Glad you guys are enjoying my fic! Thank you to all my reviewers including the ones for this story and my other Sly fics! This chapter focuses on our favorite thief. Yep, that's right, Sly Cooper is back! Thanks again to Dragon and Sword Master for his betaing prowess!
Your hints for this chapter: There is 1 Easter Egg in this chapter. The title is a parody of what book?
Also, please don't forget about my new poll! The top five villains are now:
1. Neyla
2. Panda King
3. All of Them!
4. Dimitri, Arpeggio, The Contessa, Dr. M are tied for fourth.
5. Clockwerk and General Tsao are tied for fifth.
If you don't see you favorite up here or in a position you like, remember to vote! As this will be the last chance you have! The poll closes down when chapter 12 goes up!
Also, all readers: please stop reading Strangers Like Us... it will be replaced after this prequel is finished... that is the point of a rewrite after all!
Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and other related characters are formerly the property of Sucker Punch, inc. and currently the property of Sanzaru, Inc. except for Beatrice Montreal, Bryan Moliere, Desiree Mallery, Desiree Monroe, Nautica Macavity, Aubrey Lancaster, Ann Minaret, Armand Jaeger, Philip Dumont, Claire Bennet, and Amaya Uta which all belong to me. Carmen Fox, Carlos Diego Fox, Kitty Petro, and Ling Chu belong to Kitty Petro.
A/N: If you have not noticed already... Chapter 10 has been rewritten... please take time to review it again.
A/N2: This chapter contains details of torture and some gore... please use caution when reading.
A/N3: I have received a few panicked reviews and private messages regarding Sly's name and the fate of Strangers Like Us. First, in my story, Sly is nothing more than a pseudonym. It is used to keep Sly's real name, which is Shaun Destin Monroe a secret from the rest of the world and you know, cops. I personally thought it was silly that Sly, Bentley, and Murray went around using their real names all of the time and no one ever got close to catching them doing anything. Second, it would've been hard for Sly to take care of Desiree over the years, underneath a completely made-up name. Therefore, an actual government recognized name would be really, really necessary. So I will use the two names interchangeably.
As for the fate of Strangers Like Us, the story will undergo a rewrite to realign it with this story, which is a prequel. So, some of the background information will change and some of the characters' relationships will also change. But the basic premise of the story will remain the same. I will have just closed some plot holes and laid down foundations to some other things that will come up later in the series. But Strangers Like Us will not vanish, I promise.
Season 1: "When Strangers Meet"
Season Finale
Episode 10:
Dreaming, Interrupted- Part 1
Two weeks later, in the middle of the night...
Sly slowly woke up to complete darkness. What happened? Why couldn't he remember anything? He tried to open his eyes to see where he was, but something was holding them closed. After a few more failed attempts at opening his eyes, Shaun started listening, hoping to get a clue on what was going on. At first, Sly heard nothing but some sounds were slowly becoming recognizable, although they sounded distorted like he was underwater. First, there seemed to be a rather consistent tone that rang out in intervals like a bell tolling the hour. As the raccoon pondered what this could mean, he was startled by a rather loud WHOOOSH! sound. He felt his body jerk at the sound, which thankfully was gone as quickly as it came. But he still couldn't open his eyes. The new sounds only irritated him more as he had no idea what they could mean. Where was he? How had he gotten there? What was going on? He could only stare at the back of his eyelids as his mind ran in confused circles.
As his worry grew, his ears picked up a new sound. Someone was opening a door. He went rigid and waited as the footsteps grew closer. Suddenly he felt hands hovering over his face. Then a slight tugging sensation and then something being lift away from his left eye. The raccoon tried once again to open his eyes and found resistance on the right still but he could now open his left eye slightly. What little he could see was blurred, but he did hear a startled gasp.
"Shaun?" called a voice Sly could not recognize. He opened his eye a little wider hoping to see more. The weird pulling sensation from earlier returned and suddenly his right eye was free. He immediately wrenched open his other eye. He blinked slowly. The hazy world before his eyes seemed to twist and shift like a monochromatic kaleidoscope. Gray and black shapes danced macabre duets across his retinas. "Shaun?" called the voice again. The voice sounded much like everything else looked: distorted. The raccoon tried to move his head towards where he thought the sound was coming from, but he found that something was preventing him from moving his neck. Before panic could set in, he tried once more recall what happened to him. Several moments passed before he gave up again. Where was he? Why did his body feel so off? He was horribly disoriented, and the pirouetting silhouettes in his vision did not help. He tried to move his neck again but it was no use, although this time he felt something tug on his throat. What was that? He tried to lift a hand to feel for whatever was there, but he couldn't even lift a finger. The sound of the door opening again surprised him, he had never heard whoever was there before leave. He struggled to make out everything the voices were saying.
