Fading Memory
Blazion
Single Malt
Simple Unicycle
Punished GN
nymian
Joel Beck
Location: Grim's secret apartment
Tags: Grim, man this guy's life sure does suck
Chicago had suffered from a human trafficking problem for decades. People being snatched wasn't new. The authorities probably noticed the uptick in numbers, but they were looking into the wrong crime. Or, even worse, they had moles actively misdirecting them. How big was this operation? How many people were pulling strings?
"I'm not the only one," Joel said quietly. "Mindraker knows about this too; he said messing around in my head jogged 'old memories'. I think he may have been a victim, but he was being a cryptic asshole about it. We should probably look into tracking him down too."
Joel chewed a knuckle absent-mindedly as Grim listed off the details they'd uncovered so far. His dark eyes lifted to other man's masked face when he was directly questioned. He shook his head. "I don't really remember when I got the suit, it just kind of happened. I mean, I'm pretty sure I was…normal before, you know," He motioned a finger gun at his head, "Mindraker said my brain injury caused me to act, uh, different. Violent. I think he was right. I did some really awful shit and I don't even remember why. I didn't do those things before."
He rested his elbows on his knees and buried his face into his hands. Joel took a deep breath in. The memories of his own actions over the past few years made him feel almost sick. Doug was right when he called Joel out in that alley. Doug was always right.
He picked his head back up when Grim mentioned Ellison researching powers. "But that's the thing: my only 'powers' are ghost bullshit and super insomnia, and the latter was allegedly from the prions they were feeding me. The suit does the healing. If I get hurt when I'm not wearing it, I just gotta' suck it up." He remembered, briefly, his broken ribs from earlier that night. They had healed along with everything else during the furnace incident.
He had always blamed the clairvoyance on the 'experimental treatment' he received. Now knowing he had literally died and been brought back to life, that sentiment wasn't exactly wrong. The question was: Did Ellison give Joel ghost talk, or was it a side effect of dying once?
He shifted on the couch when Grim walked away, reclining and closing his eyes. He was so tired. All he wanted to do was turn his brain off for a while.
"Right," He said, exhaustion heavy in his voice, "I can look into Raker in the meantime."
Joel didn't say anything else to expand on that idea. That was because he was now slack jawed, head lolled back against the couch cushion, sleeping for the first time in three years.
