(We get to meet three more trolls!)
"I was wondering when you'd show up," someone said from a short distance away. "Cutting it a little close, aren't we, Vriska?"
When his eyes finally decided to work again, John opened them and came face to face with another troll. Even with the hours he'd spent following Vriska, he was still amazed by this one's exotic appearance. The first thing he noticed was the pair of bright red glasses that blocked out any view of her eyes, and then her razor-sharp teeth. Her black hair was only shoulder length, and her horns stuck out as thin, sharp cones. Green seemed to be her main color of choice, displayed on her long shirt and pants. A white belt was wrapped around her waist, over the shirt, and her shoes were as red as Vriska's. The belt also partially covered a light green design on the lower left of her shirt. It looked like a circle with weird steam coming off of it from three spots.
Before John could take a step back or speak, the troll girl leaned forward and sniffed him. "Wait, you're not Vriska. You smell too pale, and your shirt is more blueberry than her orange creamsicle jacket. Just who are you?"
"Um..." was all John could say as he edged off the transportalizer and to a much more comfortable distance. "John Egbert. Nice to meet you."
Without his body blocking it anymore, the platform lit up in another dazzling display, resulting in Vriska appearing out of thin air. She took one look at John, then at the other troll who'd turned toward her. "Ease up, Terezi. This is just the newbie you guys sent me out to get."
The shorter troll laughed. "I knew that, stupid!" she said, spinning a white cane with a dragon head on it that John hadn't seen her holding before. "I just wanted to mess with him. And who would the one on his back be?"
"Just some stupid consort who got hurt in the fight with the ogre and imps," Vriska replied, earning a "Hey!" from Casey. "This doofus thought it would be noble to not leave her behind."
"The 'stupid consort' has a name, you know!" Casey piped up, glaring at the trolls.
"And we don't care," Vriska snapped.
"Don't be so mean," Terezi said, whacking Vriska's shin with her cane. "We need to treat the wounded with the utmost respect."
"You're just saying that so you can get close to her and taste the red of her blood, Pyrope. You can't fool my Vision Eightfold.
Terezi started laughing again, which made John feel even more nervous. Casey gripped him more tightly as he tried once again to put more distance between himself and the girl. He edged his way around the girls as inconspicuously as possible, which was made easy by the lack of anything in the large room other than the transportalizer. The trolls just continued their banter, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was trying to get away from them.
"What are you doing?" Casey whispered when they'd exited the room.
"Leaving. There has to be at least one sane person around here willing to help you," he answered.
Through the door was a long hallway with aged concrete walls. Most of their surfaces were covered in mold, but some spots had been cleared for chalk drawings. They were really crappy, but also funny in a childish sort of way. One depicted a weird looking guy falling down a flight of stairs. Another had a poorly-sketched outline of a body. The drawings looked like they were made by two different people.
He took a left at the end of the hall, his legs carrying him slowly and cautiously. This section was short and opened up into darkness a few yards ahead of him. Luckily, there was a switch on the wall, which he flipped without hesitation. Lights high above flickered to life, casting white beams of clarity throughout the cavernous space. It was about as long and wide as a football field, but not nearly as roomy. The stone floor was criss-crossed by subway tracks, and much of the space was taken up by subway cars pointing in multiple directions. Some looked to be connected to the walls, acting as doorways into more hallways. It didn't take long for him to realize he was inside one as well, but the seats had been removed and the windows blacked out.
There was a three foot drop down to the floor of the chamber, which meant he had to set Casey down so he could hop out without dropping her. Once she was off of him, he realized just how tired he was from carrying her for so long. His back ached, and he had to stretch out his arms before dropping from the walkway.
"You don't really need to keep carrying me, you know," Casey said as he offered his back to her again.
"Don't worry about it," he responded with a smile. "I see you as a friend, and I wouldn't leave one of my friends behind, or let them go through pain when they're injured. You just have to deal with it."
With her in place once again, John continued on into the forest of subway cars. They came in a variety of lengths, and every one had its windows blacked out. Some that he came across had symbols painted on them. He recognized a few as zodiac signs symbols in varying colors, and even a few cartoony icons; a broken record, a green skull, and a blue wolf's head were a few of the ones he found interesting.
After five minutes of walking through the maze of metal, he finally found something that looked useful. It was one of the larger cars and wasn't positioned on any of the tracks. It leaned up against the far left wall, some of it e en seeming to be imbedded in the stone, and had a pair of sliding doors facing him with a light shining through the glass. What made John happy to see it was the red plus on the side that usually indicated a medical area. He hoped he was right as he walked up to the doors.
To his surprise, they glided open with an electronic whirring sound, letting out the bright light contained within, Upon stepping though, he saw that it was bigger on the inside than the outside. The first few feet across were just the subway car, but further than that was an extended area carved into the concrete. It had three beds in the back, all of which had pure white sheets. Spread out around was various medical equipment and supplies. There were counters with scalpels and bandages, half-open cabinets containing medicine bottles that were placed high on walls, and a few short chairs spread out. It looked like John was right.
