Chapter Text
The first time it happens, it's terrifying. The magic that the shadows wield is new to him, to all of them really. None of them understand why Joker is suddenly standing in rigid silence instead of ordering their next plan of attack. After a moment's hesitation, Panther cracks her whip at one of the succubi, sending it down.
"Hey Joker, you good?" Skull's words sound far away, muffled as if Joker's ears are underwater. He can't reply, can't move, can't even get his lips to twitch. His body won't listen to him. It's something separate from him now, the channels of communication blocked off between body and brain. He's trapped.
Skull gives him a worried look, but there's no time to waste while they're under attack. He turns his back on Joker and fires a shotgun round into one of the two remaining shadows. Just one left.
And suddenly he does move. Joker feels his body rush close, watches his knife slash against Skull's back, catching on fabric and flesh before glancing off the metal plating running down his spine. He hears a scream, but it sounds more distant than before.
Joker's body stills and he tries desperately to take back control. The fight outside fades out of focus as he strains to do anything at all. Attack the shadow. No luck. Drop the knife. His hand stays gripped tight on the handle. Blink. Breathe. The functions remain automatic despite conscious attention. He doesn't notice Mona taking aim at the shadow with his slingshot until he realizes he's stepped in close for another attack. Stop stop stop stop stop.
"Mona, watch out!"
Things happen quickly. Mona fires on the shadow. Joker's knife swings down. The shadow is hit, and dissipates into darkness and nothing. The knife stops just above Mona's head.
Joker takes ragged breaths as the panic he felt finally starts pumping adrenaline through his system. Sights and sounds close the isolating distance all at once, and the world is overwhelming. He staggers back a few feet, drops the knife, grips his head in his hands. He sobs out an "I'm sorry" as his teammates crowd around him in concern.
When he gathers himself, he explains what happened as best he can. They decide to call it a day, leaving Kamoshida's palace visibly shaken.
-
They go in with a plan next time. The succubi were weak to gunfire, so they conserve bullets until they're absolutely necessary. The strategy works well, but they get careless and miss too many shots in a row. This time it hits Skull and Mona both. They become unresponsive, eyes vacant.
"We need to finish this quickly, but keep your guard up," Joker advises.
Panther nods and gives the shadow a crack with her whip, leaving a large welt on its skin. Mona mutters the spell for Dia, and his voice is monotone and dispassionate, air pushed through vocal cords past moving lips, but not speech. The shadow's injury vanishes almost as quickly as it appeared.
"Dammit," Joker steadies his hand and aims his pistol, determined not to miss this time. Skull takes the opening and bring his club down hard on Joker's shooting arm with an audible crack. Well, he thinks through the pain, at least they're even now. The battle turns to a stalemate. Their attacks connect, but Panther's attention is split between targeting the shadow and mitigating the damage Skull is doing. Every turn she has to heal is a turn where Mona brings the shadow back to full health as well. This is how they go out, isn't it? Why did they think they could do this?
Skull is readying for yet another swing when he shudders suddenly. The vacant look on his face is replaced with a wince of pain, fear, disgust. He stumbles back before sprinting headlong towards the shadow.
"Stay outta my head, asshole!" The club strikes true and the shadow goes flying, spewing darkness from the point of impact. It's over.
The four of them hobble to a safe room and use up the last reserves of their energy to heal. Wounds mend and bones reset and re-fuse. Mona and Panther are at their limit, but they can't afford the time it would take for the team to recuperate in the real world.
The team materializes on the school roof late in the evening. Ryuji and Morgana offer profuse apologies, and Ren wraps an arm around each of them. Ann follows suit, and they sit there, holding each other, reassuring.
-
Morgana calls it brainwashing, for lack of a better term. To Ren it feels less like mind control and more like possession, but the name sticks.
It keeps happening, but with less frequency as they move through Madarame and Kaneshiro's palaces. Mostly they're able to end the fight before the brainwashed party can do much damage. Every so often a light smack on the head is enough to snap someone out of it. Sometimes it wears off mid-battle like it did for Ryuji.
Sometimes Ren relives the sensations in dreams, only to wake up in bed still unable to move his own limbs, frozen on the edge of a nightmare. Unlike in the metaverse, here the adrenaline and fear reach his body, making his heart pound and forcing his breath out in shallow gasps. Sometimes it's enough to wake Morgana up, and he hops onto Ren's chest, providing enough sensation to pull him fully back to reality.
But he notices something in the moments where he's held hostage from his own body. Each time it happens, the dissociation kicks in sooner, layers of fuzziness and distortion wrapping around his senses in a stifling sort of comfort. If he can force himself to focus, he's terrified by the lack of control, agonizes over the guilt of hurting his friends. But it gets easier and easier just to sink into the back seat of his own mind, trusting that his friends will pull him out of it eventually. Each time he comes to again it's like ripping a bandaid off his consciousness. The world is suddenly here again, bright and loud and nauseating while he readjusts to the burden his own autonomy. Each forming thought stings in the moments just after he's freed.
-
Mr. Hiruta is the kind of teacher who goes on tangents frequently. Today's biology lesson was supposed to be over cerebral structure, but instead he veers off into brain chemistry, serotonin and dopamine, pleasure and reward-seeking behaviors.
"There are fields of Psychology dedicated to the way these behavioral patterns can shape the human mind, especially when done intentionally. Certain kinds of conditioning associate a desired behavior with a reward, or positive reinforcement. For example, if you remember my lessons when finals roll around, you'll get a high score. Positive reinforcement. Failing to perform the desired behavior, or doing something undesired, can be associated with negative reinforcement or punishment. You don't remember what the hippocampus is, you don't get as many points on the test. Negative reinforcement. You instead try to cheat on the test, you get suspended or face potential expulsion. Punishment.
"These systems are in place all around our society, but there are of course ways they can be misused. Rewarding and reinforcing harmful ideas and behaviors, or punishing people into submission and acceptance... Depending on the setting and intent, these tactics can be considered manipulation and abuse. When done maliciously and systematically, this kind of conditioning is sometimes called-"
"Brainwashing."
"That's right, Amamiya! Though I'll thank you to wait until you're called on instead of interrupting my lecture." Hiruta straightens his cravat with a bemused smile. "Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, electrical signals and neurons…"
As Hiruta explains the workings of the human brain, Ren thinks again about his own mind, held far away from the battles around him. Sheltered in comfort so long as he gives up control, wracked with fear and panic and pain if he tries to resist. Reward and punishment etching a pattern into his psyche. Maybe Morgana was onto something with the name.