"Dr... coming to make adjusts to... trach... change bandages and tape... he opened... his own..." said the first voice. The voice kept coming in and out. It was being drowned out by the other regular mechanical sounds that he heard earlier.
"Check... response... been combative? No?... won't remain conscious long... woke up... later than expected..." a new voice added. While the voices were still oddly warped, he could tell that they were definitely different. There was a doctor in the room that meant he was in a hospital. Ok, that was more than he knew before.
"Should we inform...?" asked the first voice, Sly assumed it was a female. The second voice was much lower and more than likely male. Sly found himself growing tired, even as he struggled to hear the last of the conversation.
"No, no reason to disturb her... late." second voice said. Her? Who is 'her'? The voice continued, "I am just going to check... get Diprivan and fentanil...just in case... sedate him...then when you ... continue your routine... will watch... " said the doctor. Sly had begun to panic at this point, sedation did not sound good. That meant they were going to do something to him that would not be comfortable. Shaun tried in vain to move, fight back, or do something. But his body refused to obey, he was trapped in a shell basically. "No, no, no..." he moaned in his head. Suddenly there was a bright light shining in his eye. Instinctively, his eye shut in response to the light. The light then moved to his other eye and the process repeated itself. Sly could only moan when someone pinched his arm. However, there was no sound. Why? Before he truly had a chance to worry over this new problem, the nurse returned.
"...20 ml... last the night..." said the nurse. Shaun's panic grew. He could feel his heart racing in his chest and his lungs shuddering painfully. He was looking about wildly, trying to find out what was going on, but his vision had not improved very much since he woke up. The machines around him began to beep wildly. The raccoon screamed when he felt something tugging on his throat, but not a sound came out. Shaun's resolve finally cracked and tears of helplessness began running down his face.
"Sedate him..." came the doctor's command, "clearly agitated..." Shaun felt someone tugging on his hand, and then drowsiness slowly took over his consciousness. The pain in his chest from his panic seemed to quickly fade away. Shaun knew he was done for, but he mentally struggled against the feeling that was invading his mind anyway. But he was losing ground quickly.
"Ok... administered... connecting... sedative now," said the nurse, at least he thought it had been the nurse. Both voices had become horribly distorted. They were almost demonic sounding now. The raccoon felt another tugging sensation on his hand and before he could mentally protest it, darkness over took his vision and Shaun felt consciousness slip away from him...
Eventually, Sly came to again. This time however he was lying on a thin cot. Sly slowly blinked and looked around warily, quickly realizing that he was back in his cell at the Clamat (Latin for Screaming) Prison. He frowned in confusion. Was he dreaming now or was what he just woke up from a dream? Both of them were quite vivid, complete with sounds and sensations. Even then he could hear the chains holding the cot up creak as he rolled over. Currently, Sly wasn't sure which one he would rather be real at the moment. As he sat up, he doubled over in pain. His chest was on fire. He winced and took a few deep breaths, slowly the tightness in his chest eased. As he slowly stood up, he remembered the three painful shots he had taken to the chest via a club wielded by one of the Contessa's guards. He had been very flippant during his questioning and the Contessa decided he need a reminder of his place. The raccoon shook off his thoughts and crept over to the door of his cell. As he moved through the space, he noticed he was no longer handicapped as he was in his dream. First, his body worked just as it should, aside from his throbbing chest. In this dream, if it was one, he could also see quite clearly. He could even make out the rust on the bars as he looked out of them.
He wished he knew what time it was, as it was currently too quiet. The raccoon turned away from the door with a sigh and began to pace the length of his cell. As he paced from one wall to the other, a lot of his confusion began to fade away only to be replaced by worry. Just like the other dream, his memory was very spotty. He could not remember how long he had been here. Had it been a day? A week? He pulled absent-mindedly at the sleeves of the faded tan prison suit he had been shoved in after he arrived. It was freezing. The prison did not have blankets, only thin pillows on nearly non-existent mattresses. Most of the prison was underground, so it was always dank and frigid. As he made his way back towards the cell door, he froze in surprise. A pair of lupine guards had just stopped in front of his cell.
