Chapter Text
BANG!
The taste of iron filled his mouth, his eyes watered, and his legs gave out as he stumbled back into the hallway.
He looked down weakly, trying to access his wounds through blurry eyes.
His guts were ruined and the feeling in his legs was numb, and worse still the bleeding didn't show any signs of stoppage.
He didn't know his biology, or maybe he did, his memory wasn't what it used to be, but he knew for sure *something* was damaged beyond repair.
A sigh escaped him, experience told him he wasn't going to survive this, just his luck, fucking perfect!
He’d hoped he’d have more time to snoop around for any more secrets his brother's dearests might have around this mansion, alas he'd have to wait till the next loop to get his answers.
“Why did you do that?” a voice said softly, a woman's voice, he looked up and saw a blondie in a sundress staring right at him, “We could have just-” she was saying until a scrappy voice, like nails on a chalkboard interrupted her.
He came out of the room, Ukulele and shotgun in hand, his eyes, all three of them were hard and cold and unforgiving.
“Knocked him out? Why? Subtlety ain't my priority here,” the man spat, “‘Sides, you think he'd have done the same for us?”
“So what? That gives you the license to throw away life, like cheap liquor?” she retorted.
“No, the foundation gave me that right, the same foundation that gave you the right, no, the *privilege* of owning your own body.”
“You’re a vile creature Clef…”
“You wound me!” the man said with a smile.
The woman moved over to Benny, “I'm so sorry this happened to you dear.” She held his hand tight.
Clef snorted, “Save your sympathies for someone who deserves it,”
She glared at him, “He is an agent of the insurgency, you know what they do to your kind?”
“I'm aware…” she muttered.
Clef nodded, “Then you….” he paused and stared at Benny, really staring at him, his gaze making Benny feel even more uncomfortable.
Did he know him, remember his face from the foundation, God, just his luck! Escaped from those sadists only to reunite with one of their agents, and from the vibe he was giving Benny, this bastard is even worse than the usual pissants!
Clef shrugged, seemingly losing interest in whatever he was thinking.
“Gutshot,” Clef whistled, “those are absolutely the worst.”
“Fuck you!”
Clef shrugged, “Easily in the top 5.”
“What?”
“Forget about it, just-”
“Clef please, let me put him out of his misery, he doesn't need any more of this.”
He stared her down, sighed and gave her a curt nod before turning his gaze towards Benny, “Looks like you get off easy punk.”
“Bastard,” Benny muttered.
The slimeball dared to laugh at Benny’s expense.
“I'm sorry, I'll make it quick…” She placed her hands gently on the sides of his face and whispered, “Come find me.”
CRUNCH!
“- so she had hands all over me, couldn't have enough of… hey Ben, you okay man? You look pale.” Fitzpatrick said.
Fuck!
“Yeah, I'm g-good, just need some air,” He stuttered.
Fitzpatrick gave him a questioning gaze, “you sure? Cuz if you're no-”
“I'm fine! Okay? No need to worry about old Benny here! Just need some air to clear my head and I’ll be right as rain!” he gave his most convincing grin.
“Sure… look just get ready for the party, we'll be starting by 7:30,”
Benny nodded.
‘Like hell I am,’ he thought as he made his way to the door.
He took three deep breaths as he slammed the door shut.
CRUNCH!
He nearly jumped outta his skin, he spun in the direction of the noise and saw… some bird with white, grey and red feathers making weird noises with its throat and knocking against a tree…
CRUNCH! CRUNCH!
It continued with those stupid annoying sounds.
CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!
It reminded him eerily of that place, that thing…
CRUNCH!
He cringed.
Neck snaps all things considered weren't a nasty way to go by immortal standards.
Most think a fiery kiss would be the top of the list, yeah you'd be half right, having his insides cooked while he could barely breathe breath, his skin peeling, melting as he desperately howled in pain, searching in futility for that liquid salvation, the promise of hellish pain would frighten even the most Badass Mcbadasson, but at least you learnt from the pain, learnt to avoid it once it was over.
Being dissolved in viscous acid while a psychopath laughed over you though, was something he'd see even in his most pleasant dreams, and he hadn't had those in a long time, the lipless grin of that gnarled bastard would haunt him forever!
Perhaps being mauled to death by K-9 rejects was better, right? Well, he'd fallen for their little tease the first time but it got old pretty fast, hearing that sexy researcher’s desperate cries wouldn't fool him ever again.
Or Perhaps ears growing all over your body, cutting off your airflow, or being completely eviscerated by a slender man reject… wow, he lost his train of thought for some reason, and he wondered why for a moment…?
He shook his head.
Anyways, needless to say, he'd seen his fair share of death, courtesy of being an Anomaly as those sadists called his kind.
But that Creature, that statue was the worst for him mentally, always coming at him in the shadows, watching him, stalking him, just waiting for the next chance to…
CRUNCH!
