Oleander and Dakota walk out holding a FUCKING DEER CORPSE they hunted together. "Should we skin it outside?"
"Yeah... Probably. It'll be too messy instead. " Dakota searches around in his pockets for a knife. "Ah, I must've not had it on me when Joey killed me."
Oleander nods and sets the deer down. He takes off his backpack and pulls out a tarp which he sets down. "Help me move it to the tarp- I have a knife in there too i think."
Dakota takes the deer, dragging it onto the tarp for Oleander. "Y'know, I could make some pretty nice stuff out of this skin here! Mind if I keep it once we get it off?"
"Go ahead! I dont have much use for it." He goes to his bag and retrieves a knife, extending it to Dakota
Dakota yoinks the knife from him, starting to skin the deer. He hasn't done it in awhile, but he's pretty good at it. "My dad taught me how to do this a lonnnggg time ago. Probably when I wasssss.. 7 or 8."
"Did you have a good relationship with him?" Oleander asks, watching curiously
"For the most part, yeah. " Dakota shrugged, continuing to skin. "The town I was living in before just didn't like him and my mother being together, so he eventually fled off and I never heard from him again.. Maybeeeee.. 6 years ago or so."
"Oh... i’m sorry." Oleander frowns, helping where he can.
"Eh, there wasn't anything anyone could do about it. Just the way the world works sometimes. I've gotten over it. I still miss him, but I don't know if it's really worth it."
Oleander nods. "Yeah... Thats fair." They continue helping. "Uh... do you like your mom?"
"Oh, I love her!" Dakota grins. "She was the sweetest woman in the world. She always took care of my hair for me, made me clothes, made sure I ate good.. She was the perfect mother, I tell you. " He stops for a minute, frowning. "I miss her a lot.. I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to her, she probably thinks I left her too."
Oleander pauses, taking it in. "Well... you still can, can't you? I mean Joey has a time machine. We can go back and you can say goodbye!" Oleander says
"Oh, god. No. I mean, yeah, but no. " Dakota rubs the back of his neck, getting deer blood on it. Yucky. "I don't want her to see me like this."
Oleander nods. "That’s fair... sorry." He sighs
"I mean, I'd love to see her again. Tell her about all the new people I've met, tell her that I'm still alive.. Sort of." He chuckled nervously. "Maybe I will go back.. Just for a little bit. She could braid my hair one more time, Lock did it for me the other day but it just ain't the same, maybe cook me a nice meal again.. I could tell her about.. Y'know." He grins, tipping up the cowboy hat he stole.
Oleander smiles, nodding. "If you want to I can help you get there. I’ll find out how to break in to the lab and stuff!"
"We'll see. He has pretty high security. " He chuckles, let's just say they finish skinning the deer. "Wow. This thing'll last us weeks!"
"True- What’s his security like?" Oleander asks, already concocting a plan
"If I remember correctly, he has an invisible electric fence all around the area. I remember because I ran straight through it. " He looks proud of himself. "I'm not sure if there's any way to get in through the outside unless you have his keys.. " LIGHTBULB. "But MAYBE, we can lure him outside and steal his keys! I can ask that kind... handsome.. big.. cowboy feller to help us too! Joey'll listen to him. If we steal the keys, we'll be able to get into the building itself. Only issue is I don't know where or how he keeps his time thingy..."
Oleander nods. "Yeah good idea! And I see... hm... You'll have to show me where he lives. I can do some reconnaissance and try to learn more."
"Well, once we deal with this deer, I'll try to sneak you over there.. Just gotta be careful. We can't get caught. It will be the death of us."
Oleander nods. "Don’t worry- I’m good at sneaking around." Oleander says with a nod as they continue to do the thing
"Hmmm.. I think we gotta start seperatin' the meat. We can pack it all up and throw it into a freezer, if y'all got one. It sure will be full after this!" Dakota pushes the deer skin off to the corner of the tarp. "We could find someone to taxidermy the head! Put it in the house as a trophy!" Oh god. Oh god no.
"Hm... i’m not sure about that one! Considering the nonferals I think they might find it a bit disturbing." He chuckles
"Oh... Yeah..." He frowns. "I still don't understand them.. I thought I was dreamin' when I first saw one of them!"
Oleander chuckles. "They’re from another world. But thats understandable."
"I just had quite the shock when I realized the sky bein' red and people being talkin' animals wasn't just part of my messed up headspace after escaping from Joey. " Dakota sighed. "Is it tough for you guys too? Everythin' bein' different?"
