Blood To Bleed (Vigilante Squad)

The blood would spread from the wound, blending with the darkness until that darkness gave way to brilliant light. Within this new room was a familiar face, one he had only seconds ago plunged a pipe into. Another illusion likely, but then again  that was the running theme of this place. It didn’t take much thought on his part to place the gun into his hand, fingers tightening around the handle as his eyes focused intensely on Drifter. They would talk, as he expected they would and they would spout words meant to tear him down. It was a lot easier to steel oneself against insults when they were expecting it.

Revenge, well that was an interesting way of looking at things, but he actually didn’t care now. They would talk, and talk as they closed the massive distance until they were in his face. He was ready, tensed for any movement that Drifter would likely make and move they did. It was first with the knife, something that was easy enough to avoid with the time he had as a vigilante. Honestly, as far as he knew, he has been working longer than Luke so they were delving into a disparity of experience. The positioning of his movement was forward, the knife managing to cut his side and yet not doing the damage it could, while his free hand lined the gun up with Luke’s thigh, letting off a round as he would quickly move back, as the blade would cut a bit deeper and release a small flow of blood.

Pat bit back the pain as he kept the gun pointed towards the male. A soft chuckle slipped through his lips, descending into chuckling and then a sort of manic laughter. ”You really are an idiot aren’t you?” He said half breathless, eyes narrowed in anger and portraying a hint of bemusement. ”I don’t ever remember you rising above me, only dragging me down. I’ve been successful far before you decided to do your little stint into vigilantism.” His eyes rolled as he kept his weapon trained upon Drifter. ”And if you think I killed that illusion for something trivial as poisoning me due to your own gross incompetence, that’s not it at all. They died for the same reason you would, for failing to protect the only thing that actually matters to me. Compared to that, everyone else is expendable.” He growled this through clenched teeth.

So with that he fired off a few more rounds aimed with a surprising amount of accuracy at Drifter.

"You don't kill a friend for failing to protect another....... Do you want to be alone? On the other hand, maybe i was never your friend, or maybe you want Matt to be more then that. Either way, your logic is both upsetting and irritatingly stupid." Lucas said, gripping his left hand around the bullet wound in his leg and dropping the knife. The point blank range managed to slightly punch through his leg armor and cause damage, but it was no hole. His other hand had his gun trained on Pat, but he would not be the first to fire. Patrick let off three more rounds, and Drifter was counting them. Four bullets, a standard 9mm handgun had a mag of twelve, Patrick had eight more before he needed to reload, and there was absolutely no cover.

Unfortunately this still meant he had rounds coming at him, and being a human that was a problem. But he hadn't came here without gear. In fact he had most of it under his clothes, minus the mask and theatrical parts of the costume. He put his hands over his face and tucked his head, and the bullets hit. One hit him in the stomach, causing him to grunt, and the others hit him in the shoulder and arms. He tumbled back from the force. Man that hurt. But at least he didn't have another hole in him.

He then sprung into action with surprising speed, throwing a flash grenade towards Pat and shielding his eyes before it went off. It of course effected him even though he shielded himself, but he was much further away from it now that the two had gotten some distance from each other. It was thrown right under Pat, and even if he suddenly got superspeed he would still take more of the blast then Lukas because it went off practically on contact. Not to mention the room was fucking white.

Slightly groggy, Lukas ran toward Withdrawal, making sure to weave from his direct path as he fired three rounds toward Pat's torso. He finished this by attempting a tackle and then trying to wrestle the gun from Pat's hand. With Pat not being able to really see because of the distance of the flash grenade to him, this would likely be successful.

"Oh, yes, do tell me how you've been poisoning people longer then me. You must be so much more skilled. I've been fighting my entire life! Been through things you couldn't even dream about from your Mommy's basement!" Lukas said, twitching slightly and his eyes now practically glowing yellow. He was laughing a little in between words, and had clear murderous intention.

"But you don't give a shit. All you care about is poor poor Pat. But let me tell you a secret..... Your life is only a failure because of you being a total pussy." Drifter said before pointing his gun at Pat's head.

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For a mere moment, the Warden looked worried. The title rang bells through his head, which now felt like it was about to explode. He was pulled into a vision by a much more powerful force, made to submit by the King. He couldn't teleport, he could barely move with what was happening inside him. This was bad. Matt had done something that probably seemed like the right thing to do, but it wasn't.

