Disclaimer: I don't own RvB.
WARNING! This is totally outside the continuity of PRCF. Also, mildly dark themes.
Special 3: When Marly saw Season 14, Episodes 1-4
Marly had thought the visions were done. They weren't. She laughed at Grif and Simmons at Basic, she struggled to wake up, forced to watch in mildly amused horror as it was revealed how Sarge came to be... Sarge, but when the vision ended, when the picture was complete... she woke with a shocked gasp. "Flowdie~! Can you come here for a moment~?" she called, rolling to place her feet on the ground and pulling out her favorite weapon of mass fear. Flowdie winced. That sugar sweet voice promised pain.
"Yes, Marly?" he asked, peeking around the door to the 'living room' where Marly had crashed. He saw her grinning her feral grin and petting a scalpel. He swallowed heavily. This would not end well, of that he was sure.
"Did you orchestrate the formation of the Red and Blue teams, Flowdie?" Marly asked, now flipping the scalpel around in one hand. Sweat beading on his forehead, Flowdie nodded. Agent Oregon's eyes flashed and Florida just barely avoided the flying length of razor sharp steel. "You can run... but you cannot hide, Florida," Oregon intoned, slowly raising from her seat. The sound of titanium boots pounding against metal is hard to hide. Florida knew this, but still he ran. He just needed to buy himself some time. Just a little distance, then he could remove the boots and run some more. Run to take off the rest of his armor, stash... no. He couldn't abandon his armor. Who knew what Marly would do to it! Or have Rick do to it. Seriously, that man could be a savage when it came to embedding nasty bits of programming into just about anything with circuitry. However... the armor was hampering him here, now. Oh, why hadn't he left it locked securely in his room? 'Perhaps it's because you never suspected she'd figure it out. You never thought she'd discover you're secret. That you were the one to start this all. That you were the reason Blood Gulch started,' a traitorous voice whispered darkly in his head. Florida shook his head, trying vainly to banish the whispers. "I'll find you, no matter what you try, Agent Florida. This is my turf. My rules, boy-o," Oregon's insidious voice hissed, winding through the halls like a viper. Florida shivered as that venomous tone entered his ears, bit into his brain. Soft, heavy, footfalls stalked him. No matter where he went, no matter which way he turned, they were there, waiting. It was almost more terrifying then Meta's growls. Oh yes, Florida had seen what Maine became, before he was sent out with Alpha. Maine had been scary, but Meta... Meta took it to another level.
"Forgive me!" Florida cried, once more trying to escape. A slight pause in the steady 'clump, clump, clump' of Oregon's footsteps was all the warning Florida had to drop to the floor before a flash of silver steel, polished so highly Florida could see his helmet in the blade, flew over his head. Had he not moved, it would have hit his neck, just below his helmet. 'Guess it's not just your fear of what Oregon could do or have done to your armor that's keeping you from taking it off, huh?' a not-so-traitorous voice, which sounded a lot like York now he thought about it, remarked. He gulped once more, ignoring the voice and crawling forward as fast as he could, struggling to get back up to his feet. "Guess that's a no, huh?" he muttered, scrabbling around on the unforgiving metal floor of The Ghost.
"I never knew you could be quite so deviously manipulative, Florida," Oregon remarked, almost conversational. His heart sped up. Oh great Steve Jobs, he was dead! She was going to kill him and dump his body into the nearest black hole! No funeral, no mourning, no memorial, just death and a cold ejection into a dying star.
"I was following orders!" he screamed, grabbing the edge of a door and slinging himself around the corner.
"You sound like Locus, Florida. What next? You gonna tell me you're a professional?" the dangerous woman mocked. Florida swallowed heavily, looking for a good place to hide, even though he knew it was futile. It was moments like these that the man was forcefully reminded how the love of his life was known as the Surgeon of Death in many, many, circles.
"Well, you know, I was professional enough to be picked for Project Freelancer," the man couldn't help but say. Still, as soon as the words had left his mouth, he wished he could grab them and stuff them back down his throat. Not only did he give away his position, he'd irritated her! Stupid, stupid, stupid! He could practically hear her neck snapping around to stare in his direction, hawk like eyes zeroing in on his position. "Um... is it too late to retract that statement and say that I am the most unprofessional guy around and that the Director must have been off his rocker when he recruited me into the Project?" the condemned asked, huddling as far down in the corner he'd found himself in as he could. The Grim Reaper chuckled, scythe replaced with gleaming medical tools.
"Why, yes, yes it is, Agent Florida," the Surgeon of Death purred. Florida whimpered, then screamed as Marly set to work. The Corner was never the same again, and Florida had a brand new fear of Oregon, marshmallows, jazz, strawberry jam, scalpels, gray beds, leather, and poptarts.
/*/
Hours after Oregon had finally caught him; poor, poor Florida was trying to repress the memories of his punishment. He was met with limited success. "I don't even know how Caboose got sent to Blood Gulch! It was supposed to be California or Hawaii that got sent should I die!" Florida vaguely remembered screaming.
"I know how it happened! You were a giant, manipulative, klutz! When you tripped over that cord, you caused a glitch in Vic's programming!" Flowdie's eyes snapped wide open as he processed that scrap of memory. Dread filled his stomach.
"Hey, Marly? When you had that vision, about how I was the mastermind behind both the Reds and Blues in Blood Gulch... ?" he asked, nervous. He got a Meta worthy growl in response from the dark corner where Marly was still glaring at him from. "Um... when I was a massive klutz... did it scramble the letters of the list of Agents that would be sent to Blood Gulch should something happen to me?" Another Meta worthy growl. "Was uh... was Kaikaina Grif on that list?" he asked.
"So was some person named Jenkins," Marly answered darkly. Flowdie shivered, causing the hidden monster to smirk. She should have used her helmet to mimic Maine ages ago!
"Dexter must never discover his sister was sent here because I tripped," the man remarked, then froze in terror as Marly cackled, then all traces of her vanished. He groaned, banging his head against the Ghost's wall. "Now I'm really going to get tossed out of the air lock and into a black hole. Only, I'm not too sure Dex'll kill me first. Maybe he'll kill me, bring me back, break every bone in my body, let them heal half way, break a few of them again, and then chuck me out the air lock and into the nearest sun. Broken bones, freezing cold, then burnt beyond a crisp, all while still conscious," he mused, then shivered. He needed to get off this ship, ditch his armor, get contacts, mutilate his ears, change his fingerprints, change his name, and never speak again. Maybe get a nice, big, disfiguring facial scar...
/?/
A/N: Yeah. I wanted to make it a horror special but... I just... couldn't hold the 'I'll kill him. Slowly. Painfully. And, with as much dark glee as Freelancerly possible.' Though, the ideas Flowdie came up with for Dex's 'punishment' were pretty specific... Still, Season 14, Episodes 2-4... you... you made my fan-conspiracy reality. I... I don't know if I should thank you or curse you for making Florida such an evil master mind! Truly, you, oh Season 14, have proven that Florida truly deserved his place in Project Freelancer. However! As much as I love seeing this conspiracy come to life, I must stay true to the Flowdie I have created. So, here is my 'response' to the first four episodes of season 14, though mostly, 'Why They are Here.' You likely won't see much of Manipulative!Florida in PRCF, though perhaps he shall appear elsewhere... *evil laughter is evil*
Until next time,
May the Stars Watch over You,
Regenengel3