Lucan couldn't believe it; in fact, no one in the room could believe it either, except for V, who seemed to be watching the news with a calm expression.
Gotham City's serial killer has been identified after being killed in an armed struggle with police personnel, no officers were wounded in the confrontation however two civilians were killed before the officers could intervene.
The culprit has been identified as Bradley Stoics and further information about him is yet to be disclosed. This is Vikki Vale signing off.
The room was silent; no one had spoken so much as a word. They had no idea what even to say. They all had, at some point, wondered what had happened to everyone's favorite creepy watchman, but they would have never expected this to be the way it would happen. 'How is that even possible?'
Lucan felt like his head had been struck by something in the back of the head, he felt dizzy, and he had not known Bradley as long as the others had, but just from how he had behaved when he had helped him, he didn't seem like the type to be able to kill anyone.
He recalled again, the ease with which he had dismantled those thugs, the indifferent look on his face as he did so, 'Okay well he definitely wouldn't be killing people for no reason' at least that's what he believed, but even before that was the news really saying he was dead?
No matter what they said it didn't feel real, even when they panned the camera to show his corpse compared to a living photo everyone just watched with their mouths slackened, some had even already begun to cry.
"Did you know this would happen? How?". V spared him a sad glance; her voice was low, akin to a whisper.
"I…she…we didn't know he would die". She shook her head as she spoke, it would seem that whatever brainwashing she had been put under had taken quite a blow from being exposed to this kind of shock, she had effectively reverted to her original state.
'And I was afraid of her just now too'. He thought to himself, looking back at the TV however the more he looked the more surreal it felt until eventually he shook his head and stood up 'I can't watch this anymore'
Many people had also left; some went to their rooms, while others curled into a ball in a corner. Lucan, however, sat in the cafeteria. It wasn't that they ever prevented them from being around here; there was no explicit rule that said they could not be here, but logically, who would want to spend all day in the cafeteria?
'It's so gloomy'. He wasn't the only one in the hall, however, it was dead silent, and no one really felt like talking at the moment and he couldn't really blame them, it wasn't every day you got to be part of a true crime documentary.
He occupied himself with random thoughts while he looked around. There were a few people who didn't seem sad though, 'These guys don't seem affected'. The children from the medical ward had remained equally silent but they didn't seem to be sad , they just followed him with their eyes.
Lucan shifted uncomfortably in his seat, placing his palm on his face as he muttered under his breath "I really wish someone could tell me what's going on".
***
The night was a little colder that day, even the perverse night watchman wasn't patrolling today leaving the halls absent of his clumsy presence and the halls in total silence, not that anyone was particularly aware of that fact.
'This is so dumb'. Lucan was making his way to the medical wing, as carefully as possible, and he was going to find Polly. He had already made his preparations and hoped they would be enough. This whole mess started after she suddenly stopped coming outside, so maybe, just maybe she would have the answers he was looking for, at least he hoped so.
His journey was rather smooth if he did say so himself, he had not encountered any sudden falls or any nurses on duty, it had been smooth sailing which had quite frankly put him on much higher alert than he would like to be, because things like this having no issues was often a bad sign.
He peeked through the keyholes and gaps in the doors and found that most of the rooms were empty, Lucan imagined that the rooms had to have been full of people once, but all those people were now in the orphanage with them. 'The fact that there hasn't been even a single person around is pretty suspicious though'.
Distracted by his own thoughts he had not noticed when one of the doors opened and a yawning doctor had walked out holding his clipboard, Lucan had unintentionally frozen on the spot as he cursed under his breath.
"Huh? There's still someone here?" The doctor's tired gaze fell on him as he intently stared at the spot where he stood before quickly blinking and shaking his head "I must be tired" he said to himself before completely ignoring Lucan and walking away.
"What?". He muttered under his breath confused, the doctor had just now ignored him completely, like he was just a passing breeze. Lucan cocked an eyebrow 'Was that Luck?' He felt tempted to test it but wasn't ready to gamble away his second life over it.
More people started to wander the halls and he had been doing his best to steer clear of their routes, but the more he moved the less colours there seemed to be, just dark plain walls 'My hearts beating faster than when I used to play zombie games back in my world, but I guess it's already too late to go back now' drawing in a long breath, he gradually calmed himself.
He had come a long way from his room and even going back was going to prove to be a lot more difficult than his arrival here.
He soon entered into a long dark hall with a steel door at the end, just as he was about to take a step forward he felt a large hand land on his shoulder. His body froze and his mind became blank as his heart nearly burst from the shock.
"You…are late, she's inside, maybe asleep, lock the door when you're done with her". Lucan turned his head and met the gaze of a man in normal sleepwear, his eyes seemed glazed over, like he wasn't fully aware of what was happening, the strange man fumbled for something in his pocket and handed Lucan a pair of keys and then turned around and left.
