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Lee Tosi's 'Auction' Aftermath.
vizzone
Posts: 252 Arc User
Alright, so a friend suggested I should write out some of Lee's 'stories'. So I figured I'd try it. Without further ado.... the aftermath of the infamous 'auction'. This was originally in his thread in the General Discussion, but I was told this was the appropriate place for it.
Link to main thread
Number Six was missing.
Number Six was missing a few marbles as well, though no one said it to his face. After Teleios exploded grotesquely due to a miscalculation in his Qularr-derived serum, Number Six had gone a bit crazy. The fact that five 'imperfect' beings forced the premature testing that resulted in the explosion only worsened his mental stability. Despite this, Number Six was still the Teleiologist, and 43762-A and all his identical brothers had to obey and protect their superior. No matter how insane he was.
Which was why 43762-A was waiting at the cloning vats. Six's back up body would activate soon. After all, Six's cherished pet dinosaur had returned to the lab alone, bloody with chunks of human flesh caught in his teeth. Rex was programmed to never hurt a Teleioclone or leave his master's side while he was alive... so it was a certainty Six was dead.
Being one of hundreds of thousands of clones of a geneticist branded as a terrorist by UNTIL had its downsides. Bounty hunters were one of them.
43762-A flipped the page of his magazine and shifted position slightly in his chair. No use stressing out over Number Six's location. He'd be right there in a few minutes. This wasn't the first time he had died, after all, and 43762-A had developed a keen sense of when his employer would appear in the vats. Though if Number Six was still alive, 43762-A was probably going to get fed to the Teleiosaurs when the boss got rescued.
The Teleiologist was spiteful that way.
A flicker of movement caught the Mark I's eyes. The back up body had twitched. The clone suppressed a smirk. He told them so! He knew the boss was dead, but the other clones insisted on searching for him! And as soon as Number Six's memory was fully uploaded and he was back to work, 43762-A was going to rub it in their perfect, identical faces.
But for now, 43762-A merely put the chair back in the closet and stood next to the vats. Number Six would want to see a friendly face when he awakened. Even if that face was his. Especially if it was his. The Teleiologist was a massive narcissist. He WAS a clone of Teleios, after all.
43762-A wasn't quite sure why he wasn't as self absorbed as his siblings, but knew it wasn't a good idea to bring it up. Imperfect clones got thrown in the incinerators. Or fed to the Warbeasts. Neither fate sounded fun.
The back up body gasped loudly and its eyes jolted open.
"Sir?" 43762-A asked tentatively. The newly awakened clone's eyes shot to him, held wide with terror. "Six? Can you understand me yet?"
Vaulting over the vat's sides in the blink of an eye, the clone was upon 43762-A, wrapping his arms crushingly tight around the unfortunate Mark I. Number Six sobbed loudly, burying his face in his minion's green shirt.
Must have been a traumatic death again.
43762-A stood there awkwardly as his naked identical sibling clutched him tightly. Tentatively, he patted the Teleiologist's heaving back. "Want to talk about it?" He asked, trying to ignore his now-drenched shirt. Number Six shook his head rapidly against his minion's chest, still bawling uncontrollably. "Do you want me to just stand here?" Six nodded, and 43762-A held in a sigh. He should've gone out searching for Number Six to spare himself this embarrassment. "Okay. I'm here. It's okay. Nothing is going to hurt you."
"Yes it is," Number Six wailed. "He's going to find me and take me to Destroyer! I don't wanna be Dr. Destroyer's slave!"
Dr. Destroyer? Not good. 43762-A had heard rumors about his return, but he'd never expected his boss to get kidnapped by him! "Who's going to take you to Destroyer?"
"R-ra--" What the Mark I thought was a simple question caused another geyser of tears and a howl of misery. Six tightened his grip and 43762-A felt a rib crack.
"Okay, okay. You can tell me later. For now, it's okay. He can't find you here," 43762-A said soothingly, trying to ignore the pain. "It'll be alright," he whispered, rubbing his boss's back gently.
God, he hoped none of the other clones came back soon. He would never live this down.
He wasn't sure how long he stood there with Number Six holding him in a death grip. But the sobbing eventually dwindled into whimpering and his hold loosened. The Teleiologist had cried himself into exhaustion, though his face was still buried in the Mark I's chest.
"Bounty hunters," Number Six said, his voice moist and raspy from crying. "Three of them managed to catch me by surprise."
"Mm-hmm."