It leers over you, just barely a few inches from your face, your nose almost touching its face.
CRUNCH!
You resist the urge to hurl out your breakfast, the pungent smell of faecal matter and rust hits you.
CRUNCH!
You resist the urge to blink, to scream, as you slowly move backwards, keeping your eyes glued to its horrid form.
CRUNCH!
Your eyes get heavier, itchier, you can't hold on any longer… you need to-
CRUNCH!
A figure moves from the corner of your eye…
CRUNCH!
A random pen drops from the floor.
CRUNCH!
You trip…
CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!
It always ends the same way, with your head 180 degrees, due north, due south.
CRUNCH!
He cringed, fuck that bitch, seriously fuck her and her gnarly-looking boy toy, and fuck this stupid bird too!
CRUNCH!
He snatched a pebble from the ground and hurled it at the stupid thing!
The fool darted away before it landed, lucky bastard…
Now what to do?
This place was gone, thanks to those sadists, and he was just getting settled too… shame.
“Hey Benji!” one of the guards cried, “Got a minute?”
“I'm kinda busy rig-”
“Good come on over, need some help loading some stuff out of the way.”
Great, just his luck, well he still had an hour to burn until that psycho showed up, no harm right?
“Fucking fine, what's the problem?” He stepped closer.
“This,” the guard slapped his hand on the top of a cylindrical metallic box, it had an ominous symbol of the globe hidden behind a star, “looks like our so-called partners ain't dragging their feet no more.”
“The hell is this?” Benny knew this symbol from somewhere but couldn't put his finger where he did.
“Beats me,” he shrugged, “but the boss man said to move this thing as soon as it reaches here.”
“... And why didn't you just send whoever brought it here to the shed behind the mansion,” he asked dubiously.
“It just appeared out of thin air.”
Benny gave him a *look*
“I'm serious, with all the strange stuff you've seen over there with the jailers, *this* is unbelievable to you?”
Benny conceded.
He’d be out of here in the hour anyway, no point beating a dead horse.
He did a quick stretch and bent over, the guard mirrored him, one minute they were hauling the thing onto the truck, and the next moment his body felt white hot pain and his vision went dark.
He screamed, the guard screamed too, dark laughter could be heard over him, whoever that was, whatever was going on, he didn't have much time to ponder.
He felt stakes of fire pierce into himself, and then nothing at all.
“- so she had hands all over me, couldn't have enough of… hey Ben, you okay man? You look pale.” Fitzpatrick said.
Fuuuck…
—-------------------
He crossed to the other side of the hallway, his eyes darted around carefully, no one around, good!
The armoury.
The first place he scouted when they brought him to this place.
Took a couple of tries before he could sneak in here undetected, those first few weeks testing this place’s defences, hardly any guards stationed here, which was off-putting, to say the least, but that's a problem for *them*, not him, not now at least.
Back to the problem at hand, what weapon would be best?
A rifle is too obvious, maybe a SMG? Or a revolver would do as well?
“Huh? Who's there?” a voice called out from behind him.
He froze, shit, just his luck!
“Eh… it's eh, Benny, just came to uh, remind you of the party.”
“... Sure, message received, you can be on your way now.”
Really? He was gonna be like that? Now? Of all time? Now he was gonna be cautious?
“C’mon Guy, this place has been secured for months! Cut loose a bit, hey I heard that lady from the beach you like is gonna be there,”
“... I think you should leave Ben,” he said, his tone had a bit more edge to it now.
“Everything okay, Guy?”
“...”
Benny felt a chill down his spine, like cold steel crawling on his back, his limbs went numb, and his vision blurry, he crashed head-first onto the counter in front of him.
“You should have left Ben,” Guy said, All Benny could see were the soles of his shoes, “You shouldn't have come here!” he shouted.
Benny’s bounced, as something struck him again and again and ag-
“- so she had hands all over me, couldn't have enough of… hey Ben, you okay man? You look pale.” Fitzpatrick said.
“Ha…”
“Ben?”
“Hahahahahaha! Fucking hell, we’re back huh? We're seriously back aren't we?”
Fitzpatrick shifted back, “L-Look men, maybe you should sit down for a minute, you don't look so-”
“I slept with your sister last week, Fitz,” he said calmly.
“...What?”
“Yeah, I don't know what got over me, I could seriously have done better, hell I have *done* better, but yeah, I slept with Janet last week.”
“... It's Jenny,”
Benny waved his hand, “Tomatoes, Tomatoes, not like it matters, didn't pay much attention to her butterface when-”
He decked him, and Benny quelled over, blood dripping from his nose, Fitz got on top of him and wailed, over and over and over.
Wasting his time with pointless stuff like this didn't sit well with him entirely.