Oleander shrugs. "Not really for me. Ive known about the paranormal my whole life. But the apocalypse wasnt fun." He says, sighing
Dakota takes the knife again and starts separating the meat. (I don't know how deer meat works) . "While I miss home, I'm glad that I found you guys. Even in the past, people weren't as welcoming as y'all were. "
Oleander smiles at Dakota. "I'm glad you found us too,,, youre a good friend."
"You're a good friend too! " He grins. "And hey, maybe I can be a good friend and a good wing man . " He nudges Oleander, giving him a teasing smile. Oleander goes over to Joey’s lab.
A certain twink is sneaking around, watching the house and Joey CAREFULLY. Nothing seems out of the ordinary from outside of the building. Just a big white building with a decent amount of security cameras set up. There's a large control panel on the edge of the lawn. It is extremely quiet around the building. Almost too quiet. Sus. Oleander creeps around it. I want you to visualize the way the grinch sneaks around. That’s him. Anyways. He’s as silent as he can be, hoping he can catch Joey leaving and he can sneak in.
The door opens, it is loud. A man with dark brown hair, glasses, a pinstripe suit and a lab coat steps out. He quickly hurries around to the other side of the lab, now being unable to see the front entrance side. The door is slowly closing
Oleander makes a quiet run for it, trying to catch the door before it closes! Look at him go!
The door closes just a second after Oleander enters. He is in. The main floor of the lab is still a disaster, papers thrown all around the room, things look destroying and out of place. The lights are dimmed. Through a small window on the first floor, Joey can be seen outside doing some stuff. He isn't paying much attention to anything inside, but it seems like be might be finishing up what he's doing out there. Maybe heading inside soon.
Oleander looks around, looking for subjects or a time machine lookin thing.
There is a door in the room. It's locked. A lot. There is multiple sets of door locks, shittily nailed into the wall. Something is being hidden in there.
Oleander uses his gauntlet and vaporizes the fucking door. It’s made of wood, the only wooden door in the entire building too. The door is BLASTED AWAY. Inside the room, there's lots of computers and filing cabinets, along with a big phone booth. (Bill and Ted reference...) It looks suspicious.
Oleander walks over to the phonebooth , checking it out curiously. It looks to have been modified in some way. There's lots of things pasted onto the walls, lots of wires and such. It also looks beat up and broken in some areas. Oleander notes it. Could be the machine. He goes to the computers, plugging in a flash drive and trying to see whats on them.
The computer loads up. One this one, a file about Dakota pops up. Or, 'Subject 843'. There's lots of pictures of him, both from before he was killed and when he was brought back to life. Even some of exactly when he was killed. There's info about his code, about any malfunctions he's had. It's a lot.
Oleander tries to copy it all onto the flashdrive, figuring this would be useful for Dakota if he ever needs something to be fixed.
There's a loud noise coming from the main room. Like a heavy door slowly opening. A voice can be heard as well.
Oleander grabs the flashdrive and moves to the side of the wall, attempting to avoid detection
The door is loudly shut. Someone is stomping around and grumbling. He shouts something. "AMBROSSSSSEEEEE. COME HERE! I NEED TO BE HELD BEFORE I DESTROY SOMETHING!!!!"
Ambrose runs downstairs himbo style and picks Joey up into his arms! "Whats wrong??" Oleander keeps hiding for the moment.
He's grumbling, just cuddling into Ambrose. "I went outside, trying to clean up the outdoor subject area, but half of them were malfunctioning out there and I couldn't fix them!" He's angry. Face in Ambrose boob.
Ambrose gently pets him. "Its alright- itll be alright. What were they doing?"
"They were.." He stops, lifting his head up. He senses that something is off. He gazes around the room, noticing the door. "Wait. Wait! Did you fuck with the door?" He asks Ambrose. "The one over there?" He points to the obliterated door.
Ambrose looks at it and shakes his head. "Uh... no." He sets Joey down and starts approaching the door. Oleander is PANICKING AND TRYING TO HIDE IN A CORNER
Joey follows close behind. He quickly grabs some random medical tool from the floor. "How the fuck could someone even get in here???"
Ambrose SEES Oleander in the corner and approaches. Oleander panics and draws a knife.
"Its a kid??????" He says, bewildered.
"A kid? Bring it out here!" Joey crossed his arms, tapping his foot on the floor.
Oleander prepares and the two engage in a small fight. It ends with Ambrose nursing a few cuts and holding Oleander tight against his chest. Ambrose walks out and shows Joey. Oleander is thrashing and sneering, desperetly trying to escape
Joey stares at him. "No funny business. Okay? Just answer my questions honestly. Who are you? Why are you here? Why the FUCK were you in that room??!"