"T-they threw a burlap sack on my head and hogtied me, then threw me in the back of a van."
"Then took you to UNTIL?"
A dry sob escaped the Teleiologist's throat. He had dehydrated himself earlier from all the crying. "No! They locked me in a cage and invited every villain in Millenium City to come gawk at me!"
Certainly a large blow to Number Six's ego. "Was Destroyer there?"
"N-no," Number Six sniffled. "His head spy was. After the bounty hunters were done displaying me, they auctioned me off to him."
43762-A winced. It still seemed like Number Six was overreacting, though. "And then what happened?"
"They-they sold my Questionite armor!"
"Is that all?"
"What do you mean 'is that all'?!" Number Six blew up. "They sold me to Rak..." Number Six struggled to say the name. "Rakshasa. It was Rakshasa. They sold me to him naked, hogtied and blindfolded! He threw me in the Mega Destroid while he piloted it to Destroyer's lair! When I tried to escape, he summoned those pink mind worms to tie me up tighter! He put a pink bow made of mind worm on my head!"
"Oh. My." 43762-A said. There wasn't anything else he really could say.
"He was cooing at me! He was telling me I was going to be Destroyer's birthday present!" Number Six took a deep breath, trying desperately to stop his trembling.
"It gets worse, doesn't it?" The Mark I asked quietly.
"HE SANG BIEBER SONGS THE WHOLE TRIP!"
43762-A blinked. "That last one sounds the least horri--"
"YOU WEREN'T THERE!" Number Six roared.
"Okay, you're right," he said soothingly. "I'm sure he's tone deaf."
"I had to eat the cyanide capsule..." Number Six said wearily. "I had no other choice."
"I know," 43762-A said, patting Six awkwardly. "I know."
"I'm so tired," the Teleiologist whimpered quietly. After his tirade, his whole body had gone limp in the Mark I's arms.
"Let's get you to bed. Don't worry: I'll triple the guards so the nasty worm-man can't get you. But Number Six?"
"Mmm?"
"First put your clothes on."
Link to main thread
Number Six was missing.
Number Six was missing a few marbles as well, though no one said it to his face. After Teleios exploded grotesquely due to a miscalculation in his Qularr-derived serum, Number Six had gone a bit crazy. The fact that five 'imperfect' beings forced the premature testing that resulted in the explosion only worsened his mental stability. Despite this, Number Six was still the Teleiologist, and 43762-A and all his identical brothers had to obey and protect their superior. No matter how insane he was.
Which was why 43762-A was waiting at the cloning vats. Six's back up body would activate soon. After all, Six's cherished pet dinosaur had returned to the lab alone, bloody with chunks of human flesh caught in his teeth. Rex was programmed to never hurt a Teleioclone or leave his master's side while he was alive... so it was a certainty Six was dead.
Being one of hundreds of thousands of clones of a geneticist branded as a terrorist by UNTIL had its downsides. Bounty hunters were one of them.
43762-A flipped the page of his magazine and shifted position slightly in his chair. No use stressing out over Number Six's location. He'd be right there in a few minutes. This wasn't the first time he had died, after all, and 43762-A had developed a keen sense of when his employer would appear in the vats. Though if Number Six was still alive, 43762-A was probably going to get fed to the Teleiosaurs when the boss got rescued.
The Teleiologist was spiteful that way.
A flicker of movement caught the Mark I's eyes. The back up body had twitched. The clone suppressed a smirk. He told them so! He knew the boss was dead, but the other clones insisted on searching for him! And as soon as Number Six's memory was fully uploaded and he was back to work, 43762-A was going to rub it in their perfect, identical faces.
But for now, 43762-A merely put the chair back in the closet and stood next to the vats. Number Six would want to see a friendly face when he awakened. Even if that face was his. Especially if it was his. The Teleiologist was a massive narcissist. He WAS a clone of Teleios, after all.
43762-A wasn't quite sure why he wasn't as self absorbed as his siblings, but knew it wasn't a good idea to bring it up. Imperfect clones got thrown in the incinerators. Or fed to the Warbeasts. Neither fate sounded fun.
The back up body gasped loudly and its eyes jolted open.
"Sir?" 43762-A asked tentatively. The newly awakened clone's eyes shot to him, held wide with terror. "Six? Can you understand me yet?"
Vaulting over the vat's sides in the blink of an eye, the clone was upon 43762-A, wrapping his arms crushingly tight around the unfortunate Mark I. Number Six sobbed loudly, burying his face in his minion's green shirt.