You'd think a guy with all the time in the world would do something better, perhaps perfect a trade, or skill or take advantage of some business venture.
…or simply be a decent human being.
But Benny couldn't bring himself to do that, not out of apathy or laziness.
No, the loops simply didn't allow things to go that smoothly.
Death of some kind needed to be involved, his death that is…
Kinda took the fun outta having powers.
But every so often, he'd tempt fate like this, tempt people like.
Push their buttons just for the heck of it!
A small sane part of him desperately wanted to kick him over or raise his hands or do *something* to defend himself.
The rest of him however found comfort in those fists, a twisted sort of ambience, all things considered, not a painful way to go by the metric.
But men, the look in Fitz's eyes, hurt him a little bit, anger issues aside, he was a relatively decent guy, but it almost made him feel guilty about sleeping with Julie… almost.
*CRUNCH*
“- so she had hands all over me, couldn't have enough of… hey Ben, you okay man? You look pale.” Fitzpatrick said.
“Just peachy… Hey Fitz, if you had the power to redo your mistakes, and change things for the better for yourself, would you use it?”
“Nope!”
“Really? You can do anything you want, anything at all and you wouldn't change anything even if you could get away with it?”
“No, I don't wanna be like those freaks the jailers keep locked up.”
Benny nodded in understanding, “I heard Carlos got the good stuff for tonight, Dagga and Crystal.”
“Isn't that against protocol?”
“Don’t ask me, the big guy is okay with it.”
Any feelings he had about leaving his so-called brothers, well they can fuck themselves for all he cared.
The rest of the night was eventful, to say the least.
Bleeding from a stump thanks to a conveniently placed bear trap.
Hacked to pieces by some of his brothers-in-arms.
Blown up in a car, fucking hidden bomb of all things!
At least he got to see the entity in the box that killed him that one time, a spectral soldier dressed in blue and grey tactical.
He rained bullets of golden fire upon all he saw.
Things only got weirder from there on, anomalies started showing up, he saw colonies of ants eat one of the guards during one loop, and a pack of flesh hounds hunt them down in another, one of them tore Benny to pieces!
Finally, he witnessed the strangest thing, the sundress lady doing backflips through the courtyard.
She looked like she was heading to the old kitchen.
She paused, turning her gaze towards his direction, she studied him for a moment, and opened her mouth to speak when of course, that fucker shot him!
“- so she had hands all over me, couldn't have enough of… hey Ben, you okay man? You look pale.” Fitzpatrick said.
Benny sighed, it was a long-drawn thing, the type you'd see from an overly dramatic bad rom-com.
What to do? Escaping is a no-no, whatever the hell is going on with this place, escape has become a fucking nightmare, and his powers won't exactly give him the way out either.
That woman and that bastard were at the centre of it, he could see her as she asked, see what she wanted from him, truth be told he was a little interested.
She's the second person this week who's guessed his powers just by looking at him.
She seemed warmer than the black lady too!
But still, that Fucking Three-eyed bastard deterred him.
Something about his air rubbed him the wrong way, what's worse is he felt oddly familiar… and not in a good way, something vile, vindictive in those eyes of his.
He decided to study them for this next loop.
That bastard always appeared in one of the upstairs rooms, he'd guess he'd start with him.
With a heavy heart, he snatched a bottle of rum and made his way to Carlos’ room.
He could hear the strings already, and the same lazy hums that heralded death whenever he got too close.
“One more step motherfucker and your brains, or whatever between that thick skull of yours is gone.” Clef spat.
Benny sighed, “I come bearing gifts,”
“...for a fucking stranger?”
Benny chuckled, “C’mon, it's the only one in the entire house that you didn't spike!”
“What?”
“Gimme a break, a guy notices things… once he's died enough times.”
“Now that's *interesting*, come on in, what'd you say your name was again?”
Benny entered the room, “Benny.”
Clef paused, he studied the man critically before gesturing for him to sit, “Well, *Benny*,” he drawled, “You look familiar, have we met before?”
“The foundation, I was one of the D-class, D-9341, is what you all called me.” Benny took some glasses from on top of the drawer, typical Carlos, at least the glass looked clean.
Clef shook his head, “Nope that's not where I know you from, truth be told, I don't fancy remembering the faces of parasites.”
Benny laughed, “Ouch! Way to break a guy’s spirit!” Benny poured the rum into the glasses and both men took a swig of their liquor.
“What else would you call murderers, rapists and the absolute scum?”
“I'm not any of those things… at least I don't think so,”
Clef raised a brow, his third eye twitching on reflex, it made Benny crack a smile.
“I don't remember much of my past, a bit hazy,”
Clef nodded, “Had your brain rattled, huh? Not that I care all that much,” he shrugged, “But, you could be a staff that effed up on the order,”
“The foundation turns their own into lab rats?”