"What is this? I can't...leave?" He said, looking around at the darkness as he dropped to one knee. His confusion turned to anger however, and he quickly got to his feet.

"......Stop.....you're.......letting him...through....... WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!!!!!!!!!" The scream echoed like God himself had just spoken. The sound was not unlike a Black Rider from Lord Of The Rings yelling as loud as he could. The Warden contorted and twitched at what seemed to be superspeed, then abrubtly stood as still as a statue. A wicked smile formed across his face, teeth showing as his eyes turned a glossy yellow just like the aura that faintly floated around him.

"Yamm! Good to hear from you old pal!" The voice said. The man still looked the same, but it was clear another entity was taking control. Matt had unknowingly gave him the final push in power. With the King's presence becoming more prominent and Withdrawal and Drifter giving in fully, he was getting stronger and stronger. He was ready to finally be free again.

"Of course..... We've never really met. But i know you know who i know i am!" The Warden cackled, heaving a little as what looked to be orange light came running out of his mouth mid cough.

"Without us being around it's been pretty boring lately right? All these stuck up Wardens and primordial beings having their straight lace parties. Well that's gonna change real soon! I can promise you that......." The Warden said, now looking at the blackness of the vision like an artist would a fine painting, and then snapping his head in a quick twitch to the knife in Matt's hand.

"Oh no, you were gonna kill Billy. You'd be doing me a favor, but what's wrong with that God of Madness? Stick him with it and let me have your friends. Then we can have some reaaalllllll fucking fun!" The Warden said. His eyes were now glowing dimmer and the orange was clearly fighting back. The newcomer coughed again.

"Just need a little more time....... Choose a side, bud. Maybe you'll get to regain your former self!" The Warden said before he was fully overtaken. With another loud screech and a flash of both colors, the Sanity Warden had returned.

"Yes, it's you............. Your mere presence elevates him, as if this place wasn't enough. We can't have this." The Warden said, then removed his shinning silver pistol, which radiated orange light. He pointed it at Matt and fired. The blasts did not come out in one stream, instead spiraling out in a cone of tendrils which began lashing out at both Matt and the dark vision around them. Each time it hit, it broke a hole through it. And if it were to hit Matt, considering what madness lay within him, it could very end his life.

"What an adorable little thing." He said, only half sincere. "Reminds me of a certain annoying creature that once worshiped the ground I walked on...wait, was that real or was that a breach of barriers?" Humanity asked as he seemed to search for the lines between truth and fiction. Of course one might be able to say he went off the deep end, but of course he couldn't' very well say that himself. Actually he did in fact believe that himself, but his ability to acknowledge his insanity was all the more reason for him to believe that he was in fact, of sound mind.

A cone of brightly colored tendrils began to lash out, the holes being torn through the tattered and already altered perception. The very effects of Madness seeming to be undone. He was fighting so hard to retain himself. He was fighting for something. He had a purpose, and if he was unsure of his place before today...now he knew for certain what his purpose was. The tendrils came out to lash at him and with a flourish of the knife the blade sliced through them like butter. With a bout of bravery, and a tinge of clarity he grappled onto the one tendril and pulled on it, apparently some form of attempt to disarm the weapon from the Warden.

"Oh no, please. That's not how this is going to work. Allow me to educate you." He said as he began walking towards the Warden of Sanity, an uncanny ear to ear grin on his face. "I think we both know how this is going to end for you if you try to fight me. Well, actually I've got something rather nice cooked up... because in the end I'm going to get what I want." He said with his grin turning to a snarl as he began spinning the blade in his hands with a rather impressive speed, the sound of the fine blade ringing out in the air as it sliced through over and over again.

"I'm going to get my friends back. I'm going to do it on my terms and not the terms of some wanna-be fuck up like your antithesis. Because unlike your Antithesis, and unlike you, I know the secret that's eluded both of you, something you've never managed to figure out. So you're either with me, or your against me. Those are your options." he said to the Warden quite clearly, he was beginning to feel a little more like himself, a slight portion of unexpected mercy slipped through and his chest began to feel heavy as he calmed himself from his anger. One name came to mind. That was all he needed to keep himself sane. Well....what this thing believed to be sane.

