret for her actions. She and some of her exes had even been exchanging letters in which she apologized for her past actions. This had impressed the doctors so much, they were tempted to let her go back into normal society.
Tanner on the other hand was the opposite. After Milton had gotten him arrested and he lost control of his company, he had sworn revenge on the young redhead. Originally being sent to the state penitentiary, Derrick had slowly gone mad. Milton became his sole focus, he had become his latest '' project.'' This had soon become an obsession, every hour in his cell spent on learning everything about his '' worst enemy.'' Dartboards, personal records, even Milton's hair now decorated his cell at The Box. Unlike Heidi, who had responded well to drug treatment, Derrick had refused them, saying that he liked being crazy, it made him more sane than any being who ever lived. It was this factor that led to him developing his master plan…which he was explaining over lunch to his fellow inmates.
-x-
'' I've got it'' Tanner said from one end of the table he was sitting at, slamming his fist down dramatically. With him was Heidi herself, a captured Congolese dictator; Akeem Harabi and a local psychotic murderer known as The Dagger.
'' What is it? Whenever you have a plan it backfires horribly'' Dagger spat.
'' Quiet one-prong fork, here's the plan. Tonight, I'm going to fake my sanity. The guards will come to check on me, open my cell and I'll snap their necks as I murder my way to the main control room and let us all out. The OSS may have captured us but I'll be the one to set us free, I'll be the liberator of The Box.''
'' Derrick, you've gone insane-er. Almost killing Milton is one thing, obsessing about him every second of every day and planning his demise is one thing, but murder is at least thirty six steps too far.''
'' Hoi. Big talk from the girl who kidnapped him and almost forced him to marry her. You're just as psycho as we are'' Tanner retorted.
'' Not anymore, I'm changing, I can feel remorse, what I did, how I acted, I was a monster'' Heidi sighed, she wasn't faking, she truly felt bad.
'' Please. Foolish girl, you are no better than we are. You can fool yourselves but not us, I was the ruler of the entire Congo, I was supreme, Dagger slaughtered 13 men and laughed at their corpses and Tanner is sociopathic. Admit it Heidi, you know you are as bad as we are'' Harabi snorted.
'' I'm out of here, I have a cell to get back to'' Heidi said, standing up and leaving the area.
-x-
Despite what her fellow inmates might have thought, Heidi had in fact told a half-truth. She was going back to her cell, but for a consultation with her psychiatrist; Dr. Edward '' Eddie '' Jones. He was a good friend of Milton, Jerry, Jack and Kim's, and was also one of the most respected shrinks in California.
The cell Heidi had been given was surprisingly nice for one inside of a heavily guarded mental institution. It was padded, like everyone else's, but hers contained a soft, store-bought mattress, goose feather pillows, proper comforter as well as a nightstand, bookshelf and desk. She essentially had her own room in there.
Entering, she saw a familiar face, a short, balding black man at her desk, he wore a tweed suit with a pen in his suit pocket, as well as a pair of white Air Jordans.
'' Heidi! How's my favorite lunatic?'' Eddie smiled.
'' Hi Dr. Jones, I'm fine. Just trying to get used to this lack of insanity now, you know?''
'' I get it, you've become a new person, one who isn't bent on hoarding nerds like some weird collector. So…'' Eddie took his pen out and raised it below his chin '' tell me, how're the drugs treating you?''
'' Well, I feel remorse now. I genuinely feel bad for all the things I did. I've even been writing letters to my ex-boyfriends apologizing for my behavior.''
'' Nice. Clearly they're correcting some of the chemical imbalances in your brain. What else, any desires to go after Milton?''
'' None. Honestly if you look in that paper tray next to you, you'll find the draft of my latest letter to him, since he was the one that I was worst to, I haven't sent it out yet, who knows if he'll even respond to it, let alone even read it.''
'' Wow, you seem to be doing well. I'd say that this needs to be taken up with the parole board, but first…'' Eddie reached into the backpack he had brought with him and pulled out a laptop. Activating it, a familiar face emerged on the screen.
'' Milton? Is that you?'' Heidi asked, as Eddie set the laptop down on Heidi's desk.
'' Hey there nutloaf. How's prison treating you?''
'' Pretty well, I'm almost ready to qualify for parole.''
'' So I hear, Eddie's been keeping me updated. So, guess who has news for you?''
'' Go on?'' Heidi raised an eyebrow.
'' Bring it in boys'' Milton called, three workers emerging into her cell with a large machine being wheeled on a table.
'' Is that a polygraph test?'' Heidi asked.
'' Yeah it is. But this is an OSS polygraph test'' Eddie nodded.
'' OSS, so there really is a secret service?''
'' Yep. We're as real as Eddie's credit card deb. And guess who's their deputy director'' Milton smiled.
'' Wow, good for you. So, why am I getting this test?'' Heidi asked.
'' Because I'm your parole board'' Milton answered.
'' Oh, ok. So how does this work, any attached wires?'' Heidi asked, causing the room to laugh at her.