He nodded, “Not rare, if it were up to me, I’d just kill em’ and be done with it, but the Foundation likes making examples your Icarus’ and Daedalus’, must've made a deal with an Ontokinesis to piss em’ off that much,”
“Me?” Benny was astonished, “I don't-”
“I can smell their touch on you, don't know who or why, don't care either,” he cocked his shotgun, “But let's see how far that immortality of yours goes!”
This man was insane, “I never said I was immortal though!”
“But You did say you've *died* before,” he shrugged, “Truth be told, I was gonna kill you regardless of what you were, now I just have the excuse, time to die!”
“Wait! Can you at least tell me what the fuck is up with this mansion tonight? I saw some anomalies out and about earlier,”
Clef paused, “Like what exactly?”
“Man-eating bugs and dogs and ghosts, people losing their mind and shit! Maybe we could-”
“Nope! Will figure it out on my own, cheers!”
*BANG*
“- so she had hands all over me, couldn't have enough of… hey Ben, you okay man? You look pale.” Fitzpatrick said.
Benny sighed, “ I need to be alone for now, sorry Fitz,”
“I get it, take your time, I'm here if you need anything.”
Benny nodded and made his way towards the old kitchen to await his next guest, there was no escape for this dreadful place, not now anyways, might as well see what the lady could offer him.
He sat on a stool and waited.
And waited and waited.
His gaze was planted on the centipede in the corner, making a meal of a platoon of ants that attacked their better.
Pointless.
“Good evening Mr Oliver.” the woman said.
“Doctor, that's what it said on the ID card I believe.”
She nodded, “My Name is Miss J, I believe our meeting here is no coincidence? One of my other selves requested this meeting I believe?” she smiled sadly, “I'm sorry she… we had to do that to you.”
Now that was a first, he gave her an incredulous look, and she nodded sagely.
“I don't take pleasure in the suffering of others, I want to avoid it if I can, but ultimately-”
“You’ll do what you believe is necessary, yeah where haven't I heard that before.” disappointing, she almost sounded decent.
He sneered, eyeing her for a bit, before returning his gaze towards the centipede.
She followed his eyes.
“Beautiful creatures aren't they? Scolopendra gigantea,” she purred, “They’re usually found outdoors, free in the wild, curious that such a thing would call this dingy place its home.”
He laughed, “I don't think so, all this food in here, all these creepy crawlies, it's practically a paradise for the fella, you know there's a story to this slice of hell’s kitchen.”
She sat by the counter and gestured for him to continue, “There used to be this hot shot of a chef that worked here a good decade and a half ago, before the insurgency made their home here, back when the former owners, the Casagrandes lived here.”
“Never met the guy, none of my ‘Brothers’ either but the way they sing praises about this man's cooking! Geez, you'd think he was fucking Jesus Christ in disguise.” he shook his head, “Anyways, some time passed, and life was good for the couple and the chef until a nasty bug infestation set in, I'm talking roaches the size of golf balls kinda bad, they had to close up, until the exterminator cleaned things up.”
“The chef wasn't pleased?” Miss J asked.
“He was ballistic! Went on and on about ruining the sanctity of his kitchen with putrid chemicals! No, he wasn't having any of that, had some mad plan about fighting fire with fire, introducing some Centipedes to clean up the place…”
“Did it work?”
“Yep, but the poor dude didn't live to see it, got shish kebab by some associate of Mr Casagrande, turns out the old bastard was a drug lord, but that's a story for another time… you see when the Insurgency ‘Inherited’ this place when they discovered the Centipedes and spiders and other nasty things… they made a pact with them, a fairly simple thing, they keep the other vermin away and they get the right to continue living their wretched lives.”
“Doesn't sound idle.”
He shrugged, “Nothing ever is really, but what's a parasite to do when faced with extermination from their better?”
“Is that what you see yourself as? A parasite Dr Oliver?”
“... That's what they see me as…”
“The Insurgency?” she ventured.
“Everyone!” he spat, “Even before I got these… these powers! That's all I was to them, the foundation, the SCPs, and even other D-class! I saw the way they looked at me, treated me, fuck em’ and fuck you too for making me remember that!” he huffed, shaking as the memories flooded him, no, happy thoughts, calm thoughts, he wasn't their lab rat anymore.
“I'm sorry that happened to you.”
“No you ain't.” he sneered.
She nodded, “I am, that's why I want to help you, but I can't do that unless you help me first.”
He raised a brow, “... Isn't it ‘until you let me help you?’ that's how it goes right?”
She shook her head, “Not with this, if you want the peace that you so rightfully crave, you need to help me with my plan first.”
“...Which is?”
She smiled, it was the sweetest thing he'd ever seen in his life, yet her eyes held a childish mischief in them, “Gifting Joy and Laughter to the most powerful man in the world.”