Locked Up
Part Four
Kelly turned on the computer, sighing. She looked at the calendar. It had been 22 days since she had last seen her brother, who had gone missing along with his friend, Tobias. The cops were continuing to search for any clues that might reveal anything about where they had gone… in the meantime, she and her family were alone.
Marshal stormed in.
"Why didn't you call me earlier?" He spat at one of the guards.
"It was night time," The guard replied. "We thought it would be best…"
"Was it best for the patients?" Marshal asked. "Just how did they escape, and what did you do with them?"
"The wolf managed to get out of her straightjacket, probably by dislocating her own shoulder," The guard said. "When the nurses went in, she knocked them both out, freed the tigress, and stole the nurse's uniforms. If we hadn't caught them in time, they would've walked right out of the building." Marshal sighed.
"And then what?"
"Then we put them into solitary and called you," The guard said. "And then we called Reidman."
Marshal paled underneath his fur.
"You did WHAT?" He exclaimed.
"They called me, you idiot," said a voice behind him. Marshal turned, seeing the Abyssinian cat grinning back at him. "Let's just see how you've fucked up this time."
Kelly looked through some of the recently used programs. The police couldn't find anything that looked or was incriminating or helpful, but they didn't know her brother. There had to be something here that would work, something that would give her some insight on where her brother was, or at the very least what had happened. She paused as she saw the fragment of a program... what was this? She opened it.
REALITY ATLTERED – LOADING PREVIOUS SETTINGS.
Marshal walked into the room, pulling off Tobi and Allison's blindfolds.
"I'm afraid I have some bad news," he said. They stared at him, glaring with anger. How could things get any worse than they were already? "I've been pulled off your case," Marshal continued. "Another, more… qualified," he said grudgingly, "doctor is taking over your treatment." Allison and Tobi looked at each other. What could this mean? "I'm afraid this will be the last we see of each other. As soon as I leave he'll be taking you to your new room." He stood, a look of obvious regret on his face. "I wish we could have ended our… time together, on a better note."
Marshal left. That was all.
A few minutes later, an Abyssinian cat strolled in.
"Well, hello," He said, grinning as he sat down. "I'm Doctor Reidman, I'm the head of the Institute here, and I believe Doctor Marshal has had some… problems, dealing with the two of you." He opened up the folder as he nodded. Tobi and Allison struggled a bit, but Reidman just kept grinning madly. "Delusions of grandeur… denial… identity crises… multiple personality disorder… bipolar… yes, I think I know the perfect treatment for the two of you." He stood, grabbing Tobi and Allison by the straps of their straitjackets and pulling them out of the room. He looked scrawny as hell, but he was dragging them with ease across the floor. The two looked at each other worried. Reidman was much more aggressive… both of them silently hoped that he wasn't more sadistic, either.
The two were taken to another room where there were a few hoses hanging down from the ceiling, and there were a few large green and pink bags lying on the floor. They stared at them. Undoubtedly they were supposed to get into them. A couple guards came forward and took them, to one of the hoses; Tobi with a pink sack at her feet, Allison with a green one near hers.
"Get them out of those restraints," Rediman said, and the guards complied, taking off everything that was holding them back. "Give them a moment to stretch their arms and legs – they're going to need a few minutes." Reidman sat down, the guards stepped back, their hands on their tazers. One wrong move… Still muzzled, Tobi and Allison stared at each other. How were they going to get out of here now?
Kelly stared at the information that popped up on the screen. She was amazed, she had no idea that her brother was capable of this sort of thing… how could any of them even suspect? It was way over her head, and it would probably be over anybody else's. Maybe not that supersmart physicist guy… Stephen... Stephen King, that was it. Maybe she should email this to him? No, she decided. Keegan wouldn't like that… she looked at the information of her friends. Everything was there, height, weight, name, age, birthday, skin color… no, wait, that read fur color… odd. She explored more of the program, hoping to find some way to figure out where they were now.