"So, Warden? Are you willing to help me keep the balance...or do I have to be more.....creative?" He asked, the tone of the word creative was far from friendly, though the alternative option was there. The question was if these two could actually get along. So long as Humanity had to gain from this, and he did, then he was fine. But could this warden truly feel the sanity within him? Likely not, but was that even more of a risk he was willing to make?

Pat was disappointed. Normally when you shot someone in the leg, they went down and yet here Luke was still walking around as if they were only  annoyed rather than injured. The other bullets, also managed to do nothing beyond seemingly annoy them, which meant that either they were suddenly superhuman or they were wearing armor. It was then that Drifter rushed him, lobbing something that he had so little time to actually react to. His body shifted, too late it would seem as the flashbang went off only a few inches away from him. His vision stopped working altogether, leaving him blind as his ear rang out and then all pain he felt was eclipsed by something slamming into his chest.

Three bullets caught him in the chest as he stumbled back,  the bullets having hit quick a few bones, breaking them and from there the internal damage was catastrophic. He tasted the blood rushing into his mouth, filling his lungs and any part of the respiratory system really. Which was expected considering one sort of punched through his lungs, and he needed those for the whole breathing thing. his knees weakly gave out under him as he slumped to the floor, left with nothing but pain, as well as a vague voice mingling with static.

Pat fell with a loud thud. Lukas was breathing heavily, visibly angered. He looked like he was sure of what he had just done, but slowly, the realization of what he did came to him. The yellow faded from his eyes, and he collapsed, dropping the gun beside him. This, this wasn't good.

"....Pat...... PAT! ....What..... Oh god what did i do?" Lukas said, slowly making his way to his downed friend. Patrick had a heart beat, but it was faint, and he was bleeding out. There was too many wounds to do anything, but still Drifter tried to stop the blood. It was all in vain, however.

"No...... This isn't what i wanted...... It wasn't, it wasn't me...." Lukas said. He knew deep down it was him, just tipped in a certain direction. He couldn't admit that to himself though, he wouldn't.

Oh, but it was, Drifter. A voice in his head spoke, amused. He used the name Drifter as some sort of mockery. Drifter got that angered look on his face again.

"You did this!" Drifter exclaimed, looking around the room. He was sure where it was coming from, but he didn't want to accept it. He couldn't accept he was going unfathomably insane.

Nope, all you. This place brought out the worst in this little head, and i simply jumped on the opportunity to get out. You and your buddy were actually pretty easy to push around. The voice said, laughing a bit between words. Drifter felt a chill creeping up his spine, and felt his chest tightening.

Take a good look around, because you won't ever see this world again, old friend. And with that, Drifter's vision went black, and he seemingly pasted out. In a few moments though, he took a deep breath, then rose, a wicked smile on his face. He walked over to Pat, touching him on the cheek.

"Now this won't do. Can't have just one plaything. That would be, well, that would just be crazy! What do they think i am? Like i don't deserve nice things or something......... I'm not an animal!" As the insanity Warden spouted off at the mouth, Patrick was healed, but the influence of the yellow light now being projected through him lit up his eyes just as Drifters were. Withdrawal wasn't waking anytime soon.

"Go upstairs and deal with the other one...... And that dick Billy too. I don't want this dumb body forever. Looks way too much like that one actor on that one show about those magical things." The Insanity animated Drifter said. Withdrawl's body then moved to the command, walking at a brisk pace upstairs. Where the two actual vigilantes were, well, that was less then pleasant.

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Drifter found himself killing old people and kids. Yeah, this wasn't some creative life changing vision related to his past, he was just straight up forced to destroy everything that he found innocent. It went on and on, and he couldn't do anything or say anything to stop it. He was on a rampage, and already he was desensitized to the sight of blood and ripped apart organs. He tore kid's heads off, beat them with their ripped off limbs while they were still alive...... And a lot of other horrible shit. You get the picture here.

Pat, well, he would just be forced to walk down a dark hallway. There was always a light at the end of the tunnel, but he would never reach it. Like with Drifter, time seemed to slow. A minute was like a year, and all he could do was keep walking, even with pain pounding through his feet. He was alone, he was isolated, he was withdrawn. He would feel like he would never see the real world again. Lived up to the name, i suppose. At least he had time to think.

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A small smirk formed at one end of the Sanity Warden's mouth. He was quite amused by this abomination that stood in front of him. Yes, he knew more or less what would happen if he fought, but that didn't mean he wouldn't. He was a Warden, and he would always fight no matter what. His duty came second to nothing. He wasn't above being reasoned with, though. He listened to Matt, and considered what he said.