"Back against the wall and hands down by your side palms facing the wall," ordered one of them. Shaun quietly did what was asked of him. A part of him was not eager to have a repeat session with those clubs. One of the wolf guards let himself in and came to stand in front of him, before stooping down to place ankle cuffs on him. Once he was finished, the other guard moved into the cell and placed a pair of hand cuffs on his wrists. Then the two restraints were connected via a long connector chain. The raccoon briefly wondered if he was going to be questioned again. The wolves marched him out of the cell and lead him to the railing of the walkway. The prison had three levels of cells that lined three of the four walls. Along all of these levels were suspended walkways. There was a single guard tower that was nestled in the far corner of the second level and no noticeable way out from where Sly was standing. He was ordered to stay put and the guard unhooked the connector from his wrist cuffs and wrapped it around the railing several times before reattaching it to his wrists.
Shaun watched as more prisoners were paraded out of their cells. He quickly noticed that they were some of the guards that were rounded up at Rajan's temple. His suspicions were confirmed when Murray and Rajan were also hitched to the railings near their cells. Why were they dragging all of them out here? Sly nodded to Murray when the hippo gestured to get his attention, which wasn't hard given that he was directly opposite Shaun on the other side of the room. When the hippo mouthed "What is going on?" to him the raccoon could only shrug his shoulders. Fortunately, they weren't kept in suspense long. As the last prisoner was being tied down, the Contessa herself walked onto the railing of the third floor. Sly and Murray, who were on the second and first floor respectively, had to look up slightly to see her. As her frigid crimson eyes arrogantly surveyed them, Sly noticed movement out of his peripheral vision. There was something going on the ground floor.
Two lines of bat guards walked fourteen individually chained prisoners in white prison suits into the cell block. The prisoners were various animals, carnivores and herbivores. The prisoners were marched into the center of the cell block. The guards left them standing there and retreated to the second level. Not long after that, several posts seemed to rise out of the floor near the walls. The posts were as tall as the cells they were in front of. With an eerie hum, a reddish force field activated in between the posts. Sly began to get really bad feeling in his chest, as if he seemed to know something bad was about to happen. Then a large container, much like a shipping container, was wheeled into the area. A small part of the force field was deactivated so that the container could be placed inside of it. Once that was done, the new set of guards retreated and the force field was reactivated. Seeing as there was nothing else exciting going on at the moment, the teen began to study the prisoners now trapped in the center of the cell block.
They had all looked panicked to some extent when they were being marched in, but now some looked downright terrified. Others seemed almost resigned to their fate, one had already started crying, as indicated by his bowed head and shaking shoulders. The one that haunted him the most though was the lone woman in the group. She, like most of the prisoners, was thin. Her dark hair hung in stingy clumps and he could see her shoulders through the prison uniform. The garment practically drowned her fragile frame, she looked to only be maybe 4 ft tall, she was a squirrel after all. Her tail instead of being lively and bushy was limp and matted, her overall appearance inspired pity. But what truly disturbed Shaun was her eyes. They were empty. He could find no life in them once so ever. He was not even sure she was aware of what was going on around her. Shaun shuddered and turned away, looking back towards the third floor where the Contessa was gesturing for attention.
"I do apologize for this evening's interruption, but this is a time honored tradition here at Clamat. As some of you have noticed we have new guests." said the warden, sounding for all the world like a gracious hostess at a banquet. Sly resisted the urge to roll his eyes. As he discreetly glanced around the area, he noticed that most of the other prisoners were hanging around their cell doors watching the spectacle with disinterested eyes or already curled up on their beds. Some of the prisoners even looked excited, frenzied for the excitement to come. One particular hyena, his neighbor in fact, was particularly agitated. He had his cell bars in a vice grip and he was giggling inanely. His eyes were unnervingly fixed on the carrier. What was in that box? Sly's focus was taken away from the container and back to the spider when she started talking again. "Please welcome them," she instructed pleasantly, although Sly could easily hear the threat "...or else" underneath it. Many of the prisoners clapped dispassionately and several of them shouted out rather rude salutations. The prisoner on Shaun's right, one of the primate guards, grumbled a few uncomplimentary things out loud.
"Keep your trap shut while the boss is speaking!" ordered the wolf standing behind him. Sly could feel the guards standing behind them and he could also see the one's standing behind Murray and the others. These guards had massive maces in their hands and did not look shy about using them.
