章 280: Trauma

"What do you mean 'traumatised'?"

"If my memory doesn't fail me, we attempted various experiments on them... It was quite spectacular, seeing how a human head can glow to such an extent. So much so that I accidentally kept adding electro-static shock probes... The result was permanent physical scarring to the teddy bears brain, and some sort of mental trauma that I had no wish to investigate further... Therapy is not a science I like to prescribe to, especially when it spouts such meaningless things as morality, compassion, consequences." Dala says, bluntly, as if she hadn't just told him about how she'd tortured, physically and mentally scarred his family.

His fists grip so hard that they draw blood, red droplets falling from his left hand while vicious black ones dripping from his right... His was so angry that the pacification field was working overtime, and Afton could literally feel the tesla coils in his head heating up in response. It felt like a warm water bottle was placed behind his eyes.

Even with Med X preventing a considerable amount of pain, he was struggling to hide it from Dala. The migraine he'd been experiencing while here had just kept getting worse and worse. It honestly felt like his head would explode if it progressed any further...

He glances around for a moment while holding his head, eventually noticing the bottle of Day Tripper on Dala's desk. It was a hallucinogenic drug that made whoever took it lethargic, relaxed, it also had a mild tranquilising effect... Afton grabbed it and took enough to where it'd ease his roiling emotions, but not put him out of commission.

It didn't do much about the pain, but the migraine wasn't caused by anything physical, but mental. His aggression towards Dala had forced the pacification field to try and rid him of those thoughts, leaving him in the current situation.

He closes his eyes and allows the drug to take effect, trying his best to calm himself before his head explodes.

"Is something wrong, teddy bear? Do I need to adjust the machinery in your head? Your skin looks whiter than it should, perhaps you should take it off so I can examine it..." Dala asks.

Afton shakes his head, the pain beginning to lessen slightly, still... He needed to know more about what they did to Christine. "Earlier, you mentioned something about a De-traumatisation center?" he asks, ignoring her wish to skin him.

"Yes. We generally use them to 'de-traumatise' anyone who's too troublesome to deal with, but we also put the broken ones in there too. It doesn't matter the original problem, they all end up the same afterwards."

"And what does 'de-traumatisation' entail, Dala?" he asks.

"Why, you've experienced it yourself... A lobotomy procedure, followed by several rounds of conditioning, and whatever other experiments I feel the need to conduct. It's a shame the visitor managed to escape, I wonder if its brain looked like scrambled eggs after the electro-shock-makeshift lamp experiment."

...

"Yes... A shame." he mutters, feeling a great amount of gratitude to the unknown man who'd managed to save her from such a fate... "Did you manage to capture he-The subject. Afterwards?" he asks, after stumbling on a word that tasted bitter as he said it.

"No. It left after the other visitor destroyed one of Dr. Kleins trains, a shame, those trains still had some mutated teddy bears inside."

Afton nods. Thankful that Christine was out of this place, though, her treatment had brought attention towards the fact that Afton still wasn't really safe here. He'd assumed the scientists would keep him around after Mobius is gone due to his 'unique' status. But, now that he thought about it, it wouldn't be strange if they went back on their promises and tried to experiment on him further...

Yeah, he'd need to keep his cards to his chest if he wanted to go through this with his plans intact... Hm, he'd need allies, and as much as it pains him to say it, Dala was one of the more 'friendly' scientists here. He desperately wanted to... Disassemble her, for what she'd done to Christine, but Dala still had further uses.

8 was another potential ally, the only problem being he couldn't understand them. If he managed to fix his voice module then they'd be in his debt... Something else that caught his attention was the fact that most of the scientists seemed happy that his voice module was broken... Or at least, willfully ignored it.

Klein was a strange one, and Afton was sure the man's pride wouldn't allow him to exist in the state Afton wanted, not to mention their already somewhat sour relationship... Borous on the other hand, had promise.

Judging by the way the man reluctantly handed off the K9000, he seemed to still have some emotional attachment towards it. This meant that emotional manipulation could be used here, and that Borous wasn't as... Mentally distorted as the rest of the two-hundred year-old scientists seemed to be.

Last and most certainly least, is Zero. The incapable robotics expert who's more akin to a demolitions expert. With the obvious exception of the dexterity required in the latter expertise. Afton was very sure he could manipulate the useless robot to do his bidding. All he needed to do was soothe Zero's ego, and make him feel 'useful'... As difficult as it may be.

Despite his earlier insults to the robot, they were on 'fair' terms, due to him being the only one to actually use his name, as opposed to 'Dr. O'. That at least gave him an in with the scientist.

Nodding his head, he affirms his future plans and looks to Dala, "I... Thank you for your help, if you need anything just let me know." he says, before headed towards where 8 currently was.

"Anytime my teddy bear. Anytime." she whispers sultrily behind him, causing Afton to get goosebumps.