"Well, if you wish to educate me, go ahead. What is this secret that has eluded me?

And if it's something about restoring balance, save your breath. No one wants balance in this world. They want positive forces, good. If it's balance you fight for, you're not on my side." The Warden said. Soon the gun was put away and, grabbing a chair leg, it turned into a normal sword. Sure it looked pretty fantasy, but it was in all honesty just a sword. He recognized that his weapon would do just about nothing to Matt, hence the blade.

"Look, these are my friends. Without their sanity they aren't who they need to be. They aren't themselves. I'm not about to give them over to some half-cracked antithesis. If you can believe one thing, you can believe that I want to keep them from this. I'm already crazy...I cosplay and kill people for a hobby. I neglect my kid and leave him with a homocidal robot that serves as his nanny and tutor. I subject people to horrific amounts of fear toxin in hopes of actually making a difference in the world and I secretly just so happen to have an entire cult of individuals that worship the ground I walk on." He said as his eyes narrowed and he looked to the Warden. "So to recap, I'm a father so obsessed with Cosplay that it borderlines neglect to my kid, leaving him with my robotic butler that also kills people. And of all the friends in this world that I DON'T want to lose two of them just so happened to drag me here." Humanity sighed as he began to realize that he was talking entirely too much. He quickly made his way back to where he was and he pressed himself down over his set-up as he leaned forward. Earlier he had pressed a button and clicked the button on his remote. He clicked the button again.

  "Patrick, Lukas. Listen. I want you to remember what happened. Remember the explosion. Remember the train tracks. Remember the bright light when I shifted the breaks. Now I want you to remember your families...That's why we're here...isn't it Lukas? Family? Because isn't that what matters?" He said, the words were now being broadcast over the facilities now working speaker system. The speaker system was also jury rigged as Humanity pulled out his mask from within his coat, putting the mask to his phone and pressing another button. He then breathed into the mask, triggering the modulator and emitting a modified infrasound. Utilizing the sound system as a secondary outlet, and modifying the actual emission to sound throughout the halls.

   The last words were family. The noise they heard now was an inspired fear. Humanity backed away from the microphone and looked to the Warden with a small smirk.

 "There's only three things stronger than Madness. That being the three things that cause Madness....Fear." He said to the Warden before flourishing the knife. "I don't want balance. People want good and you have your duties...but I also have mine. Stand down...or what I'm going to do to you AND your little antithesis will be so much more horrifying than a simply destruction." He said, the threat was one he intended to make quite real, he could feel the approving and slightly amused and curirous gaze of the invisible behind him as he leaned down slightly and spoke into the microphone. He shouded, bellowing.

 "SNAP OUT OF IT!!!!" The noise bellowed throughout the hallways a sudden burst of noise to hopefully snap his friends out of it as he quickly took the mask and hid it once more.


....hopefully that worked....he might have had quite a fight on his hands.

The hallway was dark, as dark as the place he had been before, and yet the difference was that he was forced to walk down it. Time dragged on, prolonging itself to an insane level, drawn on further and further to the point that a second was a year. His feet had begun hurting around the first prolonged hour, yet all he could do was walk despite the fact that he only wanted to really sit down. There was no choice, only the fact that he was forced to continue walking. A light shone at the end of the hallway and yet, always it was out of reach.

Something about that felt horrifically ironic, something being out of reach forevermore. Had he not been immense pain from being forced to walk, well pay would have chuckled, but that wasn’t exactly something he could do at the moment. Years passed, slowly but they did, his body feeling as if it would break down but not doing so as the walking continued. This went on for ages, until something pierced the murk of the darkness, a familiar voice that caused his heart to skip a beat as it always managed to.

”Matt?” He muttered, as something else came not long after. A grand darkness, a shrike that inspired fear and then he was...free. The light rose to wrap around him, and then he was back where he was before, walking slowly it seemed without his volition.”I..don’t know what the hell that was but I don’t want it to happen again.”

The Warden did seem quite sympathetic to Matt's plight, after all he was supposed to stop bad things from happening to people. But in the end, his duties were his duties. He couldn't go against them....... If he did, he risked what he was. He risked falling, becoming something he wasn't. The Warden was conflicted. On one hand, evil stood in front of him. But on the other, what was worse at the moment was the evil downstairs.

