Everlasting Chapter 3

[butterflyslinky]

Silence permeated the base, despite the fact that no one slept. Linkara knew they were still awake. He could hear them shuffling around, doing anything to distract themselves, their footsteps echoing in the quiet, the occasional whir of a passing Cybermat providing a strange counterpoint.


Linkara hated it.

Normally, silence would be a welcome relief from the usual shouting and squabbling, the gunshots and alarms, the explosions and Nirvana, the updates from Nimue, the television blaring, Harvey singing… but right now, awake and horrified, the silence was oppressive. Linkara wanted the noise back to distract him, to give him some sense of normalcy. But the others didn’t want to bother him, didn’t know how to approach him.

Not that he could blame them. They were fighters and entertainers, not therapists. When bad things happened, most of the crew wanted to jump into action, wanted to do something. There was nothing to do now and so the crew was silent.

Linkara knew that he shouldn’t have let Spoony tell them what had happened. It wasn’t like Linkara hadn’t had his share of strange, unwanted sexual encounters before. That was just part of working at Channel Awesome. There had been an unfortunately similar incident with Ask That Guy a few years before that was probably more disturbing overall that he had handled reasonably well on his own, though that was probably because Linkara had been drugged through most of it and didn’t remember many of the details. And it wasn’t like Guy was the spitting image of the person who Linkara trusted more than anyone else…

Linkara’s eyes drifted shut and he slept, but only because he couldn’t stare at the wall any longer.

***

“Um, dude?” 90’s Kid’s voice crackled over the communicator. Harvey picked up immediately.

“What is it, Junior?”

“You’re gonna wanna have a look at this tape.”

“Something interesting?”

“Yeah, you could say that.”

“I’ll be right up. Ninja, watch the kid for me.”

Harvey pressed a button on his watch and almost immediately found himself on board Comicron-One. He ran down to security as quickly as he could.

90’s Kid and Linksano were both leaning over the monitor, examining security footage from earlier that day, both frowning in confusion.

“Okay, Junior, what’s going on?”

90’s Kid pressed some buttons and then stood back so Harvey could see. Two videos played side by side, both from 2:00 that afternoon. One showed Linkara sitting on the futon, reading whatever god-awful comic he was planning to review that week. The other showed the front door, which opened as a second Linkara walked in.

Harvey stared. How was it possible? Had Insano managed to clone Linkara? Whatever it was, it certainly explained how the breach occurred. Nimue was programmed not to count resemblances as a breach; it was a given that almost every member of the crew had messed with hypertime to an alarming degree, which tended to result in a lot of oddities.

The second Linkara walked down the hall. 90’s Kid hit a button and the footage picked up the intruder in the kitchen. He paused by the door to the living room, looking in for a moment before his form abruptly changed. Grew taller, his hair darkening, his face transforming until Spoony stood in the kitchen.

Harvey’s confusion grew. A hologram, maybe? Insano was capable, surely, and Spoony was someone who had free access to the base, someone Linkara trusted completely, whose sudden appearance wouldn’t set off an alarm…

The thing that appeared to be Spoony entered the living room. Linkara glanced up and smiled with genuine surprise and delight. The footage had no sound, but Harvey had learned to read lips fairly well over the years. Linkara said something about needing a break. The thing smiled and said, “I figured,” before pulling Linkara up off the couch and into a hard, claiming kiss. Linkara’s eyes widened briefly before they closed and he went limp.

90’s Kid turned the footage off and turned to Harvey. “What do you think, dude?”

Harvey shrugged, turning to Linksano. “Does Insano have holographic equipment?”

“I doubt it,” Linksano answered. “Though I’m not familiar with all his inventions. But I don’t think that was a hologram. Holograms don’t usually knock people out by kissing them. Admittedly, it could have been some sort of drug, but that wouldn’t work on a hologram very well.” Linksano reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone, dialing it quickly. “Spoony?” he barked as soon as there was an answer. “That thing that… yes. It’s not real… I see. Has it spoken?... No?... I think it’s from Earth 16-D… no… Did you scan him?... I’ll take care of it… yes… Don’t kill it!... I don’t know… I’ll let you know… yes… All right, I’ll see you tomorrow. Let me know if it says anything.” He hung up and pulled a tricorder from his coat. “Finevoice, take this down to Linkara and scan him. We should have done it when he first got back, but I didn’t realize hypertime was involved. Of course, it could be worse than we thought…”

“Care to let us know what’s going on?” Harvey asked irritably.