"We have some entertainment for our new guests, to help them adjust to their new environment. It will be interactive, so that they may learn what is expected of them. So without further delay, the rules: 1. My word is law. That is the only rule you will ever need. So, now how about we practice this, hmmm?" she asked solicitously as if she was asking them if they would like dessert. "I am going to issue you some instructions and you along the walkways are expect to follow them to the letter," Sly felt icy fear grip him. "If you decide not to follow them, the lovely gentlemen behind you will permanently cure you of your inability to follow instructions. Is that clear? I expect to hear a 'Yes, Contessa'," Sly felt disgust twist in his stomach as he said the words. He knew this whole demeaning show was purely to intimidate them.
"This ridiculous," Sly muttered to himself as the spider continued to prattle on,
"Your instructions are simple. You are to place your hands on the railing in front of you. Grip it tightly. Then you are to look down and prepare to watch this evening's entertainment. After you have done that, DO NOT MOVE. PERIOD. DO NOT TWITCH... DO NOT FLINCH... I am I understood?" she instructed her voice taking on a sharp tone. The newly minted prisoners all gave the required answer. Before anything else could happen though the hyena behind him started up again,
"Ah hihihhi... hihihihihiiii... heeehheheehehe... Here doggy, doggy! Here boy! I got some nice juicy bones for you!" he shrilled nearly scaring Shaun out of his fur! He winced as the sound of one of the guards banging on the cell door reverberated through the air. The ringing continued until it completed died out, leaving a petrified silence behind.
"Assume your positions!" The Contessa commanded. Sly slowly reached out and grabbed the rail with both hands. He looked down to the makeshift arena below and swallowed reflexively as his apprehension grew. Some of the prisoners below began to back away from the container as much as they were able to despite being shackled. "Now, the lovely gentlemen and lady down below have not only been gracious enough to allow you all to use their living space for the remainder of your stays, but have also volunteered to be your entertainment," the Contessa explained as various banging sounds began issuing from the container. Sly suddenly felt ill. In essence, those people down there, had once occupied the cells they were put in. Would the same fate befall Murray and him at some point? His musing were cut short as a buzzer sounded on the floor below. The container now had a glowing red light on the top corner closest to him. Sly heard a door slide open.
Suddenly, something grotesque leapt from the container and attacked the closest moving thing, the sobbing antelope from earlier. The man screamed in agony as he fell to the floor. The creature had latched on to his shoulder drawing blood. The man attempted to pry the thing off, but it would not let go. Then Shaun heard a den of unholy noise erupt from the container as more of the creatures poured out of the container yowling, growling, practically screaming, and...barking. Shaun's insides dissolved as he realized that the lanky, obsidian demons were nothing more than emaciated and vicious dogs. The dogs were dark furred and slightly lean. They had thick, foamy drool hanging from their jaws that was quickly turning red with blood of their prey. He could see the bones of one dog as it leapt through the air and nailed the female squirrel in the throat. Blood sprayed from the wound and the poor woman did not even scream. Shaun felt bile rise up his throat but swallowed it back down. Suddenly the Contessa's seemingly strict, yet innocuous instructions morphed into heinous edicts as he was forced to watch as helpless prisoners were reduced to nothing more than dog food. The thief gripped the rail tighter, praying that it would keep him upright, since his legs were turning to jelly.
The sound of something wet hitting the floor next to Shaun's right foot almost brought the thief to his knees but he locked his legs in place by sheer will. A moment later, a wail of displaced air next to his ear cut through screams below. The wail ended with a sickening crunch. Something warm and wet hit the side of his face and the raccoon felt his eye twitch. "Don't look, don't look," he thought weakly. He suddenly felt dizzy, the room seemed to spin around him. The thief just focused on not moving, despite the furious whirling that was going on around him. As his eyes remained glued to the mauling taking place far below, Shaun felt his senses start to go haywire. Suddenly, none of the stimuli in his brain seemed to make sense anymore. He could taste the metallic flavor of the sanguinary scene on his tongue as he breathe in and out in a dazed manner. The dying inmates screams became blunted, until they resembled nothing but white noise. Their pleas for help and mercy were slowly being inked onto their grimacing faces with blood. Shaun fought to keep his nose from twitching at the scent of death in the air. It was a heady scent, a mix of salty tears, sharp blood, and rapidly decaying fleshing. All his senses continued to churn and meld until they created a huge tempest of sensations in his mind. The storm wrecked havoc in the thief's head, and once it spent itself, nothing was left. Sly felt detached and numb, like he was drifting away...