'What was that?" The fear in his heart gradually subsided as he took deep breaths to steady his heartbeat as he shakily held the keys in his hands, and then turned his eyes to the door, looking back and forth between the two before taking one last drawn breath "Answers"
***
Lucan wasn't sure what to expect from the room he had just entered, but it was quite bland. He had always imagined the place she would be in would be covered in art, paint and be the equivalent of a rainbow vomiting, not this dull grey and miserable-looking place. 'Has she really been living here?'
The room was huge, large enough that they would likely have to fuse like four of theirs together to get an idea, with how dark the room was he had to inch his way closer to what he thought was the bed until he lightly kicked his foot against the frame "Ouch fuck".
He sucked up the rest of his scream and looked up at the ceiling with his eyes closed before opening them, only to find Polly staring at him in the dimly lit room "Did you miss me?" She smiled at him but remained silent.
She looked tired and she had gotten visibly thinner, paler enough so he could tell even with the dim light he could spot some bruises on her skin. She noticed him staring and made the light a little dimmer. "Oh, um, are you okay?". She nodded and Lucan couldn't help but awkwardly scratch his head.
He was surprisingly terrible at this sort of thing, he was a social person, or at least he liked to think so, but he had never really been in such an awkward position before, the crimson haired girl had always been quite bubbly, so seeing her so withdrawn had started to make him feel rather unsure of himself.
"So, you, do you have any idea what's been happening?". Polly replied by slowly shaking her head Obviously, there was no way she had any idea what had been going on outside since it was likely she had never left this room in all that time. "Then do you know how long you've been here?".
Polly shook her head again, Lucan looked around the room trying to see what he could make out, the walls seemed insulated which had made the room quite warm, but the window was pretty high up, no phones no laptop and no tv, it would certainly be hard to tell how much time had passed in here.
"Ah well, where do I start? Um the Blondie has been adopted". She gave a look that suggested that she had expected that, he told her about the orphanage's decline and what it was like outside these days along with some news reports and gossip about Batman.
"So what of Mr. Bradley?" Her voice was weak and hoarse, the kind of sound that came from when someone had a cold or was extremely thirsty, Lucan remained silent and the smile on her face slowly faded. "He's dead isn't he? That's why you're here".
He didn't answer, he just turned away in silence, and he could hear her sniffling. He wasn't sure how to comfort her, more so because he didn't understand why that was her first thought, but that at least meant she knew something he didn't or had to have been involved somehow. "How did you know?"..
"I..I was told to use my powers, flash light a certain way to make people do things, I used it to try and get him to help me". Lucan felt like he had an idea of what was happening so far but then a thought occurred to him 'Wait then what about me?'
His eyes widened as he looked at her teary face as she continued to sob "I just really wanted to see you". He felt something cold prick his back, before he could even let out a scream his vision darkened and he fell to the floor limp. "You promised you wouldn't hurt him!"
A male voice replied from within the darkness with an amused tone "I just knocked him out, he'll be fine, as for you I hope you had a good chat, this won't be happening again". The voice continued clearly enjoying themselves. "Really, you're such a brilliant child, I never would have imagined that you could orchestrate such madness even under all that pressure"
The muffled clapping sound could be heard, as though the person was wearing gloves while Polly with tears in her eyes looked at her friend lying on the floor "Now about those sleeper agents of yours".
***
Lucan got up with a start, his head was throbbing and he felt his back ache "Argh what the heck? Why do I feel like shit?" He rose from his bed and took a bath while muttering to himself "I feel like I Just had some kind of strange dream, what day is it?".
He walked out to the cafeteria and saw the kids from the Medical ward all lined up and moving towards the wing, he nodded curiously and ignored it. He didn't feel like it was his problem really and there was no need to be overly curious.
On his way to the cafeteria he bumped into some of V's roommates "Hey, Lucan right? Um, how was your day yesterday? Did anything special happen?". Lucan placed a finger on his chin and shook his head.
"Nope, don't think so". The girls exchanged glances and the black haired one with freckles nodded and stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder with a smile.
"Happy birthday it's today right? The tenth?" Lucan tilted his head slightly in confusion.
"No?". The girl still remained smiling before she patted his shoulder lightly and handed him a small bag.
"Ah my bad then, here's an apology gift anyways". After that she quickly turned around with her friends and left, leaving him standing there alone in the hall.
"Um thanks?"
Author's Note:
If you're enjoying the story and want to read ahead or support my work, you can check out my P@treon at [email protected]/LordCampione. But don't worry—all chapters will eventually be public. Just being here and reading means the world to me. Thank you for your time and support.