Oleander stares, trying to come up with a good excuse. "I’m just a survivor looking for food!" he huffs. "It looked like you might have some I dunno!"
"That doesn't explain why you were in that room. What kind of person would keep food in a locked up room? Huh?!" He is very aggressive.
"Someone who's been fucking robbed before!" Oleander exclaims, just as aggressive as the other. His clothes have old blood stains too. He certainly looks like a survivor! Maybe.
"How did you get in here in the first place?" He steps closer, examining Oleander.
"I waited til you left and caught the door before it closed." He says simply. He has many visible scars and a peculiar one on the back of his neck if Joey chooses to look
"I don't know if I believe you. Honey.. I mean,. Ambrose, follow me." Joey walks to the elevator. Time to bring him to the interrogation room. :)
Ambrose follows and Oleander struggles. "LET ME GO-" He yells, thrashing. Oleander tries to shoot Ambrose in the side with his gauntlet but misses, causing a hole in the wall behind Ambrose. Ambrose quickly gets the gauntlet off him and tosses it onto the ground. Oleander screams in frustration and struggles more, "The hand thingie is a fuckin weapon." Ambrose says,slightly out of breath from keeping the unreasonably strong teen down.
"Good to note, thank you." He pulls out a notebook, jotting it down. He brings them down to the bottom floor, leading Ambrose into his office. On the way there, they pass through the long hallway. It's gotten much grimier, more subjects malfunctioning, lots of dismantled ones out in the Zoo. It's a mess. "Quick, tie him into the chair. " He flicks on a bright lamp in the office.
Oleander struggles but Ambrose holds hiim down, tying him in.
Joey adjusts the lamp, shining it right into Oleander's face. "What's your name? Is there any other survivors in your group? What are their names?!" He shoves the gauntlet into a drawer in his desk.
Oleander blinks, closing his eyes. "A couple- their names are Kate, Alayna, and Jess-" He says quickly.
"I don't believe you. " Joey steps closer to him. "Tell the truth. Or you'll end up like all those people out in the hallway, and we wouldn't want that, now would we?" He's smiling creepily.
Oleander sneers. "How do I know you won’t do it anyways?"
"Because, I'm a man of my word! Pinky promise." He holds out a pinky. Sounds familiar. "Now, tell me the truth."
Oleander CANT TAKE THE PINKY. "I may be friends with one of the people you murdered."
"You what? How!? Who?!" He grabs Oleander by the shoulders, shaking him.
Oleander is SHAKEN but doesnt respond. Like a BOSS
Joey SLAPS him across the face. "I asked you a question, you answer it!"
Ambrose just watching: 🧍♂️
He takes it and SPITS in Joey’s face. On the back of his neck appears to be a scar in the shape of a circle with an x over it.
Joey grumbles, wiping off his face. "Huh?! What is that?" He grabs Oleander's face, craning his head to the side. "Rosie, come here, do you recognize this?!" He points at the scar.
Ambrose shrugs. "Uh... doesnt look familiar to me?"
Oleander grumbles, trying to fight against Joey’s grasp
"What does that marking on the back of your neck mean? Answer me." He brings Oleander's face back to look him in the eye.
Oleander tries to BITE HIM!! Also doesnt answer.
Joey hits him on the nose like he's a dog. "You stop that. Didn't anyone ever tell you to respect your elders?" He starts searching Oleander for a phone or anything that he could use to contact anyone.
He finds a phone fairly easily! There is no password. Oleander thrashes. "I’ll fucking kill your stupid gay ass!" He says
"What makes you think I'm stupid and gay?" He takes the phone, opening it up and looking through. He does something.
"AY- What are you doing with that???" He tries to kick Joey.
It hits him in the shins, making him groan and almost drop the phone. "I'm doing what ever the fuck I want with it!" He raises it into the air like he's about to smash it. Oh wait. He notices another message came through.
"NO DONT-" He yelps
"Awwww, little baby doesn't want me to break his phonnnneee?" He cackles, searching through Oleander's phone. "Shit, why do these people care about you so much?!" He grumbles.
Oleander struggles. "FUCK OFF WHAT ARE YOU TELLING THEM-"
Joey ignores him, searching through the phone. "Ahhh, so your name is Oleander.." He continues searching. "Your name is also...? Oh.. Oh..." Joey gives him some sort of look. Like a 'I get you' kind of look. He shakes his head, he can't be too nice to him! He slaps him across the face WITH THE PHONE, keeping a tight grip on it. "Tell me who your friend is. The one that you think I 'murdered.' He demands, looking through the phone again.