"Okay, now that you've had a moment, I want you two to stand on one of those little stools," Reidman said. Allison and Tobi obediently stood. "Now, these guards here are going to get you into the bodysuits, so be cooperative. Or they'll knock you out and do it for you. And it's so much easier when people do things willingly, don't you agree?" Reidman asked. The suit looked fairly loose, and they were surprised to find that once they stepped in, there was individual areas for both of their legs. They'd be able to walk? Allison looked at Tobi happily as she shifted in the suit, covered in the green rubber from the waist down; but Tobi just looked at her sadly; she knew that there had to be a catch.
And there was.
"Now, could you please," Reidman asked in a way that said they didn't have any choice in the matter, "put your arms behind your back and lift them towards your shoulders as far as you can?" Allison blinked. What?
The guards quickly and painfully demonstrated by pulling their arms up. Tobi and Allison gave a small muffled scream of pain, then relaxed once the guards let go.
"There are sleeves inside the suit," He explained as he suit was lifted up around them. "Find them, and put your arms inside." The two captives sighed and pulled their arms up painfully behind their back. The suit was then brought up around their necks, where they were held by one guard as another grabbed a bottle of something. First, the neck of Tobi's suit was dripped on, and Tobi could tell by the smell that it was glue. Not just any kind of glue, the instant, industrial grade cement glue. She gave a shout and struggled, but the guard tightened his grip. After a moment, he let go and lowered the hose. The other guard moved over to Allison, gluing the top of her suit to her neck. The hose lowered and connected to something neither of them could see. Reidman smiled.
"See?" He said. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" He reached over and flipped a switch, a whining sound turning on and pulling on them. Allison felt the suit tighten around her, and realized that the tube was a vacuum, sucking out all the extra air inside the suit. She struggled, seeing Tobi come to the same conclusion, and gave a startled shout as she felt her arms being pulled back even further into her back. A few moments later, the whining sound stopped.
"Take them to their new room," He said. "Replace their gags and give them the hoods. Also, blindfold them on their way to the room, we don't want them escaping so easily next time. Let them see once they get to the room, though," Reidman smiled. "We've got a nice surprise for you two once you get there."
A nurse walked up behind Reidman and leaned in to ask him something.
"The two nurses who got captured by the patients," She whispered. "What do you want to do? They're still in the restraints." Reidman thought for a few moments.
"Put them in the pneumatic suits," He replied. "Then muzzle them and hood them like these two," He motioned to Allison and Tobi, who's hair were being pulled up and placed in a skull cap that smoothed their heads down. "Then throw them all in the same room." He grinned, watching the two squirm as blindfolds were placed over their eyes.
Allison was glad there wasn't total sensory deprivation, but there was definitely some disorientation. Allison mapped out the Institute in her head: from the entrance to their first cell, from the first cell to the second, from the second to the vacuum room, from there to… well, their new cell.
…eighteen, nineteen, twenty… She thought, then felt herself be pulled to the right. Twenty paces, then turn right. One, two, three, four, five… She continued counting, concentrating as she was led everywhere. Soon they stopped, and she could hear their guide opening a door. Twenty paces, turn right. She repeated. Fifteen paces, left. Four paces, right, checkpoint. Eighteen paces, left, fourteen paces, stop. Twenty paces, turn - ! Her thought process to remember her route was interrupted as she was violently pushed into the room. Tobi gave a grunt nearby. Their guide ripped off their blindfolds, revealing a cell that looked identical to all the others. The hoods and muzzles matched their suits, but Allison was grateful that she could walk freely now, even if her arms were even more useless. If looking at Tobi was any indication, it was almost like she didn't have any arms at all.
"You two enjoy your stay," Their guide, revealed to be Reidman. "I've got a surprise for you two in a few minutes." He left, closing and locking the door. Tobi stretched, trying to claw at the wall with her feet, but her claws were softened by the thick rubber. Allison simply sat down, crossing her legs. It felt good, it was something she hadn't done in a while… two weeks?
A few minutes later, as promised, two more people arrived, led by Reidman.
"Ta-daa!" He said, ripping off their blindfolds. Allison and Tobi's eyes widened – the newcomers were just as restrained as they were, but they could recognize them anywhere.