It wasn't completely void of people, to his joy. The first one was a tall, slender girl with elegant horns that slightly curve up, one of which was barbed at the end. Short hair that was the same black that John was starting to see as a normal thing for trolls, two small fangs that stuck out over her black lips, and jade green eyes with thick eyelashes. Her fashion sense was oddly stylish, shown by the black tank-top she wore over a loose grey collared shirt. Her pants were dark grey, complimented by her white belt and green shoes. The symbol over her chest was a white spiral with six spinning arms. She was bandaging the arm of another troll who sat on the edge of the middle bed.
The other troll in question was a guy, which John thanked god for since the only people he'd seen since waking up were girls. He looked to be a little shorter than John, but also had enough attitude in him to compensate for it. He kept complaining while thee bandage was being wrapped, flashing his sharp teeth and narrowing his red eyes. His shirt was brown with a red design on it that made it look like he was bleeding cartoony blood, and only one sleeve of his red undershirt was extended to his wrist. His jeans were similarly brown, a red stripe running down the side of the left leg, and his shoes were as black as his hair. His horns weren't clearly visible, more like little nubs in his mess of hair.
He was in the middle of a rant when John entered. "-and why the fuck wouldn't I? It wasn't like there was anyone who was supposed to back me up tonight! Oh wait, there was! But she had to fucking stay and wait for the shit-faced new arrival who Lalonde predicted would show up! Am I the only one who thinks in this hell hole? Tell me I'm not, Kanaya."
The girl troll smiled. "No, Karkat. Everyone was just excited about meeting someone new, and a human, nonetheless. There wer eonly seven of them and now..." her voice trailed off as she turned to look at whoever had entered. "...eight."
Karkatdid the same and, upon seeing John, broke out into an angry glare. "Who the fuck are you?" he demanded.
"Um, hi," John said nervously. "Do you guys think you can help me?"
"Why the fuck would we just suddenly help some random consort who wandered into our-"
"Karkat," Kanaya interrupted.
"What?"
"Look at his shirt."
The angry troll focused on the symbol on John's chest. Once he recognized it, he let out a groan. "Fuuuuuuck! This is the asshole we've been waiting for? He looks like a complete dipshit! Why couldn't we get someone with an actual intimidating air, instead of this dumbass?"
"Karkat, be nice," Kanaya told him. "I'm sure he's not so bad."
"Not to interrupt you guys or anything," John interjected. "but my friend here needs some medical attention. I tried to patch her up as best as I could, but I'm no expert on the treatment of injuries. Can I please have some help?"
"Get in line, nook sucker," Karkat growled. "I was here first, and my life's more important than that of some stupid consort."
"Why does everyone keep calling me stupid?!" Casey shouted in frustration. "I'm not stupid, and I have a name, asshole!"
"Don't give a fuck." He returned to focusing on the red stains that ere showing through the bandages. John imagined a cartoonish stream of smoke coming off the troll's head and chuckled to himself.
"You can put her on one of the other beds," Kanaya stated as she continued to wrap the angry boy's arm.
John sauntered over to the right mattress and turned around to set Casey on it. Once again, the moment her weight was off of him he felt an aching pain in his spine. He sat next to her, her legs dangling inches above the floor while his were flat. They only had to wait another three or four minutes before the trolls had finished, after which Karkat glared at them one last time and stomped out of the room.
"I hope you will excuse Karkat's vulgar mannerisms," Kanaya said as she approached them. "He doesn't really have any sense of restraint when it comes to his anger. I assure you that not all trolls are so foul-tempered."
John laughed and stood up, stepping out of the way so she could look at Casey. "It's okay. I thought it was kind of funny, actually. Especially the way his face just kept getting angrier."
Kanaya looked a little surprised by his statement, before inspecting the wrapped leg. "Not many people would agree with you on that. I myself tolerate it and try to calm him down when I can. This bandage needs to be changed." She started to unwind it. 'Could you both please tell me your names so I can refer to you as such?"
"John Egbert."
"Casey," the consort replied. "At least you're polite enough to care. What's that guy's deal?"
Kanaya sighed as she took the last of the bloody cloth off. "To be honest, I don't have a clue. He's been enraged like that since the moment he showed up in Sburb, from what I hear. There are very few things that can calm him down, and finding one is as rare as getting struck by lightning. Hm... these external wounds seem to have mostly scabbed over, but by the way you're reacting to moving it, it appears that the bone is broken. I think it would be safe for you to stay off this leg for a while and-"
She was interrupted by the swooshing of the doors and Vriska strolling in with her hands in her pockets, thumbs out. "Hey, Fussy Fangs! Have you seen a human run by here or- Hey! There you are! "She shouted, walking over to John and jabbing him in the chest with her finger. "When did I ever say you could go ahead of me and leave me behind, Egdork?"
"Um...never," John replied.
"Exactly! It was my job to bring you through this place as your guide, and you made me look like a chump who doesn't know how to follow her orders. Is that what you want, John? Do you want me to look like a chump and get in trouble with our leader?"
"No," he said, looking at the floor.
"Well, here's how you're going to make it up to me," she grinned, grabbing his arm. "You're going to leave your consort here and let me take you to the common room where everyone is waiting, and tell them how amazing and helpful I was."
He looked to Casey, who he wasn't so sure he wanted to abandon. She waved him off. "Go on. I'm fine here."
With nothing else really holding him back, he allowed the troll to drag him out of the subway car.