"I believe that will be all for tonight's entertainment. Guards please escort over new guests back to their accommodations, please. Some of them will definitely need their rest," said the Contessa. Her smooth voice echoed around the chamber, shocking the raccoon out of his stupor. He blinked slowly and was mildly stunned to find that the only thing left on the ground floor were a few detached limbs and the dogs. The canines were all slumped over on their sides, with their bellies bulging. Shaun's just stared disinterestedly at the floor. He was spent physically, mentally, and emotionally. At the moment, he was unsure of how much time had passed. The sounds around him were slowly coming back into focus. But the hybrid still felt horribly out of synch with what was going on around him.
Shaun allowed the guards to guide him back to his cell. He was quite sure he would not have been able to hold himself up. His body still felt numb. The walk back to his cell seemed to take forever. Eventually, his door was reached and he was placed inside the bars. The cuffs were removed and Shaun did not even notice until the door slammed shut behind him. The newly made prisoner clung weakly to the bars as he tried to mentally re-ground himself. He turned to look out of his cell, hoping that Murray was ok. Unfortunately, the raccoon chose the wrong time to look back. He was just in time to see one of the wolf guards attempting to remove his mace from the primate's skull that he had buried it in. It was at that moment he realized that half of his face was probably covered in monkey blood and grey matter. It was that final thought that finally did Shaun's stomach in. He barely had the time to stumble over to the toilet before his stomach rebelled. He spent several minutes heaving and groaning over the basin. Once his stomach was emptied, Shaun slumped to the floor exhausted. He was suddenly grateful for the stones that made up the bottom of his cell as he laid down. The cold, firm rock felt divine against his throbbing, spinning head. He sighed as he allowed unconsciousness to take him away.
The following morning Shaun was awakened by the sound of someone banging on his cell door. The thief jerked up, barely missing the porcelain bowl above his head. He slowly climbed to his feet. By the time he managed to fully stand up, a guard was before him. The wolf had a futuristic collar in his hands. Shaun had no idea of what might do. The thief was not too keen to have it put on but he was also in no position to fight it, either. The guard ordered him to turn around and place his hands on the wall. Sly did so and tried not flinch as the collar was clicked into place. He immediately noticed that there were blunted prongs along the inner ring. Perhaps, it was a shock collar? He was surprised when he saw a guard wrap another similar device around his wrist. After a few more minutes, his wrists, ankles, and throat all bore the same humiliating ornaments. Sneaking a glance to his right, he noticed that the wrist cuff bore a loop. Probably for attaching a chain.
"Now, the Warden wants to see you. Now you can come along quietly or we can break your legs and carry you... your choice. " grunted the wolf as he pulled Shaun away from the wall and pushed him towards the cell door. Sly was keenly aware that the bangles would somehow keep him from escaping so, despite the temptation, he did not bother trying to escape the company of his guard. Besides, he had no knowledge of how big the prison was or where any useful exits were. The thief bristled internally as he was frog marched through the prison corridors towards another interrogation room. Seething with anger felt much better than quaking in fear did, that and the anger allowed him to think better. Shaun was currently trying mentally prepare himself for what the demented warden of this insane asylum was going to do with him. What did he know about his current captor? The Contessa was cruel old bitch... yesterday's "entertainment" certainly proved that. She "claimed" to be a psychologist, so she probably was very good at reading people and getting the more naive to spill their guts. But she clearly has a thing for power, too. She loved giving orders and doing whatever it took to see that they were followed to the letter. She also had a bloodthirsty security force that was more than eager to unleash any amount of hell on the prisoners at her word. In other words, at the moment, he was royally screwed.