He saw his enemy take over the bodies of the men below.... He couldn't beat him, but, perhaps this person in front of him could? Maybe he didn't have to fight Matt, maybe he didn't have to kill the hosts... He took in a deep sigh, the sword dispersing.

"I...... I understand. They are victims in this, and don't deserve to die for what is easy. But even i don't know how to stop him now. He has a foothold in them that cannot be broken, not unless they die." The Warden said. He felt a turn in his gut. He had disobeyed before, which is why he was so set on what he needed to do. This was an issue, but he knew deep down what was right. Orders be damned.

"I don't need to fight you, you aren't my enemy. I see that now. But you may have to accept that your friends are gone." The Warden said. He was more or less cooperating, but he was still weary. He didn't know what to do in all honesty. There was what he was, and then who he was.

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Lukas fell deeper and deeper into his vision. He was fading. His being had already spent what felt like forever in a twisted illusuon. Everything he had ever been was slipping away, and he was starting to accept that. Sure there was resistence, but that was breaking fast under the preasure of his sanity falling apart.

Even so, through all that, he heard a whisper. It was difficult to make out, but it gave him something to latch onto. He used it like a guiding light, a tether to the real world. Eventually, he found himself rising to the surface. He used it to pull himself out. It was actually painful, but soon, he had a fighting chance once again.

"Hey! Stop that ya dick! YOU'RE GOING TO RUIN EVERYTHING!" The Insanity Warden said. His stolen body then twitched, wrestling with itself and running into walls before finally falling onto the floor.

"Ahhhhhuugggg! Ahhhhhhahagggg! You motherfucker! Get out!" Drifter said inbetween agonizing screams as he contorted on the ground. Soon, the painful yells turned into a soft cry, and then it got worse. Drifter was crying his eyes out in moments.

"M-matt......I.i just....i can't do it.... It hurts.... My head, it hurts..... They..aren't there. No one is ever there!......... i'm slipping.....just like that.....just like that bastard said.......... I...i wanna go home. I just wanna go home....... Please, take me back home!" Drifter said as he fell into hysterics. He was trying hard, but he was failing. The way his body spasmed on the floor was proof of that. His face was soaking wet, and he was curled up like a beaten child. He couldn't break free, not so easily.

Pat was cleansed of the influence as soon as Drifter regained partial control, as he wasn't the main host. Lukas though, that was another story entirely.

"No...you don't understand. They ARE lost...which is why they are themselves." Humanity said with a sigh, shaking his head with an exhausted and somewhat mournful look. He swallowed hard before looking to the warden of Sanity, knowing full well what he was about to do was going to change the dynamics of everything. It wasn't something that he wanted to do, but it was something they HAD to do. In order to beat this foe, The Warden would need to accept the truth, and to accept it he had to understand it. But to disclose knowledge beyond the spectrum a Warden understands was...problimatic.
   
   "First we need to get them out of here. Any ideas?" He asked as he looked to the warden, then looking back to the door. "Once we're out of here we can re-establish your threshold. You'll be completely on par, if not above the power of your counterpart. Just keep it together." He said, assuring the Warden before turning back to the door and trying to push it open. It was time to get his friends out of there. One way, or another.

Even an idiot could tell things were only going wrong the further they went into this place, and Pat had his fill of insanity for one day. If Luke wanted to be dragged down into whatever depths remained, they were free to do that but...he had no interest in it. Honestly, he found himself questioning why he was even here, why he had come to some stupid abandoned asylum that practically stunk of a bad time. His head was pounding, and legs being wracked with a phantom ache from the vision, reminding him of said vision as well of a few things that happened before. ”Well, guess I wasn’t completely wrong.” he was free of the influence, and yet it was apparent that Luke was not so lucky, indicated by the sudden hysterics. Despite them being a friend, a part of him deeply enjoyed seeing this more than he should.

Maybe it was a measure of resentment within him, remembering what was said. ”You know, for someone throwing a lot of good shit around you sure devolved into a crying pussy quick.” He noted to no one in particular, having one thing in mind really. Find the only other person here that was not Luke and leave.

