Taking Back Fun Day

Fun Ghoul groaned softly; his head was hurting, and his back ached. If he had to guess, he would say that the bulk of the pain had probably begun due to his fall down the stairs - a memory that was very much in the forefront of his mind. He was seated in what felt like a semi-reclined chair, that much he’d worked out so far, but the feel of it was very different to the chair in which he was being electrocuted earlier. The last time he saw Korse, the exterminator had ordered him taken to a place called ‘Sensory 5’. He had no idea what that was, but he knew without question that it would be unpleasant.

The room was pitch black and he could see nothing, hear nothing, but there was something... He frowned as he squinted, trying hard to see in the blackness. Someone was there. He hadn’t lived as a Killjoy for so long without developing a sort of sixth sense; but there was nothing paranormal about this feeling. The hairs on the back of his neck rose, prickling and raising the tension in his muscles. He scanned the impenetrable darkness to no avail. Feeling somewhat on a back foot, Ghoul was frustrated that whoever was in the room with him, and he realised that it may have been more than one person, they knew he was awake. He had made a sound, his breathing had changed; yes, they knew he was awake.

Remaining absolutely still, Ghoul held his breath and there it was - somewhere in the room, someone else had taken a single breath before they too held theirs.

“I know you’re here,” he finally announced, allowing himself to breathe once more.

Waiting for a reply but being met only with silence, Ghoul moved to stand, only to feel resistance as he did. It was hardly unexpected, but the limitation of his ability to move was. Unable even to bend his fingers, Ghoul gritted his teeth and tried to pull against whatever was holding him to the chair. As he did, the sensations he felt told him where the restraints lay. Ankles, thighs, waist, wrists, upper arms and chest, head and most surprisingly, his hands and fingers were held flat against the unusually wide arm of the chair. He now noted that the chair was padded.

“What do you want?” He asked, trying hard to control the slight shake in his voice.

Trapped in the dark; memories of being locked in the closet were beginning to surface for him and, as much as he tried to control his feelings, his heart rate began to increase. Somewhere to his right he heard a beeping sound and as his breathing grew deeper and slower in a desperate attempt to calm his nerves, he knew that the beeping sound was mirroring his heart rate. Thumping in his chest, his heart seemed to be in a race with the monitor, as one speeded up, so did the other. Swallowing nervously, Ghoul felt suddenly lightheaded as his heart raced beyond his control.

“What do you want?” He shouted this time, gasping as he snatched at breaths in his panic.

Taking a long, slow, deep breath, Ghoul exhaled equally slowly, trying to force a calm in himself. A few shallower breaths later, he heard the monitor begin to slow and with it, he felt his shoulders relaxing slightly. He began his question again, but slowly this time:

“What do you...”

Ghoul broke off, squinting in the sudden brilliance of two spotlights aimed directly at him. Slowly becoming accustomed to the light, but still, for a while at least, having to partially close his eyes against the glare, he looked around as far as he could see moving only his eyes. Still nobody moved into view.

“So, this is Sensory 5, is it?” He asked, hoping to elicit some sort of response.
“No.”

Ghoul’s eyes darted to the area from where he believed the sound had come, scouring the darkness beyond the bright light and seeing only a pair of legs, the rest remaining obscured by the light.

“Who are you?” Ghoul asked.
“My name is Gustav Yu.”
“Where am I? What do you want.”

The man stepped from the shadows; a tall, thin man, balding on top with a shock of white hair over his ears. Walking slowly over towards where Ghoul was held in what he now realised was an electrically adjustable padded chair, the man moved with an obvious limp and trailed his left leg, apparently stiff and unbending.

“My brief is a simple one,” he replied, offering a smile that suggested pleasure, but only for him. “I am to break you... mentally. Physically too, if I wish, but certainly mentally.”
“And you think that’ll be simple, do you?” Ghoul mustered all his strength to not show the man his fear.
“Oh, yes,” the man laughed. “You’re not my first, you know.”

Ghoul took a deep breath and let it go in a gasp as the room lights came fully on and the spotlights were switched off.

“As you can see,” Yu indicated the equipment around him. “Exterminator Korse has seen to it that I am fully equipped.”