As they continued to traverse the hallways, Shaun could not shake the feeling that no matter what he did something bad was coming up, just like with that mauling the night before. The unusual group had seemed to progress further into the prison than he had remembered seeing. The hallway was long and held sparse torches along it's faces, leaving gaping patches of thick darkness along the path. There were no windows and he had not seen any doors at this point. The air around him had become dank and musky smelling... probably from mold. They had long left the prison cells behind them and the drone of noise that accompanied them. Suddenly, the raccoon hybrid wanted them back. The silence that surrounded him now was slowly beginning to suffocate him and the darkness had begun to wrap itself around his psyche... "No! No! This is what she wants!" his thoughts screeched. A few gulps of air later, Shaun felt himself start to calm again. This was nothing more than an attempt to intimidate him psychologically! While most adults are not terrified of the dark, the uneasy feelings that darkness invokes in people are still felt. After all horror movies and the like capitalize on those feelings to entertain and unsettle their audience. That was all this whole walk was about, unsettling him. Silence served the same point, the mind can only take so much of silence before it started to weaken. The silence of the hallway had only been made more pronounced by that draining and over sensitizing display the other day. This was just all a ploy to make him easier to manipulate later. As Sly continued to breath in and out slowly, his body relaxed allowing him to take in more of what was going on around him. Shaun squinted into the hallway, believing he was seeing a small bit of light at the end...
CRACK!
Shaun nearly tripped over his own feet, as the sharp cry of a whip cut through the stagnant air. The cry was followed by the low moan of the poor soul that was suffering under its lash. Shaun grunted as he felt the guard behind him shove him forward. He began haltingly walking again. The whistle of the whip cut through the air several more times, the end of its journey clearly marked by a sharp explosion as it met the flash of its target. Apprehension began to worm its way around his shoulders and down his back once more. Was this where he was headed next? Instead of dwelling on the horrifying prospect, Shaun began thinking again. Why would such an accomplished hypnotist turn to torture? Maybe she liked the power trip? Or maybe...? Suddenly snippet of a memory came to the forefront of his mind. It had been a conversation he had overheard as he had been lead into the interrogation room when he first arrived. The spider had been bitterly complaining about "slow spice shipments" and "possibly having her whole scheme fall apart". Suddenly the thief's eyes widened. The Contessa was using or had been using spice on the inmates! After all spice was highly sought for not only for the high but the imagery it could produce during a spell. A mentally impaired patient would talk about anything she'd ask them. Rajan must have been her supplier... which means that she was probably using the torture methods on her more stubborn cases. That final thought brought the teen very little comfort. His musings were cut short as he was partially blinded by a change in light.
It was as if someone flipped on a light switch. They had finally emerged from the hallway into a cul-de-sac. The round walls had heavy doors in them and the whipping he had been hearing, was coming from behind one of them. But unfortunately, there was no time to determine which one as the guards immediately marched him towards the only open room. The room was strangely spartan compared to the torture chamber his head had begun to conjure. The walls were bare save for the thick loops that had been hammered into them. To the right there was a metal table with a weird looking chair in front of it, there was a few feet in between them, and another chair behind it. The table had a piece of dense chain resting on it and a silver mat rested under it. The guard behind him tightened its grip on Shaun's shoulder and pushed him into the room. As he was moved closer to the front of the table, he realized that something was off about the chair. The chair sat slanted on the floor, the front legs were shorter than the back. The back of the chair was made of two metal posts on which an oval piece of wood was bolted. the seat of the chair was also made of polished wood. The back legs were bolted down to the floor with metal brackets. However, the chair was still moveable at least back and forth as exhibited by the first guard moving the chair into an upright position before the second guard forced Shaun into the chair.
"Hands behind the chair, quickly before you lose them!" ordered the guard holding the chair. The thief sighed but did as he was ordered. He slid hands around the chair back. He heard the cling of the chain as it was wound around the chair back and then attached it to the loops on his wrist cuffs. Once that was completed, the other guard reached under the table and grabbed the mat underneath it. Shaun immediately noticed that the mat had dulled spikes on it. The guard slid it underneath Shaun's dangling feet. Once it was in place, he began to pry off the slippers that the thief had been wearing up to that point. The shoes were placed underneath the table. Then before the hybrid could process what happened, the second guard's weight vanished from the back of the chair.