“I believe what we’re dealing with is from Earth 16-D, an alternate Earth where everyone can shape-shift, has many advanced drugs and weapons and is extremely violent. They are also part of the empire set up by Lord Vyce, one of the worlds that we haven’t gotten to. I was there very briefly on my travels, but I can’t say if this… encounter will have an adverse effect on Linkara… or more of one, physically. Go scan him and we’ll see."

“What sort of effects?” Harvey demanded in alarm.

“I’m not sure. It depends on how compatible Earth 16-D is with Earth 4-W. There could be anything from interdimensional diseases to an unplanned pregnancy. Not likely,” he added at the looks of horror on Harvey and 90’s Kid’s faces. “But it is possible. Worst case scenario, and unfortunately more likely, is that the universes are so different that either Linkara or his attacker or both of them will have been poisoned by the encounter. Which is why you need to scan him now, so we can catch it early and save him.”

“You got it.” Harvey grabbed the scanner and returned to the base.

***

“Linkara.” The voice was gentle, familiar, and Linkara smiled as he opened his eyes. Spoony smiled down at him, green eyes shining as he bent and kissed Linkara in that wonderful way of his, in the way that told Linkara that he was about to experience mind-blowing pleasure. Linkara kissed back eagerly, pressing himself closer, his arms wrapping around Spoony, his hands tangling in the dark hair, deepening the kiss.

Spoony pulled away suddenly and looked at Linkara. Linkara stared back, confused. Once Spoony started something, he always finished, no interruptions. But then Linkara looked into Spoony’s eyes and saw…

“Spoony?” he whispered fearfully. It was back. That cruelty. That hatred.

“Do you love me?” Spoony asked roughly, his hands moving down, forcing Linkara’s legs apart. “Do you want me, Linkara?”

“Spoony!”

A harsh kiss silenced him, biting down hard on his lower lip. Linkara tried to move away, tried to push Spoony off of him, but Spoony caught his wrists and pushed his hands above his head. Linkara tried to pull away, but Spoony’s grip was too strong. Linkara’s legs were forced apart and Spoony was forcing himself into him and biting down on his neck…

“No!” Linkara screamed. “No, please, Spoony, not again… not again…”

“Kid! Kid!”

Linkara woke with a start. Harvey was beside him, kneeling by the bed, looking concerned. He was holding a tricorder and was clearly in the process of checking Linkara over.

“What happened?” Harvey asked gently.

“Nightmare,” Linkara muttered. He didn’t want to talk about it, especially since Spoony wasn’t at fault in reality. Spoony would never hurt him like that…

Harvey nodded and finished scanning Linkara.

“Why are you scanning me?” Linkara asked dully.

“It wasn’t really that crazy doctor,” Harvey said. “We don’t quite know what it is… Linksano said something about hypertime… but we’re working on it. And we’re upgrading security. But we have to make sure that the encounter didn’t leave any lasting effects that could, well…”

“Kill me?”

“I don’t think it will, Kid, but…”

Linkara nodded. It didn’t matter, really. Whoever had attacked him, whatever measures were being put in place, it made no difference. It had happened. And now Linkara’s image of Spoony was forever tarnished. The possibility of death barely registered.

Harvey glanced at the scanner. “Normal,” he muttered. “Spoony will be by tomorrow… later today, really. Hopefully he’ll have something we can work with. Meantime, I gotta ask. What’s the last thing you remember before… before it happened?”

Linkara stared at the wall, trying to remember. Nothing seemed to be present in his memory before he woke up in the dark room. He tried, but…

“Under the Red Hood number seven,” he mumbled.

Harvey nodded. “That’s what I thought.” He pressed his communicator and beamed out.

Linkara went back to staring at the wall, dreading the morning when he would have to face Spoony again.

***

Spoony hung up the phone and headed back to the kitchen. Insano was sitting at the table, scribbling notes and muttering to himself. He barely glanced up as Spoony entered.

“What have you got?” Insano asked.

“Linksano just called. He said it’s most likely from Earth 16-D, whatever the hell that means.”

“16-D… yes… Yes, that makes sense,” Insano muttered, making a note. “They would be interested in our world… though why they’re interested in you instead of Linkara is a complete mystery.” He frowned. “Did you scan Linkara after you rescued him?”

“No,” Spoony answered. “Linksano said they’d take care of it.” He hesitated. “Will he… do you think he’ll be all right?”