Ghoul looked around as much as he was able. A variety of machines stood nearby that gave nothing away of their usage, but he could see other instruments on shelves that had an obvious purpose. Many were types of tools of various occupations: claw hammers, electrical pads, dentist drills, fish and butcher hooks, wire, a vice or two. Ghoul swallowed hard as he saw a variety of bottles holding an assortment of liquids and powders but what scared him most of all was the device near both his hands. As he looked down, he saw his fingers held flat to the arm of the chair, circled with interwoven leather straps at both knuckles holding his fingers completely immobile. Aimed at each finger a device with four syringes on both sides ready filled with a bluish liquid.

“Let’s begin, shall we?” Yu chuckled almost gleefully.

To Ghoul’s horror, he could only stare as the needles moved forward and found their targets. Perfectly lined up to enter the space between his fingers and fingernails, Ghoul first screwed up his face in a vain attempt to prevent the scream bursting from within. As the needles moved deeper, his resolve collapsed and the ragged cry of pain and shock forced its way through his lips, dragging a deeper, somewhat gravelly growl of anguish with it. Ghoul’s breathing came in snatched gasps as he tried to pull away, to no avail. His chest rose and fell in a patternless flurry as he tried to take control of himself but another shredded cry ruined his concentration as a new feeling of deep, burning and stabbing overcame him. Staring at the syringes, his eyes widened in terror, he saw the plungers injecting him with their contents. An icy cold sensation ran up his fingers into his arms. As it reached his elbows, it was as if his lower arms were being crushed and no amount of struggling allowed him any relief. He hadn’t even noticed Yu moving closer until the pads and wires were attached to his temples. He looked up alarmed and fearful only to be met with the expression of a man who was clearly enjoying himself.

“Before I’m finished with you, Fun Ghoul, you will work for BLI. You will infiltrate the Killjoys and you will bring them down from within.”
“No,” Ghoul gasped. “No, I won’t! I’ll die first!”
“No,” Yu laughed, shaking his head in mock pity. “You’ll die after.”

He may have said more, but if he did, Ghoul couldn’t hear him. The flick of a switch was sending waves of electricity through the pads attached to his temples and his own agonised screams drowned out any more words.

*

Kobra pulled up at the rear of Larry’s Auto Shop, having surveyed the front from a distance. There were no obvious visitors, but anyone could easily have been inside and he was taking no chances.

Stepping down from the van, Kobra unfastened his holster’s retaining strap to allow a quick draw if he needed to and approached the rear door. Larry was a man of habit and Kobra knew that the rear door would be open during the day to enable him to reach the supply building behind the main garage. Slipping quietly inside, Kobra kept to the shadows before moving stealthily towards the mechanic pit near the front entrance. Seeing no one but a pair of legs protruding from under a car, Kobra relaxed - good, Larry was alone.

“Larry?” He called, carefully watching the pair of legs.
“Yeah?”

Kobra spun, suddenly alert, gun in hand as a man appeared from behind a wall of tyres holding a mug of coffee.

“Dude!” The man cried, jolting at the sight of the red raygun aimed directly at him, but also concerned for his slightly burned and coffee-covered fingers.

Kobra exhaled deeply, sending a look of exasperation toward the mechanic.

“Man, do you have a death wish or something?” Kobra snapped.
“What? You come into my place of business, call me and you’re surprised when I answer? I’m not the one you should be questioning!”
“I thought that was you!” Kobra replied pointing to the set of legs on the garage floor.
“Huh!” Larry aimed a disgruntled glare at the young Killjoy. “Tina!”

Kobra watched in astonishment as the person rolled out from under the vehicle, her long brown hair tied up in a messy bun and wearing goggles. Pushing herself to her feet and removing the goggles, almost knocking her hair into a lopsided ponytail as she did.

“Who’s your friend, Larry?” She asked extending a greasy hand towards Kobra. “He’s...” she began looking him up and down. “... cute.”
“He’s off limits,” Larry countered.
“Ah, not another one of yours? How come you get all the cute ones?”

Kobra grinned as the woman flashed a smile and a wink at him.

