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It was almost incredible how one's day could go from 'just fine' to 'just got hit over the head' so quickly. For Lloyd, he should've been used to the whiplash by now. He just hadn't expected to be whacked so many times. Then again, he was the Green Ninja, and the person who had somehow managed to ambush him must have panicked. The weapon was blunt, so at least he hadn't received any gashes, but his thoughts were definitely scrambled when he woke up somewhere new.
The boy was in a small cell with dark gray walls and a simple door. He was suspended upside down with a thick rope tied around his ankles, his wrists lashed together behind his back. The light in his eyes was hazy, his pupils unusually dilated. His vision was split in two, leaving him confused when he saw identical-looking people in the room with him. In reality, there were only two people there; the brown-haired one held a club, while the one with the black hair wore a mask to conceal his face. They were clearly mercenaries from the way they were dressed. At least he still had the brain capacity to recognize that.
When a small groan slipped from his lips, the two men paused their quiet small talk. The masked one crossed his arms. "Finally. Took you long enough to wake up."
When they only received silence in response, the man with the club gave his partner a confused look before they turned their attention back to their captive. The masked man spoke once more, taking a step forward. "Now, listen up, Green Ninja. Don't worry about how you got here. We just want to know some information, and then we'll let you go. Does that sound good to you?"
Lloyd squinted his eyes at them for five seconds of prolonged silence. They were still cloned in his vision, and his muddled mind found it funny. Quiet laughter bubbled up from within him.
"Hehehe... did you guys clone yourselves?" he asked in a slurred voice, idly dangling in the air. His head was absolutely killing him, but he barely acknowledged the dried blood on the left side of his head.
The mercenaries wore puzzled expressions on their faces. "Excuse me?" the masked mercenary prompted. "Is this a joke to you?"
"...Kinda?" Lloyd gave them a loopy grin. "I, uh... what did you want again?"
His captor huffed in irritation. "I'm only going to say this one more time. You are going to tell us what we want to know, and then we will let you go. Got it?"
The Green Ninja's mind had gone somewhere else a split second after asking his question, blank eyes staring into space. The man's frustration drove him to grab the boy, gripping his shoulder with one hand while taking a fistful of his blonde hair in the other. He yanked his head up, forcing him to look at him.
"What the hell is wrong with you, kid?! Pay attention or we'll have no choice but to be more rough with you! Do. You. Understand?"
Despite the hand pulling his hair causing his head to hurt worse, Lloyd proceeded to burst out into laughter. "HAHAHAHAHA!! How- how come you have two faces now??" he shouted, his voice sounding heavily disoriented. "You look so dumb! Ha ha... ow, m'head..."
Unfortunately for him, his mood switched instantly, from amusement to agony. His skull practically exploded with pain, and he squeezed his eyes shut in response to said pain. On the more fortunate side of things, the man released his hair, though he kept a tight grip on his shoulder to stop his body from swinging around.
"Kid, how many fingers am I holding up?" he asked, moving his free hand in front of the boy's face. He held up two fingers, staring intently at him.
"Uhhh…" That was all Lloyd gave him for a response. He was looking right at his hand, and it was directly in front of his face. There was no way he wouldn't be able to answer him, unless...
The masked man gave a drawn-out sigh before reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a small flashlight, flicking it on and shining it directly into his green eyes. He blinked rapidly, yet nothing actually changed. His pupils remained the same unusual size. Once that observation had been made, the pieces clicked together.
"...Joe." The man's voice was tense with building anger. He slowly lowered the light before turning it off and stowing it away. "Joe. I'm very certain I told you to knock him out."
The brown-haired mercenary had the nerve to look bewildered at the reminder. "I did knock him out."
A humorless chuckle slipped out from the other mercenary as he turned to look back at his accomplice. He shoved Lloyd away, leaving him swinging back and forth as he backed away from him. "That's right... you definitely did, but here's the thing. Correct me if I'm wrong - I know I'm not - but I don't remember telling you to scramble his brain. Care to explain that?"
"What are you talking about? If his brain was scrambled, he'd be dead! It's still in one piece!"
"That's NOT what I meant and you know it!" The man angrily gestured to the dazed boy, who was too enveloped in his developing migraine to pay attention to them. "I told you to knock him out, not give him a damn concussion! How are we supposed to get any worthwhile information out of him now?"
Joe held his hands up. "Calm down, Stephan! I didn't hit him that hard the first time!"
"What do you mean the first time? How many times did you hit him?!"
"Seven... point... five?"
Stephan's lower eyelid twitched. "How do you punch someone seven and a half times, Joe."
"You only use half your fist. Duh."
It seemed even Lloyd was pulled back into the conversation with that revelatory answer. Through the pain, he couldn't help but scoff. He gave Stephan an incredulous look. "Your friend... is an idiot."
"Wow. Even the Green Ninja agrees with me," Stephan added, crossing his arms while shaking his head in shame. "You're so stupid. I can't believe you managed to capture him."
Joe looked offended at that, throwing down his club. "I'm not stupid! Watch!"
Before the other man could react, he received a swift punch in the head. He cried out in pain, though he managed to recover quickly, anger written all over his features. "What the HELL did you do that for?!"
"You called me stupid, so I needed to show you that it works!"
"I'm about to do a lot worse than call you names, I swear to- grrahhh!!" Stephan thrust his finger in the direction of the door. "Just get out before you make it worse!"
"YOU are the one making it worse by screaming at me! Besides, it was your idea to hang him here like this, don't you know hanging someone upside down does nothing to help clear their head? Who's the stupid one now?"
"THAT'S IT, I'M DRAGGING YOU OUT OF HERE YOU PIECE OF-"
The two mercenaries grappled with each other, one trying to wrestle the other out of the room. They both ended up leaving, the door swinging shut behind them. Poor Lloyd was left staring at the door in pure confusion. He blinked rapidly to stop himself from seeing two doors. He couldn't so much as shake his head without white-hot pain invading his skull.
I wanna leave, he thought woozily. The yelling from the two mercenaries had only made his pain worse, and he was too out of it to think rationally. Otherwise, he could've just freed himself with his powers. They hadn't used Vengestone to restrain him.
He was left alone for another half an hour... or was it a full hour? He couldn't tell. In reality, it was a mere fifteen minutes. His eyes were close to rolling into the back of his head at this point, so much so he didn't take notice of who was in the room with him. He barely processed the rope tying him to the ceiling being cut down, the pair of arms shifting him, or the hands working to tie his ankles together.
He was placed against a wall, and although he was still severely out of it, he was relieved to no longer have blood rushing to his head. A small voice in the back of his head tried telling him to stay awake, but the pain blocked it out with ease. He slumped over on the ground, his eyes sliding shut, and eventually, he drifted back to a state of unconsciousness.