“The only real prison is fear, the only real freedom is freedom from fear,”
--Aung San Suu Kyi
The Peachford Mental Asylum has a sterling reputation as one of the best psychological hospitals in the Southeastern United States. It serves only high end clientele and follows a near oppressive privacy policy that ensures the wealthy who trust Peachford with their loved ones mental wellbeing don’t have to worry about the tabloids getting wind of their families dirty little secret. The halls of this institution are packed with mama and daddies’ troubled kids, crazy uncles and other humans who wealthy relatives deem too bothersome to keep around but wants to make absolutely sure the general public doesn’t look down on them for tossing their problems in a nut house.
It really does deserve its five star rating.
The residents of Peachford are fairly well taken care of in all honesty, top notch nurses and medical staff attend to their various needs. Needs like the large quantities of drugs they provide to keep them so sedated most of them never even realize their family has abandoned them. They have a world class kitchen that provides luxurious meals, that are as healthy as they are delicious things such as water to wash the pills down with and even bread that needs to be soaked in the water to be soft enough to chew. They also make sure to provide their patients with activities to keep both their minds and body as healthy as possible, these fun and enticing activities including counting the numerous cracks in the wall and eating paint chips when the guards aren’t looking. Not to mention the games of pinata they play and the guards even let them take turns being the pinata!
For nearly 10 years this most prestigious medical institute has been home to one particular person of extreme interest to the newly formed Nightmare Court. A lovely young lady by the name of Fiona Mercer. Today however would be her last inside Peachford….
The limousine comes to a slow stop in front of the large, unwelcoming doors of the Peachford Mental Asylum. A few seconds later the driver would open, allowing the towering figure of Jack Tyde to emerge from his seat in the back. At his side as always the beguiling Shante’ Waverly. The duo still looks out of place riding around in a limousine, but their recent alliance with the Hamilton Establishment has afforded them such luxuries that had previously been denied to them.Tyde almost growls as he nods to the driver and speaks
“Wait for us, this shouldn’t be long,”
The driver nods and takes his place back at the front of the limousine as Tyde and Shante begin their walk towards the large oak doors.
“You face is easy to read Jack, at least for one who soul was bound to yours hundred of years ago,” Shante’ speaks barely above a whisper, her voice soft yet somewhat intimidating in it’s own right “You seem worried,”
“Not worried Mi’ Amore,” He replies, keeping his eyes focused on the building ahead of him, his hand placed on the small of her back as he follows a step behind and to the side almost as if he is guarding her “I am just frustrated by this entire ordeal. January Friday the 13th was supposed to be the start of my journey, the climb to the top of Combat. I was in the qualifier match, one I could have easily won. A win that would have granted me a spot in Siege Perilous where I WOULD have won the Global Title. Instead that bastard Tex Attwater cost me that chance and since then I have been intertwined with the hillbilly. On Ground Zero I finally laid him to waste, destroyed him inside the steel cage and proved I was the better of us. Finally it is time to return my attention to my prize but AGAIN more loops to jump through, instead of getting a shot the powers that be think it it is a joke to tie my success once more to that of Tex Attwater,”
“I understand your frustration but you understand how the fates work, I have read our destiny and it is tied to Tex,” She pauses and turns towards him, turning his palm to the sky and running her finger across the palm of his hand as if she is reading braille she smiles as she continues “What you are doing now, you will release the Horror that lies in Tex’s soul and with it you, and the entire Nightmare Court will grow in power. You understand that the judgment of the fans, the decision of the referees matter not to the darkness, only the verdict of the Nightmare Court rules the shadows as Law. What we do now will propel us to our full power and leave all of Combat at our mercy for years to come,”
Jack nods as he grits his teeth a bit before he answers “Of course, I was in his mind and I felt the horror personality. He is a tortured twisted soul, a dark spirit whose potential is limitless. It is not Tex that is really under my skin, but once again I have to compete to get what I earn. PG-13 and Crush have done nothing but lose here and yet they still stand getting chance after chance. PG already had his shot in Siege Perilous where he failed to win, his brother Crush hasn’t even been that successful failing to get a single win since he showed up here. The two couldn’t even defeat one another on Ground Zero and they get yet ANOTHER chance? When people like myself, and Sebastian are more talented yet given nothing. I will show them through brute force and violence what it feels like to be on the wrong end of justice. The Nightmare Court will lay down the justice that Dayspring doesn’t seem capable of doing himself,”
“Of course,” Shante says kissing the palm of his hand gently before releasing it “The tides of fate are always on our side, now shall we continue our business,”
Tyde just nods as the two continue towards the institute, once inside they quickly begin to turn heads. A place like this doesn’t get many ‘visitors’ and it’s only a matter of minutes before two large men approach the duo. You can see one of them has his hand to his side like he’s reaching for a gun, taser or something of that sort. The one in front however speaks
“Excuse me, are you two lost? This is private property, you can only enter via proper channels,”
“Don’t you normally enter via doors? That seems proper to me,” Jack’s deep voice replied without a hint of humor in his answer.
“If you would have looked first, this is a restricted area, there is a visitor section around the front. We can escort you to the front if you need, if not we would like for you to please leave,”
“Maybe it is you, who should leave,” Tyde starts but Shante’ quickly intervenes placing her hand on his chest to keep him at bay as she flutters her eyelashes at the guards and speaks.
“Excuse us darlings,” her voice seems to soften and change just a moment, almost like an asmr, sending tingles down the back of the men as her voice almost brushes against their eardrums. Their guard stance seems to quickly soften and their guard is let down almost automatically. “We seem a bit turned around, we are looking for my sister Fiona. Would you care to show us the way?,”
“Of course,” the head guard speaks now, a big smile appeared across his face as he nods in one direction “just follow us,”
The call of the siren still ringing in their ears the entire demeanor of the security had changed as they began to make small talk “So Fiona doesn’t get a lot of visitors. I think the only person who ever sees her is the doctors who change her bandages,”
As they continue small talk they reach a locked door, the man pulls out a keycard and scans it to open it up but as they enter a third guard, a woman approaches them. The look on her face shows just how confused she is by seeing them
“What the hell is going on here, they shouldn’t be here,” It’s almost like her words begin to wake the two up from the trance they are in. Shante’ gives a bit of a nod in Tyde’s direction who then quickly pounces. He grabs the taser from the side of the second man and quickly tases him with it knocking him out. While he is doing that Shante takes a step forward spitting a green mist into the face of the woman approaching them, the lead man then goes to grab Shante’ but Shante’ doesn’t hesitate to give a big football kick to his nuts. This causes the man to drop to his knees and Tyde takes the chance to run forward jumping a bit and hitting his Curb Stomp (walk the plank) onto the guard knocking him out cold. While this is happening Shante grabs the third guard and slams her face first into the wall knocking her out as well. Once the three are down Shante and Jack give each other sly smiles before Jack reaches down snagging the key card off the head guard.
“Let’s finish this,” He remarks as they head down the hall to the very end where a lock door awaits them. Jack opens the door and behind it sit a woman with her face covered in bandages. Shante smiled as she spoke
“Hello Fiona, it’s time for the caged bird to fly again. We have an old friend waiting for you that would sell his SOUL to see you again,”
–TBC?–