Definitely Mad - Alterations While U Wait

It was an hour or so after waking.  She appeared in the middle of the bed, curled around herself, naked and unmasked, crying.

Porter recognized the sobbing, and presently came in from the other room.

Her nudity surprised him a bit, but anything was possible at this point, and all things were equally improbable.

"Raz0r." Statement of fact. He stood in the doorway.

She turned to his voice.

"Thank god. She doesn't have you."

"Of whom are you speaking?"

Figment of her imagination? As likely as anything real.

"Angel."

She still wasn't sure he was real. Why was he staying there? But he must know. So of course he wouldn't come near her.

"Is that a name, or a category of being?"

He was attempting to be restrained, rational, get the most important information first. A less-controlled man would have burst into a torrent of WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO at this point, but Porter prided himself on decorum.

He prided himself on decorum, but she was kinda already broken. And the fact that he was still in the doorway was breaking her further.

"Person. Held me captive. Couldn't get away. Said you were hers. Showed me you were hers. Oh god, please forgive me."

Porter's eyes narrowed.

"I've no knowledge of this person to whom you are alluding. I belong to nobody in that fashion."

He took a few steps forward, but elected not to sit on the bed.

"How long has this creature been influencing you, Raz0r?"

She shook her head.

"I don't know. I lost track of time in that box."

A frown. "What is the last thing you remember before your abduction? What night was it?"

The possibility that Recent-Raz0r was actually some sort of Impostor-Raz0r was perhaps too good to be true.

"May 21st."

Sorry. No dice on that hope.

"Who was this Angel person? How could they take you like that? Tell me what happened, Raz0r. I want very much to believe you are yourself, but I don't have enough information about what has occurred."

"She took me during the day. Because I played in her sandbox. Because she's a vindictive bitch who couldn't deal with me on that level, so she had to bring it into this world. I woke up naked in a room. I couldn't get out. I couldn't get back to you. And she had John."

Who the hell was 'John'?

"This world? What other world are we talking about? What 'sandbox', Raz0r? You've been dipping your fingers in something strange, haven't you."

"The virtual world should stay there. I hacked her space, she stole me."

"The...virtual world."

Porter cracked his knuckles. "More of this technological sorcery, I take it. Is Angel a real person, or a construct of this virtual space?"

She shook her head.

"Doesn't matter. That's not the point. I can't do anything against her, or she'll just do this all again. She didn't let me go until she'd broken me."

She reached out a hand to him.

"Please forgive me. I've been so lost. I've betrayed you."

He didn't budge.

"Tell me how."

"I....I love another man. Just as much as I love you, but in a different way. But I was afraid to tell you. So afraid I would lose you."

The part of Porter's brain which exists purely to convince himself he was right all along was pleased, even as the rest of his mind convulsed with emotion.

Foreign influence theory: proven.

"Your assessment was correct."

She curled up closer.

"I'll leave, then. I'm so sorry. I won't even bother you again."

Something clicked within his logic-centers. Anarch. 'John'.

"I regret that the matter did not work itself out another way, Raz0r. I do hope the path you have chosen is ultimately the right one for you."

She nodded, the tears flowing freely down her face. But she couldn't look at him. He, who was half her heart. She was breaking, and she wasn't afraid to show him.

"I love you. Above and beyond the bond, I love you so much. I'm sorry."

And she was gone.

Porter stood alone in the empty room, unmoving, thinking.

Analyzing the scenario again and again - the who-what-when. Only occasionally the 'why', and only for the briefest of moments before the pain drove his wandering mind back to the facts.

At long last, he turned, and went off to find a place to break things.