TWs: Missing person, restraints, hypnotizing, face grabbing, slight blood. Stay safe :)
Edd shifted, groaning as he cracked his eyes open. A million questions ran through his head as he tried to register what had happened.
'What happened?'
'Where am I?'
He didn't know as he looked at a blank white wall.
"Ah, you're finally awake, dear!"
Edd froze, his eyes twitching. He recognized that irritating voice from anywhere. He peeked over his shoulder, noticing Hellucard standing behind him.
"Hellucard..." He spat, teeth bared.
The King looked surprised, then stalked forward, grabbing Edd's face tightly. Edd tried to pry his head away, but it was hard since he was strapped to the chair with limited movement.
"How is this possible...?" Hellucard uttered, "You snapped out of it."
"What the fuck are you talking about, Reject Camden Market?" Edd furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
"It appears I still have some work to do..." Hellucard growled, "Stay put."
The King left the room, leaving Edd alone.
"Not like I have much of a choice." The brunette muttered, choosing to stare at the wall. He fiddled with his hands, which twisted around the chair and were tied behind his back. He felt around for his ring, as he never took it off.
There was nothing there.
'Weird, where's my ring?' Edd frowned as he fished around for it, 'Did I-? No, I couldn't have.'
Swallowing down the anxiety rising in his throat, he took a deep breath, trying to relax. It was hard, given his situation and the thick cords digging into him.
Despite the complications of their relationship, he longed to see Tord again.
"A-HA! Take that, you overgrown frisbees!" Bing yelled as he sprayed the black paint over a drone's sensor. It spun in the air before crashing to the ground, its blades smacking against the asphalt as it shut down. Bing grinned, jumping around in victory, 'Maybe Tord's lectures are useful after all!'
After his high, he looked around the deserted area. Drones lay scattered about, black spray paint coating their visions. He sighed.
He knew he should head back to the bunker, but he wasn't good at directions; Larry was the one to handle all of that stuff. Even Arthur could figure out how to get back. He missed his assistant and totally not romantic partner, Larry. He would even say he missed Arthur, even if he would never admit it out loud.
Bing huffed. His phone was dead. He needed an outlet that wasn't broken. It was surprising how hard it was to find one.
Well, what'd he expect? Flying cars?
'Right, that'd be something,' He smiled to himself as he continued his journey anywhere.
"Tord-! What the-!?" Pat yelped as he held the Norsk up, grunting as Tord let himself slack in his arms.
The leader let out a groan, tilting his head up, "I did your dirty work; now you do mine."
Pat rolled his eyes, glancing at Jon and giving him a nod. The apparition nodded back, turning to the computer and inputting a few lines of code.
"You can get off of me now," Pat grumbled.
"Nah." Tord grinned.
"Is this right, Jon?" Clay asked, showing him the lines of code.
"Close," Jon answered, pointing at one of them, "That one should be 'off.'"
The door to the security room slammed open, nearly falling off its hinges. Everyone turned toward the door, seeing a disheveled Kim in the doorway, her eyes wide as she looked around the room in a panic.
"Kim? What is it?" Tord questioned, stepping closer to her.
"Have you seen Katya?" Her voice wavered, and it was clear she was on the verge of a breakdown. Her hands shook as she fumbled with them.
Pat and Jon shook their heads, Clay being the one to speak, "No, is she missing or something?"
"It seems to be that way. I looked everywhere, I asked the others... she's nowhere." Kim bit her lip, holding back the urge to cry.
"Maybe... she went out for some fresh air?" Tord shrugged, trying to help her, "She'll be back."
Tord placed a hand on her shoulder, Kim avoiding his eyes as she looked at the ground.
"Hopefully..." She mumbled, a silent tear escaping her eye.
"Is that- Is that all of them?" Hellucard squinted, "There's like five thousand down there."
"Well, we are having a bit of trouble getting the drones to some areas, and a lot of civilians did evacuate," John spoke.
"Did I ask for your input, Doctor?"
"No...?"
"Then zip it." Hellucard glared at his assistant before staring out into the sea of people, "This will have to do for now. Have you figured out the circumstances with Edd?"
"I looked at the brain scan, and there appears to be no sign of his brain ever... blanking." The scientist flipped through his papers.
"What are you saying...?"
"Well, it just looks like that!" John waved a hand as he rambled on, "It looks as if he was never hypnotized, or he could've always broken free of the restraints we had on him, y'know?"
"No, I don't know," Hellucard leaned forward, "Why don't you explain it to me?"
While the scientist stuttered, the King scowled as he thought about what to do. He couldn't just leave Edd tied up until they came to rescue him. What else was there to do? He's tried nearly everything that his mentor taught him. He could feel the literal gears shift in his head. That's it.
"Doctor." He spoke, glancing at the curly-haired man.
"Yes?" He straightened up instantly.
"We still have the helmet, right?"
"The old one or the new one...?"
"The new model, idiot!" Hellucard yelled, "The old one was proven to not work, remember?"
"Right." John wrote something down, "Yes, it should be at the lab."
"Good." The King smirked.
They retrieved the helmet from the lab, dusting it off before Hellucard headed to where Edd was tied up. The brunette was still staring at the wall, lightly dozing off, his head slumping down.
"'Ey Head!" Hellucard greeted, making Edd jolt in his seat.
"Wha-! Oh, it's just you..." Edd deflated, then eyed the object in his hands, "What's up with the weird-looking VR Headset...?"
"Ah, now this is a special treat!" Hellucard beamed as he plugged in the headset to the overhead projector.
"You know I suck at Beats-"
"It's not Beatsaber!" The King frowned as he placed the helmet on Edd.
"Ow, ow, ow- how small is this thing!?" Edd complained as he felt something in the helmet dig into his scalp.
"Oh, what you're feeling isn't the helmet," Hellucard smirked as he latched the headset in position.
"What-?" Edd gasped as he felt something within the helmet grind deeper. He was pretty sure it pierced to the point of drawing blood. He fidgeted in the chair as he saw the black screen turn white, and the white turn black, and the black turn white... repeating and repeating, flashing in his gaze.
He faintly heard Hellucard leave, the door shutting behind him as the brunette was left there for hours.
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I met another Eddsworld fan outside of an EW server/group chat (which is very hard to do ;-;)
I will never touch an Eddsworld discord server; I'm scared of what those are like, lmao
Comments are appreciated 3