Must have been a traumatic death again.
43762-A stood there awkwardly as his naked identical sibling clutched him tightly. Tentatively, he patted the Teleiologist's heaving back. "Want to talk about it?" He asked, trying to ignore his now-drenched shirt. Number Six shook his head rapidly against his minion's chest, still bawling uncontrollably. "Do you want me to just stand here?" Six nodded, and 43762-A held in a sigh. He should've gone out searching for Number Six to spare himself this embarrassment. "Okay. I'm here. It's okay. Nothing is going to hurt you."
"Yes it is," Number Six wailed. "He's going to find me and take me to Destroyer! I don't wanna be Dr. Destroyer's slave!"
Dr. Destroyer? Not good. 43762-A had heard rumors about his return, but he'd never expected his boss to get kidnapped by him! "Who's going to take you to Destroyer?"
"R-ra--" What the Mark I thought was a simple question caused another geyser of tears and a howl of misery. Six tightened his grip and 43762-A felt a rib crack.
"Okay, okay. You can tell me later. For now, it's okay. He can't find you here," 43762-A said soothingly, trying to ignore the pain. "It'll be alright," he whispered, rubbing his boss's back gently.
God, he hoped none of the other clones came back soon. He would never live this down.
He wasn't sure how long he stood there with Number Six holding him in a death grip. But the sobbing eventually dwindled into whimpering and his hold loosened. The Teleiologist had cried himself into exhaustion, though his face was still buried in the Mark I's chest.
"Bounty hunters," Number Six said, his voice moist and raspy from crying. "Three of them managed to catch me by surprise."
"Mm-hmm."
"T-they threw a burlap sack on my head and hogtied me, then threw me in the back of a van."
"Then took you to UNTIL?"
A dry sob escaped the Teleiologist's throat. He had dehydrated himself earlier from all the crying. "No! They locked me in a cage and invited every villain in Millenium City to come gawk at me!"
Certainly a large blow to Number Six's ego. "Was Destroyer there?"
"N-no," Number Six sniffled. "His head spy was. After the bounty hunters were done displaying me, they auctioned me off to him."
43762-A winced. It still seemed like Number Six was overreacting, though. "And then what happened?"
"They-they sold my Questionite armor!"
"Is that all?"
"What do you mean 'is that all'?!" Number Six blew up. "They sold me to Rak..." Number Six struggled to say the name. "Rakshasa. It was Rakshasa. They sold me to him naked, hogtied and blindfolded! He threw me in the Mega Destroid while he piloted it to Destroyer's lair! When I tried to escape, he summoned those pink mind worms to tie me up tighter! He put a pink bow made of mind worm on my head!"
"Oh. My." 43762-A said. There wasn't anything else he really could say.
"He was cooing at me! He was telling me I was going to be Destroyer's birthday present!" Number Six took a deep breath, trying desperately to stop his trembling.
"It gets worse, doesn't it?" The Mark I asked quietly.
"HE SANG BIEBER SONGS THE WHOLE TRIP!"
43762-A blinked. "That last one sounds the least horri--"
"YOU WEREN'T THERE!" Number Six roared.
"Okay, you're right," he said soothingly. "I'm sure he's tone deaf."
"I had to eat the cyanide capsule..." Number Six said wearily. "I had no other choice."
"I know," 43762-A said, patting Six awkwardly. "I know."
"I'm so tired," the Teleiologist whimpered quietly. After his tirade, his whole body had gone limp in the Mark I's arms.
"Let's get you to bed. Don't worry: I'll triple the guards so the nasty worm-man can't get you. But Number Six?"
"Mmm?"
"First put your clothes on."
Post edited by vizzone on
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- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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43762-A had thought kidnapping a psychiatrist to diagnose and prescribe medication for his employer would help stabilize the Teleiologist's worsening mental state.
It had not.
And now here he and 51080-A were in Number Six's quarters in their hideout Downtown, kneeling beside the bed with hacksaws. Apparently, Six's night terrors had degenerated into the genuine belief that there was a monster under his bed. So here they were sawing the legs off since in the Teleiologist's own words, "If there is no under the bed, nothing can hide there!".
"You do realize this is insane," 43762-A said to 51080-A as he cut. "I mean, this is stainless steel. Wouldn't it be easier to just take it off the frame and put it on the ground?"