Oleander takes it again, sucking in air. "Fuck you." He hisses.
"Oh noooo, that hurt my feelings soooo badly!" He says in a mocking tone.
"Ambrose, untie him and bring him to the solitary room for me. Since he doesn't want to answer my questions, maybe he needs some time to think. Alone."
Ambrose nods. "Alright." He unties Oleander, grabbing him before he can lunge at Joey. He carries him as he follows Joey!
Joey leads them to the solitary room, opening the door. "Now, this door can unlock from both sides, but don't get your hopes up. There's nothing you can use to pick the lock from in there." Joey opens the door, standing beside it. "Throw him in there, Rosie."
Ambrose does so and Oleander tries to lunge at Joey before the door closes!
Joey jumps back, waving mockingly at him. "Have a nice night." He keeps the phone, leading Ambrose back upstairs.
Ambrose is quiet, following Joey. "Who do you think sent him?"
"I don't know.. None of them are smart enough to scheme all this.. And none of them are smart enough to know that they should hate me.. Unless..." He thinks for a moment. "Fucking Dakota.."
He raises an eyebrow. "The cowboy?"
"Yes. He's the only one who can think for himself, therefore the only one who can hate me. The boy said he was friends with someone I killed, it has to be Dakota." He stares at the phone... "Pee pee baby..?"
"I see... so Dakota sent him here???" Ambrose says, the gears turning in his head
"Yes.. They are friends. Dakota doesn't like me. Dakota sent the kid here to spy on me. " He's explaining slowly.
Ambrose nods. "But you want Dakota back. And the kid should know where he is, right?"
"Well.. Yes, I guess you're right. We'll check in the morning. I wasn't even thinking about that.." Joey searches through the phone again. "I wonder where all these people are... I wonder if Dakota is either them."
"Ask them about Dakota maybe? Like ask where he is. Say he wants to talk to him." Ambrose says
"Good idea. You're smarter than you seem. " He chuckles and jumps up, giving him a little smooch on the cheek. "Annddddd sent. "
Ambrose chuckles and ruffles Joeys hair. "Did they send the address?"
"Yes, but I can't just go there. Who knows how many people live there? And if any of them are as big as you.. woof... I'd get my ass kicked. I'm trying to lure Dakota out."
"Hm... yeah. I can back you up." Ambrose says. "Can I see the phone?"
"Sure." He hands the phone to him. "Just be careful, it's tiny compared to your hands. Don't break it. "
Ambrose nods, looking at the chat. "Wait... Kade..." He blushes. "Uh... it might be nothing but uh..."
"But what? What is it?!"
"He might be the vessel for one of the most powerful demons also one of my friends????? Or its a different Kade." Ambrose laughs nervously
"Hm.. Interesting. Try your best to find out. Any information is helpful." He's on his tippy toes, trying to peek at the phone screen.
Ambrose nods. "What if we admit we arent Oleander? Maybe try to ransom?"
He frowns. "Can we just play along for a little bit longerrrr? It's fun! It's giving me the teenage boy experience that I never got!"
"Teenage boy experience of being a dick?" Ambrose asks, chuckling
"Yes! Exactly! You understand!" He grinning and flapping his hands. "And boy, oh, boy is it fun. I'm ruining his life! He's deserving, of course."
Ambrose is staring. "Yeah were fucked. We should beg for mercy and return the kid." He says, sighing
"Huh, why?!" Joey looks a little scared. "What happened?? What did you find!!"
"Its fucking Cerberus. If Cerberus cares about this kid we're FUCKED, okay??"
"Okay... are you going to explain why?"
"Hes a 40 foot tall, 3 headed demon wolf man."
"Oh god... 40 feet.. We are fucked." Joey lets it sink in for a minute. "FUCKKKKKK!" He yells, kicking one of the walls and then whimpering in pain. Metal.
"Ill beg for mercy. We're friends kind of, OKAY??? ITLL BE FINE." Ambrose says. Hes panicking a bit
"It isn't gonna fucking work!" Joey is panicking a LOT. "What if he wants to crush our skulls, huh?!"
"IT WILL ITLL BE FINE! I’ILL FIGURE IT OUT"
"This is going to end my whole career.. I thought I could've just fucked around on his phone, gotten Dakota back and then.. then turn the kid into a robot!! Now I'm gonna fucking get killed!!!?"
"No- no its fine." Ambrose sighs. "They dont know your name or where we are, ITS FINE."