Sly's body tightened in fear as the chair pitched forward, he was certain he was going to smash face first into the table. He immediately tried to halt his momentum by using his feet and was rewarded with pain. The dulled barbs bit into the soles of his feet mercilessly. Sly bit back a scream as he tried to keep himself upright. He flushed in anger and humiliation as he listened to the guards laughing behind him. In his momentary panic, he had forgotten about the spikes in the mat. He quickly tuned the men out as his focus was drawn to ending the pain in his feet. Easing the pressure off his feet would help, but that also meant that the uneven chair might fall over. Then he remembered the brackets, they kept the chair from falling sideways. Slowly, Sly shifted his weight off of his feet, and lowered the chair to the ground. Once the front legs touched the floor, he relaxed a little, as now his feet did not feel as if they were being slowly skewered. Eventually, he began to notice that there were several problems with sitting in a slanted chair. First, it was already causing pain in his lower back and he was sure his knees would start aching soon, too. The second major problem was that, thanks to the polish on the wood and the angle of the seat, his hips were already sliding towards the floor. He was quickly getting close to falling out of the chair, which was also starting to put a strain on his shoulders. Once the pain in his shoulders became too much he readjusted himself in the seat... wincing as pain began lancing through his feet again. He then eased off his feet, only to start sliding off his seat again.
Within ten minutes Sly wanted to scream. Whether it was from pain or frustration, he was not sure. The maddening cycle of pain continued to repeat itself over and over again. The only change to the routine was when the guards finally grew bored with laughing at him and left the room. Shaun seethed and hissed in anger as he fought to keep some sort of balance between torturing the upper and lower halves of his body. Unfortunately, it was a futile effort. He realized now what his captivity truly meant. He was going to have to switch his mental focus or perish, quickly. This was now a game of endurance, and not one of wins and losses. There were no smaller goals to beat. It was just make it until you can't anymore. As the minutes dragged by, sweat began to roll down his face and back. His tail lashed frantically and legs were shaking from the pain and effort. Shaun tried without success to dislodge the chair from the brackets, but all it did was cause more pain for his shoulders and feet. Finally, resigned to not being able to physically escape this predicament, Shaun began trying to meditate. But the constant shifting rendered the exercise pointless. Just as Shaun had started mentally cursing whoever came up with this arduous task, the door opened once more.
"I apologize for my tardiness, my dear. I was spending a few extra moments with my previous patient. But now you have my full attention." the Contessa greeted as she walked into the room. Her voice crawling across his skin, making him shudder. The last thing he wanted was her attention. He briefly glanced at his captor and felt his stomach turn. She was wiping blood off her hands with an old towel. He immediately went back to glaring at the desk, pushing the thoughts of what the patient must look like to the back of his mind. She placed a clawed hand on his shoulder, and the thief immediately pulled away. The woman tsked softly as she made her way around the table, shoving the other chair out of the way. He listened warily as she got comfortable behind the table. Mentally, he was preparing himself for the questioning session that was about to commence. It was obvious that the woman was willing to break as many rules as she wanted to get information from her prisoners. Also, torture helped break wills, leaving battered, but stripped canvases behind for her to play with. Despite all of that, Sly squared his shoulders. If she wanted anything from him, she was going to have to work for it. He pulled his eyes up from his lap and stared the spider in her face. The sound of the door opening once more, drew the arachnid's attention away from the thief. A bat came to the warden's side and gave her a small device. Another feeling of doom settled in his stomach.
"Here is the remote you requested, ma'am..." he said before he turned to leave again, the door closing behind him with a mournful bang. Suddenly, the atmosphere of the room turned oppressive. It was as if all the air in the room had been sucked out as the bat exited the room. At the same time, the pressure only hardened his resolve not to crack.
"Given all the time you have spent waiting on me. I am sure you are ready to start your rehabilitation," the Contessa said easily, the corner of her mouth quirking up into a parody of smirk.
"Oh, sure. I am always ready for a good conversation," Shaun said blithely. He had to bite back a smirk of satisfaction as the Contessa's face fell.
"That should have been, 'Yes, Contessa'," she corrected in a placid tone. The tone was highly unsettling coupled with the fierce scowl the woman wore.
"I apologize then," mumbled the thief flippantly. Immediately, he realized that a huge mistake had just been made. His entire frame suddenly lit up in pain. All thought and reason fled his mind as his body was assaulted. It felt like his muscles were being burnt to ash. All that was left behind was a useless petrified skeleton locked in an aberrant pose of agony. Then it blissfully ended and Shaun sagged limply in the chair. He drew in ragged breaths as he tried to keep himself from falling off of the chair. Every inch of his body felt raw, inside and out. The only coherent thought that crossed his mind was, "Damn... it is a shock collar..."
"I felt that our last session did not go as planned due to... behavioral issues. Therefore, I have decided the only way to make any progress will be to institute behavioral modification alongside verbal counseling." explained the "doctor" matter-of-factly. She mentioned behavioral modification like it was nothing more than art therapy.
