Chapter Twenty Three

I sniffed softly; the first sense that worked was immediately shut down in protest. This place smelt of fear, waste and danger. I could hardly breathe in this place; the air choked me as I tried to breathe through me nose. I had to open my mouth and gulp down the air desperately as my lungs were burning quickly; they still hadn’t recovered from my training. One sense was down; now to try the others. I concentrated on what I was feeling... my wrists were encased in something cold and unyielding, my skin felt like it burnt with heat and bruises, I was sitting down right now and I didn’t feel any sun on my exoskeleton. Now for the next sense; I winced as I noticed a ringing in my left ear. Someone had hit me hard in the ear and I could hardly hear out of it now; my right one picked up the creaking of metal under the stress of heat and when I moved my wrists there was a faint clinking of chains. Right; so no light, very hot, chained to the wall and filled with the sort of air you only can get if you but a terrified ferret in an oven and cook it for years. Two senses left and I didn’t quite fancy licking anything that smelt that horrible so there was only one left I wanted to use. I cracked my eyes open and sighed with relief as I found the dimly lit enclosure I was in wasn’t bright enough to hurt my eyes. My right eye was blurry to see through; well that was another injury to the list. I was just glad nothing was broken; I didn’t even feel the sting of a cut, just the dull aches of a million gun marks on my chest. All opening my eyes did was to tell me that yes, somehow I found myself sitting in a metal box with nothing but a rickety door at the other end and chains holding me down. Now that was out of the way I wanted to do something else... oh yes. I opened my mouth and screamed and screamed and screamed. It made me feel a bit better.

There was an almost deafening clang from somewhere outside, it echoed so much I couldn’t tell where it was from “Quiet down will ya?” a voice yelled, echoing again.
“J-Jessica?” I called out at once; I didn’t know why she was the first thing that came to mind at this exact moment.
“Afraid not my friend” the voice said, a hissing chuckle coming from all around me “no Jessica here. What are you in for?” I groaned and tried rubbing my head; my hands were pulled short a few inches from my face by thick chains.
With nothing else to do I decided to talk to the voices “I’m Ivory... they locked me up in here because I was winning in the harsh environments course. Now who the hell are you?”
Another chuckle bounced from the walls “Me? Oh I’m just the voices in your head keeping you from going crazy.”
“Nice try buddy, any voices in my head would be much more sadistic towards me” I laughed myself, the laugh was longer and higher than normal; I was nervous.
“Relax buddy. I’ll admit I’m not a voice in your head; I guess you can call me Steamer in here. They didn’t lock me up in here like you though; in this heat I’m less dangerous than I would be if I was outside.” There was a loud groan after he was done talking and I rolled away as hot air wafted from under the gap in the metal wall on my right “I need to blow off less in here.”

Buzz, Bus, Trapper, Mist, TNT, my own sister, Chip, Amp, Gemini and now this guy; I was working up a menagerie of mutants by my side. Well I wasn’t sure about Amp or Steam but I’m sure given the chance they’d side with anyone who gave them the slightest hint of escape.
“What is this place?” I asked, looking up and around at the iron walls surrounding me. My sense of smell still refused to cooperate with me but I wasn’t exactly urging it on.
“This is their version of the naughty corner; it’s next to the animal sheds that’s the smell.” Steamer replied in his slightly whistling voice “If you’ve really pissed them off you’re stuck in here. Time seems to last forever here, then in the end it starts to melt all together into you massive lump of pain and hunger. That’s what I’ve heard at least, I’ve always had meals on time even if they treat guys like you like filth.” I let out a groan of horror; if there was one thing I wouldn’t be able to stomach was no food. I NEEDED my food to keep me going or I’d shrivel up inside my shell and leave nothing but a hollow hide. Something niggled in the back of my head though; some part of me that noticed things all the time and never stopped paying attention was tugging at my ear frantically.
“Wait; did you just say animal sheds?” I asked frantically, spinning towards the right side of the shed so quickly my chains creaked and my muscles protested loudly to my brain.
“Yeah, it’s where they put the animals that have mutated or the people who have become so changed that they can’t be ‘Classified’ as human like.” Steam let out a hiss so loud I felt the already baked air burn against me.
“Ah, for the love of God don’t get angry again it’s hot enough already in here” I yelped in surprise “I hope Ebony’s alright.”
The last sentiment was directed towards myself but I guess there was no privacy in here because Steam piped up at once “Who’s Ebony? Whatever happened to Jessica?”
“Ebony’s my cat” I coughed, the air was still choking me from the musk in the air and the heat just making it thicker “I haven’t thought of her since I arrived here but she disappeared and I hadn’t seen any proper animals around here; I’m just glad they weren’t taken out back and shot.”
There was a small grunt of thought from Steamer’s side of the wall “Ebony? Big cat, black and has a breaking point with the consistency of old panty elastic?” I let out a sigh of relief; that was her alright “She’s gotten into as much trouble as you have but she’s alright. Someone tried to smack her and next all I heard is screaming; the only person who seems to be able to control her is this woman in the guards, she makes your kitty purr like the kitten she is.” I guessed that was Jessica since she was the only one able to calm Ebony down when everyone was still normal.

I slumped slightly against the wall again, fingering the chains as I dreamed of freedom already and tried my best to see through my aching right eye.
“Has anyone ever died in here?” I had to ask it; I felt so useless like this and I wanted to know if I’d be escaping in a body bag.
“One or two” Steamer said simply, I could almost see the shrug in his voice as if it was nothing “Only weak ones that were either beaten too much before they arrived or were thrown in here because they resisted eating more than enough to barely keep themselves alive. You sound strong though; don’t worry about dying.”
Biting my lip I had to reveal it “I need food more than others; I don’t know why but I burn things up quickly and eat a lot.”
“Oh” the change in voice was obvious, Steamer had passed right through shock and had driven right off into the sunset of pity “Hope you can survive longer than you think you can; last guy only got fed every four days.”

Disclaimer: I'm running out of ideas for the disclaimers... it generaly involves me, the person who steals from Lavalamp studios or me, a hammer, some nails and sensative areas.
Ebony and Ivory Collection
Ebony and Ivory chapter twentyfour