'' Heidi, the OSS is one of the most prominent covert government organizations in the world, we don't need wires. Instead…'' Eddie plucked one of the blonde's hairs and inserted it into a slit in the polygraph, a robotic voice immediately responding. '' Welcome, Carson, Heidi. Height; 5'6, weight 63kg.''
'' The machine reads your DNA, so it has a direct connection to every part of your body that is stimulated when someone lies, from the subtle rise in heartbeat, blood pressure and eye movement. It's never wrong.
'' First off, ow! Secondly, pretty impressive karaoke machine. Ok, let's do this'' Heidi breathed.
'' Alright, I'll administer the test'' Milton answered as he put on a dorky pair of reading glasses. I've got a direct link to our polygraph, so I can see what it detects. '' Ok, first question, what are you currently feeling?''
'' A bit overwhelmed, a little anxious I guess, also a bit happy since I may be paroled.''
'' No deception'' Milton answered monotonously, although Heidi swore she could have heard that he was trying to hide a smile.
'' Assuming you are granted parole, what do you plan on doing?'' Milton asked.
'' I plan to visit my exes, assuming they even want to see me and tell them in person how sorry I am for what I did. As great as letters are, I think in this case, a personal visit would be a better way of showing my redemption.''
'' Again, no deception'' this time Milton did smile. He was genuinely happy for her redemption. This was because he saw the real Heidi all those years ago. Not the crazy girl, but the sweet, funny one.
'' Ok, final question. Do you feel you belong in The Box or do you think you belong in society?''
'' Both. I do feel as though The Box has made me a better person, and I do truly feel regret for my actions, but if I'm truly honest, sometimes I do doubt if I've been redeemed and if the medication's actually working or if I'm just trying to convince myself otherwise.''
'' No deception. Well Heidi, on behalf of the OSS, I hereby announce you paroled. Ed- I mean, Dr. Jones, do you agree?'' Milton asked.
Eddie looked directly at Heidi for a good minute, scaring her before he spoke. '' Absolutely. Paperwork's going to get done tonight, ýou'll be out tomorrow afternoon. Congrats Heidi'' Eddie said standing up and shaking her hand. '' You uh…don't have plans Friday do you…''
Heidi laughed. '' You're very cute-
'' Deception'' Milton interrupted.
Unbeknownst to them, someone had been listening the whole time, someone named Derrick Tanner.
-x-
When Derrick had first been admitted to The Box, the warden had foolishly allowed for him to have access to any and all spare pieces of machinery, undamaged circuit boards, screwdrivers and old laptops decorated his cell floor.
During his spying session on Heidi, he had learnt everything he had to, he could now hunt Milton down before eliminating him, thus getting revenge for how brutally he had been humiliated.
'' Cross these wires, attach the diode, and…there we go'' Tanner said softly, as he tinkered with a small 2000s HP laptop, causing it to whir to life.
He had just successfully been able to restore it to its former glory. This laptop, in theory would be his ticket to freedom. HE would hack into the asylum's servers, before shutting down the power to everything in the prison. Back at the canteen, he had lied to his peers. The plan he had spoken about was never his real agenda, it was just a way to get them to talk to each other.
'' Now, lets see if the OSS has servers that can withstand my intellect'' Derrick said to himself as he banged on the keyboard as the phrase '' access granted '' lit up his screen.
'' Not so far, now let's see what we have here. Profiles, hardware, locations, armory, all boring. There it is, The Box's location, now we click on it and…there we go'' Derrick grinned as he tapped a code into his computer and the entire prison went dark, alarms screaming everywhere.
'' There we go. Ha ha'' Tanner laughed maniacally as he shoulder tackled his cell door, opening it and bolting down the corridor. Because of his insanity, he had gained exceptionally high pain tolerance and could perform insane feats of strength as well.
'' Halt, Derrick Tanner, get back to you cell'' a guard yelled, emerging in front of the convict's path, a firearm held in front of him.
'' Alright, I'll go'' Tanner said, in a fake-calm voice, his hands in the air. '' But can you grant a prisoner one last request?''
'' Alright…'' the lead guard, said, lowering his weapon.
'' Kiss my ass!'' Derrick laughed before leaping into the air, landing on the guard's head before jumping to ground and kicking his opponent in the spine, causing him to fall to the ground in pain.
Acting quickly, he began to run a lot faster before arriving a barred window, and a dead end. Being the crafty guy he was, Tanner ripped out the bars before jumping down into the courtyard below. Running towards the nearest exit, he was stopped by a familiar hand on his shoulder.
'' Heidi? What're you doing you dumb girl?''
'' Derrick don't do this, go back to your cell, you can be reformed, like I was.''
'' Bah, no need. I like being bad, it makes me happy'' Derrick retorted, pushing her to the ground. '' Tell you boyfriend at the OSS to watch out because…he's my first target'' Derrick said scarily before running out of the prison.
'' Milton, I have to warn him!'' Heidi said, taking a separate exit.
Oooh, what's going to happen here? Take care everyone!
