Chapter Text
The first time Bart left her room was a week after Ken had left her there. A group of veiled guards marched in, guns slung across their backs. The clips in a separate pocket. Mr. Priest must have explained that it was just dangerous to have loaded weaponry around her, again. They were safe anyway. The universe didn’t care that much whether they lived or not so Bart continued to chew on a fingernail. Just rocking back and forth on her chair, watching the guards with a bored look.
“Hey there, Bart. How you doin’ today, feelin’ like killin’ me?”
“No, you’re good.”
After giving her answer, Mr. Priest walked through the door. Unlike the others, his holsters were all empty. He actually knew that Bart didn’t need anything special to kill anyone. There had been a few times in the past when they had been out together and Bart had followed the whims of the universe. Younger Bart had come up with some very interesting ways to kill people. It was a little harder without having access to weapons but she made do. The universe always got what it wanted in the end. Similarly, Mr. Priest always took Bart out for ice-cream afterwards. So who really won?
He pulled out the other chair, turned it around to sit backwards in it and slid a folder across the table to her. Mr. Priest explained that they needed her for a little test. It wouldn’t be too hard, all Bart had to do was act the way she normally did. Following the stream of creation. She barked out a laugh at the phrase she had used to describe the way things worked. At first it had fit really well, but now it was just stupid. Bart knew she was a puppet. Her strings being pulled along by the universe.
That didn’t make her any less stir crazy. There wasn’t much to do in her room really and sure, Bart could have probably left any time she felt like it. Blackwing still hadn’t figured out a way to keep her contained. Mostly because locks didn’t work the same on Bart like it did the subjects. Neither did traditional security. Bart guessed that they just hoped she wouldn’t leave and they’d be right. There wasn’t much out there for her. Ken was still here, even though he hadn’t come back to visit. She had heard the dog sometimes. Also the food was pretty good. So Bart gave a shrug and agreed to head out.
As it turned out, the test was simple. The folder didn’t hold much information and Mr. Priest hadn’t said anything that added to it. It seemed that all Bart had to do was walk through the closest city and see what happened. Did the universe have anyone that needed to be removed? Was there a certain place that Bart needed to be or was there something that she needed? This time she was given a weapon and Mr. Priest walked around with her. So did one of the veiled guards but they were mostly there to write down the answers Bart gave.
Nothing much happened. The van they rode in stopped along the side of a road and while some of the guards were fixing it someone in a leather jacket showed up. The universe wanted Bart to kill him. She got to keep the jacket afterwards. In the city, she dropped a piece of greasy paper and someone slipped over. Banging their head on the ground with a dull thud. Mr. Priest checked for a pulse, but they were also dead. Bart didn’t quite know why they needed to take a photo of the people who died. What would they do with dead people photos? Collect them or something? Mr. Priest laughed for a while at that but he never really answered the question. At least they got ice-cream afterwards.
The next time Bart left her room caused a panic to sweep through the facility. Alarms blared throughout and there was people running all over the place. They reminded her of ants. Always running this way or another and moving around her. Even if it made the trip longer. It was also extremely pointless. Bart just wanted to see what Ken was doing.
What was he too busy to come and visit his best friend? If that was the case then she would go to him. See exactly what is was that he did. Bart didn’t really believe that he could get into someone else’s computer through his own or any of the other ‘hacking’ stuff he had talked about. Sure Ken was smart but that wasn’t a thing. Bart had laughed and rolled her eyes at him. Even telling him that it couldn’t happen. They had fought about it but it wasn’t anything serious. Towards the end, neither of them could keep a straight face and just started to laugh. Bart wasn’t sure who started to laugh but it did take them a while to calm down after.
Bart had missed that. She missed her best friend. Even if the universe wanted him dead. She didn’t.
It took her a little bit longer to get to Ken, even following the universes directions. Some of the guards had tried to get her back to her room but things hadn’t ended well for them. It didn’t stop her though. She had to stretch up to look through the small window on the door but there he was! Bart’s face light up with a smile so big that it almost hurt. After knocking on the door, she swung it open and waved excitedly.
“Hey Ken! You haven’t come to see me in a while but that’s okay, you got stuff to do. I got nothing though so do you wanna hang out? Like we used to. We could eat some donuts, watch TV or I could tell you about some of my new friends that I met.”
“Uh, Bart… whose blood do you have all over you?”
“Just some guards or whatever. I did try not to kill them but the universe had other ideas.”
“Right. How about- how about you go back to your room. Get cleaned up and I’ll try and stop by, bring something to eat, hm?”
“Okay, I’m not worried about the blood but yeah sure. You’ll definitely visit today?”
Ken gave a tight lipped smile and nodded. Clapping her hands together, Bart took a step back to leave. Then changed her mind and rushed forward to crush Ken in a long overdue hug. His arms were pinned to his sides, but still he managed to pat her awkwardly on the back. This time Bart did leave. Yelling a quick “Seeya” over her shoulder before running back to her room.
Bart stayed up for ages, watching the door intently but Ken didn’t visit like he said.