“Go have your lunch break, Tina,” Larry growled back.
“Lunch? It’s ten-thirty!” Tina countered, leaning in and giving first Larry, then Kobra a kiss on the cheek.
“Go!” Larry insisted.
“Okay,” she raised her hands in defeat. “I got a damn hangover anyway, so I could use a lie down.”
“You better have been working on that car, not just lying underneath it!” Larry stormed.
“What do you think?” She raised an eyebrow. Turning back to Kobra she added. “I get off at six, cutie. I know how to party.”
“No!” Larry admonished.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” she sighed heavily at the raised volume. “I was talking to the walking jawline. Six, baby.” She blew a kiss and addressed her last words to Kobra before leaving the room.
“Family?” Kobra asked with raised eyebrows.
“Niece,” Larry sighed, leading Kobra towards his office. “How did you know?”
“I recognised the family dynamic,” Kobra grinned. “That and there’s no way you’d take that from a regular employee.”
“Yeah,” Larry shrugged. “I’m borderline with family,” he added, shaking his head.

Leading the way into the office - little more than a walled off area of the garage, starkly furnished with a battered desk and a couple of chairs, a telephone and a coffee pot - Larry flopped down into the chair nearest the desk and almost sagged into it.

“Help yourself to something that tastes vaguely like coffee if you have a good imagination.”

Kobra smirked; nothing this far out tasted of coffee. Lifting the pot he reached for the nearest mug before swapping it for another that didn’t have its own ecosystem growing inside it. Pouring himself half a cup, he raised the pot to Larry who, on glancing in his own mug, extended his arm to get a refill.

“Thanks,” Kobra raised his mug in a silent toast.
“You won’t be saying that in a minute,” Larry chuckled as almost immediately Kobra’s face creased with disgust at the foul and bitter taste of whatever he was drinking.
“Larry,” Kobra finally looked up. “No one, and I include Party in this, has got a good enough imagination to think this tastes of coffee.”

Larry looked down into the mug before shrugging his shoulders.

“I guess I’m used to it.”
“You look tired, Larry.”
“Thanks, Kid, just what I needed to hear. Got any more pearls of wisdom before I toss you out on your ear?”
“Need you, Larry,” Kobra took another sip of the hot something. “Car’s been sabotaged and we need it urgently.”

Larry frowned deeply and nodded his head.

“I heard,” he replied solemnly. “How are you going to get him back?”
“By force if we have to, but first we have to get there.”
“How did you get here?” Larry offered a puzzled frown.
“D’s van, but we need something fast and powerful.”
“What’s happened to your car?”
“All I know is there’s a split cable and there’s no oil, but there might be more.”
“Which cable?” Larry took a swig from his mug.
“I don’t know! That’s your job!”
“Help me out here, Kobra. How do I know what to bring?”
“Bring everything! What doesn’t fit in your van can go in D’s. I’m serious, Larry, we have to get the trans am moving as soon as.”

Larry took a deep sigh. He knew that Ghoul was the mechanic of their group and that anything he said was only going to further highlight the fact that he had been taken by BLI. Nobody, least of all Kobra, needed that point pressed.

“Okay,” he got to his feet. “Give us ten, maybe fifteen minutes to load up and we’ll be with you.”
“No, just you,” Kobra frowned, alarmed at the idea.
“Kobra...”
“No, Larry, just you,” he insisted.
“Kobra!” Larry cut across him sharply. “I’m pushing sixty. My eyesight isn’t what it was and I need the extra pair of hands these days.”
“I can...”
“I need someone who knows what they’re doing,” Larry replied, eliciting a deep frown from the younger man. “You got a lot of talents, Kid, but engines isn’t one of them. I’ve seen how you drive that thing and if you knew anything about engines... well let’s just say, you’re not their friend.”
“All right, but she’s blindfolded all the way,” Kobra insisted.
“Really?” Larry almost laughed until he realised the younger man was serious. “Okay, okay. We’ll follow you in fifteen minutes.”
“Blindfolded, Larry,” Kobra warned.
“Both of us or just Tina?” Larry smirked.

Kobra rolled his eyes and nodded.

“I’ll wait outside.”

Notes

Hello lovely readers!

Hope you had a fab Christmas and New Year! I’m starting the new year with this story because it won’t get out of my head. Should be able to get back to Before They Were Fabulous soon.

Hope you like it!
Sas xx