51080-A rolled his eyes at his sibling. "He said cut off the legs, we're cutting off the legs. Do YOU want to be Nipper's next meal?"
43762-A sighed. No, being fed to Six's personal Warbeast wasn't his goal in life. "Point acknowledged. But this is still utter lunacy. There's no such thing as a Boogeyman!"
"I know that and you know that, but somehow he doesn't know that. And this is your fault. Ever since you've been slipping those pills in his meals, he's been crazy."
"You imply that's something new."
"Fine. Crazier. Happy now?" 51080-A snapped. "But I still blame you and your pills. When he finds out, he's going to kill you. You know that, right?"
"Blame me all you want," 43762-A said. "It doesn't change the fact that since he started taking them, nobody has been killed for shattering his delusions that Teleios died from 'High Powered Explosives'."
"That's because no one is stupid enough to tell him the truth!"
51080-A had a good point, but 43762-A wasn't going to admit it. "So what? It doesn't change the fact that he's been much calmer recently."
"Yes, because running out of your bedroom naked screaming about monsters under your bed wanting to eat you is the epitome of 'calm'." 51080-A was somehow nearly done cutting his leg off the bed.
"That was ONE incident!" 43762-A protested. "Other than that he's been doing very well!"
"Because he can barely get out of bed! What did you give him, elephant tranquilizers?"
43762-A muttered the medication name.
"Didn't catch that. I don't speak 'Imperfection'," 51080-A said sarcastically. "It is elephant tranquilizers, isn't it?"
"No!"
"Then what is it?"
43762-A stared at his sibling, judging whether the mockery he was receiving now would be worse than what he would receive after revealing the pill's name. "Ugh. Fine. Clonazepam."
51080-A lowered his saw and fixed his sardonic gaze on 43762-A. "Was that a joke? Because if I tell it to the Teleiologist, I don't think he'll laugh. I think he'll let Nipper eat you. Alive."
"It's a real medication! It's used for insomnia and anxiety disorders!"
"Well, keeping him comatose has helped the insomnia...." 51080-A started sawing at the leg again. "It also prevents him from reverse engineering that Gadroon technology. Seriously, when he discovers what you're doing he's going to kill you. And I'm not going to stop him."
"I love you too," 43762-A said sarcastically.
"Of course you do! I'm the best clone Teleios ever made!"
43762-A repressed the urge to roll his eyes. Narcissists, every single one of them. "You can't all be the best, you know."
"Of course not," 51080-A boasted. "That title is mine alone!"
"Mm-hmm," 43762-A murmured, not wanting to start a fight. After all, his brother had a hacksaw. "How's your leg coming along?"
51080-A stood up and began wiggling the barely attached leg. "Just about.... Got it!"
The bed did not sag from the loss of support.
51080-A frowned. "I'm no physicist, but I'm fairly certain that's not supposed to happ-- AHHHHH!!!" His sentence was cut off abruptly when a long pale green tentacle covered in small spikes shot out from beneath the bed and wrapped him in its sharp embrace. "Thirty-Seven! Heeeelllp!" 51080-A shrieked as it began pulling him underneath. He kicked and screamed and dragged his magnificently manicured fingernails on the floor, but to no avail. The beast under the bed was too strong, and he was going under.
To 43762-A, there was clearly one thing to be done.
So he stood up, backed slowly out of the room, and locked it behind him.
"That's it. We're moving."
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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In some deep, dark recess of his subconscious, Teleiologist Number Six knew he deserved this.
That didn't mean he was happy about it.
His day had begun so normally. Waking up terrified and trembling uncontrollably due to his recurring nightmares. Bewilderment at the kidnapped fashion designer's presence in his bed despite him locking and barricading the door. Admiring himself in the mirror for an hour. The morning purge of minions that had been replaced with Roin'esh during the night. Breakfast. Coffee. Shooting a random Teleioclone for drugging his food. Feeding the corpse to his baby Teleiosaur, Rex. Selecting suitable superhero bait from the storeroom for the day's hunt. Getting yanked down Main Street clutching Rex's leash after the dinosaur spotted a tasty looking police officer. Being ambushed by twenty MCPD officers in power armor hiding around the corner. Even after all twenty huge crushingly heavy police dog piled him, cuffed him, threw him in a filthy prison cell, and gave Rex to the Humane Society, it had still been a pretty standard morning.
So at what point had his day exploded into utter insanity?