“I can’t say,” Insano answered. “But we’ll know soon enough if he’s not, even if the scanners don’t pick anything up. The sorts of problems that come from interdimensional contact of this kind tend to manifest fairly quickly.”

“Will the scanners be effective?” Spoony asked.

“Most likely, since Comicron-One was built to move through hypertime easily. But there is always a certain percentage of error, so there is a chance they will miss something. The most we can hope is that the scanners pick something up before it manifests, though even if the readings are negative they’ll have to run tests to be absolutely sure.”

Spoony’s fists clenched and Insano stood up quickly. “I said no torturing until tomorrow.”

“I know,” Spoony muttered. “And Linksano said we can’t kill it. But Linkara…”

“Isn’t going to get better just because you kill his attacker. If there’s any lasting physical damage, it’s already been done and beating a pawn from 16-D isn’t going to change that.”

“I know!” Spoony snapped. “I know I can’t fucking help him! I know I’m fucking useless! I know I utterly fail as a boyfriend! I just… I need to fucking do something!”

Insano waited patiently. He didn’t even flinch when Spoony suddenly turned and punched the wall, leaving a sizable dent and making his hand bleed. “Feel better?” he asked as Spoony collapsed into a chair.

Spoony glared. “No,” he muttered.

Insano sighed. Spoony was truly infuriating at times, with his overblown emotions and reckless nature. That wouldn’t be so bad, actually, if Spoony didn’t try so hard to be good. It had its benefits, sure—that fact that Spoony didn’t throw the scientist out despite their rocky relationship, for one—but it did result in a lot of pent up anger that tended to come out in rather unhealthy ways. And while beating the shit out of the thing currently chained in the basement would be satisfying, it probably wouldn’t quell Spoony’s anger or guilt. Of course, there wasn’t really anything healthy that Spoony could do in this situation…

The sudden trilling of a cell phone disrupted Insano’s thoughts. Spoony picked up immediately. “Yeah?” he grunted. “Yes… Normal?... You sure?... Insano said you might need to run more tests… I know… we haven’t started… Okay… okay… Shit… All right, I’ll see you in a few.” He hung up. “I need to go,” Spoony said. “They got the scans back and need me back at the base.”

“At two o’clock in the morning?”

Spoony shrugged. “Linkara’s awake and needs someone with him. Besides, are you going to sleep tonight?”

Insano shook his head. “I’m going to go run some tests on it,” he sighed. “If I don’t get anything before you get back, I’ll let you take over.”

Spoony nodded and teleported out.

***

As far as Spoony could tell, Linkara hadn’t moved since he’d left hours before. His hat and glasses had been removed and set on the nightstand, though Spoony suspected that Linkara hadn’t touched them.

Linkara didn’t move when Spoony came in. He was still wide-eyed and staring at the wall, his blue eyes bright from all-consuming terror and red rimmed from where he had been crying.

“Linkara?” Spoony said quietly, not caring that it was two o’clock in the morning. Linkara clearly wasn’t sleeping.

The only response was a slight tensing of his shoulders. Spoony had expected it, but it still hurt. He sat down cautiously on the other side of the bed, carefully not touching Linkara. Linkara didn’t turn, didn’t look at his lover… if Spoony could even call himself that anymore.

“Linkara, I’m so, so sorry,” Spoony whispered. “I’m so sorry you got caught up in this… whatever this is, I don’t know yet, but they wanted to hurt me and you were the fastest way to do that. I should have been hurt, not you. And… if you don’t want me anymore, I… I’ll understand, I’ll go. I don’t want you to get hurt anymore because of me.”

“Spoony,” Linkara interrupted. “No.”

A hand reached back and took his. “Don’t leave me,” Linkara begged. “Please don’t leave me. I need you. I’m scared to death and I need you. They said…” He broke off and started sobbing again. “Harvey said there could be more to this and they don’t know what and that it was some interdimensional thing which makes it all feel worse and that I could actually die! I could fucking die! And part of me wants to, and the other part of me... the last thing I need is to lose you.” He rolled over and looked at Spoony with tear-filled eyes. “I can’t lose you. That’s what it wants. If I lose you, I have nothing else to live for.”

Spoony lay down and took Linkara gently in his arms. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “I’m here. I’ll be here as long as you want.”

Linkara curled into Spoony, taking in the familiar scent of cheap cologne and fast food and Oreo and feeling like things could get better.

Maybe they wouldn’t be good, but they would get better.

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