That was it. The lack of response or anything to latch onto from Matt along with what Pat said sparked just enough anger and abandonment to give insanity a foot hold. And you want to know the worst part? Drifter didn't care. He wasn't fighting. In fact, he may have even been embracing it now. He felt free. Free from compulsion, free from worry, free from the tortuous thoughts of why he existed and if he was good. This was it, a moment of singularity. He felt fully realized, in his natural state. It seemed like this was always what he was meant to be, but society held him from it. The convulsions stopped, and a sly, half smirk formed on his face. The change from rapid movement to absolute stillness was a shocking one, and he remained that way, yellow eyes mixed with spots of grey locked directly on Pat. A single, quiet chuckle escaped his lips as he got up. This wasn't going to be good. The thing inside him was at full power, with nothing fighting against it. In fact, it was working in perfect tandem with it's host.

"Together as friends we sore, forever more......

Nah, what a bore!

Death isn't so bad, from what i hear.

So draw near, and die by the hand of your peer.

After all, those you hold dear are who you fear.

Crystal clear?" The male said as he slowly walked toward Pat. This was quite bad really. Drifter might as well have been the Insanity Warden himself at this point. He had no reason to not accept him, all he wanted now were things Insanity could give him.

Shadows crept up the walls, removing the stark white of the room. The whole time the darkness swirled, Drifter walked forward, a smirk on his face. It wasn't a big joker grin though, it was more Luke's trademark smugness.

"You have no idea how much i wanted to include queer in that poem....... But we are a democrat after all." Drifter said as the tendrils of shadow began to lash out at Withdrawal, hoping to tangle him. Soon the entire room was black except for the men, who seemed oddly lit. Eventually the tendrils would work their way up Pat and then around his neck, slowly but surely attempting to choke him.  That was of course assuming they caught him in the first place, but there was really nowhere for Pat to go.

"Tell me Patrick....... What is friendship? What is love? Do you even really know?" Drifter said, smug smile still on his face. Pat would be able to speak when he was asked, but eventually the choking would become to much to do so.

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The Warden contemplated Matt's words. He was going against what he SHOULD have been doing as a Sanity Warden, so he got weaker by the second. That however, did not mean he was worthless. Humanity planned to get his friends out of the Asylum, and asked for any ideas. The Warden in turn thought a moment. He wasn't strong enough to just port a perfect host out of the place, so he had to improvise.

"The room they reside in is in the corner of the building. If we can blow the wall out and push them outside the boundaries of the fence there will be no more outside influence on his power. I need you to get down to the kitchen and turn the gas systems on, the pipes go right over that area. I'll be doing the rest........... Though, if you can make it back quickly that would be splendid." And with that, the Warden disappeared. He wasn't quite in the white room yet, but he was close. Matt needed to do his part and then get back fast if they were to win.

The situation was growing dire, very dire, and it was growing very quickly. They needed help. They needed the power to snap people from madness; alas the only person he knew that could do that was not a power he could call upon, but a power that would quickly see to him as a dead man. The Warden was one of their last options. He seemed to have a way out of this, a way in which required the return of the gas system to it's operational forum. He quickly realized that this Warden intended to blow a hole in the walls, though somehow it seemed to be under the assumption that the explosion wouldn't just eradicate them all....

Or perhaps that's exactly what it's intentions were. It said that they needed to be outside the boundaries. Needed to accept them as maybe being truly lost. What better way to be free of madness than to be dead.

Nothing escapes madness, Matthew. You of all people know that. He heard the voice in the back of his head. It was still his voice. He thought for a moment he was simply thinking to himself. The subliminal thought so realistic to his own. He knew the Warden was not likely to try and kill them, killing them was not a very sane thing to do; especially in such a chaotic way. But he had to accept the fact that they his friends didn't need the supernatural to save them. What they needed was to save themselves. He pressed a small button on his watch, twisting it before heading off towards the basement.

The quick tapping of his feet on the concrete as he made his way down through the hollow stairwell, the echoes almost disorienting as his hand gently graced across the railings. He stepped onto the last platform, humming as he reached the door.

"Screaming down the halls. Spinning all around and now we fall. Pictures framing up the past-your taunting smirk behind the glass. This museum full of ash, once a tickle now a rash." He began as he pressed on the door, forcing it open as best as he could. The door was old, rusted and almost sealed shut, but eventually with throwing his entire body into it he realized that the problem was that the hinges had rusted. Stepping back he reached down into his jacket and pilled out Yamm's dagger, quickly flourishing it with a twirl in his hand before driving it into the door's crease, slicing through the metal with little issue.