"Do you think maybe if we turn in the kid we could trade him for Dakota??? They can't possibly care about him as much as they care about that purple-haired boy." Joey is grinning.
"I dont trust it. Going to meet them could very well be a death sentence! Just give the kid his phone back and set him free, okay??" Ambrose says, suighing
"... I don't want to though..." He's frowning, looking up at Ambrose. "There isn't any fun in that!"
Ambrose STARES. "Joseph. DO YOU WANT TO FUCKING DIE???"
He flinches. "Only a little sometimes... But no, not right now!!"
"They want to give us Dakota I guess?? Its probably a trap but he said hell track us down if we dont hand deliver him so." Ambrose does this face 😬
"Hmmm.." Joey strokes his tiny little beard. "Okay. Fine. We'll turn the kid in.." He grumbles, stomping his way back to the solitary room.
Ambrose sighs and shoves the phone in his pocket. Oleander is tugging on the bars and tryingto open them
Joey fumbles with his large set of keys, jamming the right one into the door. He unlocked it. "Don't attack me. We are letting you out."
Oleander narrows his eyess. "How do I know for sure??"
"Like I said, I'm a man of my word. I promise”. He holds out a pinky again. "You want to go home, and the people who want you home have something I want. So I'm not going to do anything funny."
Oleander narrows his eyes but doesnt take the pinky. "Fine." He sneers
"Follow me." He grabs Oleander by the wrist, dragging him along to the elevator.
Oleander follows, trying to get his wrist back. "fuck you."
"Keep your mouth shut or I'll send you right back to that room." He continues dragging him along, throwing him into the elevator. He makes sure Ambrose is in as well before sending them up. "Rosie, are you done with your conversation with those people, or do you need his phone for longer?"
"I'm done." He hands it to Oleander who immedietly turns it on to see what they said.
They eventually reach the top floor. "Now, you lead us to your home. We get what we want, and we give you back. No funny business."
Oleander groans but does so! rip oleander gauntlet.. in the hands of the enemy
Joey is still holding Oleander by the wrist. He's an average height guy, but looks ripped as shit. He has short brown hair, glasses, and a small little beard. He's wearing the same old pinstripe suit and lab coat. "We are here to give this back to you."
oleander just looks annoyed. "I'm fine"
Kade motions to Oleander, "Alright, let him go."
Joey waits. "Give me him first. " He points at Dakota. He cringes at the sight of Dakota's current outfit. Meanwhile, Dakota is frozen in fear. "If I don't get him, you don't get the kid. "
Oleander tries to punch Joey in the face, attempting to make him let him go
Joey can feel the stare of something
"Of course." Kade shoves Dakota in front of him "The boy."
Joey is overjoyed. He's grinning, he quickly pushes Oleander towards Kade. He grabs Dakota by the wrist now, who is still frozen in fear.
Dakota snaps out of it, turning to look at Kade while trying to yank himself out of Joey's grip. "Are you really gonna let him take me...?"
Ambrose looks like hes shitting bricks
Kade grins "Nah." He proceeds to throw Oleander over his shoulder, then do the same with Dakota, waddling away at high speeds.
Joey is fucking OUTRAGED. "ROSIE. DID YOU SEE THAT SHIT??? THEY FUCKING TRICKED US!!!!"
OLEANDER IS TREATED LIEK A RAGDOLL "Just be happy we arent fucking dead???" Ambrose sighs, grabbing Joeys arm. "Lets go."
"Urrrrghhhh. No! I came here to get him back and that's exactly what I'm doing!" He attempts to follow wherever Kade is headed.
A fucking laser is pointed directly at Ambrose's head Ambrose stares at the laser. "Hey Joey"
"What! What do you want!" He grumpy.
Kade is outie he's headed back towards the backyard entrance
"Look at me."
Joey looks. "Oh. Fuck. " He looks over at where the others are headed, then looks back at Ambrose. Then at the others. Then at Ambrose. "But.. He's so close.."
"Please."
He looks at both options again. "Fucking.." He grumbles, stomping his feet and shaking his hands. "Fine! We can just fucking go and forget about it!"
Ambrose just stares at him. "If you dont theyll kill us both so."
"I know, I know! We can fucking leave!" He's autistic and his plan has been ruined. He's about to enter meltdown mode.
Ambrose nods. "Cmon..." He says, sighing as he knows whats about to happen.
Joey starts stomping off home, a little bit ahead of Ambrose. He's grumbling to himself. After some time passes, they are back. As soon as Joey is inside the main floor he IMMEDIATELY runs to start trashing the room. To trash the already trashed room.