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Loud screeches elicited from somewhere to the side of Ryan as a large metal chain dragged across the tiled floor, the sound uncomfortably loud.
“Ugh, my head..” he groaned, reaching up instinctively to grasp at his hat, only to find it missing. He looked around, his eyes squinting under the harsh flourescent lights. “Where..”
“Ryan.” A distorted voice called out to him from a short distance away, and Ryan looked up, his eyes threatening to squeeze shut as the bright white light shone into them. A figure fully clad in purple caught his eye.
The figure was entirely purple—even his skin was purple, which Ryan didn’t even know was possible—and was sat at a metal table, a heavy leather-bound book in front of it. The figure didn’t give him much time to process everything, though, as the distorted voice returned, a hint of boredom bleeding through the distortion and static.
“Role and perk description?” It asked, which was weird, considering the figure didn’t seem to have a mouth..or any facial features, for that matter. Ryan blinked, staring at it intently, eyes glued to the smooth purple face the figure had.
The voice came again, the purple..thing seemingly leaning forward slightly, flipping a page in the large book in front of it. “You’re probably wondering where you are, who this is, blah blah. Long story short, it’s a pocket dimension..kind of. Now, role and perk.”
“..Oh.” Ryan muttered, slowly getting to his feet, the heavy metal chain dragging him down slightly, screeching loudly against the scratched tiles of the floor. “I’m..a doctor.” He answered, approaching the large metal table, reaching out to touch the book, only to come into contact with nothing but the cold metal underneath.
Withdrawing his hand, he grimaced, continuing on, “I have Hard Vitality, but..I haven’t really gotten a chance to test it.” He smiled, hoping that would put an end to the questions.
The voice went quiet for a moment, before loud static started to play, and the voice soon returned. “No you aren’t?”
The ginger blinked, shoving his hands into his relatively empty pockets. “..What?” He asked, the smile on his face dropping, turning into a scowl instead.
Had he already detained the other doctor? It couldn’t be..
The voice, still distorted, spoke again, and Ryan watched the purple thing in front of him bob in place, akin to a buoy in the ocean. “You’re not the doctor, dude. What’s your actual role?”
For a moment, Ryan just stared at the thing before him, his thoughts running at a million miles per second. He made sure to count. Statistically, the detainer shouldn’t have been able to detain the other doctor already, right?
“Uhm..Ryan? You gonna answer me or what?” The voice demanded, and Ryan reached out, curiously giving the thing’s arm a gentle jab. The voice paused, then clicked its’ tongue. “Tsk. Stop touching it, and are you gonna answer me or not?! Just tell me your actual role, dude.”
“I’m the doctor. I don’t know what you want me to say.” The man answered simply, giving the thing’s arm another poke. “Like, why are you so sure I’m lying? I’ve been healing people ever since the first doctor got struck by lightning.”
A sigh elicited from the voice again, garbled from whatever voice changer there was turned on. “Just..tell me your role. Or I’ll be telling everyone in meeting tomorrow about it. I’m sure they’d be happy to vote an evil out.”
“I don’t have to tell you anything. If you don’t believe me, then fine. But I am a doctor.” Ryan insisted, placing his palms on the table, knocking off the candle that sat next to the large leather-bound book.
A tired groan elicited from the voice. “Dude, you’re not slick. I already know who the other doctor is. Just tell me your role, and we can both go on our ways.”
Ryan stilled, pressing his lips together into a thin line. He glanced at the large chain around his ankle, then back at the purple thing, watching the way it continued to bob slowly. The voice, clearly displeased, based on the irritated tone of its’ voice, came again. “Fine then. Don’t say anything. I’ll just tell everyone tomorrow.”
“You can try..” The ginger hummed, the smile clawing its’ way back onto his face, small dimple indents digging into his cheeks. “But..we’ll see. Maybe lightning’ll strike you before you say anything!”
The voice went quiet, and Ryan slid both hands off the metal table, stepping towards the purple thing, intertwining his left hand in the right hand of the purple figure, digging his nails into the flesh of the thing before him. “This is certainly a pickle, ain’t it? Who’ll be faster? Your mouth, or my prayer?”
The voice didn’t return for a moment, and Ryan took advantage of this. He reached out with his right hand, poking his index finger into the side of the thing’s round face. “C’mon, detainer. I know you can feel this. And hear me. There’s no use hiding it, Noah.”
“You..what did you call me?” The voice—Noah—demanded, the static louder around his suddenly raised voice. Ryan just giggled, retracting his right hand from the thing’s face, instead clasping it around the figure’s right hand, encasing the hand in both of his own.
“Noah, I know it’s you. No need to be so shocked. It wasn’t difficult to figure out, y’know?” A large grin formed on his face, and he tightened his grip, practically bouncing in excitement. “All it takes is just a single prayer, and you can say ‘bye-bye’ to that role of yours!”
“How did you—”
“How did I figure it out?” Ryan cut the voice off quickly, finally retracting his hands from the figure, only to walk to its’ other side, taking the hat from the purple thing, inspecting it closely. “Well, it wasn’t that difficult. After Fallon got detained, I noticed she was weirdly protective when it came to you. Seemed suspicious, and since nobody else seemed like the detainer, I just figured out it was probably you. That was just a shot in the dark, but it seems my suspicions were confirmed.”
Poking the side of the purple thing’s cheek, Ryan sighed, setting the hat back onto the thing, though making no move to fix it when it threatened to slide off. “But, I’d rather not have you killed just yet. So, don’t do anything, and you’ll be able to coast through scot-free! Fun, isn’t it?”
Noah didn’t respond. Something that irritated the ginger. He huffed, walking back to the other side of the table, ignoring the way the metal chain screeched in protest. The lights in the makeshift prison turned on all at once, and a loud warbling came from the black-and-white portal at the end of the hallway.
“Your choice.” He muttered, as the chain was dragged backwards into the portal, along with him. “Have fun, Noah!” He called out, as his body passed through the portal, and the prison disappeared before him, instead replaced with him being dropped nicely onto a wooden chair.
Loud thunder filled the air, as a lightning bolt struck the blonde man sitting across from Ryan. The rain continued to fall outside the windows, as the large screen placed in the middle of the table flashed bright white text, a large contrast to the black background of the screen.
The Harbinger thinks Zachary is a Doctor. The Harbinger is correct.
The room practically erupted into chaos, and Ryan frowned, watching the way Fallon scrunched her face at the charred body, leaning over to whisper to Noah. He kept his eyes glued on the brunette, sinking down into his chair slightly, his hat laid on the table in front of him. A brief glance passed between the two of them, before Noah shook his head, turning back to Fallon with a shrug.
Seems like he didn’t need that guess, after all.