"This used to be a funhouse, but now it's filled with evil clowns. It's time to start the countdown. I'm gonna burn it down, down-down. I'm gonna burn it down." He said as he threw his body into the door, the large slab of metal crashing to the ground, the young man atop it as the smell of rancid meat filled the air, a musty and sickening smell threatening to deprive the human of consciousness. With a cough he pushed himself up, on all fours before looking up looking around and smiling as it turned into a chuckle. "Ten...nine...eight...seven...six-five-four...three...two...one...fun." Each number was a movement for him, standing up, brushing himself off, walking towards the machine and placing a small spherical device into the loose pumping and then re-tightening it before twisting the circular valve-seal to restore gas to the facility.

He continued his small lyrical as his hands buried into his pockets as he withdrew his beaning, putting it on his head, pressing the large thick-rimmed glasses back up the bridge of his nose and hiding his hands within the confines of his coat once more. As he continued his little lyrical he eventually jumped, clicking his heels off to the side before landing perfectly, and continuing his walk to the stairwell. It was up to the Warden now.

When crazy possessed Luke’s start singing, one doesn’t simply stand about, and Pat caught onto that pretty quickly. If the convulsions stopped, that meant something he did not care to deal with was coming along and so he broke into a run before they could even really stand. Not away, since there was no real entrance and exit, but actually towards the possessed Luke. No one ever really expected someone to tackle the shadow manipulating guy, so he went with the less than obvious approach, running as fast as possible with the aim to slam his shoulder into their gut. Afterall, the tendrils of shadow would rise, but he still had a second to do something, so he went along with it. Either he would make contact or something would stop him, then came the tangling. Like some sort of weird S and M type thing, plus the whole potential strangling thing.

”What is love? I would give an answer, but this lying two faced fuck with low self esteem is too busy planting the knife in your back. Oh wait, that’s just a fragile minded cunt being a little sore about earlier, but I guess it’s alright for little Luke since he’s weak enough to let just anyone have a go at his mind.” He spat, not really bothering to answer the question. What was he trying to do? Well that was probably unknown, but then again he knew he couldn’t break free from any kind of super power while it had him, so mind as well  let it go. ”I guess the answer is baby don’t hurt me, but we’re a little past not hurting anyone.’ He said, before the pressure actually made talking difficult. Honestly, he would be fine with Luke strangling him, but maybe it was just the shadow shadows doing the job, felt really lazy.

Still, the pressure began to cut the air ways off rather quickly, and his face turned this lovely shade of red, and slowly towards purple. Well, this wasn’t going anywhere good, but maybe death was something he actually wanted.

The punch to the gut was of little consequence, considering at this point Drifter felt no pain. The power they had acquired made them in a sense above that. Sure the actual damage was done, but it would only leave a bruise, maybe. After that, the whole tangling thing commenced. The crazed Drifter had every intent on choking the life out of Patrick, but then they heard the male's response and lessened their grip.

"I think you fail to understand what exactly is happening here...... We're not having a 'go' at lil' Luke's mind, we are him. Deep down this is always what we have been, coming here just allowed the last tumblers to fall into place. Now, now we can be free." The male said. As cliche as it was to explain everything to a dead man, Drifter didn't want their former friend to die thinking he had won something, not even an argument.

"Make no mistake, nobody hijacked your friend. There isn't any possession going on, that shit is for demons.. We're more then that, a force of nature more then an entity. We're insanity, we are what we were meant to be, we are free." Drifter continued. In all honesty what they said was true. The insanity Warden didn't exist, he couldn't exist. Insanity was simply the lack of sanity, it couldn't be measured, and therefore neither could this force in the traditional sense. This being they had been fighting, it only resided in their heads, and in this place. The Asylum was the great puppeteer, and the Insanity Warden was only a construct of the accumulation of it all, not it's cause.

"But back to my question...... You felt betrayed by us didn't you? Felt we were two faced even though that's what we were calling you? But what you don't get is that everyone is that way. You're a different person on your own, a different person around your boss, a different person around each group of friends.... Everybody has a million faces, and the key to a true friendship is seeing the real person through it all, and forgiving them for the actions of their other personas. But you, you can't. One wrong move and you hate someone enough to kill them." Drifter said. They were enjoying talking down to Pat, sure, but that's when they heard a crash just beyond the doorless walls. Company. The shadows tightened once again.