Shaun felt a twinge of fear as his eyes met the eager sanguinary eyes of the spider before him. But the teen refuse to let any of it show on his face. As the spider went to speak again, something strange happened. She froze. Her mouth was stuck in a slightly slack-jawed expression. He frowned. What was going on? Was she using magic on him? Or had someone slipped him something while he had been unconscious? A hand suddenly fell on his shoulder. Shaun would have leapt out of the chair if he were able. The only thing he managed to do was skewer the soles of his feet again. He threw an irritated look over his shoulder and was surprised to find two eyes similar to his own staring back at him. The weight on his shoulder disappeared.
"I finally found you! Why on Earth you decided to come back here, I will never know!" grumbled an eerily familiar voice. Shaun sighed as he felt the bindings on his hands fall away. He grabbed the sides of the chair bottom to keep from sliding off, wincing as he pressed down on the mat once again. Slowly, Shaun twisted the lower half of his body to the side and placed his feet on the cold stone floor. The coolness seeped into his raw feet, dulling the ache. Once the aching was gone, he attempted to stand. Every inch of his body felt stiff and ached fiercely. He slow uncurled his body until he managed to stand upright. Unfortunately, his exhausted legs immediately folded underneath him. Shaun was in the process of resigning himself to hitting the floor, when someone grabbed him underneath his arm and held him up instead. When he finally got a good look at his "rescuer", the teen found himself wanting a seat. To his surprise, a "copy" of himself was holding him up. He was quite sure that something strange was going on. Shaun could only gape dumbly as the blue clad raccoon slipped an arm under his shoulders and began walking towards the door.
"What? Who?" Shaun found himself sputtering. The raccoon hybrid cast another wary glance at the still frozen spider behind them.
"No need to worry about her, she's not going anywhere. This is your head, after all. I just put a pause on things until I could get you sorted out." answered the doppelganger as he walked them through the steel door. As Shaun fought to wrap his head around that feat, the bright glare of the sun distracted him. They were outside now?
"I don't get any of this..." he finally admitted as he blinked owlishly. At the moment he was sore all over, exhausted, and a persistently vicious ache was winding its way through his skull.
"I am gonna be blunt then, kid. From what I can gather, you are in the hospital. That 'little cold' you had grew into something nasty." the Sly lookalike said matter-of-factly. Shaun's eyes grew wide. That first dream... it had not been a dream after all. He had been in a hospital. Then what was all this? And how does this 'person' know?
"Ok. Let's say I buy that... My next question is, 'Who are you?' followed by 'Where are we?'" asked the hybrid warily as he carefully extracted himself from the impostor's hold.
"Well, as for where we are... we are in your head. Love what you've done with the place by the way," explained the thief as he eyed Shaun amusedly. In my head? What does that mean? The area around him looked as if an explosion or hurricane had torn through it.
"What do you mean by "in my head"?" mumbled the hybrid as he rubbed at a particularly painful and throbbing area on his head. The other raccoon rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"What do you think I mean? We are in your head, this is just a construct you built to represent your mind and memories... and all that stuff." mumbled the doppelganger, "As for who I am? I am actually a little insulted you had to ask! Especially, after all those years I kept your little butt from being bored," Shaun frowned at the answers. So he was apparently lost in his own head for the moment and stuck with some apparition that claimed to know him as a child. Why wasn't anything in his life making sense anymore?! Before he had a chance to ask any more questions, though, everything started shifting and moving.
"What the hell is going on, now?!" Shaun cried as he struggled to remain on his feet. The ground lurched violently and Shaun stumbled, before falling. A sensation of weightlessness overtook him and felt as if he were freefalling. He could only watch in horror as the ground rapidly rushed to greet him. Just before he hit the ground, his body jerked and his eyes flew open.
The scenery around him was hazy. He blinked slowly a few times to clear his vision. The world around him slowly came into focus. The walls around him were unfamiliar. He tried to turn his head to get a better sense of where he was, but his head in place by something. Any other movements he tried to make were useless. As panic started to kick in again, Shaun was rewarded with a welcoming sight as Bea's face came into his line of sight.
"Thank goodness! You are finally awake!" she whispered with tears in her eyes...
Ok! Finished! Sorry this took so long! I could not decide which of like three chapters I started should come next and then life decided to hit me with everything at once! So this was a fight. However, there are now two more chapters that are mostly complete already so hopefully things should speed up! Thanks again!