A church basement in Jonestown, Baltimore, Tuesday afternoon

[betterthanaplan]

So the incense good mood from that morning had worn off, and Duke had started to get anxious. The idea of Octavia hanging out in Baltimore attending community outreach meditation courses had stopped making sense again. Unless maybe she hit her head and was looking for something familiar? He headed to the mainland a little bit earlier than was strictly necessary to attend the tai chi class Jim had said Octavia would be coming to this evening, hoping to get some answers.

Jim was seated on the floor when he arrived, surrounded by thin, hungry looking older women, who all turned beatific smiles on Duke when he walked in.

"Duke!" Jim greeted. "Come in, come in! We were just finishing up a group chakra cleansing!"

Warning bells were (a bit belatedly) going off in Duke's head. "Chakra cleansing. Right. Cool."

That was not a thing. What the hell had he gotten himself into, here?

[NFB. For the one expected, and more cult-fighting hijinks. . . .]

Comments

[betterthanaplan]

Duke would just say that was because he was a terrible cop.

"Not if I beat you to him," Duke grumbled. "Ow, hey! Give a guy room to breathe, here!"

Oh, the joys of being tied to someone.

[hatesparadise]

Rude and hurtful. If you got him drunk, he might agree with that statement in regard to being tied to chairs, though. Because saaaadness.

"I'm sorry, are you being delicate about escaping right now?"

[betterthanaplan]

"Yeah, silly me, getting upset about potentially smothering."

It was how he was really likely to die someday! Not that he knew that yet.

"Look, just hold still and let me see if they took my knife, okay?"

[hatesparadise]

"Well, let's just hope they're that dumb," Danny replied, going still as he looked around for a guard or maybe something helpful like, you know, an exit sign.

[betterthanaplan]

"They're a cult." Whether that meant they were dumb or not was still up for debate.

Duke rolled his shoulders back, stretching his arm as best he could while feeling for his back pocket.

". . . Fuck." He did not, in fact, have his knife.

[hatesparadise]

"Is that a no, Crocker?" Danny was now just being unhelpful.

[betterthanaplan]

"Shut up."

Yes. Yes it was.

"Okay. Okay, hang on. I've been in worse situations than this."

Admittedly he usually had someone to deliberately antagonize into making a mistake who wasn't also tied up.

[hatesparadise]

Wasn't that great!

"Are we sharing now? Is this a sharing hour?" Danny asked, going right on back to wriggling to loosen up the ropes a little bit.

[betterthanaplan]

"Sure. Let's start with how you ended up kidnapped by this cult." Duke had excuses! His girlfriend was missing and his damn mother showed up! "What, can you only arrest people when they politely turn around and tell you where their weapons are?"

[hatesparadise]

"Excuse me for being unaware you were involved in a dangerous cult," Danny snapped. "Next time I'll just leave you to it!"

[betterthanaplan]

"I could have handled it!"

No. No he couldn't have. Having someone to yell and/or snark at was a vital part of his handling process.

"And I'm not involved. They just. . . ." He dropped his head and sighed heavily. ". . . Noticed I was vulnerable and targeted me for recruitment. Fuck."

[hatesparadise]

It was therapy for everyone involved! But, ugh. Don't make it feel like this was kicking you while you were down, Duke.

"How about we just get out of here so I can contact the locals to round these idiots up?" Danny asked with an answering sigh. "And pretend none of this ever happened."

He went stiff as the sound of a door opening and closing echoed heavily through the building.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke should have known better! His dad had basically been in a cult when Duke was little, one that had occasionally tried to recruit him, too!

He was also just kind of ridiculously suggestible and open to manipulation. It was a problem.

Duke snapped his head back up at that sound, then started his own wriggling to try to loosen the ropes. "You couldn't have brought Diaz or someone for back up?" he hissed.

[hatesparadise]

"Back up for what exactly? I wasn't even expecting to get off the goddamn island," he snapped back. He was wasting his precious time away from that crappy island saving your ass rather than calling his daughter. Appreciate his sacrifice here. "Also, your mother, Crocker? Want to explain that?"

[betterthanaplan]

"I DIDN'T KNOW SHE'D BE HERE."

Duke. Duke, they were coming. Maybe don't yell.

"She's a junkie, man. Last time I saw her she didn't even recognize me. So of course she's wrapped up in a goddamn cult."

[hatesparadise]

Well, they were being loud and distracting enough to cover up the fact that those ropes were sort of coming loose.

"I want to know just how it can be that this sort of coincidence could happen." Seriously, the odds weren't in his favor there.

[betterthanaplan]

"Yeah, well. Welcome to Fandom." Duke shook his head. "Seriously, I hadn't seen her in like fifteen years, and then Octavia and I ran into her while on a date at the goddamn zoo."

And then she'd propositioned him in return for drugs and Duke had been a wreck for a month.

[hatesparadise]

"...so she knew you were around and lured you in." God, this was Steve's mom all over again! Only, you know. Not in the CIA.

[betterthanaplan]

"No. No." Duke squeezed his eyes shut and groaned. "Fuck, it wouldn't even be the first time she used me for -- whatever the fuck she's getting out of this."

Really, and people wondered how he'd ended up like he did.

"I hate everything about this. Literally everything."

[hatesparadise]

Yep. It was a Doris situation.

"You and me both, buddy," Danny said as one of the guys who had drugged him and who Danny was assuming was the leader of this little group came into view, looking utterly serene. It was the worst.

[betterthanaplan]

"Duke, my child," Jim said, smiling. "It's good to see you awake. Are you ready to come join us peacefully?"

". . . You going to untie us if I say yes?" Duke asked.

"You can't very well do tai chi tied to a chair, can you?" Jim asked. "Your cop friend though. . . ."

[hatesparadise]

"Is not really a tai chi person," Danny agreed blandly, acting like he wouldn't punch the guy in the throat the moment he got his hands free. His expression turned more grim as he noticed his gun in the other guy's hand.

Yeah, the punching thing was gonna happen a lot.

[betterthanaplan]

"He followed me here," Duke said, equally blandly. He tilted his head, looking past Jim towards the rest of the . . . let's just call it a 'compound'. That was the sort of thing cults had. "Can I keep him, Mom?"

Jim shook his head sadly. "You're not ready yet, are you." He put his hand along Duke's jaw. Duke jerked away. "And you showed such promise."

"You mean my bank account did," Duke said. "I'm guessing you're not getting a lot of cash from your burnout pals here."

[hatesparadise]

"Not even a successful cult, huh? That's gotta be rough," Danny said, grimacing as he strained against the bindings a little more.

Attention off the civilian in the room was a good thing in his estimation.

[betterthanaplan]

"That's such an ugly word, 'cult'. I provide a service. I help people." Jim smiled. "Didn't I help you, Duke? You went home yesterday feeling so much better!"

"Yeah, because you drugged your incense. Which . . . admittedly I should have noticed, so that's on me."

He'd managed to get his fingers onto a knot and started prying away at it. The unsuccessful cult also wasn't the best at tying people up, it seemed.