"If some deus ex machina gets you out of dying, remember this: you don't love anyone, not me, not Matt, nobody. You can use the word all you want, but through your ignorance it will always fall flat." And that's when a section of the wall was blown out, and the Warden of Sanity stepped in.

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"Nice of you to join us. What were you two doing up there? Fucking? I mean, that's alright if that's what you're into, but jesus, important shit's going down." Drifter said, turning to the new arrival with that smug look still on their face. The Sanity Warden sighed.

"Save it. Let him go before i make you." The distance closed until the two were twenty feet away, and Pat was finally released. It wasn't out of any sort of compassion though, Drifter just wanted to focus his power on the new guy. The shadows lashed out, and were barely shielded by their target's telekinetic power. It was clear who the stronger one was.

"What do you care about him? Seems a bit out of character for you to give a shit about someone's life." Drifter said as he overpowered his enemy. The Sanity Warden was pushed back, skidding on his feet as he defended himself. Finally though, he heard the gas turn on. Unfortunately so did the crazed vigilante. though.

"Gonna blow us up? You know that won't do you any good." Drifter mocked as they pressed their advantage.

"....No, it won't, but you of all things should know it isn't always so straight forward." And with that, part of the ceiling was ripped off and thrown aside by the Warden's telekinesis, exposing pipe and allowing gas to leak into the room. Next, 'Billy' just snapped his fingers, creating enough friction with his ability to create a spark.

The explosion went off, but it didn't expand beyond a small sphere in front of the Warden. He was keeping it contained, slowly pushing it toward the insanity empowered Drifter. In return, tendrils pushed it back. The goal here was to send it at the wall behind Luke, thus blowing the hole out and allowing for the male to be thrown out of it telekinetically. The issue with that was it would still harm Pat and the weakened Warden, Luke himself though would be fine if he took it. Regardless, the Warden couldn't even get that done. He was losing the power struggle and was almost not able to contain the explosion.

Luke would talk, talk and do more talking. Honestly he would pay more attention if the guy weren’t strangling him, but they were strangling him after all so he was more focused on the fact that he was slowly dying. All of this ended when they let go, following what sounded to be some kind of explosion that took out one of the walls. Dropping to the floor he felt over his throat, still sore from being throttled by something that was normally intangible. He couldn’t exactly run away, so all he could do was sorta sit there, maybe distancing himself and letting this play out.

The Sanity Warden was losing, Pat was dying, and Drifter lost more of himself by the second. God knows where Matthew was, but who would have blamed him if he had just turned around and left? Probably a lot of people, but that was beside the point.

It was becoming more and more clear that if the Warden didn't do something bold, he was going to get his weakened body mutilated. He let go of the explosion, and with all the might he had left ripped Pat from the clutches of the tendrils and threw him through the hole in the wall he had created when he entered. Patrick would take a nasty hit against the hallway wall outside the room, but it was better then dying.

And of course, with nobody to hold it back, the explosion expanded out. It knocked the Sanity Warden into a wall, frying his body up and down. He hit the ground like a ton of bricks, but he was still alive. For however long though nobody knew. If he died, his anti-thesis would take full control, and that simply couldn't happen.

That matter would be dealt with soon enough, for now Drifter needed to be brought back to normal. He was sent flying through a newly exploded hole in the wall, smashing into the wrought iron fence of the Asylum's grounds. Despite this though, he seemed totally fine, getting up and brushing himself off.

But then he fell to the ground, hands over his head screaming in pain. Insanity's power was weening, and the male desperately tried to get back into the building, preferably killing the Sanity Warden in the process. But he was a long way away, and there was still at least one person that could stop that from happening.

Once Matthew entered the room, he would find the Sanity Warden nearly dead, propped up against a wall. He would look to the male with a smile, the first to be seen from him, and he pointed to the hole in the building.

"You have to get him away from here...... And knock some sense into him once you do..... I'll deal with my counterpart........ But by the end, i may be something worse then even him......... All i know, is i can't die and give him control. Go." The Warden said, struggling to breath. It was essentially up to Humanity and an injured Pat now, but whatever they did would still not fix the consequences of this day.

The world would no longer be governed by the forces of sanity or it's counterpart, but something else entirely.