Lexi growled and stepped forward towards them as Reidman closed and locked the door. Tobi intercepted her, growling right back. Lexi blamed the two of them for their position, all four of them were trapped now, and what the hell could they do? Anna, on the other hand, whined at them, and Allison felt the prick of annoyance in her mind; with their muzzles on, all of them were reduced to nothing but primal sounds. Lexi snapped at Anna, anger in her voice, and Allison quickly stood, going over to Anna. Anna stared at her fearfully, but she used her tail to curl around her leg, showing that she wasn't going to harm her.
Tobi on the other hand, stood her ground and glared at Lexi. The two of them were at a standoff, one that could prove harmful to all four of them in this small padded cell.
Kelly swallowed, her mouth dry. According to this, the two had transformed into a wolf and tiger anthro, both of them female… could this… no, she would have known about that, she thought she would have noticed the two of them change into this. She noticed another specification:
RADIUS OF REALITY CHANGE: TWO MILES
She didn't know what that meant, but she had a feeling that was why she couldn't remember anything about their disappearance. She scrolled down and found a button labelled RESET ALL SETTINGS/REVERT TO DEFAULT. Hesitantly, she clicked on it.
Allison pulled Anna out of the way as Lexi leaped, kicking at Tobi, trying to get a weak spot. Tobi was kicked back, hitting the padded wall, but growled and fought back. The two tried to fight each other in their restrained state, Anna and Allison watching fearfully.
WARNING: TEMPORAL PARADOXES MAY OCCUR FROM RESETTING ALL SETTINGS. CONTINUE? Y/N?
Kelly stared at the screen.
She clicked Yes.
Instantly, things slowed down, crawling to a standstill. Allison and Anna were on the floor, protecting each other from the fight. Lexi was in mid-air, Tobi defensively waiting for the blow she was going to strike. Then, things started to reverse……esrever ot detracts sgniht ,nehT
1 DAY AGO
Three weeks? Yes, that sounded right. No, Said a part of his mind. Not three weeks. Not even months, they've been trapped there for years…
EIGHT DAYS AGO
There was something… wrong about this. He shouldn't be so hard on them, he knew that, but if he wasn't, then they wouldn't learn anything. Still… something nagged at him. Something was wrong with this scene, something fundamentally wrong…
FIFTEEN DAYS AGO
Marshal put his hand on the doorknob, ready to go in if Allison seriously hurt herself. Something told him, however, that Allison would be fine. Call it intuition, or just a hunch…
TWENTY TWO DAYS AGO
Tobias blinked.
"Did you feel that?" He asked Keegan, who was sitting next to him, watching.
"Feel what?" Keegan asked, confused.
"I… nothing," Tobias said. "I must've gotten… mixed up. Felt like we've done this before."
"Déjà vu," Keegan commented, smirking. "Now come on, are you going to do something or not?" Tobias nodded, and turned back to the screen, which had their information on it. He typed, seeing the statistics for Keegan's female fursona, Allison, as well as his own, Tobi. He then noticed a small scale, from 0 to 100, underneath the caption MENTAL CHANGES. Tobias thought for a moment, then moved both scales to 10%. He figured that it would be more than enough for them to know how to use their new bodies, and how to act. Also, just as a precaution, he moved another scale under RADIUS OF REALITY CHANGE to two miles. It never hurt to be safe.
Tobias clicked the "SAVE CHANGES" button and watched as their reality changed, Keegan growing fur, his hair growing longer, a tail bursting out of the seat of his pants before this pants changed to allow for the extra tail and girth of his butt, which grew as his manhood inverted.
Keegan watched Tobias change as well, grey fur spreading on his skin as his body thinned, becoming more feminine. There was a moment of hesitation as their genders changed, turning Keegan and Tobias into Allison and Tobi respectively.
Allison looked down at her new body and smiled.
"Nice choice," She complimented. "Why don't we have some fun?" Tobi grinned and nodded.
"Let's go," She said, taking her friend's hand and heading out the door.
So began another cycle, the two of them unknowingly heading towards the same chain of events that Kelly tried to prevent, the same chain of events that would end with them traveling back twenty two days prior, only to start again. Each time, they forgot. Each time, they trapped themselves deeper.
And each time, it would get harder and harder to stop.
The clock was ticking.