Oh, right. When the door to the cell transformed into a white portal and Dr. Destroyer walked out with invitations to join his 'League of Destruction'. He had been quite clear that the options were yes, yes, and I'll torture you until the end of eternity if you don't say yes.
Six had said yes.
That was two hours ago. The first hour and fifty five minutes involved standing idly in a large, terrifying torture chamber guarded by equally large and terrifying alien gladiators. The last five minutes entailed being beaten to the brink of unconsciousness by five 'heroes', stripped of his Questionite armor, and tossed in the lava pits where he prayed for death to arrive quickly.
Death was clearly taking its lunch break. Probably a smoking break too. It always was when Number Six was suffering horribly. His only consolation was that he had rigged the armor with explosives after its previous theft. He could only hope one of the thieves put it on when they went to fight Destroyer. He'd kill two psychopathic birds with one well placed charge of C-4!
A shame he wasn't going to witness it. Oh well, at least when the mind transferal finally activated he'd be able to gaze up at the moon and see a new crater.
Pity it always took forever to put him in a new body, though. He would have to put the Perfection of Minds to work on hastening the process when he arrived home, though that was like applying a band-aid to a sucking chest wound. What he really needed was to stop getting in these situations. Easier said than done since despite all his attempts to thwart it, the universe was conspiring to kill him in the most humiliating methods possible.
43762-A called this 'egocentric paranoia', but what did HE know? The universe genuinely was against Six! That's why everything he did resulted in failure. It wasn't the Teleiologist's fault! After all, Teleios created him to be perfect, and he was perfect because Teleios never made imperfect beings.
43762-A called this 'circular logic'.
43762-A was irritating sometimes. If he wasn't such a good chef, Six would have fed him to Rex a long time ago. Curse his weakness for high quality home-cooked meals....
Speaking of meals, he was quite peckish. Distressingly, the source of his hunger was caused by his charred flesh's delicious scent. Six hoped he wouldn't become an unholy cannibal when he returned to Earth. Though if he did, he'd have a constant supply of organs to munch on....
And why was Six still floating half-dead in the pool of lava? Surely it didn't take imperfect beings this long to become all-dead. Another reason to hate them all. Not only did they die easily due to their lack of redundant anatomical systems, they had the gall to do it quickly!
The existence of beings not created by the Perfect One still perplexed the Teleiologist. How could they live without his presence? How could they so callously reject his brilliance and scientific advances in favor of their mediocrity? How could such flawed, idiotic, and ugly creatures be content with their dull, tedious lives? How did they make it through the day without killing themselves?
The only explanation Six could concoct was that they were morons. They probably didn't even know how to properly identify a Roin'esh disguised as a television, the fools! Admittedly, that only required trying to turn it on, but he doubted they had the intelligence for that. They were, after all, morons.
Yet.... For being so stupid, remarkably few of them died after being kidnapped by the world's most infamous super villain, forced to fight overwhelming odds, then thrown into lava when they failed. Or shot repeatedly by the United Nation's personal army. Or bitten in half by a monster from another dimension. Or drowned in a pool of parasitic alien worm slime. Or starved after being trapped in a cave for a month with no provisions. Or stabbed to death by a lover after admitting they killed her husband. Or any other of the terrible, terrible deaths he'd experienced.
Maybe the problem was him. Why was he alone so miserable? Was it this 'karma' thing heroes babbled about so much?
When he got back to Earth, Teleiologist Number Six was going to change. Perhaps he could donate his research to a humanitarian organization. Or maybe he'd consider 43762-A's suggestions to stop killing people for their DNA when it could be obtained without their knowledge. After all, the Teleiosaurs and Warbeasts could eat beef instead of human organs, and less mutilated corpses strewn about would make UNTIL friendlier....
Six felt a sudden jerk and the lack of agony at his flesh melting. He cautiously opened his eyes. Oh, sweet merciful heaven, he was home! Sure, he was soaking wet and floating naked in one of the cloning vats, but he was home!
He quickly clambered out, toweled himself dry, and donned the spare trousers and turtleneck sweater he'd placed nearby earlier. After his first death, he'd formed a habit of leaving clothing in the cloning room. Walking all the way from the vats to his quarters in his birthday suit was embarrassing, and it was always freezing in the halls. The Teleioclones liked the air conditioner a bit too much....
As he reached for the doorknob to leave the room, Six frowned. What had he been thinking about the instant before he was uploaded into his new body?
Unable to recall the answer, the Teleiologist shrugged.
Probably nothing important.